Yoshinobu NISHIZAKI's 1978 anime movie
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato was a milestone in the history of Japan's animation, moving an audience of four million Japanese to tears at the ending where protagonist KODAI made a "
Tokko" suicide attack on the White Comet in order to prevent it from invading the Earth. I, the author of this paper, saw the unforgettable film as a schoolboy knowing almost nothing about the background to the source of the powerful emotions. As I grew older, it became clear that we cried for the souls of the kamikaze members who chose to make self-sacrifice just to defend their mother country Japan where their parents, siblings and friends lived; the crew of Japanese Navy's largest and strongest battleship Yamato were such unselfish patriots thinking first of other people's happiness. Through creating the
Yamato series, NISHIZAKI devoted his life insisting on the true value of their deeds.
Due to the postwar "peace" education in Japan, many of the ex-Yamato fans grew up to be typical Japanese adults who bitterly criticize the theme of
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato, ashamed of the tears they once shed. One of them Harutoshi FUKUI remade the legendary movie to
Star Blazers 2202, removing the essence of NISHIZAKI's lifework. However, let us remember that it was the Yamato spirit that overcame the 2011 disaster of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and that Takashi YAMAZAKI's 2010 live-action movie
Space Battleship Yamato was true to the original, paying a tribute to the memory of Yoshinobu NISHIZAKI(1934-2010). I also wrote this paper for him with not only respect but everlasting gratitude.
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