Manga/Anime Memorandum

random thoughts on manga and anime

MAMORU OSHII book review [fiction] Part 15, KERBEROS PANZER JÄGER

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There're some Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they don't have detailed explanations about the contents. My Mamoru Oshii book collection is far from complete, but I'd like to write some short summaries for each of those books.

I apologize in advance for grammatical errors and misinformation.

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title: ケルベロス 鋼鉄の猟犬

(Kerberos Panzer Jäger)

release: 02/25/2010 (reprinted on 10/10/2012)

publisher: Gentosha

f:id:ht1990:20201123151238j:plain

[contents]

introduction

prologue: Warsaw

Berlin

Kursk

Kharkiv

Stalingrad

Memel

commentary by Masaki Yamada

 

[review]

Panzer Jäger is an origin story of Kerberos Saga. In the Panzer Cop series, Oshii set the alternate universe where Germany won in WW2, but he didn't mention how and why it happened. In this novel, Oshii shows how Germany won against the USSR in German-Soviet War.

It was originally a radio play, so there was only a not-for-sale script. In 2010, Oshii rewrote it into a novel. Unfortunately, it became the worst-selling book that Oshii ever wrote. To be completely honest, that is understandable because Oshii already threw away the decent novel format at this phase. The text is filled with non-plot-related knowledge and pedanticism. It is not recommendable as a straight entertainment novel. Plus, Oshii's motivation is to portray German-Soviet War. In other words, Kerberos Saga and protect gears are surprisingly not so relevant in this novel.

The protagonist is a Japanese-German propaganda-film director called Maki. Her uncle is Claus von Stauffenberg, who managed to assassinate Hitler in this universe. Maki decides to go to the German-Soviet war front and make a film about Hitler's ceremonial soldiers called Panzer Jäger (armored ranger)

In other words, Panzer Jäger and protect gears are Hitler's legacy in the post-Hitler era. They're just an annoying burden to the new German army, but it is difficult to just get rid of them. Due to the charismatic design of the armor, Panzer Jäger was pretty popular among German people. In German-Soviet War, the German army decides to grind them to death on the front line.

In the early part, Oshii shows how illogical and nonsensical the protect-gear is:

They knew that armored units would be the main focus in the next world war, but the preparation was too slow. In the first place, Nazi Germany was just a compromise choice of the konzern and the popularists. The connection between the Nazi and the traditional Prussia army was so weak, so they needed some instant ways of demonstrating their military power domestically and globally.

Armored units usually consist of soldiers and armored vehicles. In other words, "armored soldiers" obviously means soldiers equipped with tanks and armored vehicles. Due to the reason mentioned above, Nazi Garmany had to rely on literally 'armored' soldiers.

Even though it is a ridiculous idea, it looked useful for their purpose. It is not so surprising that nobody disagreed with the idea. Even though it is just a symbolic entity, the German people themselves needed it.

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It is impossible to make bullet-proof steel into a human-size armor. Even if it was possible, soldiers couldn't bear the weight of it. Considering the mobility problem and bullet-proof capability, the modern armored soldier is just a fantasy. However, that fantasy gave a big impact on the German people.

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The soft-iron shell can resist bayonet stab and splinters, but bolt-action rifle bullets or even handgun bullets can easily penetrate it. Considering the structural and weight problems, we have to say, it just weakens soldiers.

 

 

The point is that the protagonist is a film director. In the early part, Maki admits that the protect-gear is a very photogenic item. In the later part, she even confesses her love for the leader of Panzer Jäger. That part probably suggests Oshii's ambivalent attitude towards Kerberos Saga and protect gears. It is a kinda meta-fictional gimmick. (The same kind of attitude can be seen in TNG Patlabor as well. In episode 0 of TNG, Shige explains how ridiculous labors are, but he also says that he loves them.)