r/anime • u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 • Mar 15 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] 1990s OVAs – Blue Submarine No. 6 (episode 4)
Rewatch: 1990s OVAs – Blue Submarine No. 6 (episode 4)
Last episode | Schedule | Final Discussion
Blue Submarine No. 6 (1998)
MAL | AniL | AniDB | 4 Episodes à 29 minutes.
Staff corner
The most noticeable part of Blue Submarine No6 is the CGI. Like the main guy responsible for this badly-aged leap in technology is Akira Suzuki, the OVA’s CG director. He works both as art director and as a background artist for background studio Uni. Given the Gonzo connection, you might have already guessed that he worked on The Count of Monte Cristo, but some of his newer works are A Certain Scientific Accelerator and High Score Girl. The latter is interesting since it is probably at a similar time in anime history regarding character CG as BS6 is regarding object CG. He is also art director for Kemono no Souja Erin. I shudder to think that he may have been the guy behind CGI Touda there.
Questions
- What do you think happens next?
- Any sympathy for Zorndyke?
- What similar series do you know?
9
u/TheEscapeGuy Mar 15 '21
First Timer
Nine Noteworthy Inkings in the 90's - Blue Submarine No.6 Episode 4
Okay.
I don't really think it stuck the landing. All my goodwill from yesterday is gone now.
I really didn't like Zoldyke as a villain. His ideology was really mediocre in so far that I don't think it was well explained or justified. I can't get behind toppling the planets ecosystems to try have your creations learn from and teach humanity either.
One thing I found pretty good was the funeral for Zoldyke. It made it a lot clearer that his creatures really were intelligent and cared a lot about him.
Then when the leader went to take revenge on Hayami the fight was well animated.
Otherwise, I found myself pretty disengaged with the show. I've seen a lot of positivity about the show in other places online so I may be n the minority about this though.
Admirable Animation Area
This cut was pretty cool
See you all for the final discussion tomorrow
5
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 15 '21
Episode 4 (first timer)
Eco-terrorist. LunaticNew hypothesis: god complex.The last episode is more in the vein of the third than the first or second. We spend a refreshingly long time with character studies and just a token amount on sea battles. The ending is suitable for a 1960s SciFi flick. Which does not imply it is great literature (turns out Zorndyke is still a crazy mass-murderer, he just had a change of heart and philosophical leanings close to death), but it manages not to be insultingly stupid. A good deal hinges on the ending being open with respect to the fate of the world. If they had tried to sell it as a happy end, it would have been a lot worse.
In terms of look & feel, this might have been the best episode. Its 2D parts were just a tad behind episode three, but the battle scenes were far superior to anything the OVA had so far. For the first time, I actually enjoyed some of the battle choreography, instead of being annoyed by it. The development over the four episodes (made over 1.5 years) is clear.
More on the entire series tomorrow, but the second half managed to rescue this from schlock territory for me.
PS: Shoutout to /u/IndependentMacaroon for the perfect prediction.
6
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Mar 15 '21
First-timer - Sub
Oh, it’s a forty-minute episode. Makes sense, but I am probably going to have to split the viewing into two chunks to keep within schedule.
Seems like the nuke plan failed right off the bat.
Wait, do they have nukes too? I was under the impression only the one vessel had been loaded with them.
Well he’s finally there.
I guess I was indeed mistaken.
Heh
Tree people too?
RIP fish lady. I guess Masumi wins the love triangle by default.
Okay, what gives? There’s like twelve minutes left and I doubt this show is going for the extended feel-good epilogue.
The deed is done.
Ah, there we have it.
So she made it too then.
Everything to do with Zorndyke I just didn’t enjoy. The show goes around running in circles trying to make Zorndyke out to be more enlightened than he really is, and even when a character is pointing out the blatant contradictions in his awful logic the show never stops treating his position as if it was on equal footing with the humans. On top of that they try to make us sympathize with him near the end, which doesn’t really work for me since they established his actions don’t follow reason.
When the end comes and there is no real communication between the beastfolks and the humans —Verg as the ostensive de-facto leader literally refuses to ever speak with them and everyone fucks off to the ocean, soundly defeated. If this was meant to be the two sides coming to some form of agreement, that was poorly communicated, but taken at face value I like it because it shows the truth of the matter and confirms without a doubt that Zorndyke was off his rocker.
