Forum - View topicThe two best World War II topic anime ever made.
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dannavy85
 Posts: 114 |
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Though there's been many anime, some haven't reached America yet, that have delt with the issue of World War II and the atomic bomb or just war in general, the two I would highly reguard as the best ever crafted have to be Grave of the Fireflies and Barefoot Gen.
Both are neutral in the political judgements though Barefoot tends to slam the Japanese government and the Emperor Hirohito more harshly than I thought when I first saw the movie in the 1980's. Barefoot is a true story of a Hiroshima survivor who lost his father, little brother, older sister and later his new born sister to the atomic bomb and the abysmal conditions the Japanese civilian faced in the final months of World War II. There is a sequal to Gen which covers the authors life in post war Japan and during the American occupation. Both Grave and Barefoot are historically accurate in describing the deprivations of the non-combatant civilians, the constant material shortages which force them to beg, rob and steal to survive. Barefoot has some laughter mixed in but it is the overall heartsickness that grips the viewer. Specially tragic about Barefoot is when Gen loses his baby sister to starvation sickness after a frantic search for cans of milk. Between the end of the war and the winters of 1945-46, thousands more Japanese would perish forcing General Douglas MacArthur to send a message to President Truman that read...." I don't need more troops, I need more supplies. And if you refuse to give me aid when I ask for it then give me bullets so I may put the dying out of their misery!" Having been to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki and undrstanding the technological terrorism World War II invoked on the world, I would never wish such destruction on any people but I won't feel sorry for the Japanese despite both Anime. There is sorrow in thinking about those who died in that horrible disaster 60 years ago but had the Imperial government listened to Admiral Yamamoto's concerns about war with America rather than marching itself off to suicide with Bushido chants, Hiroshima would never have been bombed. Grave and Barefoot serve both as monuments and memory, warning the viewer that the massive destruction of World War II could always return. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15691 |
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Personally, I'll recommend the Cockpit, cus no one's buying it, even though they should, since unlike most Matsumoto anime, it has nothing to do with Harlock or Yamato.
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dannavy85
Posts: 114 |
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Cockpit in Manga was intersting. Though it sucks what happens to that fighter pilot on the tropical island.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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Actually, I took a course on the Pacific War, focusing on Japan. I ended up doing my final presentation on the portrayal of the war in popular media, and used Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies for the entire thing. I agree that both are important monuments and documents of the war, and showcase certain sentiments felt by contemporary people.
I don't believe that the creators of either (the movies and/or the original manga) intended for the audience to feel sorry for the Japanese, actually. They share the facts of the time, and also the sentiments felt by some of the Japanese people, whether through dialogue or symbolism, and through that, allow the war to be remembered. But interesting topic regardless-- I agree that both films (or manga, depending on version) are very much worth seeing. |
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king_micah
 Posts: 994 Location: OSU |
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Both are critically important to remember the horrors of war, but the problem is the Japanese are starting to have awoe is me attitude. This forgets that this is the result of ten years of wars started by them. Few remember that the Japanese had war crimes in China worse than the Nazis. The rape of Naking, Unit 731 and comfort women were the answers to my chinese history final on war crimes the japanese had. Go look them up yourself.
I don't blame modern japan for any of this, its just they are trying to remember their horrors rather then the ones they caused. What we really need is movie or OAV about a private in ww2 who goes thru the entire war. That might give the true view of the war. |
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dannavy85
Posts: 114 |
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Not all Japanese share such thinking. When I was posted at Marine Air Base Iwakuni I had the privilage of knowing Sejiro Nagumo, the youngest son of Admiral Nagumo who led both the Pearl Harbor and Midway attack groups. His anger with the treatment of his family by the Imperial government and attempts by the education ministry in Tokyo to distort the history of war crimes that led Japan to near ruin is well known. He's been a good friend to the Americans in Iwakuni. He too shares the honest fear that future Japanese generations will not heed the lessons because of the deep fear the country has in facing its own horrors and taking responsibility. There is an anime you don't get to see here in the states that was made in japan around 1973. It's a ten episode series covering a Japanese family who's 3 sons fight in the war. One's a submarine officer, one's a pilot and the 3rd is an infantry sergent. It was rather accurate in account. No...I don't think anyone will forget what happened in China before 1941 and with some hope, someday the Japanese will face their true past and not be ashamed to remember it for in that memory will the peace so hardly won be maintained. |
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SuperSkylineGTR
 Posts: 471 Location: Chicago, IL |
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This is a very interesting topic, especially since I find WWII history fascinating.
