Midway no less! So begins their struggle to survive in an era and country that completely foreign to them.Story (9/10):The story is the strongest point of Zipang. It is unique and enthralling. First of all let me warn you about one thing. Although nearly all of the series takes place in warships and battlefields, battle scenes are really few albeit satisfying. So if you are expecting battles and bloodshed, Zipang is not anime for you. Story is about the crew of Mirai struggling to get out of this era and searching for a way to survive while not intervening in the war to not alter the history. Yet, it is of course impossible for them to survive without supplies and fuel for their ship and not to be noticed as a strange ship that isn’t ought to exist in WW2 era.Since the crew of Mirai are the officers of the Self-Defence Force, they basically have never seen war let alone killing someone. The were trained to save lives— not taking them. And they desperately try to do the thing they were trained for while fearing that their actions may change the future and make the future they have come from non-existent. This contradictory feelings and actions are what makes Zipang beautiful. They want to save people, yet who are they going to save? The Japanese soldiers who follows the orders of the military government? Any people they can save? Will the history they know change if they save them? Different people will give different answers to this questions according to their ideals and situation.spoiler:The only thing I didn’t like in the story is that it doesn’t end with a clear ending. A lot of things are left unanswered, and nearly nothing in the plot got concluded .Art (5/10):The art is the weakest point of Zipang. Characters look really similar. The ships and sea was beautifully drawn but the anime emphasizes the characters and their psychology and not the ships. If it was a show concentrated on naval battles, I would give no less than 8. Yet it is not.Zipang as it is a historic and realistic anime, doesn’t have the usual colourful hair,eyes and big eyes from the usual anime shows.Characters (6/10):Although the crew’s situation and their decisions are really impressive, there are no person that stands out on his own. Kadomatsu Yosuke can be called as protagonist somewhat but even he is very forgettable. The only main character I like is Kusaka because he is a really shrewd opponent and his ideals which are too different from of Kadomatsu’s makes the characters do heating debates. Apart from main characters there are a lot of historic characters like Isoroku Yamamoto or Ishiwara Kanji. I personally liked the historical characters more than main characters (except Kusaka).Sound (6/10):Not bad, yet not impressive either. It doesn’t make you feel heated up in battle scenes, or sorrowful in tragic moments.Enjoyment (8/10):I finished the anime in a week and never got bored. Each episode makes you curious about what they are going to do next. And historical side-characters who makes great effects on the storyline comes one after another.Overall (7/10):Zipang is a good anime and I recommend you to watch it. The story was great except the thing I said in the spoiler above. However, I think it could have been done far more better. I give a 7/10 to Zipang.