An interesting piece from FujiSankei Business-i (in translation):
Animation Produced in Small Teams is a Breath of Fresh Air for the Industry: FROGMAN Co., Others Showcase A Powerful Individuality
March 13, 2007
Animation produced in small teams have been hitting the market one after the other recently, which is a new development as works are usually produced in production teams of dozens or even hundreds of people. The new works, which maintain a high level of quality while showcasing the creators’ intense vision in every nook and cranny, a feat that can only be achieved in a small team, are blowing a new wind throughout Japan’s animation industry. (by Ryuichi Taniguchi)
Improved Performance of PCs Plays a Role
Makoto Shinkai, director of “Five Centimeters Per Second” (秒速５センチメートル) gave thanks before the 200 people who had gathered to watch his animated film shown at Cinema Rise in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward on March 3: “I am happy to show a film that I made the way I wanted it in a large space.” This was his first film since his long-form “Beyond the Clouds, at the Promised Location” (雲のむこう、約束の場所) was shown at the same theater in November 2006. He seemed to have felt a positive response from the excited crowd of waiting fans that filled the seats.
In the past, animation production was assumed to require a large staff, but Shinkai released his first 25-minute short “Voices of the Stars” (ほしのこえ) created almost entirely by himself on a PC. The imagery, which measures up to animation made by pros, and the story, about susceptible young men and women, made the piece a hit with the younger generation and gained its creator recognition as a member of the new generation of animation directors.
However, Shinkai did not choose the path of producing his work in a major studio with a large staff at his beck and call. He continued using PCs and producing his films with a small staff to complete his “Beyond” and the more recent “Five”.
Shinkai explains, “For a year and half, I had the animation staff come to my home, and created it at a steady pace using my desktop. He didn’t create the whole thing by himself as in “Voice of the Stars,” but he made drastic staff cuts compared to the number of people involved in “Beyond.” As a result, Shinkai was able to realize a film in which his vision crept into every nook and cranny, from depictions of the lyrical countryside, to the village landscapes, to the endless sky and ocean.
Productions that can make full use of the creator’s individuality because of such a small staff are made possible by high-performance PCs that can be used to draw, color, and even edit finely detailed images. It’s easy to see how individual creators like Shinkai can make it into the animation industry if they have talent and backup in terms of funding.
Product Placement Comes to Anime
The films produced by FROGMAN Co, led by a man who goes by the same name, were also born of superior talent, a PC, and the Internet. The company creates animation using Flash, an animation software that can play simple video on a PC, and began offering programs on the Internet starting in 2004. These short films gained an following, and in April 2006 FROGMAN’s “Falcon’s Claw, Secret Society” (秘密結社鷹の爪) debuted on TV Asahi.
On March 17, “Falcon’s Claw, Secret Society The Movie: The Fuhrer Dies Twice” (総統は二度死ぬ) opens in theaters. FROGMAN spoke at a sneak preview held in Roppongi on March 4: “I’m so happy because cinema is the apex of film.” Just as in the TV version, FROGMAN does almost all the voices himself and drew most of the animation. He was overjoyed to see his brainchild up on the big screen.
The big-screen version of course cost more, but the costs were covered by including product placement within the film. Since it’s a comedy, the film blatantly displays company logos and products to make the crowd laugh. They even included a “budget gauge” on the side of the screen that dips during the more elaborate CGI scenes as a gag for the audience.
Another Internet-based talent is Rareko. She published her work on the Internet and eventually worked into picture books and DVDs after they became popular. As more and more companies seek out dormant talent, it looks as though we’ll keep seeing unique, individual animation.
The Companies Backing up Individual Talent
Individuals’ talents can only blossom fully with the support of a corporation. Shinkai has received support from Comics Wave (headquartered in Shibuya) since he began work on “Voices”. CW is a company that manages publishing rights for content and scouting/development of creators. They contract with manga artists and illustrators and serve as a conduit for bargaining with companies that want to use the creators’ characters.
DLE (HQ: Chiyoda Ward), a company founded in 2001 as a company that provides consulting for the video content industry, serves as FROGMAN’s producer. In addition to producing television programs, the company also aids in Flash animation and helped bring FROGMAN into the limelight.
Fanworks (Shibuya) produces independent animation and supports Rareko, of “The Fragile Tank” (やわらか戦車) fame. When the Internet-based animation took off, they served as a conduit for commercialization demands and helped boost its popularity by forming the “Fragile Tank Coalition Force.”
