# The Great War of Archimedes (アルキメデスの大戦)
**The Great War of Archimedes** (アルキメデスの大戦, *Arukimedesu no taisen*) is a 2019 Japanese historical drama film directed, written, and supervised in visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki, adapted from Norifusa Mita's manga of the same title. Set in 1933, it dramatizes a fictional effort by Rear Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to stop the construction of the battleship Yamato by having a mathematician produce an independent cost estimate and expose the fraud behind the plan.[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776) • [2](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=90802)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | July 26, 2019, Toho distribution; 130 minutes; G rating[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776) • [3](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/366009) |
| Director, screenplay, VFX | Takashi Yamazaki; music by Naoki Sato[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776) • [4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGhRxsYaYvM) |
| Source | Norifusa Mita's manga *Archimedes no Taisen*, serialized in Kodansha's Young Magazine[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776) |
| Lead cast | Masaki Suda as mathematician Kai Tadashi; Hiroshi Tachi as Yamamoto Isoroku; Minami Hamabe as Kyoko Ozaki; Tasuku Emoto as Shojiro Tanaka[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776) |
| Japanese box office | ¥1.93 billion, 16th among 2019 films earning over ¥1 billion[5](https://www.eiren.org/toukei/img/eiren_kosyu/data_2019.pdf) |
| Setting | 1933 (Showa 8), the Imperial Japanese Navy's decision over battleship versus aircraft carrier[2](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=90802) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The story takes place in 1933, as Japan deepens its rivalry with the Western powers and moves onto a rearmament course. The [Navy Ministry](https://www.edgepedia.org/navy-ministry) secretly plans the world's largest battleship, the Yamato. Rear Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who argues that aircraft carriers, not giant battleships, will decide future naval warfare, is overruled by a leadership committed to the ship as a symbol of national grandeur. To break the plan, Yamamoto recruits Kai Tadashi, a former Imperial University mathematician called a once-in-a-century genius and a determined hater of the military, to calculate the true construction cost and expose the falsified estimate and corruption behind the project.[2](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=90802) • [6](https://www.cinemacafe.net/movies/28473/)
The conflict is fought almost entirely in meeting rooms and on paper. Reviewers have noted the unusual structure of a war film with no physical combat, in which the battles are budget negotiations, cost estimates, and bureaucratic maneuvering inside the Navy.[7](https://minnanoeiga.com/movies/archimedes) • [8](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2021/06/review-great-war-archimedes-movie/) The film opens, however, with a combat sequence: an attack on the Yamato by US Navy aircraft, a flash-forward to the ship's eventual sinking off Bono-no-misaki (Cape Bono) in 1945, which Yamazaki rendered with computer graphics.[8](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2021/06/review-great-war-archimedes-movie/) • [9](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201908-archimedes.html)
## Origin of the story
Mita Norifusa, known for *Dragon Zakura*, told Japanese media that he conceived the story after hearing about the ballooning costs of Japan's new [National Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-stadium) for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; the manga transposes a modern cost-controversy structure onto the historical Yamato project.[8](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2021/06/review-great-war-archimedes-movie/) The manga began serialization in 2015 in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine.[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776) • [10](https://www.wellgousa.com/films/great-war-archimedes)
## Production
Yamazaki Takashi, whose credits include the *[Always: Sunset on Third Street](https://www.edgepedia.org/always-sunset-on-third-street)* series and *[The Eternal Zero](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-eternal-zero)* (2013), served as director, screenwriter, and VFX supervisor, with visual effects by the Shirogumi Chofu studio and production by ROBOT.[9](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201908-archimedes.html) Plot work began around 2017 while Yamazaki was making *Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura*; location scouting started around May 2018, principal photography began on July 9, 2018, and shooting ran about two and a half months.[9](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201908-archimedes.html)
