Forum - View topicAny good WWII manga in Japanese
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Flyme2Tokyo
 Posts: 2 Location: Southern California |
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Hi,
I am new to this forum. I am a graduate student in Japanese history and I am looking for some WWII themed shounen or shoujo manga to translate for a project. Are there any good titles out there that haven't been translated into English yet? Thanks, Daria |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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For a history major, there's nothing better than the controversial Kuni ga Moeru, which is (I think) the first manga openly depicts atrocties committed by Japanese Army in Nanking, China. Its contents initiated quite a few heated debates in Japan and even here at ANN (see "in the news").
To other potential recommenders: this is a recommendation thread; please don't focus on Japanese war crime issues. |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Yes, we already hashed all that out in another thread. No need to revisit that. How about the manga (and anime) ジパング (Zipang)? It's not straightforwardly WW2 material, since there is an element of time travel and counterfactualism involved - but it does deal (quite interestingly) with modern Japanese attitudes to WW2. In particular, I am fascinated by the way it approaches the conflicting issues of national loyalty and respect for Article 9 ethics. - abunai |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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If you are looking for manga on the actual combat, Leiji Matsumoto's 9-volume Battlefield is the first thing that comes to mind - especially as an OVA of three of the stories, The Cockpit is available in English. To the best of my knowledge, the manga itself has never been translated into English, but possibly was into Italian.
At some point, you might have to deal with the possibility, or at least the potential, that the reason so few WWII manga exist is because of (self-)censorship issues. On the other hand, a much more plausible theory is that WWII being lost, Japanese creators instead focused on "refighting" the war in other - fantastic - settings, without the historical inevitability of defeat. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Ah, reminds me of Leiji Matsumoto's Uchuu Senkan Yamato. 
By the way, if what you are looking for is not limited to Japanese / Pacific theater, Zassou Note and Mousou Note by Hayao Miyazaki are excellent anthologies of WWII battles -- Eastern Front (German vs. Russian) in particular (e.g. Hans no Kikan and Otto Carius: Doromamire no Tora). Some of them have been translated by fans already but most are not. There's also a manga-ka whose expertise is WWII and almost anything military, with last name Kobayashi (which is useless info, for Kobayashi is one of the most common Japanese family name). I'll give you more info once I have time to revisit animate Taipei this weekend and check it up. By the way, I wonder why would only ANN staff be here.... 
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