Introduction

Zipang is a manga created by Kaiji Kawaguchi. The animated series is produced by Studio Deen, the same studio that had the task of animating “Fate / Stay Night”, “Fate / Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works”, “Fruit Basket”, “Soul Eater” and other series.

The Zipang Animated series is composed and concluded by 26 episodes lasting 25 minutes each, broadcast on Japanese networks for the first time from 7 October 2004 to 31 March 2005.

Unfortunately the 26 episodes created are not enough to cover the entire narrative arc of the manga, but ends with a semi-open ending that suggests the continuity of the story.

Plot

The story begins with the newly launched “MIRAI” Self-Defense Maritime Destroyer, (a term that means FUTURE and / or HOPE), equipped with the latest generation of weapons in the Air-naval combat.

Together with other cruisers and fighter-torpedo boats, it sets sail from a Japanese naval base heading to the place set with the U.S. Navy for a joint exercise between the two forces, in the waters off the American base Pearl Harbor.

While sailing, the Japanese fleet is hit by dense fog and an abnormal electromagnetic storm. As soon as MIRAI manages to get out of the thick fog, the entire crew realizes that they are left alone.

A naval convoy begins to appear before them from the low fog: the members on the bridge manage to recognize the flagship of the convoy as the Battleship Yamato. Startled and dismayed after what happened, they realize that they have traveled through time with MIRAI and that they ended up in June 1942, precisely in the battle of the Midway.

At this point, all the crew members obviously want to be able to return to their timeline, but they must also think of a plan, a course of action in case it is impossible for them to return to their time.

Regarding the choices, the crew is divided into two factions: a group would like to exploit the technological superiority of MIRAI to save their country and people, even if from another era, from the future that they sadly know. The other group, on the other hand, would prefer to go unnoticed so as not to risk changing the course of events.

Despite this concern, however, a series of decisions by the Mirai crew will lead all of them to irreparably change the course of history that they know.

Opinions and Reflections

Below I am writing some of my opinions and reflections in this regard.

The plot flows without particular hitches, indeed, with each episode I watched I felt like continuing to find out how the story would continue. It will also be because of my interest in naval battles and in the maritime sector in general.

The animations are from 2004 and the graphic sector as backdrops and the rest are not the best images ever seen, but they allow themselves to be looked at without problems. The colors are “light”, none of them are too bright or too saturated allowing a more than gratifying vision.

The soundtrack of the product is very pleasant to listen to and creates excellent narrative situations also thanks to the particularly interesting story (at least from my point of view). Honestly, I also put them in a playlist that I listen to when I’m in the car.

It is also very fascinating to see the development of the thinking of the main characters as the story progresses, also based on the situations that follow one another.

The pride of this anime is the accuracy of situations, names and events related to history; obviously there are some narrative licenses to mix the characters in the plot more correctly, but it remains very exact.