The creator of Evangelion is taking the helm of Japan's most legendary space opera. Hideaki Anno will co-direct a brand-new Space Battleship Yamato feature film, Space Battleship Yamato √2199 — pronounced "Root 2199" — alongside Yutaka Izubuchi, as a co-production between Production I.G and Anno's own studio khara.
The film's official website and X account revealed the title, a teaser visual, and the full core staff on Tuesday. Anno isn't just co-directing and handling design works — he's also credited as planner and executive producer, making this one of the most hands-on anime projects of his career.
In a statement on the official site, Anno described himself as a Yamato superfan since his second year of middle school, saying he wants to keep making Yamato not only to fulfill a childhood dream but to carry its hopes and prayers to the next generation. It's a deeply personal project for a filmmaker whose love of the franchise goes back decades — he previously oversaw the shot-for-shot recreation of the original 1974 opening for the Yamato 2199 remake.
Izubuchi is no stranger to the franchise either. The RahXephon director and Patlabor mechanical designer helmed the 2012 Yamato 2199 remake series, and his return gives the new film a direct creative link to the modern era of Yamato. Production I.G founder Mitsuhisa Ishikawa is planning the project alongside Anno, with animation production split between Production I.G and khara and the film produced by Shin Office Academy. The original work is credited to Yoshinobu Nishizaki.
The project was first announced in 2024, when khara received the rights from Voyager Holdings to produce new animated works based on Space Battleship Yamato, with licensing permissions from Touhakushinsha. At the time, it was described as taking a "different course" from the existing remake series — and today's reveal is the first concrete look at what that course will be.
That existing remake saga, meanwhile, is nearing its own finish line. The revival began in 2012 with Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and has continued through 2202 and 2205 to the multi-part theatrical finale Yamato yo Towa ni – REBEL 3199, whose seventh and final chapter opens in Japanese theaters on October 30, 2026. The √2199 film charts its own path apart from that continuity.
For context on the franchise's weight: the original Space Battleship Yamato TV series aired from 1974 to 1975, created by Leiji Matsumoto, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, and Eiichi Yamamoto. It essentially invented the space opera anime as Japan knows it — and in the West, where it aired as Star Blazers, it helped lay the groundwork for anime fandom itself.
The teaser poster will also get a physical unveiling: it goes on display at the Evangelion Store Tokyo-01 in Ikebukuro on October 9, followed by the Yumoto Eva-ya store in Hakone starting the evening of October 10. Further updates are promised soon, with no additional timeline announced yet.
Anno co-directing Yamato is one of those announcements that feels decades in the making — a lifelong fan with the industry's biggest megaphone finally getting to steer the ship. For a franchise over 50 years old, √2199 might just be its most exciting new voyage yet.
Source: Space Battleship Yamato √2199
