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Literature / Yakitori: Soldiers of Misfortune

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Yakitori: Soldiers of Misfortune is a series of 2017-2018 sci-fi novels written by Carlos Zen (author of The Saga of Tanya the Evil) and illustrated by so-bin, set in a future where the solar system is dominated by different trade federations (whose inhabitants are Intelligent Gerbil) who are in constant conflict. Akira Ihotsu is a young Japanese man who enlists in a trade federation orbital drop infantry unit at the recomendation of his military cook friend Pupkin. Such infantry are notorious for their 70% casualty rate, and are nicknamed "Yakitori" for their expendability.

A six-episode anime adaptation produced by Netflix was released on May 18, 2023.

General Tropes:

  • Air Vent Infiltration: Barkan rebels tear their way out of the sewerage pipes to attack Unit K-321, who are suitably grossed out.
  • And the Adventure Continues: This is how the anime ends, with Unit K-321 sent to Barka for another mission, this time a hostage rescue of an ambassador and her family.
  • Anime Accent Absence: While in the original version the characters all speak Japanese without an accent despite coming from different countries, the English dub gives Amalia and Pupkin a British and Russian accents, respectively.
  • Animal Jingoism: Not surprisingly the dogs dislike the cats, and the rats are brutally rebelling against what they perceive as oppression by the other two species.
  • Artificial Limbs: John Doe's left arm is missing and he also has scars on the left side of his face. This represents how Yakitori troops who are sent to the frontlines are lucky to survive their two years of service with all their limbs intact.
  • "Ass" in Ambassador: This seems to be the rule in the Trade Federation, as Officer Rimel tells the protagonists that you just get used to it, after the Barkan ambassador complains that the Yakitori who just saved her and her family from rebels weren't showing her the proper respect.
  • Authority Sounds Deep: Gimel speaks with a pretty deep and authoritative voice fitting for his role as the commander of some dog Space Marines, both in Japanese and in English.
  • Automated Automobiles: When a Spider Tank starts firing on them as the Yakitori's armoured personnel carrier is driving down a highway, the Virtual Sidekick AI recommends "random evasion mode". The driver lets go of the controls, the AI gives them a regulation warning to fasten their seatbelts—and then everyone discovers why.
  • Awesome Personnel Carrier: Averted with the carrier that Unit K-321 are allocated that has an unfortunate resemblance to a school bus. Later they get rescued by Space Marines who are driving a far more impressive carrier.
  • The Bait: Unit K-321 is about to be destroyed by a Spider Tank when it gets blown up by Space Marines, who mockingly congratulate the 'Yakitori' for acting as decoys. However the tank is still active and opens fire on the marines, so the K-321 uses them as decoys so they can sneak up and destroy the tank for good. Later they're pinned down by another spider tank and Akira points out that someone has to act as bait again, as there are no friendly units nearby. He's annoyed when everyone assumes that as he came up with the idea, then he should be the bait. They destroy the tank only for another tank to pin them down, whereupon the same marines from earlier turn up in Awesome Personnel Carriers for a Big Damn Heroes.
  • Bald Head of Toughness: John Doe is bald and a certified Drill Sergeant Nasty capable of beating the entire 321 all by himself.
  • The Big Guy: Tyrone is the tallest member of the unit and he's rather laid-back.
  • Bound and Gagged:
    • It happens to Unit K-321 during their Kangaroo Court Military Trial for unknowingly committing genocide on the Barkans. Fortunately their attorney is more than capable of speaking up for them.
    • A variation when the Unit shuts up an "Ass" in Ambassador they rescued by strapping her to one of them for a HALO jump and shoving an oxygen mask over her face.
  • Cannon Fodder: The reason behind the Instant troops being called Yakitori is due to always having reserves and having ridiculously high casualty rates for those who go to the front lines. They're the tribute demanded from a Vichy Earth and are legally regarded as 'equipment', which actually gets them off the hook when the Trade Federation tries to use them as The Scapegoat in the Season One finale.
  • Cats Are Mean: The cats are shown as cowardly and self-serving, even willing to throw the same soldiers who fixed their mess under the bus.
  • Danger Room Cold Open: An In-Universe version happens in "The Rear Guard" when a Drop Ship exercise has 80% casualties. It happens in flashback, so the audience is aware it's one of their training exercises, but the unit is surprised to find when the exercise ends that they never left the spacecraft and their comrades are still alive. Their recruiter then appears to tell them that their unit was the only one to 'survive' the exercise (contrasting with how their unit kept getting killed back on the Mars training ground, when everyone knew it wasn't real).
  • Did Not Think This Through: The Federation politicians thought it was a good idea to continue supplying weapons and armament to the local Security forces on Barka despite the growing tensions and threat of an armed uprising. Unsurprisingly all the local forces defect to the rebels and use those same weapons against the Federation.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: The Space Marines under Gimel dress in fancier armor than the average soldiers, and they sure can take a beating.
  • Exact Words: This is how the defense attorney of Unit K-321 saves them from being found guilty of genocide, since they only acted according to what they knew and what they were taught with little to no knowledge of the rules of combat, and since Yakitori are not considered citizens but weapons by the Federation, they're not truly liable for the war crime.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: At first Unit K-321 didn't get along and didn't want to even know each other, but after surviving enough ordeals they now fully trust each other. Likewise between them and the marines.
  • First-Name Basis: At first the K-321 referred to each other by their nationalities, but eventually they start using their respective first names.
  • Free Wheel: The Yakitori's armoured personnel carrier is ambushed by a swarm of Barkans clambering up the sides. One of them tries to Pop the Tires, and somehow this causes the entire wheel to become detached and go rolling off with another Barkan desperately clinging to it.
