Director: Shoichi Masuo
Screenplay: Hiroshi Ohnogi
Based on the manga by Satoru Ozawa
Voice Cast: Akira Ishida as Goro Kusaka; Ben Hiura as Youhei Hayami; Daisuke Sakaguchi as Senta Umino; Hideo Ishikawa as Ichiro Suzuki; Hiroshi Yanaka as Hayato Nango; Kensho Ono as Kenji Minahaya; Unshō Ishizuka as Admiral Red
Viewed in Japanese with English Subtitles
Adapted from a manga first started in 1963, and adapted once already for a 1997 one-shot OVA, Submarine 707R is another title from the transition of Manga Entertainmentinto the early 2000s, where there would still be OVAs over the decade but eventually television shows alongside theatrical features would dominate their catalogue. Released by Geneon USA in the United States, that company (an off-shot of NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan) would fold in 2007, with the added fascination that this is also an Aniplex title. Aniplex are more known in the States, and are more controversial from the 2010s onwards for distributing their titles for physical media under prices closer to the Japanese market, which means very expensive and limited print runs, managing (unlike Bandai Visual in the 2000s) to actually succeed. This is almost quaint to look back on, with this two part OVA, before they were ever that company and merely one of the producers of such titles as Submarine 707R, perverse to consider.
Submarine 707R is what is says on the tin, about submarines, all that entails with eluding attacks from other submarines and ships above water, all with the danger that if the lead vessel is destroyed, the crew cannot escape the bottom of the ocean. The one touch which you may not gather even if you read the synopsis is that this is effectively set in an unknown future, a war between the world above the ocean on land, united despite frictions, and the USR (the Undersea Silence Revolution), an underwater civilisation where members like Admirable Red in his submarine attack boats and ships above to stop the surface civilisation exploiting the ocean. A lot of anime has had villains fighting, even wishing to destroy humanity, to protect the Earth's ecosystem, always a fascinating conundrum. That we see Red's family - his wife, three daughters and one infant son - shows an alternative to someone who can be seen as a cartoonish figure here otherwise, and enticing lead in for moral complexity.
Contrasting him is Captain Yōhei Hayami, captain of the 707, originally an older diesel ship not held in high regard until, whilst being taken to a conference for all nations, appears when everyone is being attacked with ease by Red, Hayami sacrificing his vessel to protect others after most were decimated beforehand. With the first episode dealing with a lot of the narrative prologue, the 707 is resurrected as a new ship immediately afterwards. As a straightforward plot progression, that Hayami is to clash with Captain Red once again, this adds a nice touch as he contrasts as a portly man who yet, alongside a talented crew, has an incredible mind for tactics.
Here I must confess that I accidentally put on the second episode on first, before stopping a quarter of its length in and watching Episode 1. As an accident, this emphasised the disappointments with the OVAs greatly. Watching Episode 2 blind, before realising the mistake, I have a more enticing work in front of me of a science fiction world, set in media res revealed to actually by the underwater civilisation of the USR, with a dominant number of female characters, including three older women commanding battleships for the surface. The show suggests an atmospheric and distinct nautical story, barring one odd creative choice, especially in a work you could show to kids, of a female staff member having a pronounced bounce in her bust moving in her seat in a scene, which is crass to point out if not so abruptly and deliberately animated by a potentially bored animator.
In reality, the OVA proves to be far less interesting than this, starting off with the true leads being a submarine ran entirely by men, including a trio of male teenagers, who never really stand out. The exception is Hayami himself, as a commander who does not use brawn but his mind, but even then you do not get much with him. Odder is that, whilst it is good we get to see his home life with his wife and daughter, there is an uncomfortable and pointless interest in his child daughter as a moe character, including an end credits for the first OVA, all in spite of not being a real character of note at all.
In the first OVA, the pair effectively making up a feature length narrative, a lot of plot happens, including the destruction of the original 707, but the show never really hits a high gear. Considering the villain is effectively an eco-terrorist, or gets into the whole issue of the entire ocean becoming its own sovereignty, the anime does not really provide enough time to flesh this out. The first episode does tell a lot, all mentioned in the synopsis, but also a bit of jingoism. That, when all other nations boost of their new ships and squabble over who commands as they are all being obliterated, a little Japanese submarine that could wins. It is cheese, never good regardless of the country which does it, but thankfully less of a concern after that when it is about one ship, for all the surface nations, with a good captain against another submarine in a game of whit. It is perplexing though that, devoting the second episode entirely to that conflict, it manages to last over forty minutes and yet feels like nothing happened which is the ultimate flat note in spite of the promise.
The production also feels its age. Post the 2000s, this was created when digital animation took over. The notable thing for me is the clear use of digital models such as for the submarine, which would become common place into the decades after, but look noticeably separate from the normal animation in appearance with jarring effect. It is a work that, barring one scene in between its credit sequences, does not really stand out in imagination. That one scene, when I accidentally watched the first quarter of Episode 2, is Captain Red's wife on a giant industrial elevator with orchestral music playing, leading to her with her children in a domed room as outside is seemingly in Arctic tundra, completely masked in white snow. Even if the digital models for the elevator look aged, it all had an appropriate atmosphere which you do not find elsewhere. Everything else is pretty basic, and the irony is that the one really elaborate aspect of the production aesthetically, the best of the entire OVA, is the opening credits. Set to calm jazz, we see blueprints of the titular submarine being built and animation that is designed to look like sketch works as the submarine is created. That opening was directed by Hideaki Anno, of Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), with Submarine 707R being directed by Shoichi Masuo, who worked on that series and Anno's own Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990-1) series, as a Episode Director, so it makes sense for Annoto be involved.
But it says a lot that the opening credits are the one thing I pick out but cannot elaborate further from. Submarine 707R is a case of an anime which, with all the potential there, is just average. Simple as that, and it is not worth elaborating on.
