BATTLESHIP YAMATO Japans Secret Fleet

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This DVD is a complete WASTE of money. Being an (amateur) historian of Yamato and other IJN ships, I cautiously bought this German-made DVD hoping (against reason) that it actually MIGHT contain some new material. You guessed it - NADA. Here are a few salient points about this product: 1. There is no sign of Yamato or Musashi in any footage - except in the lengthy clips purloined from the 2005 Japanese film "Men of the Yamato" (Otokachi etc.) 2. Many mislabeled photos in the "bonus galleries" (ie Yamato ID'd as Musashi, etc.) 3. Grievous factual errors in narration regarding Leyte Gulf and especially Operation Ten-Ichi-Go. They mixed Admiral Ito (commander of the Yamato task force) with Admiral Nomura (who wasn't there), got things like ranks wrong, recited factual details of the final moments on the bridge that never happened - at least not in any of the books I read, like, errr.... that first person account by Yoshida (Requiem for Battleship Yamato), who just, ummm ... HAPPENED TO BE THERE! I feel INSULTED. If they had just taken all the photos from my Yamato gallery at [...](available for FREE to anyone with a modicum of search skills) and built the narration around that, it would have made the DVD 10x better. Instead, they show about 3 photos (not the most dramatic ones) from April 7, 1945, plus OTHER photos from unrelated operations purported to be from 'Yamato's final minutes' - you can clearly see a smoking aircraft carrier in one of them. GRADE: "F" Read more

It’s in German and doesn’t play in the US on DVD players. I am seeing more and more of this on line. Now I know what to look for and to me this makes no sense.Great topics that can’t be played. Read more

Although the title purports this set to be a history of the "Yamato" class battleships, it is fact no such history at all. Actually this is a hotchpotch of footage where only occasionally the narrator is talking about the ship(s) actually shown. Surprisingly very few of the known photos of the "Yamato" class battleships are included. The narrator's comments are filled with clichés and a thorough research made prior to the set's release is wanting. If this had been a history of these battleships their designers would have been mentioned, but they are not. Too many scenes of the IJN are shown several times, which is totally unnecessary. The bonus DVD is at least a little better and contains an interesting WWII propaganda film by the USN. I particularly liked the old footage of the USS "Saratoga" and the USS "Lexington". Read more