[Source:
Wikipedia] In 2199, after five years of attacks by an alien race known as
Gamilas, the Earth Defense Force launches a counter-offensive near Mars.
The fleet's weapons are no match for the Gamilas, who easily decimate
the fleet. During the battle, EDF captain Mamoru Kodai volunteers to use
his damaged ship, the destroyer
Yukikaze, as a shield to cover Captain Jyuzo Okita's ship, allowing his escape. The ship is destroyed. On Earth, Mamoru's brother Susumu is scavenging on the irradiated
surface when an object impacts near him, throwing off his helmet and
knocking him unconscious. He awakens to finds an alien message capsule.
He also notices that the
radiation
has been reduced to safe levels around him. He is rescued by Okita's
returning ship and it is discovered that the capsule contains
engineering schematics for a new warp drive and coordinates for the
planet from which it came (Iskandar). After learning what happened at
Mars, he accuses Okita of using his brother as a sacrificial lamb and
tries to hit him, but crewmember Yuki Mori violently stops him. Okita believes the hope for humanity lies within Iskandar. A request
for volunteers for the mission is sent out, and Kodai - a former EDF
pilot - decides to re-enlist. Their last battleship, the
Yamato, is enhanced with alien technology. Before the
Yamato
can launch the Gamilas attack with a gigantic missile. Captain Okita
gives the order to fire the yet-untested Wave Motion Cannon, the ship's
primary and experimental weapon, which successfully destroys the
incoming missile. Kodai is reunited with his old fighter squad. Yuki,
who joined the EDF years ago due to her admiration for Kodai, is bitter
towards him. The
Yamato crew performs their first warp test and encounters
more Gamilas ships. Since the Wave Motion Cannon is powered by the same
reactor as the warp drive, the crew has to wait until the engine
recharges to warp again. The
Yamato destroys their capital ships, but the battle damages Yuki's fighter. Kodai launches to rescue her and is later sent to the
brig
for disobeying orders. Later, Shima (his former squad-mate) tells Yuki
that Kodai left the service because he accidentally caused the death of
his family and also Shima's wife during a mission. After another warp, the
Yamato crew finds a Gamilas fighter
adrift and recovers it to study, but the alien pilot is alive and
possesses Commando Team Leader Hajime Saitō, in order to communicate.
The alien calls himself Dessler and explains that Gamilas is a race with
a
hive mind. Kodai stuns the possessed Saito, but the alien is destroyed. Later, an ill Captain Okita makes Kodai acting-captain. The crew
discovers that the captured Gamilas fighter contains a homing beacon,
giving away their position. The Yamato fires its
Wave Motion Cannon
to destroy a Gamilas ship, but it buys time for a stealth Gamilas
spacecraft to latch onto the ship's third bridge located on the bottom
of the hull. Kodai reluctantly orders Yuki, in her fighter, to blast the
third bridge support away moments before it detonates, saving the
Yamato.
Later on Kodai apologizes to Yuki for ordering her to doom their
crew-mates, and the two have an intimate moment as the ship warps again. The
Yamato arrives at Iskandar, but is met by a large Gamilas fleet that sends a spacecraft to obstruct the nozzle of the
Wave Motion Cannon.
With their main weapon disabled, Kodai makes the dangerous choice to
randomly warp and end up at the opposite side of Iskandar but are
surprised to see that it is lifeless. It is discovered that Gamilas and
Iskandar are the same planet. The crew begins to think that it is a
trap, but Kodai urges them to press on. He leads an attack down to the
planet surface in the midst of heavy Gamilas opposition. As much of the
assault force is killed, the remaining pilots stay behind to cover for
Kodai, Sanada, Saito and Mori as they head off to the coordinates. At the coordinates, an alien possesses Yuki's body and explains that
Gamilas and Iskandar are two aspects of the same race. The alien
explains that their planet is dying and saw Earth as the most suitable
replacement by killing humanity in the process. However, Iskandar did
not share this view, and has been imprisoned. Iskandar implants in Yuki
the ability to clean the radiation from Earth, and as she and Kodai
return to Yamato, Saito and Sanada sacrifice themselves by destroying
the Gamilas power source. Afterwards, the
Yamato returns to Earth
and Okita dies. The crew rejoices at their return but a surviving
Gamilas ship ambushes them and severely damages the warship. Dessler
appears and says they no longer wish to invade Earth, but since the
majority of the Gamilas are killed, he intends to destroy the planet
with his vessel to avenge his race. Kodai has the surviving crew abandon
ship before he helms
Yamato on a
kamikaze attack with the Gamilas ship and fires the blocked Wave Motion Cannon. The ending shows Yuki and a child, which is implied to be Kodai's son, on the Earth's surface now restored to its natural state.