—
To close out, here are some YouTube clips of some of the shows mentioned in this article:
Falcon’s Claw Secret Society:
Fragile Tank:
Five Centimeters Per Second:
柔らか戦車 feels as authentic to me as 電車男 which is to say, not at all.
I have to say I hadn’t heard of it until reading this article, but its Wikipedia notepad seems to reflect your doubts:
「メディア等が無理に流行らせようとしてる感がひしひしと感じられ、逆に消費者がついて行けてない状態である。どこで、誰に、いつ流行っているのか全くもって不明。」についてはソースが提示されていませんし、Wikipediaの理念に反しますね。該当部分については削除するべきだと思います。—以上の署名の無いコメントは、Mit33（会話・履歴）氏が[2006年10月30日 (月) 03:29 (UTC)]に投稿したものです。
＞ソースが提示されていませんし
逆に聞いてみたいのが、やわらか戦車が「売れている」「人気がある」という明確な根拠はあるのかな？—以上の署名の無いコメントは、222.225.179.36（会話・履歴・whois）氏が[2006年10月30日 (月) 12:08 (UTC)]に投稿したものです。
問題はやわらか戦車の売上高や人気の有無ではなく、根拠無く「流行していない」といった主観による情報を記述することは百科事典として相応しくないということです。本文中に「売れている」「人気がある」といった記述がどこにありますか？最終パラグラフの削除に同意します。ただの悪戯でしょうし。
This seems to touch on some issues that we were talking about in the `big anime debate` in December. I still think that freeters will come along and save things (not that anime and manga have been all that bad lately, there have been some class shows in the last few years). It only takes a few creative people. Great to see Japanese companies taking a risk on the smaller projects again as well (which is what Uchu Senkan Yamato was back in the day)….
Also, does anyone really care if Densha Otoko was not authentic? Or that reality shows have scriped parts? The story captured the mood of the times and made some mad cash. I think that we should be talking about it as marketing gold rather than a fraud. Kinda like a Blair Witch thing — people just wanted to believe and the $$$ came rolling in.
Did anyone seriously believe that Blair Witch was real? I never even heard that at the time.
Why don’t you believe that “soft tank” is a semi amateur project? The animation may be sort of decent, but it’s still not nearly as good as say, homestarrunner.com, which itself is as independent as you get.
This Fragile Tank could simply be a case of a subsidiary of a major corporation trying to produce animation with an indies-style authenticity, but there’s something fishy – there are no pictures of this Rareko, and only a bare bones Geocities site that’s supposed to be the original host of the Flash. The claim of the Wiki entry for the creator Rareko that Yawaraka Sensha is ‘supported by housewives and students’ sounds a bit like marketese as well. Anyway, I have no idea about this and can’t really verify since my Internet connection is terrible now.
Have you ever heard of Homestarrunner getting venture funding like this?
Other news relevant to this discussion that I don’t have time to translate in detail:
–JETRO announces reorganization and plans to aggressively support the export of Japanese animation to the unwashed masses
–Sankei reports that (a) The anime boom has peaked in the US, and (B) METI is funding an animators’ association’s program to train domestic in-between animators (the very jobs that are supposedly being outsourced out of existence).
A Sankei writer noted that in researching that article, the relevant government ministries (MOFA, METI, and MOF) had *NO* trade statistics on manga/anime exports. This doesn’t appear to be stopping them from heeding Taro Aso’s insistence that there’s a need to support these exports.
People did believe that the Blair Witch project was real. What can I say, people were stupid. I`m partly guilty — I thought that perhaps it was a real local myth that they built a fake story around. There was a lot of talk about it on the net. Some of the data trail may remain (maybe not, it was pretty much pre-blog).
In any case, when it first came out, some people thought that it was one of the most influential films of all time (Roger Ebert was a big champion of the movie). So much for that…. I like Densha Otoko better, come to think of it.
全世界の安部叩きに逆上している俺(民主党支持者）が来ましたよ。
Yesterday I went to Kiddyland of Harajyuku and there was a section dedicated for fragile tank with TVmonitor showing some flash anime of the character.Smelled Dentsu.Nobody was buying it.Instead I bought a doll of Relakuma.http://www.smarter.co.jp/se-g4qDiYNig06DfSCCyoKigq6C6YLd————Z29vZ2xlX0EgMDE4IDAxN19rZXl3b3JkX4OKg4mDYoNOg30ggsqCooKugumC3Q__.htm
It’s for my son’s Whiteday reply present for his classmate.Sigh.
