Ao no 6-gou

Blue Submarine No. 6 is one of the archetypal gems of the Toonami era. The atmosphere, sound design, and plot truly embody the essence of that time, heavy with a sense of discovery that only a limitless medium like anime can fully realize. Even beyond that association, this show stands on its own as something forlorn, complicated, and artful, while not losing any of the kinetic action which also defines a huge part of its identity. Beginning with the story, the viewer is met with a post-apocalyptic world, inundated by an ocean full of sentient hybrid monsters, the work of ... a mad scientist, which the rest of the world now coordinates against. The story retains the original flavor of the 1967 manga it was adapted from, right down to the premise, including mechs and mad scientists. However, it also synthesizes deeper philosophical and conceptual influences from the late 90s enough that it can be counted as something completely distinct. It is this balance which makes the story so refreshing, even decades removed from its initial release. The pacing is phenomenal for such a short run, and the dialogue is masterfully written, invoking the full weight of people facing the very end of the world. However, for all its strengths, it's not perfect. The message of the tale gets muddled towards the end, and though it might be understandable given the runtime, it still feels as though they didn't know exactly how to end it. It seems to wrestle with itself, even though such wrestling is ultimately unnecessary. The overall message of Zorndyke's twisted idealism being evil is on the face of it, true. To conclude otherwise is to dig a little too deep, while being simultaneously pretentious and shallow. The major flaw is that, even if the story doesn't really conclude this, it allows enough ambiguity for such arguments to gain a foothold. This is still the case, even when the hybrid creations of Zorndyke are occasionally sympathetic, specifically with regards to Mutio. Though, even with that fact in mind, it was still cruel of Zorndyke to thrust them into a world of constant war. It is clear they love him, yet he treats them as little more than tools, despite what he says to the contrary.

Speaking of things which aren't perfect, I now must speak on the art, this anime's strongest aspect. This claim might seem contradictory, but it isn't. The art direction as a whole is bold and unique, and all of the traditional animation is crisp, warm, and smoother than many anime of the modern day. Everything from the cinematography to the fight choreography leaves a lasting impression, in a way which few shows of any era manage to accomplish in any kind of enduring fashion. Now, it's plain to see that the CG isn't very good at all. It doesn't hold up, and I doubt it impressed on anything other than a technical level back in 1998 either. However, I still don't think it detracted from the show, and here's why- it was brave and well-placed at the same time. To include such heavy use of CG made them trailblazers, and to put so much of it underwater, where smooth lines and flat, curved edges look more natural, made them prudent innovators. While at first it felt kind of galling, I quickly got used to it, and it only served to highlight just how gorgeous the rest of the animation really is.

Meanwhile, the sound design's crowning jewel is this jazzy, smooth composition, reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, fitting right in with the auditory landscape which defined that golden age of Toonami which so many of us are so familiar with. It's complex, contemplative, and alive with a sensitivity to any given scene and its context. On a dime it can turn from this dreamy, acoustic track to a gripping score which shudders with panic and dread at a mile a minute. The rest of the sound is also excellent, with fully realized sounds of life and one of the best dubs I've ever heard. The emotion in their voices bleed through the speakers, feeling immersive and arresting throughout. However, special attention must be paid to the sound of breath. The way Blue Submarine No. 6 utilizes the sound of breath is utterly unique. It sounds as though the voice actors are actually being punched, or cut, or surprised, and on and on. It is raw and vivid, and adds so much to the voice acting that I didn't know it could. It's a small thing, but it adds yet another piece to the monumental achievement of this show's overall sound design.

The characters are also quite strong, feeling warm and human in a lot of ways which are hard to achieve in such a short time, even managing to do so with those who aren't strictly human to begin with. The ways these characters interact is both excitingly grand, and unmistakably desperate. Real, three dimensional human relationships, poignant with pain and conflict abound. Of them, my favorite characters are the longsuffering badass and secretly idealistic Hayami, and the despicable genius Zorndyke, with the blood of billions on his hands. I like Hayami because he feels like a great fit for the world in which he finds himself, with a monumental grit that doesn't just amount to instant plot armor. Meanwhile, for as much as I hate Zorndyke, it cannot be denied that he is a multifaceted, compelling villain. It goes to show than no matter how eloquent or well-meaning someone is, they can still be horribly, monstrously, wrong. Overall, Blue Submarine No. 6 is an excellent anime, not only archetypal of the era in which it was produced, but also enduringly compelling and, at the end of the day, cool as hell. Definite recommend.

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 a 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.