This film was touted as the final installment in the Yamato saga, a space opera franchise that began in 1974 and had completed ten years. At this point, the Yamato crew had gone through so many adventures in space on the edge of peril that this one comes out as a relatively above-average adventure for them. Bringing back a beloved but long- dead character through some contrived means, only for the said character to give it up for his crew, also sets the story and its drama back somewhat. However, the film makes up for its problems by being one big space adventure, with the epic action and scale it deserves: glorious space vistas, fantastic planets and spacecraft, and fantastic action sequences, all backed up by incredible animation that still looks great today and grand orchestral music that captures the intense atmosphere of the scenes. Even if the plot is rather average, this film provides a wonderful spectacle to see. In the end the film marks a grand finale to the original Yamato show; it would later undergo a remake in 2012. The film does the Yamato saga great credit and honor, and it's an enjoyable watch for any fan of Yamato or space operas.

I did not remember whether or not I had seen this movie back when it premiered so Of course YouTube has it in parts. I've always loved Captain Avatar even had a crush on him. So you can imagine the joy of seeing him alive again. The action scenes deliver the goods but the storyline is rather weak and at points makes no sense. Especially the aliens reasons for wanting to flood Earth to live on it. As another reviewer mentioned if their planet was already flooded why not just stay there? And it's never really explained how or why they found and chose Earth. I liked seeing Desslok again too being a good guy who comes to their aid . I find the English version of their names so much better than the Japanese versions especially since the characters are obviously not Japanese in appearance. They look more like Americans. The ending is why I do not give it a higher rating then 7. If they destroyed the enemy forces how come the planet kept warping? And then of course the heartbreaking ending that I teared up too. Avatar sacrificing himself to save Earth. You almost think he's still alive when the command area resurfaces and he is still sitting behind the trigger of the wave motion gun , the room is flooded but his upper body is still above the water .His finger still on the trigger but his eyes stay closed , he shows no signs of injuries when the blast should have vaporized him , so the viewer is left to ponder how he died. and then the command area sinks under the waves for good. I could feel the tears welling up. I thought why did they bring this magnificent character back just to kill him off for good?. I would love to see them retcon him again and let him live. Till next time 7/10

After the massively engrossing and epic stories found in the three Yamato TV series, "Final Yamato" (clever title) falls short in every category of comparison... approximately 50 times more disappointing than Return of the Jedi! Here's Final Yamato's ludicrous MST3K premise: A hyper-dimensional red galaxy appears from nowhere, seemingly about to destroy the entire Milky Way by the time the opening credits have finished, and the Yamato barely escapes a cloud of red dust by entering a random warp. The incredibly dangerous red galaxy is subsequently ignored in favor of a warping waterworld that floods planets on some processional cycle... planets such as the one Yamato arrives at after the random warp! How lucky. A handful of the planet's survivors inexplicably attack the Yamato (as a way to thank the Yamato for trying to save flood victims perhaps?), and then arbitrarily decide to conquer Earth, which is coincidentally the same planet Yamato is from! Lucky again! The aliens' scheme is to first flood Earth by warping the waterworld there, making the planet ripe for emigration. But if aliens don't mind living on a flooded planet, why don't they just stay on their OWN planet!? Makes no sense. And the bad guy rides the horse from Dragon's Lair. Yamato fans, avoid this movie at all costs!

So long as you don't read the back of the video slipsleeve you will be in for more surprises than you could ever hope for! (The slipsleeve synopsis gives them all away.) It Certainly had the feeling that it was made more for the creators and diehard fans than anyone else. If however you are one of these two then a fantastic journey awaits. I will warn you however, it almost made me cry.