History Manga / Zipang

** Deconstructed during HeroicBSOD by Masayuki. He was the pacifist who seriously thought about resigning from the SDF when Japan might have to send its forces to support US during its conflicts in the Middle East. But he insists that the Mirai has no choice but to fight the Allies because, like it or not, they are a Japanese warship and every Allied ship and plane they came across in the past saw them as an enemy and attacked them.

* AlienSpaceBats - How the time storm comes to exist, how it works, and why it's targeting the ''Mirai'' at that particular time... [[MST3KMantra who cares?]]
* AnyoneCanDie - Aside the fact that some historical figures can and '''[[YouCantFightFate will]]''' die, the ''Mirai'''s crew isn't exempt from this. [[spoiler:Not even their captain, as the manga version shows later on.]]
* CoolPlane - the Umidori, the fictional VTOL scout craft of the ''Mirai'' which looks like the result of a tryst between an Apache attack helicopter and an Osprey.
** For classic plane fans, there are several WWII aircraft, most prominently the Dauntless dive bomber. While scores of it were chewed up by the ''Mirai's'' modern weaponry, one piloted by a particularly gutsy and lucky pilot managed to score a solid hit on the ''Mirai'' by [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming it]] . . . and the pilot lives too.
* CoolBoat - the ''Mirai'' fits in that it is a modern AEGIS ship in WWII, which means it practically outclasses everything in the seas. That, and the ship it is a quite realistic design, which is a nice change of pace from the more fantastical designs of other fictional vessels.

* CutShort- In the anime, the plot is not resolved in any way, instead just petering out when they ran out of episodes.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance - The differing mindsets of the militaristic Imperial Japanese and the more pacifistic modern-day crew of the ''Mirai'' are explored in several instances.

* GreyAndGreyMorality - The show strives for this, but given that this is ImperialJapan in the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar and UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, the show only manages this by ignoring the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Japanese_war_crimes five-to-twenty million people]] who died due to Japanese economic mismanagement [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes and War Crimes]] - and focusing instead upon [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties Japan's two million military and one million civilian dead.]] That said, some 3-5 of those 5-20 million overwhelmingly-Asiatic dead were soldiers, like the 100k who died on the ol' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March Bataan POW March]].
* KaijuDefenseForce - The ''Mirai'' and her crew, naturally.
* MeaningfulName - The name of the ship (''Mirai'') means "future" in Japanese.
* MoralMyopia - The Zipang's crew would like to stop the war, so that the Japanese People won't suffer as much as they did in the original timeline... and they have no problem with helping Japan's brutal military dictatorship to drive their country and their people into the ground before they are inevitably defeated by the weight of Allied Industrial superiority[[note]]The US alone having an advantage of more than ten-to-one in all meaningful production categories[[/note]]. That millions of people are suffering and dying pointlessly as a direct result of the regime's refusal to surrender bothers them not at all.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong - Though they try to avoid mucking with the timeline, once things start to spiral it never even occurs to the crew that maybe they should side with the Britain and/or the USA - you know, countries with governments that ''aren't'' brutal military dictatorships responsible for the deaths of millions.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero - Our heroes may have 'succeeded' in prolonging the war... if they have, this will result in greater Japanese civilian deaths than in the original timeline, as the US won't be around to rescue the country from the brink of starvation[[note]]ImperialJapan imported much, if not most, of its food[[/note]] in 1945. Overall civilian and military casualties may well be an order of magnitude higher (to the tune of c. 5-20 million total Japanese dead) if The Allies have to resort to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_downfall Operation Downfall]]'' instead of merely the (.3 million-killing) Atomic Bombs as per the original timeline.
* NotSoDifferent - Neither the JMSDF nor the IJN personnel want Japan to be defeated, brutal military dictatorship or not, and don't really care how many non-Japanese people suffer or die as a result of their actions.
* OfficerAndAGentleman - the IJN officer they rescue from a crashed seaplane fits this trope to a T.

* ShownTheirWork - For the most part, the show does a remarkably accurate job of portraying various aircraft and ships that appear throughout the series. The two major exceptions include [[spoiler: using a laser-guided Harpoon missile to attack an American base (the Harpoon is not laser-guided nor designed to attack land targets, at least not the versions the JMSDF would have), and using a Tomahawk missile to sink an aircraft carrier (an anti-ship variant of the Tomahawk was made, but was only ever used by the U.S. Navy and retired before the manga was even published.) Note that no JMSDF warship is armed with Tomahawk missiles on the basis that it is a purely offensive weapon, and equipping it would violate Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which would presumably preclude being armed with any land-attack-capable Harpoons.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism - The JMSDF apparently trains its people to emphasize non-lethal methods, something that wears off the more time the crew spends in combat.

* TrappedInThePast - One of the few instances where the characters make an honest and serious attempt to keep their heads down.

