Japanese War Movie Aims to Reveal the Secrets of WWII Battleship Yamato

“The Great War of Archimedes” is a new Japanese war movie about the World War II battleship Yamato from Toho Studios, home of Godzilla. It’s coming to the U.S. on June 15 with an all-new English language-dubbed soundtrack via Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.

We’ve got the first look at the new U.S. trailer for the movie.

“The Great War of Archimedes” is a fictionalized version of the story behind what was designed to be Japan’s greatest warship, a massive vessel that could engage multiple American ships during a single battle.

In the years before the war, the Japanese Imperial Navy commissioned the so-called “supership” over the objections of Admiral Yamamoto, who wanted the country to concentrate on turning out as many strategic, agile and battle-ready ships as possible.

The movie’s story has Yamamoto engaging a young Japanese mathematician to uncover what he believes is a conspiracy behind Japan’s surprising commitment to this single, massive ship design.

Director Takashi Yamazaki previously made “The Eternal Zero,” a controversial Japanese WWII movie about kamikaze pilots. Sympathetic to the young men who sacrificed their lives on suicide missions, some Japanese commentators were shocked to see a film that did not condemn their country’s war effort.

Fans of Japanese movies will recognize an all-star cast in “The Great War of Archimedes” that includes Masaki Suda (“Drowning Love”), Emoto Tasuku Emoto (“And Your Bird Can Sing”), Hamabe Minami (“The Promised Neverland”), Shofukutei Tsurube (“Family of Strangers”), and Kobayashi Katsuya (“The Crazy Family”).

Movies about the Japanese war machine are rare, and, even though this one appears to be more about behind-the-scenes procurement issues, anyone who follows the trials of the U.S. Navy knows how hairy those backroom dealings can be.

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