Series: Tide-Line Blue 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 the last 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.

Now with the second volume of the series, Tide-Line Blue: V2: Dhola Vira, the parameters of the situation are now set and the characters in place. Captain Gould is a loose cannon trying to mold the world in his own image and the forces of the modern United Nations are trying to stop him as they poke and prod their way through extensive negotiations that get nowhere. As a man of action, Gould detests the politicians of the world that somehow seemed to survive in greater numbers but exactly what kind of man he is has yet to be determined considering the mixed signals he has sent (endangering the lives of many to make his point; coming across more as a terrorist than a hero. The episodes this time are 5) Attack, 6) K2, and 7) Praying and I was cheesed off that there were only three here. The value quotient aside for the moment, the captain sends Josie out on a mission with Keel in tow. Keel gets in the way as expected and the results are pretty much what anyone who has watched the first volume would expect. Gould butts heads with his pals at the new UN and this causes more friction than his attempts at gunboat diplomacy with two warring nations but it also forces him to make a tough call regarding his crew. At the same time, Keel's brother is shown being worked on by his captors as they reveal an integral piece of the puzzle in terms of their heritage, something even a loyalist like himself cannot ignore. As the back cover put it:

"Under the command of Captain Gould, the Ulysses sets course for the neighboring nations: Wei and Tengel, countries which have been locked in a generation's long war with one another. It is here that Keel will witness the strength of the Ulysses and her commander, as Gould uses the submarine's massive armaments to threaten the longtime enemies to establish peace in the war-torn region. However as the New U.N.'s forces begin to tighten its noose around the rogue submarine, the Ulysses will be forced to seek safe harbor in familiar territory, and abandon Keel and Josie in the process. However the duo will find themselves in the mountainous territory of Tibet, where they'll encounter some old friends and the enigmatic spiritual leader Chenrezig..." I can't tell you how much the three episode approach bothers me but at the same time, I found a lot of things to like in the series; albeit things I saw in similar series employing many of the same concepts as this one did (often better). Still, with this kind of quantity offered up, the best I could do for the show was rate it as a Rent It again, even with the cute extras it provided. Give it a look and see the plot thicken but it'll be over in no time so don't expect too much or you'll get as upset as I did.

Picture: Tide-Line Blue: V2 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 singer Tatsuhisa Suzuki; 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 was also a music video for Voice that was a change of pace form the female dominated music anime tends to use. Otherwise, the extras could not make up for the relative lack of material in the episodes.

Final Thoughts: Tide-Line Blue: V2 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 limitations in material were the biggest problem for me this time. In general then, the possibilities of the series are still pretty healthy even if I wasn't overwhelmed by quantity of this second 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 two volumes are released this year. Submarines, a bratty male lead that knows everything, and a precarious position politically for the entire Earth thanks to a man-made tragedy were all on hand to give us something to think about but I'm hoping the rest of the series does a better job in terms of what takes place and how much is placed on the discs if the price isn't lowered a lot.

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.