Not that I like Densha Otoko but I would very much like to hear commentary by Patrick Macias and Machiyama Tomohiro on American DVD.
From Machiyama’s blog.
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/TomoMachi/20070311
Would the universe implode if you bought merchandise of a Dentsu-manufactured fad on a holiday also manufactured by marketing companies? Oh wait, that happens all the time.
The only good part of the one episode I saw of Densha Otoko was the fact that Nasubi played one of the 住人 and I got to see his huge head again.
And yes I’d like to hear that commentary track as well.
Just wanted to tell you how good fatherhood I’ve been practicing lately.
Totally off topic
M-Bone:
I’ve been renting series of anime ＤＶＤs from TSUTAYA for a month to show my kid the golden age of Japanese anime.One of the masterpiece is ガンバの冒険(’75).
ttp://www.tms-e.com/library/tokushu/ganba/index.html
Story of the seven mice’s desperate journey to save mice population on an island from blood thirsty weasels.Watched it with my son for first time in 30 years and found out anime pretty much intentionary resembles Russian and Chinese films sets in WW2.Mice are reprsenting partisans and weasels ,the imperial army or Nazis here.that however explains why when I saw Andzej Wajda’s “The Canal” I have seen dejavu.Also found names of lots of Nikkatsu roman porno film artisans writing scripts for the anime,all leftwing radicals.You might want to consider a glance when you have a chance for it certainly overlap some of your intererst.
Thanks for the tip Ace. I have not seen that one. It is awesome that more and more of the old shows are coming out in DVD. I hope that this recycling proves to be a creativity shot in the arm for the industry at present (although I wasn`t that happy with the recent Ringu ni kakerou! remake….)
I`ll have a chance to go to Japan in a few weeks and I may look out for some old anime (or Roman porno, which reminds me, speaking of crazy leftwing stuff, I have another Joshu Sasori movie to track down). Before that, however, I have to finish reading all of Shirato Sanpei`s manga…. and there is no end of Koike Kazuo stuff to get…. Greek / Roman history manga like Cesuts and Hisutorie…. Matsumoto`s take on Wagner…. Damn, it has been a long time since I got a good haul of manga….
This is my did-you-read lists.
Shirato Sanpei:
Yomota Inuhiko’s四方田犬彦「白土三平論」
Greek,Roman:
Yasuhiko Yoshikazu’s安彦良和 sandal epics?
「アレクサンドロス」「わが名はネロ」and the classic「アリオン」?
Koike Kazuo:
Spanish civil war manga「哀国戦争」bizzare.
Matsumoto’s take on Wagner..
The inheritor of the Space opera meets Germanophilia:
Tanaka Yoshiki’s田中芳樹「銀河英雄伝説」happens to be the most favorite novella of ex-princess Norinomiya……
Sakaguchi Hisahi坂口尚｢石の花」Manga about Yugoslav partisans in WW2.also about
Fascism,Nationalism,Communism,Racism and Humanism.My favorite manga of all time.Read this in 85 when I just got back from the states.I got freaked out.
Any バロン吉元？Early works of Kawaguchi Kaiji?
Rising star「皇国の守護者」伊藤悠?（controversial,I must say)
I`m a fan of Yomota`s work (anyone who wants to read up on Japanese film in Japanese should check it out) and I`ve read his stuff on Shirato Sanpei.
I`ve enjoyed all of Yasuhiko Yoshikazu`s stuff (what do you think about `Rainbow Trotsky`, set in Mongolia, right?). Apart from the ones that you mentioned there is also his Jesus biography (the original sandal story) which is really, really good. I quite enjoyed the Arion anime as well.
Have not read the one by Koike Kazuo, have to pick that up with Shin Kozure Ookami when I get to Japan….
I have all of Ginga Eiyu Densetsu (novels, manga does not look so hot) but have only been able to find the time to read the first few volumes. I have seen most of the anime, however (used the damn thing for Japanese listening practice back in the day). Enjoyed it quite a bit (I like Soryuden as well, more for the cheese value).
Ishi no Hana has been near the top of my to read list for a while. Since you like it so much, I`ll pick it up ASAP.
I think that the only early work of Kawaguchi that I have read is his boxing manga…. (Kiba?) I have yet to check out Medusa, hope to get around to that before long. Still have about 7 or 8 volumes of Jipangu to read.
