Submarine 707R

I'm not even going to attempt to explain the story in this OVA, mostly because I'm not quite sure there really was one. Submarine 707R is a 2 episode OVA that follows a crew on the 707 submarine. The basic premise for the whole series is around two factions warring with each other for the seas. One acts as a United Nations sort of organization (that would be the side the 707 is on), while the other is attempting to free to sea from ownership.

There is not much of any back story as far as this show is concerned. Events just begin to happen and there isn't a whole lot of explanation as to how the characters end up where they do in the show. This OVA was essentially a 2 episode long fight between two powerhouse submarines.

There are a lot of references to the story of the tortoise and the hare throughout the series, primarily because the 707 is often referred to as the Snapping Turtle because of its age and lack of current technology. There is a lot of lighthearted attitude from the characters, which is nice for a show that has so many conflict overtones. The demeanor of the story is not so lighthearted that it makes light of the idea of war, but it does keep a positive tone making the show upbeat and not depressing.

The animation of the show was outstanding. The design of the characters and scenery were very similar to current show such as Gundam Seed in terms of color clarity and texture. The CG for many of the battle scenes was smooth and fluid. This made the action very interesting to watch and kept me wanting to see more. I am convinced that the strongest attribute that this show had to offer was the animation.

After making it through the two 45 minute episodes, it would have been nice to see this OVA developed into to short series of 12 episodes. It felt incomplete at the end of the second episode. The show ended on a cliffhanger, making it seem that more episodes were meant to accompany it. After doing some research it is pretty clear that we will only being seeing two episode for Submarine 707R. This is a shame because it has a lot of potential to be an entertaining mini-series.

I would recommend watching this if your interest lies in military craft. The main reason for this is due to the type of animation used and the excellent artistry behind the craft development.