A novelization of the Space Battleship Yamato "Iscandar" series (first season) was published in 1974 and 1975, written by Arashi Ishizu from a draft by Aritsune Toyota (and of course adapted from concepts introduced by producer Nishizaki Yoshinobu and director Leiji Matsumoto, amongst others). Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Tim Eldred at CosmoDNA, the entire novel can be read here in an English translation. Below is a brief synopsis of the novel (originally published in two volumes), followed by a more detailed breakdown of the book's chapters. It's interesting to note how the premise and plot differs dramatically from what was eventually developed for the TV series. In general, the tone is much grimmer and the ending much more pyrrhic.
Brief Synopsis: In 2199, a mysterious alien fleet destroys all of Earth's space warcraft and lays waste to the surface of Earth with radiation bombs. However, an envoy from the planet Iscandar manages to deliver a message capsule containing information about the Gamilas invaders. Although the envoy dies from her journey, a team of scientists and soldiers led by Captain Okita use salvaged Iscandarian technology to launch from Earth in a refurbished-for-space WWII battleship named the Yamato to reach Iscandar and seek out additional help. Although the Gamilas repeatedly attack the Yamato on its journey, the mysterious Captain Harlock (who pilots his own star craft the Phantom) sometimes appears to assist.
Eventually, after many battles and the loss of almost its entire complement, the Yamato reaches Iscandar and learns from the lone planetary computer that the Gamilas are a creation of the Iscandarians which had gone out of control. The surviving crew are also informed that humanity's only path to survival is a form of genetic modification which will allow them to withstand the irreversible radiation damage done to the Earth. When the Gamilas stage a final attack on the humans on Iscandar, Okita and Harlock destroy the Iscandar computer by detonating the Yamato in a suicide attack, remotely-deactivating the Gamilas and allowing the two surviving crew members (Kodai and his lover Yuki) to return to Earth with the genetic modification technology.
A more detailed chapter-by-chapter breakdown follows.
Book 1: The Fall of Earth
- Mysterious Invaders: On January 1, 2199, Pluto base is destroyed by unknown forces. Earth's ruling body, the Republic Federation, sends the space warship Torrante to Pluto to investigate, but contact is soon lost with the ship. When bases on Uranus and Neptune are also destroyed, the superpower nations "A" and "B" begin preparations to defend their inner planet bases. In the meantime, the Japanese representative to the Republic Federation proposes a global alliance named the Earth Defense Force.
- Desperate Struggle of Mimas: A space fleet commanded by Nation A’s General Grudai intercepts the invasion force at Saturn but is soon caught in an ambush. When Grudai's fleet tries to escape, the only path available is barred by space mines. The fleet is eventually destroyed in a last futile suicide attack against the Gamilas armada. In short order, Nation B’s force at Jupiter is also destroyed. Back on Earth, a physicist named Juuzo Okita is made leader of the new Earth Defense Force.
- Mars War: A fleet made up of ships from all over the world gathers at Mars to confront the alien invaders. When the enemy fleet arrives, Okita is stunned to find out that his fleet is greatly outnumbered. A diversionary tactic and surprise attack strategy is adopted, but when the enemy craft are fired upon, they take no damage whatsoever. With the Earth fleet soon taking massive losses, Okita orders a full retreat. However, Captain Mamoru Kodai of the God Wind, refuses to retreat. After putting his younger brother Susumu and his friend Daisuke Shima in an escape craft, he has the God Wind remains behind to fight to the last.
- Strange Spaceship: On the way back to Earth in their shuttle, Kodai and Shima decide to follow a mysterious object as it heads towards the moon. They soon discover that the object is a small ship, which has crashed and killed its only occupant, a beautiful woman. They can only retrieve a strange capsule from her body.
