Underplayed Gems

Undersea Super Train: Marine Express (1979)

Undersea Super Train: Marine Express poster
Original title
海底超特急 マリン・エクスプレス
Directed by
Satoshi Dezaki
Genre
fantasy anime and manga, science fiction anime and manga
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 31m
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 8 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A super train travels under the sea carrying many characters from Osamu Tezuka's stories. Their adventures overlap as they work together to stop environmental destruction.

whimsicaladventuroushopefulfast-pacednostalgicearnestlighthearted

What happens

Undersea Super Train: Marine Express (海底超特急 マリン・エクスプレス, Kaitei Chōtokkyū Marin Ekusupuresu) is an anime television film created for the Nippon Television Network's annual 24-hour charity program, Ai wa Chikyū o Suku, which roughly translates to "Love Saves the Earth". The film contained a veritable "Who's Who" of manga creator Osamu Tezuka's notable characters. Each one had an important role, and many of them had individual, intertwining stories which would overlap with the ones of others. To coincide with the central theme of the charity program, the film emphasized on the dangers of environmental destruction, and that such disasters can be overcome by banding together. For the previous charity special in 1978, Osamu Tezuka and Tezuka Productions created One Million-Year Trip: Bander Book. The year after, when the special was held again in 1980, Tezuka and Tezuka Productions created another film, Fumoon, based on Tezuka's manga Nextworld. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.