Submarine 707 Revolution Review

[TLAM Strike]

Submarine 707 is a Japanese Anime movie created by Satoru Ozawa and produced by Anipex Inc. I’ve never really watched any Anime before and I’ve kinda considered it the stuff of Saturday morning cartoon shows. Sub 707 dispels that to some extent. The movie is really two 40 minute TV shows spliced together, and was probably the two pilot episodes of a series that was never produced. The basic plot is ecological terrorists are sinking ships with a powerful submarine. They are lead by "Admiral Red" their one dimensional psychopathic commander. The world powers create a “Peace Keeping Navy” to deal with the bad guys using of their best ships (mostly their biggest ships). Japan’s contribution is their old rust bucket diesel sub called the 707. The PKN fleet with its giant submersible carrier (apparently crewed by almost all women) quickly comes under attack with the 707 sacrificing its self to save her when Red targets is only weak point- the vents for their reactor. Apparently the same people that built the Empire’s Death Star built this carrier. The captain & crew survives and are call back to duty to be the crew of a new submarine named in honor of their old sub. They are then sent on a mission to destroy the enemy sub.

The Characters: We are introduced to Captain Hayami while he is fishing off the sail bridge of the 707. Right there I knew I liked this guy, he seems like he would fit in with Dex Armstrong and Crew over at the After Battery. He has the feel of an old cold war warrior who knows all the tricks. Throughout the movie we jump to him thinking of his wife and daughter at home worrying about him and wondering when he will be coming home. That really separates this from most other submarine movies that don’t touch on the loved ones left behind by crews on long patrols. Most of the other crew we never get to know due to the length of the movie but the Cadet (Senta) who becomes a Sonar operator stands out. The Sonar Supervisor Mr. Suzuki while hunting down a pre-dinner snack in the galley discovers the kid can hear the Cavitation bubbles that signal when his croquettes are done cooking. There are also two other cadets who pilot the 707’s one-man midget submarines called “Juniors”. Not much is done with those two and they would have no doubt had much more character development if Sub 707 were made in to a series. The US Characters for the most part are portrayed as arrogant blowhards dependent on technology to win their battles.

The Pros: The opening credits showing a submarine being built then refitted are fantastic as are the battle sequinces (FFG players in Dangerous Waters will love the very beginning!). Both 707s are great looking unlike most of the other subs in the movie, more on that later. The surface ships (aside from the big Carrier) look very close to real life ships; I spotted Tico class cruisers, an Iowa class battleship along with Burke and Sovermenny class destroyers. The science and technology used are fairly realistic; the creators actually did their research. Cadet Senta’s little jingle he sings while cooking makes me chuckle “There’s a great smell comin’ from the bottom of the sea, in the galley of a submarine down there, our fried potations the shape of torpedoes...”

The Cons: The villains and secondary characters are corny line delivering cardboard cutouts. Most of the other submarines aside from the French and German ones look more like spaceships (bad spaceships that that). Some of the weapons used are way too cartoonish, the destroyers in the opening sequence use Depth Charges (or try to at least) and the salvo of missiles from the bad guy’s sub that shoot up from under their target seem like a bad idea- they call it a ‘Moskit’ ("Mouse Kid" in the sub titles ) in the movie but it doesn’t resemble the deadly SS-N-22 Sunburn at all. The end leaves you hanging, as I’ve said this was probably a pilot for a TV show or mini-series that wasn’t picked up. The sub titles don’t match the dialog quite a bit, so if you’re hard of hearing you’ll be missing out on some of the nuance of the movie.

In Conclusion Sub 707 looks great and is entertaining. The downright corniness and cartoonishness of some the dialog and characters really prevents this from being a great movie and will turn off some older viewers. Its no Red October, Das Boot or K-19 but I would easily rank it above U-571 or the 2nd half of Crimson Tide. 7 out of 10 and worth a rent from your local blockbuster or library, and if you have children in their young teens this would be a great tool to indoctrinate… err introduce them to submarines.

[Grayback]

Looks like you were ready to overlook the weak spots to enjoy this story. Have you seen Silent Service? That's the one where the US trains this Japanese crew in utter secrecy to run a nuclear sub - the idea being that the sub and crew will be part of the USN. Instead, the Japanese crew takes over and proclaims their ship its own nationhood - subtly hinting that they've got the nukes to dissuade any who might have a problem with that.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Grayback

Looks like you were ready to overlook the weak spots to enjoy this story. Have you seen Silent Service? That's the one where the US trains this Japanese crew in utter secrecy to run a nuclear sub - the idea being that the sub and crew will be part of the USN. Instead, the Japanese crew takes over and proclaims their ship its own nationhood - subtly hinting that they've got the nukes to dissuade any who might have a problem with that.

I've heard of Silent Service (I didn't know that name, but I knew the story) and heard it was good but havn't see it yet (want too).

I admit I was willing to over some of the weak spots in my review mostly because my expectations weren't that high to start with.