Now I must say that after seeing this for the second time I appreciated it more than the first time, perhaps because I tried to delve into the story more and deeper than I did the first time.
The story itself is amazingly written and while it is a remake of the original series which aired 1974, the remake did not screw up. Every character in this series has a definitive personality which is the driving force for them and there are no characters which are sidelined after a few minutes of screen time. You can feel the personalities and the stories each one holds in them, and you will feel the loss when bad things happen.
Although the pace of some episodes may seem fast and illogical at times, you have to take into account that the personalities and tasks which the crew members have did not completely take shape during the story, but before the Yamato was launched.
*paragraph minor spoiler warning* For example we are told of the ''Yamato plan'' and the ''Izumo plan'', both of which were set in motion a long time before the series started, which means the people supporting those ideas had done their choice long ago. And although we do not get a flashback for how these choices were made, it isn't necessary because what matters is that the choices exist. (This is related to one of the episodes)
And as for the pacing, not everything happens exactly one event after the other, there are timeskips, it's just we aren't shown them because nothing special happens during them.
Overall this OVA is a masterpiece with a great cast and a great story, and I highly recommend watching it, but to truly feel its greatness you have to delve into it emotionally and focus on the story, because even the smaller things have a meaning to them.
///PS///Next is rebuking raegazel's review and why his arguments are false: **MAJOR SPOILER WARNING, read if you have finished raegazel's review or finished the series**
(point by point)
- I see no reason why a Terran human and an Iscandar princess cannot have identical looks as they are both human (Terrans and Garmilans were said to have the exact same body structure besides the skin color. While Garmilans and Iscandarians are not from the same planet, they are from neighboring planets, so the species living on either planets should have similar body structures.). And I neither see the reason why this should be a demerit for this story.
- Time was running out on Earth(365 days to extinction when Yamato left) since Yamato was 35 days behind schedule and they had found a planet where humans could possibly live. While the chance of reaching Iscandar seemed impossibly small with the Garmilans trying to destroy Yamato, which hinted at the possibility of falling behind schedule even more. There was no way for anyone to know that there existed gates which could save time.
The tests on atmosphere and everything was done while the giant mutant insects could be handled with sufficient human weaponry. As for waiting for the actual tests to come back - the leader of the mutiny was the security Head not a scientist. As long as he got the minimal information that the planet was habitable, it was enough for him to make the decision that humans could survive on the planet, and he really didn't have much other choice in selecting a planet since that specific planet was the only habitable one in the nearby radius.
- Why did Desler decide to drop a part of a colony on Garmilas? It was hinted several times before this episode that Desler wanted to get rid of the old Garmilas and him having Yamato get destroyed along with the destruction of the old capital was a bonus.
Yamato ramming into the capital was so the Desler Cannon couldn't be used. Okita didn't expect Desler to destroy his own capital and didn't expect him to have a ship to escape. In war taking the head of the leader is the main path to victory.
Not destroying the Desler Cannon with the Wave Motion Cannon is because of the energy amount required to destroy it, and Yamato also had to storm Garmilas and its defensive weaponry to get Yuki back as well.
Striking the center with a few dozen men is obvious, since if you can win with fewer casualties, why should you make more? Killing countless innocent civilians is not a correct way, especially because Yamato didn't have much other choice due to poor manpower besides using the Wave Motion Cannon to destroy the whole planet of Garmilas, which was frowned upon by both Iscandar and neither were the crew willing to do something so inhumane.
-Desler was in his own flagship the moment he boarded the new capital and never left it. While the Wave Motion Gun that exploded was built into the new capital, he didn't fire the one on the ship.
Yamato spent supposedly several days on Iscandar(it is not specified besides the fact that they waited for some time). Desler had enough time to get to the gate first.
Yuki wasn't mere meters away. It was quite some time before Narron pushed the switch to overload the WMG. While again, the timeframe isn't specified, one can make assumptions if one pays close enough attention.
- When Yukikaze was found by Susumu and Yuki, they only found 1 dead crew member. There was no trace of other crew members, while it was shown in episode one that there were atleast 5 on the bridge. This shows that there may have been other members captured, but only Mamoru survived the crash to Iscandar. There is no point in proving why he survived. And the crash was investigated. Starsha herself said she barely managed to hide Mamoru from Garmilans before they arrived. And it is not like they had much authority in Iscandar to do a large scale search as they worshipped Iscandarians as gods.
- The core needed to revive the planet was memories of it. Starsha couldn't have memories of Earth without an earthling. Logical. She had the tool, but she needed a user for it, and there is no reason for Starsha to deliver it to Earth without making sure earthlings were worth it. There are no free meals.
- It was the task of Iscandarians to bring salvation to all intelligent life. Who is to say they didn't have a higher population before Earth? Who is to say they didn't do the same for other planets? It is several times mentioned that it is the task of Iscandar and its sole purpose to bring salvation to intelligent life.
Starsha is unsure because they turned the WM Engine into a weapon and probably doesn't even know that earthlings shot first in the war, although how much would've changed if they didn't is up to debate, because Garmilans seemed to have a subjugation policy of surrender or die anyway. She based her opinion on Mamoru, the crewmembers she met on Iscandar and her sister's, Yurishas, views on the matter. It could be seen she was sad about Mamoru leaving her when she was speaking to the Core.
-The infighting between Garmilans isn't necessary to know since the plot revolved around Yamato.
So I have effectively overturned all the illogical so called *plot holes* as you call them.
To all who read this, if you want to read what exactly I am rebuking, read raegazel's review.
