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Tank-commanding anime girls capture fans for SDF

18 Comments
By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo

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18 Comments
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Well, if Japan is to do battle using 'cuteness', I think China should be worried.

Hopefully, no one will wage war or need to defend its self from a war monger, nutter or bully.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

SDF full of otaku and hikikumori

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Its always sad to see a people go pro-military. There is a space between anti-military and pro-military where true neutrality is maintained. But when you start hearing words like "patriotic zeal" its time to worry because you know its not all or mostly about patriotism or defense concerns. Its about loving and desiring war, loving war imagery and paraphernalia, denial of past military misdeeds, etc. Then its not long before you have a war born of a desire of war profiteers to make some money, and people are tricked into joining up citing "defense".

And before anyone knocks the Japanese so hard for doing all this with cute manga, stop and realize that just about everybody else does this with commercials promoting war and soldiering with commercials that make it look glorious. They also put soldiers in rather expensive neat uniforms complete with badges and shiny bangles to make killing and war seem cool. Think about it. Those uniforms are not their regular working uniforms, so what else are they for? A soldier can't just wear his camos around cause they might get dirty? Come on.

Then you have the insistence that Japan has no military, it has a self defense force. As if all those guys driving tanks and carrying automatic weapons are just a bunch of fun loving hippies and totally different from any other military. And changing the name of the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Defense completely changed the game.

And now let the denials begin. And most of you will fall for it, as you do over and over again.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

We live in "conservative times", possible similar to the late 1920's. What was limited by the bolshevik revolution is not in this era. The questions is how right, seems that the world is going very nationalistic and even fascist. I am not sure about the growing popularity of soldiers. In the US you have a weird sort of patriotism that increased the budget for the US Dept of Veterans Affairs only to later cut it. That is what this all leads to, terribly wounded soldiers in the end regardless of what happened in the battle field. As for the anime, it does an interesting job making mock tank battles into a high school sport. All the tanks that the girls control are WWII vintage tanks. You basically have schools representing Japan, US, Germany, England, Soviet Union and later Italy. There was some controversy about this anime in the US because the song sung by the Pravda girls and their commander Katyusha was edited out. The song was very popular if you look for it on youtube in relation to Girls und Panzer. It seemed to be a very popular scene in Russia too. Here some links related to the song.

Anime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIY36UbDbQQ English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgHn27h60c Chinese: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0kgtHRGkjk > Russian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mowe4ojo_iY

hmm... 2 years before Russia not invaded Ukraine. Maybe the anime is more power than it seems. Then again with these girls with guns anime, it would seem that Japan would be safer if they left the SDF in the hands of women.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Jcitizens awareness of the SDF and JMilitary is spreading. In just recent open base festa I've attended, the absence of Blue Impulses which is i think the epitome of JASDF made a group of citizens petition for its participation. Perhaps a more pressing reason was opted for its absence and I hail the JASDF for that. But the mere fact that a petition was formed meant a growing awareness of Jcitizens .

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Remember, government lures people into military forces because they need disposables, not heroes.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Arthur, as a nineteen year-so-far veteran of the US Military, your comment really hurts. Anyways, glad to provide the safety and security you experience every day...

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

This only makes sense if the tanks shoot panties!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

glad to provide the safety and security you experience every day...

??? Is this what they tell you guys?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

glad to provide the safety and security you experience every day...

I am having great difficulty remembering the last time my safety and security was provided by a member of the armed forces. Yesterday? No. The day before? No. I do remember some hub-hub about the Senkankus. Is my safety and security dependent on the Senkakus? No.

Soldiers tell themselves a lot of hype to defend what they do, which is mostly suck up our tax money so they can play with explosive toys. And when they are not doing that, they are helping to antagonize the neighbors. Or fighting wars based primarily on the desire of Halliburton to have things blown up so they can rebuild it. Unfortunately the kids that get blown up the process cannot exactly be rebuilt.

I am all for true self-defense forces like the Swiss and the Austrians have. But Japan's SDF is something of a sham being as the U.S. armed mercenaries are stationed so thickly here. All that makes me feel is insecure because Japan cannot claim to be pacifist while it supports a war mongering nation's armed forces. Japan's neighbors have yet another reason not to trust Japan or build solid peaceful ties.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

That makes me think of how Americans always seem to be thanking the military for their service. For what now? Using up all their tax dollars?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Ukraine could use a self-defense force right now.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I come from an army family so I'm not as saddened or depressed as some posters seem to be by young people seemingly being encouraged to join the SDF. Unless you live in a protected bubble of perfect peace countries will always need armed forces. Just holding flowers and saying: "don't attack us please" wouldn't stop any invading army. Sad as it is, Japan needs its armed forces.

"Girls und Panzers" seems to be about schoolgirls driving German WW2 tanks... not really relevant to the modern JGSDF.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

That allergy is going. People realize a military is necessary.

This is absolutely true, at a grassroots level. A few years ago my students visibly balked at the idea of Japan becoming a military - or even self-sufficient - power, but now those same people have completely changed their minds.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I personally am indifferent to this issue. However, I think it is probably better to enlist with a Self Defence Force in a pacifist nation than in the armed forces of a country that is currently embroiled in war, or of a country that has a habit of joining its allies in fighting their wars. The JSDF seems to be mostly focused on running drills and assisting rescue efforts after natural disasters, rather than in actually fighting. Of course, if Article 9 goes out the window or if China makes the first move, that could very well change (definitely in the latter point). But for the most part, this whole "Tank-commanding anime girls capture fans for SDF" makes no real difference to me. It's a non-issue really, except with the pro-military/anti-military crowds.

@Thunderbird2: It is my understanding that "Girls und Panzer" features both old and modern tanks. I can't say with certainty having never seen it myself though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Girls und Panzers" seems to be about schoolgirls driving German WW2 tanks... not really relevant to the modern JGSDF.

But it is though. Its teenage boy daydreams where war loving nuttery begins. I am not saying all who join up are such types, but a great many are. And its very hard to differentiate many of them from serious soldiers who actually hate war but realize the unfortunate reality that self-defense is necessary in this world.

That said, far too many people are easily duped into believing wars of offense are wars of defense. And not nearly enough soldiers are so serious and responsible to recognize the difference and refuse to go fight wars of offense if they have already joined up in the standing army.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

ElCid95: I respect the individuals that enrol for "good causes" but I hate the unlimited obeisance that transfer you into brainless muppets!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Reflecting the praise the Self-Defense Force (SDF) won for its rescue efforts after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011

This is why Japan needs the SDF, not to protect them from China or whatever, but to help those effected by NATURAL disasters, of which Japan has many. People should stop thinking that Japan is building up to become a military powerhouse and more to protect themselves from the hostile natural enviroment.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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