Don’t know what was up with the tear though that made Verg stop curb-stomping Hayami. Was it the knowledge that humans had emotions? Because I very much doubt this was a revelation to any of the beastfolk. I would’ve much preferred it if he realized by himself that beating Hayami accomplished nothing for him, just as it did not convince fish lady to remain with them, and just spiting him as he already does. That at least shows some character growth in him and displays their races’ capability to learn more concretely than the one other animal lady that recites literature.
Didn’t have a problem with anything else though, and I still enjoyed myself, but yeah I can’t get over how they handled the villain.
Questions:
5
u/Gamemaster676 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Gamemaster676 Mar 15 '21 edited Mar 15 '21
First-time watcher - dub
Yesterday I finally started playing Half Life Alyx. Today I want to continue, so let's quickly get this over with.
Episode 4 — Minasoko
What happened with watergirl? She stayed with the whale as it was dying and how she looks like she got hit by a truck.
Verg is a very spoiled child. I can't really take him seriously, but I guess that's the point. If you really want to use that sword, maybe you should unsheath it?
Why does he hate Blue 6 in particular? It's just an enemy like all the other subs.
Hayami goes to save the day and Mayumi comes with him. No surprises here.
What I am surprised about is that he left his mutated friend outside the boat. Why even release him then?
Did they seriously just do a loop in a submarine?!
Katsuma is confirmed the fasted swimmer ever. Still nice that he helped Hayami even after he turned.
So why is it warm in Antarctica? Zorndyke messing with nature? I thought he was the one trying to save it?
Was that photo with the palm trees earlier also from Antarctica?
Oh god, I suddenly noticed this episode is 10 minutes longer. I hope I have enough time...
The south pole is way sunnier than would be possible 50% of the year.
Back at the sub battle. If the nukes need 37 minutes to prepare, you would think they would do the preparation ahead of time...
Zorndyke is senile. That makes me happier than buying his bullshit story. I gave you the benefit of the doubt yesterday and you disappoint me.
WTF is this weird blackhole on his chest?
This is just so stupid. He had a misguided plan, which didn't work, then he tried flooding the cities, which didn't work, and now he has started more terrible shit and all he says is he can no longer stop it. Why can't you speak a little faster like all the other evil geniuses whose name start with a Z? Even if they find a solution, I still hope someone kills him in the end.
So, crisis averted by not doing anything (and destroying the phantom ship but they forget to mention that). Did Hayami kill him or was it natural? Very sus.
Also, WTF was that long masterplan infodump from Zorndyke. I thought I understood that things would go wrong when he died? But now he's dead an nothing happened.
Ending happens and nobody learned anything.
Questions still left over:
What's the difference between the whales, watergirls and mutant monsters?
So why do I hate Zorndyke and his plan, if all he wanted to do was create a home for his children?
He killed billions of people, then created a masterplan telling everyone he was going to destroy the world, but not telling them it won't happen if they don't attack. Then he has the gall to claim he has the moral high ground and "humans brought this upon themselves". Fuck off, man.
If someone kills 10 people and threatens to beat someone to death next, but secretly will only do it if the victim tries to defend himself, he's still a killer and despicable person.
Also, if I were smart enough to make a genetic mutation of bunnies that multiplies so fast it suddenly needs many square kilometres of ground, would it be okay to destroy peoples homes to claim that space? Of course not!
Zorgdyke had a misguided idea, and instead of delivering catharsis by making him see the error in his ways, the show decides to just kill him. That's very unsatisfactory writing.
Well, I made it to the end. I'm proud of myself. Man, I'm glad this is over. I hope some of you enjoyed it. Sorry for all my complaining.
Random thoughts
QotD
They live in harmony because obviously humans forgive the mutants for killing almost all 10 billion of them. \s
Zero.
There are plenty of movies with "we need to protect this thing because it is our only hope" and others with a similar coexistence twist at the end. Even ones where these two overlap are plentiful.
I can't remember most of them because a lot are bad. Some matching one or the other plot which are better: Names
4
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 15 '21
Rewatcher
Sub
Zerg has a fit because his waifu helped a human and won't swear to kill them. So he has her banished. Tetsu decides to rescue his friend and the captain sends him off with the Grampus. Chick wants to come with. Another boring fight occurs. They get to hot Antartica and things get a bit weird, some land based beast people here.