- Earth Crisis: The alien invaders reach Earth and begin dropping bombs which cause the surface to become irradiated. In an underground base under Tokyo, the capsule obtained by Kodai and Shima on the moon is examined. It reveals a message from Starsha of Iscandar, promising that her sister Sasha (the occupant of the spacecraft) will help Earth survive the Gamilas aliens’ attack. Unfortunately, with Sasha dead, Okita realizes that they must make a trip to Iscandar themselves to seek help directly from Starsha. He orders his staff to study the Iscandarian ship in order to reverse-engineer the technology necessary for such a long trip.
- Phantom Battleship: While Kodai and Shima lead a team to the moon to obtain the advanced propulsion technology from the Iscandarian ship, Okita brings the surviving Japanese cabinet ministers to his secret underwater base near Gaja Island, where he reveals the WWII battleship the Yamato. He explains that he had once planned to use the Yamato as a possible refurbished spaceship in order to carry out experiments on how space might affect human biology, but now it can be used as a vessel to travel to Iscandar.
- Super Engine, Warp: In a command meeting, chief engineer Tokugawa explains that the Iscandarian ship uses a form of warp technology to leap great distances. Another scientist named Sanada also proposes that a “Wave Motion Gun” weapon could be developed through the Iscandarian warp technology.
- Space Battleship Yamato: Assigned to organize the ship’s crew, Kodai and Shima recruit Doctor Sado and the prime minister’s granddaughter, Yuki Mori, who looks exactly like Sasha of Iscandar. Meanwhile Okita’s scientists calculate the general location of Iscandar, based on Starsha’s capsule message. It turns out that Iscandar (and it’s sister planet Gamilas) are in the Salezar binary planet system. The Yamato quickly prepares to take off from its underwater dome.
- Yamato Departs: Almost immediately after the Yamato takes to the sky, a Gamilas fleet begins approaching. Unable to warp while still in the solar system, Okita orders a sub-light course to be set for the asteroid belt beyond Mars. After a large asteroid is split up by the Yamato's shock cannons, the Yamato’s hull is magnetized so that the ship is covered by asteroid rock fragments. Thus camouflaged, the Yamato then heads into a pack of Gamilas ships and then releases the magnetic hold on the rock fragments, causing them to hurl outwards. This causes several Gamilas ships to crash into each other and explode. The Wave Motion Gun is then used to destroy the rest of the Gamilas fleet. One surviving Gamilas soldier is retrieved from the wreckage to be interrogated. Just before he dies from his wounds, he rants about their ruler, Leader Desslar.
- Graveyard of Space: During the voyage, Yuki and Kodai gradually form a bond. After emerging from the Solar System, the Yamato performs its first warp, but emerges near a spaceship graveyard and is caught in a space “sargasso”, filled with wrecks and ice lumps. A scout ship is launched to investigate the space wrecks. At the same time, a strange non-Gamilas ship appears and lures the Yamato away from the drifting wreckage. In short order, a Gamilas booby-trap causes a massive explosion, destroying the scout ship. Okita wonders if the strange ship had purposely saved the Yamato from being caught in the explosion.
- Mystery of the Spaceship Phantom: After performing a warp of 1000 light years, the Yamato is caught in a Gamilas-directed meteorite storm. After dodging the meteor swarm, the Yamato runs into a massive fleet of Gamilas ships. The mystery ship from before reappears and attacks the Gamilas fleet from behind. It reaches the Yamato and tells the crew to follow it (the Phantom) to safety. The Phantom leads the Yamato to safety through a black hole. Their savior identifies himself as Captain Harlock and then disappears.
Book 2: The Revival of Earth
- The First Fierce Battle: On Gamilas, Desslar is briefed on the Yamato’s progress, but he dismisses them as an inconsequential threat. On the Yamato, Shima learns that Yuji has decided to turn down his marriage proposal. During a confrontation with Gamilas fighters, a distraught Shima disobeys orders and takes Kodai’s place in his combat fighter. Nonetheless, Okita orders the Space Fighter Squadron to corral the Gamilas fighters into a small area and then orders the Wave Motion Gun to be fired into the concentrated zone. The Gamilas fleet is destroyed, but several Yamato fighters (including Shima’s) are also caught in the blast and apparently destroyed.
