Recap: The crew runs into conflicting opinions when they are discussing whether to make headway for their destination or stop and assault a base on Pluto that could pose a risk to Earth. Before they can decide however, they receive a distress beacon from one of Saturn’s moons and in the interest of both rescuing any survivors and getting some desperately needed resources for repairs, the Yamato decides to investigate.

Gee’s Thoughts:

Whoo, interpersonal conflict! As with any show about a crew fighting against all odds, some interpersonal conflict was inevitable. Here, Kodai, hungry for revenge against the Gamilas who killed his brother, elects to assault their Pluto base, which would have the added benefit of taking some of the heat off of Earth. Shima, his more levelheaded friend is acutely aware of how little time they have to reach their destination balks at the plan. The classic conflict between two friends is a well worn plot device, but it works in a classic like Yamato and I was quite pleased to see the two talk it out and make up less than 10 minutes after the fight. Had this been one of those terribly annoying “friends get into a fight and don’t make up until the very end” kind of episodes, I’m not sure I would be able to tolerate it.

As for the rest of the episode, there’s the inevitable Gamilas ambush (the Yamato seems really bad at avoiding those) and Ambiguous Brown Girl taking to the skies in the sort of unauthorized sortie that would earn any military professional an instant court martial. Thankfully this is fiction and the Yamato is short on good staff already. In addition, we witness the final resting grounds of the Yukikaze, the ship commanded by Kodai’s older brother. I won’t lie, I saw it coming from a mile away, but I suppose now that Kodai is keenly aware of the stakes at hand, we’ll be able to move forward with the narrative from here on out. Overall, this was an enjoyable episode with elements of world building, character development, and action spaced in at all the right points.

Yamato 2199 may not have the bombastic intensity of Attack on Titan or the beautiful world building that characterizes Gargantia, but the fact that it’s a solid space opera with an interesting setup and revving up to tell a classic tale is more than enough to keep me interested.