Most of this episode focuses on the cast members who were on the Yamato when it was suddenly transported to another planet. We see that Yuki has lost her memories of the past four years, but has regained the memories that she had lost in the accident she had been in prior to the beginning of Space Battleship Yamato 2199. It was kind of heartbreaking to see Yuki watching various things in the viewing room so she could see what she had been through during Space Battleship Yamato 2199. I was especially sad for Susumu, because he has to go through another heartbreak in regards to Yuki.

But while scouting the planet, Analyzer is “possessed” (for lack of a better term) by a couple of consciousnesses on the planet that have been instructed to pass on the history of the planet to beings who are determined to be worthy. Through this possession, history of the planet (called Zemuria), Zworder, and Sabara is revealed. In a lot of respects, this episode is a backstory about the Gatlanteans. This makes a lot of sense, though, considering the title of the episode. While we had seen hints of some of this backstory previously, I appreciated finally getting to see the whole picture and how the pieces we had seen before fit together.

There are also a couple of scenes of the Earth and Gamilan forces preparing for battle against Zworder and the Gatlanteans. During this, though, there was a scene where the pilot of the Ginga makes a comment that’s kind of disturbing (and seeing Sanada’s reaction, I think he even thought it was kind of disturbing). In the time space fault where the Earth’s government has been mass producing Andromeda-class ships at extraordinary speed, they are also developing prosthetics that would allow a person’s limbs to be “perfect.” While these are intended for soldiers wounded in battle, you can apparently also volunteer to get them (which is said by the pilot in question). To volunteer to have your hands cut off so you can get these prosthetics that will allow your hands to work “perfectly” ranks on the disturbing side.

The episode ends with Zworder just starting to launch his offensive. Between this, the Yamato needing to escape from Zemuria and rejoining the Earth forces, and whatever Desler is doing, there should be enough here to last for six more episodes. With each episode of this series, I appreciate just how much depth it’s added to the story, and how much it has diverged from the original. I just hope that Teresa doesn’t somehow end up being the “deus ex machina” to the extent that she was in the original version of this story. But with some of the things that Teresa said to Keyman at one point, I think that kind of interference wouldn’t be as likely. I’m very curious to see how this version of the story will end compared with the original.

Additional posts about Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato:

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