Jingo All the Way

Lazily copy-pasted from the Wikipedia entry on Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution:

In July 2014, Japan's government approved a reinterpretation of [Article 9] despite concerns and disapproval from its neighbors. This reinterpretation would allow Japan to exercise the right of "collective self defense"and exercise military action if one of its allies were to be attacked. It is considered by some parties as illegitimate, posing a serious danger to Japan’s democracy since the Prime Minister circumvented the constitutional amendment procedure, dictating a radical change to the meaning of fundamental principles in the Constitution by way of Cabinet fiat without Diet debate, vote, or public approval.

Basically, Japan is choosing to view the whole “you can't have an army” article as more guidelines than the law of the land. It's sparked controversy, of course, much like my own country's belief that you can bomb a country back into the Stone Age without ever calling it a war. Why do I bring up real-world politics at all? Because by God, knowing what's going on makes watching the currently-airing series Gate uncomfortable.

Does anyone remember that old sci-fi show Stargate SG-1? Where the U.S. Military travels through a mysterious gate to battle a technologically superior alien army?  Fun show.

Now imaging transposing that concept to an anime, changing the U.S. Army to the J.S.D.F. Forces and the science fiction setting to a fantasy one. Sounds cool; the concept of seeing a modern army taking on a horde of giants and dragons makes my mouth water. And to the show's credit, it doesn't wuss out by drowning us in endless dialogue. Plenty of series have made similar promises of action only to spend an eternity droning on about the world, about politics, about human nature, you name it. Here, we see the promised fights consistently, so kudos there. What makes this show a little despicable in my eyes is how unashamedly pro-military it is.

In the first few episodes alone, we've seen the J.S.D.F. slaughter entire armies with nary a casualty on their own side. We see a lone army member (the main character, incidentally) save hundreds by being smarter tactically than the entire Japanese police force, prompting a not-unwelcome flashback to Angel Cop; apparently regular cops are a bunch of pussies in this world, too. We learn quickly not to get excited when more action looms on the horizon, because it'll no doubt be a one-sided ass-kicking. Opening and ending credits linger so lovingly on shots of tanks and Humvees that it borders on the pornographic.

And yet in spite of this near-fetishization of military action, there's a bizarre attitude of nonchalance at times, most notably right after one of the aforementioned “battles”. Soldiers survey the corpse-choked field with not the slightest hint of interest or discomfort; just another day on the job, I guess. “Heard we killed about 60,000 of them. Do you think Shinji'll have that paperwork done by tomorrow?” In an interesting direction choice, we actually get to see many conflicts from the enemy's point of view. While some may view this as a downright even-handed method of showing a battle, I find it all the more disturbing since these perfectly capable, rational (mostly) human beings clearly have no chance of winning from the get-go, and watching them mowed down and dismissed as statistics isn't particularly pleasant.

This self-centered irreverence is best embodies by lead character Itami, self-professed otaku. Not the fun, quirky, or endearing sort of otaku, mind you, but the kind that views everything as a hassle. “Damn it, I have to be the lookout tonight. I wanted to spend it with my waifu.” “Ugh, I didn't even want that promotion I got through sheer luck!” “If forced to pick between my job and hobbies, I'd pick my hobbies without question.” His comrades consist of 1) other male otaku, 2) cute girl soldiers, and 3) cute girl fantasy stereotypes. Although we see Itami in military clothes doing military things like shooting guns, working out, and driving Humvees, it all feels wildly out of character for him. If just any job would do to support his hobby, why choose the one that is among the most difficult and dangerous? He sure as hell doesn't show any pride in his country, or interest in anything that isn't satirically generic anime, so why the military? 

Because Itami is about as obvious a self-insert character as you can get. He's meant to appeal to us, the assumed otaku audience. We're meant to think that we, too, can do cool things and be surrounded by cute girls and fun-loving otaku just like us in the military. Worst of all, we can do it without changing anything about who we are. The main reason I grew to despise Itami and why he feels so off as a character is because he doesn't act like he has any self-discipline or respect for authority that anyone would get drilled into them in a halfway-decent boot camp. If you're going to do a show about the military, that's fine, but do it with characters I can actually believe are in the military.

Besides the battle's aftermath described above, another great scene illustrating the show's poorly-hidden message is when blue-haired mage Lelei is traveling with some J.S.D.F.-escorted refugees. A horse gets spooked and flails around, putting her in physical danger. Rather than use any of the magic she has demonstrated mastery of, Lelei cleverly decides to freeze up and stare at the horse. A soldier puts a few bullets in the horse, because clearly nothing else could've been done. As it collapses, Lelei realizes, “Those people...they saved me.” The look in her eyes says she'll be a military fangirl for life, because they were awesome enough to do what she could've done easier.

Gate may be innocent, harmless fun when all is said and done, but this show more than most others I've seen really strikes me as irresponsible. I very much doubt the military is one big joyride as it's presented here, where elf girls and goth loli chicks fall all over you and your buddies because you're so cool. Am I a hypocrite for shitting on this show when the aforementioned Stargate (and, arguably, my own country) was guilty of favoring the military a little too much? Probably. But that show also dealt with shades of moral gray, and characters' decisions, even well-intentioned ones, often had dire consequences. There is not yet any indication that Gate will evolve beyond its Us vs. Them mindset, or feel like anything more than a joyride. Here's hoping I'm proven wrong.

...but I'm not holding my breath.