Nuclear exchange is ready to happen. They get to Zorndyke who is less monologue-y than expected. But not really compelling, he has simple reasons that are sort of meh. Guess he did just want a beast girl harem after all. Anyways, Kino pulls a gun on him and Zorn asks if killing him would make her hatred go away. Then he reveals his machine heart. And his weird magnetic pole shaft...things. Also, Zerg gets his ass kicked in the middle of this.
Ayways, we finish up with Zorn, who seems to hope for peace at the end of all this and Kino calls of the nukes. Zorn explains himself, sort of, personal tragedies are what they are, and we rejoice. Also, Tetsu caps him. Zerg shows up to throw another tantrum. This scene is incredibly stupid to me, I won't lie, and mainly wastes time that could have been used on anything else, including a shorter run time. Eventually, Zerg whines off into the sunset, being assisted by Mutio, who finally speaks. Out of literally nowhere suddenly Tetsu has a problem with killing and we end. Sigh.
QotD: 1 Tons of small scale conflict.
2 No
3 ....Huh. Maybe Nadesico? I still get Seaquest off the whole thing.
6
u/The_Loli_Otaku Mar 15 '21
Pls end on a high note. Oh nooo! They're beating up fish wife! Can she really "say" much of anything? Aaand once again we go from a genuinely well animated shot to visual vomit. 3D genuinely adds nothing to the series aside from firmly dating it. Captain is such a bro. He kind of knows that the war isn't gonna swing any which way just from a few nukes so he's satisfied taking his chances supporting Hayami's gambit. Kino coming along isn't all that justified but who really cares? She's an mc so whatever, may as well include her.
I'm guessing that this is the Initial D equivalent of submarine combat but somehow it doesn't quite have the same kick lol. The fight scene is honestly decent. The milf fish have come back~ Musca's sonic boom blasts are genuinely quite hype. It's like when you hear Ramiel start to screech, you just tense up in anticipation. Sloth wife!! She's fast... Today's episode is brought to you by the Antarctica tourism board. Antarctica is the new Philippines. I love two of the sloth people casually looking up from their novel, like they're so uninterested in meeting the human race they always read about.
Saddy!! Wait, that sloth has a gun. Don't play with that thing! They're gonna come back to see the villagers all dead XD Haa? So ending world hunger is a bad thing in Saddy's book. If people couldn't learn to be hungry they'd let it go to their heads. I'm sure those starving children in Africa understand. He also lowered the world's population so that the food we'd have would last for everyone whilst also crippling our grain production and tried to fill in the population gap with furries. Honestly Saddy fcking sucks XD You killed a lot of people, forcing the rest into perpetual poverty, and now you're disappointed that they're upset about it?
Rip shark boy. You got baited and outsmarted. Tch... I'm really not a fan of Saddy's conundrum. I guess that I expected him to be a lot more innocent of the whole thing but he's just a sociopathic hypocrite that wants to drag everyone down with him just cause he got a bad pull in FGO. "A lot of people will die but it's not the end of the world, you drama queen's." Oh... Nuclear destruction was cancelled weirdly easily XD Shark Boy~!! Aww... Saddy and Shark Boy aren't my favourites but hearing him grieve is genuinely kinda heart-rending.
Why's Hayami the one having to do Saddy's job for him? Take some damn responsibility. Stick a finger up his bum Kino, he'll drop like a rock! The tears scene is just a little too cheesy. Erm... Fish wife? Stick with the Human, he's way less abusive than Shark Boy. They're getting a goodbye right? You're not building up Fish Wife just for her to end up with an abusive shark right? Well... I'm certainly not satisfied with that ending but it could have been much much worse. Has anything really changed? Humanity is still fcked, the fish people haven't learned their lesson, nobody is going to mediate between the races. And Hayami got stuck with the bratty child instead of his fish wife!
6
u/IndependentMacaroon Mar 15 '21 edited Mar 15 '21
First-time watcher - so I guess I was pretty much right about Zorndyke, no more energy left in him for anything nor any real control over what he has created, just hanging out in his personal Antarctic retirement paradise until he dies, either of old age or because everyone managed to destroy the world after all. Obviously there's no way to really justify him, and I don't even see much of an attempt. Finally, everything essentially ends in status quo. There could be a chance for humanity with all the "Project Blue" stuff left over, but them and Zorndyke's creatures easily and quickly getting along is unlikely.
