Summary
The Silent Service Season One – The Battle of Tokyo Bay delivers a strong balance of action and drama that will have you wanting more. Easily one of the best war-based series of this decade.
From 1988 to 1996, Kaiji Kawaguchi wrote and illustrated the popular manga series The Silent Service. Kawaguchi has teamed up with Hikaru Takai and Tetsuo Kamata to produce a live-action version of the series titled The Silent Service Season One – The Battle of Toyko Bay. The Silent Service was released as a movie in Japan, but Prime Video has worked with Japan to create an eight-episode series that delivers some of what you saw in the film, along with new content not seen in theaters.
The Silent Service Season One – The Battle of Toyko Bay follows the story of Captain Kaieda, who forms an independent country of Yamato on board a submarine named the Seabat that he has taken hostage. Kaieda hopes to work with Japan to create an alliance, but the United States has other things in mind.
The series begins with the Yamanami Submarine colliding with the Tatsunami and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The ship’s captain, Shiro Kaieda, and his team are believed to be dead. However, we see Captain Kaieda and his team working with the Japanese government and the United States to man the Seabat, a nuclear submarine that will be part of the Seventh Fleet.
Shortly after taking the Seabat to sea, Captain Kaieda alters the ship’s course, informing the U.S. soldier on board, Captain Ryan, that this is their ship. This leads to a chain of political battles between the United States and Japan that could amount to another war between the two countries.
Something that can’t be understated about this series is the sheer amount of tensity that the writers and directors built within the story. I was blown away by how often they kept you on the edge of your seat, wondering if a missile would hit or not. There would be moments I would hold my breath in anticipation of what was transpiring. Seeing the power of storytelling within the anxiety-filled action is a rare feat.
In an age when villains are becoming more likable, it’s rare to find someone you downright despise in TV shows. Even in shows like Succession, you find yourself hating most of the Roy family but also liking them. However, Shiro Kaieda lands on the list of one of the most hate-able men in TV history. Takao Osawa’s ability to remain calm, cool, and collected while being a downright hateful man was some of the best acting I’ve seen in some time.
If I had one bone to pick with the series, it would be the episode count. Each episode’s runtime varied between 40 and 50 minutes, and most of the time, it had solid pacing. That said, it could’ve easily been cut down to six episodes and been even more effective.
The Silent Service Season One – The Battle of Tokyo Bay | Image via Prime Video
Even with my small nitpick The Silent Service Season One – The Battle of Tokyo Bay is one of the best war-based series I’ve seen in a long time. Writers Hikaru Takai and Tetsuo Kamata built such incredible tension within the script, and Takao Osawa elevates it to another level with his haunting turn as Shiro Kaieda.
The Silent Service not only raises the bar for shows of this type but is an early candidate to be one of the best shows of 2024.
