It’s a wonderful feeling to stumble across something that overlaps with one’s own niche interests the way this article does. I’d like to offer a few thoughts of my own, and a potential thread you can make a more detailed deep-dive into regarding one of the pieces of media you mentioned: Muv Luv. For Muv Luv is in many ways directly addresses a lot of the points you bring up and tries for a more direct reckoning with Japan’s Imperial past through speculative fiction by foregrounding the Empire in its narrative of mankind on the brink of destruction. It shares some commonalities with Zipang, but coming at it from a different direction.
In the alternate history that underpins Muv Luv’s timeline, the Japanese Empire managed to pull off the impossible: bleed the Americans hard enough to where a conditional peace is signed between the United States and Japan in 1944. Spared from total defeat and the complete re-making of its society by an American occupation, the Empire persists as a more autonomous vassal state of the United States past the invasion by the Alien BETA and until the point where the BETA, having conquered all of China and Korea, cross the sea of Japan to strike the Japanese mainland.
For the second time, Japan is faced with an overwhelming enemy force, and it proceeds to repeat all of the mistakes the historical Empire did when it fought the United States in our timeline’s WWII. The strategies are inadequate, defense plans collapse upon first contact with the enemy and soldiers are wasted in stubborn last stands that achieve nothing but costing more lives. Half of Japan is overrun and destroyed, and the imperial capital of Kyoto is burned. Salvation only comes in a repeat of historical trauma: the United States dropping two sci-fi super-nukes called G-Bombs onto the BETA in Japan, destroying them and turning back the invasion. Framed as a necessity to save Japan from the invasion, but one that leaves cold comfort for the Japanese upon whose territory the bombs were used.
This repeats the Imperial experience in an alternate history scenario against aliens and demonstrates it as a losing one without any allegorical distance. The empire is spared defeat and in the process learns nothing, repeating the same defensive strategy against the aliens as it tried against the Americans in our WWII, and as the pop cultural definition of insanity goes, the outcome is an identical losing struggle. The Empire survived being occupied by the US, and in the process those traits that doomed it in our WWII were allowed to persist. It’s a surprisingly sharp critique of Imperial Japan and how it tried to wage war, even as other parts of the narrative work along more nationalist lines to rehabilitate aspects of the Imperial system of modern liberal Japan as a solution to mukokuseki and restoring Japan’s pride as a sovietiegn nation ready to rejoin the global community as a full-time partner.
I’ll swerve here and push back against your characterisation of the UN by talking about how it’s framed, not just in Muv Luv, but also in a few other shows like Evangelion and the genre-hybrid series Senki Zesshou Symphogear. They all share a unique view of the United Nations, not as necessarily corrupt and incomprehensible (though often with corrupt people as part of its overall structure), but rather as a neutral platform upon which Japan can act as a sovereign nation that is part of the global community and a defender of it against outside threats. That depiction of the UN is both a fantasy of a Japan unshackled from being a puppet of the US-led order and also an aspiration for Japan to be trusted by the global community to not immediately repeat the imperialism of its past, a country that is far enough removed from a near-century old war and can be relied upon as a responsible stakeholder in the current global community. In that regard, the United Nations in Muv Luv exists to allow the cast to see the Empire of Japan from both inside and outside, as Japanese nationals fighting for humanity under the banner of the UN because Japan itself was unable to save itself from the BETA, requiring outside intervention to survive.
The ‘American Empire’ aspect is also very front and center, and in a way it was ahead of the times. Muv Luv in many ways predicted the direction of the United States as it moved from upholding the international order it created in the wake of WWII, to feeding upon it like a wolf among sheep once the historical memory had faded enough for that order to be perceived as a burden to the United States and not an asset. The US is a self-interested superpower concerned with ensuring that the outcome is always favourable to American interests, even the outcome of an Alien invasion.
The most political moment of the whole VN is a repeat of the historical 2–26 incident, called the 12-5 Incident to hammer the comparison home. There, the officers who launch the coup are nationalists opposed to US and UN control over Japan. It is revealed the US was aware of the coup and are using it to cement their own power over Japan. In this part of the VN there is an eerie foreshadowing of Operation Absolute Resolve in 2026 and the use of American military power to ensure a favourable regime in a state deemed important to the American interest, Japan being framed as a victim of the same kinds of American imperialism seen elsewhere in the world. And yet there is no morally right side in this arc, with the rebels being shown as the same kinds of people who nearly led Japan to its death when the BETA invaded, stubborn, inflexible, willing to see every Japanese die if it means they die free. The spirit that helped foster the conditions for the dropping of the Atomic Bombs in our timeline’s 1945. Thus both American Imperialism and the Japanese Empire’s Imperialism are pitted against each other and both are found wanting.
