For those out of the loop, there is a GOAT anime/cartoon from the 70s called "Star Blazers." It had a plot-driven story with strong characters set in the space opera genre. Truly, it still holds up well today. It also has one of the best/catchiest openings ever for any tv show:
I learned recently there was a remake of the series in 2012-2013, although criminally it does not seem to have an English version of the opening theme. Those who have seen it, how well does the remake hold up? Is it worth investing the time to watch it?
For those out of the loop, there is a GOAT anime/cartoon from the 70s called "Star Blazers." It had a plot-driven story with strong characters set in the space opera genre. Truly, it still holds up well today. It also has one of the best/catchiest openings ever for any tv show:
I learned recently there was a remake of the series in 2012-2013, although criminally it does not seem to have an English version of the opening theme. Those who have seen it, how well does the remake hold up? Is it worth investing the time to watch it?
I would argue yes. It isn't a STRAIGHT remake, it attempts to make some minor changes to modernize it a bit and flesh out the empire more. Some character designs are different. Overall it's a good watch if you have the time.
But for me, the gorgeous art style and animation was the real draw. I'm not great at talking about this stuff but I LOVED the character designs, the way things like eyes/hair are drawn and animated, etc in this show. Combine the visual aesthetic with that amazing soundtrack and it certainly wasn't a chore to finish... for me.
But for me, the gorgeous art style and animation was the real draw. I'm not great at talking about this stuff but I LOVED the character designs, the way things like eyes/hair are drawn and animated, etc in this show. Combine the visual aesthetic with that amazing soundtrack and it certainly wasn't a chore to finish... for me.
Yeah the show's look was really good and consistant.
I still need to finish Season 2 (was watching the really good dub which hadn't finished S2 at the time but pretty sure it's done now), but all of Season 1 was amazing and thus far Season 2 is also really good.
I would argue yes. It isn't a STRAIGHT remake, it attempts to make some minor changes to modernize it a bit and flesh out the empire more. Some character designs are different. Overall it's a good watch if you have the time.
But for me, the gorgeous art style and animation was the real draw. I'm not great at talking about this stuff but I LOVED the character designs, the way things like eyes/hair are drawn and animated, etc in this show. Combine the visual aesthetic with that amazing soundtrack and it certainly wasn't a chore to finish... for me.
Thanks for the insight. I've heard the remake has some trouble with fan service and female characters. How bad is the fan service and portrayal of the female characters? I noticed that in the remake they seem to have gone with skin tight suits for the women instead of the unisex uniform style from the original.
The remake is wonderful, one of the best space operas Ive ever seen. Its absolutely gorgeous, the space battles are incredibly intense and I have no idea if this is the same as it was in the original but the location of Iscandar absolutely blew me away, it was a great twist.
Thanks for the insight. I've heard the remake has some trouble with fan service and female characters. How bad is the fan service and portrayal of the female characters? I noticed that in the remake they seem to have gone with skin tight suits for the women instead of the unisex uniform style from the original.
The bluehaired science officer gets an arc halfway through the show but other than that if your name isnt Yuki you dont get a lot of screen time. Theyre portrayed as competent but the plot doesnt demand a whole lot from them. And yea, they get skintight uniforms that get gazed at a decent amount.
Never watched the original, but the reboot... isn't good. Well, for me, obviously. What annoyed me the most was the sexism: the terrible uniforms the female members wore and the lack of a strong female lead. Although, being honest, none of the characters were interesting, except the captain.
Also, I don't remember too much about the story, and I watched it some months ago.
While the issues mentioned in post #8 are legit i quite liked the reboot and made me feel it respected the spirit of the original where as a kid in the '80s was waiting impatiently to watch the weekly episode.
Edit: The Trap on all sides/The Sun sets on Pluto and The Wolf from another dimension (excellent ideas here) were some of my favorite episodes.
Edit 2: The movie hade a great 1st half but the second half had its issues and ruined my experience.
Thanks for the insight. I've heard the remake has some trouble with fan service and female characters. How bad is the fan service and portrayal of the female characters? I noticed that in the remake they seem to have gone with skin tight suits for the women instead of the unisex uniform style from the original.
I've watched about half of the first season of the remake, and this is the one flaw of the show. I really enjoy it otherwise.
The portrayal of the women isn't bad, per se (they are competent officers/pilots, sometimes better than the men) but they're faced with sexism and harassment pretty frequently, and the show presents these elements without criticism.
2199 is amazing. If you loved star blazers, you'll love 2199. It's so much better than season 1 of Star Blazers. Not as good as season 2, but season 2 is just incredibly (2202 is good, but since i'm watching it piece meal, instead of all at once, it's a bit harder to follow.)
