History Anime / MomotarosDivineSeaWarriors

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/momotarouminoshinpei01.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The cutest little killer monkey you'll ever see.]]

!!Tropes:

''Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors'' (桃太郎 海の神兵, ''Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei'' also known in English as ''Momotaro, Sacred Sailors'') is a 74-minute black-and-white 1945 animated film from Japan, written and directed by Mitsuyo Seo.

''Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors'' (桃太郎 海の神兵, ''Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei'') is a 74-minute black-and-white 1945 animated film from Japan, written and directed by Mitsuyo Seo.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The English-language dialogue from the British soldiers is quite fluent both in accent and grammar.

* SurpriseCreepy: See MoodWhiplash above. The sweet and cuddly animals become fearsome warriors.

* MoodWhiplash: The lyrical, pastoral opening scenes, where the monkey carries his little brother around and everything is gentle and sweet, clash with the aggressively militaristic scenes that follow. This may have been a subtle moment of GettingCrapPastTheRadar for Seo, who was politically a left-winger.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The English-language dialogue from the British soldiers is quite fluent both in accent and grammar. This raises the question of just who the heck was recording this dialogue during a time when the Japanese were at war with all the Anglophone countries of the world except for Ireland. British prisoners-of-war, maybe?

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Kawaisa}} Kawaisa]]: An early example from the [=WW2=] era. Guess why.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Kawaisa}} Kawaisa]]: An early example from the WW2 era. Guess why.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Kawaiisa}} Kawaiisa]]: An early example from the WW2 era. Guess why.

* {{Kawaiisa}}: An early example from the WW2 era.

* {{Kawaiisa]]: An early example from the WW2 era.

''Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors'' was the sequel to a 37-minute short film, ''Anime/MomotarosSeaEagles'' (1943). The character of Momotaro is taken from the famous Japanese folk tale "Literature/{{Momotaro}}", about a miraculous boy born from a pear who grows up to be a great warrior.

* MoneyDearBoy: While this is his most famous work, Mitsuyo Seo was actually a leftist who pretty much did propaganda films because those were the only kind of films people were willing to produce.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The English-language dialogue from the British soldiers is quite fluent both in accent and grammar. This raises the question of just who the heck was recording this dialogue during a time when the Japanese were at war with all the Anglophone countries of the world. British prisoners-of-war?

Four cute cuddly creatures--a monkey, a bear cub, a rabbit, and a pheasant--return home from naval aviation training to say goodbye to their famiiles. While there, the monkey's little brother falls into the river, and the gang have to save him before he plunges over the falls. The action then skips to a Pacific island where the Japanese forces (again cute cuddly animals, mostly rabbits) are building an air base. Momotaro, a little boy dressed as a general, arrives to take command, along with the monkey, bear cub, rabbit, and pheasant. The Japanese build their base while taking time to give the natives classes on how to write and speak Japanese. In the third section of the film, Momotaro and his squadron of cute cuddly Imperial Japanese Navy parachutists conduct an airborne invasion of another island that is held by British imperialists.

''Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors'' was the sequel to a 37-minute short film, ''Momotaro's Sea Eagles'' (1943). The character of Momotaro is taken from the famous Japanese folk tale "Literature/{{Momotaro}}", about a miraculous boy born from a pear who grows up to be a great warrior.

This film, being a propaganda piece produced in the final months of a war Japan was obviously losing, and aimed at children who had been evacuated from the cities to the countryside, didn't find much of an audience in 1945. For decades it was thought to be lost, possibly destroyed by the occupying Americans, until a negative print was found in 1943. It is believed to be the first feature-length anime film ever made.

* MisplacedWildlife: The little island where the Japanese build their base contains elephants, rhinos, and crocodiles, none of which are found in the islands of the southwest Pacific. In fact, animals that large aren't found on small islands, period.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The little island where the Japanese build their base contains elephants, rhinos, and crocodiles, none of which are found in the islands of the southwest Pacific. In fact, animals that large aren't found on small islands, period.

* UncannyValley: The British soldiers in Singapore are not drawn as animals, but as pale-skinned human beings. The effect is creepy and unsettling.
* WartimeCartoons: Not only the first feature-length anime, but probably the first feature-length wartime cartoon made anywhere.