"Blue Submarine" also staves the doubts of critics on the more mundane technical levels.

"The video is probably the best anime DVD video I've seen to date," says one animation savvy commentator from EX. "This probably comes from the fact that even the cel art was computer colored and composited, making it very clean ... The flat colors were smooth as silk, the computer stuff looked perfect, and the lines looked like they had been cut with a razor. I even turned off the lights and got close to make sure I wasn't missing some compression artifacts, and I wasn't. On close examination some gradients showed a little bit of banding, but even subtle gradations in very dark scenes (a classic MPEG encoding pitfall) were crisp and smooth."

It was these visual innovations, not the narrative or stylistic ones, that gave distributors their promotion muscle.

"We're placing a huge emphasis on the animation," says Jerry Chu, Marketing Coordinator of Bandai Entertainment and co-producer of the "Blue Submarine" American release. "The action sequences, the animation used to produce the action sequences, all this stuff is what makes 'Blue Submarine' what it is. We're not really focusing on the plot as much, but marketing this as a technical innovation."

Some hiccups early on in the North American release of "Blue Submarine" appeared crippling for any hopes of wide-scale popularity. First of all, with a profoundly philosophical ending and darker imagery ostensibly unappealing to kids, Bandai Entertainment planned to target only the hard-core community. Also, Bandai Visual would only allow one episode per DVD or VHS so as not to weaken Japanese sales figures.

However, after the entire series was released, Cartoon Network's inclusion of "Blue Submarine" in its Toonami block catapulted the anime into, if not national popularity, then at least into the periphery of the mainstream spotlight. Though edited somewhat in accordance with FCC broadcasting standards, "Blue Submarine" ran on the Cartoon Network nearly unscathed. And Blockbuster Video of all places made the full four uncut episodes available for rent.

"'Blue Submarine' is unique in that it's one of the first anime designed specifically for DVD, especially with the Dolby 5.1 sound, use of sound effects in the series and the computer graphics," adds Chu.

So Bandai wisely didn't tout thematic components and instead appealed to the American obsession of attaining cutting edge material. However, what American audiences viewed, whether they were aware of it or not, was a highly crafted piece as thought provoking as it is dazzling.

Whereas Ozawa's 1960s manga sported designs that drew a sharper distinction between the machines of Blue Fleet and the organic beasts that attacked them, Maeda's team accentuated the commonality between beast and man by introducing organic elements into Ikuto Yamashita and Shouji Kawamori's mechanical designs.

"The design for Blue Submarine No. 6 was basically based on Shamu, the killer whale, so it's exterior looks like muscle patterns," Maeda recalls. "That leaves the impression of something organic."

Even Zorndyke's arachnid-shaped assault crafts and Verg's Phantom Ship, which sits atop a gilled body, comment on the anime's themes.

Sixteen-piece jazz ensemble The Thrill scored "Blue Submarine's" action sequences with near apoplectic horn runs and melodic complexity inspiring one web poster to remark, "The music is really out of place. They should be playing something to build suspense, but instead they're playing cowboy songs." Granted Maeda makes musical decisions not necessarily consistent with cinematic norms. He sculpts the music to emphasize the style of the work rather than lead human emotion. "The energy of the music contrasts the scenes when there is no music," another poster defends.

The Thrill, assembled in 1990, made some waves in the Japanese music scene with their 1992 release, "A Million Dollar Band The Thrill" on Toshiba EMI. They're unique fusion of jazz, rock and funk caught the ear of "Blue Submarine" director Maeda who, upon landing the new Gonzo project, asked to have The Thrill brought on board. Until then, The Thrill hadn't participated in any cinematic endeavor, which served them well when Maeda guided them through atypical swells of dramatic fervor and melancholy.