Guys, I’m so glad that Yamato 2202 is going to appear soon. I loved this show, flaws and all, and I want MORE. NOW. This is the first time in a while where I am going to be given something more immediately. For something as simple as a space journey from the Earth to a planet in the far reaches of the universe and back, there is so much complexity to it all. I know that as a person that loves space operas in general, this show already appealed to me on a lot of levels. My expectations were on a decent level already, but I was completely blown away from this show. I wasn’t expecting much from Studio Xebec, because they aren’t one of those studios that you automatically think of when it comes to high production values. Holy crap does this show look good. Because of this show, I expected a lot of things from Fullmetal Panic: Invisible Victory and I have not been let down there either. Ok, now I am getting off topic. Let’s focus on this episode first before I talk about the show as a whole.
This episode as a whole:
No spoiler warning for this episode. This is the final episode, what else am I supposed to say here? I mean, this is the episode where the Yamato makes it back to Earth with the Cosmo Reverser and fixes the Earth. More things happen then that too, but that’s the most important thing. No, this is the final episode. No spoiler warnings here. It’s too late for all of you that don’t want to be spoiled, you should have watched this show by now. All your fault.
(No photos this time. Sorry guys, I didn’t have the mental toughness to watch this episode again and gather screen shots.)
The focus of this episode was centered around Yuki’s fate and Kodai’s feelings toward her. She’s not in a good condition at all. Because of her failing health, they try to put Yuki in the same stasis pod that Yurisha was in throughout most of the show with hope that the facilities on Earth could help her. This is the reason why Kodai was in a forced happy mood and egging the nurse and the pilot captain in having a public marriage. There was such a false happiness during the wedding scene considering that Yuki technically died before it and you can feel that. It’s very genuine. As whole though, I’m glad that couple is getting married and having a child, because we need some lightness in this episode. The rest of it was centered around heavy emotional feels. That Yuki scene was so saddening.
Let’s talk about why Yuki was only technically died. Through out this episode, the XO and Nimi discovered the true nature of the Cosmo Reverser Device. It has a human consciousness with the mind of Mamoru Kodai. During a scene that Kodai was revealing his true emotions to Yuki’s dead corpse, Mamoru’s consciousness listened to his brother’s heart, activated the device, and brought Yuki back to life. That’s good for Kodai, because he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, the rest of humanity may be doomed because Mamoru’s consciousness disappeared after one use. Well, you remember who was dying throughout the series, right? Captain Okita finally passed away when he saw Earth again, which resulted in the Cosmo Reverser activating and cleaning up the Earth. What a beautiful send off to such a great character. Yamato 2202 now please.
The Show as a Whole
I’m back to this now. Guys, this ride was incredible. I don’t feel like I need to talk about this plot, because I covered each episode on a plot and character level. You can read each one of those right here with this link as much as you want. Let’s talk about Yamato 2199’s strengths and weaknesses.
So once again, it’s strengths. Yamato 2199 is fantastic at adding more complications to it’s plots. This sounds like a bad thing at first but let me tell you how it’s the opposite. The small five second character moments that are thrown in between one plot point to another help flesh out characters more than just being boring villains and characters. The best episodes of 2199 have these character interactions mixed in with other character moments that lead in to a plot happening. This may not make sense to you if you haven’t watched the show, but believe me. Putting more character into anything without ruining the flow is some of the best writing that you can get. Especially when the journey itself is filled in with a lot more complications to it to.
I love the political nature of 2199 compared to the original. The original series was just “we need to get this device from this planet no matter what” with no build up toward the Gamilas villains besides them being cocky about defeating one ship. Here, the problems are more complicated. The Gamilas side is fleshed out more to a point where you almost want to see some of their officers win, the real reason the Yamato-Gamilas war happened is far more complicated then “the empire is attacking”, how the Yamato plan wasn’t fully accepted by every Earth citizen is an interesting twist, and I can keep going here. There are so many things going on here that just adds to the experience as a whole. Still, all of this is a double-sided coin.
With the added bits of complicated elements, not everything gets focused on. Let’s talk Shima, Kodai’s best friend, as an example here. His focus goes on and off throughout this show. Shima only gets a focus when the show needs him to have a focus. The show is filled with so many details that not all of them can be put in the forefront. The result of that can be disappointing, because Yamato 2199 bites off more than it can chew at times. Then there are the episodes that try to do something different other than space poilitics and stuff. Some of them work, like the episode focused around Analyzer and a Gamiloid was great and emotional, but I can’t say the same for every other episode that tried to do it as well. Still, I am glad that this show would rather try some experimental things then just go with the flow all the time. Makes it more exciting that way.
Conclusion
I want to thank DerekL for allowing me to join him on this journey and all of you for reading what I write about this show. If you want to read his material, click this link. Our insights sometimes click and sometimes don’t, but they are always valid and interesting to read.
Even if you haven’t watched this show along with me, that’s fine. I hope I got you intrigued enough into watching this show with everything that I had to say about it. I don’t think that I am going to do an episode review for 2202 in a straight forward way, but I may have something else planned. You will find out all about this next week. Until then WATCH 2199! It’s REALLY GOOD.
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