Series: Tide-Line Blue: The Hammer of Eden V1 is set in the near future where a catastrophe called The Hammer of Eden strikes the Earth, flooding about 90% of the land mass of the planet. This kills 6 billion people and the handful of survivors end up on various small islands all around the world trying to stay one step ahead of famine, disease, and all the other problems that were not a big matter prior to the event. The story actually takes place 14 years later with a ragtag number of colonies trying to cobble together a new version of the United Nations. As expected, not all of the groups agree to specific terms, some of them wanting more say in various matters and others prove resilient to the ensuing bullying the larger island-states attempt. Still, the groups draw closer to agreement thanks in part to a strong willed lady from the old regime, that is until a former Commander in charge of one of the largest nuclear submarines left from years ago strikes the peace submit.

Led by Captain Gould, the crew of the USS Ulysses has the technological might and know how to evade the world's fleets, proving to be much like the famed Nautilus and Captain Nemo. Exactly what his reasoning is and plans for the future may be, the present shows him to be a formidable opponent that is respected by many as a dangerous foe. This part of the story is woven into the true protagonist of the series, a young man named Keel; a boy birthed in space at the time of the Hammer of Eden with his brother, with intimate knowledge and history to the events that led the planet to this state. An impetuous child, he scavenges to maintain his lifestyle, always keeping one step ahead of those around him as he plies his crooked schemes and games of chance. He loves a gal named Isla but won't tell her about it, protecting the pregnant gal from the elements as her self appointed protector. The child isn't his but he doesn't care, the usual social welfare nets having long been discarded in favor of people fending for themselves in this hard world.

The night of the attack shows him confronting his brother, a boy that serves Captain Gould as an important part of the organization; serving to inform the people at the peace conference that the Captain has issued an ultimatum. This leads to a missile attack launched by the Ulysses and the capture of the lad, all while the devastation from the cruise missiles forces Keel and Isla to run for their lives. Taking his brother's advice, they meet one of the crew on the docks at the last minute, resulting in their being taken aboard the Ulysses for the time being. The crew treats them fairly well but the understated relationship between the brothers as well as Keel and Isla come into play. The crew finds Keel a chore to deal with but in their rush to avoid capture, they end up putting up with him as the world seeks to retaliate with their fleet. That leads them to an underground hot spot of seas currents known as the Dhola Vira, a supposedly impassible spot where they will launch their attack on Captain Gould's vessel.

The Captain has other plans of course and the rest of the series seems likely to showcase his reasoning for his actions as well as how Keel fits into the bigger picture, the majority of the first four episodes were mainly used to introduce the characters and the modern setting. The slow pacing of character development allows the creative team (including original creator Satoru Ozawa from Blue Submarine #6 and director Umanosuke Lida) to go somewhere with the basic structure now established, it did make a lot of the developments in the four episodes come across as a bit repetitive to the many similar stories on the market. Still, while I thought the show was only worth a rating of Rent It based on this volume, it did show some promise. The episodes were 1) Spirit, 2) Traitor, 3) Dhola Vira, and 4) Share; each adding in some of the background story with the final one showing more of Keel's history.

Picture: Tide-Line Blue: The Hammer of Eden V1 was presented in a 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color as shot by director Umanosuke Lida for broadcast on Japanese television a few years back. It had a lot of darker spots on it, notable for the way the picture sometimes looked weaker than average due to the lack of truly black blacks. There were some compression artifacts too but the animation itself, particularly the CGI work that did not quite work all that well when woven into the more traditional style that the characters was shown in. Still, it was a cut above most Saturday morning cartoon animation, albeit with grander intentions so it balanced out in many ways.

Sound: The audio was presented with the standard choice of a 2.0 Dolby Digital track in either the original Japanese or the newly commissioned English language dub; both with optional English language subtitles. I listened to both and to me at least, the separation and dynamic range of the vocal tracks were substantially better on the dub over the original Japanese track. The voice acting on the dub had a few characters that seemed rushed or otherwise not fitting their character but as appealing as the original track's vocals were, the music and sound effects made up a major part of why I wasn't keen on the show as a whole. It was far from bad but it lacked in so many ways that fans of dubs will be jumping for joy that someone over here paid more attention than the creators in Japan seemed to do. The music was pretty good though and the track by Minami Kuribayashi was pleasing on the ears, albeit with a dynamic range that should have been bolder and brighter.

Extras: The best extra was not the trailers but the short interview with Minami Kuribayashi; the vocalist and writer of the theme song. It did not have any significant spoilers but it did add to the understanding of the show and should be checked out after your first viewing of the episodes. There were also a couple of music videos in the form of Blue Treasure and The Little Mermaid; also pleasant and worth looking at.

Final Thoughts: Tide-Line Blue: The Hammer of Eden V1 was a mixed bag to me but I enjoy post apocalyptic movies so this show was a natural for me to like. It was a bit derivative of the wealth of similar titles on the market over the years but the technical limitations were the biggest distracter for me so if you're less fussy about that kind of thing, adjust your rating accordingly. In general then, the possibilities of the series are pretty healthy even if I wasn't overwhelmed by quality of this first volume. Bandai must've seen something in the later part of the show to pick it up so I'll hopefully get a chance to see the rest of it and provide you a report as the next three volumes are released this year.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, Best of Anime 2005, and Best of Anime 2006 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.