Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths Review: Powerful

World War II was one of the worst periods in human history. Millions died and lots of cities were devastated to the ground. Many movies, books, video games, documentaries and comics have been made about it. Very few of them are from the point of view of the Japanese. Shigeru Mizuki’s 1973 manga “Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths” is one of these and it is a powerful piece of work. It is also Mizuki’s first manga published in North America (published in 2011.)

The manga is a fictionalized memoir of Mizuki’s service in the Imperial Army during World War II. On the island of New Britain in what is now Papua New Guinea a battalion of Japanese soldiers are tasked to protect that island. They must battle against malaria, starvation and eventually American troops. They are also told to die at all costs even if it means suicide.

Mizuki doesn’t pull any punches when showing how terrible these soldiers had it in New Britain. From guys dying from Malaria, getting eaten by alligators and being blown to hell by Americans. Not to mention practically starving to death and the rookies getting beaten by the acting corporal to “toughen them up.” Even though it basically is a war story it is well written and keeps the reader’s interest all the way through.

Mizuki also manages to show the horror of the Imperial Army’s ideal of death at all costs. Unlike in the west where it is OK to surrender and be taken captive, in Japan throughout its history there’s nothing worse than surrendering. Thus, even during WW II, it was better to die fighting or commit suicide.

The one problem with the story is that people will have trouble remembering who is who. There are thirty characters in total and, to non-Japanese speakers; the names will be hard to remember which makes remembering characters harder even though there is a character guide at the beginning.

Despite the overly large cast they are well written and the reader can see how these people may have been when they were alive. Vets will get a little nostalgic when they see the camaraderie between these guys and the scenes where the acting corporal says “rookies to the front” and then proceeds to punch them in the face.

The art has its pluses and minuses. The minuses are the characters have Mizuki’s signature cartoony look. In a story like this it looks way out of place. Another problem with the art is that practically every character looks the same. There are a few that stand out like every character with glasses and Battalion Commander Tadokoro. On the plus side Mizuki draws backgrounds and landscapes that look almost real. This realistic style also comes into play of shots of bodies strewn all over the place in mass burials.

“Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths” is a great introduction for North Americans to Mizuki’s works which have made him one of the most important mangakas in history. It has everything an interesting war story should have despite the cartoony artwork and long list of characters.