Ranked #2853

Uchuu Kuubo Blue Noah

Another one of the earlier series I watched dubbed as a kid on television. I had no idea back then but this is actually a tribute to Battleship Yamato of the 70’s. Not only it shares the same concept, it also goes for a basic character emersion, as well as weaponry apotheosis.

ART & SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Although very old, there is a lot of detail given on machines and technology in general. The human figures are simple drawn and fade in comparison with the submarines and the airships. It’s one of those shows were you appreciate the machine drawings more than the people controlling them.

The battles are interesting to the most part as there are several scenes where the screen is filled with lasers, explosions and dozens of airships moving at different directions at the same time. Adding the several special weaponry both sides possess made each confrontation to feel special.

The main music theme is very catchy and the rest have a sad tone to them. The show is mostly aiming to show the grim shape of the planet after its devastation as well as presenting the crew of the ship as heroic; and it does manage to make you consider them as saviors.

STORY SECTION: 7/10
Starts very commonly but gets better along the way, thanks to the non-stop upgrades of the main sub’s capabilities. (spoiler alert!)

In the near future, an alien race attacks Earth and conquers it in a matter of hours. Most of humanity is killed, and the rest is enslaved. A group of university students escape the attack, bump on a secret ultra-powerful submarine that the remaining military plans to use against the aliens. They are accepted as a crew, since they lack a lot in manpower and begin a quest to unite the rest of humanity against the aliens.

Elements that prevent the show from becoming boring:
- The story is divided into story arcs, where the submarine attacks an alien base, frees the prisoners and stops their terraforming plans. None are completely stand-alone, as in each one extra crew and weapons are added to the sub.
-The aliens are not typical evil, egocentric monsters that want to rule the universe. They are the last survivors of a dying planet and simply want a new home. Earth has enough similarities and attack because they know that humans wouldn’t simply accept them. They do not plan to destroy Earth in the name of evil but colonize it in the name of survival. They also don’t just look but also have feelings like humans. This is one of the few rare cases when the aliens are excused to be fascists because of their harsh backdrop.
- The show takes into account the fact that the aliens cannot breathe oxygen and need to terraform the atmosphere to match their own. All the destruction we see is actually their attempts to change the climate and not to end life.
- Some attention is given to physics. The gravity of the aliens’ moon changes the axis of the Earth and the world climate in general, terraforming makes the sea and the air a lot heavier, and sea pressure is increased by depth and prevents sonar readings. Sounds a lot more realistic than watching moons and planets blowing up in Dragonball Z, without affecting the surroundings.
- As the story progresses, the submarine is elevated to the status of a spaceship and fights the alien moon directly in space. Ain’t that cool?
- There is a solid ending too, although it is rather simplistic.

The story still has its silly side that prevent it from being really good. And yes it is pretty much the same problem I had with Yamato. An entire advanced alien civilization seems unable to stop a single submarine. The good guys seem to always have endless fuel and ammunition, no matter how many times they fight. Plus, the aliens die by the thousands while the humans win without a single casualty.

CHARACTER SECTION: 5/10
Very cliché by today’s standards. I doubt you will pay more attention to the human heroes than the alien bad guys, since their presence is a lot stronger. I doubt you will pay more attention to the aliens and not the weapons and the machines. They are still tragic in overall and do receive character colorization on a basic level.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 6
The characters are fake; the machines get all the credit. What you really get to appreciate in Blue Noah is its vast variety of weaponry and technological ideas. Almost every episode features a new form of weapon or technological advancement that could make techno-freaks drool all over them. From typical weapons such as depth mines, torpedoes and triple barrel cannons, to original ones, such as DNA-triggered mines, spy rockets, heavy-water barriers, black hole missiles and solar ray beams, the series was a parade of originality and technological apotheosis. The main sub alone could by default separate into different subs and transform into an armed to the teeth aircraft carrier while on the surface!

In fact, most of the series’ appeal was the weapons instead of the characters. Plus, all were offered with an easy to understand explanation/rationalization, making even the unrealistic ones appear believable. If more attention was given on developing the characters further, then it would be a truly great series.

VALUE SECTION: 3/10
Old and typical in its premise, Blue Noah (Thundersub in English) was amongst the first war drama/science fiction series to offer to the Western World an ongoing and rather rationalized scenario. There were almost no stand-alone episodes and you even got to sympathize with the bad guys of the story. Quite enough to give it some credit but nothing great considering what else came throughout the years. read more