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I never said that STAR WARS wasn't an influence, but itÂ’s not as obvious as the other, stronger, influences. If you watch YAMATO and ATRAGON, you'll see precisely where they got everything -- excluding Chewie's cousin -- for THE WAR IN SPACE. Anyone who can't see that, or denies it, doesn't know a thing about Japanese pop culture in the late 1970s...
Don't worry: I'm not denying your acumen in regards to the kaiju/Japanese SF genre. I'm actually agreeing with you that Star Wars doesn't appear to be as much of an influence on War in Space as I was lead to believe. What I meant to say was War in Space probably wouldn't have been made without the release and subsequent runaway success of SW. This is supported by the Nakano interview when he says he was instructed by Tanaka Yuuko, after them seeing SW together, to make a space movie.

There is certainly an influence of Atragon in it, as well (I'm less familiar with the Yamato stuff): just look at the Gohten (the good guys big ship in WiS). War in Space was definitely made by folks who had seen Star Wars, but I see more home-grown Japanese influence than from SW.

Heck, I'd argue the influence of the original Battle in Outer Space as an influence on Star Wars. I mean, just look at the final big battle in BiOS...!
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