You have probably read most of my old favorites – Otoko Oidon, Nakazawa Keiji`s Okinawa (ballsy polemic), Dororo, Shumari, Manga-michi (Mangadou?), Violence Jack (I suddenly feel the need to apologize), Survival….
I must say, I was pretty gobsmacked when I first saw 皇国の守護者. Taking the Russo-Japanese War, making it into an attack on a fantasy Japan…. seems right up Kobayashi Yoshinori`s rhetorical alley. I`m going to reserve judgment (I may even decide to write about this and other recent Russo-Japanese War refigurings like Nichiro Senso Monogatari and the slew of Shinsho that have come out in the past 3 or 4 years) until I see more of the series, however.
‘Rainbow Trotsky’:
It is interesting for Mongolians are under represented in the current Japanese collective memory on Manchurian experience.The protagonist Mongolian Japanese
ウムボルト(Hunbord?not a Khalha name,and as the episode of his father and mother had met during the Siberian intervention suggests he is an half Buryat,Mongolian subethnic group originates in Zabaikal).
Yasuhiko did his research from the Japanese historians and presumably from the Japanese translation of Owen Rattimore books,but nonetheless there are few errors that can be easily spotted from eyes of those who know Inner Mongolian history.For example some description that pigs are kept in Mongolian village which is very rare practice among inner mongolians.(indeed a trivia but crucial error).
there is no mentioning of Dewang,a pan mongolist leader in Inner Mongolia,who had collaborated with Japanese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demchugdongrubb
Most of Dewang’s relatives had settled to Japan in the 80’s and 90’s and now are Japanese or gained eijyuuken status,Same with the grandchildren of Buryat general
Uljin who appeared in the manga as figure related with Humbord.So the ending scene of Humbolt’s son coming to Japan to meet Yasuhiko could happened in real life though.
Ginga-eiyuu-densetu’ anime was interesting for I’ve watched some in late hour shows while I was on the nightshift.It got lots of orchestral soundtrack which had interesting effect in the dpace battle sequence.Never read either manga nor anime though.What made me interested with the saga is the author Tanaka is actually an ethnic Chinese(third generation ,I think)and the chinese tranlation is now a big hit in China.You can easily detect influence from the Chinese classic like Romance of the three kingdom or Outlaw of the marsh and 20th century chinese history in Gineiden.
Nichiro Senso Monogatari didn’t even get to the very war,more to say but duty calls.
Later.
I only know the bare minimum about Mongolia. I read Rainbow Trotsky (great name, isn’t it?) as a historical fantasy (like “Blue Dragon”, only more serious).
I loved the use of classical music in Ginga Eiyu Densetsu. I think that some video games, etc. should follow this example. Come to think of it, it is pretty tragic that Japanese audiences have gotten space battles with Wagner while “Western” creators have more or less moved away from that kind of thing since 2001 (or maybe Kubrik just convinced people to avoid it with A Clockwork Orange). There are some exceptions but I like my space opera with…. well…. opera.
Tanaka has made good use of Chinese myth in some of his works but, for me, it is 18th and 19th century Europe that really jumps out when I watch Ginga Eiyu Densetsu (or read it, for that matter). Lots of the battles have echoes of Napoleon and Frederick the Great. There is also the very 20th century fascist stuff….
