Hideaki Anno Reveals Space Battleship Yamato Root 2199 Film

Space Battleship Yamato Root 2199, stylized with a square root symbol in Japanese, was announced in Japan on October 6, 2026, as a feature-length anime film. Hideaki Anno and Yutaka Izubuchi will direct, while Production I.G and Khara will jointly handle animation production.

The announced staff and production setup

Anno is credited with planning the film, serving as executive producer, directing, and contributing design work. Izubuchi is credited as co-director and will also provide design work. The two directors have longstanding ties to the franchise, but their pairing here places the new film under shared creative leadership rather than assigning each of those responsibilities to separate staff members.

Production I.G and Khara are described as working together on animation production for the first time. Shin Office Academy is producing the film, and original creator Yoshinobu Nishizaki is credited for the source work. The announcement therefore identifies the project's principal creative and production organizations even though the wider staff and cast have not yet been disclosed.

A teaser visual accompanied the reveal. It shows Yamato on devastated ground as the ship appears ready to launch toward space, connecting the new production to one of the franchise's most recognizable images without presenting story footage. The October 6 announcement also coincided with the 52nd anniversary of the original television anime's 1974 premiere.

The image also echoes the basic premise established by the original story. After attacks by the Gamilas Empire leave Earth devastated, Yamato and its crew depart for Iscandar in the Large Magellanic Cloud on a mission intended to save their planet. Root 2199 has not yet received a synopsis, so the teaser confirms the ship and its launch imagery without establishing whether the new film will retell, revise, or move beyond that voyage.

How Root 2199 follows the earlier project reveal

The film gives a title and format to a project that had been publicly developing since 2024. Anno's involvement in a new Space Battleship Yamato anime was announced during a screening event held as part of the franchise's 50th anniversary activities on October 6 of that year. At the time, the production was described as following a different route from the continuing Space Battleship Yamato 2199 series.

That distinction matters because Izubuchi previously directed the 2012 reboot Space Battleship Yamato 2199. Root 2199 reunites him with the franchise in the co-director role while placing the project alongside Anno, whose 50th anniversary work included planning and producing screenings, exhibitions, and publications. The two also jointly created the logo used for those anniversary activities.

Anno said the production reflects more than fulfilling a childhood dream. He framed it as a Yamato made with hopes and wishes for both his own generation and the next. His personal connection to the property has been part of the project's presentation: he has said encountering Space Battleship Yamato as a middle-school student shaped the course of his life.

The newly published credits and visual confirm that Root 2199 is a theatrical feature, not simply another unnamed anniversary video. Its release window and further production details remain unannounced. The next confirmed milestone is a future update covering when the film will open.