History Manga / Zipang

* ColonelBadass: Commander Hutton. While he's definitely ''not'' a [[OfficerAndAGentleman gentleman]], the flight groups under his command have never lost a man in their prior engagements. And then there's his MomentOfAwesome when he rams his plane into ''Mirai's'' bridge under a [[MoreDakka hail of autocannon fire]], and survives.

A modern [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce JMSDF]] Aegis destroyer named the ''JDS Mirai'' [[TimeTravel travels through time]] back to the [[UsefulNotes/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 [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Imperial Japanese Navy]] officer the executive officer rescues, who reads the contents of the ship's library - and thus learns [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar the true nature]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo of the war]] and what came after it.

* ColonelBadass: Commander Hutton. While he's definitely ''not'' a [[AnOfficerAndAGentleman gentleman]], the flight groups under his command have never lost a man in their prior engagements. And then there's his MomentOfAwesome when he rams his plane into ''Mirai's'' bridge under a [[MoreDakka hail of autocannon fire]], and survives.

A modern [[KaijuDefenseForce JMSDF]] Aegis destroyer named the ''JDS Mirai'' [[TimeTravel travels through time]] back to the [[UsefulNotes/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 [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Imperial Japanese Navy]] officer the executive officer rescues, who reads the contents of the ship's library - and thus learns [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar the true nature]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo of the war]] and what came after it.

---> '''Yonai''':[[note]]copied from the scanlation, because ''Zipang'' was never officially English-translated beyond its fourth volume.[[/note]] ''Japan from my time... is fooling itself. In order to keep its Imperialist stance, it is using the trendy military authoritarianism. But if it keeps going on, one day Japan will fall. And I think only the harsh reality of defeat, can allow Japan to wake itself.''

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: The MoralDilemma faced by the crew largely ignores 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 or War Crimes and focuses instead upon Japan's two million military and one million civilian dead.
** FridgeBrilliance and FridgeHorror when you consider that, like how different cultural historical perspectives give different weight to historical events, an example being how Russians define UsefulNotes/WorldWarII around the Eastern Front, which Americans mostly gloss over (and unlike the German's grave perspective [[ThoseWackyNazis of their past]]), the perspective of Japanese ''in real life'' is skewed towards their experiences and suffering during the war and gives less weight to the suffering they inflicted on others.

* InSpiteOfANail: Though the timeline in the Pacific Theater differs greatly from actual history, the European Theater proceeds as history dictates. [[spoiler: knowing Italy will surrender, the Pacifist faction wants TheEmperor to propose peace to Allies. This fails because Kusaka also knew, and he informs the Tojo/pro-war faction so they will prolong the war]].

** In a ploy to destroy ''Mirai'' and remove this potent symbol Japan's future defeat, IJN Lieutenant [[PatrioticFervor Taki]] indirectly leaks her course to the US Navy, and then feigns ignorance of the danger to [[HostageSituation takes hostage]] Kadomatsu and the Chief Petty Officer Yanagi aboard his submarine, threatening to surface and expose the submarine to air attack when Mirai tries to evade the American scouts, counting on ''Mirai'' to [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind Leave No One Behind]] and fight to save her crew aboard the submarine.

** This shows up again in the encounter between former Prime Minister Yonai and the main characters. Yonai opposes the warmongers but believes that, [[TheNeedsOfTheMany 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.

** For ''Mirai'', [[spoiler:this is the cause for her demise, when she is destroyed by stray American shellfire]].

** This is what motivates Lieutenant Taki to ''destroy'' the ''Mirai''.
* PunchClockVillain: The Imperial Japanese military depicted in the anime and manga are just everyday rank-and-file soldiers who believes in MyCountryRightOrWrong, have families themselves back home and can be pleasant with the crew of the ''Mirai''.

* RedChina: In a way, Mao's army show up as enemy of Imperial Japanese Army. [[SmallReferencePools The myriad other Chinese foes like Yan Xishan, and]] ChiangKaiShek, [[SmallReferencePools don't]].

** FridgeBrilliance and FridgeHorror when you consider that, like how different cultural historical perspectives give different weight to historical events, an example being how Russians define UsefulNotes/WorldWarII around the Eastern Front, which Americans mostly gloss over (though unlike the German's grave perspective [[ThoseWackyNazis of their past]]), the perspective of Japanese ''in real life'' is skewed towards their experiences and suffering during the war and gives less weight to the suffering they inflicted on others.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: Averted in that ''Mirai'' is only capable of launching 2 [[AntiAir Sea Sparrow]] missiles per salvo, and was only able to intercept a salvo from ''Yamato'' because of the latter only fired a limited ranging salvo of 3 shells and the ingenuity of their weapons officer.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Though they try to avoid mucking with the timeline, once things start to spiral it never even occurs to the crew to side with Britain and/or the USA - you know, countries with governments that ''aren't'' brutal military dictatorships responsible for the deaths of millions. Though to be fair, siding with the Allies would be a very difficult choice to entertain as it would mean turning their weapons against and killing their own countrymen.

