# Be Forever Yamato (ヤマトよ永遠に)
**Be Forever Yamato** (ヤマトよ永遠に, *Yamato yo Towa ni*) is a 1980 Japanese animated science fiction film, the third theatrical feature based on the *Space Battleship Yamato* series, released on August 2, 1980 with a runtime of 145 minutes.[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144) • [2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181) It was produced by Office Academy and distributed by Toei, and it continues the story from the 1979 television special *[Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage](https://www.edgepedia.org/space-battleship-yamato-the-new-voyage)*.[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144) • [3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018216) One scholarly account counts it as the fourth film of the series, including the television special in the tally.[4](https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-1702.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Japanese release | August 2, 1980; 145 minutes; 35 mm color, Vista size; produced by Office Academy, distributed by Toei[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144) |
| Position in series | Third theatrical *Yamato* film; sequel to *The New Voyage*; followed by the TV series *Space Battleship Yamato III*[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181) • [3](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018216) |
| Directors | Leiji Matsumoto and Toshio Masuda (directors), Tomoharu Katsumata (chief director); original story by Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144) • [5](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/604/) |
| Warp Dimension system | From the middle of the film the screen format shifts from VistaVision size to CinemaScope and the sound from mono to 4-channel surround[6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) |
| Music | Composed and arranged by Hiroshi Miyagawa; lyrics by Yu Aku and Yoko Yamaguchi; theme songs sung by Isao Sasaki, Akira Fuse, and Hiromi Iwasaki[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144) • [6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) |
| Story setting | Year 2202: a missile-shaped object lands on Earth, the capital is seized by the Dark Nebula Empire, and the former Yamato crew escapes to reach the ship on planet Icarus[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181) |
| Remake | *Be Forever Yamato REBEL3199* (2024–2026), a seven-chapter, 26-episode series reworking this film together with *Yamato III*[7](https://img.sunrise-inc.co.jp/images/news/22413_6mclqnj1ediv_pdf.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Story
In the year 2202, a missile-shaped gigantic object approaches Earth. At bases along its flight path, all inhabitants are found dead without any external injury. After the missile lands, alien soldiers who came with it seize the capital in an instant.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181) The former Yamato crew members, led by Susumu Kodai, attempt to escape Earth to board the [Space Battleship Yamato](https://www.edgepedia.org/space-battleship-yamato), which awaits them on the planet Icarus, secretly refitted by Sanada. Yuki Mori is shot and falls, and the ship departs without her.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181) • [6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html)
On Icarus, the crew learns from Director General Todo that the object is a heavy-nucleon bomb capable of destroying the brain cells of all humanity in an instant without damaging the land itself. To disarm its detonator, the Yamato sets out beyond a dark nebula in the [Virgo](https://www.edgepedia.org/virgo-constellation) region, where the enemy Dark Star Cluster Empire has its home star.[6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) On Icarus the crew also finds Sasha, the daughter of Starsha, who has grown from a child into an adult woman in a single year through her Iscandarian blood.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181) • [11](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/34909/) The enemy officer Alfon gives vital information to Yuki in exchange for nothing more than her putting his head on her lap.[12](https://ourstarblazers.com/vault-images/oct16/MZ36.pdf)
