Super Atragon

Original Title: 新海底軍艦
Romanized: Shin Kaitei Gunkan
Literal: New Undersea Battleship

Plot Synopsis

In World War II, Japan possessed a secret weapon: the quarter-mile-long undersea battleship Ra. Powered by a mysterious material found in a meteor crater in Manchuria and overseen by an equally mysterious young woman, the ship was to revitalize the war effort. However, the Ra encountered a nearly identical American warship on its maiden voyage, and both were destroyed in the conflict and lost to history.

Fifty years later, young Go, grandson of the Ra's captain, and his longtime friend Ann join an ill-fated UN mission to investigate a mysterious phenomenon in antarctica. They soon find themselves caught up in a whirlwind adventure: The Ra has been rebuilt to stop the plans of a race of beings living within the Earth... plans meant to bring about the destruction of all life on the surface!

Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006=07-29

Super Atragon is an interesting and reasonably engaging modern-day sci-fi action adventure tale with spiffy visuals and a lot of creative (if occasionally questionable) tie-ins to the past.

I'll mention that viewers with some connection to WWII might be bothered by the way Japan's position in the war is cast in an ambiguous light. This comes from the series' heritage as a classic action film about the power and pitfalls of nationalistic pride, but with the story changes to fit a setting 30 years after the original, it comes across somewhat differently, and with more muddled intent. Personally, I just kept in mind that it's a piece of science fiction written two generations on and didn't bother trying to read too much into it.

Interestingly, America has almost no part in the movie--the military power of the "rest of the world" is represented by the UN. Making a movie where a WWII-era Japanese ship saves the world is perhaps somewhat awkward, but a mildly amusing turnabout in the face of the large number of "America Saves The World" action movies (ID4, Armageddon, etc.).

Unlike its war-allegory film predecessor, Super Atragon is rather like a modern-day Evangelion without the crazy. Submarines and historical tie-ins replace the giant robots and Biblical references, of course, but it features a strikingly similar combination of mysterious, very alien foes, secret projects with ill-understood technology, analysis of the human condition, plus a boy and his absentee dad. Even more interesting, Super Atragon was released just after Evangelion started airing, so the similarities more or less have to be a coincidence.

On the whole, Super Atragon is much more straightforward sci-fi action, but the similarities are interesting and Eva fans may well find something to enjoy here.

Anyway, the sci-fi end of the story well done--there are creative twists and turns, and the connections to the past are interesting, if somewhat biased. The science isn't totally solid, but is believable enough to get the job done. You'll have to take a healthy dose of "if you say so," but if you don't go overboard with the analysis it's an enjoyable yarn.

On the down side, the story is a little heavy on heroics, and sacrifices realism to that end at times. For example, the UN (not the US, somewhat ironically) is portrayed as an incompetent group of military nuts, leaving (of course) the fate of the world in the hands of a single ship--the Ra--and her crew.

The characters have plenty of good stuff going on. A number of interesting personalities and a fair supply of depth, along with enough convoluted interconnections for a soap opera. And, of course, there is one of those insufferably cool anime captains that we all love. You know, the type with the cool hat and one of those nifty scars.

The big annoyance with the whole thing is its abrupt end. One presumes the series (like nearly all good ones) was cut short after two episodes. On the plus side, it definitely ends at a stopping point. On the minus, it seems to be set up for a Journey to the Center of the Earth before it just stops, with no real conclusion or answer to many of the questions raised, and a slightly more satisfying conclusion wouldn't have been difficult to manage.

Ignoring that, the story holds up, at least by heroic sci-fi standards: Not too deep, but not entirely devoid of plot and characterization, either.

The visuals are Super Atragon's strongest point. In fact, even though it isn't a movie, it could pass for one. The mechanical designs are very well done, with lots of realistic ships and the stylized and attractive Ra. Even more impressive is some simple but cool alien technology that is... well, alien: For example, they use nifty gravity lens rings as weapons. The character designs aren't bad either (although I couldn't get it out of my head that Ann looked like Cutey Honey, and it doesnÕt help that the hero's name is Go). The action is almost perfect; it's fast, realistic, and fluidly animated, but suffers from that ancient foe of animated action, scene reuse. On the bright side, it isn't too blatant, and the stuff that is reused still fits well and looks great.

The music is exceptional; the score is performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic orchestra, and has a classic movie music feel that fits the story perfectly.

Overall, Super Atragon is attractively animated heroic sci-fi on an grand scale featuring a solid mix of story, characters, and action. If you don't read too much into the history or science and take it for what it is, it's interesting and entertaining.

Related Recommendations

Thematically has a surprising amount in common with the early parts of Evangelion, but with a much more concrete foundation. Also bears a vague similarity to the Wings of Honneamise.

US DVD Review

ADV has two DVD versions, neither of which claims much in the way of extras. The newer "Anime Essentials" release does boast a remastered 5.1 soundtrack on the English dub and a clean version of the opening animation.

Content Guide

Moderate amounts of violence and some nudity account for ADV's 15-up rating.

Violence: 3 - A lot of death and destruction, but not a whole lot of gore.

Nudity: 2 - One swimming scene.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Not much to mention.

Language: 1 - Nothing noteworthy.

Notes and Trivia

Although originally sold as "Super Atragon: The Movie" in the US by ADV, that's a rather inaccurate title, as it isn't a movie at all but two OAVs. I'll get to where the inexplicable "Atragon" comes from in a bit.

This series has a rather interesting heritage; the "New" in the original title "New Undersea Battleship" refers to the fact that these OAVs are a remake of the 1963 live-action special effects film "Kaitei Gunkan" ("Undersea Battleship"). That film was, in turn, based on a 1899 novel by Shunrou Oshikawa. The movie version has much more direct themes of Japanese nationalism and patriotism, though the story is something of an allegory for what happens when these principles run amok. This movie version is currently available on DVD from Tokyo Shock under the title "Atragon."

There is, further, a 3-volume comic adaptation of the anime version by Yuusuke Iijima, published in 1996-7 under the title "New Undersea Battleship - The Great Steel Dragon Force."

As for where the "Atragon" comes from, when the original film version saw international release, it was renamed "Atragon" after the submersible central to the plot. Atragon is, apparently, shorthand for "Atlantic Dragon," though the ship was named Gouten-go ("Roaring Heaven") in the original Japanese version. It's somewhat ironic, then, that the anime version retains the title, since the name of the ship in the OAV is the Ra. The super-submarine with its prominent drill front end has appeared in a few other films, including the 1977 The War In Space and a 2004 Godzilla flick.

On a completely unrelated note, the soundtrack CD is available from ADV.

Physics major notes for those wondering about the scientific accuracy: Those gravity rings could (in theory) work the way they do in the movie, and the microwave stuff isn't totally out there, either. The hollow planet idea, on the other hand, is rather iffy.

Availability

Available in the US from AD Vision on a hybrid "anime essentials" DVD. Was previously released on a similar DVD edition, and before that on subtitled or dubbed VHS as "Super Atragon: The Motion Picture" (even though it's not), and going back farther still on two individual subtitled or dubbed VHS volumes. Nothing but the DVD version is in print now. Note that the VHS versions incorrectly list 120 and 60 minute runtimes, respectively.

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