WWII and anime
I'm always fascinated when I watch a new anime series to feel the echoes of World War II still showing through.
Especally anime from the 70's and 80's. With "Starship Yamoto" (aka "Star Blazers"), the WWII similarities are right there from the beginning with the use of the battleship Yamoto as the space ship that will save earth. What was odd was how the "bad guys" (aka - the Gamalons) acted more like the Japanese of WWII: pushing on in defeat for the sake of honor, dehumanizing people, willing to commit suicide. The crew of the Yamoto took pains to point out to the Gamalons how this was wrong and bad, even as the respected them for their fighting ability.
Now I've started up "Irresponsible Captain Tylor", and the opening scene seems like a mirror of Greater Pacific Battle - a group of military men talking about how the Enemy is weak and disorganized. How the human forces are top notch, moral is high, their equipment is more modern, and if they commit all of their resources they can crush the Enemy forces in a short term, and the human race can have domination over the galaxy.
Which, if you read how the Japanese decided to bomb Pearl Harbor: with the highly trained Japanese forces, they would knock out the Americans, take the oil in the pacific, and use it to finally pacify China and own the Asian area. Which, as it turns out, didn't work out too well.
It's just always interesting to see anime reflect this. Some, like "Blood: The Last Vampire" or even the spiritual sequel "Blood+", the Americans are clearly the "bad guys" of the situation (and let's face it - with the stories there involving the time period around Vietnam, the US can't claim a lot of innocense).
Anyway, just a note. Now, back to Captain Tylor - a cute redheaded alien girl just showed up :).
Especally anime from the 70's and 80's. With "Starship Yamoto" (aka "Star Blazers"), the WWII similarities are right there from the beginning with the use of the battleship Yamoto as the space ship that will save earth. What was odd was how the "bad guys" (aka - the Gamalons) acted more like the Japanese of WWII: pushing on in defeat for the sake of honor, dehumanizing people, willing to commit suicide. The crew of the Yamoto took pains to point out to the Gamalons how this was wrong and bad, even as the respected them for their fighting ability.
Now I've started up "Irresponsible Captain Tylor", and the opening scene seems like a mirror of Greater Pacific Battle - a group of military men talking about how the Enemy is weak and disorganized. How the human forces are top notch, moral is high, their equipment is more modern, and if they commit all of their resources they can crush the Enemy forces in a short term, and the human race can have domination over the galaxy.
Which, if you read how the Japanese decided to bomb Pearl Harbor: with the highly trained Japanese forces, they would knock out the Americans, take the oil in the pacific, and use it to finally pacify China and own the Asian area. Which, as it turns out, didn't work out too well.
It's just always interesting to see anime reflect this. Some, like "Blood: The Last Vampire" or even the spiritual sequel "Blood+", the Americans are clearly the "bad guys" of the situation (and let's face it - with the stories there involving the time period around Vietnam, the US can't claim a lot of innocense).
Anyway, just a note. Now, back to Captain Tylor - a cute redheaded alien girl just showed up :).