1945 Japanese film
Momotaro: Sacred Sailors
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Momotaro-_Sacred_Sailors_poster.jpg/220px-Momotaro-_Sacred_Sailors_poster.jpg) |
Directed by
| Mitsuyo Seo
|
---|
Written by
| Mitsuyo Seo
|
---|
Cinematography
| Mitsuyo Seo
[1]
|
---|
Music by
| Y?ji Koseki
|
---|
Production
company
| Sh?chiku D?ga Kenky?sho
|
---|
Distributed by
| Shochiku
|
---|
Release date
|
- 12 April 1945
(
1945-04-12
)
|
---|
Running time
| 74 minutes
|
---|
Country
| Japan
|
---|
Languages
| Japanese
English
|
---|
Momotaro: Sacred Sailors
(
桃太? 海の神兵
,
Momotar?: Umi no Shinpei
)
[2]
is the first Japanese
feature-length
animated film
.
[3]
It was directed by
Mitsuyo Seo
, who was ordered to make a
propaganda film
for
World War II
by the
Japanese Naval Ministry
.
Shochiku
Moving Picture Laboratory shot the 74-minute film in 1944 and screened it on 12 April 1945. It is a sequel to
Momotar? no Umiwashi
, a 37-minute film released in 1943 by the same director.
[4]
[
better source needed
]
In English, the film is sometimes referred to as
Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors
.
Plot
[
edit
]
Screenshot from the film, where Monkey and Puppy are saying goodbye.
After completing naval training, a
bear
cub, a
monkey
, a
pheasant
, and a puppy say goodbye to their families.
[5]
While they are preoccupied, the monkey's younger brother Santa falls into a river while chasing the monkey's cap and is carried towards a waterfall. The dog and monkey coordinate a rescue to save Santa just before he is swept downstream. They succeed and the monkey and his little brother then enjoy the scenery of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding land. While Santa frolics in the field chasing the cap in the wind, the monkey observes the dandelions spreading their seeds and is mesmerized by its beauty. The dandelions floating gently down remind the monkey of paratroopers descending from the sky, transitioning to a time skip. The Japanese forces are seen clearing a forest and constructing an airbase on a Pacific island with the help of the jungle animals who sing as they work. A plane lands at the airstrip and from inside emerges Momotaro, depicted as a General, together with the bear, monkey, dog, and pheasant, who by this point have become high-ranking officials. The animal residents of the island are shown as simple primitives who are star-struck by the glamorous and advanced Japanese animals. The subsequent scenes show the jungle animals being taught the Japanese kana via singing and they continue to sing the AIUEO song while washing and drying clothes and preparing meals. The officers then prepare ammunition and artillery for the warplanes.
Thereafter, a narration of the story of how the island of
Celebes
was acquired by the
Dutch East India Company
follows and it is revealed that the Japanese are attempting to invade it. The monkey, dog, and bear cub become parachute jumpers while the pheasant becomes a pilot.
[6]
The paratroopers ambush a convoy of
armoured cars
and hastily invade a British fort, causing the unprepared British soldiers to panic and flee. Captain Momotaro, the monkey, and the puppy are then shown negotiating with three clearly terrified, stammering British officials. After a brief argument, the British agree to surrender Celebes and the surrounding islands to Japanese rule. A brief epilogue shows Santa and other children playing paratrooper and jumping onto a chalk outline of continental America. Thus, depicting the United States as the target of their generation.
There are some musical scenes. Of note is
The Song of
AIUEO
(
アイウエオの歌
,
AIUEO no Uta
)
, a scene where Japanese soldiers teach local animals how to speak.
Background
[
edit
]
The Naval Ministry previously showed Seo
Fantasia
(1940), the
Disney
film. Inspired by this, Seo tried to give dreams to children, as well as to instill the hope for peace, just as he did in the film's predecessor,
Momotaro's Sea Eagles
. At that time, unlike German animation and American animation, Japanese animation was not fully promoted as a tool for propaganda by the Japanese government. Animation was not considered as effective as other media by Japanese government officials. As we can see in the first scene of the film, "For Children (小?民に捧ぐ Shokokumin ni tsugu)", the film was designed for children.
[7]
For a long time, the film was presumed to have been confiscated and burnt by the
American occupation
. However, a negative copy of the film was found in Shochiku's Ofuna warehouse in 1983 and was re-released in 1984.
[8]
A reproduced film was later screened and the VHS package is now available in Japan.
Legacy
[
edit
]
The Song of
AIUEO
(
アイウエオの歌
,
AIUEO no Uta
)
is famous for being given a homage in the series
Kimba the White Lion
(
ジャングル大帝
,
Janguru Taitei
)
by
Osamu Tezuka
. Tezuka had seen the film in April 1945. He later said that he was moved to tears by the film's hints of dreams and hopes, hidden under the appearance of war propaganda.
The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the
2016 Cannes Film Festival
.
[9]
UK based company
All the Anime
announced in May 2016 that would release the film on
Blu-ray
and in that same month it was also announced that U.S. distributor
Funimation
would also be releasing the film on Blu-ray and
DVD
alongside
Spider and Tulip
on a single disc.
[10]
[11]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Momotaro, Sacred Sailors (1945) - IMDb"
.
IMDb
.
Archived
from the original on 2016-10-10
. Retrieved
2018-06-28
.
- ^
"Momotaro, Sacred Sailors"
.
Shochiku
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-02-24
. Retrieved
2009-10-03
.
- ^
Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy.
The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917
. Revised and Expanded Edition
.?Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2006.?P. 12.?
ISBN
978-1933330105
- ^
"Momotaro: Umi no shinpei"
.
IMDb
. 12 March 1945.
Archived
from the original on 27 July 2018
. Retrieved
28 June
2018
.
- ^
Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2006).
The Anime Encyclopedia
. California: Stone Bridge Press.
ISBN
1-933330-10-4
.
- ^
Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2006).
The Anime Encyclopedia
. California: Stone Bridge Press.
ISBN
1-933330-10-4
.
- ^
Hagihara, Yukari; 萩原由加里 (2015-03-27).
Masaoka Kenz? to sono jidai : "Nihon anim?shon no chichi" no senzen to sengo
. T?ky?.
ISBN
978-4787273741
.
OCLC
905837834
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2006).
The Anime Encyclopedia
. California: Stone Bridge Press.
ISBN
1-933330-10-4
.
- ^
"Cannes Classics 2016"
.
Cannes Film Festival
. 20 April 2016.
Archived
from the original on 10 February 2017
. Retrieved
21 April
2016
.
- ^
"Anime Limited Updates from MCM London Comic Con (Updated 3)"
.
Anime News Network
. 29 May 2016.
Archived
from the original on 18 June 2018
. Retrieved
29 May
2016
.
- ^
"Funimation Licenses WWII-Era Anime Film Momotaro, Sacred Sailors"
. 31 May 2016.
Archived
from the original on 5 February 2017
. Retrieved
24 February
2017
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Patten, Fred
(2004) [First published in
Animation World Magazine
1, no. 7, October 1996]. "
Momotaro's Gods-Blessed Sea Warriors
: Japan's Unknown Wartime Feature".
Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews
. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. pp. 325?328.
ISBN
1-880656-92-2
.
- Clements, Jonathan and Helen McCarthy (2001).
The Anime Encyclopedia : A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917
. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
ISBN
1-880656-64-7
.
External links
[
edit
]