Collection
Description
"[A] semi-autobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of World War Two. The soldiers are instructed that they must go into battle and die for the honor of their country, with certain execution facing them if they return alive" -- from publisher's web site.
Publication
Drawn and Quarterly (2011), Edition: Illustrated, 368 pages
Media reviews
Although none of these portraits could be called realistic, each is idiosyncratic enough to be instantly recognizable and distinct from each of the others. That we can tell one from the other is, perhaps, the point: these young men, Mizuki shows us, were not a nameless and faceless mass marching
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toward their "noble deaths," but sons and brothers, husbands and lovers, human beings caught up in something beyond their control. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Amellia_Fiske
A beautifully drawn testament of Japanese soldiers' lives in WWII. The raw emotion captured in the sharp contrast between hyper-realistic and cartoon-ish panels makes Mizuki's story more sympathetic. It's easy as a Westerner to sometimes forget that the opposing sides are fought by real people who
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have war thrust upon them just as suddenly as the "home team," and this book humanizes them in a beautiful and tragic way. Show Less
LibraryThing member sarahlh
Do not expect any sort of happy ending, some kind of moral satisfaction, at the end of this book. It is first and foremost a story about war, and the men made to fight in them. It is violent, vulgar, bloody, and unforgiving. You will probably walk away from ONWARDS TOWARDS OUR NOBLE DEATHS with a
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sense of futility, a sense of anger, and yet also an inch of comprehension for those soldiers made to die in the name of gyokusai. And if so, then manga-ka Mizuki has succeeded in his mission with this "90 percent" autobiographical work. Show Less
Awards
Eisner Award (Nominee — 2012)
Language
Original language
Japanese
Original publication date
2009
Physical description
8.82 inches
ISBN
1770460411 / 9781770460416