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Amazon.com The broadcast series Zipang (2004) plays like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone: when The Mirai, the most advanced ship of the Japanese Self Defense Force, sails for routine training maneuvers, it is somehow transported back to June 5, 1942--the battle of Midway. Gunnery officer Masayuki Kikuchi warns the crew against doing anything that might change history. But executive officer Yosuke Kadomatsu saves the life of a Japanese officer whose plane crashes near the ship. Everyone aboard wants to keep The Mirai's presence a secret and return to the 21st century, but they may have already altered the course of history. Director Kazuhiru Furuhashi takes full advantage of the dramatic camera movements the CG models of the ships offer. He and co-screenwriter Yuichiro Takeda, working from the manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi, describe both the Japanese and Allied forces as men fighting to defend their homes, a dubious assertion at best. The battle of Midway was a turning point in the War in the Pacific, and a Japanese fantasy about changing its outcome may disturb some American viewers. (Rated 13 and older: violence, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
I see a number of reviews comparing this set with the wonderfully fun movie, The Final Countdown. I find myself disagreing with the comparison. Other than the fact that the two share the Pacific Ocean, time travel, and the military, they have little in common. Zipang takes a Japanese Self Defense Force ship and crew 60 years into the past and abandons them to their fate. There is no E-Ticket from Tideman Industries to prevent potential time paradoxes. Point in fact, the writers threw the paradox theory away and I appaude the decision - it's one I've never supported. This is just an act-and-react life-and-death struggle for survival. Modern day Japanese people find themselves trapped between their more agressive ancestors and a less than forgiving America during one of history's most chaotic eras. I find the story well written and nicely displayed. Every sub story supports the whole and all the characters are well scripted and believable. Neither is the show biased. Good and evil are not determined by a person's language, and no one ever really wins a war. Naval surface actions were a little abrupt - they could have been better had more time and attention to detail been spent - so this doesn't get 5 stars. It will get watched many more times, however, and I will enjoy every moment. The opening theme song is catchy as well.
