Ask John: Why Are Military References so Common in Anime?

Question:
A lot of anime focuses on people in the military or ex-military personnel. Shows like Ghost in the Shell, Rurouni Kenshin, Peacemaker, Full Metal Panic, Blood+, Galaxy Railways and most robot anime tend to have a military backdrop. I was just wondering if there was any reason for this. I also noticed that a lot of these military anime tend to focus either in the samurai era of Japan or near future.

I’m sure if you found the military anime percentage out of all anime, it would be similar to a military Hollywood movies percentage out of all Hollywood movies. But I’m just wondering if there is a reason for such a focus on the military, considering that right now Japan is not a very militaristic country. Or is it all just for entertainment?

Answer:
Without performing a lot of thorough research to confirm, I do agree with the hypothesis that the percentage of anime with some sort of military reference among all anime is probably similar to the ratio found in mainstream American entertainment movies. The simple explanation for the prevalence of soldiers and military references in anime isn’t conspiratorial or propagandist. Including some degree of military background simply establishes a believable setting for action or suspense. Fictional action and suspense can evolve out of crime, sports (especially martial arts), and political themes. A military theme offers another option for screenwriters to create believable, exciting, action-filled scenarios that don’t rely on entirely supernatural or superhuman context like typical shonen adventure series do. Adding explosions, gun play, robots, and other action into a schoolyard romance anime like Clannad or Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka would be ridiculous. However, simply giving one of the characters a military background, like Sousuke Sagara of Full Metal Panic, and suddenly gun play and action in a school setting becomes entirely appropriate.

Japan is not a pacifistic nation, however, since WWII Japan has not maintained an army. While Japan does maintain a military self-defense force, the country heavily relies upon US forces for its national defense. So it’s natural for militaristic anime to concentrate heavily on the past, when Japan was more militaristic, and an imagined future in which Japanese military power may be a greater necessity. That’s not to say that there aren’t any anime dealing with contemporary military themes and settings. Anime including Yomigaeru Sora -Rescue Wings-, Zipang, Chinmoku no Kantai, and Konpeki no Kantai immediately spring to mind. However, the majority of the contemporary Japanese public is content with the country’s minimum of armed forces. Certain animators, including Mamoru Oshii and Ryosuke Takahashi, have a noted interest in military themes and tend to include military imagery in their anime and deal with military chain of command organization. But even in these instances I’ve personally never seen cause to believe that anime subtly or overtly includes references to the armed services, militarism, or soldier characters in order to propagate a political agenda. Naturally, there will always be anti-war anime, as well as anime that encourage nationalism. But a small percentage of film with a political goal is typical of any thriving film industry.

American animation, with the distinct exception of G.I. Joe, does tend to exclude reference to organized armed service because American cartoons are careful not to seem like propaganda indoctrinating impressionable children. Anime does frequently include military themes, but anime includes countless concepts that are typically excluded in American animation. In the vast majority of instances, militarism appears in anime only to establish verisimilitude or literally add character. Mamoru Oshii, for example, may be fond of military themes, but I doubt anyone could argue that the Mendo army in his Urusei Yatsura anime is intended as anything more than parody.