Line #40 Anime/FutureWar198X


1	[[quoteright:318:[[Creator/NoriyoshiOhrai https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/futurewar198xposter_1846.jpg]]]]
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3	->[[TagLine "Now... never say never."]]
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5	''Future War 198X'' is a 1982 {{OVA}} released outside of Japan in 1986, loosely based on ''{{Literature/The Third World War}}'' and directed by [[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Toshio Masuda]].
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7	The OVA tells of the events leading up to WorldWarIII and the characters it most closely affects. Burt, an American scientist, invents the Missile Defense System, making it so the USA no longer feels threatened by nuclear war. The world looks on as his test is successful. His sister and best friend, Laura and Wataru, soon find out that he has been kidnapped by Soviet spies, and after the nuking of the Russian submarine goes terribly wrong, all hell breaks loose. The events of that holiday season are seen through the eyes of the President of the United States; Michael, a British soldier; the team at the Kremlin; and Burt's closest friends.
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9	At the time of development, Japanese citizens protested Creator/ToeiAnimation making the film. Such a shattering of the NuclearWeaponsTaboo had never happened. There had been ''The'' ''Last'' ''War'' and ''Film/TheDayAfter'', but nothing that had so thoroughly depicted the politics and graphic aftermath.
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11	While a 1982 calendar and a 12 track soundtrack LP were released in Japan, this OVA is incredibly hard to find. Released once on videotape in the two sides of Germany, Italy and Australia, few copies were produced due to the arthouse-filmgoer demographic not being big buyers. The European releases are just hacked up versions of the Australian, which cut 35 minutes. They didn't bother adding credits besides the Japanese ones, adding to the mystery of why Wizard Video released it at all, being a little-known horror film distributor in the first place. Thanks to Wizard Video, the movie hasn't completely faded into obscurity but is getting there. KeepCirculatingTheTapes.
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13	A detailed rundown can be found [[http://www.anime-games.co.uk/VHS/anime/futurewar.php here]].
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15	Not to be confused with the infamous (thanks to ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'') live action film ''Film/FutureWar''.
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17	Compare ''Film/TheDayAfter'', ''Manga/BarefootGen'', ''Film/{{Threads}}'', and ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows''.
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20	!!Tropes related to the film:
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22	* AMillionIsAStatistic: Invoked. After the first volley of nukes hits the US, the President is given a death toll estimate of "fifteen to twenty million" by his military chiefs. He then shows disgust at how five million human lives get written off as a statistical margin of error.
23	** The Soviet defense minister plays the trope callously straight when making the case for early strikes to the rest of the Politburo, which leaves Chairman Orlov aghast.
24	* AnimatedAdaptation: [[Literature/TheThirdWorldWar Loosely based.]]
25	* BigRedButton: The Minister of Defense ignores orders and presses the large red button, which launches a massive second wave assault. [[spoiler:Miami, New York City, Chicago and Tokyo are all destroyed and from space the Earth turns red.]]
26	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Even though Paris, NYC, Miami, Chicago, Tokyo and other cities are destroyed and millions have died, the survivors along with the rest of the world band together after the Communist leader is killed. Wataru is returned safely to Earth after the remaining Soviets have a change of heart.]]
27	* {{Bowdlerization}}: All of the most violent and bloody scenes, plus most scenes of Japan's involvement, are edited out of the dub versions.
28	* CaptivityHarmonica: During the evacuation trip out of a ruined Japan, an African American soldier plays "Deep River", an old classic Negro spiritual. It serves as a comforting DeathSong to a fellow soldier on his deathbead.
29	* ClingyJealousGirl: Laura to Wataru. She makes it very obvious when at the disco he begins dancing with another partner.
30	* ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping: The President sends a box of cigars with a note asking for renewed friendship to Russia's leader for Christmas the day after the accident. While they were expensive cigars, Orlov scoffs and is insulted at the "thoughtless gift," assuming that they are cheap and can be bought conveniently. He brands the President a [[AmericansAreCowboys stupid American cowboy]]... while smoking it anyways.
