Zipang

Zipang

Release Date:  10/7/2004
Country of Release:  Japan
Length: 
MPAA: 
Medium:  Video
Genre:  DRA SF
Release Message:  The Japanese AEGIS Destroyer "Mirai" of the Maritime Self Defense Force is on its way to Pearl Harbor for training missions when it's suddenly engulfed in a strange electrical storm, and they have been transported back in time to 1942, right before the Battle of Midway. Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Description:  The story of Zipang is basically the same as that of the movie The Final Countdown, only with a few twists. The Japanese AEGIS Destroyer "Mirai" of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force is on its way to Pearl Harbor for training missions when it's suddenly engulfed in a strange electrical storm. When they clear a fog bank they almost run into an enormous battleship, which turns out to be the "Yamato", Japan's largest battleship in World War 2. With horror, the crew realizes they have been transported back in time to 1942, right before the Battle of Midway. Although they try to avoid getting mixed up with the ongoing battle, thing are going haywire when the ship's XO rescues Imperial Japanese Navy Lt. Commander Kusaku from a sinking plane and the "Mirai" is subsequently discovered by an American submarine. The question for the crew of the "Mirai" is simple: do they have to stay neutral to let history go by unchanged? Or do they have to act when it becomes clear that rescuing Kusaku might have a devastating effect on the course of the war... for the Allies. Also, they have to watch out for the Imperial Japanese Navy too. Admiral Yamamoto wants the Mirai at his side, but others in the IJN believe they're better off with the "Mirai" on the bottom of the Pacific