A kid with nothing but a dog and a photograph hunts the ghost ship that murdered his family, and the film doesn't care if you follow the logic. 1969 animation that moves like it cost twice what it did, built around setpieces so overscaled and specific, laser-equipped battleships, underground factories, kaiju confrontations, that you know nobody's making this exact thing now. The revenge plot dissolves into something stranger: environmental catastrophe, corporate conspiracy, a found family held together by a dog that matters more than the plot ever will.

Hayato's world crumbles when a colossal robot levels his city and kills his parents. Orphaned and alone except for his faithful dog Jack, he clings to two mysteries: his mother's shoe and a photograph of strangers his dying father claims are his true parents. He burns for revenge as rumors blame the Ghost Ship, a dreaded vessel that menaces ships at sea, for the attack. When Hayato stumbles on a secret underground factory belonging to Mr. Kurosio, the man who owns nearly everything in the city, he learns that what Kurosio told him was not the truth. Someone terrible dwells in a castle beneath the sea, and as the robot attacks go on, a popular drink threatens to dissolve the people who drink it. Hayato tries to warn others, and his life is soon in danger.