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Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (1973)

by Shigeru Mizuki(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1770460411 (ISBN13: 9781770460416)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Drawn and Quarterly

review 1: I highly recommend this war story graphic novel about a detachment of the Japanese Imperial Army in WWII which is instructed to carry out a suicide mission against the enemy. Whether this mission is necessary or the amount of force justified is questionable - but not to be questioned by any of the troops, NCOs, or officers who must all face their noble deaths. The art in this manga is effective and brilliant - the faces of the troops each individual, though cartoonish, effectively shows how everyone has a point of view, even if they are just being treated as worms. This is a strong story; essential. At some points it is disjointed, confusing, and lacks flow, but I'm sure that's just how the war felt to these men.
review 2: Anti-war graphic manga by great an... mored still living and great, venerable Japanese manga artist whose work has not been translated much here. This is work from the seventies which he says was 90% true, and in an American afterword, he now clarifies what he made up in it. This is history, a memoir of his time spent serving in the Japanese army in 1943 on New Guinea when western Allies bombed and took over the country. In the manga, one survived, but actually, eighty survived, including Mizuki, who excoriates militarism and blind patriotism and the idea of a noble suicide, which hundreds of his fellow soldiers were encouraged to do rather than the humiliation of surrender. The perspective here is one of the "rookie" soldiers, of which Mizuki was one, and how they were abused buy their "superiors," and misguided just by chain of command, regardless how stupid and corrupt. This book was not given much critical reception at all probably because it is so critical of the military and one kind of Japanese philosophy, and through I am no WW II buff, I have never read anything like it... I do read anti-war works from a variety of countries, including those critical of the US in various wars, of course, but this is my first about the Japanese army. Artistically it is a unique (and odd and a little off-putting) mix of cartoony characters and realistic, very detailed settings. And some of the story is of course disturbing on many levels, and does not excuse the rookies, starved, beaten, dying of thirst, traumatized teenagers, who also commit terrible deeds. There is an encounter with prostitutes early on that is really disturbing that maybe should be shown as more disturbing (from the author's perspective) than it is, but maybe can be seen as a young soldier narrative's limited view, and there are a couple other things like this of which one might wish more critique, but the overall impression is pretty impressive, I thought. There's a speech made by the doctor responding to a commanding officer deciding on a mass suicide that is pretty impressive (and not sup rising) as an indictment of military "leadership." less

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