（何故か卒論風で書いてみますた）
｢皇国の守護者」：
日露戦争を思わせる戦争ドラマと「指環物語」を思わせるファンタジー世界の融合とは一見飛躍しているように思えるが、実は戦後日本の戦争フィクションの流れを考えるとこの二つの合流は必然でもある。
現時点の日本では、太平洋戦争の敗北と近隣諸国への侵略、そして戦後の平和主義の台頭により、戦前に広く人気を博していた日本軍主体の戦記物や戦争映画を、そのまま流通させることは、政治的に正しくないとされている。しかし、エンターテインメントとしての戦争は日本のメディア産業にあふれており、その間隙を埋めてきたのは、戦後直後から長きに渡り、海外、特にハリウッドから持ち込まれた戦争映画であった。かく言う私も幼少の折は、故ヴィック・モローがサンダース軍曹を熱演する第二次世界大戦物のテレビシリーズ「コンバット」や「ラットパトロール」に熱狂した。とはいえ、サンダース軍曹は米国軍人、自分たちは敵国の日本人。子供の遊びとはいえ、空き地で戦争ごっこをしても一抹の空しさは禁じえなかった。
しかし、子供たちの悩みにも代替案があった。ドラマに登場する敵役のドイツ兵である。欧米においてナチスドイツ＝ホロコースト、という連想は脊髄反射のようなものだが、70年代の日本の子供にとって、ナチスドイツはまずなによりも日本の同盟国だった。しかも、ドイツ軍の兵器や軍装は連合国のそれよりもカッコいいときている。小学校も高学年になれば、通過儀礼として「タミヤ」のプラモデルなどに手を染めたりするものだが、筆者のころはランボルギーニ・カウンタックや戦艦大和などとならんで、ドイツ軍戦関連雑誌も多数発行されている。車のキング・パンツァーなどが定番だった。子供たちは次々とパンツァー戦車やハーフトラックなどを次々とつくり、プラモ片手にロンメル元帥気取りで砂場で遊んだものだ。平和教育を学校でうけながら、放課後はナチスドイツの戦車で遊ぶなど、歴史観の乖離といわれればそれまでだが、子供の遊びの世界にまで、目くじらを立てる世間は存在しなかった。
しかし、ナチスドイツ軍（と「タミヤ」のプラモデル）が日本の子供のあこがれを集める状況は1980年に一変する。テレビアニメ「機動戦士ガンダム」の本放送が始まるとともに、玩具メーカー大手の「バンダイ」がガンダムのプラモデルの発売を開始したためだ。アニメ自体は放送後半になって人気を集め始めたが、ビデオの普及していない当時、放送終了後のガンダムの人気を盛り上げたのは、プラモデル、通称ガンプラであった。
当時はアニメ終了とともに関連商品の売り上げがガタ落ちすることから、バンダイが生産に歯止めを掛けていたとのうわさが流れ、ガンプラはいつまでたっても小学生たちの手には入らず、それがまた稀少性を獲得し、ブームを加速させた。学校ではどこの店に何曜日の何時に「シャア専用ズゴック」の小さいのが3つだけ入荷する、などのうわさで持ちきりだったことを筆者は記憶している。
アニメに造詣の深い海外の諸兄には自明のことであるが、日本のアニメやマンガに宇宙を舞台にした戦争ドラマが多いのは、戦争の描写が仮想世界に成立するもののみ、自由に製作できたという戦後日本の特殊状況と無縁ではない。また、その多くが玩具メーカーの製品を販売するためにスポンサーとして製作されたこともあり、巨大ロボットの物語が大量生産されたのである。
こうした背景をかんがみれば、「機動戦士ガンダム」の世界は基本的に第二次世界大戦の欧州前線を宇宙に置き換えたものであることは、なんら驚くに値しない。主人公とガンダムは、連合軍。敵のジオン公国軍は、ナチスドイツの比喩であることは子供にも自明だった。特に悪役であるジオン軍のロボット（モビルスーツ）「ザク」を初めとする種類の豊富さは、馴染み深い「タミヤ」のプラモデルのドイツ機甲師団シリーズを思わせた。
ガンプラのおかげで「ガンダム」はその後2５年以上にわたり、新作を生み出し続けることになるが、そこで生まれたのが、ガンプラとともに成長し成人してもアニメの世界観に拘泥し続ける一群の大人たち。自らの趣味世界に没頭し現実から遊離する、つまり俗にいう「オタク」たちだった。
ここで「戦争」は歴史からだけではなく、現実からも乖離を始めたかに見える。しかし、
60年間の平和を享受してきた日本社会には戦争のリアリティ自体が希薄であり、オタク文化は従軍や入隊経験がないにもかかわらず、軍事通となる層を生み出すことによって、戦後日本人の戦争観に微妙な影響を与えている。
小泉政権下で防衛庁長官を務めた自民党代議士の石破茂が、重度のプラモデル作りが趣味の軍事オタクであることは有名だ。少なからぬ国民が、石破の個人的嗜好に危惧を感じてもおり、筆者は上司から、石破長官時代の有事法案関連の審議中に、「プラモで軍艦作って喜んでいるような奴に国の将来を任せるのは、一抹の不安を感じる」との話を耳にしたことがある。また、巨大ネット匿名掲示板、２ちゃんねるに集うオタクの多くは、政治的には保守傾向でこれまでの世代が及び腰だった安全保障問題には積極的に発言し(匿名でだが)しばしば、強硬論を展開することでも知られている。現実に防衛長官まで生み出した日本のオタク文化は、着実に成長を遂げている。
ここまでは日本のサブカルチャーから見た戦争観を中心に論を進めてきたが、果たして、
一般教養層の戦争観はどのように変遷していったのだろうか。
「最後の国民作家」の異名を持つ、１０年前に逝去した小説家、司馬遼太郎は、その盛名を、日露戦争が舞台の大河小説「坂の上の雲」で手にしたことで知られる。幕末の四国松山出身の3人の人物、日本海海戦を勝利に導いた海軍参謀、秋山真之と奉天会戦を勝利に導いた陸軍騎兵将校の兄、好古、そして俳人の正岡子規の成長を通じて明治日本の栄光を描く内容である。
