Forum - View topicMixing Fact and Fiction: Historical Fiction in Anime
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13224 |
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No mention of Strike Witches? For shame!
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2442 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Minor: in the first graf, could we get an encyclopedia link on "Schwarzes Marken"? http://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=17670 Thanks.
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Heishi
 Posts: 1317 |
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SW isn't what many would consider history/fantasy mixing.
I would like to know if there was any feudal era anime that does NOT take place during the Sengoku era. |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I think that Strike Witches, and Girls und Panzer, would be alternate history science fiction rather than historical fiction.
I admit though that I cannot compare them with the shows in the article because I have not seen any of those. I guess that I just do not have any interest in historical fiction. I have been trying to think of any shows that I have seen that might be historical fiction, but I am drawing a blank. |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1773 Location: South America |
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Princess Mononoke can be described as historical fiction. It has some fantasy elements but Miyazaki said it was a "period-drama" in a interview (with Akira Kurosawa).
Princess Mononoke takes place in the Muromachi period. |
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Ouran High School Dropout
 Posts: 440 Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA |
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I'm not sure I'd call Baccano! historical fiction, but there's one thing it got absolutely spot on--the depiction of U.S. coins and paper money of the period. I've watched the entire series more than once, and couldn't find a single error. It makes me me wonder if the animation team had a copy of the Friedberg catalog on hand...
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18179 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Exactly. Although it uses several historical references in its character names and Striker units, the introduction of the Neuroi make events play out utterly differently. GuP is even farther afield, as it's an alternate world which just borrows tank designs from our world. Concerning other titles brought up, Princess Mononoke may have some historical context but feels like too much of a stretch to call historical fiction.
None that I know of. Feudal Japan is usually defined as a combination of the Kamakura and Sengoku eras, which covers 1185-1603 or so, and the period from roughly 1000 to the 1470s in Japan is a dead zone as far as anime is concerned. And residentgringo: You're apparently using a very narrow definition of historical fiction. I prefer a broader interpretation, and based this piece on that. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I was surprised that Hyouge Mono wasn't mentioned, but I suppose the fact that it has never been licensed is one strike against it here. Leaving aside the major deviation from historical canon you mention (I generally obfuscate that fact when I write about this show), and despite its occasional strong comedic tone, Hyouge Mono does feel like a pretty accurate portrayal of life among the powerful during the Sengoku period. I was especially fascinated by its portrayal of Nobunaga and his preference for European-styled clothing. 
I do wish someone had subtitled those brief live-action epilogues that followed the show's airings and discussed the actual works of art that appear in the anime. I've watched a couple of them from the Chinese fansub and, while admiring the pieces is worthwhile, I wish I could understand what was being said. One other show I'll mention is Oh! Edo Rocket, the adaptation of Nakashima Kazuki's stage play by Mizushima Seiji, Aikawa Shou and Madhouse. It's a satire on political repression using the Tenpou Reforms as its basis. The show is generally over-the-top (it has aliens, for instance), but it does include actual historical events and personages. Before watching this show, I had no idea the Shogunate resorted to such silly bans on things like fireworks displays in an effort to "purify" Japan as it became more open to foreign influences. You can watch this on YouTube. One historical show that I really liked, Hidamari no Ki, sadly has only four of its episodes subbed. It concerns the great-grandfather of Tezuka Osamu who was a physician as was Tezuka himself. The grandfather was one of the advocates for European ("Dutch") medicine and often found himself at odds with the Shogun's official doctors. |
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animemaster1
 Posts: 105 Location: Beverly Hills |
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You'rem forgetting the most important one: Rurouni Kenshin, especially the OVAS. Forgetting to mention that one is a crime, and I am not just saying that because of my avatar. It has THE best OVAS ever made EVER.
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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residentgrigo is just one of many who likes to believe his opinions are facts.
The Fate universe loves to play around with history in more ways than one. Sure, we can totally buy that Alexander the Great was a big burly bear while Gilgamesh is the blonde bishounen. 
Oda Nobunaga no Yabou runs the similar vein of switching genders of historical figures, but keeps itself in check when it comes to actual events that happened in the Sengoku era. More accurate than Sengoku Basara imo. On the more grounded note, manga like Historie mostly plays it to the letter. The same maybe said for Schwarzesmarken in the sense that it portrayed the political, economical and social disparities of Post WW2 Germany in the 1980's sans giant robots and civilization wrecking alien species. There's a whole lot more historical fiction in anime and manga. I could list them all night. |
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jutsuri
Posts: 49 |
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Peacemaker Kurogane is my favorite Shinsengumi anime, it stuck to historical events pretty closely as far as I know.
Otome Youkai Zakuro is much more fantastical but does put a lot of care into depicting life during the Meiji Restoration. I have to second the recommendation for the Kingdom manga. I found the cgi distracting in the anime and it only covers a small fraction of the material, but in my opinion the Kingdom manga is historical fiction at it's best. |
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TG72
 Posts: 334 |
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers The Mysterious Cities of Gold. That show was a pretty solid effort to teach some Latin American history and geography. There are only a couple of actual historic figures that show up (Magellan and Pizzaro) and it's not like a textbook. But it does give the audience enough of a feel for the era to spark interest in the real history (and go visit some of the places depicted: Tikal, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Nazca, etc).
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Surprisingly, aside from a few details, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa is surprisingly accurate in its depiction of Post-WWI Germany. Obviously they added the fantastical elements of FMA, but it really showed the research that went into depicting the time period and some of the personalities in and around Berlin at the time. The "stab in the back" feelings of Germans in the Weimar Republic, the Nazi Party obsession with occult elements, Fritz Lang, and other elements were fairly spot on (besides a few variations).
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11340 |
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Millennium Actress is actually more a trip through Japanese film history specifically, rather than a general view of history, though naturally the two things coincide to a degree. Like most of the titles we're discussing, Chiyoko's movies weren't historically accurate either, but the depiction of them as cinema in the anime pretty much was (well, aside from all the fantastical self-insertion going on
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invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2442 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Yeah, being old enough (I'm 49) to vividly remember the Cold War made Schwarzesmarken work better for me than I suppose it would for someone much younger. There was a specific, Orwellian evil to the East German surveillance state, and the idea that "The Party" was to be venerated above all else: friends, family, even reality. Back then, the countries behind the Iron Curtain were effectively holding their own populations as prisoners--that was the point of the Berlin Wall, after all--so showing characters attempting to defect to the West was totally on point. In fact, that brings up a mistake in how this over-the-top show didn't go far enough. In an early scene, we see a family running through the woods to cross the border to West Germany. A pair of German guys fact-checking the series on YouTube pointed out that the East Germans actually cut down all the trees near the border, so that would-be defectors would be easier to shoot. |
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