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Jun 22, 2012 11:34 PM
#1

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Apr 2012
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World War 2 was one of the most devastating wars in history, and one of the only ones worth fighting.
I'd like to know if there are any animes that have this setting, maybe one that shows the war in the perspective of the Japanese army or any of the opposing forces, but any anime with a WW2 setting will do.
Jun 22, 2012 11:52 PM
#2

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Aug 2011
2186
Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most powerful war movies and is set near the end of WWII.
Jun 23, 2012 12:11 AM
#3
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Jul 2018
564091
Zipang
Jun 23, 2012 1:37 AM
#4
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Mar 2012
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Anne no Nikki, not completely sure if you know the person named Anne, but she was a jew who kept a diary throughout the war and this is an anime based on it.
Jun 23, 2012 4:04 AM
#5

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Jul 2008
44
Grave of the Fireflies is fantastic; highly recommended.
There are periods of Blood+ set in that era.

Porco Rosso is set in WWI... not that same thing I realize, but just putting it out there. :)

There are a few more I just can't think of at the moment... X_X
If I remember them I'll post it back here.
Jun 23, 2012 6:35 AM
#6

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Apr 2009
5194
The Cockpit
Jun 23, 2012 12:16 PM
#7

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Apr 2012
133
Karpman said:
Anne no Nikki, not completely sure if you know the person named Anne, but she was a jew who kept a diary throughout the war and this is an anime based on it.
I'm pretty familiar with Anne Frank, I'll check it out.
Jun 23, 2012 1:46 PM
#8

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Mar 2009
5033
.Anime Title - .Production Year - .Eps - .My Rating .When .Comments

Grave of the Fireflies - 1988 - 1 - 10 - 1940's WWII - Civilians surviving bombing
Hadashi no Gen * - 1983 - 1 - 10 - 1940's WWII - Civilians surviving bombing
Hadashi no Gen 2 - 1993 - 1 - 10 - 1940's WWII -
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin - 2010 - 26 - 10 1950's - Japan gets itself back together after WWII
Senkou no Night Raid - 2010 - 13 - 10 - 1930's - Shanghai just prior to WWII. Supernatural but still very good.
Aoi Bungaku Series - 2009 - 12 - 9 - 1930's - First and third arc are set prior to WWII
Porco Rosso - 1996 - 1 - 9 1930's - Italy between WWI and WWI
The Cockpit - 1993 - 3 - 9 - 1940's WWII - A view from the Axis side. I especially liked the third arc.
The Sky Crawlers - 2008 - 1 - 9 - 1940's WWIIish - Alternate world w/ WWII like setting
Pumpkin Scissors - 2006 - 24 - 8 - 1930's -1940's - Alternate world w/ WWII like setting
Senjou no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles - 2009 - 26 - 8 - 1930's -1940's - Alternate world w/ WWII like setting
Sora no Woto - 2010 - 12 - 8 - 1930's -1940's - Alternate world based on Spain between WWI and WWII
First Squad: The Moment of Truth - 2009 - 1 - 7 - 1940's WWII - Russia - supernatural
Futatsu no Kurumi - 2007 - 1 - 7 - 1940's WWII - Civilians surviving bombing
Hetalia Axis Powers - 2009 - 52 - 7 - 1940's WWIIish - Historical Parody
Hetalia World Series - 2009 - 52 - 7 - 1940's WWIIish -
Kishin Corps - 1993 - 7 - 7 - 1940's WWIIish - What if? Sci-Fi
Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya (1947) - 2000 - 20 - 7 - 1947- - Japan getting itself back together just after WWII
Ushiro no Shoumen Daare - 1991 - 1 - 7 - 1940's WWII - Civilians surviving bombing
Urda - 2002 - 5 - 4 - 1940's WWIIish - Involves foiling a Nazi plan
Anne no Nikki 1995 1 ptw Holland WWII
-animeS - The plural of anime is anime. More than one deer is still deer. There is no damn "s".
-epic |ˈepik| noun•a work portraying heroic deeds/adventures covering an long period of time - adjective • heroic/grand in scale or character
Active Military, Prior Service, and Veteran's Anime Club
http://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=25937&time=1299710079
Jun 23, 2012 1:51 PM
#9
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Mar 2011
25073
Ketsudan
"If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine"

