Ask John: What’s the Background on Yamamoto Yohko?

Question:
I was curious to know which one came first, the Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko TV series or the OVA series? In addition, how many TV episodes was made and was there more than the TV series and OVAs? Will the TV series coming out to the US commercially any time soon?

Answer:
I don’t mind going into a lot of detail with Yamamoto Yohko because it’s been one of my favorite series since I first encountered it around five years ago. Soreyuke! Uchu Senkan Yamamoto Yohko (a parody of the classic title Uchu Senkan Yamato, Space Battleship Yamato) originated as a series of novels written by Shoji Takashi (who also created the popular psychic battle series Tokyo Jyushouden). Takashi actually created two different series of Yamamoto Yohko novels. The first series included 11 books published between 1993 and 1999. The “Opt.” series of 8 novels was published between 1994 and 1999. The popular series spawned a tabletop RPG game in 1996 and a series of 4 manga written by Takashi with art by Youichi Kadoi, published between 1996 and 1998. The series was popular enough to become a 3 part OAV series in early 1996. Three radio drama adaptations were broadcast in Tokyo in March and April of 1997, followed that summer by the promotional video “Soreyuke! Uchuu Senkan Yamamoto Yohko II Stage: 0 Get Ready!!” which led directly into the second, three episode OAV series. In April 1999, Yamamoto Yohko was revived for the 26 episode TV series.

While the two OAV series maintained a single continuing continuity, the TV series featured new character designs by Akio Watanabe (SoulTaker, Court no Nakano Tenshi Tachi). However, like both OAV series, the TV still featured fantastic vocal theme songs by Masami Okui (Utena opening, Jungle de Ikou themes, etc.) and voice performances by famous seiyuu including Megumi Hayashibara, Tamagawa Sakiko (Natsumi of You’re Under Arrest), Yuko Miyamura (Asuka Shoryu Langley), Minami Takayama (Nabiki Tendo, Dilandau), Yasunori Matsumoto (Gourry Gabriev, Dick Saucer), and Yuuji Ueda (Sanosuke, Tenkawa Akito). The TV series was an entirely new, self contained story, though, with some major changes to the characters’ personalities- especially the decision to make Momiji an old fashioned, rustic “tough guy” with a soft heart and the dramatic inclusion of emotional depth and intensity to Rouge of the Redsnappers. The TV series, while not a tremendous smash on Japanese televison, was mildly successful and remains, in my personal opinion, one of the best and most underappreciated anime TV series of the past several years. While the OAV series was a fun but ephemeral diversion, the TV series, with its significantly longer running time, delved into a surprising amount of character development and story, and featured excellent direction, cinematography and a wonderful sense of originality and extra effort on the part of the production staff. Unfortunately, either there is no American license for the TV series, or RSI (or whichever company owns the translation rights) is being very secretive about it.