[EVA] Re: The Rape Of Nanking, the Battle Of Okinawa and the End O

[Avery Davies]

Patrick Yip wrote:
> 
>      PY @ TOKYO
> 
> ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
> 
> I've heard that Anno was somewhat inspired by the film The Violent
> History of the Showa Era: The Final Battle Of Okinawa.
> 
> ## That's the mainstream view in Japan of how Anno came to depicting
> ## those scenes in EOE.
> 
> I've also heard that there was some reaction to the JSDF being painted
> in a negative light.
> 
> ## If so, then I would say they may have over-reacted (for reason,
> ## read below)
> 
> Could these scenes of brutal violence and outright massacre be a
> criticism from Anno to Japan about some of the events during WWII?
> 
> ## The reason why I said they have over-reacted is because if we
> ## compare the JSSDF in EOE with the Okinawa movie, those JSSDF
> ## who are doing the assault and mercilessly deploying
> ## flamethrowers were equilvalent to the Americans in the Okinawa
> ## battle!!

Actually, wouldn't by 2015, would flamethrowers be somewhat antiquated?
The Germans now use the Handflammpatrone (hand flame wand), which is a
one-shot grenade launcher, and the U.S. Army replaced theirs with an
incendiary rocket launcher (if you've ever seen Arnie's movie, Commando,
that four shot rocket launcher that is featured quite promientily in it
is the one and the same)

 A lot of horror tales were still circulating in Japan
> ## about how cruel those flamethrowers have been and how unarmed
> ## civilians were driven to death by the battle (although they
> ## forgot to mention that it was the propaganda from the Japanese
> ## government to the island's locals that they would be raped and
> ## tortured by the invaders that drove them to choose death).

Or were executed by the Imperial Army for desertion, treason, etc. (BTW,
maybe be a bit of topic, what was the exact attitude the Okinawans had
with the Japanese, and vice versa. Weren't they originally a territory
conquered during the Shoganate period?)

> ## In sum, the depticion of the cruelty in EOE, in my opinion,
> ## is at best an attempt to show the indiscriminate, the merciless,
> ## the cruel and the revolting nature of a violent war or battle.

As another of those associations I make with hearing about the JSSDF
assault: Patrick, has Saving Private Ryan made it there yet? The combat
sequences, especially the Omaha Beach scene, remind me of the stuff I've
heard about the JSSDF assault in AIR: the flamethrowers and torched
bodies (although I haven't heard about any of the engineers being shot
and fuel exploding in EoE), the shooting of surrendering troops, the
anonymous enemy (something I've noticed in some of the stills from EoE,
the JSSDF troops faces are obscured by goggles and in shadow)....
 
> ## Just a side note: don't forget a lot of animators have deep
> ## fascinations on war and warfare. Even the "conservationlist"
> ## Miyazaki has drawn a book with all the fancy details of the
> ## battle hardware as used in warfare in 19th or 20th century.
> ## Not just airplanes which he surely loves, but also tanks and
> ## battleships. In the book there are even manga about some brave
> ## battlefield operations. And not to say Reiji Matsumoto (Galaxy
> ## Express 999, Yamato) and Otomo (Akira) who both drew quite a
> ## lot of military manga.

A great many of my favorite manga artist have facinations with war.
Masamune Shirow (whom has written several interesting essays on it and
why he has an interest in it)...

Sorry just got writers block here...

-- 
This is the Avery Davies within your computer.