The Story of a Whale Who Fell in Love with a Small Submarine

Aired: 2004

A one-off TV anime special produced by Madhouse, adapting one of Akiyuki Nosaka's War Fairy Tales series as an anti-war animation. Broadcast on TV Asahi. Set in the final days of World War II, a giant whale named Ku-suke falls in love with a Japanese Navy submarine, mistaking it for a female whale. A boy named Kota, who once was saved from drowning by Ku-suke, is aboard the submarine. As enemy destroyers approach, Ku-suke tries to protect Kota once again. Part of a collection of war fairy tales by Nosaka, the author best known for Grave of the Fireflies.