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

Created by Kaiji Kawaguchi, who also wrote ''Manga/TheSilentService'' and ''A Spirit of the Sun'', the manga ran from 2000 in the ''Weekly Morning'' (''Shūkan Mōningu'') {{Seinen}} manga anthology magazine, and wrapped up in 2009 with 43 volumes published. A 26-episode anime adaptation was aired in 2004 which adapts the first 70 chapters of the manga, and it was licensed by Creator/Geneon for distribution in North America.

Created by Kaiji Kawaguchi, who also wrote ''Manga/TheSilentService'' and ''A Spirit of the Sun'', the manga ran from 2000 in the ''Weekly Morning'' (''Shūkan Mōningu'') {{Seinen}} manga anthology magazine, and wrapped up in 2009 with 43 volumes published. A 26-episode anime adaptation was aired in 2004 which adapts the first 70 chapters of the manga.

* HighSpeedMissileDodge: ''Mirai'' has to dodge a spread of torpedoes when an American submarine catches her dead in the water as she attempts to GetBackToTheFuture at the location she first appeared in 1942. She does, and does so again to [[MacrossMissileMassacre another spread of torpedoes]], and the captain of the submarine comments that it should be impossible for a ship to get up to speed in only a matter of minutes.

* 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]]UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan imported much, of its food[[/note]] in 1945. Overall civilian and military casualties may well be an order of magnitude higher (to the tune of at least a couple of million extra Japanese dead) if the Allies have to resort to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_downfall Operation Downfall]]'' instead of merely the (300k killing) Atomic Bombs as per the original timeline. Finally, the Red (Workers And Peasants) Army can be expected to liberate not just Manchuria, but Korea and northern (and perhaps eastern) China as well. Depending on the spheres of influence hashed out beforehand, and which Chinese leader(s) Stalin chose to support[[note]] While the Communists would seem the logical choice, not least because of their natural isolation and thus dependency on the USSR, Mao would hardly be their first choice. Whomever they favoured, Communist or not, would owe them ''big time'' [[/note]], this could very well change the outcome of [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors the Chinese Civil War]] and avert the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar entirely.
** Murking the water is the fact which The Allies, in particular their bombing of everything including planting fields, did contribute of said famine as you can't plant anything if your field is full of shrapnels. How much the bombing contribute is unknown, but with most of physically fit males on front lines and never to return....

** Yosuke's [[spoiler:father is killed in an accident a few days before ''Mirai'' arrives at the Japanese mainland, turning Yosuke into ma man who no longer should exist]].

* TheCaptain: Captain Saburo Umezu. He also counts as the MellowFellow.

** Masayuki Kikuchi: The Weapons Officer, and Superego of the trio. He's depicted as serious, calm and rational in making decisions, and this is highlighted when he proposes [[spoiler:sinking the USS ''Wasp'' to prevent her from sending another attack squadron after the damaged ''Mirai'']]. It's subverted however in the aftermath of [[spoiler:the ''Wasp's'' sinking, when he breaks down in a HeroicBSOD over having sunk the ship and taking possibly hundreds of lives]]. Later, seeing the inevitability of changing history, he [[spoiler: embraces Kusaka's vision and stages a mutiny on ''Mirai'', overthrowing the captain and proceeding to work with Kusaka towards Zipang]].
** Kouhei Oguri: The Navigation Officer, and the intuitive ID of the trio. He's friendly, laid back, and rather impulsive in making decisions. He often clashes with Masayuki on taking lives in self defense. Later he [[spoiler:remains on board ''Mirai'' to watch Masayuki after Masayuki mutinies and overthrows the then captain Yosuke]].

** FridgeBrilliance and FridgeHorror when you consider that, like how different cultural historical perspectives give different weight to historical events, an example being how Russians see UsefulNotes/WorldWarII around the Eastern Front, which Americans mostly gloss over (though unlike the German's grave perspective [[ThoseWackyNazis of their past]]), the perspective of Japanese ''in real life'' is skewed towards their experiences and suffering during the war and gives less weight to the suffering they inflicted on others.

