# Final Yamato (宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編)
**Final Yamato** (宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編, *Uchū Senkan Yamato: Kanketsu-hen*) is a 1983 Japanese animated science fiction film, the fourth theatrical feature in the [Space Battleship Yamato](https://www.edgepedia.org/space-battleship-yamato) series, produced as the intended conclusion of the original saga. It premiered in Japan on March 19, 1983, distributed by Toei.[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) • [2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458) The story follows the starship Yamato and captain Susumu Kodai as they investigate a galactic catastrophe and confront the Dinguil Empire, which intends to abandon its own exploding planet and resettle Earth, flooding it with water from the passing planet Aquarius.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/final_yamato)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Japanese premiere | March 19, 1983, distributed by Toei[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) |
| Runtime | 150 minutes (35mm version); longer in the extended 70mm version[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140648) |
| Directors | Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Tomoharu Katsumata; supervision by Leiji Matsumoto, chief supervision by Toshio Masuda, chief director Takeshi Shirato[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458) • [1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) |
| Production | West Cape Corporation with Toei Animation (東映動画)[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) • [5](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0174169/c_txt%3Db?adid=XXX&cid=D31962&rid=SID0174169) |
| Music | Hiroshi Miyagawa and Kentaro Haneda; theme song "Ore to Yamato" performed by Isao Sasaki[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) |
| Box office | Distribution income of 1.01 billion yen in Japan[6](https://note.com/toei70th/n/n13e0629d7b7e) |
| 70mm version | Re-edited, 6-channel stereo release from November 5, 1983, adding 12 minutes of screen time[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/) • [8](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/021a/) |
| Series role | Closed the original Yamato saga; the next film, Resurrection (復活篇), did not appear until 2009[9](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018217) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film is set in the year 2203. A galactic nebula has appeared from a dimensional rift, and stars are colliding and collapsing across the galaxy's center, presenting Earth with a new threat. Susumu Kodai and the crew of the Yamato set out to investigate.[5](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0174169/c_txt%3Db?adid=XXX&cid=D31962&rid=SID0174169)
The investigation leads the crew to two linked crises. The water planet Aquarius, moving along a vast elliptical orbit, is approaching Earth, and its proximity threatens large-scale flooding. At the same time, the Yamato discovers the planet Dinguil, devastated by the same galactic disturbances, and is attacked by the Dinguil Empire's great mobile fleet. The empire's plan is to abandon its ruined world and take Earth as a replacement home, using Aquarius's water.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/final_yamato) With Earth unable to save itself, the damaged Yamato and the gravely wounded Kodai fight the empire in what the film frames as the ship's last battle.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458) • [5](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0174169/c_txt%3Db?adid=XXX&cid=D31962&rid=SID0174169)
The cast reunited the series' principal voice actors: Kei Tomiyama as Susumu Kodai, Harumi Ichiryusai (Asamizu Yōko) as Yuki Mori, Gorō Naya as Juzo Okita, and Isao Sasaki as Daisuke Shima, with Tatsuya Nakadai as narrator and Taro Ishida as the Dinguil supreme president Lugal.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/final_yamato)
## Production
Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki drove the project through planning, original story, script, direction, and production, and the film received more media coverage than any of its predecessors.[10](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/51/) The screenplay was a joint effort credited to Hideaki Yamamoto, Kazuo Kasahara, Eiichi Yamamoto, Toshio Masuda, and Nishizaki, with [Leiji Matsumoto](https://www.edgepedia.org/leiji-matsumoto) credited on the original story and design.[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) • [2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458)
**A troubled schedule.** The lead-up to the premiere was longer than that of any previous Yamato film. Originally promised for the summer of 1982, the production took far longer than expected to settle its many story ideas, and numerous changes were made after expensive artwork had already been created, a rarity in Japanese animation schedules of the time.[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/) Chief director Takeshi Shirato later said the script was not concrete when production actually started, compared with the earlier films *Farewell to Yamato* and *Be Forever Yamato*.[11](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/54/) Changes were still being made on March 18, 1983, the day before the premiere, and theater owners reportedly received the film only minutes before it had to be spooled up.[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/) Nishizaki, in a 1983 essay, said the crew stayed at Toei Studio's sound lab for the eleven days before release perfecting the final scenes of Kodai and Yuki, and that he chose late completion over delivering a bad movie, accepting that more than 30 theaters could not debut the film on time.[10](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/51/)
Matsumoto said the decision to sink the Yamato was made from the very beginning, and that he wanted a graceful final scene for Yuki and Kodai and a fresh ending for the series.[11](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/54/) The music, by Hiroshi Miyagawa with Kentaro Haneda, incorporated classical elements chosen for the film's large scale, and the score was written to express themes the production identified as "Space Battleship Yamato," the battleship Yamato, the [Yamato people](https://www.edgepedia.org/yamato-people), the origin of humanity, and the origin of life.[12](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-final.html)
