In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.
Kapitän Nakanishi
Leutnant Bando
Leutnant Tabata
Tome Torihama
Reiko Torihama
Kaneyama
Soichi Kawai
Staff Sergeant Kato
Second lieutenant Abe
Sergeant first class Matsumoto
Staff sergeant Ishikura
Araki
Shigeo Oshima
Ichieda Tsuruta
Hisako Bando
Ryoko Tabata
Kawai's mother
Mioko Torihama
田端由蔵
Colonel Azuma
Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi
American naval officer
Bloodied Sailor
Shojo Tsuruta
Colonel Azuma
Torihama
Shimizu (as Suzunosuke)
Military police
Oshima's grandfather
Navy captain Yukio Seki
kamikaze pilot