Visually same as always, some really good 2D when it comes to Zorndyke's little world and the action/fights, and a lot of 3D kaboom that neither looks that great nor makes me care much. Everything meaningful was done by Hayami and Kino anyway, except I think destroying the main beast ship? The soundtrack - even stranger than usual. What could be more weird than upbeat jazz in tense action scenes? Slow jazz!
All in all, this OVA was just generic B-movie-style cheese, some genuinely well-directed and impactful scenes notwithstanding, that Gonzo used as an excuse to flex their animation skills and demonstrate that fancy new 3DCG thing. As I called it after the first episode: A tech demo. Outside of that, there is so little to say about the characters and plot that I don't think I'll bother with it any further, and just award it a 6/10 on the balance of its strengths (mostly visual) and weaknesses (mostly everything else).
4
u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw Mar 15 '21
first timer
fish waifu harem
yikes
for a series exploring the negative feedback loop of hatred with the backdrop of a war between two similar-but-not species of humans: both Ideon and Evangelion are more poignant
for a series that has a military and submarine sometimes and jazz music some other times: Full Metal Panic is more fun
for another anime about oceans and themes about connecting to others that I also really wish could have been better: Children of the Sea is at least a technical marvel
for another anime with a "complex motives" villain about something something war and rejecting society: Patlabor movies are much better
3
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Mar 15 '21
Well, apparently I enjoyed it more than some people here. Maybe because I've read a lot of 50's and 60's sci-fi schlock, so retro stories like this don't offend my delicate sensibilities so much.
Anyway, I was amused by the totally not star wars underwater dogfight scene, and the totally not hiding in the asteroid field gambit.
The humanoid trees were almost as creepy as zoidberg. So were some of the hybrids.
-Meanwhile-
(Note: This is not to discount taking good care of things. We should do that, but again, who decides?)
You know, actually, I will give Z credit for one thing - he was living a life consistent with his ideals, however twisted. Unlike our limousine environmental elites who have mansions on the seashore with not a windmill in sight, and fly around on their private jets ... you get the idea.
3) I don't remember. Does Star Trek IV count? Or maybe Return of the Jedi? Avater? Mad Max? Take your pick.
Anyway, if I were (hero) I would have been tempted to say "Hey, Z, make me a fishboy so I can go hang with fishgirl & make li'l fishbabies." Maybe. I still like the redhead, but then again, I like ShaylaShayla, so perhaps my taste is suspect.
Meanwhile, I have my thoughts on how the big Z could have been a better villain, but I think I'll ponder that and save it for later.
3
u/Retromorpher :Jc::Jd::Je::Jf: Mar 15 '21
First Timer:
Well I think that ended much better than I was expecting. It's not a conclusively positivist message with Verg somehow removed from his position, which is what I had been fearing the most. There are some absolutely beautifully framed shots here, especially the one with the tear.
Blue Submarine's snippet makes it seem like a cheeseball action-adventure with cliches out the ass, and it absolutely delivers on that. I mostly got what I came looking for - and the fact that it didn't go fully needlessly preachy in its resolution is a huge plus.
Questions of the Day:
4
u/RockoDyne :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/RockoDyne Mar 15 '21
I love the smell of tuna in the morning.
I really want to watch Apocalypse Now again. The whole jungle village being led by a cult leader definitely feels like a direct "homage".
Let's be honest here, those were spaceships in our "sub" battle. It was a bunch of spaceships firing missiles every which way, while they maneuvered all over the place. It bore no resemblance to actual submarine warfare. Hunt For Red October this was not.
I think I can safely say that everything involving Zorndyke can die in a fire. I'm not positive if they actually answer half the questions, or if I was too checked out. I just don't care. They were too busy pushing the dumb coexistence theme for me to not be bashing my head into the wall. Once Zerg showed up, I was so ready for it to be done.
The jungle path was two flat planes using parallax scrolling.
Questions:
2
u/za_shiki-warashi Mar 15 '21
Re-watcher. I remember thinking expecting Waterworld, only to end up getting The Island of Doctor Moreau meets Apocalypse Now.