## Production
At a press gathering held in Tokyo Kaikan's Gold Room, where the film's announcement took place, those present included [Leiji Matsumoto](https://www.edgepedia.org/leiji-matsumoto), Shigeru Okada (president of Toei), Yoshinobu Nishizaki (executive producer), Hiroshi Miyagawa (composer), Tomoharu Katsumata (chief director), Yoko Yamaguchi (lyricist), plus vocalists Isao Sasaki and Akira Fuse. Okada announced the production with the stated aim of drawing ten million viewers, after the first two *Yamato* films had each brought out more than six million.[5](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/604/)
**Development schedule.** On January 1, 1980, seven months before the premiere, the production had only Matsumoto's first story draft and no title; the project was still called "Yamato Part III." Twenty staff members, including Nishizaki, Matsumoto, director Toshio Masuda, the scriptwriters, and the primary designers, began work with a planning trip to Hawaii on January 2. Matsumoto had produced two story drafts, completing the second on December 31, 1979, and Masuda then took over the writing with Nishizaki. The script was approved as final on April 2, 1980, running 203 pages after a 214-page first draft and a 156-page second draft.[8](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/585/) • [9](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/945a/)
Nishizaki later explained the film's origin in a production memoir: *Farewell to Yamato* had been presented as the concluding story, and although it won passionate fan support, it also drew criticism that character deaths were used as story tools and that it over-glorified war. Matsumoto had opposed Nishizaki's decision to kill Kodai and Yuki in that ending, and the strong fan demand for continuation led to *Be Forever*.[10](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/661/)
## The Warp Dimension system
The film's best-known technical feature is the so-called Warp Dimension system: from the middle of the story onward, the picture size changes from VistaVision size to [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope) size and the sound changes from mono to 4-channel surround, in step with the story's warp into unknown space. The device made the film a topic of conversation alongside its plot.[6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) The production also adopted Scanimite compositing technology, said to be a first in Japan, introduced by producer Nishizaki after roughly half a year of secret testing with a special-effects team.[13](https://aquarius-yamato.com/yamatonews/17962/)
Two sound versions of the film exist, mono and stereo. The theatrical sound, including the post-warp audio taken from the optical track, was mono; the stereo version was newly produced later, and the theatrical Warp Dimension sound has not been commercially released.[6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) [Home video](https://www.edgepedia.org/home-video) editions did not reproduce the effect: the first half is presented letterboxed and the second half in CinemaScope, but the frame stays standard throughout, with the latter half trimmed on both sides.[14](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/mv-yamato.html)
## Music and promotion
Hiroshi Miyagawa composed and arranged the score. The theme song was written by Yu Aku and sung by Isao Sasaki, and the credits also list Akira Fuse and Hiromi Iwasaki as theme song performers, with Yoko Yamaguchi among the lyricists.[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144) • [6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) Before the theatrical release, a four-hour live radio drama, *All Night Nippon Radio Drama: Be Forever Yamato*, was broadcast on June 7, 1980.[6](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html) The run-up to release culminated in a press conference described as the starting gun on the biggest promotional campaign in anime history.[9](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/945a/)
## Reception and legacy
The film was followed by the television series *Space Battleship Yamato III* in the same year, and later by *[Final Yamato](https://www.edgepedia.org/final-yamato)* (1983).[15](https://keniti2026.github.io/yamato-info-site/works.html) A scholarly study of Japanese war imagery reads the film's plot, in which the ship is forced into the center of the Black Nebula and bombarded by asteroids and enemy forces, as part of a pattern in which the series lets audiences vicariously approach national annihilation and then escape it, a form of cultural therapy revisiting loss in a reassuring way.[4](https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-1702.pdf) The title itself has been read as a sign of the ship's apparently unending sacrificial duty.[16](https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/131790/3/Jonathan%20Rayner%20SWIT%20revision%2006%202018.pdf)
