As a child in Italy, I grew up with the whole Yamato saga. To this day, I consider it one of the best stories ever put on the screen. In this final movie, everything comes together, and I shed a tear or two every time I watch it. The scene from 2:16:30 onward, with the final salute to Okita, is so powerful. I just turned 54, I am a former airman in the Italian Air Force, an engineer, and a にほんご student, and don't care if I look silly: I cannot help but to stand at attention when Kodai finally murmurs: "おとおさん". Damn powerful and moving.
It is a damn shame that these movies never got a US/ North America release. The 3rd season wasn't that great and most US cities never broadcast it. But these Yamato movies should have been given a chance to be shown for there are a lot of fans.
Okay I'm counting Three Different version, 1) 1983 35 MM original release, 2) the extended 70mm re release and this version which I assume is the American released VHS/DVD version.
This is missing the wedding/romantic love scene at the end. I have that version on Beta Max tape.(poor copy) But I cant find a good copy of it anywhere.