2205: A New Journey is a decent continuation of the series, adapting the original Space Battleship Yamato sequels for a contemporary audience. For anyone that is a fan of the series, original or remakes, this is a good sequel as any and rights a lot of the missteps seen in 2202 Warriors of Love. That said, the 8 episodes of 2205 attempt to do too much with too little time. It has also reached the point where the series feels like it is beginning to buckle under the weight of its legacy.
The major strengths of the Space Battleship Yamato remakes are still evident. The music and sound effects are excellent. Animations are crisp, and battles are spectacular. 2205 has thankfully reduced the scale of its battles, with the Yamato fleet comprising only three ships. This number is on the small side, and the inclusion of some generic escorts would have enhanced the battles without them getting unwieldy. That aside, the space battles are now dialled back to the comprehensible level where we can follow the main ships during the action and know their capabilities. The Hyuga and Asuka are fantastic additions, complementing the Yamato by adding a dedicated carrier and support ship. The integration of Cosmo Reverse System technology into the Asuka, in particular, gives the battles in 2205 more interesting tactical dynamics since the ship is able to do things like project wave motion barriers. The Gamilian Fleet has also been appropriately dialled back to a few capital ships like carriers or Dessler's flagship and their escorts. While there is still a fair amount of chaff in the mix, the generic ships provide the opportunity for the show to give a visual indicator of damage inflicted to the Gamilans when the escorts are destroyed. This gives the battles a tempo and crunch to them since we never feel like the Yamato and her allies are fighting with impunity. All this combined gives the action a significant amount of readability since we are not overwhelmed by the sheer number of ships to the point where it becomes mind-numbing. Ultimately it results in much more dramatic and gripping combat since we have a focal point for our attention and can keep track of the moving pieces.
On the other hand, the Dezariam Fleet suffers from being incredibly generic, with their designs feeling like uninspired space pancakes with ship masts attached to them. While perfectly serviceable, the lack of distinct designs between their capital ships and escorts makes the battles feel like combat against a homogenous blob. There is little sense of the damage inflicted mattering, which occasionally gives the actions a sluggish, repetitive feel. Arguably, the Dezariam fleet was never the focal point of the battle, as is revealed in the latter half of 2205, but it still detracts from the overall action since they start to feel like a static, throw-away inclusion. The worst offender is probably the Bolar Federation fleet, but they only appear briefly as more of a plot point than an actual actor in the story.
The plot feels like it is trying to accomplish too much with too little screen time. The central mystery around the nature of the Iscandarians and their relationship with the Gamilans is quite well handled. It is a compelling explanation as to what happened to the Iscandarian people, among other things. However, its fundamental weakness is that it constantly tries to recontextualise Dessler with the emotional punch of this plot line hinging on it. This would always be an eventual problem for any remake following the original's plot closely. In 2199, Desler is the archetypical mad dictator and is shown to be cartoonishly, or more charitably, absolutely evil, even to the point of being unhinged. It is difficult to return from that to being a misguided or misunderstood leader willing to go to any lengths for his people. He did not so much as cross the line as blow past it when he decided to drop New Baleras onto Gamilias. The argument can be made ex post facto that Gamilas was a dying planet and that action would finally prompt the migration. However, it is so extreme that nothing about his concern for the Gamilian people in 2205 feels coherent.
This is the weight of Space Battleship Yamato's legacy causing its remakes to buckle since the only option to avoid this would be to rework the plot around this. That is also not an easy decision since there was no guarantee that 2199 would be successful enough to warrant remaking the original Yamato's sequels. So not adapting this central character and plot element faithfully may have ended up being more of a slap in the face to fans than an improvement. However, this now creates problems for both 2202 and now 2205, which they struggle with. While it is possible to overlook this and sympathise with Dessler's plight and be invested in his quest to save the Gamilan people, it lacks the emotional resonance it could achieve if 2199 had been reworked. Still, his portrayal throughout the series has done enough to sell his relationship and attachment to Starsha, giving that element of the plot a strong emotional punch when it concludes.