**REBEL3199.** In 2024 the story was remade as *Be Forever Yamato REBEL3199*, a completely new work that adds new interpretation to the 1980 film and the same year's *Space Battleship Yamato III*, structured as 26 episodes in seven chapters released theatrically. Chapter 1, "Dark Invasion" (episodes 1 and 2), opened on July 19, 2024 in 70 theaters nationwide; Chapter 2 opened on November 22, 2024; Chapter 3 on April 11, 2025; Chapter 4 on October 10, 2025; Chapter 5 on February 20, 2026; Chapter 6 on June 26, 2026; and the final Chapter 7, "Rainbow-Colored Reincarnation," on October 30, 2026. Harutoshi Fukui serves as chief director and series composer, with Akira Miyagawa among the composers, and Yuki Mori plays a major role in the new version.[7](https://img.sunrise-inc.co.jp/images/news/22413_6mclqnj1ediv_pdf.pdf) • [17](https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/lineup/%E3%83%A4%E3%83%9E%E3%83%88%E3%82%88%E6%B0%B8%E9%81%A0%E3%81%AB-rebel3199-%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%94%E7%AB%A0-%E7%99%BD%E7%86%B1%E3%81%AE%E9%8A%80%E6%B2%B3%E5%A4%A7%E6%88%A6/) • [18](https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000678.000029654.html) • [19](https://www.satelight.co.jp/works/%E3%83%A4%E3%83%9E%E3%83%88%E3%82%88%E6%B0%B8%E9%81%A0%E3%81%AB-rebel3199/) Fukui has described the 1980 film, with its Warp Dimension widening of the frame as the story advances, as astonishing even now, like an out-of-place artifact of hand-drawn animation.[20](https://www.monomagazine.com/81417)
## References
1. [ヤマトよ永遠に, KINENOTE film database](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19144)
2. [映画アニメ ヤマトよ永遠に (1980), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/90181)
3. [ヤマトよ永遠に, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018216)
4. [Alternate Pacific War Histories in Japanese Film and Anime, The Asia-Pacific Journal](https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-1702.pdf)
5. [The Anime #8: Press Conference, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/604/)
6. [ヤマト音楽集－ヤマトよ永遠に 作品紹介, ヤマト音楽会議](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-forever.html)
7. [『ヤマトよ永遠に REBEL3199』について, Bandai Namco Filmworks (Sunrise PDF)](https://img.sunrise-inc.co.jp/images/news/22413_6mclqnj1ediv_pdf.pdf)
8. [The Making of Be Forever Yamato, Part 4, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/585/)
9. [Vintage Report 25: April/May 1980, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/945a/)
10. [The Making of Be Forever Yamato, Part 7: Producer's Production Memoir, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/661/)
11. [ヤマトよ永遠に, 映画.com](https://secure.eiga.com/movie/34909/)
12. [Anime Feature on Space Cruiser Yamato, CosmoDNA (MZ36.pdf)](https://ourstarblazers.com/vault-images/oct16/MZ36.pdf)
13. [これが映画「ヤマトよ永遠に」ワープディメンション方式だね, 趣味を楽しもう!](https://aquarius-yamato.com/yamatonews/17962/)
14. [ヤマト・ミュージック・ビデオ・シリーズ, ヤマト音楽会議](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/mv-yamato.html)
15. [作品一覧, 宇宙戦艦ヤマト 総合情報サイト](https://keniti2026.github.io/yamato-info-site/works.html)
16. [Forever Being Yamato: Alternate Pacific War Histories in Japanese Film and Anime, White Rose Research Online](https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/131790/3/Jonathan%20Rayner%20SWIT%20revision%2006%202018.pdf)
17. [ヤマトよ永遠に REBEL3199 第五章 白熱の銀河大戦, 松竹](https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/lineup/%E3%83%A4%E3%83%9E%E3%83%88%E3%82%88%E6%B0%B8%E9%81%A0%E3%81%AB-rebel3199-%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%94%E7%AB%A0-%E7%99%BD%E7%86%B1%E3%81%AE%E9%8A%80%E6%B2%B3%E5%A4%A7%E6%88%A6/)
18. [『ヤマトよ永遠にREBEL3199 第六章 碧い迷宮』Blu-ray＆DVD発売, PR TIMES](https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000678.000029654.html)
19. [ヤマトよ永遠に REBEL3199, サテライト](https://www.satelight.co.jp/works/%E3%83%A4%E3%83%9E%E3%83%88%E3%82%88%E6%B0%B8%E9%81%A0%E3%81%AB-rebel3199/)
20. [福井晴敏総監督＆ヤマトナオミチ監督インタビュー, モノ・マガジンweb](https://www.monomagazine.com/81417)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Japanese anime features › Released 1932 to 1998*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license