I'm watching the recent film based on the old anime series Space Battleship Yamato, released under the title Star Blazers in the US. When I was very little, I would rush home after school every day so I could catch it on one of the local TV stations. It seemed an epic adventure to my young mind, and over the years I have studied the concepts behind the series which have lent it tremendous significance.
Near the end of World War II, Japan found itself in desperate straits in the Pacific basin. She placed her hope in the Yamato-class of super-battleships, the largest seagoing craft ever constructed on Earth (displacement of over 70,000 tons). Every one of these ships, except Yamato herself, had been sunk in action around the Japanese islands. On April 7, 1945, Yamato and her escort group, bound for Okinawa, were set upon by a large squadron of US bomber and torpedo aircraft. Yamato's death was spectacular -- a magazine exploded, sending up a mushroom cloud nearly four miles high. With her sank Japan's last hope of holding onto the Pacific.
Later, in the year 2199, Earth was in similar straits. Bombarded by radioactive meteors sent by the Gamilon Empire, Earth had become a sere wasteland. Humanity was forced to move underground in order to survive. Earth Defense Forces (Star Force) engaged in skirmishes with the Gamilons in and around the Solar System, but the enemy craft proved too strong for their space battleships.
In the last space battle near Neptune, Captain Okita Juzo, commander of the Star Force, was forced to flee under heavy fire. Covering his escape was the missile ship Yukikaze, commanded by Capt. Kodai Mamoru. Despite Okita's objections, the Yukikaze remained and was completely destroyed. Okita returned to Earth haunted by Kodai's death and the death of his own son in battle years before.
Meanwhile, Earth received an unexpected boon -- a message of hope from a far-off planet. An alien spacecraft crash-landed on Mars, killing the beautiful pilot. The message cylinder she carried was picked up by the younger Kodai brother, Susumu, and his friend Shima Daisuke. The cylinder contained a message from Starsha of the planet Iskandar, providing plans for a warp engine and offering a machine which will clean the Earth of all radiation and make her viable again. Plans were immediately changed to send a ship to Iskandar and retrieve the machine.
In the barren desert which was the Sea of Japan, the Yamato was already going through a refit to evacuate the Earth. She was immediately repurposed to make the journey to Iskandar under the command of Capt. Okita. Yamato, once the last desperate hope of Japan, has become the last hope for Earth. She faces a one-year journey 148,000 light-years to the Greater Magellanic Cloud and back, facing the forces of Gamilon and their calculating, single-minded leader Deslar.
Of course, this is all fantasy. We can only guess the level of technology which will exist two hundred years from now, and whether we are alone in the universe or not. Besides, the wreck of the Yamato was discovered in many pieces in 1984.
But this theme, the final, desperate, seemingly doomed effort of a small group of people upon which are placed the hopes of an entire culture, is a recurring theme in Japanese entertainment media and elsewhere. Even when all hope seems lost, there is always a small glimmer of human spirit which can carry one person or a group further than seems physically possible to achieve the wildly improbable. The same spirit which drove the Japanese Combined Fleet was present in the future Star Force, the past forces of the American Revolution, and countless revolutionary forces throughout time. The idea that a small group of rag-tag adventurers can bring down the military might of a giant empire is inspiring, and examples of their successes litter the pages of history.
When someone tells me there is no hope, that nothing will change, that one person cannot make a difference in the face of impossible odds, I laugh and tell them that nothing is impossible.
UPDATE: In the movie, Kodai gave a pre-battle speech which perfectly summed up in a few sentences exactly what I said above. I strongly suggest you watch the movie. =)
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