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Yamato Resurrection's BD/DVD to Include Both Endings
posted on by Egan Loo
On June 4, Sedic International and Bandai Visual will release the Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection (Uchū Senkan Yamato Fukkatsu-hen) film on Japanese Blu-ray Disc and DVD with both endings that were animated.
The animators of the space opera sequel created two different endings, and 4,000 viewers at a preview screening voted on which ending would be used in the final theatrical print. According to a member of the production team, the difference between the two versions is that one has the title spaceship Yamato defying fate, while the other has Yamato accepting fate. Until the Blu-ray and DVD versions ship, no one in the public besides the preview screening audience has had a chance to see both endings.
The Blu-ray version will take advantage of the format's capabilities to allow the viewer to seamlessly branch between either ending during playback. While the DVD format also supports seamless branching, the Yamato Resurrection DVD will only include the second ending as a bonus extra. The UMD version of the home video release will only contain the theatrical ending. All versions will bundle a strip of film that was actually used during the movie's theatrical run.
The original 1974 anime recounted the voyages of the World War II battleship Yamato after it is resurrected as a space-faring ship to fend off alien threats to Earth. The new film sequel follows the original hero Susumu Kodai, his wife (and original Yamato heroine) Yuki, and their daughter Miyuki. The family leads a fleet from Earth after the planet is threatened by a black hole. Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki is overseeing the new anime film, but not co-creator Leiji Matsumoto.
A separate live-action film remake by director Takashi Yamazaki (Returner, Always: Sunset on Third Street, Ballad) will feature SMAP band member Takuya Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle's Howl) and Meisa Kuroki (Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan's Vexille, Crows Zero's Luca) as the main characters Susumu and Yuki, respectively. The live-action film will open this December.
Source: AV Watch
Image © 2009 Yoshinobu Nishizaki
