Swipe File: Last Resort And The Silent Service

[Rich Johnston]

Last Resort is the next planned TV series from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan. It's a thriller "set in the near future when the country is very fractured and revolves around the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who become hunted after ignoring an order to shoot nuclear missiles. They escape to a NATO listening outpost where they publicly declare themselves to be the world?s smallest nuclear nation with 24 nuclear warheads. The show explores the society the fugitives create, the natives they meet and how what they?ve done affects the group and its unity."

The Silent Service was an award winning manga series by Kaiji Kawaguchi, creator of Eagle, serialised from 1988 to 1996. It then became an anime TV movie ad continuing series, some episodes of were translated and released in the USA. It is a thriller set during the cold war aboard the nuclear submarine jointly developed by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the United States Navy. During its first mission, the submarine's captain declare it an independent state, named Yamato.

So even if there is no causal connection, if Last Resort is a hit, expect the rest of The Silent Service to be translated and published in the USA...

In Swipe File we present two or more images that resemble each other to some degree. They may be homages, parodies, ironic appropriations, jokes, coincidences or works of the lightbox. We trust you, the reader, to make that judgment yourself. If you are unable to do so, please return your eyes to their maker before any further damage is done. The Swipe File doesn?t judge, it?s interested more in the process of creation, how work influences other work, how new work comes from old, and sometimes how the same ideas emerge simultaneously, as if their time has just come. The Swipe File was named after the advertising industry habit where writers and artist collect images and lines they admire to inspire them in their work. It was swiped from the Comic Journal who originally ran this column, as well as the now defunct Swipe Of The Week website.

[myakoopa]

The plot seems uncannily familiar... can't quite put my finger on why that is, though. Not the manga, for sure. Maybe a book I read along the way somewhere....

Either way, definitely doesn't seem original, though still an interesting concept for a TV show.

[Highsky]

I wouldn't bet on silent service coming over, I think Justin Sevakis over at Anime news network said on one of the podcasts at one point that the title may not have broken double digit sales like a lot of odd titles licensors like CPM and geneon had in the bubble era.

[CammyKnoxville]

Reminds me a little of that one chapter in Max Brooks' World War Z, with the rogue submarine crew.

[JOE SOAP]

Well that's grounds for sue-age.

[MechanicalClavicles]

Wasn't there a submarine-based NES game called Silent Service? Not sure if it had any connection to the manga, but I do remember that it was nearly impossible to play.

[Jay Diddilo]

Exact same thing happened with the excellent manga Battle Royale, now there's tween novels / major motion picture called Hunger Games which is 100% Xerox clone.

I guess it's fair we have to steal all Japan's ideas, otherwise we end up with crap like Terra Nova or Wacky 25 Year Year Old Woman Comedy #47.

[ghiu]

I guess it's fair we have to steal all Japan's ideas, otherwise we end up with crap like Terra Nova or Wacky 25 Year Year Old Woman Comedy #47.

Hot in Cleveland?

[The Xenos]

Somewhere, in a hip hop and kung fu DVD store in Boston, which had a ton of bootlegs / HKs, I found an old copy of CPM's DVD of the anime.

Exact same thing happened with the excellent manga Battle Royale, now there's tween novels / major motion picture called Hunger Games which is 100% Xerox clone.

I guess it's fair we have to steal all Japan's ideas, otherwise we end up with crap like Terra Nova or Wacky 25 Year Year Old Woman Comedy #47.

Naw. It's not a 100% Xerox clone, an neither is this... but.. yeah.. Hunger Games isvery very similar to Battle Roayle. Though, mind you, Battle Royale was a novel first. I think the movie was second and then the manga?

Then again, what's worse? This or when they actually use the name and licensee of the original anime and manga?

Funny enough, I think this and Hunger Games are closer adaptations of those manga than DragonBall Evolution or that US Akira movie that won't die.

[The Xenos]

Ha. found it. Geeez. This is from before the big manga and anime boom. Certainly too old and boring for most anime fans today. The cover says "Submarine Adventure in the Tradtion of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER!" The back has a quote: ""'SILENT SERVICE' is great fun." - Wizard Guide to Comics". Heh. A bygone era. Hell, not even many anime fans remember this series. Maybe a few old school ones. That's prime for Hollywood ripping it off.