Sometimes being a fan of the Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers remake series is suffering. On the one hand, it's a stunningly successful update of the 1970s/80s original, one of the most glossy modern sci-fi anime in existence; on the other, the lengthy wait between releases is nothing short of painful. Because of its unusual theatrical-first release strategy, every 26-episode season is released into Japanese movie theatres in small chunks of two to four episodes every six months. While we received REBEL 3199's third chapter on April 11th, 2025, chapter four won't grace our screens until October 10th. I suppose the show proves its worth when the worst criticism I have is that I can't devour the whole thing quickly enough. REBEL 3199 Chapter 3: Ultramarine Asteroid, comprising episodes seven to ten, only continues to cement this season's claim to be the best Yamato since 2199, the remake's first season.

Perhaps even more so than any previous remake Yamato, REBEL 3199's story is complex and multifaceted, with its huge cast split across the cosmos. We follow not only Kodai and crew on the Yamato on their latest desperate journey, but several groups of characters back on Earth who react to the rapid sociological changes there with varying degrees of militance, horror, or acceptance. Claiming to be humanity's digitally augmented post-human descendants from a millennium in the future, the creepy Dezarium attempt to integrate themselves into 2207 human culture.

Much like most human characters, the viewer isn't entirely sure whether to take the Dezarium at their word regarding their origins. It certainly seems like individual Dezarium believe the story they spout, but as this chapter ably illustrates, it's almost impossible for them to prove their claims. A group of insurgents successfully attacks the Grand Reverse, the Dezarium's imposing base, and threatens to destroy Van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting to force a time paradox. (The Dezarium provides possibly shaky evidence that the painting still exists in their future.)

While I can't possibly condone the flagrant destruction of such historically significant art, it's obvious what drives the characters to such lengths. The very existence of the Dezarium is some dark Black Mirror-esque stuff, with their ability to remotely switch bodies, and their universal adoption of mind-synchronization devices that ensure they all adhere to their ruling AI hivemind's wishes. Is every human being destined to have their mind wiped, to become nothing but spare terminals for Dezarium mind-downloads? Even when faced with public exposure of this plot, the slippery Dezarium leader Skaldart manages to twist it to his advantage. In a sadly relevant, modern twist, he uses the politics of grievance, plus a false flag bombing incident, to shift the public's ire towards the blue-skinned Gamilans in their midst, igniting a flashfire of racial tension.

The Dezarium is hardly a monolith of insidious evil. As part of their plans for social integration, eight hundred children are sent to register at elementary schools in the city surrounding the Grand Reverse. Among them is Frulu, a sweet, if slightly blank-expressioned girl who befriends Tsubasa Kato, son of former Yamato nurse Makoto Kato and deceased officer Saburo Kato. Frulu stands at the school gates handing out those small, round, red “comm medals,” informing the human children that if they wear them, they will be able to hear the voice of “Mother,” and they'll never be lonely again. Perhaps understandably, the other kids are freaked out, and some bully her. When Tsubasa comes to her rescue, she begins to form an interest in him. That starts to humanize her robotic behaviour. The subsequent softening of her schoolmates' attitude to her then leads to scores of them accepting the “gift” of the sinister control devices…

I welcome REBEL 3199's subtle and complex thought experiment when it comes to Tsubasa and Frulu. She seems like any other kid, apart from her terrifyingly efficient digital memorization of entire books and photocopier-like artistic abilities. Her father seems like he genuinely cares for his daughter, and they spend time appreciating the natural joys of planet Earth, such as paddling in the sea. She even learns to draw from her heart like a human (let's hope she doesn't turn out to be merely a humanoid form of soulless image-generation AI). I can't help but think that Mother's intention for the Dezarium children is cynically manipulative, while the children themselves are but innocent pawns.

Away from Earth, the Yamato speeds towards the nearest subspace gate to take a shortcut across the galaxy. Their intended destination is the “Spacetime Connection Point” at the galaxy's center, the place where the Dezarium claim they gained access to 2207's space and time. Unfortunately, the direct route would take them through the extensive territory of the Bolar Federation, a race currently at war with the United Galman-Gamilas civilization. Unfortunately, they're doggedly pursued by Dezarium Captain Ranbel and his invisible Battleship Grodez. He's accompanied by Alphon, who remotely controls a secondary body on board, while his primary body is on Earth, where he imprisons Yuki Mori.

As is par for the course with the Yamato remake, the extended space battles between Yamato and its enemies are extremely tense and exciting, especially when paired with ultra-colorful space scenery like twin white dwarf stars surrounded by a spiral of material from collapsed gas giants, or a massive star surrounded by a sea of ultra-dense liquid-like plasma. With tactics constantly changing and new environmental complications frequently arising, no two Yamato battles are ever quite the same. Yamato's enemies are usually intelligent and sneaky, though they sometimes let pride or vain superiority get the better of them. The Yamato is the eternally plucky underdog, with commanders able to turn the tide of even the most hopeless battles. I love this kind of dramatic storytelling, no matter how ridiculous it gets, with massive planet-destroying neon space lasers and missiles firing in all directions.

Surprisingly, nominal main protagonist Susumu Kodai barely appears in these four episodes, save for a few scenes of him glowering darkly, and one failed attempt to rescue his Iscandar-born niece, Sasha. Similarly, his love interest Yuki Mori takes a back seat, her only role is to consider assassinating Alphon while his mind is elsewhere… ultimately deciding not to murder a man who can't defend himself. That leaves us with the rest of the dizzyingly massive cast to carry the story, and it works. There's a major focus on short-tempered Domon and his tortured love-hate relationship with college friend Ageha. Am I the only one who finds Domon's “cute little flesh fang” distracting?

We leave off with the promise of further political upheaval, as the Yamato heads towards Galman-Gamilas at the behest of everyone's favorite bad boy leader, Desler. With tensions between Earth, Dezarium, Galman-Gamilas, and the Bolar Federation reaching a boiling point, it seems unlikely that the Yamato's journey to the galaxy's center is about to get any easier. What on Earth is going on with that older version of Sasha? It's going to be a long six months.