Space Battleship Yamato began on Japanese television in 1974. Gamilas bombardment has left Earth's surface radioactive, and the Earth Defense Force rebuilds the old Second World War battleship Yamato as a starship and sends it to the planet Iscandar for the means to save the planet, with about a year before the underground cities die. Yoshinobu Nishizaki produced it and Leiji Matsumoto reshaped the story; the Wave Motion Gun in the Yamato's bow came from Matsumoto's 1968 manga Sexaroid. The first broadcast was largely ignored and cut from 39 episodes to 26, but a 130-minute film made from it in 1977 turned it into a hit.
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato followed on 14 July 1978. Three years on, the White Comet Empire of Emperor Zordar threatens Earth, Teresa reaches out as an ally, and the film ends with Kodai steering the Yamato into Zordar's battleship. It took about ¥4.3 billion and was meant to be the end of the story; the television series Yamato II, in 1978–79, retold it with a different ending, and the films carried on.
Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love is the modern retelling. It follows Yamato 2199, the 2012 remake of the 1974 series, and loosely adapts both Farewell and Yamato II. Earth is at peace with Gamilas but rearming, with the new battleship Andromeda, when Gatlantis threatens the galaxy and Teresa calls the Yamato back. Studio Xebec made it under director Nobuyoshi Habara, with Harutoshi Fukui writing; it was released as seven theatrical chapters between 25 February 2017 and 1 March 2019 and broadcast as 26 television episodes from October 2018, Xebec's last anime series.
Hachette Collections Japan launched its weekly partwork of the 2202 Yamato on 30 January 2019, planned at 110 issues, and this is that Japanese edition. It builds a 950 mm die-cast model at 1:350 of a ship Hachette gives as 333 m long, with electric gimmicks worked from a dedicated controller. The Wave Motion Gun has its internal rifling and fires with light and sound; the 48 cm and 20 cm triple turrets turn and their barrels elevate, with the gunfire sounds from the series; the bridge lights blue, or orange for combat; the torpedo shutters open, the rocket anchor reels in and the third bridge's hatch opens under power; and the wave motion engine glows, sounds, and has a flywheel that turns by hand. The lit hangar takes the Cosmo Tiger II that comes with the kit, and the wings come off magnetically to show the ship with them deployed or stowed. Hachette later extended the series beyond the original 110 issues, with the Andromeda from issue 111 and further ships after that.