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NEWS: Funimation Licenses WWII-Era Anime Film Momotaro, Sacred Sailors


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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 863
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:08 pm Reply with quote
That's what you call an obscure pickup. I'll definitely check this out!
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Gemnist



Joined: 10 Feb 2016
Posts: 1754
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:17 pm Reply with quote
Us licensing Axis propaganda? Jesus. But it's a piece of history, so nice work Funimation!
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:21 pm Reply with quote
Besides war propaganda the film is also an artifact of Japanese colonialism as primitive tropical animals eagerly help the Japanese animals build an airbase and are educated in the Japanese language in a musical sequence.
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trunkschan90



Joined: 08 Aug 2002
Posts: 592
Location: California
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:35 pm Reply with quote
Whoa! Didn't see this coming from Funimation.
I'll definitely be picking this up when it's out. I'm always interested in animation history.
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Animechic420



Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 1724
Location: A Cave Filled With Riches
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:38 pm Reply with quote
Holy hell....

I'll let y'all know, I've been watching Joker Game, thinking/wondering if they were gonna show the bombings of Pearl Harbor in a future episode. (Probably not.)

Now there's a Japanese film where I might see it. Surprised
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Parsifal24





PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:43 pm Reply with quote
I'll probably buy it as it's historically important I'd just like to know the when and where of it's release here.
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Triltaison



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 717
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:52 pm Reply with quote
I'm genuinely surprised that Funimation is the company releasing this. I was very much hoping to get a physical release in the US after news of the screening, but they're one of the last companies I would guess to pick it up. Kudos for surprising me, Funi! I'm looking forward to it.
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Moroboshi-san



Joined: 06 Apr 2015
Posts: 174
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 1:18 pm Reply with quote
Animechic420 wrote:
Now there's a Japanese film where I might see it. Surprised

Not in this one though. Pearl Harbor was prominently featured in Seo earlier work Momotarō no Umiwashi.

It is interesting to watch Umi no Shinpei against the backdrop that it was screened at the time when it began to be clear to most people that war was not going to go the way Japan wanted. Battleship Yamato was sunk few days earlier, and atomic bombs were only 4 months away.
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Joshua Taylor



Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 1:28 pm Reply with quote
I don't think anyone is going to watch it.

Funimation what were you thinking?
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5294
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 1:41 pm Reply with quote
Oh so they can afford to restore a WWII propaganda film, with very niche appeal. Bu they have to go to Kickstarter to finance a release for a show which by comparison came out only yesterday.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 1:47 pm Reply with quote
It's a bold impressive pick up, there's no denying that. Momotaro, that's the pheasant, dog and monkey story together with peach boy wonder fighting demons, right? And here, the allied powers are the demons? Yeah...

Has Disney released Song of the South yet? What about those banned Warner Bros shorts which were, kind of? "We have no history with this so it's less a cultural blackspot for us and more an artistic oddity." Or so I'm guessing.

Look on the bright side, there could be more to it than Graveyard of the Fireflies personal guilt shaming. I can put it in historic perspective without watching it but in order to successfully feel the tone, I'd have to watch it. Setting the main character as a boy could have an accidental "What were we thinking starting this war? We're babes!" mentality to it or it's the Japanese equivalent of Bugs/Popeye/Captain America punching Hitler- or Donald Duck working for him.

Wait, what? Ah, satire. Ok, it's probably not that.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 1:55 pm Reply with quote
Very interesting piece of history. Wonder if the specification of "hopme video" means it will not be made available streaming.
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H. Guderian



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 1255
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 2:13 pm Reply with quote
Momotaro is...something. I think the best part is the section where they go into their perceptions of the history of the European merchants and the Kingdom of Goa, which gives us decades later some look into the mindset of a nation worried about the ABCD encirlement. But that was in Divine Sea Warriors? There's so many subtitles for those wartime Momotaro movies. It'd be nice to actually see them all so i can keep my facts straight.

Though the animation of the Colonialists-humans is so noodly its bad-funny.

Hey, Funimation, while you're at it grab "Fuku-chan's submarine". That one's actually made by the guy who eventually made the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer holiday puppet shows we all enjoy so much over here. Plus much less objectional content in that one, though Momotaro was the 'best' animation out of Japan at the time so it is the more important milestone.


Last edited by H. Guderian on Tue May 31, 2016 2:16 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 2:15 pm Reply with quote
An interesting pick. I wouldn't mind checking this out, if given the change.
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revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2016 3:23 pm Reply with quote
I've first watched this years ago on YouTube.

Last edited by revolutionotaku on Tue May 31, 2016 4:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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