Zipang

posbi

I've started to review the animated series Zipang, which is basically a JSDF destroyer ISOTed back to WW2. I plan to get one review out per week. You can also read it at my blog. Comments are appreciated.;)




Zipang, Episode 1 (2004)

Zipang is one of those shows my friends have pointed me to several times already. It's an animated TV series that ran first in Japan from 07 October 2004 to 31 March 2005 on the Tokyo Broadcasting System and had a total run of 26 episodes. It was adapted from the manga of the same name written by Kaiji Kawaguchi. I've been reluctant to pick it up since my relation to animes is somewhat ambiguous, because I have the subjective but distinct impression that Sturgeon's Law applies to the art form a lot more than to others (for those not in the know, Sturgeon's Law formulates that "Ninety percent of everything is crap."). Granted, that impression may have been tainted by the fact that America and Europe have basically been swamped with animes and mangas since the turn of the century, but of the literally thousands of series I have never been able to enjoy more than a handful (like, for example, the Hellsing series or the bittersweet Cowboy Bebop). Still, Zipang intrigued me because of its premise.

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What then is Zipang? The series' premise can best be likened to author John Birmingham's Axis of Time trilogy, Final Countdown or, well, my own Wolf Hunt. Both play with the themes of modern day forces finding themselves transplanted by natural phenomena or accidents into the middle of decisive historical events. In The Final Countdown, the carrier USS Nimitz finds itself transported back in time to only hours before the Japanese suprise attack against Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Birmingham's protagonists find themselves smack in the middle of Admiral Spruance's fleet headed to face the Japanese at Midway, which leads to both sides inflicting heavy casualties on each other as one ship of the multinational future task force is from the Japanese Self Defense Force and is assumed to be hostile by Spruance's forces.

In Zipang 01 the crew of the newest, most advanced destroyer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the JDS Mirai, sets sail from Japan on a training exercise with the United States Navy. Enroute, they encounter a strange meteorological anomaly, causing the Mirai to lose contact with her sister ships. After a short time, the crew detects a fleet approaching, but can barely believe their eyes as a massive battleship passes by them. The crew soon identify it as the Yamato, a ship which was sunk in 1945.

Plot-wise not much else does happen. The episode serves to set up the main "Uptimer" characters of the show:

  • Kadomatsu Yosuke. JMSDF Commander and second-in-command of the Mirai. He adheres strictly to the ideals of the postwar Self Defense Forces and considers saving lives, regardless of consequences, as his most important duty.
  • Kikuchi Masayuki. JMSDF Lt. Commander, Gunnery Officer of the Mirai, and a classmate of both Kadomatsu and Oguri from the Officer Candidate School. He had joined the Self Defense Force for economic reasons and consistently seek to avoid situations where he might be forced to take lives. In 1991, just the possibility of Japan sending warships to support U.S. operations against Iraq during the Gulf War was enough to cause him to resign from the academy — although his commitment to friendship with Kadomatsu and Oguri is such that he decided not to resign when his departure threatened to strain their friendship. His fear of taking human life backfires on him badly when he holds back punches against the U.S. naval aircraft attacking Mirai — and results in a serious damage to the Mirai and many casualties. In addition, he is extremely fearful of changing the past — and its possible consequences: from the minute the Mirai goes back to the past, he warns everyone of the dire danger of changing the past.
  • Oguri Kouhei. JMSDF Lt. Commander, Navigation Officer of the Mirai, and a classmate to both Kadomatsu and Kikuchi. Unlike Katomatsu and Kikuchi, he is not racked by inner conflict following the Mirai's arrival in 1942. Rather, he is a happy-go-lucky character who believes that they went back in time for a reason.
Zipang is primarily of interest to me as the only show I know of that not only is based on an ISOT event but also tries to stick to a high degree of what I might call "narrative realism". The Mirai clearly is a game changer, but almost everybody's also aware of the limits of how much it can change the game.

The animation quality is average, even for the time, even though the focus on technical realism and realistic character proportions positively distinguishes it from what feels like 90% of the rest of anime. As the production most likely began almost ten years ago by now the combination of hand-drawn elements and CGI doesn't really match up as flawlessly as more recent or higher-budgeted products (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, for example) do. As far as I can judge it the portrayal of the equipment, technology and setting is spot on (in this episode; I might find discrepancies once I rewatch the series in full).

