I worshiped the anime (known to me then as "Star Blazers") as a kid. It came out long before Robotech, and it was the first Japanese "cartoon" I was exposed to as a kid. I spent hours drawing the Yamato (or the "Argo") in notebooks in the early to mid 80s, and I was glued to our living room television whenever the show aired.
Reading it in 2026, with more mature eyes, was an interesting experience. Through this manga I can see an attempt to come to terms with Japan's role in WWII, and also a concern over both nuclear power and nuclear weaponry. In the lovingly rendered spaceships I can see intimations of mecha yet to come, and also character types familiar from other series. Space Battleship Yamato wasn't the beginning or end of any process, but it was certainly a milestone along a well traveled route that is still being developed and expanded upon today.
For those unfamiliar with the story, a race of aliens known as the Gamilas bombards the Earth with planet-destroying weapons, and the fraction of humanity which survives is forced to live belowground. In the depths of their misery they receive plans for a Wave Motion Engine from the distant planet Iscandar, and also the promise of a device called the Cosmo Cleaner, which will restore the Earth to its former glory.
For me, as a kid, one of the riveting things about the anime was the way in which it constantly counted down towards Earth's imminent (?) demise. "Only five days left!" the narrator would announce, and with such news I'd be locked in for next week's episode.
The anime has an interesting history. Leiji Matsumoto, who produced the anime, also produced the manga. You can see the influence of Space Battleship Yamato in later works like Super Dimension Fortress Macross and even video games like Space Invaders. It was originally conceived as a tokusatsu (live action) series, and both the movie The Poseidon Adventure and the novel Lord of the Flies were two of the many sources of inspiration which led to its creation.
One fun thing about the manga, which I don't remember from the anime, is the inclusion of Captain Harlock from one of Leiji Matsumoto's other manga series. Captain Harlock's two appearances in Space Battleship Yamato were, for me at least, the highlights of the manga.
If you're like me and grew up on the anime you'll enjoy this manga collection. It will bring back a lot of memories. If, however, you're unfamiliar with the anime, then I'd pass on the manga. Taken on its own merits it's a little too disjointed, and too many of its critical moments occur outside the printed page.
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