If you guys think the women in 2199 had to deal with sexism and harassment, you should see the original yamato, where Yuki got harassed by analyser in probably every episode. That was fortunately cut out of Star Blazers.
If you guys think the women in 2199 had to deal with sexism and harassment, you should see the original yamato, where Yuki got harassed by analyser in probably every episode. That was fortunately cut out of Star Blazers.
To add, at least other female crewmembers are present on the ship whereas they simply stop appearing after a certain point in the original series for whatever reason.
Yamato 2199 is a great show. It's a good example of how to properly update an aging classic for the modern era. Most of the staff's choices and expansions were well-conceived, solving a few problems from the original story in the process.
I had only seen the fansubs before, but I've just bought the new BD sets after years of wanting to own a complete physical copy and can't wait to rewatch it later this year. I haven't checked out the ongoing sequel though. I've heard mixed things, but I'll get around to that.
Thanks for the insight. I've heard the remake has some trouble with fan service and female characters. How bad is the fan service and portrayal of the female characters? I noticed that in the remake they seem to have gone with skin tight suits for the women instead of the unisex uniform style from the original.
I felt the written portrayal of the female characters was pretty good, especially for a show based on something from the 1970's. The uniforms for them are quite bad though, they're basically painted on, and you can almost sense a tug of war between staffers since the best female character gets to wear a jacket. And there's one shot that I recall where the camera effectively gets shoved in a woman's butt for a second like it was Strike Witches.
Overall I thought 2199 was absolutely fantastic and one of the best anime I've seen in a long time. If it weren't for the staff's heavy breathing over the women's uniforms it'd be an all-time classic. It's a sensible remake with enough changed to make it feel fresh, but I felt like nearly all the plot changes I noticed were marked improvements. The only thing I missed from the original was
the scene where one of the crew flips out as the Yamato leaves communication range with Earth, tries to steal a ship, and ends up grabbing a space suit and starts "walking" home.
.
From what I recall, the original was created with an eye towards working through trauma from WWII and it's difficult to view the remake without taking into account the geopolitical issues of the era the remake was created in. Without any staffers that like to collect howitzer shells working on the remake, I think it comes off even better than the original in most, if not all, ways. I don't remember the original well enough to say if there's some criticism of the original, and if you take too simplistic a view of what the aliens and humans represent it could get ugly, but that's probably typical of most things. I'm dancing around the details to avoid spoilers, but I guess I can sum it up by saying I feel there's a lot more soul searching than finger pointing.
I will say in terms of the female characters. Yeah, they really shouldn't have used the original designs. It really did not help. Overall it's a good remake but maybe a third remake will rectify those mistakes haha.
It was on VRV but sadly due to the Funimation/Crunchyroll falling out it's been removed from there. I think you can only watch it on Funimations own service. Though I swore they said something about a Hulu deal so it might be on there eventually.
It was on VRV but sadly due to the Funimation/Crunchyroll falling out it's been removed from there. I think you can only watch it on Funimations own service. Though I swore they said something about a Hulu deal so it might be on there eventually.
Update: December 6, 4 pm ET: Edited to clarify that Hulu's licensing arrangement with Funimation does not extend to Funimation's entire 600 title library.
Thanks for the insight. I've heard the remake has some trouble with fan service and female characters. How bad is the fan service and portrayal of the female characters? I noticed that in the remake they seem to have gone with skin tight suits for the women instead of the unisex uniform style from the original.
It's not as bad as it could be, but it's worse than I want it to be. The women do wear bodysuits instead of the traditional uniforms, and they aren't free from male gaze type shots. I don't recall any partial nudity or explicit fanservice but don't take that to mean there isn't any, I just may not remember it.
Yuki is still the only female character to really get a huge arc and a ton of screentime, but there are at least a few more notable female characters than the original who all have something to do. In particular, Akira is a woman this time around and is more prevalent in the first season than before, and there's a recurring female Gamillas pilot who shows up and gets to play more than just the "token sympathetic enemy" character.
I'll basically say it does better than anime broadly tends to do nowadays, but still leaves room for improvement.
To add, at least other female crewmembers are present on the ship whereas they simply stop appearing after a certain point in the original series for whatever reason.
That's also a good point. I think Yuki and yamamato? are fairly strong female characters. At least Yuki doesn't have to be the nurse, and radar officer anymore, because she's the only woman on board.
Yamato 2199 is a great show. It's a good example of how to properly update an aging classic for the modern era. Most of the staff's choices and expansions were well-conceived, solving a few problems from the original story in the process.
I had only seen the fansubs before, but I've just bought the new BD sets after years of wanting to own a complete physical copy and can't wait to rewatch it later this year. I haven't checked out the ongoing sequel though. I've heard mixed things, but I'll get around to that.
