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The Silent Service Live-Action Project Gets Sequel

Amazon Prime Video Japan announced on its official X (forrnerly Twitter‚ account on Tuesday that production on a sequel for the live-action project of Kaiji Kawaguchi's The Silent Service manga has been green-lit. The announcement did not state if the sequel is a film or a series.

Kawaguchi stated that he felt the love for the original manga in the "marvelous live-action adaptation." He added that the critical message that he wanted to convey in the manga only emerges in its final arc. He wants the live-action version to vividly depict the story until the very end, and then for everyone to watch it.

The Silent Service live-action film adaptation opened in Japan on September 29, 2023, and sold 274,000 tickets for 370,136,800 yen (about US$2.46 million) in its first three days. Takao Osawa and Shinzō Matsuhashi produced the live-action film, Kōhei Yoshino directed the film, and Hikaru Takai wrote the script. B'z, with singer Ado as vocalist, contributed the film's theme song "Dignity."

In the story, Shiro Kaieda is appointed the captain of Japan's first nuclear submarine, jointly built by Japan and the United States in top secret. However, he and his 76 crew members go rogue in this story that delves into themes of nuclear war, international politics, and world peace.

The live-action series sequel titled Chinmoku no Kantai Season 1: Tokyowan Daikaisen (Silent Service Season 1: The Battle of Tokyo Bay) premiered on Amazon Prime on February 9 with the first six episodes, and episodes seven and eight released on February 16. The series' first four episodes focus on unreleased scenes not depicted in the film. Episodes 5-8 tell a sequel story. The film's theme song "Dignity" also serve as the theme to the series.

Kawaguchi (Eagle, Kūbo Ibuki) serialized the manga in Kodansha's Morning magazine from 1988 to 1996. The manga already inspired a television anime special from Sunrise in 1996, followed by Sunrise's two-part original video anime from 1997 to 1998. Central Park Media offered the anime on videotape and later DVD.

Sources: Amazon Prime Video Japan's Twitter account, Comic Natalie