* NotSoDifferent: Neither the JMSDF nor the IJN personnel [[MyCountryRightOrWrong want Japan to be defeated]], regardless of politics, [[ValuesDissonance morality]], and the suffering of Japanese and non-Japanese in the war.

* VisionaryVillain: Kusaka. His vision also makes him the {{Foil}} to [[TheDitherer the crew of]] [[TheDitherer ''Mirai'']] [[TheDitherer as a whole]], who fear a TemporalParadox that would make the future they came from unreachable, and even when they come to terms with the inevitability of changing the future, go about unsure of what they should do with the power they have at hand.

** In a ploy to destroy ''Mirai'' and remove this potent symbol Japan's future defeat, IJN Lieutenant [[PatrioticFervor Taki]] indirectly leaks her course to the US Navy, [[HostageSituation takes hostage]] Kadomatsu and the Chief Petty Officer Yanagi aboard his submarine when Mirai tries to evade their scouts and threatens to surface and expose the submarine to air attack, counting on ''Mirai'' to [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind Leave No One Behind]] and fight to save her crew aboard the submarine.

* GlassCannon: While ''Mirai's'' weapon systems are second to none, she's still a missile destroyer from a time when armor has been rendered obsolete by technical advances in warfare[[note]]it's not that armor protection itself was rendered obsolete for warships, but that armoring them would have put serious constraints on the armament a ship of a certain size would have been able to carry, making it necessary to build a much bigger ship, and therefore a much more expensive ship, to carry the same armament. The Iowa-class battleships, to give an example, were not retired because heavily armored battleships were obsolete (they were nigh unsinkable to anything that wasn't a battleship gun or a torpedo), but because they were enormously expensive to run, and had limited strategic viability for their expense.[[/note]] and therefore has ''no armor'', relying on her active defenses to defend herself.

** FridgeBrilliance and FridgeHorror when you consider that, like how the American historical perspective focuses on their experiences and glosses over the Eastern Front in their account of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and unlike the German's grave perspective [[ThoseWackyNazis of their past]]), the perspective of Japanese ''in real life'' is skewed towards their experiences and suffering during the war and gives less weight to the suffering they inflicted on others.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Commander Hutton may be brash, unrefined, cocky, and rude, but its shown that he does [[AfatherToHisMen deeply care about his men]]. He is horrified by the deaths of his men and the [[spoiler:subsequent sinking of the ''Wasp'']], and is overjoyed when they find his [[{{Wingman}} wingman]] and friend alive.
* KillingInSelfDefense: The decision to [[spoiler:sink the USS ''Wasp'', killing possibly hundreds of sailors, rather than just damage her flight deck]], was because any attack that didn't destroy her would be quickly repaired and leave [[spoiler:the ''Wasp'' free to relentlessly attack the already damaged ''Mirai'']]. This leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, and leads to Masayuki's HeroicBSOD.

** Despite wanting to end the war early and save lives, the ''Mirai's'' crew only ever approach their problems from a perspective of helping Imperial Japan. They do debate letting the war run its original course without their interference, and even consider destroy the ''Mirai'' so Imperial japan cannot use them to further its aims; indeed this is an important plot point. However, one ever considers siding with and helping the Allies win the war faster and bring a swifter end to the military dictatorship ruling the country.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Though they try to avoid mucking with the timeline, once things start to spiral it never even occurs to the crew to side with Britain and/or the USA - you know, countries with governments that ''aren't'' brutal military dictatorships responsible for the deaths of millions. Though to be fair, siding with the Allies would mean turning their weapons against and killing their own countrymen.
** Deconstructed during a HeroicBSOD by Masayuki. He was the pacifist in the future who seriously thought about resigning from the SDF when Japan might have to send its forces to support the 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.

* RammingAlwaysWorks:

* KillingInSelfDefense: The decision to [[spoiler:sink the USS ''Wasp'', killing possibly hundreds of sailors, rather than just damage her flight deck]], was because any attack that didn't destroy her would be quickly repaired and leave [[the ''Wasp'' free to relentlessly attack the already damaged ''Mirai'']]. This leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, and leads to Masayuki's HeroicBSOD.

** Murking the water is the fact which The Allies, in particular their bombing of everyting including planting fields, did contribute of said famine as you can't plant anything if your field is full of shrapnels. How much the bombing contribute is unknown, but with most of physically fit males on front lines and never to return....

