U.S. President Gibson orders the submarine sunk to secure Space Ranger's secrets, and a P-3 Orion destroys it with a nuclear torpedo, killing everyone aboard, including Gains.
Meanwhile in Neinberg, West Germany, farm girl Marina and her boyfriend, British Army missile crewman Michael, prepare for the town's upcoming New Year celebrations, while off the coast of Hokkaido, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force intercepts a Soviet Tu-22.
Fearing the loss of the Black Dragon's advanced technology to NATO, Orlov reluctantly allows Bugarin to authorize a Spetsnaz assault on the air base, but promptly has a heart attack.
The fighting rapidly escalates and spills out of Europe as additional theaters open in the Middle East, Central America, and the Pacific.
Laura, having survived the destruction of Tokyo by staying in the bar (now a makeshift shelter), traverses the ruined city to find a way back to Vandenberg, where she plans to be with Wataru as the world ends.
Space Ranger is launched in time to counter another wave of Soviet ICBMs, but three laser modules are overwhelmed and destroyed, the fourth is crippled, and the Voyager is severely damaged, leaving Wataru as the last surviving crew member.
In Moscow, Kutsov is released and confronts Bugarin, who reveals he plans to fire a final volley of MIRV-loaded ICBMs at the last standing cities in the U.S., crushing all remaining opposition and allowing Soviet communism to reign uncontested.
In space, Wataru repairs the fourth module and, assisted by the crewed Soviet satellite Baikal, manages to shoot down most of the MIRVs except one bound for Los Angeles.
Unable to get a clear shot, Wataru flies the Voyager extremely close to the MIRV, destroying it but knocking him unconscious and throwing him into space.
As the spacecraft close in, Wataru regains consciousness to see the Sun rise from behind the battered Earth, its inhabitants now set on world peace.
[4] In February 1981, Toei Animation's labor union received an early copy of the film's script and, after reviewing it, described it as "dangerous", citing a pro-war narrative that viewed nuclear warfare positively.
"[4] Animation director Tomoharu Katsumada also stated he would never make a pro-war film, having himself lived through World War II as a child.
[4][3] In the May 1982 issue of Animage, the Future War 198X staff's response was criticized by Gundam animator and character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko in his monthly column in the magazine.
[8][3] Yasuhiko criticized Watanabe's response as "reeking of hypocrisy", opined the film did not deserve its high budget, and argued the medium of anime was "unsuitable for a serious consideration of war".
[6] anime-games.co.uk noted Ohrai's artwork did not accurately reflect the content of the film, which they described as "mostly talking" and lacking much footage of the effects of the nuclear exchange or the actual war itself.
They greatly criticized the film's ending as drastically downplaying the effects of global nuclear war (Earth and the survivors recover unusually quickly, and all of humanity bonds together for peace), describing it as "completely implausable and undercut[ting] the drama of everything that came before it".
[6] A novelization of Future War 198X was published by Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha in 1982, written by Masataka Iwano, who also worked on the film as a planning coordinator.