Kaiji Kawaguchi’s The Silent Service Manga Gets Live-Action Film on Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime Video in Japan posted a teaser video for the Amazon original live-action film adaptation of Kaiji Kawaguchi‘s The Silent Service manga on Wednesday. The film will premiere in TOHO theaters throughout Japan on September 29.

Actor Takao Osawa (live-action Sky High, Tsukiji Uogashi Sandaime), a self-professed fan of the manga, stars as protagonist Shiro Kaieda.

Osawa and Shinzō Matsuhashi are producing the live-action film, Kohei Yoshino is directing, and Hikaru Takai wrote the script.

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.

Kawaguchi 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.

Kawaguchi and journalist Osamu Eya‘s Kūbo Ibuki (Aircraft Carrier Ibuki) manga ended in December 2019. The series launched in 2014.

Kawaguchi ended his Zipang: Shinsō Kairyū manga in November 2017. The manga is unrelated to his earlier time-traveling war manga Zipang, which he also drew in Kodansha‘s Morning magazine until 2009.

Viz Media published Kawaguchi’s political manga Eagle in North America. Central Park Media released the naval anime special The Silent Service inspired by Kawaguchi’s manga, and Geneon Entertainment (USA) released the Zipang television anime.

Kawaguchi and Shinji Makari recently ended their Sagara ~S no Dōsotai~ (Sagara ~The S Allotrope~) in 2021. The manga launched in Morning Magazine in 2018.

Sources: Amazon Prime Video Japan’s YouTube channel, The Silent Service live-action film’s Twitter account, Comic Natalie