As for the audio-side: ambient sounds fit right into the setting, and the voice acting seems to match the characters' personalities. I say "seems" since I watched the Japanese version with English subtitles. Where the episode - and much of the series, I'm afraid - fails is the musical score. The intro song is tedious, and far too many scenes rely on a saxophone-heavy pop-song score that couldn't be more out of place. In a way it's the Japanese version of the musical side of the otherwise excellent Ladyhawke (which would be ageless if it wasn't for its dreadful score).

All in all, Episode 1 does exactly what it's supposed to do: setting up the basic premise of the series and showcasing one half of the important characters. It also foreshadows some of the major problems I had with the series that I'll mention when they arise in full. It's certainly worth watching (individual episodes are less than 25 minutes in length). If you don't want to spend money on it you can easily find streams of it online on various anime-centric sites.

I'll continue this with Episode 2 next week.
 

posbi

Welcome to Episode 2 of my ZIPANG review series, this time with more opinions and more substance. As always you'll also find this at my blog where your comments are appreciated.
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Zipang, Episode 2 (2004): MIDWAY
Review of Episode 1: Here.

Zipang 02 starts off right where the first episode ended. Peeling itself from the night time mist under a half moon, the JDS Mirai finds itself face to face with a hulking colossus, a swimming city of steel and guns: the IJN Yamato and the fleet she's leading. Mirai is first hailed via light signals and, failing to reply, her course is being blocked by two destroyers. However, she can outmaneuver and outspeed them since the old boiler-powered designs can't keep up with Mirai's modern turbines. Her captain orders her to stay away until they can figure out what's happening to them.

Luckily for them, their Senior Chief Petty Officer Yanagi is a military history geek, which really isn't a stretch. He tells it plain and clear. What they've encountered the IJN's Combined Fleet, the formation indicating it's the night before the Battle of Midway.
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What follows directly is both logical and infuriating at the same time, especially because the dialogue lays it out so plainly for all to see. It's the staple of the ISOT genre: figuring out just what the hell happened. Some series do this better than others. Zipang? Really not that good on the mystery side, I must admit.

In fact, there's none.

  • Their own ships are all gone. They know that since their radar's functioning without any problems.
  • The radio frequencies they usually communicate on are all dead - and they know it's not an equipment problem on their side.
  • They can't get through to any satellites - and again, their own equipment doesn't show any signs of malfunctioning.
  • They do know from the words of an expert on the subject that they've just run into the IJN fleet heading to the Battle of Midway in 1942.
  • They also quickly dismiss the idea of this being something done by Hollywood for a movie.
  • Lt. Commander Kikuchi Masayuki quickly points out that its most likely them who have traveled back in time, using the half moon as an indicator: the day before they were sailing under a full moon.
It's all spelled out for them, and if they weren't too daft to actually stick their heads together right away, they -. I digress, sorry.

The lack of equipment problems or strange atmospheric phenomena affecting them takes away even the pretext of mystery. Given that, Mirai's command crew displays a strange mix of rationalizing the situation away on the one hand and an almost casual sense of acceptance on the other. So, back in time it is? Well, not gonna talk about it, there's standing around to do!

We are left hanging with the situation as the Mirai's captain, Umezu, orders her to continue their course to Pearl Harbor since HQ hasn't given them new orders. Well, no shit! Given how bluntly you just accepted the situation how could they have possibly given you new orders? They don't exist!

Nobody questions the situation. In fact, they blithely continue their duties until the next morning when their radar first picks up a Dauntless dive bomber crashing into the sea, and then, the battle proper. Both Yanagi and Lt. Commander Masayuki know what's going to happen, know it by the minute (07:23 AM, to be precise). The following scenes showing the attacks on the Japanese carriers that ultimately crippled the IJN's carrier force are of a great quality and well-narrated by Chief Yanagi.

Masayuki brings the Butterfly Effect speech, talking about unintended consequences when confronted by the navigation officer on their passive stance in the face of the battle raging outside. The navigation officer claims that them shooting down even a single plane could help save hundreds of Japanese lives. Masayuki, on the other hand, claims that they are a danger to history, in fact, that they have no right to change history at all, regardless of whether offering even passive assistance could save lives. He opts for passivity, which in all honesty is in line with his character. As far as the main cast go, I consider him to be the most unlikeably character, also because I don't think he's fit to be an officer in a position with responsibility. Commander Yosuke, our main POV for the series, then states that their main mission is to find the lost warships and return Mirai and her men home.