A manga and 26-episode anime built around the premise of a modern [[KaijuDefenseForce JMSDF]] Aegis destroyer named the ''JDS Mirai'' [[TimeTravel traveling through time]] back to the [[WorldWarII Battle of Midway]] . . . and the crew doing nothing. Fearing a TemporalParadox, the ship's captain decides stay as isolated as possible, while trying to figure out a way back home. This course of action does not go as planned, due largely to an [[ImperialJapan Imperial Japanese Navy]] officer the executive officer rescues, who reads the contents of the ship's library - and thus learns [[SecondSinoJapaneseWar the true nature]] [[WorldWarTwo of the war]] and what came after it.

* GreyAndGreyMorality - The show strives for this, but given that this is ImperialJapan in the SecondSinoJapaneseWar and WorldWarTwo, the show only manages this by ignoring the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Japanese_war_crimes five-to-twenty million people]] who died due to Japanese economic mismanagement [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes and War Crimes]] - and focusing instead upon [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties Japan's two million military and one million civilian dead.]] That said, some 3-5 of those 5-20 million overwhelmingly-Asiatic dead were soldiers, like the 100k who died on the ol' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March Bataan POW March]].

Compare and contrast ''{{Zipang}}'''s events with the actions of the crew of the ''USS Nimitz'' in the 1980 movie ''TheFinalCountdown'', where that ship was sent to Pearl Harbor ([[spoiler: and rescued a senator from the time period, too]]).

!!''{{Zipang}}'' contains examples of:

** This shows up again in the encounter between former Prime Minister Minai and the main characters (at least in the anime version). Minai opposes the warmongers but believes that, for the future peace and prosperity of Japan, a painful and destructive defeat is necessary. The main characters have trouble buying into his line of thinking.

*** Loadout would be something on the order of 60 anti-aircraft missiles, 10 anti-submarine rockets, 20 anti-ship missiles, 6 torpedoes, 600 5" rounds, and a combined few minutes' worth of CIWS. The ''Mirai'' would have a fair chance of getting the jump on a small US carrier task force, and damaging or destroying many of its ships and aircraft at standoff range, but such an action would completely deplete its weapons and render it vulnerable to being run down by surface ships. The ''Mirai'''s Harpoon missile could engage Iowa-class battleships at more than twice the range of their guns (50-60 miles vs. 24 miles), but only a small fraction of the range of carrier-based aircraft (nominally 200 miles). Additionally, the ''Mirai'' could potentially expend its entire complement against a large, heavily-armored ship such as a battleship or battlecruiser without sinking it, while even a single hit from a 16" round or a 1200-lb air dropped bomb could easily blow the ''Mirai'' in half. The ship's advanced radar and anti-air capabilities could offer tremendous assistance as a battleship or carrier escort, but by itself it simply could not effectively engage capital ships of the era.

* MoralMyopia - The Zipang's crew would like to stop the war, so that the Japanese People won't suffer as much as they did in the original timeline... and they have no problem with helping Japan's brutal military dictatorship to drive their country and their people into the ground before they are inevitably defeated by the weight of Allied Industrial superiority[[hottip:*: The US alone having an advantage of more than ten-to-one in all meaningful production categories]]. That millions of people are suffering and dying pointlessly as a direct result of the regime's refusal to surrender bothers them not at all.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero - Our heroes may have 'succeeded' in prolonging the war... if they have, this will result in greater Japanese civilian deaths than in the original timeline, as the US won't be around to rescue the country from the brink of starvation[[hottip:*: ImperialJapan imported much, if not most, of its food]] in 1945. Overall civilian and military casualties may well be an order of magnitude higher (to the tune of c. 5-20 million total Japanese dead) if The Allies have to resort to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_downfall Operation Downfall]]'' instead of merely the (.3 million-killing) Atomic Bombs as per the original timeline.

* NiceJonBreakingItHero - Our heroes may have 'succeeded' in prolonging the war... if they have, this will result in greater Japanese civilian deaths than in the original timeline, as the US won't be around to rescue the country from the brink of starvation[[hottip:*: ImperialJapan imported much, if not most, of its food]] in 1945. Overall civilian and military casualties may well be an order of magnitude higher (to the tune of c. 5-20 million total Japanese dead) if The Allies have to resort to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_downfall Operation Downfall]]'' instead of merely the (.3 million-killing) Atomic Bombs as per the original timeline.

* GreyAndGreyMorality - The show strives for this, but given that this is ImperialJapan in the SecondSinoJapaneseWar and WorldWarTwo, the show only manages this by ignoring the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Japanese_war_crimes five-to-twenty million people]] who died due to Japanese economic mismanagement [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes and War Crimes]] - and focusing instead upon [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties Japan's two million military and one million civilian dead.]]

* GreyAndGreyMorality - Given [[WorldWarII the setting]] that the story takes places in, this is inevitable.

