is a 2004 Japanese action drama film directed by Eiichiro Hasumi. It is the first feature-length film of the ''

Umizaru is a manga series by Shūhō Satō which was serialized by Shogakukan in ''Weekly Young Sunday'' from 1998 to 2001. Yōichi Komori is credited with the original idea for the series, and he also did the research to make the series more a ...

'' projects, preceding the 2005 11-episode

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

and Kyodo Television drama series '' Umizaru Evolution'' and followed by the 2006 film '' Limit of Love: Umizaru''. The film is the first of the 3-part film and television project. The project is adapted from the popular 12

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

books ''Umizaru'' written by and illustrated by

Shūhō Satō is a Japanese manga artist. He won the Japan Media Arts Festival Manga Award for his work '' Say Hello to Black Jack''. His assistants have included his wife, manga artist Tomomi Satō, as well as Masasumi Kakizaki (one year before his debut), ...

from 1998 to 2001. The film stars

Hideaki Itō is a Japanese actor. Biography Ito is best known for starring in the hit franchise ''Umizaru'' film series which consistently topped the Japanese box office of the year. He has also head-lined many other major Japanese films such as Takashi M ...

Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard of Japan. The Japan Coast Guard consists of about 13,700 personnel and is responsible for the protection of the coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Th ...

(JCG) rescue diver Senzaki Daisuke, and Kato Ai as his love interest Izawa Kanna. There are also

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

dramas ''Umizaru'' (2002) and ''Umizaru 2'' (2003). ''Umizaru'' means "

Sea Monkey Sea-Monkeys is a marketing term for brine shrimp (''Artemia'') sold as novelty aquarium pets. Developed in the United States in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut, they are sold as eggs intended to be added to water, and almost always come bundled in a ...

"; this is a derogatory label slapped on the rescue diver trainees by local townsfolk of the city of

Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan M ...

due to their excessive and uninhibited behaviour during off hours.

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

's " Open Arms" was used in the film as the theme song. The 2006 movie ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' was loosely based on this movie.

Plot

Daisuke Senzaki was originally a diet food salesman. Due to his love of the sea, he join the

. In order to be able to work at the forefront, he enters a 50-day training course for at the

Japan Coast Guard Academy The (JCGA) is a university-level service academy established within the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for the purpose of training students to become Coast guard officers. It is located in Kure, Hiroshima prefecture ...

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, and officially starts his career. Within 50 days, Senzaki endures training and hardships with candidates sent from other departments, and became partners with fellow cadet Kudo Hajime. For Senzaki, who has diving qualifications, makes it an easy job for him; but Kudo is a relatively new team member, which causes their partnership to be rather weak and for the duo to excel their worst during the training sessions. Although Senzaki feels angry from time to time, he understands that as a diver, he must be integrated with his partner. On an accident mission to save people kills Kudo and causes Senzaki to lose his first partner. Senzaki, deeply affected by the loss of Kudo, becomes afraid of diving, and nearly decides to quit the Coast Guard. In order to cheer up Senzaki, his former instructor deliberately arranges the Mishima Yuji team, which is different compared from his own and are training rivals. As the training at sea grows intense, it brings Senzaki and his newfound team closer to death. During the training break, Senzaki goes into a drunken disturbance, where he eventually meets Izawa Kanna near the training school and the two begin to fall in love...

Cast

External links

Official site
* 2004 films 2004 action drama films 2000s Japanese-language films Live-action films based on manga Films set in Kure Films shot in Kure Films directed by Eiichirō Hasumi Umizaru Japanese action drama films Films scored by Naoki Satō 2000s Japanese films {{2000s-Japan-film-stub