Captain Umezu ends the conversation by stating the hope that this is only happening in that area of the sea and that there is a chance everything is fine once they head back to their base at Yokosuka. And yet, if this was an area specific problem, why can't they reach any satellites? After all, it's not like their communications are being jammed. They're simply not there at all!

The episode ends with the Mirai coming across a shot-down floatplane holding one unconscious survivor who will become one of the main characters of the show.

So, Zipang 02: MIDWAY? The bottom line is this: The visuals are definitively better than those of the first episode, the animation team using close up shots and wide panoramas and tracking shots to good effect. The battle scenes are well-animated and show a better blend of CGI and drawn animations than before. On the audio side the whole score is rather subdued and cued in at the right times, and with the exception of the atrocious J-Pop opener I've got no bad things to say about it. As an addendum the actual runtime of the individual new episode - meaning solely new content, not the intro and the recap they seem to do, isn't less than 25 minutes. Rather, it's barely 18 minutes.

The episode's story, on the other hand? By all means 02: MIDWAY should have been an all-out thing. Were this a book it would've been the chapter that establishes the setting, the one after which you decide to either put the book away or furiously continue to read on. Episode 02 however? How do I put it best? It's not good or bad per se. But I found it to be bland. Very bland. Mystery is neither revealed nor established - it's bypassed. This also should have served - in the narrative - as the piece to set up the fault lines/differences between the main characters established so far. It touches the surface of that, if barely so. The only short piece of conflict is when the navigation officer briefly opts to join the battle and Lt. Commander Masayuki gives his Butterfly Effect speech. Which is wrong, by the way, since they've already changed history by virtue of traveling back in time as is and by being detected by the Combined Fleet immediately thereafter. Critically examining this and the stance of our main POV character, Cmdr. Yosuke, could - should! - have opened up the episode for some great character scenes and discussions. But I've got a hunch that those two are going to continue haunting us...
 

posbi

As always, you can also read and comment at my blog (following it is appreciated ;)).



Zipang, Episode 03: Drifters

Review of Episode 2: Here.


As with the last episode this one jumps seamlessly in where the one before left us, giving the whole narrative a very organic overall feel. Having come across a downed Japanese floatplane hovering in the waters of the Pacific the JDS Mirai has stopped to look for survivors. Our main POV character, Commander Yosuke, leads a small search and rescue party in the destroyer's dinghy to check on the wreck while it looks as if Lt. Commander Masayuki can just keep himself from having a panic attack at the sight of someone actually doing something for a change. He looks almost relieved when the plane starts going underwater, but Yosuke jumps into the water and pulls the unconscious passenger - a man in the white parade dress of an IJN Lt. Commander - from it just in time. Once rescued, the man's put into isolation - he's still unconscious - on the behest of Masayuki at a command crew meeting.

Despite being supposed to be "out" for quite some time due to his injuries and the pain killers he's been set on the ship's doctor soon finds her patient to be conscious again. Since apparently nobody thought to enforce the "isolation" with a guard - or something as novel as a locked door - the IJN officer slips out of sickbay and ... stands on deck outside. Determined to finish his mission - supposedly something to do with the sealed briefcase found with him - he quickly realizes he's in no position to leave the ship. He comes face to face with his savior, Yosuke, and poses the so simple but also so hard question: on whose side are you guys?

And Yosuke can't tell. Because he genuinly doesn't know.

Allthewhile the Mirai's crew is keeping their fingers crossed. They've returned to the spot where they first traveled through time, hoping to go back the same way. But none of the signs that appeared the last time happen. In fact, nothing at all happens.

Which doesn't really surprise me. In Wolf Hunt the protagonists are facing very much the same problem of having been thrown back in time. How likely is it to travel through time in the first place? I think we can all agree that the likelihood is pretty much zero, or, going with these fictional examples pretending to happen in the real world, extremely close to zero. Now tell me, how high is the probability of something as unlikely as that happening to the same people in the same manner again? Winning the superjackpot twice in a row is outright easy stuff compared to that!

But I suppose they've got to go through the motions. Psychologically, clinging to that hope has the advantage for them of not having to cope with the loss of what's basically there lives up to this point, including friends, loved ones and families. On the practical side, believing they can go back comes with the up of not having to face the reality they've plunged into.

And in the meantime apparently nobody's manning CIC's sonar station since a U.S. WW2 Gato class submarine can sneak up on them, which speaks neither exactly well of JSDF discipline, training or equipment capacity. Just to emphasize this, the difference in sonar quality and detection measures compared to a WW2 submarine's noise output makes this akin to you not noticing the guy three feet away who is clanging pots together with all his might!

