It was announced on March 19th that a sequel to the drama series "The The Silent Service The Silent Service Season 1: Battle of Tokyo Bay" and the film "The Silent Service: Battle of the Arctic Ocean," both based on the manga artist Kaiji Kawaguchi's long-running work "The Silent Service ," starring and produced by actor Takao Osawa, has been greenlit. Osawa, Hiroshi Tamaki, who played Captain Hiroshi Fukamachi of the "Tatsunami," director Kohei Yoshino, and 12 actors who played crew members of the "Yamato" attended an event held in front of a real submarine in Kanagawa Prefecture, where Osawa made the announcement.
Osawa declared the series finale with confidence, saying, "I'm so happy that we can finally make this announcement. The original story still has a long way to go, but we've decided to film the entire story and filming has begun. It's extremely difficult to adapt a long-running novel to the end. For the sequel, we'll be filming overseas, and while Fukamachi and I have been rivals until now, they will have to become allies now that the enemy is getting bigger. As those familiar with the original story know, this is where the real action begins. We received great reviews for both the drama and the movie, but the sequel will be something else entirely. I think the story, the CG, the actors' passion, everything surpasses the previous works, so I hope you'll look forward to it." A huge round of applause erupted from the assembled audience.
Osawa said with conviction, "When this project started, I was worried that people would have a negative reaction to the themes of politics and war. But thanks to everyone, I think the sense of scale and realism has reached people's hearts." Osawa stars as Captain Kaieda Shiro. Regarding the crew of the Yamato, he joked, "They are the crew members of the submarine Yamato who are on board with us. (Since we're filming inside the submarine) they've never been out in the light, so I think they're nervous." Director Yoshino Kohei revealed his commitment, saying, "Many vehicles appear in the film, including submarines and surface ships, but I hope to be able to express the human drama and emotions inside the submarine. We are conscious of conveying the drama inside the ship to the audience, with the help of CG."
Regarding "The Silent Service: Battle of the Arctic Sea" (Prime Video Special Edition), which will be available for streaming from tomorrow and includes previously unreleased scenes of Tamaki as Hiroshi Fukamachi, Tamaki enthusiastically stated, "Fukamachi did not appear in the theatrical release, but I hope you will look forward to the special edition. I think there was a sense of rivalry between Kaieda and Fukamachi, but I think that gradually changes, so I hope you will pay close attention to that."
Regarding the release date of the sequel, he appealed, "I'm not sure how much I can say, but apparently there's footage included at the end of the special edition that will be released tomorrow. You'll gradually be able to see footage of the latest work from now on, so please look forward to it."
Regarding Fukamachi's role, Tamaki said, "As Osawa said, depicting it to the very end is the true essence of the series, and we've been filming with the goal in mind, so I think this season will be filled with human drama unlike anything you've seen before, and I hope you'll look forward to it." Director Yoshino hinted that the sequel will be even bigger in scale, saying, "Those who have watched the series so far may think that we've already done everything we can visually, but we felt that we had to support the series from a visual standpoint as well, and we're feeling confident about the VFX!" Finally, Osawa sent a message saying, "I hope that this will become a source of hope for the Japanese people and the world, and I will do my best until the series is complete, so I hope you will lend your support."
"The Silent Service," based on the original work by Kawaguchi, was serialized in the manga magazine "Morning" (Kodansha) from 1988 to 1996 and is a popular manga with over 32 million copies of the collected volumes sold. The story is about the sinking of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine "Yamanami" in a maritime accident off the coast of Japan. The survival of the 76 crew members, including Captain Shiro Kaieda, is considered hopeless, but in reality, they were all selected to be the crew of a nuclear submarine secretly built by Japan and the United States, and the accident was a staged event... Amazon MGM Studios has made a live-action adaptation. Combining the cooperation of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's submarine unit—a first for a Japanese film—with actual submarine footage and some of Japan's leading VFX technology, the film delivers an immersive visual experience.
"The Silent Service Season 1: Battle of Tokyo Bay" was exclusively streamed on Prime Video in 2024 and became the highest-watched series produced in Japan by Amazon MGM Studios. The sequel film, "The Silent Service: Battle of the Arctic," was released in September 2025 and has grossed over 1.15 billion yen at the box office.
