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ANIME REVIEWS

© 1995 Kawaguchi Kaiji/Kodansha * Sunrise
English Language Version and Package Copyright © 1998 Central Park Media
USM 1680 $24.95 (dubbed)
USM 1681 $29.95 (subtitled)
100 minutes
Available: 7 July 1998




THE SILENT SERVICE
—by Charles McCarter

Things don't start off so well. A Japanese submarine collides with a Russian sub, sinks, and implodes. All hands are apparently lost. Investigations are launched and it is quickly discovered that the destroyed sub had no one aboard. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Japan have collaborated to build a state-of-the-art nuclear submarine, the Seabat. It will be part of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet but will have a Japanese crew. But on its maiden voyage, Captain Kaieda and his crew go rogue!
  This of course sends the rest of the world scrambling. The U.S. wants the sub recovered, so does Japan. In the meantime, neither country wants their exact connection to this project to be revealed. Things get even more complicated when Captain Kaieda declares the sub an independent nation.
  Captain Kaieda has a counterpart in the Japanese Self Defense Force, Captain Fukumachi. Fukumachi is more reckless than Kaieda, so he got passed over for command of the new sub, and he's just a little bit bitter. As a result, he's on a somewhat personal mission to return the Seabat to Japanese control.
  The first thing that one notices about this is the story—this isn't a cute anime that's all eye-candy. While the art is relatively good (with the exception of a few rather silly-looking characters) and the animation is respectable, the driving force behind this video is the story. There are many twists and turns, and for a time it seems that even Kaieda doesn't know what he's doing or why. But it's all part of the plot.
  There are a couple of things that are disappointing with the story, though. Fukumachi finds out early on that Kaieda is not dead. But he finds out too early, and is thus told the entire story by top Japanese brass and ordered to keep his mouth shut. As a result, he becomes less of a foil for Kaieda and is reduced to an almost comical but minor wild card.
  Meanwhile, Kaieda is a master strategist and very, very cautious. But luckily, everything always goes his way. He is confident and capable, but he doesn't have much in the personality department, so one sometimes wonders why his crew follows him so blindly.
  One really interesting aspect of this is the anti-U.S. sentiment that runs through the film. A key element of the plot focuses on what the U.S. will and won't do to protect those it is allied with, as well as how strong and determined the U.S. forces really are. The video makes some rather thinly veiled comments about how the U.S. is perceived by Japan (at least, from the author's point of view).
  Dubbing in this title is something of a hit-or-miss affair. Some of the voices seem to be cast very well, and the clipped military dialog is well done. But in other places it becomes apparent that several actors are performing multiple roles and trying to alter their voices.
  SILENT SERVICE is an atypical release these days, as it requires a lot of thinking to follow what is going on. And although this video does have a couple of slow spots, it tends to deliver a good story at a reasonable pace. But if military intrigue and politics aren't your cup of tea, you may find yourself losing interest. Those who favor political intrigue, though, will greatly enjoy this title.


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