Ao no 6-gou

‘‘Today, today!’ each day I have waited for you and now they say you are strewn with the shells of Ishi River.’

Some time has ed since the great flooding occurred. At the hands of the once respected scientist Dr. Jung Zorndyke, the costal regions of Earth were swallowed by the sea leading to the loss of over a billion lives. After the floods came the ships, manned by mutated animal hybrids also created by Zorndyke and who are seemingly hellbent on killing as many people as possible. In an effort to counter these attacks, humanity lays its hopes upon the Blue Fleet and its ... state of the art submarines, being the only things that can safely traverse the endless oceans and strike back against the invading beasts. Aboard Blue Submarine No. 6, former pilot and now-full time nihilist Tetsu Hayami finds himself at an ime regarding both the state of the world and of his own life; something that will prove even more complicated when he and his co-pilot Mayumi Kino encounter one of Zorndyke’s creations in the flesh.


Acting as both a loose adaption of a 1967 manga of the same name by Satoru Ozawa (creator of another submarine centric series: Submarine 707) and as the debut work for Studio Gonzo, Blue Submarine No. 6 is an odd beast. In Japan, it’s practically been forgotten and only serves as a footnote in its production company’s history. In the States however, it gained a devoted cult following after airing heavily edited on the Toonami block where its (for the time) state of the art CG ships and action scenes thrilled whoever tuned-in to see it. As such, Blue Sub has kept a reputation as something of a low-key classic amongst anime fans that grew up in the early 2000s, but is it a show that can still stand on its own two feet today?


At just 4 episodes of 30 minutes each (minus the finale which is 40), Blue Sub is concise and straight to the point. Stacked together, the whole thing is around 140 minutes, give or take, which means it can be easily breezed through in an afternoon. Because of that, it doesn’t particularly mess around with its story meaning there’s very little moments of actual downtime. Despite that, the show does not feel rushed or hectic and things progress at a steady pace without feeling lethargic either. On the flip side though, this does mean that some parts of the setting end up feeling a little undercooked in regards to the scope of the world and one or two story beats, but we’ll get to that.


Our main character is Tetsu Hayami, a former submarine pilot who left the Blue Fleet after a particular incident and who now spends his days as a freelance diver, picking up whatever objects he’s ordered to off the seabed. He’s jaded, pessimistic and a bit of a dry asshole, though he does have his moments of selflessness and his growth from detached drifter who believes the world is doomed into a man who is determined to help change things for the better is handled well, especially given the brief runtime. Opposite him is Mayumi Kino, a hot headed young pilot who is hellbent on avenging the deaths of her family in the floods. Unlike Hayami, she’s a bit of a static character and doesn’t develop much throughout the run but she’s still fairly enjoyable to watch anyway and she provides a good counterpoint to Hayami. The Red to his Blue, so to speak. On the hybrid side is Mutio, one of Zorndyke’s experimental life forms who Hayami and Kino encounter in the first episode. Being a fish person, she is unable to speak properly and can only communicate in grunts and growls, meaning it’s up to the animation team to convey her emotions purely through the artwork, of which they do a very irable job. Because of this (and her distinctive design), she’s one of the more memorable characters in the OVA despite only having maybe two words of actual dialogue, tops. There’s also secondary antagonist Verg, a psychotic man-shark who commands the mysterious Phantom Ship and who desperately wants his father Zorndyke’s approval and affection. He’s a completely ridiculous character with a crazy voice who frequently devolves into screaming tantrums when he doesn’t get his way, but he surprisingly winds up delivering some of the more poignant and emotional scenes, which you wouldn’t really expect from this kind of individual.


The rest of the Blue Six crew mostly serve to fill up the background of some shots and lack any kind of character whatsoever outside of a few personality traits. The exceptions being Tokuhiro Iga, the well meaning and friendly captain of the craft and his vice chief Yuri Majakofski, a stony faced and cold man who holds a notable disdain for Hayami. The standout of the crew, albeit for the wrong reasons is Huang Mei-Ling, a 10 year old girl who works on the sub’s sonar systems and is implied to have some kind of ESP which allows her to ‘hear the songs’ of Zorndyke’s creations. None of this is really expanded upon or explained much, leaving me to question just what was the point to begin with, especially when it has next to no impact on the story.


Of course the main selling point for the anime at the time was its state of the art, cutting edge CGI vehicles and machinery. The submarines of Blue Fleet and the bio-ships of the Hybrids are both rendered in glorious 1998 CG and it’s aged about as well as you could expect. While the ships themselves look fine enough, it’s with things such as fighter jets and the Hybrids’ Whale Aircraft Carriers (or whatever the hell they are) where the animation begins to show its age. There are also moments where the ocean is computer rendered instead of actually drawn which makes several scenes look like PSX FMVs. It’s understandable given the era and the power of the tech at the time, but in HD on modern setups, it doesn’t look anywhere near as good as it once did. Despite this, the animation itself is fluid and energetic with plenty of dynamic movement and cool shots to even things out. Action scenes are directed decently well, which is impressive given the limitations of having a majority of the combat take place underwater. On the human side, characters are expressive and lively, though there are some cases where the animators seem to overcompensate when it comes to facial movement (particularly with Kino who looks like she’s got a nervous twitch in some scenes because of it). Character design is done by Range Murata, who would later gain wider recognition with his work on Last Exile. While the designs for the human cast aren’t anything to write home about (with the exception of Blue Fleet scientist Dr. Morinami who looks downright freakish), the real fun comes from the Hybrid side, which features an array of strange looking beasts from gigantic, muscly shark-men, a race of nymph-like fish-women to a village of feline tribespeople in the finale. It’s always interesting to see what bizarre creatures will appear next and it makes the scenes set aboard the Hybrids’ Phantom Ship all the more intriguing, given the wide array of unique faces in the background of each shot. This even extends to their fighter crafts which are often ramshackle yet totally alien in appearance, helping give the setting an appropriately apocalyptic feel.


