Rengô kantai

This was on TV one night after I checked into my hotel in Tokyo for a business trip. I started watching about half way through to the end. No subtitles, but it didn't really need any. The expressiveness of the actors' faces and voices gave you a good idea of what they were saying. The action and photography were first rate. Most of the scenes are below deck, but the scenes of the air attacks are well done.

I would compare it to "Das Boot" or "Stalingrad" as far as realism and getting an idea of how the crew actually felt given their circumstance. Not an apology or revisionist history, just lots of great action telling the story of a crew trying to save their ship.

Overall, this was superior to "Yamato", which came out 20 years later.

Now if I could only find a copy on DVD!