While nationalistic, Muv Luv is not revisionistic. It concedes that the Empire failed the Japanese people through waging a war it could never win, while stating that there was something about the Japan of that period that made it more self-confident, more independent, akin to the famous photo of the China Relief Expedition sent to crush the Boxer Rebellion in 1901 where a Japanese soldier is lined up alongside representatives of all the other world powers of that period like Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the US as they ensured that Imperial China would not rank among their number. Those times are long past, and as the world moves increasingly back towards one shaped by the great power competition of the 19th century with China as a full partner in the global scramble for influence and control, the aspiration of many in Japan to stand up and be counted as an equal great power unshackled from American ‘oversight’ is one that Muv Luv is unafraid to indulge in.
This was a really good essay, and I want to thank you for your hard work and allowing the chance to articulate a few thoughts I’d been having about one of the entries mentioned in this essay.
First of all, thank you for your comment. I wish I had more to say on your analysis, but I just lack the knowledge.
I am perfectly willing to admit my knowledge of Muv Luv is very limited. I know about it, because it served as inspiration for a fan work that I read years ago. (Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character Quest - This brings back memories.) A very circuitous route to say the least.
What you say about the UN's portrayal is true. (Why am I suddenly thinking about the Catholic Church's portrayal in anime? Probably because they are both examples of Occidentalism.) You could probably write an essay on the topic. The Post-National fantasy of a functional UN, or taking it one step further, a United Earth Government, is a trans-national trope with its own timeline. (You would probably have to begin by looking at the bigger picture before dialing into Japan.)
Not sure Eva is the best example. I believe Macross might serve better.
I think I would argue against the idea that the US ever became a wolf in sheep's clothing. Always been a self-interested power with isolationist tendencies is what I would argue is closer to the truth. Compare the history of the Suez Crisis (1956) with the Panama Canal for a thin slice of what I mean.
It’s a wonderful feeling to stumble across something that overlaps with one’s own niche interests the way this article does. I’d like to offer a few thoughts of my own, and a potential thread you can make a more detailed deep-dive into regarding one of the pieces of media you mentioned: Muv Luv. For Muv Luv is in many ways directly addresses a lot of the points you bring up and tries for a more direct reckoning with Japan’s Imperial past through speculative fiction by foregrounding the Empire in its narrative of mankind on the brink of destruction. It shares some commonalities with Zipang, but coming at it from a different direction.
In the alternate history that underpins Muv Luv’s timeline, the Japanese Empire managed to pull off the impossible: bleed the Americans hard enough to where a conditional peace is signed between the United States and Japan in 1944. Spared from total defeat and the complete re-making of its society by an American occupation, the Empire persists as a more autonomous vassal state of the United States past the invasion by the Alien BETA and until the point where the BETA, having conquered all of China and Korea, cross the sea of Japan to strike the Japanese mainland.
For the second time, Japan is faced with an overwhelming enemy force, and it proceeds to repeat all of the mistakes the historical Empire did when it fought the United States in our timeline’s WWII. The strategies are inadequate, defense plans collapse upon first contact with the enemy and soldiers are wasted in stubborn last stands that achieve nothing but costing more lives. Half of Japan is overrun and destroyed, and the imperial capital of Kyoto is burned. Salvation only comes in a repeat of historical trauma: the United States dropping two sci-fi super-nukes called G-Bombs onto the BETA in Japan, destroying them and turning back the invasion. Framed as a necessity to save Japan from the invasion, but one that leaves cold comfort for the Japanese upon whose territory the bombs were used.
This repeats the Imperial experience in an alternate history scenario against aliens and demonstrates it as a losing one without any allegorical distance. The empire is spared defeat and in the process learns nothing, repeating the same defensive strategy against the aliens as it tried against the Americans in our WWII, and as the pop cultural definition of insanity goes, the outcome is an identical losing struggle. The Empire survived being occupied by the US, and in the process those traits that doomed it in our WWII were allowed to persist. It’s a surprisingly sharp critique of Imperial Japan and how it tried to wage war, even as other parts of the narrative work along more nationalist lines to rehabilitate aspects of the Imperial system of modern liberal Japan as a solution to mukokuseki and restoring Japan’s pride as a sovietiegn nation ready to rejoin the global community as a full-time partner.