Now despite the lean pacing, there are some side plots that add little to the overall story and feel undercooked and underdeveloped. As mentioned prior, there’s the case of Huang whose ESP abilities go unexplained and underdeveloped. There’s also a side plot invoking Hayami’s friend and former co-pilot Katsuma, whose story I won’t be going into too much detail with due to spoilers, so I’ll just say that despite his side-arc getting some form of pay-off, the character and his circumstances as a whole feel like a massive missed opportunity which could’ve been used to much greater effect than what it was in the show. I’m aware some of these ideas get expanded upon in the two tie-in video games released around the same time, and while this does create the impression of an expansive and lived-in world, it also makes the setting feel slightly undercooked all things considered.


Voice performances are all around decent. Hozumi Gōda gives a fittingly pessimistic and detached performance as Hayami, as does Takeshi Wakamatsu as Zorndyke who really does sound like a man who has completely given up on everything. On the flip side, Yukana sounds a little too sweet at times as Kino (especially given her thorny exterior) though she delivers an excellent performance in the finale where she gets to really let loose and give it her all. Showtaro Morikubo voices Verg and completely devours the scenery at every chance he gets, which is helped by the strange pitch shifting effects put on his voice. It’s appropriately unhinged and psychotic sounding and fits the character well, even if it can be a little grating in spots. The side cast is stacked with a surprising number of veterans, of note being Hōchū Ōtsuka, Jūrōta Kosugi, and
the late, greats Hirotaka Suzuoki and Unshō Ishizuka filling out the roles. Of interesting note is Ayaka Saitō as Huang, who would’ve only been 10 years old when recording her lines. For a child actress, she does a surprisingly commendable job and manages to capture the fear and anxiety in her character well, even if it seems like she’s being fed the lines in some spots. English performances are also mostly on point which is typical for an early 2000s dub. The cast are mostly unknowns with only a few credits to their names but Michael Granberry does a solid job matching Gōda’s performance as Hayami. Pamela Weidner voices Kino, though unlike the rest of the cast I’m not huge on her performance as she brings a nasalness to the character that makes some of the more dramatic scenes a little grating. Other than not, no real complaints.


Music is performed by jazz-funk act The Thrill who provide a suitably energetic and dynamic score. Action set pieces are typically set to frenzied and bombastic tracks that blend well with the chaos happening on-screen. While it can feel a little jaunty and unserious in comparison to the high stakes battles, the intensity and overall energy of the performances provide a solid counterpart to the action. Despite this I am willing to it that stylistically the sound does seem at odds with the gloomy tone of the show as well as the griminess of the setting. Thankfully though it’s not all jazz focused as there are also plenty of smoother and more atmospheric pieces to even things out. The show lacks an opening theme but does feature a decent jazz-pop tune that plays over the credits, a song called ‘Minasoko ni Nemure’ by The Thrill ft. singer Yukarie on vocals. Gratuitous usage of engrish aside, it’s a pleasant groovy number with a pretty gnarly guitar solo and some nice vocals. Again, up to you if it fits the mood or not but at the very least it’s relatively easy on the ears.


Overall, Blue Submarine No. 6 is a show that has shown its age in places, but it manages to counter that with a likeable and well handled cast, a unique concept and some great action sequences. What’s more, the earnest explorations of themes such as misanthropy, environmentalism and communication provide something more stimulating for those who are looking for a show to properly engage with. Does it hold up as a timeless classic like some might say? No, but then again it’s rare to find things like this that actually do. Regardless, this one is still more than worth your time and attention.


Blue Submarine No. 6 is currently licensed by Discotek Media and is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

You'll never convince me that the CG in this "looked good" at the time. It may have looked bleeding edge, and people may have liked that for technical reasons, but I can't believe they thought this looked particularly amazing. I feel similarly now that it's germane to say Blue Submarine No. 6's heavy blend of 2D and 3D was ahead of "its time." We're at a point now where sometimes and increasingly, the blend of 2D and 3D can look good—you could say some degree of it is even standard. But I don't think it actually makes a show look better, as in: if this ... was entirely 2D animation, it would look better. It would be at least equivalent. All investment in this style deliberately ignores that fact, and we're stuck with all these overengineered shots that look more masturbatory than impressive. Bah.

Story was fine. It had devolved into poor philosophizing by the end.

It's a lot like the Evangelion Rebuild 3.0. There's very little plot or character depth, just a post-apocalyptic excuse for action sequences and overall surface-level childish morality questions of: war is bad? bigotry is bad? The antagonist is effectively just a Posadist Hitler 2d cutout spouting hypocritical nonsense, throwing away the only opportunity the anime allows itself to have any depth in it: One of the only other actual characters is effectively mute and goes nowhere while the other antag is just a mentally deficient manchild soldier who can barely talk. You'll note the main character Hayami goes through an immediate character 180 after his ... 1st scene which immediately makes no sense.
Everything about this show is surface-level and thrown together nonsense. And the art is a ton of CG that while technically cutting edge at the time still looked bad way back then and now.

2/10 (where 5/10 is average)