## Release and versions
The film opened on March 19, 1983, in a 35mm version running 150 minutes, in color with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.[1](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292) Even after opening, Nishizaki was not finished: unhappy with the epilogue he had been forced to deliver, he checked early screenings and ordered it eliminated from all further showings, so only the first audiences saw it.[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/)
**The 70mm version.** Nishizaki had long wanted a Yamato film shown in deluxe 70mm with 6-channel stereo. After the first run closed on April 29, 1983, he revised many scenes, enhanced others, added new material, and completely overhauled the epilogue, adding 12 minutes of screen time. The upgraded film premiered on November 5, 1983, in three Tokyo theaters through November 13, then opened in a single Osaka theater on November 20. Only a small number of prints existed, limited by the scarcity of theaters able to meet the 6-channel stereo requirement, and the 70mm version became the standard for later home video releases.[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/) • [8](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/021a/) Its debut on home video actually happened a week before the first theatrical run ended.[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/)
**Multiple endings.** At least three different endings exist. The theatrical ending closes just after the Yamato sinks beneath the waves; a second, ten-minute "curtain call" segment with image songs and narration by Tatsuya Nakadai appears on the American release; and a third, more controversial ending in which Kodai and Yuki marry was rescued from the cutting-room floor for a special-edition Japanese laserdisc.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140648)
In May 1984 the film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival under the international title *Space Cruiser Yamato, The Final Battle*, promoted with a custom English-language press kit; it did not result in a sale.[13](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/131b/)
## Box office and reception
The film was a commercial hit, earning 1.01 billion yen in distribution income for Toei. It opened the same day as *Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space*, which earned 1.2 billion yen, so the 1983 anime box-office contest went to Gundam.[6](https://note.com/toei70th/n/n13e0629d7b7e) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer score from fewer than 50 ratings, with an audience rating of 4.6 out of 5.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/final_yamato)
The film's length set records. The CosmoDNA archive describes it as the longest animated film ever made.[7](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/) IMDb, by contrast, lists the 163-minute extended version as the second longest animated film ever produced, after the extended version of *In This Corner of the World* (2016) at 168 minutes.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140648)
## Place in the series
Final Yamato was produced as the final chapter of the Yamato series, and the saga was halted with this fourth theatrical work after Nishizaki's later ventures failed commercially.[5](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0174169/c_txt%3Db?adid=XXX&cid=D31962&rid=SID0174169) • [6](https://note.com/toei70th/n/n13e0629d7b7e) • [14](https://www.danjarianimanga.com/yamatocopyright2/) The promise did not hold permanently: a fifth film, *Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection* (宇宙戦艦ヤマト 復活篇), arrived 26 years later, in 2009.[9](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018217) The gap between the two films has since been filled in official fiction: KADOKAWA publishes the novel series *Yamato: Reimei-hen* (黎明篇) by Hideki Oka, described as the missing link connecting *Kanketsu-hen* and *Fukkatsu-hen*, with its third and final part scheduled for release on November 6, 2026.[15](https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/product/322607001121/)
For the series' 50th anniversary of television broadcast, the film was included in streaming lineups on Amazon Prime Video, FOD, and U-NEXT beginning in 2025, and an HD remastered version has circulated through the Star Channel service.[16](https://tfc-chara.net/yamato50th/news/news-24.html) • [17](https://limited.star-ch.jp/yamato/)
## References
1. [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17292)
2. [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結篇, allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/148458)
3. [Space Battleship Yamato: The Final Voyage, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/final_yamato)
4. [Final Yamato (1983), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140648)
5. [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編, U-NEXT](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0174169/c_txt%3Db?adid=XXX&cid=D31962&rid=SID0174169)
6. [創立70周年特別寄稿『東映行進曲』第5章, note.com](https://note.com/toei70th/n/n13e0629d7b7e)
7. [Final Yamato Videography, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/232/)
8. [The Final Yamato Time Machine, Grand Finale, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/021a/)
9. [宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/018217)
10. [Final Yamato: The Producer's Message, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/51/)
11. [The Final Yamato Staff Speaks, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/54/)
12. [ヤマト音楽集－宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編 作品紹介](https://yamato-music.yamatokaigi.com/yamato-final.html)
13. [Yamato Year 1984, CosmoDNA](https://www.ourstarblazers.com/vault/131b/)
14. [「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」著作権問題について振り返る②, Back to the 昭和50年's](https://www.danjarianimanga.com/yamatocopyright2/)
15. [「宇宙戦艦ヤマト 黎明篇 第3部 ツァラトゥストラ・ゾーン」, KADOKAWA](https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/product/322607001121/)
16. [「宇宙戦艦ヤマト」50周年記念 特設サイト 新着情報](https://tfc-chara.net/yamato50th/news/news-24.html)
17. [『宇宙戦艦ヤマト』放送50周年記念特集, スターチャンネル](https://limited.star-ch.jp/yamato/)
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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 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 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