* VisionaryVillain: Kusaka. His vision also makes him the {{Foil}} to [[TheDitherer the crew as a whole]] of ''Mirai'', who fear a TemporalParadox that would make the future they came from unreachable, and even when they come to terms with the inevitability of changing the future, go about unsure of what they should do with the power they have at hand.
* WarIsHell: The story has no reservations in expressing the brutality of combat and its psychological impact on the crew. Neither do the battle-honed contemporary Japanese and American soldiers get spared from it. It also deconstructs the impersonal nature of 'pushing buttons to make blips on the screen disappear' that the technology of modern conflict allows.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[OfficerAndAGentleman Kusaka]] dearly cares about his country, after learning the fate of Japan after the war from ''Mirai's'' library, plays and manipulates the crew of the ''Mirai'', and various actors in the Imperial Japanese government and military in a grand scheme to TakeAThirdOption between defeat and [[TheEmpire empire]] and create [[VisionaryVillain his vision]] of a strong, self-sufficient, unburdened, and undefeated Japan.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Commander Hutton may be brash, unrefined, cocky, and rude, but its shown that he does [[AfatherToHisMen deeply care about his men]]. He is horrified by the deaths of his men and the [[spoiler:subsequent sinking of the ''Wasp'']], and is overjoyed when they find his [[Wingman wingman]] and friend alive.
* KillingInSelfDefense: The decision to [[spoiler:sink the USS ''Wasp'', killing possibly hundreds of sailors, rather than just damage her flight deck]], was because any attack that didn't destroy her would be quickly repaired and leave [[the ''Wasp'' free to relentlessly attack the already damaged ''Mirai'']].

** Masayuki Kikuchi: The Weapons Officer, and Superego of the trio. He's depicted as serious, calm and rational in making decisions, and this is highlighted when he proposes [[spoiler:sinking the ''USS Wasp'' to prevent her from sending another attack squadron after the damaged ''Mirai'']]. It's subverted however in the aftermath of [[spoiler:the ''Wasp's'' sinking, when he breaks down in a HeroicBSOD over having sunk the ship and taking possibly hundreds of lives]]. Later, seeing the inevitability of changing history, he [[spoiler: embraces Kusaka's vision and stages a mutiny on ''Mirai'', overthrowing the captain and proceeding to work with Kusaka towards Zipang]].

** Fails with disastrous consequences when ''Mirai'' tries to intimidate the attack squadron from the ''USS Wasp'' into retreating by taking out only half the squadron.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: Averted in that ''Mirai'' is only capable of launching 2 [[AntiAir Sea Sparrow]] missiles per salvo, and was only able to intercept a salvo from ''Yamato'' because of the latter firing a limited ranging salvo of 3 shells and the ingenuity of their weapons officer.

* OneHitKill: The [[spoiler:USS Wasp]] was sunk with a single Tomahawk missile.
* PatrioticFervour: Kusaka dearly loves his country, and this motivates him to use the knowledge from the ''Mirai'' after his rescue to change history and save Japan from capitulation.

* FedoraOfAsskicking: The clothes Yosuke acquires to blend in with the time period has a white one.

* VisionaryVillain: Kusaka. His vision also makes him the {{Foil}} to [[TheDitherer the crew of ''Mirai'']], who fear a TemporalParadox that would make the future they came from unreachable, and even when they come to terms with the inevitability of changing the future, go about unsure of what they should do with the power they have at hand.

* VisionaryVillain: Kusaka. His vision also makes him TheFoil to [[TheDitherer the crew of ''Mirai'']], who fear a TemporalParadox that would make the future they came from unreachable, and even when they come to terms with the inevitability of changing the future, go about unsure of what they should do with the power they have at hand.

Created by Kaiji Kawaguchi, who also wrote ''Manga/The Silent Service'' and ''A Spirit of the Sun'', the manga ran from 2000 in the ''Weekly Morning'' (''Shūkan Mōningu'') {{Seinen}} manga anthology magazine, and wrapped up in 2009 with 43 volumes published. A 26-episode anime adaptation was aired in 2004 which adapts the first 70 chapters of the manga.

* HighSpeedMissileDodge: ''Mirai'' has to dodge a spread of torpedoes when an American catches her dead in the water as she attempts to GetBackToTheFuture at the location she first appeared in 1942. She does, and does so again to [[MacrossMissileMassacre another spread]], and the captain of the submarine comments that it should be impossible for a ship to get up to speed in only a matter of minutes.

Created by Kaiji Kawaguchi, who also wrote ''The Silent Service'' and ''A Spirit of the Sun'', the manga ran from 2000 in the ''Weekly Morning'' (''Shūkan Mōningu'') {{Seinen}} manga anthology magazine, and wrapped up in 2009 with 43 volumes published. A 26-episode anime adaptation was aired in 2004 which adapts the first 70 chapters of the manga.