Submarine 707R Revolution: The Movie 2003 Geneon Entertainment Official US Website Buy It Now Official Japanese Website

I have always been a big fan of submarine fiction. Tom Clancy novels, the games based on them (Red Storm Rising on the Commodore 64 probably still holds the record as the single game that has eaten up the most hours- no, days- no, *weeks*- of my life), movies… so I was happy to see Submarine 707R Revolution: The Movie arrive in my mailbox. Never have I seen a submarine based anime, so I looked forward to the time when I finally had a hundred minutes or so to kill to check it out.

Check it out I have, and I have to admit disappointment.

707R (I'm not writing out that whole title anymore) is a story about a terrorist organization with a powerful navy sinking the ships of the world’s military forces, and their counter efforts to stop them. It is a good starting place for a story, and could have been incredible if handled properly. In the end, however, it seems the producers were far more enamored of actual submarines and submarine tactics than in telling a compelling story, and that is where 707R falls flat.

707R isn’t terrible, exactly. Artistically, the show is pretty good, and of course, it looks great on the PSP. Some of the battle scenes are dramatic and do a good job of showing what it is like for subs to engage each other under the water. And I liked the premise of pitting two captains- both family men, both fighting for a cause, one in a state of the art war machine, one in a nearly antiquated museum piece- against one another. The problem comes down, as always, to putting these elements in a rational and cohesive storyline that gets the viewer involved and creates an emotional resonance. What we have in 707R are those elements, but not the story. So, while we know who is doing what, we don’t really know why. Admiral Red, the terrorist commander, is destroying the world’s naval fleets- why? He states he wants to make a beautiful world for his children. How does murder and destruction, filling the world’s ocean’s with junk, help that cause? I am left to assume (by his name and outfit- he is Red) that he might be a communist, or by his blathering about creating a beautiful world that he is an environmentalist. In either case, his motivations are never really explained by his actions.

Captain Hayami of the 707, however, is just the opposite. He is a military man doing his duty, and while he is certainly a likeable guy, we never get to know anything more about him. Why did he join the military? Why is he so distant from his daughter, as some things she says would seem to suggest? Why is a captain who is regarded as one of the best submariners out there by his peers in command of an old jalopy like the 707?

There are other elements thrown in that are never explained as well, such as characters who are named but never introduced, things that are referenced but never explained. Finally, we come to the end of the “movie”, which is actually two episodes, which leaves us at a stalemate. Admiral Red flees the battle, and Captain Hayami says he knows they will have to face each other again. Had the story been more coherent, this could have been a great teaser for a sequel. As it is, what we are left with is a frustration at just having spent one hundred minutes trying to sort all this out and being left with no conclusion. Admiral Red destroyed a lot of ships and killed a lot of people- he should have met the appropriate fate at the end. It almost seems as though Red was deliberately written to be a sympathetic character, so his being left to escape at the end would be fitting. Unfortunately, regardless of your motivations and how good a father you are, most people are not going to take a shine to you if you go around killing people and breaking things, especially when your motivations are not ever actually revealed. Give me some reason- any reason- that I should be satisfied with the guy getting away at the end, and I have to accept it. Leave it to me to assume that is because the writers were trying to say something they never actually got around to explaining, and all they have done is waste my time.

Like I said, though, 707R is not a total loss. Some of the animation is very good, and a few scenes in particular border on beautiful. The opening of the show is especially good, and the music almost always fits in with the action perfectly. There is some CG in there that is distinct from the traditional animation, but it is not a lot, and on the PSP screen seems to blend rather well. Like most UMD releases, special features are limited to previews of other Geneon titles and Japanese/English language tracks.

Hardcore submarine fiction fans who are also anime fans might like to give 707R a look, but even those folks will probably be left cold by the lack of a coherent story. I would definitely recommend those people rent it first before they buy. Anyone looking for a compelling story, regardless of the setting, should look elsewhere. 707R is yet another example of a show that could have been great, but ends up being mediocre, at best.

-Ed-