Season 9, Episode 2: War Fantasy (Patreon)

This week Thom overcomes a cold to take his turn dusting off an old idea for a research piece, although his first pick isn't really very old at all... On MSB 9.2, Thom digs into the 架空戦記 (kakuu senki / fictional war chronicles) genre of alternate history science fiction: its characteristics, historical origins, and the many connections tying it to Gundam generally and Stardust Memory in particular.

Show Notes- Kakuu Senki and 0083

Battleship(s) Yamato

• Episode 2: "The Opening Gun! Space Battleship Yamato Starts!" from Space Battleship Yamato by Matsumoto Leiji and Nishizaki Yoshinobu. October 13, 1974.
• Space Battleship Yamato: The Movie by Matsumoto Leiji and Nishizaki Yoshinobu. Compilation released August 6, 1977.
• The real history of the Yamato's final mission: Samuel J. Cox, H-044-3: “Operation Heaven Number One” (Ten-ichi-go)—the Death of Yamato, 7 April 1945, for Naval History and Heritage Command. April 2020. Available at https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-044/h-044-3.html.
• Grumman TBF Avenger: 

Image by Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK - TBM3 Avenger - Chino Airshow 2014, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47506264 

• Animator Ishiguro Noboru recalls the behind the scenes story of Yamato's historical flashback and the issue with the original score in this essay from 1980, translated by Tim Eldred for the Cosmo DNA Star Blazers / Space Battleship Yamato fandom archive: https://ourstarblazers.com/vault/367/ 
• Commentary on this scene by Arthur Painter, along with behind the scenes notes by Tim Eldred, can be found at Cosmo DNA.
• Yasuhiko Yoshikazu discusses his time on Space Battleship Yamato in this interview from the book My Back Pages, translated by Tim Eldred for Cosmo DNA.
• Yamato's role in inspiring the creation of Gundam is hinted at in this series of interviews translated for the Cries in Newtype blog.
• Yamato's connection to First Gundam is also mentioned in Production History: Mobile Suit Gundam by Mark Simmons. 
• Imag(in)ing the War in Japan: Representing and Responding to Trauma in Postwar Literature and Film, edited by Mark Williams and David Stahl. Brill. March 2, 2010. 
• In particular: William Ashbaugh, Contesting Traumatic War Narratives: Space Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam. Pgs. 327-353.
• "Is Yamato Militaristic?" - chapter 4 of "Space Battleship Yamato and 70s Japan" by Arai Hiroyuki and translated by Tim Eldred for Cosmo DNA.

Atragon

• 海底軍艦 / Atragon, by Honda Ishiro. Produced by Toho Co., Ltd. December 22, 1963. 
• Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, From Godzilla to Kurosawa. Wesleyan UP. 2017.

Kakuu Senki / 架空戦記

• Naoko Shimazu, Popular Representations of the Past: The Case of Postwar Japan. Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 38, no. 1, 2003, pp. 101–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3180699. Accessed 8 Aug. 2023.
• Japanese Wikipedia page for the kakuu senki (架空戦記) genre. 
• English Wikipedia page for Konpeki no Kantai, and the more detailed Japanese page for same (紺碧の艦隊).
• Other notable examples of works from the kakuu senki genre:
  
  連合艦隊ついに勝つ～ミッドウェーからレイテ海戦まで～ / The Combined Fleet Finally Wins: From Midway to the Battle of Leyte Gulf by Takagi Akimitsu, published in 1971. A military history otaku travels through time to help the Imperial Japanese Navy avoid its most costly mistakes.
  
  タイムスリップ大戦争 / Time Slip Great War by Toyoda Aritsune, published in 1975.
  
  レッドサン ブラッククロス / Red Sun Black Cross by Sato Daisuke, originally published as a game setting in 1985. Japan and the United States stay out of World War II, leading to German victory followed by German occupation of the United States in 1948 and a third World War between Germany and Japan.
  
  ニセコ要塞1986 / Niseko Fortress 1986 by Aramaki Yoshio, published in 1987. War between two foreign powers in Hokkaido in 1986.
  
  ラバウル烈風空戦録 / Rabaul Gale: Record of the Air War by Kawamata Chiaki, published in 1988. Japan does slightly better in the war at several key moments forcing a longer, drawn out conflict.
  
  大逆転!ミッドウェー海戦 / Great Reversal! Battle of Midway by Hiyama Yoshiaki, published in 1988. Modern Japan Self Defense Force ships are transported back in time to the battle of Midway.
  
  覇者の戦塵 / Dust of the Conqueror by Tani Koshu, published in 1991. Japanese army discovers oil fields in Manchuria in the 1930s.
  
  征途 / Expedition by Sato Daisuke, published in 1993. Japan is partitioned between communist North and capitalist democratic South.
  
  超大本営・戦艦大和出撃! / Super Imperial General Headquarters: Super Yamato Sortie! by Tani Kousei, published in 1993. Admiral Yamamoto survives being shot down and takes personal command of the Yamato, defeating the American fleet and then declaring war on Germany.
  
  鋼鉄のレヴァイアサン : 八八艦隊物語 / Steel Leviathan: 88 Fleet Saga by Yokoyama Nobuyoshi, published in 1997. World War II navies focused on big gun battleships instead of aircraft carriers.
  
  陸上戦艦大和 / Land Battleship Yamato by Aoyama Tomoki, published in 2002. John F. Kennedy time slips to 1941 just before Pearl Harbor, Japan is still ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the battleship Yamato has tank treads that allow it to drive on land.
  
  時空最強自衛隊 / Mighty Space Time Self-Defense Force, published in 2023. Modern Self Defense Force soldiers timeslip to an alternate past where Japan won World War II and became the sole super-power and hegemon.

• Japanese Wikipedia pages for some kakuu senki authors:
  Baba Yoshihiro / 馬場祥弘 (Plus a profile of Baba)
  Aramaki Yoshio / 荒巻義雄
  Hiyama Yoshiaki / 檜山良昭
  Sato Daisuke / 佐藤大輔
  Tani Kousei / 谷恒生 

• Further information on Japan's Economic Recovery ("Japanese Economic Miracle"), which was mentioned briefly during the piece.

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