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one
For the Union makes us strong
Jun 23, 2012 1:52 PM

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Mar 2009
5033
Enjolras1830 said:
Ketsudan
--I SO want to see that but I can't find a sub.
-animeS - The plural of anime is anime. More than one deer is still deer. There is no damn "s".
-epic |ˈepik| noun•a work portraying heroic deeds/adventures covering an long period of time - adjective • heroic/grand in scale or character
Active Military, Prior Service, and Veteran's Anime Club
http://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=25937&time=1299710079
Jun 23, 2012 3:03 PM

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Dec 2011
2006
Barefoot Gen is a great war drama, more powerful in my opinion than Grave of the Fireflies. The first thirty minutes deal with Gen's family life during the war. They're suffering like all families, but perhaps in a worse way due to some outside circumstances. The rest of the film however deals with how survivors are making it through the aftermath of the bombing.
Jun 23, 2012 3:11 PM

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Mar 2009
5033
pendragonuzumaki said:
Barefoot Gen is a great war drama, more powerful in my opinion than Grave of the Fireflies. The first thirty minutes deal with Gen's family life during the war. They're suffering like all families, but perhaps in a worse way due to some outside circumstances. The rest of the film however deals with how survivors are making it through the aftermath of the bombing.
--It is extraordinary and generally overshadowed by Grave of the Fireflies.

How did Zipang get left off my list? It is exceptional. The history and artwork are spot on and the interaction between a modern Japanese Naval crew and that of WWII is amazing.

Title - Year - Episodes - My rating
Zipang - 2004 - 26 - 10
lisnoireJun 23, 2012 3:16 PM
-animeS - The plural of anime is anime. More than one deer is still deer. There is no damn "s".
-epic |ˈepik| noun•a work portraying heroic deeds/adventures covering an long period of time - adjective • heroic/grand in scale or character
Active Military, Prior Service, and Veteran's Anime Club
http://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=25937&time=1299710079
Jun 23, 2012 6:11 PM

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Apr 2012
133
I've heard of Barefoot Gen, didn't know what it was about though. I'll be sure to watch that.
Jul 23, 2016 8:11 AM
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Jul 2016
5
Not an actual suggestion, but I need an anime about the Battle of Britain. Despite being one of the most important battles of the war, it's sadly overlooked by most media outside of the UK.
Jul 23, 2016 10:48 AM

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May 2012
18056
SarccyOtaku said:
Not an actual suggestion, but I need an anime about the Battle of Britain. Despite being one of the most important battles of the war, it's sadly overlooked by most media outside of the UK.

You do know that the Japanese were on the other side in WWII, right? So what do you suppose are the chances that anyone made an anime about the Battle of Britain? In fact the number of anime about that War are vanishingly small and have to contort themselves to deal with modern political alignments. For instance, in the just finished Joker Game, the Germans are largely portrayed negatively, while the British are shown more sympathetically. Senkou no Night Raid suffers from similar issues.
SeijiSenseiJul 23, 2016 10:52 AM
Jul 23, 2016 10:59 AM
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Jul 2016
5
SeijiSensei said:
SarccyOtaku said:
Not an actual suggestion, but I need an anime about the Battle of Britain. Despite being one of the most important battles of the war, it's sadly overlooked by most media outside of the UK.

You do know that the Japanese were on the other side in WWII, right? So what do you suppose are the chances that anyone made an anime about the Battle of Britain? In fact the number of anime about that War are vanishingly small and have to contort themselves to deal with modern political alignments. For instance, in the just finished Joker Game, the Germans are largely negatively portrayed, while the British are shown more sympathetically. Senkou no Night Raid suffers from similar issues.
SeijiSensei said:
SarccyOtaku said:
Not an actual suggestion, but I need an anime about the Battle of Britain. Despite being one of the most important battles of the war, it's sadly overlooked by most media outside of the UK.

