Day 2 - Favorite Anime You've Watched So Far

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Space Battleship Yamato 2199

To be specific, this is my favorite anime I've watched so far this year, as I don't have a favorite anime of all time. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is the 2012 remake of a science-fiction anime from the 70's knows as Space Battleship Yamato and released in the US as Star Blazers.

November of last year Funimation announced out of practically nowhere they simuldubbing Yamato 2199. This was significant because Yamato 2199 was constantly used as an excuse to justify piracy. Voyager, the company who licensed the original series was basically sitting on the rights to this remake, only releasing 16 episodes across 4 DVDs and doing nothing else. Once the DVDs went out of print the only way the watch the anime was to go on illegal sites. So for Funimation and Crunchyroll to not only stream the anime, but also provide a home video release and license the sequel Yamato 2202 almost felt like a miracle.

Now as for the show itself, Yamato 2199 is the story of a crew embarking on a journey across the galaxy to save humanity from extinction. The actual plot is far more complicated but that's easiest way to describe it.

Yamato 2199 is really really pretty. The first half was animated by Studio AIC and the second half was animated by Studio Xebec. The character designs are by Nobuteru Yuki(Escaflowne, Orange) and the mecha designs are by Makoto Kobayashi(Zeta Gundam). This results in a really stylish and glossy sci-fi aesthetic that's easy on the eyes.

The character are attractive both for their looks and their personalities. Akira Yamamoto for example, is just as sexy as she is cool. She's an ace pilot, a good fighter, and also has a significant role and arc in the series despite not being a main character. She could easily lead her own series.

The lead of the series however is Susumu Kodai, a gunner and the head of Yamato's tactical division. As a protagonist Kodai has personal stakes in mot of the conflicts in the anime. Not only does he lead most of the battles, he also bears the weight of firing the Wave Motion Gun; an extremely powerful weapon that effects the story both literally and thematically. Whenever Kodai fires the Wave Motion Gun he's making a decision to weaponize technology that could instead be used to save lives instead.

This is a Space Opera after all, so themes of war are prevalent. The cast is forced to confront their feelings on war as who their fighting and what their fighting for isn't as simple as they initailly believe. There's also themes of humanity like in the excellent ninth episode "A Clockwork Prisoner"

All the episodes are excellent really. Whether it be about mutiny, history, or even relaxing at a beach every episode was important and entertaining. All of it building up to a satisfying conclusion that still left room for more.When I finished Space Battleship Yamato 2199 I didn't hesitate to give it a 10/10.

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