  • Furry Reminder: Occasionally the Federation aliens will remind us they're still animals, like one of the cat diplomats licking his paw or Gimel shaking his head like a dog. Likewise the Barkans storm the base the 321 is occupying through the sewers.
  • Godzilla Threshold: The use of an Orbital Bombardment is understandably seen as a desperate last resort that needs to be double checked more than once.
  • Heads or Tails?: During their training on Mars, the Yakitori are (as usual) arguing over what to do, so they toss a coin. It makes no difference because (as usual) they get 'killed' because they're not cooperating with each other. In the Season One finale, they're shown playing Rock–Paper–Scissors instead.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Averted. Federation soldiers use helmets whenever they're in combat, but take them off outside of it.
  • Heroic Dog: Commander Gimel is a humanoid mastiff dog and he's far more reasonable than other Federation higher ups. He even works with Pupkin to exonerate Unit 321 from the Federation's attempt at scapegoating them.
  • Ink-Suit Actor: Admin AI "Hatsune Mimi" is clear-cut rabbit version of Virtual Diva Hatsune Miku.
  • Intelligent Gerbil: The members of the Trade Federation are aliens who take the form of cats, horses, rats, frogs, elephants and ostriches, in contrast to the human protagonists.
  • Male Gaze: There's occasional focus on the butt of Zihan, who's the most mature of the two girls on Unit 321.
  • Mook Chivalry: It's even Lampshaded; when Unit K-321 attack their Drill Sergeant Nasty he thrashes the lot of them despite being outnumbered. He then says their individual skills weren't bad, but they are refusing to work together and that's what is holding them back, because they should have all attacked him at once. When they learn this lesson and attack him as a group, he informs them that they've completed their training.
  • Multi National Team: Unit K-321 is composed of Akira (Japan), Zihan (China), Tyron (USA), Amalia (UK) and Erland (Sweden).
  • My God, What Have I Done?: 321 collectively feels this way after calling for an orbital bombardment on the Barkans, causing untold destruction that's borderline genocide.
  • Neural Implanting: The Trade Federation use memory transcribing to rapidly teach their soldiers language and combat skills. Unfortunately these Yakitori have a high casualty rate, so as an experiment Unit K-321 is given the language but not the combat skills, which are taught the old fashioned way to see if that makes a difference.
  • Nice Guy: Erland is easily the most calm and personable member of the Unit 321, even before the group opens up to each other.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Gimel's adjutant is a dog woman and her armor happens to be pink, while his own armor is blue.
  • Pokémon Speak: Unlike the other Federation aliens, the Barkans are shown speaking only in 'chuu', a reference to the onomatopoeia rats and mice do.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Unit K-321 all the way; recruited from the dregs of humanity, disrespected by everyone, and constantly arguing with each other until they learn to cooperate (and sometimes even then).
  • Rat Men: The inhabitants of Barka are humanoid rodents, who happen to be shorter than humans. However they're played more sympathetically than usual for this trope—the opening scene of the anime has one contemplating a Fatal Family Hologram before going into battle against the Federation who are oppressing his planet.
  • Shoot Out the Lock: It's suggested that Unit K-321 try blasting open the door to an artillery fortress being used by the rebels, but it's pointed out that if they can't get through the door, the damage will prevent their getting through any other way. Their Virtual Sidekick then unlocks the door for them, as it's one of their own bases so their AI has the entry codes. When the rebels find out they are there however, they play it straight by blasting open the door with a rocket launcher.
  • Space Elevator: The And the Adventure Continues ending of Season One has Unit K-321 rescue hostages from the mid-level platform of a space elevator. Unfortunately the ground terminal hadn't been captured yet so they couldn't use it to carry them back up to their spacecraft. Given a choice between trying to climb up the space elevator or making a high-altitude parachute jump off the platform into a war zone, they take the easy option...and jump.
  • Space Marines: Gimel commands a batallion composed of dog-people who are Space Marines.
  • Spider Tank: The forces of Public Security use giant tanks shaped like spiders. The rebels commandeer them when they launch their insurrection against the Federation.
  • Surrender Backfire: Some fish and frog men attempt to surrender to the Barkan rebels, only to get gunned down mercilessly.
  • Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: Despite the ridiculously high casualty rate for most Yakitori, Unit K-321's Training from Hell allows them to survive where most others are killed.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Gimel feels this way towards the barely trained Instant troops he received to do a diplomatic mission in the politically unstable Barka. He's also utterly enraged at the callousness and incompetence of the higher-ups.
  • Swarm of Rats: Unsurprisingly the Barkans attack in swarms, and they either use guns or send in their suicide bombers.
  • Tastes Like Friendship: Inverted. All the squad has to eat on the trip to Mars is some awful stuff from a tube called Great Satisfaction, so the recruits all squabble with each other.
    Akira: We only have that Great Satisfaction to eat. You really think we can become better friends over that crap?
  • Too Much Alike: The reason why Akira and Amalia are always arguing is due to both of them being quite Hot-Blooded.
  • Uncle Sam Wants You: A Vichy Earth recruits humans from deprived backgrounds as Redshirt Army mercenaries for the Trade Federation. At one point there's a recruitment poster of an alien dressed as Uncle Sam doing this trope.
  • War Is Hell: The Barkan rebellion is both violent and bloody for both sides.
  • We Have Reserves: Instant troops, both human and alien are so easily replaced most are just implanted with basic knowledge and memories of what they're supposed to do instead of receiving actual training.
  • World of Funny Animals: The Trade Federations are inhabited by talking humanoid animals, like dogs, cats, rats, frogs and even elephants.

Alternative Title(s): Yakitori Soldiers Of Misfortune

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