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!

Quick Review

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

Super Atragon is an interesting and reasonably engaging modern-day science fiction action adventure tale with spiffy visuals and a lot of creative (if occasionally questionable) tie-ins to the past. If you don't try to read too much into the way Japan's position in WWII is cast in an ambiguous light (a side effect of the much older story this is based on), it's really a lot more like Evangelion with more submarines and less crazy--a number of the themes, at least, are similar. The story is decent heroic sci-fi stuff: Plenty of twists and historical tie-ins, and the colorful characters have enough interconnections for a soap opera. The best part, though, is the visual treat: Spiffy mechanical designs, creative alien technology, and very pretty action. The classic film-themed soundtrack is also quality stuff performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic.

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.

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.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store