Dec. 17, 2005|Japan|143 Min.|n/A
Genre: History;War
Description: The movie “Yamato 2005” begins with footage from Asahi Shimbun’s special expedition to the Yamato wreckage in 1999. The story then transitions to April 6, 2005, where a woman named Makiko Uchida visits the Yamato Museum in Kure, Hiroshima. She is searching for a boat to take her to the location where the Yamato sank, aiming to honor the crew on the 60th anniversary of the ship’s final battle. Katsumi Kamio, a war survivor and now a fisherman, agrees to help her after discovering she was the adopted daughter of Petty Officer First Class Mamoru Uchida, his fellow crewman and close friend, whom he believed had perished with the ship.
As Uchida, Kamio, and his teenage apprentice, Atsushi, journey to the site on his fishing boat, the narrative alternates between the present and Kamio’s memories of his time as an air defense crewman aboard the Yamato during World War II.
In the spring of 1944, Kamio and other young cadets, many of them teenagers, are assigned to the Yamato. They endure rigorous training and strict discipline under Petty Officers Uchida, Moriwaki, and Karaki, who have served on the ship since its launch in 1941. In October 1944, the Yamato joins a large Japanese fleet to engage American forces in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During the battle, the ship suffers multiple hits, resulting in casualties and injuries among the crew. The Yamato and the surviving ships return to Japan for repairs, while Uchida, who lost an eye in the battle, is hospitalized.
By March 1945, rumors circulate among the crew about a planned mission to counter the expected invasion of Okinawa. The crew is granted a brief shore leave, during which Kamio returns home and learns that his mother died protecting his girlfriend, Taeko Nozaki, during an air raid on Kure. Taeko expresses her love for Kamio and gives him a protective amulet as he prepares to depart for Okinawa.
Cast director: Jun’ya Satô
Cast actor: Takashi Sorimachi, Shido Nakamura, Yu Aoi, Noboru Takachi, Takahiro Fujimoto, Jun’ichi Haruta, Ryô Hashizume, Ryûzô Hayashi, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Hirotaro Honda
Original name: 男たちの大和／ＹＡＭＡＴＯ