31	* CountryMouse: Marina is one.
32	* HowlOfSorrow: The American President, upon realizing that all his negotiation efforts were for naught and there was no stopping what was to come next.
33	* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Michael frantically searches for [[spoiler:Marina]] after a fight breaks out in Neinberg, only to find her crushed under the rubble of a building. He pulls her out and she dies in his arms.
34	* DirtyCommunists: Naturally, since it's an eighties work involving nuclear warfare. Not all of them are evil, but ultimately a few of them are the biggest villains, waiting until the Americans lose their will to fight to try to wipe out an entire half of the world's population.
35	* {{Eagleland}}: At the disco, Laura comments to Wataru that it seems he just can't get into an American pasttime, and he snaps back that the USA's HotBlooded and reckless approach to war is causing all of the world's problems. Within the movie America is most closely potrayed as Type 3.
36	* FreakOut: Michael suffers a massive one, triggering the nuclear explosion that causes the Soviets to continue the war.
37	* TheMole: [[spoiler:The Minister of Defense]].
38	* MonumentalDamage: The White House, the Statue of Liberty, Tokyo Tower and the Eiffel Tower. The last one is an unusual example, since rather than being wrecked by kinetic weapons, it's shown melting in the heat of a nuclear explosion.
39	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: When the Soviet defense minister casually wondered how many millions of people he'd have to kill with nukes for the Americans to back down, one of his colleagues accused him of being "possessed by Hitler's ghost." Considering the death and suffering that Nazi Germany inflicted on the USSR during WWII, and with it still being well within living memory at the time the film was made, this is a grievous insult from one Soviet official to another.
40	* NewYearHasCome: Before it is announced that Europe has gone to war, Laura and Wataru are enjoying drinks on the balcony in Tokyo while watching the sunset on New Year's Eve, talking about their hopes for the future.
41	* ANuclearError: The cause of the war. The Americans sent out a sea-based nuclear warhead to destroy the boat, thinking that it would be a small enough explosion that it can be blamed on an accident aboard. The result is far more enormous than anticipated, killing everyone aboard and putting the world on guard.
42	* RaceAgainstTheClock: Wataru's entire time in outer space, with only one hour of oxygen left and little time to stop the Soviets.
43	* {{Rotoscoping}}: A very impressive sequence of Laura disco dancing at a nightclub after a test of Space Ranger is successful.
44	* SanctuaryOfSolitude: Much of the world is being shown making their last desperate attempts to beg {{God}} for mercy in their churches, synagogues and mosques.
45	* ShakingHerHairLoose: When Laura gets off the space shuttle near the beginning of the movie, she dramatically undoes her hair to showcase her long wavy blonde hair.
46	* SpaceIsNoisy: Zig-zagged. American satellites intercepting ICBMs with lasers and [being blown up by Soviet space interceptors] is depicted in all its noisy glory. [Wataru's spacewalks] at the beginning and end of the movie, however, are eerily silent.
47	* SnowMeansDeath: As the village of Neinberg goes into a murderous rage, a blizzard descends.
48	* TankGoodness: The fighting between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in Europe before the nukes fly for real.
49	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Presumably that was the idea behind the "X" in the title.
50	* TwistedChristmas: The holiday season between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day is the span of the war.
51	* WarIsHell: As the US President grimly remarks, "This is a war without victory."
52	* WatchingTheSunset: On New Year's Eve.
53	* WhileRomeBurns: Michael launches the warhead that destroys millions while heartbrokenly singing "[[Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic Edelweiss]]" and waiting to die.
54	** Laura also still sits behind the piano at the jazz bar in Tokyo after hearing that enemy jets are inbound, playing a mournful tune while thinking of Wataru.
55	* WorldWarIII: What the film is all about. The warring parties pull themselves from the brink of total mutual destruction at the last second, but millions, if not billions, are still dead and the world is heavily damaged.
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Context Anime / FutureWar198X