Silent Service CPM 100 minutes Japanese English Subtitles 01/16/2001

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Kaieda : Tommorow with neither fanfare nor family members to wish us well, the world's most accursed ship will set out. Get ready for a completely untelegraphed, unbroadcasted move. I'm gonna drop into the real shit quick, with little randomness, little digression, and as always...little tact. In the tradition of Japanese thirst for power and anti-American sentiment we're given The Silent Service, a hundred minute smashfest through the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Betrayal, politics, infighting, defect...ation, battles, navy uniforms! For you submarine psychopaths get ready for a blast from the proverbial past as Sunrise's 1995 film wets your socks and clocks your blocks. Prepare to be awed by risky manuvers, potential blunders, shocking statements, the those sleazy United States Of America. This movie's a winner from the get go and even CPM's dub sounds pretty good. In Sunrise we trust and in Sunrise we are redeemed, as it was in the beginning is now and every shall be. In nomine Bebop, et 8th team, et Dirty Pair-tus. Amen.

Somewhere in the Pacific the Romanov, a Russian sub, drifts happily along its course...presumably back to the motherland. All of a sudden it collides with the small Japanese diesel, Yamanami. The Yamanami sinks deeper into the ocean and eventually implodes, destroying it and everyone inside. A joint effort of US and Japan recovers the wreckage of the sub and the dead captain, Kaeida, is honorarily promoted to Admiral. But are things really as they seem? Captain of Tatsunami and member of Kaeida's graduating class, Fukamachi thinks otherwise. HE believes something's odd and has his sonar chief examine the tape of the two subs colliding, as they were in the vicinity when the accident happens. They unconver the odd fact that a hatch opened before the ship sunk and it is believed that all hands abandoned ship before the calamity. Meaning Kaeida sunk his sub on purpose but for what reason?

That reason is unvieled to him with time, the US and Japan have ANOTHER joint venture going on the side, the construction of the most advanced nuclear sub in the world, codename : Sea Bat. It is to be crewed entirely by the Japanese of the Yamanami and is to be Japan's first nuclear submarine. The only problem is Captain Kaeida has other plans. On the night of the ceremony he goes to the sub and carves "Yamato" into it's hull,** and gives a short speech to his comrade and you could lick the munity out of the air with a cheese grater and a teflon frying pan. The very next day as their manuvers are being completeled Kaeida orders a screamer torpedo fired into the midst of the subs waiting for him and dives to 700 meters, much to the horror of the US represenative on board the Sea Bat. The chase is on! With crazy tricks like turning the volume of the music he's playing on board the ship to make the Americans think the Sea Bat is moving away, thus allowing him to close the gap until any torpedos fired would endager the US subs too, Kaeida is a genius, albiet an incredibly crazy genius. What if the enemy captains had pinged the Japanese sub just a bit sooner? This has Hunt For Red October meets Eevil Kneevil written all over it. Why don't they turn the sub vertical and fire disarmed torpedos into the destroyer right above them? Sounds like a plan you crazy bastard!

Kaeida has his own imperative. He and his crew announce the Sea Bat is now the independent country of the Yamato, the smallest country in the world***, and he claims a territory of twelve miles around the vessel. With the threat of nuclear weapons being used against them the United States scrambles to keep their heads on like a chicken with its head cut off. The chiefs of state are trepadatious on whether or not to call his bluff and Japan is divided on whether to grant sanction to Yamato or blow the damn thing out of the water. Silent Service is a kickass movie and just the kind of thing to drag someone kicking and screaming into anime, the only problem is the Gasaraki effect. A huge cast with unfamiliar Japanese names makes it difficult to catch the names as they whiz by you. Buy Silent Service and try not to notice that there isn't a single female role. Sunrise, daiiiiisuuki!****

**Thus fucking up it's sonar absorbant coating. Good job sailor.

***Take THAT Vatican City!

****That either means "Sunrise I love you" or it's a word I just made up.