The Silent Service

"The Silent Service" (2023) emerges as a bold critique of global power dynamics, cleverly subverting audience expectations by transforming its narrative from a straightforward military drama into a powerful commentary on international relations and justice.

The series' most daring move is its gradual revelation that the United States takes on the role of Ahab - not in pursuit of justice, but consumed by the need to maintain dominance. Unlike Melville's tale, here the hunter becomes the true monster, with the pursuit of the Kaieda serving as a mirror reflecting the darker aspects of superpower politics.

What sets "The Silent Service" apart is its unflinching examination of how military might shapes international justice. The series bravely portrays how a superpower can act as a global bully, where:

• Military superiority is confused with moral authority
• International law becomes flexible for the powerful
• Smaller nations must navigate carefully around superpower interests
• "Justice" often means whatever serves the strongest party

The submarine warfare elements serve a deeper purpose than mere military thrills. Each tactical maneuver and strategic decision becomes a metaphor for how nations must navigate the treacherous waters of international politics, where the strong make the rules and the rest must show extraordinary skill and courage to maintain their autonomy.

The series explores several provocative ideas:

• How military supremacy can corrupt notions of justice
• The thin line between maintaining order and enforcing hegemony
• The courage required to stand against overwhelming force
• The moral complexity of defying superpower authority

The underwater setting becomes particularly poignant - in the depths, where sunlight barely reaches, traditional notions of right and wrong become as murky as the waters themselves. The pressure of depth mirrors the pressure of standing against a global superpower.

"The Silent Service" demonstrates remarkable courage in challenging prevalent narratives about global power dynamics. While other military dramas might glorify superpower dominance, this series dares to question the relationship between might and right, making it not just entertainment but a vital commentary on contemporary international relations.

It is interesting as it pits the US against Japan. Japanese Captain Kaieda is brilliant in navigation and tactics and has managed to steal a top secret US-Japanese nuclear submarine, the Sea Bat, and has declared he is the leader of the independent nation of Yamato. That raises concerns for Japan, and also irritates the Americans. The 7th Fleet is mobilized to track down the submarine. A Japanese Captain, Kukamachi is sent to intercept the Sea Bat in a diesel powered submarine. It becomes an interesting game of cat and mouse, and Kaieda uses some very interesting tactics. Episode 5 is perhaps the most important and also shows the flaws in the series. The US considers Kaieda a terrorist, and naturally America never negotiates with a terrorist. So the Sea Bat is to be hunted down and destroyed, which is not what Japan wants to happen, and this results in a rift, and also Presidential testosterone is on display, and the US comes across as a bully. As part of the effort to track down and destroy the Sea Bat, the 3rd fleet also joins forces and the Sea Bat easily sinks one of the US nuclear carriers. The CGI isn't terrible, but they have both US carriers identical, down to the arrangement of aircraft on the decks. That seems sloppy. Also, as they follow ships and submarines by sonar, the sonar scope shows identifications of the ships like would be seen on air control radar at an airport. That seems unlikely. It seems to be set up for another season.

I like the series. However, there are technical issues, which I will get into later on.

First, I like the character Capt. Kaieda. His extremely calm and determined commanding style is reminiscent of Admiral Thrawn in the Star Wars universe. Thus gives great satisfaction to viewer following him.

The incident which caused the political crisis is very well processed in this title. Although the idealist visions of the Kaieda are a bit of a long shot, I guess the viewer should take it as a sci-fi title for better immersion.

I especially liked the balance expressed between nations, the frustration of the JMSDF as being a defensive force possessing weapons but their limits in making use of them is very well portrayed. On the other hand, the ease of using the force on the USN side and its aggressive attitude, especially arrogance of the president is very well presented. Even though some American commenters expressed their discomfort of witnessing USA being arrogant and being so "bullyish" against other nations, I have to disagree. This is a cold hard fact that is put on the screen American citizens must confront IMO. I can agree that the overly flamboyant and condescending attitude of US officers is a bit off the charts but, there is a merit nevertheless, a straw will show which way the wind blows at the end of the day.

Now, with the critics, I have only critics in the technical part of the series as it seems they did not consult a Navy veteran or a specialist in any way so here it goes:

1- Vessels in this series do not employ decoys of any sort although this is the number one countermeasure against a torpedo. See the movie "Crimson Tide" and understand how it is effective. Captain Kaieda employs bubble masking several times but this is usually used to disrupt sonar signature rather than a countermeasure for an incoming torpedo.

