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Macross Delta's Kenji Yasuda Directs Space Battleship Yamato 2205 Anime

The official website for the Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 (Uchū Senkan Yamato 2202: Ai no Senshi-tachi or Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love) anime film revealed more staff members for the Uchū Senkan Yamato 2205: Aratanaru Tabidachi (Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Journey) sequel project on Monday. The website also revealed that Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 will receive a compilation anime film in 2020.

Kenji Yasuda (Macross Delta, Shugo Chara!, Noein - to your other self) is directing Uchū Senkan Yamato 2205: Aratanaru Tabidachi. Newly announced returning staff members include Hideki Oka for scripts, Nobuteru Yuki for original character designs, Junichirō Tamamori and Yasuchi Ishizu for mechanical designs, and Akira Miyagawa for music. Mika Akitaka (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Strike the Blood) will also contribute mechanical designs.

As previously announced, Harutoshi Fukui is returning from Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 to write the scripts and handle series composition. Shōji Nishizaki, the son of Space Battleship Yamato co-creator Yoshinobu Nishizaki, is returning as executive producer. While the announcement does not specifically state the new anime's format, the use of the word "jōei" (screening) indicates that the anime will have theatrical screenings.

The sequel anime will premiere in fall 2020.

The Uchū Senkan Yamato 2202: Ai no Senshi-tachi Sōshū-hen (Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love Compilation; tentative title) will compile the 26-episode Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 television anime into a film, and studioMOTHER is producing the project. Fukui is credited with composition and supervision for the film. Yuka Minakawa is writing the scripts, and Oka is credited with script cooperation. Tamamori is serving as setting advisor. Atsuki Sato is credited as "director," but he is listed separately from Nobuyoshi Habara, who is returning from the series to direct the project.

Other staff members returning to the compilation project from the television series include executive producer and production general supervisor Nishizaki, scriptwriter Fukui, and character designer Yuki. The previous anime's studio Xebec is also contributing to the project.

Yamato 2202 is itself a sequel of the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 project. Yamato 2199 is a remake of the original 1974 Space Battleship Yamato series created by Leiji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki. As with Yamato 2202, Yamato 2199 first premiered in Japan as a series of seven movies shown theatrically in Japan from 2012 to 2013, before premiering on Japanese television in April 2013. The Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199: Hoshi-Meguru Hakobune anime film then opened in Japan in 2014.

Yamato 2202's first film, subtitled "Kōshi-hen" (Starting Chapter), premiered in Japan in February 2017. The second film, subtitled "Hasshin-hen" (Departure Chapter), opened in Japan in June 2017. The third film, subtitled "Junai-hen" (Pure Love Chapter), opened in Japan in October 2017. The fourth film, subtitled "Tenmei-hen" (Karma Chapter), opened in Japan in January 2018. The fifth film, subtitled "Rengoku-hen" (Purgatory Chapter), opened in Japan in May 2018. The sixth film, subtitled "Kaisei-hen" (Resurrection Chapter), opened last November. The seventh and final film, "Shinsei-hen" (Nova Chapter), opened on March 1.

Yamato 2202's television version premiered last October in Japan. Crunchyroll began streaming the anime last May, and Funimation also began streaming an English dub on the same day. Funimation began streaming a simuldub of the second part of the sequel project on February 2.

Sources: Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 anime's website, Comic Natalie