Because the Yamato was built in secret, surviving documentation and photographs are scarce, and the VFX team reported that gathering reference material was difficult; the sea, previously handled with live-action plates in Yamazaki's films, was created entirely in CG, increasing the workload.[9](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201908-archimedes.html) The film was shot in part in the old main building of the Ministry of Justice in Tokyo.[11](https://www.locationbox.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/performance/5569/)
## Adaptation and historical framing
The film adapts the story up to roughly the middle of the manga's third volume; at the time of release the manga was still unfinished, with 15 collected volumes published, and in the manga the Yamato had not yet been built. The film therefore adds material the manga had not reached, including the completed Yamato under way and its sinking in the Battle of Bono-no-misaki.[12](https://www.rm2c.ise.ritsumei.ac.jp/tamura/sfx/sfxv_content981.html)
The premise is fiction layered on history: the real Yamato was laid down in 1937 at the Kure Naval Arsenal and sunk on April 7, 1945, and the film inserts the fictional Kai into the documented rivalry between the "big-gun" faction, represented in the cast by Shimada Shigetaro (Isao Hashizume), and the air-power advocates around Yamamoto (Hiroshi Tachi).[13](https://eiga.com/movie/89507/interview/) • [2](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=90802) Other cast members play historical figures including Nagano Osami (Jun Kunimura) and Osumi Mineo (Katsuya Kobayashi), alongside fictional characters Kyoko Ozaki ([Minami Hamabe](https://www.edgepedia.org/minami-hamabe)) and Tanaka Shojiro (Tasuku Emoto).[1](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776)
## Reception and box office
The film earned ¥1.93 billion in Japan, ranking 16th among the 2019 releases that passed ¥1 billion, and Nippon Television's fiscal 2019 report lists it among the year's live-action successes alongside *The Fable* (¥1.77 billion).[5](https://www.eiren.org/toukei/img/eiren_kosyu/data_2019.pdf) • [14](https://www.ntvhd.co.jp/english/data_cms/pdf/ir/report/2020.pdf) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records a worldwide gross of $16,454,674, all from Japan, on a $2,439,934 opening weekend.[15](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8708802/)
Audience scores were moderately positive: Filmarks users gave it 3.9 out of 5 across about 52,790 reviews, and the Kinenote average was 76.6 points from 1,050 users.[16](https://filmarks.com/movies/80107) • [2](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=90802) Critics abroad read the film as a commentary on Japanese institutional conservatism; Anthony Kao of Cinema Escapist described it as "a refreshingly self-aware commentary on Japan's militarism and contemporary national ethos," while noting that its office-politics premise limited its epic scale and probably its box office.[8](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2021/06/review-great-war-archimedes-movie/)
An English-dubbed and subtitled release followed in North America, with streaming release on June 15, 2021 through Well Go USA.[10](https://www.wellgousa.com/films/great-war-archimedes)
## References
1. [The Great War of Archimedes, Japanese Film Database (JFDB)](https://jfdb.jp/en/title/8776)
2. [アルキメデスの大戦, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=90802)
3. [アルキメデスの大戦 (2019), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/366009)
4. [映画『アルキメデスの大戦』予告, TOHO Movie Channel (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGhRxsYaYvM)
5. [2019年（令和元年）興行収入10億円以上番組, 日本映画製作者連盟](https://www.eiren.org/toukei/img/eiren_kosyu/data_2019.pdf)
6. [『アルキメデスの大戦』作品情報, CinemaCafe.net](https://www.cinemacafe.net/movies/28473/)
7. [アルキメデスの大戦のあらすじ・評価・配信, みんなの映画](https://minnanoeiga.com/movies/archimedes)
8. [Review: "The Great War of Archimedes" Critiques Japanese Conservatism...Using Math, Cinema Escapist](https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2021/06/review-great-war-archimedes-movie/)
9. [白組が贈る今夏注目映画『アルキメデスの大戦』の制作体制, CGWORLD](https://cgworld.jp/feature/201908-archimedes.html)
10. [The Great War of Archimedes, Official Movie Site, Well Go USA](https://www.wellgousa.com/films/great-war-archimedes)
11. [Movie "The Great War of Archimedes", Tokyo Location Box](https://www.locationbox.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/performance/5569/)
12. [SFX/VFX映画時評 -アルキメデスの大戦-, O plus E誌 2019年7・8月号](https://www.rm2c.ise.ritsumei.ac.jp/tamura/sfx/sfxv_content981.html)
13. [アルキメデスの大戦 インタビュー, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/89507/interview/)
14. [Nippon Television Holdings Corporate Report Fiscal 2019](https://www.ntvhd.co.jp/english/data_cms/pdf/ir/report/2020.pdf)
15. [The Great War of Archimedes, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt8708802/)
16. [アルキメデスの大戦, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/80107)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles symbols to L › Titles En to L*
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