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theseventhl's review against another edition
5.0
Do not expect any sort of happy ending, some kind of moral satisfaction, at the end of this book. It is first and foremost a story about war, and the men made to fight in them. It is violent, vulgar, bloody, and unforgiving. You will probably walk away from ONWARDS TOWARDS OUR NOBLE DEATHS with a sense of futility, a sense of anger, and yet also an inch of comprehension for those soldiers made to die in the name of gyokusai. And if so, then manga-ka Mizuki has succeeded in his mission with this "90 percent" autobiographical work.
lsparrow's review against another edition
2.0
I find war stories difficult to get into and this was no acception.
iceberg0's review against another edition
3.0
Really interesting to see the war from the point of view of the regular Japanese soldier. Mizuki survived the absolutely atrocious mortality rates of the Japanese war in the Pacific and in 1970 wrote a graphic novel that tells his story. Recently it was translated into English and while it is at times difficult to keep the characters straight the story is very compelling.
borpotingis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
annaslitpages's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this was very harrowing, especially towards the end. It conveyed the stupidity of war really well. The reason I don't rate this higher is that the style just didn't really work for me. It was very vulgar. I get that war was and is vulgar, but I didn't feel the first half of the book had enough substance to make it anything more than an unpleasant read. The second half definitely changed things - it was still not a pleasant read but that's because I was being affected by what was going on and I was feeling for the characters, rather than just feeling put off.
blairconrad's review against another edition
By all accounts a very good book, and apparently Mizuki is a genius, but I just couldn't do it. The plethora of characters, barely introduced, and with oddly childish outlooks, just didn't hold my interest. 200 pages in, I was completely bored and couldn't even distinguish one character from another, let alone care about them.
bryanzk's review against another edition
5.0
japanese's war concept is so sick that never considers human as human being. the doc's words are the core idea of the book
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
3.0
What a tough read.
It's an interesting bit of history, seeing how Japanese forces were living and fighting. And this is a great example of a book for those who have a low opinion of "those backwards graphic novels" (by which I mean read right-to-left, not so much as a racial thing. Although maybe I'm misinterpreting the criticism?)
What's sort of bizarre about the whole thing is that it does make me question how effective Japanese forces could have been as WWII went on. They were outnumbered and stuck on islands, but there was always a fear that the Japanese would dig in and be almost impossible to beat, and the only way to break through would mean great loss of life.
However, this book makes me think otherwise. Because when given the choice between retreating to the mountains and engaging in guerrilla warfare or making a suicide charge, the leadership elects to make the suicide charge. And when some of the force fails to make the charge, their leaders commit suicide and the rest of their troops are ordered to make a second, re-do suicide charge. It's a bizarre way to fight a war, in my humble, 2013 opinion. Or maybe it's a western viewpoint? Either way, I can't wrap my head around the idea of putting some version of honor above the possibility of success when it comes to winning a war. Because let's face it, dropping the bomb was effective, successful. But as honor goes, I don't know that it's exactly a noble act or anything. I guess one of the most undervalued resources in wars has always been the willingness to abandon the moral high ground.
Oh, and by the way, as most books regarding war, this one definitely proves that the whole thing is really, fundamentally stupid. I mean, just a mind-blowingly poor way to resolve anything. I'm not calling the soldiers stupid or anything like that, but the very concept of war is such a bizarre, ridiculous leftover from a time long past.
It's an interesting bit of history, seeing how Japanese forces were living and fighting. And this is a great example of a book for those who have a low opinion of "those backwards graphic novels" (by which I mean read right-to-left, not so much as a racial thing. Although maybe I'm misinterpreting the criticism?)
What's sort of bizarre about the whole thing is that it does make me question how effective Japanese forces could have been as WWII went on. They were outnumbered and stuck on islands, but there was always a fear that the Japanese would dig in and be almost impossible to beat, and the only way to break through would mean great loss of life.
However, this book makes me think otherwise. Because when given the choice between retreating to the mountains and engaging in guerrilla warfare or making a suicide charge, the leadership elects to make the suicide charge. And when some of the force fails to make the charge, their leaders commit suicide and the rest of their troops are ordered to make a second, re-do suicide charge. It's a bizarre way to fight a war, in my humble, 2013 opinion. Or maybe it's a western viewpoint? Either way, I can't wrap my head around the idea of putting some version of honor above the possibility of success when it comes to winning a war. Because let's face it, dropping the bomb was effective, successful. But as honor goes, I don't know that it's exactly a noble act or anything. I guess one of the most undervalued resources in wars has always been the willingness to abandon the moral high ground.
Oh, and by the way, as most books regarding war, this one definitely proves that the whole thing is really, fundamentally stupid. I mean, just a mind-blowingly poor way to resolve anything. I'm not calling the soldiers stupid or anything like that, but the very concept of war is such a bizarre, ridiculous leftover from a time long past.