Lt. Commander Kusaka, the rescued IJN officer, finds out that he's on a ship from the 21st century and takes it pretty much in one stride. In fact, he takes it alltogether a lot better than pretty much everybody else on the Mirai! I already like this guy. Leaving aside Yosuke's good intentions, Kusaka's the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind right now. Or maybe that's just my dislike for Lt. Commander Masayuki clouding my judgement.

Zipang, Episode 03: Drifters. What's there more to say except that I'm getting the impression of a thoroughly incompetent JSDF crew? I'm not asking for an all-time initiative-taking motley crew of heroes, or even a bunch of gung-ho whackos. But so far their performance has been more than lacking. Yosuke is acting pretty much by what his gut tells him. Masayuki isn't acting at all, like a rabbit in front of the snake. Yanagi probably would have acted if he had the authority to do so. The captain is more of a negotiator between his command crew than a truly commanding officer taking lead of the situation. Everybody else in the course of one episode went from 'What do I care?' to 'Oh my gawd, what shall we do?' without the outer circumstances having changed.

Also, never put me into Mirai's sickbay. Going by the reliability of the doctor's prognosis I'll be dead from a wrongly diagnosed cough.

Highlight of the episode: the clear-thinking Lt. Commander Kusaka.

Next episode stands to get interesting since Mirai will be attacked by the U.S. submarine!
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posbi

Part 4! As always you can also read and comment at The War Blog. Check it out, I gave it a facelift.;)






Zipang, Episode 4: MIRAI'S BATTLE
Review of Episode 3: Here.

Torpedoes in the water - and nobody in CIC is apparently at their stations. Crew members have to be told to get going even after a loudspeaker's blared it all across the ship that two torpedoes have been detected at around 3,000 yards, closing at a speed of 44 knots.


Take a deep breath, War Blogger. Think of your blood pressure. ... There, better. Welcome to Episode 4 of my Zipang review series.

You know, they didn't pick up these torpedoes earlier because - as the sonar operator states - they have insufficient oceanographic data for this region they've stopped in. Oh, is that so? May I remind you that it's the very same region they traveled through before as part of a long-planned war game? How comes they don't have the correct oceanographic data for a part of the Pacific Ocean they knew they would be in? Secondly - and I've got no deeper understanding of the technology, so feel free to fill me in if I'm talking bollocks here - but how does a lack of oceanographic data have such an influence on the detection of an obsolete submarine operating at periscope depth in the open ocean, with probably thousands of meters of water beneath it? Argh! I feel as if my opinion of this crew is dropping rapidly with every passing minute!
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Okay, I'm being harsh for the sake of the argument here. The scenes that follow are actually really good. The Gato class submarine mistook the JDS Mirai for a straggler of the Battle of Midway, a ship with an engine breakdown. But the modern destroyer is able to start its turbines for faster than any contemporary boiler-driven ship could and therefore escapes certain death by a hair's breath. In an instance that continues the trend of endearing the 1940s characters to me over their future pendants the U.S.N. skipper immediately grasps the significance of what he's got in his crosshairs: a ship with such technology - and at that point he only knows of the engines! - could seriously alter the balance in the war in the Pacific in Japan's favor. Underlined by the better side of Zipang's score he immediately follows up on the attack with his remaining 'eels'. Mirroring the submarine's captain's understanding is Lt. Commander Kusaka who immediately grasps the technological prowess of Mirai.

I'm not certain what to make of Kusaka. However, going by his quick grasp of the situation and his lack of hesitation to adapt compared to what the show has been doing with its 'future' characters I somehow don't believe the show will end up presenting him in the shining hero category.



JDS Mirai right before the torpedo attack.
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While trying to evade the incoming torpedoes we're shown close-ups of a frightened operator in CIC talking to himself until he's convinced enough to fire an ASROC. Now, we're clearly not meant to sympathize with this characters - he's panicked, mumbling, not acting on orders - but the thing is... he's doing the right bloody thing! Even the things he mumbles - about the U.S. sub not knowing what it's getting into, about them being stuck in the past no matter what, about them dying if they don't fight back - are all and without exception correct!

