Uchû senkan Yamato III

Space Battleship Yamato III gets frequently overlooked in favour of it's predecessors - I believe a major contributor to this may be the fact that it's English-dubbed version, Bolar Wars, was released years later after Star Blazers and sporting an entirely new voice cast and a slipshod translation which didn't win it any favours.

The original version is, in my opinion, not merely as good as the previous two series but *better*. While the basic premise is pretty much the same, earth is in danger, Yamato heads out to get help...but that's where the similarities end. This time around, earth is in the same predicament as Gamilus was in the first series, and most of the series, Yamato (with several other unnamed ships which are implied to be upon the same task) seeks for another planet for humanity to migrate to. Somewhere deep in space, Desslok is engaging in a war against another superpower, the Bolar Federation, and soon Musumu Kodai and his friends are in the middle of this armed conflict. While Yamato spends much of the first half in battle, the story takes a turn into something far more interesting when Desslok discovers that Yamato is now involved in his campaign, and the story does not let go until the end.

Why does Yamato III rate better than it's predecessors in my opinion? It falls victim far less frequently the kind of stupidity series 1, 2 and especially New Voyage and Be Forever suffered from; namely characters foolishly getting themselves killed or acting just downright stupid for no reason and getting *others* killed instead (looking at you, Mamoru and Starsha).

If you enjoyed Yamato and Yamato II, you're going to enjoy Yamato III as well.