If you like submarine movies like the German DAS BOOT or THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER you will undoubetly enjoy this anime.
The story revolves around a secret US-Japanese joint venture: the first Japanese nuclear submarine. On the U-boat's first mission captain KAIEDA and his crew start a mutiny and arrest the US liaison officer. The renegades rename their vessel YAMATO after a famous Japanese World War II battleship. Captain KAIEDA has an agenda of his own (namely achieving world peace by bluffing the USA into believing that the YAMATO is armed with nuclear missiles) and soon Japan and the United States are on the brink of war...
SILENT SERVICE moves at breakneck speed and is actionfilled from start to finish. More naval battles than in the second World War! Okay, okay, I admit I am exaggerating here, but it is amazing how much naval action (and story!) is crammed in the film's 100 minutes running time. The film also succeeds in creating quite a tension in the scenes which are common to submarine movies: officers listening anxiously to their sonar, vessels trying to out-manouvre one another, depth charges attacks, crash dives. The military hardware on display appears to be depicted accurately. I also liked the main character, captain KAIEDA, who is a righteous man and an excellent naval officer with nerves of steel.
While it did not bother me, I am aware that some US viewers may dislike the "the Americans can't be trusted" message of the film, evident not only in the overall storyline, but in some details as well (e.g. the American president before attending an international summit reads a "Japan Re-occupation Plan").
Don't let this put you off!
In my view most anime suffer from their usual sci-fi settings with aliens and mechs, so a more realistic and mature japanimation feature is always welcome, even more so when it concerns a war toppic. If you are a military buff, you'll like this one.
Unfortunately the DVD is rather weak on the extra side. There is a rather pointless "meet the characters" - feature and a multiple angle option for the end credits sequence, where you can switch between Japanese and English end titles with your remote control (I recommend to stay with the original). There are also some trailers, of which I liked VIRGIN FLEET best.
The optional English subtitles are easy on the eyes and free of misspellings. There is an English audio track, too. - Reviewer: Manfred Zeichmann
January 25th, 2005 09:30 AM
