History Film / PortArthur

* {{Deconstruction}}: All 3 films deconstruct the rather patriotic tone of earlier Japanese war films, with many of the tropes seen in those films being ripped apart. The kind young cadet who seems to be TheWoobie? He's hiding aggression and tension of all kinds. The stoic, wise officer? Weary from years of war and just as likely to snap under pressure. PatrioticFervor? Hides a system of corruption, TheNeidermeyer, and abuse. And both sides are seen as human.

* WarIsHell: In spades. Lieutenant Koga delivers an angry speech to General Nogi over how war turns men into demons.

* UsefulNotes/JapaneseChristian: Lieutenant Koga regularly attends church before the war.
* ManOnFire: Quite a few times.

* CoitusEnsues: Sadly drags down Imperial Japanese Empire.

* BreakTheCutie: Lieutenant Koga is a kind elementary school teacher and pacifist who admires Russia and Russian culture before being drafted. Months of grueling combat and siege conditions turn him into a cynical ShellShockedVeteran and it culminates in him snapping and attempting to murder a captured Russian officer who taunts him during an interrogation referring to the Japanese as an '[[Yellow Peril oriental monkey kingdom]]'.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: While the Japanese succeed in taking Port Arthur and winning the war, Lieutenant Koga dies in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with a Russian soldier during a final assault after watching most of the men in his company die over the course of the siege. The film ends with General Nogi weeping over the death of so many of his men ({{OutlivingOnesOffspring including his sons}}) in front of the Imperial court and Koga's widow mourning his death.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: While the Japanese succeed in taking Port Arthur and winning the war, Lieutenant Koga dies in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with a Russian soldier during a final assault after watching most of the men in his company die over the course of the siege. The film ends with General Nogi weeping over the death of so many of his men [[(OutlivingOnesOffspring including his sons)]] in front of the Imperial court and Koga's widow mourning his death.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: While the Japanese succeed in taking Port Arthur and winning the war, Lieutenant Koga dies in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with a Russian soldier during a final assault after watching most of the men in his company die over the course of the siege. The film ends with General Nogi weeping over the death of so many of his men (OutlivingOnesOffspring including his sons) in front of the Imperial court and Koga's widow mourning his death.]]

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: General Nogi will lose both his sons in the course of the war, the second during the siege of Port Arthur itself.