Lt. Commander Masyuki is doing his ample best to make me like him even less as he grabs the sailor, yelling at him "Are you trying to start your own little war?!" Yeah, way to go there "Don't change history"-man! You're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1942 on a warship flying a Japanese flag. What the hell do you think you're in? The Swiss Neutrality Boating Tour?!? Look, I get it. You joined the armed forces for purely economic reasons, and even more so, I commend you for not being a trigger-happy cowboy. But these guys are seriously trying to kill you! Your job would it to be to defend the ship, not chewing out your subordinates who - even when suffering a breakdown - see the situation more clearly than you do! Do you see how many exclamation marks this guy drives me to use!?!

Well, the ASROC's homing in on the U.S. submarine, much to their horror. Much to mine, however, the makers of the anime decided to employ their pseudo-dramatic saxophone score. Because nothing says "torpedo attack" like a nonsensical saxophone track! Why, Zipang, why? You've shown you can do it right. You did so less than five minutes ago. Enough with the saxophone already. IT. DOESN'T. FIT! I took a peek at some of the tracks on Youtube and they range from passable to really good - and yet it's always back to being hammered with that one damn track that I hate! Anyway, long story short: they self-destruct the ASROC just before it's about to hit its target. Congratulations! In your desire not to change history you've now allowed an enemy submarine to escape with information that will most likely intensify the U.S. war effort. And that barely an episode after you've emphatically stated that keeping the Mirai and its crew safe is your primary concern. Just so we understand each other: I don't want to see those U.S. sailors die, but given what the show has shown us so far it would have been the rational choice, no, the only choice to safeguard Mirai. Sinking them means just another submarine lost in the wide ocean to unknown causes. Letting them leave and live means that the hunt for the Mirai is on. Morons!

But let me end this on a conciliatory note, as does the episode itself for we are introduced to Admiral Yamamoto! If only he didn't have such a dreadful American accent. Call me yaded, but in my opinion if you want to go for something your audiences can understand and want to distinguish one side from another via audio means you've got to use Oxford English. Just my two cents.

Check back in next week for the review of Episode 5: KUSAKA'S CHOICE.
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posbi

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Zipang, Episode 5: KUSAKA's CHOICE
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Okay, one thing that bothers me for some reason. In the recap done at the beginning of the episode the narrator calls the Mirai an "Aegis class" vessel. But the name "Aegis" doesn't designate the ship class. It's just a missile guidance & combat system. In fact, if I'm not mistaken the manga makes it clear that the Mirai is an improved version of the JMSDF's own Kongo class! FYI, it's real world pendant therefore would be something like the Atago class destroyers.

As a side note, why are these ships so ungodly expensive? Honestly, who's keeping their books? The projected German F125 frigates weigh almost the same and cost just ~60% of the price of an Atago class!

Ah, there's nothing like starting a review with some nitpicking and bitching. The episode starts with a weird atmosphere. The crew's talking about the whole submarine attack and how they felt, and Cmdr. Yosuke, Lt. Commander Masayuki and Lt. Commander Kouhei are discussing about what they have to do next. Naturally, Masayuki is still going on about not changing history, risking that their 21st century never existed, and you know what? I've seriously had enough of this baloney at this point, Butterfly Man! By your own logic of the Butterfly Effect - check back for my review of Episode 2 - you've already set in motion things with major repercussions that will invariably make major changes to history!

The IJN saw you. The U.S. submarine saw you. Attacked you! And got away with the data. Admiral Yamamoto has qualified people he trusts investigating you! You changed history. The deed is done, god damnit! Why is that so hard to grasp?

At least they agree on the fact that they need Allies in this time to keep going, and Commander Yosuke goes to see Lt. Commander Kusaka, the IJN officer they rescued. They've puzzled together that he's an intelligence officer (well, he's shown to be more intelligent than them so far^^) and a possible risk to all of them due to his analytic mind. Yosuke's idea is simple: he leads Kusaka into the ship's library to let the man make up his mind, convinced that sooner or later he would've found out what's in there anyway. Giving him the knowledge also puts him in the same boat as the rest of them, or so he hopes.

Let me stray away from that for a second and proclaim my profound disappointment with this anime's dubbing (except for, again, Lt. Commander Kusaka). Half the voice actors deliver extremely bland performances while the other half speak their - Japanese! - character with such a drawl it becomes comical. It's on par with a show in German where half the cast would speak a Saxonian dialect! *shudders*

Anyway, back to the plot. While Kusaka spends more than a day in the ship's library, having - as he describes it - an epiphany, the fictional VTOL Umidori is sent on a recon mission over the Japanese naval base at Chichi-jima in the Ogasawara Islands to evaluate the situation before sailing towards Honshu.It's pretty much the command crew grasping at straws, hoping to find the base to be "up" in their timeline rather than in 1942. The pilot, Lt. Satake, is an almost prototypical fighter jock, ignoring Yosuke's warnings about not "engaging the enemy" (are the Japanese "the enemy"?) and staying out of reach. Interestingly, Satake's grandfather was born on the island, as he recounts to his co-pilot during the flight.

