Taken on its own merits, 2199 has astoundingly high production values. A lot of care was taken in recording new versions of the familiar theme songs. There is one ending song in particular early in the season which is mostly just two female voices singing in harmony that is both haunting and achingly beautiful. Voice acting is top notch and make even cheesy slice of life elements aboard Yamato quite palatable.
The visual style is just as amazing. For once, the blending of CG and hand-drawn art is nearly seamless. Space battles and their accompanying special effects look great. Character designs and their animations are both gorgeous and expressive. It seems no expense was spared for this remake; perhaps the producers understood that this series was much adored by its cult following and did not want to disappoint.
Where the series has always been both strong and weak at the same time is the story. Here is where the audience is likely to diverge and take violent opposition with the quality of this show. From a creative standpoint, I love the main arc of the story and the imagination that gave it birth. However, the execution is sorely lacking. There are many plot holes, and events strain credulity. Other reviewers have gone over that already so I won't rehash each and every badly written segment. Let's just say things happen that are very, very unlikely coincidences and people often behave irrationally or with little sophistication.
We see this sometimes with some writers: they have a great idea, full of adventurous wonder and creative impulse. Maybe they lack life experience. Maybe they were unwilling to do subject matter research. Maybe they are simply too naive to know what they don't know. Whatever the case, Space Battleship Yamato suffers from this. There are entire world building points which simply do not make sense. For example, why are there only 3 Iscandarians left out of the entire population? If they were dying out, why does that timeline happen to coincide with Earth's need? They are almost identical to humans genetically, so we may assume they do not live any longer than we do. Is some mystic hand of fate at work? If so, it is never made explicit.
Space battles, while great to look at, are not sound tactically. For some reason, one side's ships are incredibly fragile while the other side is incredibly tough. And before I get the "wave motion technology" argument, that side's ship is incredibly tough even when the wave motion shields are down. Also, for some reason targeting is very unreliable. I can only assume this is because engagements are happening at extreme ranges and the energy weapons, presumably traveling at the speed of light, may not intersect a fast-moving target. And yet one side hits much more often than the other, despite an implied technology inferiority...
How does the Yamato fit all those fighters inside of its hull, despite not even having a flight deck?!
I think you get the point. The writer simply writes whatever idea comes into their head without thinking things through. It is self-indulgent, somewhat lazy, and difficult at times to sit through. Even so, the basic foundation of the story is very appealing, even inspiring at times. Who can't get behind the epic scope of this lone ship's journey across the cosmos on a mission to save Earth? For me, it works despite the juvenile writing.
There is a little bit of character development and a smattering of romance. Again, the uneven nature of the writing is apparent, with some things handled well and some handled poorly. At times the interactions between the crew are very believable. Compared to most anime, we may even consider the dialogue sophisticated and subtle. Fans of the characters from the original should be warned, because some of the cast have altered scripts and even gender changes.
I will admit, I am in the camp that adores the original series. I gave 2199 elevated scores because of this, but my bias should not be taken as an unconditional endorsement. If you simply can't stand poor writing, especially from a technical standpoint, then you should give this one a pass. However, if you've got a little kid inside of you and you like to watch virtual spaceships go pew pew pew, then you will probably have a grand old time with this epic space opera.
