convince him to return until, the potential future of having a child with Mori is revealed. As Kodai and Mori reconcile by having regained a sense of responsibility to life, a refurbished Yamato arrives, penetrating this dimension and retrieving Kodai and Mori and returning them to Earth. Japanese voice artist: Kei Tomiyama, Kōichi Yamadera (PlayStation 2 games, Rebirth), Daisuke Ono (2199) American voice artist: Kenneth Meseroll (seasons 1 & 2), John Bellucci (season 3), Christopher Wehkamp (2199) Live-action actor: Takuya Kimura (Alex Wildstar, also known as Alex Kodai in the English dub of the first Yamato movie): The older Kodai/Wildstar brother and captain of Missile Ship 17, the Yukikaze (Paladin in Star Blazers), Mamoru appears to die in the first episode while holding off enemies so Okita's stricken flagship may escape the battlefield. In the original, Mamoru was insisting he could not face the souls of his dead comrades if he fled whereas in Star Blazers he dies for the sole purpose of providing cover for Okita's ship. In fact, it emerged his ship had crash-landed—in one piece—on Titan, and he had been captured alive by the Garmilans, but the ship in which he was a prisoner crashed on Iscandar, where Queen Starsha healed him. He fell in love with his rescuer and decided to stay on Iscandar, fathering a daughter named Sasha. His Japanese given name means "to protect". He sacrificed his life in Be Forever, Yamato in order to save Admiral Heikuro Todo from execution. The character of Mamoru Kodai was originally planned to have appeared midway through the series as a scarred space pirate under the guise of Captain Harlock. When the series' episode count was cut, these plans had to be scrapped and his storyline was quickly wrapped up with his appearance on Iscandar. However, this space pirate angle still remains in Leiji Matsumoto's Space Battleship Yamato manga. In 2199 Kodai is best friends with Shiro Sanada in college and is in a relationship with Sanada's research partner Kaoru Niimi in the early stages of the war. By 2199 Mamoru Kodai has risen to rank of Lieutenant Commander and captains the missile destroyer Yukikaze when as the only other ship surviving the battle of Pluto he sacrifices himself and his ship to cover the retreat of the Kirishima, Earth's last battleship. He survives the ship's crash into the Saturnian moon Enceladus and is captured by Garmilan