この作品が成立可能だったのは、日露戦争が、当時の列強であると同時に、日本人が贖罪意識を持たない唯一の隣国であり、作品発表時には冷戦下で対立関係にあったロシア（ソ連）を相手にした戦争であったこと、また、この作品にいたるまでに、司馬遼太郎が保守リベラルを問わず人気のある小説家だったということの2点である。司馬によって日露戦争は、日本近代唯一の「正しい戦争」となった感すらある。
出版直後は「朝日ジャーナル」誌上で在日韓国人の文芸評論家、安宇植（アン・ウシク）などに劇中に日露戦争が朝鮮半島の覇権をめぐる戦争との認識よりも、祖国防衛の側面をはるかに強く打ち出したとして、司馬は「危険な作家」と称された。
司馬本人もその危険性を自覚していたようで、主要な登場人物に俳人の正岡子規を含めて、小説の戦記色を薄めようとしたり、単純な戦争映画となることを恐れ、生前は映像化を許可しなかったなど、一定の政治的配慮が見られる。
しかし、「坂の上の雲」は、国民的ロングセラーになるとともに、司馬の没後は「司馬史観」なる用語のもとに歴史修正主義のバックボーンにもなっている。
ずいぶんと遠回りしたが、「皇国の守護者」の話に戻ると、原作者の佐藤大輔はプラモデルやモデルガン愛好家を主な購読層とする「コンバットマガジン」やオタク色の強いの軍事マンガ専門の「コンバットコミック」などに執筆している小説家・マンガ原作者であり、主に架空戦記（空想上や実際の戦争に創作を交えて描く戦争ドラマ）や戦争シュミレーションゲームを中心に執筆している。その歴史観、国家観は博識ではあるが、かなりオタク的といえるだろう。
この佐藤が描く、「皇国の守護者」は、その世界観の設定を、ＳＦ要素の上に「坂の上の雲」によって成立した欽定ナショナリズムとしての日露戦争の物語を盛り込んで成立させている。27年前の「機動戦士ガンダム」の世界観が、ＳＦ要素と他者の物語としての第二次世界大戦時の欧州前線との混合に依拠していたことを考えると、「日本」イメージと「戦争」が、フィクションの中とはいえ、限りなく近づいてきたことには、隔世の感がある。
「皇国の守護者」がガンダム世代の「坂の上の雲」と称すべきなのかは今後のストーリーの展開しだいであるが、マンガ版3巻の帯広告に、ガンダムの作者の一人で近代現代史に造詣の深いマンガ家、安彦良和が手放しの賛辞をよせていることは興味深い。
今年2007年には、「坂の上の雲」は、著作権管理者であるみどり夫人の認可を得て、ＮＨＫによって、ロシア・中国ロケを行いドラマ化される予定である。司馬や安の懸念は、もはや完全に払拭されたということなのだろうか。
Good stuff. I’m lazy so I’ll respond in English.
The “de-Nazi-ficatoin” (ouch) of the German army into a Japanese plaything is a very interesting process. On one hand, there is a very important trend in Japanese pop culture that focuses on Anne Frank and the educational value of the Holocaust (not as an example of anti-semitism in most cases, but as an example of the horrors of war and organized violence). On the other hand there have been a variety of works since the 1960s (Mochizuki’s “Nisei butai” manga — Japanese American heroes fighting in Europe — and especially Matsumoto Reiji’s “Senjo” manga) that present German soldiers (and even the SS) outside of the Holocaust context. This has left its mark on the “Germanic” characters in a variety of sci-fi anime (Full Metal Alchemist, various GUNDAMs, etc.).
Gunji Otaku (Military Otaku) are an interesting group…. However, we can’t look past the fact that this group has produced (and consumed) a variety of stunning anti-war / anti-violence images at various times (think about the jieitai massacre scene in the Evangelion film, Honneamisu no Tsubasa, the “Red Shoulder” massacre legacy in VOTOMS, various exploding cities as an atomic bomb echo, etc., etc.). This is the real puzzle in the gunji otaku legacy — it seems like they “like” war and yet many gunji otaku products fit into the mainstream of postwar Japanese anti-war culture.
