Hiroshi Miyagawa & Kentaro Haneda -- Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu II（宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編 テーマ音楽集Ⅱ）

 

I have to give credit where credit is due and say that the above photo is from the online site "Streets of Toronto". Somewhere in my home, there is a picture of the old Silver Snail but I couldn't be bothered to sift through drawers and other nooks and crannies to track it down. Now, for all those in my hometown who are into the comics and other aspects of pop culture like anime, the Silver Snail was the emporium for all of that. It used to be located in the bohemian Queen West neighbourhood in an old-fashioned house for the first 36 years of its life. 

My first visits to the Silver Snail happened while I was at University of Toronto. My friend introduced me to it and it was only a 15-minute walk down from campus. It was definitely an eye-opening experience just for the wonderful interior décor, the tons of comics and most importantly, the examples of Japanese pop culture I could actually physically buy in the years before the now-customary habit of getting them online. Coincidentally, this all went down when that same friend introduced me to the Chinatown record stores a few blocks north in between the Silver Snail and U of T where I could actually buy Japanese records. I'd say it was a darn fine year. And so, I bought my fair share of J-Merch including the following:

Yup, just like that copy of Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Train" album that beckoned me to buy it at Wah Yueh in Chinatown, this beauty was also calling my name in Silver Snail. I'd already purchased my fair share of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato" guidebooks at $20 CDN a shot including the one for the supposedly final entry of the original franchise, the film "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編...Final Yamato） which was first released in March 1983. So, they put an end to the story of the mighty battleship, eh, I thought. I had no idea until a couple of years later. 

Well, it only took a few more longing gazes between the soundtrack and me before I finally pulled the trigger on my wallet. I forgot how much cash I forked out; I remember that it wasn't cheap. At first, I'd assumed that "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu II" (Theme Music Collection II) was the one-and-only soundtrack for the movie. I guess I couldn't read the "II". Apparently, the music for the film was so grand and epic that the record company had to make release it all via two albums. Mind you, I think "II" has the more dramatic cover with a wrecked Yamato making one final rise above the water.

Being unaware of it at the time, with this album, I began the tradition of listening to movie soundtracks before even seeing the movie itself. That was the case with J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" in 2009 and then "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019 (although I never bought the soundtrack...thank you, YouTube). However, getting back to "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu II", the first impression that I got from the album was that, except for one track, there was nothing in there that tied me back to the old music that I got to know and love from the TV series. It was all very John Williams, Gustav Holst, Sergei Rachmaninoff and any other classical composer that would create music for an 18th-century ball. 

And that was true right from the first track, "Futatsu no Ginga"（二つの銀河...Two Galaxies）. Now, actually the above video is playing a truncated version that was on a later release called "YAMATO SOUND ALMANAC 1983-Ⅳ" and perhaps even "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu I". I couldn't find the copy from "II" but at least this video will still give you an idea of what hit my ears with a bang when I first put the record onto the turntable. Man, what kinda mess did the Yamato get into now, I thought. 

Well, as it turns out, the album was a collaboration between Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）, who was the go-to guy for all things Yamato, and Kentaro Haneda（ 羽田健太郎）who had a lot to do with another major anime franchise "Macross"（マクロス）including the Lynn Minmay song "0-G Love". I was curious about what got Miyagawa and Haneda to take such a different approach with the soundtrack for the final movie, and they simply said that they didn't want to get stuck in a rut with variations on the old stuff; they wanted the franchise to go out with a bang of new compositions. By the way, Miyagawa was responsible for "Futatsu no Ginga".

Miyagawa was also behind "Lugal Soutou no Sensou"（ルガール総統の戦争...Supreme Ruler Lugal's War） which is one massive battle song starting with the strings falling down the equivalent height of the Empire State Building. Again, I hadn't seen the movie yet but listening to this track, I could imagine one heck of a firefight between the Yamato and Lugal's forces. 

A quick aside from me, but I couldn't help but see the evil Emperor Lugal as looking a whole lot like actor Kelsey Grammer from "Frasier" and "Cheers". I wonder how far the commute was between Boston and the planet Denguil?

"Shima wo Omou"（Remembering Shima） was another Miyagawa composition. I had already seen what was to become of Chief Navigator Shima through the "Final Yamato" guidebook, and then I finally saw the scene many years later. It's naturally going to be very dramatic and tragic but I kinda wished that they hadn't made the piece so loud in the movie since it rather distracted from the very sad outcome.

I mentioned earlier about that one familiar track. Well, it was this one, "Fight Cosmo Tiger II"（FightコスモタイガーⅡ）. It certainly starts with the razor slash of brass that launched a major attack by the Yamato's air corps in the old series, but then Miyagawa replaces the rest of it with an epic disco orchestra number that sounds like it flew in from a "Lupin III" soundtrack. 

I've been really trying to find any of the tracks that had been composed by Haneda, and I finally found one, "Hisou no Bolero"（悲愴のボレロ...Sorrowful Bolero）. To let you in on one thing about this soundtrack...I had actually recorded it onto audiotape and I used to play it all the time whenever I was pulling an all-nighter during high school and university. "Fight Cosmo Tiger II" and "Hisou no Bolero" were the two tracks that blew me awake whenever I was in danger of nodding off, especially the latter track. Ravel would probably be proud of Haneda's own take on a bolero and when it was time for this song, I would usually bonk my desk with my fist when I heard the timpani hit.

How very convenient of you to come back to life, Captain Okita! I was never all that sold on the plot device of the original commander of the Yamato being in a coma all that time just to return for that one final mission. But hey, Captain Kodai had to have his happy ending with Ms. Mori at the end (and boy, did they), so Okita was the guy to take the Yamato to her final fate. And all that was accomplished with the accompaniment of the huge Haneda piece "Symphony of the Aquarius" that seems to encapsulate one climactic battle sequence in its arrangement and time of nearly 10 minutes! If there were ever an opera version of "Yamato", this is the one track that would have to be incorporated.

I'm not usually a classical music fan so it took me some time to get accustomed to this soundtrack but thanks to time, maturity and a lot of all-nighters, I can happily accept this album into the pantheon of Yamato music. As for the Silver Snail, I now realize how long it's been since I visited the place. Back in 2012, the emporium moved out to Yonge Street for the next nine years as a squeezed-in walk-up above a burger joint. I got used to it but it wasn't the same anymore. Then, I literally found out a few minutes before starting this article that the place had moved back to Queen West almost three years ago. It's not at the same old address but a little further west but at least it's got a proper storefront again. I will have to drop by someday.

Good golly! Get the Voltaren!