2- Vessels in this series move at extreme speeds underwater. Especially torpedoes, they move like a rocket underwater ...? Ok unless you are a Russian submarine and firing a shkwal torpedo to a surface vessel, this is not realistic in any way.

3- Torpedoes seem to be never homing but fired as more like a lance. The real power of the torpedo is not in its speed but in its stubborn homing capability.

4- Here once the torpedo misses a submarine it seems to keep going away, in a straight line. That is funny, a torpedo never goes in a straight line after it misses its target, it immediately commences a circular search pattern until it detects the submarine again.

5- A submarine can never get so close to a carrier in RL. Once it is detected, screens will move on to intercept it and detection for a submarine is usually means death in RL.

6- Having said that, a submarine's real power is in its stealthiness. This seems to be never the case in these series, vessels there never have difficulty in detecting submarines, or torpedoes, albeit this is not true. When you are detected, it is mostly game over in RL.

7- Carriers and its screens never employ helicopters in this series, they seem to rely on sonars and other means to detect submarines. However ASW Helicopters are always in the air in RL if there is a submarine threat in the region. They deploy sonar buoys and once a submarine is detected they immediately release an airborne torpedo on top of it. Helicopters are very effective because they are above the sea water not touching it, since they do not emit any vibrations into the water, submarines cannot detect them or when they do, it is usually too late.

8- Carriers and their screens seem to rely on rockets above else. Hitting a ship with a rocket is not that easy unless you fill the air with swarms of missiles. Once anti-missile rockets do their jobs, if any missiles are going by, then the phalanx (CIWS) systems finish the rest of them. Each ship has one or two as the last line of defense, and cross-firing 4.500 rounds/min. CIWS systems are quite effective.

9- When a ship is hit with a torpedo, (not on the side but usually beneath it) the air bubble generated by the explosion lifts the ship above the water and breaks its belly. This is why torpedoes are powerful, and how a one-hit usually sinks a ship. Here they hit like a regular rockets and it doesn't cause such catastrophic damage to the vessels which is not that realistic.

10 - Fleet Screens in the series do not seem to be fond of ASROC (Anti-submarine rocket) though this is the first and foremost the most effective weapon in the ASW. In the series, destroyers usually fire a hedgehog system which is more or less like a "Navy" mortar firing forward and saturating the fore space of the destroyer with straight-line diving impact-detonated explosive shells. But this is WW2 technology. Hedgehog replaced the primitive depth charges in 1942, and now ASROC replaced hedgehogs after 70's. With the ASROC, a homing torpedo is carried to a maximum distance via a rocket before entering the sea and propelling itself to the target. This saves a lot of time and limits the time of the submarine to react to it.

11- A submarine can never survive a direct torpedo hit.

12- A nuclear sub can never be as small as SEA-BAT portrayed in the series. This is a diesel submarine.

All in all, I enjoyed the series. The concept and message behind it saves the day. Technical failures did not totally ruin the experience albeit it would be perfect if the producers just did their homework and studied other titles like "Crimson tide", "the hunt for Red October", even games like "Silent hunter", "Cold waters", etc. The outcome might have been golden.

Forget the 1 star jingoistic reviews of this Japanese production. Yes, it moves slowly and deliberately. Yes, the details about uniforms etc may not be as exact as some viewers may demand. But for me the story is the thing.

The big bonus is Takao Osawa, the smiling buddha general of the Kingdom series of movies. His calm but decisive nature provides the bedrock of this series.

And yes, it could have been more disciplined in its editing but that's nothing new for streaming movies and TV shows these days. A little bit of patience pays off here big time. Stick with it. The rewards, while not spectacular, are worth it.

Based on an antique manga, this drivel from Amazon is a big waste of time.

Given the budget they had a great opportunity to produce something on the scale of "Hunt for Red October" meets "Tora Tora Tora". Instead what we have is daytime soap with enough dull dialogue to put an elephant to sleep. Besides protagonist and the antagonist are shown as superhuman all knowing people who get all the right coincidences as they need.

The action scene, if you call them that; are a snooze fest and demonstrate a clear lack of military knowledge and tactical understanding on part of the director.

Overall I'd give zero rating if I could.