I’ll swerve here and push back against your characterisation of the UN by talking about how it’s framed, not just in Muv Luv, but also in a few other shows like Evangelion and the genre-hybrid series Senki Zesshou Symphogear. They all share a unique view of the United Nations, not as necessarily corrupt and incomprehensible (though often with corrupt people as part of its overall structure), but rather as a neutral platform upon which Japan can act as a sovereign nation that is part of the global community and a defender of it against outside threats. That depiction of the UN is both a fantasy of a Japan unshackled from being a puppet of the US-led order and also an aspiration for Japan to be trusted by the global community to not immediately repeat the imperialism of its past, a country that is far enough removed from a near-century old war and can be relied upon as a responsible stakeholder in the current global community. In that regard, the United Nations in Muv Luv exists to allow the cast to see the Empire of Japan from both inside and outside, as Japanese nationals fighting for humanity under the banner of the UN because Japan itself was unable to save itself from the BETA, requiring outside intervention to survive.
The ‘American Empire’ aspect is also very front and center, and in a way it was ahead of the times. Muv Luv in many ways predicted the direction of the United States as it moved from upholding the international order it created in the wake of WWII, to feeding upon it like a wolf among sheep once the historical memory had faded enough for that order to be perceived as a burden to the United States and not an asset. The US is a self-interested superpower concerned with ensuring that the outcome is always favourable to American interests, even the outcome of an Alien invasion.
The most political moment of the whole VN is a repeat of the historical 2–26 incident, called the 12-5 Incident to hammer the comparison home. There, the officers who launch the coup are nationalists opposed to US and UN control over Japan. It is revealed the US was aware of the coup and are using it to cement their own power over Japan. In this part of the VN there is an eerie foreshadowing of Operation Absolute Resolve in 2026 and the use of American military power to ensure a favourable regime in a state deemed important to the American interest, Japan being framed as a victim of the same kinds of American imperialism seen elsewhere in the world. And yet there is no morally right side in this arc, with the rebels being shown as the same kinds of people who nearly led Japan to its death when the BETA invaded, stubborn, inflexible, willing to see every Japanese die if it means they die free. The spirit that helped foster the conditions for the dropping of the Atomic Bombs in our timeline’s 1945. Thus both American Imperialism and the Japanese Empire’s Imperialism are pitted against each other and both are found wanting.
While nationalistic, Muv Luv is not revisionistic. It concedes that the Empire failed the Japanese people through waging a war it could never win, while stating that there was something about the Japan of that period that made it more self-confident, more independent, akin to the famous photo of the China Relief Expedition sent to crush the Boxer Rebellion in 1901 where a Japanese soldier is lined up alongside representatives of all the other world powers of that period like Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the US as they ensured that Imperial China would not rank among their number. Those times are long past, and as the world moves increasingly back towards one shaped by the great power competition of the 19th century with China as a full partner in the global scramble for influence and control, the aspiration of many in Japan to stand up and be counted as an equal great power unshackled from American ‘oversight’ is one that Muv Luv is unafraid to indulge in.
This was a really good essay, and I want to thank you for your hard work and allowing the chance to articulate a few thoughts I’d been having about one of the entries mentioned in this essay.
First of all, thank you for your comment. I wish I had more to say on your analysis, but I just lack the knowledge.
I am perfectly willing to admit my knowledge of Muv Luv is very limited. I know about it, because it served as inspiration for a fan work that I read years ago. (Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character Quest - This brings back memories.) A very circuitous route to say the least.
What you say about the UN's portrayal is true. (Why am I suddenly thinking about the Catholic Church's portrayal in anime? Probably because they are both examples of Occidentalism.) You could probably write an essay on the topic. The Post-National fantasy of a functional UN, or taking it one step further, a United Earth Government, is a trans-national trope with its own timeline. (You would probably have to begin by looking at the bigger picture before dialing into Japan.)
Not sure Eva is the best example. I believe Macross might serve better.
I think I would argue against the idea that the US ever became a wolf in sheep's clothing. Always been a self-interested power with isolationist tendencies is what I would argue is closer to the truth. Compare the history of the Suez Crisis (1956) with the Panama Canal for a thin slice of what I mean.