You do know that the Japanese were on the other side in WWII, right? So what do you suppose are the chances that anyone made an anime about the Battle of Britain?
In all fairness, you are right, but they have made an anime about the Red Army (admittedly it was a supernatural show, but my point still stands) who they fought to a greater extent than the British forces, and they also portrayed them positively in that (I can't remember the show's name, unfortunately). In any case, there's always a chance they'll start making war anime again considering that films in the same vein haven't gone away much in the West. And regarding which side the Japanese fought on, I am very well aware they sided with the Axis considering my great grandfather fought them in Burma (No sass intended).
Jul 23, 2016 11:05 AM

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May 2012
18056
It's a lot easier to make stories about WWII in the West because we won. Not so true for the Japanese.

And your point about the Red Army story is reinforced by the plot in Senkou no Night Raid. It's a story about Japanese agents in prewar China. In that show the agents also have super powers to muddy the waters, and their loyalty to the powers-that-be in Tokyo somewhat uncertain. The episode in that show about the Mukden Incident could not be shown on television and was relegated to web-only distribution because Japan's role in Manchuria remains a difficult subject nearly a century later.
Apr 8, 2018 10:57 PM
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Apr 2018
1
Here's a brief list of some additional ones from my collection that I don't think that I saw listed above:
(I've listed their Romaji, English, and Japanese names, as well as years released, to help you find them if you choose to do so)

- Momotarō no Umiwashi (Peachboy's Sea Eagles) 桃太郎の海鷲 (1943)
- Momotarō - Umi no Shinpei (Peachboy's Divine Sea Warriors) 桃太郎 海の神兵 (1945)
- O-Hoshisama no Rail (Rail of the Star) お星さまのレール (1993) - set in Chōsen immediately after the war
- Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World) この世界の片隅に (2016) - set in Kure and Hiroshima 1933-46
- Kuroi Ame ni Utarete (Struck by Black Rain) 黒い雨に打たれて (1984) - set in Hiroshima immediately after the war. Adapted from the manga written by Keiji Nakazawa, author of Barefoot Gen.
- Konpeki no Kantai (Deep Blue Fleet) 紺碧の艦隊 (1993-03) - alternate history OVA series
- Kyokujitsu no Kantai (Fleet of the Rising Sun) 旭日の艦隊 (1997-02) - alternate history OVA series. Companion series to Deep Blue Fleet.
- Shin Kaitei Gunkan (New Undersea Battleship, known in the West as Super Atragon) 新海底軍艦 (1995-96) - another alternate history OVA. The Pre-title sequence occurs 06AUG45, however, the remainder occurs modern day.

EDIT: I suppose you could also add:
Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) 風立ちぬ (2013), too.
A heavily fictionalized account of the life of aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi. Primarily deals with his design of the Claude carrier fighter, but strays way too much historically in most respects for me to actual enjoy the film. Sure, it's a very pretty film; however, studying the War for Greater East Asia for the last 40 yrs, I simply can't get past the inaccuracies. Probably my least favorite Miyazaki film solely because of these reasons.

Some are more obscure than others, but if you look hard enough, I'm sure you can locate them.

I'm glad that I stumbled upon this thread. I've been a follower of MAL for several years, yet never bothered to comment on anything. A few of the films listed above in the previous posts I've never even heard of before... Zipang, for example. Sounds fun. Sort of like a Jieitai version of The Final Countdown.
Avenger75Apr 9, 2018 6:57 AM
Apr 9, 2018 8:49 PM

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May 2017
16
Youjo Senki

One of my favorite recent animes. It is set in an alternative Earth around the time of WWI, but the technology of the world is more advanced for the time period (relatively speaking) and closer to WWII tech.
Apr 9, 2018 11:47 PM
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Apr 2018
11
youjo senki, or saga of tanya the evil.
its set in a world with mages and stuff, and in war that is basically equivalent to WW2. Either way its a good anime/manga, Ive watched/read both anime and manga separately twice.
Apr 10, 2018 5:13 AM

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May 2015
2371
SarccyOtaku said:
Not an actual suggestion, but I need an anime about the Battle of Britain. Despite being one of the most important battles of the war, it's sadly overlooked by most media outside of the UK.


The only thing that comes remotely close that I can think of would be Strike Witches

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