Submarine 707R

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Submarine 707R


caption =
ja_name = サブマリン707R
ja_name_trans =
genre = Science fictionInfobox animanga/OVA
title =
director = Shoichi Masuo
studio = Group TAC
licensor = flagicon|USA flagicon|Canada Geneon
flagicon|UK Manga Entertainment
episodes = 2
released = 26 September 2003
runtime = 48 min Nihongo|"Submarine 707R"|サブマリン707R is a 2-episode anime OVA produced by Group TAC and Sony and also a manga released by Satoru Ozawa (小沢さとる) released in 1963-1965 on Weekly Shonen Sunday and although not a mecha robot series, a "mecha" storyline that spawned plastic models during its time.

The series was very intriguing for its time as it was a unique story that featured various submarines with a storyline that introduced readers to anti-submarine warfare, homing torpedoes, sonars and technical topics in relation to submarines.

The first original attempt for an anime series was planned back in 1964 but later released as an audio drama ala "Sonoshito" (ソノシート, a very thin-sized record).

In 1997, a Toei film was released that focused on his second manga "SUBMARINE 707F" but the anime version "Submarine 707R" OAV's were released by Aniplex back in Sept. 26, 2003 (mission 01) and April 24, 2004 (mission 02). The animated film received a split reception with those who loved it for its CG, music and how Captain Hayami and Admiral Red's style of outwitting each other. But on the other hand, the criticism received in Japan was that the animated film, despite high anticipation, was a let-down since it was not true to Ozawa's manga and others who said if one didn't know about submarine mechanics, would probably enjoy it but those who are knowledgeable about it, would see the animated OAV series as too farfetched.

But the largest criticism was that the OAV series ended with only two OAV episodes and no planned animated TV series or future OAV series in the near future.

Background

In the near future, the world is at war. USR, lead by Admiral Red and his sub UX, wants to stop human exploitation of the sea, and have torpedoed many ships and ports. The world's navy united and formed PKN, the Peace Keeping Navy, to fight the USR. Every major UN member contributed a submarine, though the Japanese entry is an old clunker, the 707, and it is running late to the first meeting. When the meeting finally began, Admiral Red and the UX came to spoil the show with a spread of torpedoes.

Major characters

;Admiral Red: anime voices|Unshou Ishizuka

;Captain Hayami: anime voices|Ben Hiura: Maritime Self-Defense Force officer. The 707's captain.

;Hayato Nango: Maritime Self-Defense Officer which through the manga series went from third to second grade officer and later became the captain of the 717.

Synopsis

Reality vs. anime

Although the show is technically accurate with submarine terms and tactics, it suffers from a number of "mistakes".

None of the PKN submarines look particularly hydrodynamic. The most "sound" design happens to be Admiral Red's UX, as it has a nicely rounded hull that resembles a modern-day attack submarine. The namesake of the show, 707, looks half-way between a World War II I-boat and a nuclear attack boat.

Vertical anti-ship cluster rockets used in the intro by the UX against the two destroyers would be an inefficient weapon to aim and deploy. A torpedo would have been the more conventional option. Also, destroyers hunting subs would have helicopters out and primarily be hunting with torpedoes, not depth charges, particularly against modern submarines.

Trivia

Satoru Ozawa would later create another manga series based on submarines titled "Ao no Rokugou" (青の6号) a.k.a. Blue Submarine No. 6 which would be released as an animated OAV series in 2000.

References