*** Loadout would be something on the order of 60 anti-aircraft missiles, 10 anti-submarine rockets, 20 anti-ship missiles, 6 torpedoes, 600 5" rounds, and a combined few minutes' worth of CIWS. The ''Mirai'' would have a fair chance of getting the jump on a small US carrier task force, and damaging or destroying many of its ships and aircraft at standoff range, but such an action would completely deplete its weapons and render it vulnerable to being run down by surface ships. The ''Mirai'''s Harpoon missile could engage Iowa-class battleships at more than twice the range of their guns (50-60 miles vs. 24 miles), but only a small fraction of the range of carrier-based aircraft (nominally 200 miles).

A manga and 26-episode anime built around the premise of a modern [[KaijuDefenseForce JMSDF]] Aegis destroyer named the ''JDS Mirai'' [[TimeTravel traveling through time]] back to the [[WorldWarII Battle of Midway]] . . . and the crew doing nothing. Fearing a TemporalParadox, the ship's captain decides stay as isolated as possible, while trying to figure out a way back home. This course of action does not go as planned, due largely to an [[ImperialJapan Imperial Japanese Navy]] officer the executive officer rescues, who reads the contents of the ship's library - and thus learns [[SecondSinoJapaneseWarthe true nature]] [[WorldWarTwo of the war]] and what came after it.

A manga and 26-episode anime built around the premise of a modern [[KaijuDefenseForce JMSDF]] Aegis destroyer named the ''JDS Mirai'' [[TimeTravel traveling through time]] back to the [[WorldWarII Battle of Midway]] . . . and the crew doing nothing. Fearing a TemporalParadox, the ship's captain decides stay as isolated as possible, while trying to figure out a way back home. This course of action does not go as planned, due largely to an Imperial Japanese Navy officer the executive officer rescues, who reads the contents of the ship's library, thus learning just about everything that happens to Japan after 1942.

*** Loadout would be something on the order of 60 anti-aircraft missiles, 10 anti-submarine rockets, 20 anti-ship missiles, 6 torpedoes, 600 5" rounds, and a few seconds' worth of CIWS. The ''Mirai'' would have a fair chance of getting the jump on a small US carrier task force, and damaging or destroying many of its ships and aircraft at standoff range, but such an action would completely deplete its weapons and render it vulnerable to being run down by surface ships.

** Curiously in the midst of all the ShownTheirWork, the ''Mirai'''s superiority only lasting for the first thirty or forty targets it engages is never discussed. It would be quite possible for WWII enemies to mob it to death; it only has eight or less Harpoons, forty-two or less SM2s, and an unknown number of Tomahawks.
*** Actually, they did mention it once in the manga version. Besides, Zipang credits the gun with the ability to pick off WWII planes like a sniper rifle.

* ShownTheirWork - For the most part, the show does a remarkably accurate job of portraying various aircraft and ships that appear throughout the series. The two major exceptions include [[spoiler:The two major exceptions include using a laser-guided Harpoon missile to attack an American base (the Harpoon is not laser-guided nor designed to attack land targets, at least not the versions the JMSDF would have), and using a Tomahawk missile to sink an aircraft carrier (an anti-ship variant of the Tomahawk was made, but was only ever used by the U.S. Navy and retired before the manga was even published.) Note that no JMSDF warship is armed with Tomahawk missiles on the basis that it is a purely offensive weapon, and equipping it would violate Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which would presumably preclude being armed with any land-attack-capable Harpoons.]]
** [[spoiler:Then again, right at the start of the manga, the ship is being sent on an offensive joint missing despite protests, so loading up on some offensive weaponry might be understandable]]
*** Also, the use of a Tomahawk against an aircraft carrier of the time period in question falls down when you realize that it probably won't kill the ship; the Tomahawk's warhead is only a thousand pounds, comparable to a dive-bomber weapon of the age. Very few carriers were lost to a single thousand-pounder.

* ShownTheirWork - For the most part, the show does a remarkably accurate job of portraying various aircraft and ships that appear throughout the series. [[spoiler:The two major exceptions include using a laser-guided Harpoon missile to attack an American base (the Harpoon is not laser-guided nor designed to attack land targets, at least not the versions the JMSDF would have), and using a Tomahawk missile to sink an aircraft carrier (an anti-ship variant of the Tomahawk was made, but was only ever used by the U.S. Navy and retired before the manga was even published.) Note that no JMSDF warship is armed with Tomahawk missiles on the basis that it is a purely offensive weapon, and equipping it would violate Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which would presumably preclude being armed with any land-attack-capable Harpoons.]]

** The non-lethal emphasis is actually a case of RealityIsUnrealistic. This troper actually read fiction made by a retired JMSDF Admiral that postulated JSMDF commanders who will not even shoot at the incoming ''missiles'' (not the planes, the missiles) when under attack, which suggests this is at least a ''thinkable'' level of restraint as far as the author was involved.

* AnyoneCanDie - Aside the fact that some historical figures can and '''[[YoucantFightFate will]]''' die, the ''Mirai'''s crew isn't exempt from this. [[spoiler:Not even their captain, as the manga version shows later on.]]

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Given [[WorldWarII the setting]] that the story takes places in, this is inevitable.