The Cockpit was good, except a little historically inaccurate (The Nazis having the Nuke and attempting to deliver it in a captured B-17 and the Japanese Kamikaze rocket). Personally, I wish Hollywood would make some good WWII movies about the Pacific (Unlike the lame Pearl Harbor and the Ho-hum Windtalkers). Maybe one about Midway or Quadacanal. I know there are some old movies about these conflicts out already, but with features like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, it is about time that the Pacific gets a well done presentation. |
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king_micah
Posts: 994 Location: OSU |
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Thin red line anybody? That is the most recent one, but there are some good one that are older, Bridge over the river Kwai, Tora Tora Tora, and some made for tv history channel ones. Just saw one called the last mission which was about the coup that planned to take over the palace to stop the emperors surrender and how it was intertwined with the final bombing mission of the war.
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SuperSkylineGTR
Posts: 471 Location: Chicago, IL |
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I never seen the Thin Red Line, but I heard it wasn't that good. King, was that Last Mission a documentary? Because I remebered seeing it on the History Channel. That was really interesting. |
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dannavy85
Posts: 114 |
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Yet another anime from the 1970's that hasn't made it to America. It's an old Tatsunoko off-shoot of Impi Kure in which a small Japanese platoon is torn between following the surrender orders of the Empiror or attempting to kill General MacArthur and carrying on the war. Most of it takes place in a cave, has flashbacks for some characters and ponders the ponderables.
In the end they all agree to do a last screaming banzai charge, which satisfies their committment to duty, soul and peace as they all die. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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[quote="SuperSkylineGTR"]This is a very interesting topic, especially since I find WWII history fascinating.
The Cockpit was good, except a little historically inaccurate (The Nazis having the Nuke and attempting to deliver it in a captured B-17 and the Japanese Kamikaze rocket). [quote] The first of those *was* alternate history, and presented as such. But on the "Japanese Kamikaze rocket" bit, the weapon referred to did actually exist, as the <A href="http://www.wwiitech.net/main/japan/aircraft/mxy7/">Yokosuka MXY7 "Ohka"</A> (called "Baka" by Allied soldiers). However, no Ohka scored a kill on a carrier, as portrayed in the episode. |
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The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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Good movies on the War in the Pacific include:
___________________________________ The Sands of Iwo Jima Midway Tora! Tora! Tora! The Bridge on the River Kawi _________ My great grandfather was a Lt. Col doctor in the Army in the South Pacific. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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Anyone ever see an old Kurosawa flick made during the war called The Most Beautiful? It's a really good movie about a group of girls that work at a lens factory during the war. There's also a good Japanese film, also made during the war, called Army (eh... Rikuden? Rikugan? something like that). It was looked upon very unfavorably by the Japanese government at the time because it showed the mother upset that her son was leaving to fight in the war. Very good, powerful movie.
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GATSU
Posts: 15691 |
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Superskyline: "I never seen the Thin Red Line, but I heard it wasn't that good."
I agree there. The director decided to be artistic(though more like cheap and lazy) by not translating what the Japanese prisoners and villagers were saying. CorneredAngel: "I never seen the Thin Red Line, but I heard it wasn't that good." Though it also served a purpose in Matsumoto's eyes. He was trying to imply that no one nation should have that kind of power, because they might use it for self-serving purposes. (Such messages in the Cockpit are universal, though you have to deal with the usual Japanese habit of them skirting the Axis' crimes against humanity-i.e. ethnic cleansing, to notice them.) And Germany getting the bonb wouldn't have been too unrealistic if Oppenheimer and Einstein got stuck there. As for myself, I just saw a great war film from Kinji Fukasaku(Battle Royale) called Under the Fluttering Flag. Dunno if it'll ever get a home video release here, but it's definitely worth seeing because Fukasaku doesn't pull this Mishima nationalistic crap. |
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Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
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I'm trying to think of great WWII movies, but all I can think of is Father Goose. Sorry.
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