Uchuu Senkan Yamato/YMMV

• Ass Pull: (Arguably.) One can't help but wonder why the Gamilons use weapons that make the earth uninhabitably radioactive, if their goal is to colonize it. In the last episode of the first series, we learn that a radioactive environment is their natural habitat.. although the pilot captured earlier in the series didn't seem to need it. And it never comes up again in later seasons, where there appear to be No Biochemical Barriers.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: As someone who has never seen any of the source material, the trailer for the Live Action Adaptation counts imho.
  • The Yamato's launching from the Revival movie, complete with the series' original opening theme.
  • Episode 25 is a massive Crowning Moment of Awesome for the Yamato and her crew, as the battleship, nearly crippled in the last battle with Deslar, first chase off Earth the space fortress Gatlantis, then launch an Airstrike Impossible to pave the way for a commando raid that cripples the target, and then the Yamato destroy Gatlantis. A space fortress that four episodes earlier had wiped out the entire Earth Defense Force fleet without even trying!!!
  • Lampshaded by a random bystander in the crowds when Yamato reappears: "It's Yamato! We still have Yamato! We're going to WIN."
• Crowning Music of Awesome: For the new Live Action Adaptation, Steven Tyler's Love Lives.
  • The original theme music definitely qualifies. At least, it's a damned good Ear Worm.
  • The 2199 version is also awesome.
  • What about Dessler's theme? It just screams Magnificent Bastard!
• Follow the Leader: Star Wars and both versions of Battlestar Galactica drew heavily from Space Battleship Yamato, sometimes practically scene-by-scene. See also Older Than They Think.
  • Both Crusade and the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise were essentially the first season of Yamato transplanted into their respective continuities.
  • On the other hand, the 2010 live-action movie clearly takes inspiration from Battlestar Galactica Reimagined in multiple ways, from Gender Flipping multiple characters, to taking more cynical spins on their original premises (e.g. Captain Okita's revelation that he made up "Iscandar" and the radiation-cleaning technology, just because humanity needed hope -- and because the fact the message capsule removed the radiation from around Kodai when it landed gave him hope.)
• Hilarious in Hindsight: when mining for cosmonite in ep. 6, our heroes turn it into neat cubes rather than break it into rocks...
• Historical Hero Upgrade: A very conscious one, especially in the second episode, which notes the Yamato's lackluster record and complete failure in its final suicidal mission. Considering that the Yamato was seen as symbolic of Japan itself, and that the show was made only a generation after the war, it's likely the entire point of the series was the romantic notion that Japan, like the Yamato, could still someday achieve the honor and greatness it failed to in the past.
  • Approaches Values Dissonance in the live action 2010 movie, when Captain Okita gives a stirring speech about the original Yamato representing hope for a people under attack from a dire enemy. That must have been interesting news for Korean and Chinese audiences...
• Macekre: Star Blazers, but YMMV due to a few woolseyisms.
  • The dub of the movie Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato cut 30 minutes out from the film, and used names from Star Blazers.
  • The most obvious plot changes in the dub are an aggressive attempt to reduce the number of people the heroes kill. This often includes claims that obviously-organic beings are robots, and hastily-spliced-in footage suggesting the bad guys escape rather than dying.
  • Not within the show itself, but on the official website's "History of Star Blazers", certain details (other than the fact that most of the Earth characters are Japanese) are either changed or made up completely. However, there are some inconsistancies, such as the "Great Island" (where the "Wildstar" family comes from) also being called "Okinawa" (where the "Kodai" family comes from)^[1].
• Magnificent Bastard: Dessler/Desslok is magnificently bastardlicious. And that's before he becomes an ally
• MST3K Mantra: Considering the fact that the real Yamato's ammunition magazines exploded when she sank, making the idea of her becoming a spaceship problematic, this trope applies.
• Moment of Awesome: In season 2, in one of the episodes close to the end. Leader Desslock had earlier accepted a commission from Prince Zordar to defeat the Star Force, so he pins the Yamato by teleporting mines over to surround it. To escape, the Yamato executes a small warp and rams Desslock's ship. Deputy Captain Derek Wildstar boards the Leader's ship. The two of them face off on the bridge. Desslock slowly levels his pistol at Wildstar, while goading Wildstar to shoot him. But Wildstar, already injured earlier, falls to the deck while drawing his. His love interest, Nova, dashes out of hiding, grabs the pistol, blocks Desslock's aim, then aims Derek's pistol at Desslock. Moments later, she drops the pistol, places Derek's head in her lap, and comforts him while he remains semiconscious. Desslock gets his Villainous BSOD as he is witnesses Nova's simultaneous display of extreme bravery and extreme devotion. It makes him change his mind about pursuing the Star Force, he declares to Nova that the war between Gamillon and Earth is over, and he offers her advice on the Comet Empire's one weak point in its mobile fortress. Doubles as a Momentof Heartwarming!
• My Real Daddy: An effective custody battle began in the late 1990's between Yamato's original creator Yoshinobu Nishizaki and the legendary Leiji Matsumoto (who rewrote much of the premise as soon as he joined the project, and has the critics and most of the fanbase on his side). Both creators have attempted their own Revivals of Yamato, with various degrees of success.
• Older Than They Think: Star Blazers is occasionally Misblamed for being derivative of Star Wars, which is impossible because Space Battleship Yamato premiered in 1974. On the other hand, Yamato arguably was inspired on some level by Yellow Submarine (1968) and Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973). See also Follow the Leader.
  • Newer Than They Think: As youtube comments will tell you, there are also a lot of latter-day fans who think the Death Star was based on the Comet Empire. Not likely, as the Comet Empire was introduced in 1978.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: The 2010 live-action movie rewrote much of Susumu Kodai's character arc to reflect him being played by a 37-year-old Kimura Takuya. Instead of being a Hot-Blooded young Eager Young Space Cadet growing to manhood, he's a Retired Badass turned Shell-Shocked Veteran by tragedy, who accepts the Call to Adventure once more time.
• Woolseyism: Many, but most notably Captain Avatar's bottle of water from a "beautiful clear spring" near his home, now destroyed by Gamilon bombing. That's actually a lot more poetic than just a bottle of wine.

1. ↑ In actuality, "Great Island" just refers to Japan in general. The flashback in episode 13 clearly depicts Mt. Fuji, which is nowhere near Okinawa.