Some of these views of war are, of course, situational. Shiba Ryotaro has called Japan’s 1930s militarists a bunch of thugs and morons (as did Mishima Yukio, come to think of it) in several of his writings but seemingly had nothin’ but love for the Russo-Japanese War era leadership. Up to this point, the focus of anime and manga on WWII has been that it sucked (Hadashi no Gen, Hotaru no Haka, the 731 stuff in Soryuden, with some exceptions like Ketsudan). But, just as Shiba was able to write about war as “good” in some contexts and “bad” in others, some anime/manga (and pulp fiction) creator types are choosing to go back to the Russo-Japanese War simply because it gives them a chance to forge a war narrative where Japan (or a fictional / fantasy country like Japan) is not into “shinryaku”, “gyakusatsu”, and all of that nasty stuff. Some earlier pop depictions of the Russo-Japanese War (203 Kochi from the early 1980s) were pretty much WWII movies with different costumes (awful soul-destroying carnage, everyone dies or is scarred, good people are warped and carry out brutal killings). Now, some creators are trying different things. It will be interesting to see where this new wave of Russo-Japanese War representation goes. Will it turn into Kobayashi’s “Sensoron”? Or will authors tap the longstanding pattern of postwar anti-war expression? I’m looking forward to seeing how things turn out….
Interesting discussion guys. I’ve never even heard of most of these works, but now I’m definitely interested in looking them up when I get the chance.
ドイツ軍戦関連雑誌も多数発行されている。車のキング・パンツァーなどが定番だった。×
ドイツ軍戦車のキング・パンツァーなどが定番だった。○
wonder how this phrase get into the sentence.
Anne Frank:
Anne Frank is one of the two “Annes” keeping cult status in Japanese juvenile life
sharing with Anne of the Greengables by L.T.Montgomery.Both Anne Frank house in Amsterdam and Prince Edward Island of Canada is packed with Japnese middle aged women who is paying pilgrimage of their teen dream holy land.
As far as I understand Japanese tranlation of” the diary of Anne Frank” was sold most among all of the tranlation and late Otto Frank was very pleased with the fact.
There is even an anime based on the book.But people read it rather as coming-of-age-girl-face-ultimate-challenge-and -hit-by-the-tragedy-in-the-end story.
War Manga:
There is a manga about manga criticism published in 1989 called ”サルにも描けるマンガ教室、通称サルまんManga for beginners:even a monkey can draw this”There is a chapter for war manga,and it says you can have all the jingoism and blood and guts spill all over in the story but in the end the protagonist has to make a speech about war and peace.nice.
VOTOMS:
Takahashi Ryousuke IS going to start making new series this year.
Have you ever seen early 80’s “Fang of the sun Dougram”?
Takahashi and his staff were highly influenced by “The Battle of Alger”for this anime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fang_of_Sun_Dougram
http://www.b-ch.com/cgi-bin/contents/ttl/det.cgi?ttl_c=151
Russo-Japanese war:
2005 was centennial anniversary of Russo Japanese war and there were many memorials and symposium in Russia(few in Japan for it could attract criticism as “Militaristic”) I talked with a Russian Japanologist who is one of the advisor for Japan policy during Gorbachev era and he told me the current research in Russia suggests war could have been evitable.
There is same conclusion in Japan for Ito Hirobumi was against the war(he was also against Anglo-Japanese alliance) and the avid supporter of Russo-Japanese entente.
It is an irony of history that Ito became the resident general of Korea,since he was reluctant for that will harm the relation with Russians and foreign rule upon Koreans could awaken anti-Japanese nationalism there.As this become a prophecy,Ito was eventually shot by a Korean nationalist in Harbin on his way to repair relation with the Russians.
I agree that Anne Frank in Japan is far more of a coming of age and tragedy of war story than a story about anti-semitism and hatred (which is how it is packaged — in classes and introdutions, etc. in North America.
I`ve been to Green Gables myself….
That def. of war manga is funny, but I think that some of the best stuff like Chiba Tetsuya`s Shidenkai no Taka, Mizuki`s war manga, and Matsumoto`s Senjo is wonderfuly jingoism free.
I`ve only seen an episode or two of Dougram. Do you think that I should track down the whole thing?
As for the Russo-Japanese War, it is sad, but in Russia I think that it becomes an excuse for Japan-hate and in Japan it can be used in dodgy ways (like ignoring the horror of the land war and focusing on the Tsushima battle).