The human side of things is where the character and plot become extremely bloated. Screen time is stretched between developing the new junior crew of the Yamato, the return of Yabu and the consequences of his actions in 2199, and finally, it attempts to address the personal turmoil in Kodai. Of course, they do overlap at the climax of 2205, but it is plain to see that loading four plotlines into an 8 episode run is pushing things to the limit. The first casualty is any story beats or developments involving the original crew of the Yamato. Some attention is paid to Yuki, but little is done to delve into the relationship between her and Kodai. Even the exploration of Kodai's sense of guilt and responsibility due to the cost of bringing him and Yuki back from the higher dimension is barely explored. It is disappointing to see such a central character sidelined to such an extent, especially since he is now the captain of the Yamato and a natural viewpoint to follow. Most sections that involve Kodai are restricted to being more general scenes that concern the whole of the Yamato in combat. While that means he never devolves into a secondary character, little is done with him on the character front. His weighing guilt is more declared solved after he is chastised a few times by other characters rather than by him going through the appropriate reflection. Again, this all comes down to a distinct lack of time in 2205.
Time is instead dedicated to attempting to flesh out the new crew of the Yamato. While all of them are secondary characters besides Domon Ryuuske, they all feel distinctly underdeveloped, even by that standard. What little development time is spent on some of them leaves that as little more than stereotypical characters at best. While the hotshot pilot, knuckle-headed marine and nervous engineer are all perfectly functional character archetypes, they do not contribute much to the richness of the story. There was inadequate time to flesh them out in any case, and adding any subplots to give them depth would only bloat the series. This leaves only a rushed development that squarely pins them into their archetypes instead of something more drawn out and organic. However, this outcome is still, at best, a sacrifice out of necessity instead of a laudable decision they made to avoid bloat.
Much of the time saved is used to build up mystery and menace behind Domon's goals and intentions. His back story gives him ample reason to be conflicted about the Yamato and Kodai, but not to the extent the show's framing suggests. He is made out to be surprisingly sinister at the start before we see the later episodes from his viewpoint. This framing feels heavy-handed and ultimately goes nowhere. There is a simple lack of raw run time to cement doubts in the viewer's mind about him. It leaves all the suspicion around Domon ultimately feeling like melodrama since it is quickly defused and made out to be nothing but paranoia and prejudice. The viewer never feels he is threatening since there is nothing substantive to back up what the framing of 2205 wants them to believe. Nor does the viewer feel much sympathy for Domon or a moment of vindication for him because there is little time to get attached to him or the new status quo he is put into after suspicion falls on him. The same problem of a lot of 2205 recurs here in that his backstory is under-explored relative to its potential, or at least the depth the narrative suggests it will uncover. Although his inner conflict is better resolved than Kodai, it is only marginally better. Again, there is simply not enough time for it to resonate with the viewer and feels like a declaration that his feelings are solved than a convincing conclusion.
On the positive side, Yabu's storyline is the most complete, but that is due to it being a relatively simple redemption story. He was already characterised 2199 as an outcast and something of a coward, preparing all the building blocks necessary. His narrative of growth and finding a place to belong helps him rise to the challenge at the plot's climax. The show attempts to use Yabu's plot to buttress Domon's by having them fall into the same situation as outsiders on the Yamato. This is mildly effective since it takes a known character and links their situation together to encourage sympathy by extension from the viewer. However, the rushed timing makes it feel rather noticeable instead of as natural or inconspicuous as the director probably desired.
In the end, Space Battleship Yamato 2205 is still a respectable sequel. It has all of 2199 and 2202's strengths in its fantastic visuals and space battles. This sheer strength makes it engaging enough to be worth watching. Though beyond the entertainment, there is little to dig down into. Its short run time hamstrings it and forces 2205 to sacrifice how far it can explore its characters and themes. It ends up feeling like wasted potential since an extension of four or even just two episodes would have created enough time to delve into Kodai's character or flesh out Domon and the other new crew members. Even then, the issue of Dessler's initial characterisation has no simple solution and will always require the viewer to overlook the incongruence. Overall, Space Battleship Yamato 2205 is a solid 7 out 10. Maybe up to an 8 for a fan of the series. It is entertaining and visually engaging but suffers from its short run time instead of any major missteps by the production team.