The Mirai's crew watches their mission via a video-link while Masayuki bitches about the risk of someone getting that signal, because the chances of someone in 1942 picking up a digital videosignal - and being able to read it - are soooo high. God damnit, man, why can't you go die in a ditch somewhere? You seriously annoy me.

Turns out picking up the signal isn't the problem - doing a low-level flyby over a military base at wartime, however, is. Two A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplane fighters quickly rise from the harbor basin and catch up with the Umidori. Lt. Satake who boasted before the mission that he could outrun any danger isn't so loud-mouthed anymore now as the fighters easily match his speed. I've got to assume the speeds are given in Kp/H and not knots or miles since it's the only number that makes sense given the "Rufe's" capabilities.

This and the lack of modern infrastructure at Chichi-jima quickly drive home the point that they are indeed stranded in 1942. The crew now has to ask itself what course of action they'll take. Luckily Kusaka has a plan (he seems to be the only one doing some actual thinking around there): refuel at Java, the fmr. Dutch East Indies. In the air teh situation gets dire as Kusaka reveals that the two planes chasing Satake's craft aren't ordinary seaplanes but interceptors armed with 7.7mm and 20mm weapons.

And, of course, since keeping the Mirai a secret is paramount Satake is allowed to do the sad but sensible thing and shoot them down and -. Oh, wait. What? He's ordered to do what? Okay, scratch that, he's ordered to under no circumstances fire the first shot and try to fly away from the planes chasing him, even though they are faster than he is. Yeah, that sounds logical.

Naturally, the IJN pilots don't buy the idea of a "JMSDF" plane of a design they don't know of even though it flies their flag. They go for the kill. Prudent move, I'd say. The episode ends with Satake's co-pilot being shot whily Kusaka watches the whole fight with great interest. A propos interest: Kusaka's so far by far the most interesting character, leaps and bounds ahead and above the rest of the cast. I'm looking forward to where the show will take him. His internal dialogue makes me suggest that he's already got a longterm plan brewing in his mind.

Now, regarding the Umidori VTOL I've got a question: why? This thing doesn't make any sense to me. Does it carry any specialized recon equipment? None that I can see. Is it any good as a transport? No, it's only got two seats: pilot and copilot/weapons' officer. Is it useful as a combat aircraft? It doesn't carry any pods for missiles or rockets or guns and it seems too flimsy to carry modern torpedoes. All it's armed with is a three-barreled gatling gun. What good does that do on a craft designed for naval duty?

All in all a good episode, but it felt terribly short.
 

posbi

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Zipang, Episode 6: ORDER OF ATTACK

We start the episode with Lt. Satake's VTOL Umidori under attack by two A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplane fighters and his co-pilot already dead. After some handwringing back in Mirai's CIC Kusaka informs them that they can end this without further casualties if the Lt. manages to target the fighters' central floats. Without them they'll lose stability and will have to cease their pursuit. Satake manages to do so and returns home safely.

Lt.Commander Kusaka of the IJN later proceeds to present his plan for them and the Mirai: to stay afloat and undetected they'll have to take on supplies in the former Dutch East Indies. The signs look good: due to the Battle of Midway many of the fleet units in the area had been withdrawn so Japanese naval patrols are limited in number.

After the dead co-pilot is given a burial at sea the Capatin orders Cmdr. Yosuke to accompany Kusaka on his trip to Singapore where he'll try to acquire the necessary civilian vessels to make the supply runs. Strangely enough Yosuke seems genuinely surprised when cthe captain hands him a pistol for self-defence. I mean, really? At least the captain's reasoning is sound: they cannot fully trust Kusaka, and Yosuke needs to be on his guard.

It's also nice to see Kusaka spill the beans in plain terms: he doesn't think the JMSDF crew are soldiers. Preach it, bro!

They make it safely to Malaya and Kusaka and Yosuke are flown ashore via helicopter. The episode ends with Kusaka welcoming the commander to his era.

Quite honestly, not too much happens in the episode. It just seems to go with the flow. I hope there's something more substantial in next episode.
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