“I`ve only seen an episode or two of Dougram. Do you think that I should track down the whole thing?”
Nah,that thing is too long.(took almost 2 years to finish and nobody was following it anyway).I recommend you to watch IDEON if you still have not seen it.
Funnything is the wave of cool Japan does hit Russia in the past decade and things Japanese do get lots of popularity .Currently (or maybe it’s already finished by now)There is a TV drama in Russia about Hokkaido cop teams up with Russian female investigator and fight Yakuza and Russian maffia.The Hokkaido cop is played by a Kazakh actor.whao.
There is an interesting Russian mini-series called “Penal Battallion,SHTRAFBAT”
and as I trust the info on the package was the most watched russian TV drama
of 2004 and it is really good.It’s about Soviet red army’s penal battalion fighting Germans and Germans are actually visualized less barbaristic than KGB or Soviet bureaucrat.
.
I`ve seen Ideon. Don`t worry about that.
That Russian drama sounds cool. I`m not sure about the depth of anti-Japanese sentiment in Russia but I have read a few academic articles about simliar themes. It seems as though Russia has a hardcore racist youth movement that is targeting `Asians` so it may be more general xenophobia than real `han-nichi` stuff. This also ties in with the second drama that you mentioned — Russian youths have been adopting NAZI icons as a part of racist rightwing movements. Silly.
As for `hannichi` did you see that Canada topped a recent international poll of `country that does the most good` with Japan at number 2? We rule.
Well I understand there isracist Neonazi movement and other patriotc youth movement organized by Putin camp, but the target as I understand are mostly to Central Asians,Caucasians and Chinese travelling traders.Not to Japanese,Although I doubt they could understand the differnce.
Russians do not hate Germans or at least have little resentment over WW2.And STRAFBAT was basically made of liberal Russian perspective that Stalinist had wasted tremendous human lives to fight Nazi for they had used the opportunity to wipe out “enemy of the people” of which the STRAFBAT was organized upon.It is no Nazi praising by all means but rather an attempt to counter Stalin cult erupting in Russian society from time to time, that it was nobody but “Man of Steel”had samved the mother Russia.STRFBAT says the victory was gained by the sacrifice of
unsunged heroe of Russian everyman and Stalin and the party had snatched the glory from the hand of those who deserved to be praise.Or that is the impression I’ve got from the series.
Russian TV had also made an exellent Godfather-like mafia saga called”BRIGADA,The Brigade”and about the ex-Afghan veteran came back to his home and face Gorbachev era turbulence and become a street mob.and later become boss of criminal underworld in Yeltsin era.Good stuff,And I am amazed with critical eyes that Russian creators cast upon their modern history and ability of show biz world allowing such hard stuff for prime time show.(think about DENTSU here!).
I’ve seen that BBC poll and yep we rule,but what we want is credit from China and Korea and few else,Something for our generation to work on,I think.
Yeah, in the end, all of these assertions that `Asia` has a beef with Japan really just means `China and Korea`. India, for example, LOVES Japan according to various polls as do Taiwan, etc. I think that change in China and Korea and the exodus of some morons (ie. Ishihara, Aso) from the Japanese stage will resut in a nicer East Asia. Don`t know about NK….
That Russia stuff all sounds very interesting…. however, remember Jingi naki tatakai? Probably the biggest pop phenom of the early 1970s in Japan. Japanese hardcore pop culture had its day. Now Russia`s is getting its. I also think that Russia has a FEW more problems with organized crime at present than Japan does…. given the daily killings. Oh, was that the government? Scary. In any case, Japan has had some hard stuff in prime time in recent memory (Evangelion) and generally does a better job of allowing free criticism of the government….
There is also a chance that there is a different media dynamic in Russia. I hear that bootlegging is huge in Russia which has cut down on the domestic film industry`s growth, etc. Japan has a number of what I would call `media spheres`. Just think about the dif between weekly mags (crap), monthly mags (almost like a low level academic journal really, which puts them a world above Time). Japanese TV has fluff in prime time and a lot of interesting stuff on Sky, Wowow, latenight, etc. I`m not sure that the same dynamic exists in Russia. In any case, what you described would put it way ahead of Lost, 24, etc. as well (but the USA has HBO, some of the best TV in the world).
Something that might related with the topic at hands.
Nazi-like Kogryo youth corps uniform in South Korea.
http://japanese.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2007/03/22/20070322000034.html