An official website launched on Tuesday to announce that Hideaki Anno and Yutaka Izubuchi will co-direct the feature-length anime film Cosmoship Yamato √2199 at Production I.G and Studio Khara. The film’s Japanese title uses the “Uchū Senkan” prefix — previously rendered in English as “Space Battleship” or “Space Cruiser” — and the √ symbol is pronounced “Root.”
Anno is credited alongside Production I.G founder Mitsuhisa Ishikawa for planning the project; Ishikawa serves as production executive producer. Anno and Izubuchi are also jointly credited for design work. The project is being presented by “Shin Office Academy.”
Anno on His Lifelong Love of Yamato
The official website features a comment from Anno, who describes himself as “a huge Yamato fan since the second year of junior high school.” He writes:
“I want to keep making Yamato not only to fulfill a childhood dream, but also to imbue our prayers and wishes for the next generation and our own. It is with that resolve that we produce this.”
In a separate statement marking the franchise’s 50th anniversary, Anno noted that he has been a fan for 49 years and said he does not believe he would be the same person today without Yamato. He recalled missing the very first episode when it originally aired, but watching every episode from the second through the finale — even sacrificing Great Mazinger and running home from cram school to do so.
Anno is best known internationally for co-creating Neon Genesis Evangelion and directing the live-action/CG films Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and Shin Kamen Rider. He has long cited Yamato as the spark that ignited his passion for anime, and he previously planned the opening sequence of the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 television series. On August 21, 2025, Anno joined Production I.G’s board of directors.
About the Yamato Franchise
The original Yamato anime reimagines the World War II battleship Yamato as a space-faring vessel tasked with defending Earth from alien threats. The first television series premiered in October 1974, and the first animated film followed in 1977, grossing 2.1 billion yen (approximately US$23 million) at the box office. The franchise went on to record an instantaneous television rating of 50% in 1978.
Current Yamato 2199 Project
Yamato yo Towa ni: Rebel 3199 (Be Forever Yamato: Rebel 3199), the ongoing entry in the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 remake series, is being released as a seven-film run. The first film, “Kuro no Shinryaku” (Dark Invasion), opened in July 2024, and the final installment is scheduled to open in Japan on October 30.
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