Calling all Yamato (大和) and Musashi (武蔵) fans

[bucketfoot-al]

That is just ... so wrong ...

[Doug Hallet]

I'd imagine the distribution company that bought the rights to the film felt "Men of the Yamato" might be mistaken for a porn title.... then, they obviously contracted with a British graphics firm to do up a new cover and flipped through their stock photos for a pic of a battleship, those of Yamato not exactly being plentiful. Obviously not done by aficionados, it will be interesting to know how much money they'll actually make off the film. What I imagine we will now see are clips from the film incorporated into "History Channel" style documentaries, the same way you often see German films and made-for-TV shows crop up in similar productions.

[Atma]

Is that an Iowa class battleship in the cover ? That is so wrong !

[Doug Hallet]

Get your Yamato or Musashi logo T-shirt here:

http://gigan-t.com/gigant/001_category/t/sea/t_sea.html

Good luck negotiating overseas shipment, however....

[bucketfoot-al]

Doug - Any idea how to order? I know usually Japanese shops don't ship abroad, but its worth a shot I suppose - might be cheaper to just have it custom-made - I have that silhouette .... then again, "XL" in Japan probably wouldn't fit me ...

[Atma]

That t-shirts looks neat, indeed.

[Doug Hallet]

Tim Choi actually found this yesterday. I'll ask my wife to translate as far as shipping arrangements. But, most likely, its domestic-only. BTW, there is also a bath towel done up as the flight deck of Akagi in 1/72 scale. It's amazing some of the Geek stuff you can find in Japan - its worth a visit there just to go shopping in Akibahara and similar areas. There was a similar street in Osaka that I could have spend a week exploring and not seen everything.

BTW, I now have a Facebook page. You all are welcome to request an invite if you'd like.

[EJFoeth]

I've seen the movie and it rates between god-awful and absolutely terrible. Doesn't matter they have the Bismarck on the cover, they got more wrong that just that. And I don't mean that fictitious ladder on the conning tower!

[Timmy C]

Actually, I found it from MichelB's posting
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71206

[Doug Hallet]

Well, as my wife occasionally says, you're not Japanese, you can never understand. Japanese love syrupy melodramatic sad movies where everyone dies. From the perspective of a Westerner, they come across as mediocre, but the film gets played nationwide on Japanese TV every April 8th. Even the more nationalistic right-wing films like Aegis tend to follow that tack. Since there's very little heroic subject matter from WWII that resulted in victories, they tend to concentrate on loyalty to duty and dying there-of instead. You are never going to get a movie from Japan that looks at the war from a more balanced perspective, so take the movie for whatever value you derive. Not not of my favorites, but interesting none the less.

[EJFoeth]

Really? Try Grave of the fireflies...

I had several moments during the movie I was quite aware I wasn't Japanese so that had to be the reason the movie didn't make sense. Doesn't matter, I'm quite used to that having seen my fair dose of Japanese material (K?kaku Kid?tai, Kurosawa, Ghibli). And, it can always get so much worse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbupyeGlBPA

And I guess, that is still on topic?

[Timmy C]

I've seen the movie and it rates between god-awful and absolutely terrible. Doesn't matter they have the Bismarck on the cover, they got more wrong that just that. And I don't mean that fictitious ladder on the conning tower!

Tsk tsk..

[Doug Hallet]

Well, I think this depends on whether you like the love story in Titanic or not, taken in slightly different context. Otokotachi basically substitutes the same type of personal dramas into Japanese-centric subject matter. If you were looking for something basically following the history of the ship, you're going to be disappointed. As such, it comes across pretty derivative for a Western audience. The battle scenes are interesting, even if they are short and limited by the special effects budget.

[bucketfoot-al]

Really? Try Grave of the fireflies...

I had several moments during the movie I was quite aware I wasn't Japanese so that had to be the reason the movie didn't make sense. Doesn't matter, I'm quite used to that having seen my fair dose of Japanese material (K?kaku Kid?tai, Kurosawa, Ghibli). And, it can always get so much worse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbupyeGlBPA

And I guess, that is still on topic?

Thanks for the link. I'm gonna try to find the subtitle version. Much better looking CGI than Otokachi Yamato.

[bucketfoot-al]

The only problem with "Men of the Yamato" is that the CGI was on the thin side. The final battle sequences could have been quite panoramic, what with planes flying the length of the ship, different angles, etc, etc.

I understand that the budget wasn't there - it was still a very nice film.

In addition to the lack of enough good CGI, the one thing that really bugged me was that they did not show Yamato firing at Taffy 3 during the Leyte Gulf engagement. Trust me, when Rob Lundren finally finished his analysis and publishes his work, it will open your eyes. Yamato repeatedly hit practically every ship she aimed at, both with the primary and secondary batteries ....

[bucketfoot-al]

Well, as my wife occasionally says, you're not Japanese, you can never understand. Japanese love syrupy melodramatic sad movies where everyone dies. From the perspective of a Westerner, they come across as mediocre, but the film gets played nationwide on Japanese TV every April 8th. Even the more nationalistic right-wing films like Aegis tend to follow that tack. Since there's very little heroic subject matter from WWII that resulted in victories, they tend to concentrate on loyalty to duty and dying there-of instead. You are never going to get a movie from Japan that looks at the war from a more balanced perspective, so take the movie for whatever value you derive. Not not of my favorites, but interesting none the less.

Doug - one of the best ways to learn about Japanese culture for an outsider, I have found, is to watch Japanese anime. You watch enough of it, and attitudes, life lessons start to seep in ...

[Senkan]

Live action Space Battleship Yamato...most money spent to make a Japanese movie..whopping $20m. Already made $50m at the box office.

[Doug Hallet]

Trust me, Vlad, I get more lessons in Japanese culture than I care to think about some times...

[bucketfoot-al]

Trust me, Vlad, I get more lessons in Japanese culture than I care to think about some times...

*Ignoring the above comment so as not to risk stepping on someone's toes*

Do you speak any Japanese? As someone originally from abroad, I can tell you that no one can completely understand another culture or people unless they have command of the language.

From what I read about Japan and Japanese culture, I think this is probably doubly so for Nippon.

(Disclaimer: I have often said that if I could change just ONE thing about my life, I would wish to have been born Japanese. Because then I could have lived in a society that values order, honor and respect (as do I), plus I actually would have had a chance for a lifelong marriage where my wife respected me and acted like a wife.)

Let me know what your wife thinks of that last statement.

[Doug Hallet]

I don't speak Japanese but I can understand perhaps 10-20% of a spoken conversation, enough to understand the general gist of what's being discussed without knowing any of the details. Harmony ("wa"), homogeneity, and conformity are the most prized social characteristics. Loyalty and honor are more "samurai" traits followed by the military but idolized by the right wing in Japan, who think the general populace has gotten too soft and comfort-driven over the post war years. When you live with someone for 20 years, you tend to pick up on their philosophy and social mores regardless of the language barrier, so no, I don't necessarily think you need to know the language to understand another culture. Being in direct constant contact substitutes for that quite well.