- Planet Bolzon: In need of titanium ore for repairs, the Yamato lands on planet Bolzon. On the surface, Okita, Kodai and the landing party meet a representative of Bolzon, who demonstrates telepathy and telekinesis. Okita and his crew are then led to the central city where many different kinds of lifeforms can be seen. The Bolzon King Sruu tells Okita that they know of the Gamilas and have resisted them through their respectful relationship with the planet itself, which is a living force. Later, King Sruu introduces Desslar to the surprised humans. Desslar is unimpressed by the “barbarians” and departs. Afterwards, Okita spots a strange scarred figure with an eye-patch and suspects him to be Mamoru Kodai. Okita tells the figure that he is in truth the true father of Mamoru Kodai, and asks for forgiveness for giving him up for adoption. Okita is then wounded by a mysterious poisoned arrow, apparently fired by a Gamilas soldier under Desslar’s command. When Sruu tells Desslar to leave Bolzon, Desslar vows vengeance. After delaying another three weeks on Bolzon waiting for Okita to recover, the crew debate on the risk of continuing the mission.
- Infiltrator of Fear: Kodai discovers that the high gravity of Bolzon is a cure for Okita’s condition. By artificially increasing the gravity in his chamber, Okita is cured from the poison arrow and the Yamato continues on its journey. A short while later, a derelict ship is found containing the still-living Shima. Shima explains that he had been captured by the Gamilas but had managed to eventually escape. Although the crew are overjoyed at this reunion, they soon become dismayed by various fatal mishaps which increasingly occur on board the ship, leading Okita and Kodai to suspect a saboteur. When Sanada is murdered, the crew begin to suspect Shima. Okita tells Kodai that he suspects that he (the captain) will be Shima’s next target (if he is really the saboteur). Okita uses himself as bait and eventually exposes Shima as a Gamilas cyborg. Kodai destroys the mechanism, but not before Shima had earlier poisoned the Yamato’s food supply, which causes even more casualties. In the end, only 8 surviving crew members (out of the original 120) still remain alive onboard the Yamato.
- Mystery of Iscandar: The Yamato encounters a black, mass-less stellar object which soon turns into a star. The star begins drawing in the Yamato to a fiery death but suddenly expels its radiation harmlessly. Okita theorizes that the star goes through a regular cycle of expansion and contraction and urges immediate evasive action. The Yamato almost immediately comes across the Salezar double system, their final destination. They begin to approach a verdant green planet but are soon informed by Captain Harlock that they are in fact heading towards Gamilas. Okita allows Kodai and Yuki to board Harlock’s ship the Phantom which will take them to Iscandar. On the rust-colored wasteland planet of Iscandar, Kodai, Harlock and Yuki discover Starsha, who tells them that she is in reality a planetary computer, able to create organic “life images” such as her “sister” Sasha. She tells them that, a century ago, she had created Desslar and the Gamilas as a form of personal guard. However, the Iscandarians who built her soon tried to turn her off, resulting in their immediate extermination by the Gamilas. Starsha gives Kodai an object which she says will allow humans to “remodel themselves” in order that they can withstand the radiation enveloping the Earth. She also warns them that the Gamilas are approaching to destroy them before they can return to Earth. Okita contacts the landing party by radio and asks Harlock to allow Kodai and Yuki to use the Phantom to return to Earth with the Iscandarian “cure”. Okita explains that he will “deactivate” the Gamilas by ramming the Iscandarian computer with the Yamato and detonating the Wave Motion Gun. Soon, Harlock joins Okita on the bridge of the Yamato, just before it heads towards its final fate with Iscandar. In the end it is only Kodai and Yuki aboard the Phantom as it heads towards Earth with the genetic modification technology.
More episode guides on this site related to Space Battleship Yamato can be found here.
