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gotta shill for Patlabor 2 (the whole franchise is great, although I haven’t gotten around to watching the whole TV series yet, but the 2nd movie is the most explicitly political)
Patlabor 2: The “Just War/Unjust Peace” Scene (1993) (or with subs here)
We’re a rich country, and what is our wealth built on? The bloody corpses in all these wars… they’re the foundation of our peace.
Other countries, comfortably far away, pay the price for our prosperous peace. We’ve learned very well how to ignore their suffering.
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Dallos is about a space colony going on strike.
Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans has some good Union activity in it.
Not anime but you should definitely watch Damnation and I’m a Virgo
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Trigger’s shows:
Gurren Lagann is about a double revolution.
Kill la Kill is about a revolution, social norms, and different methods of praxis.
Little Witch Academia has extremely strong class themes.
Promare is about a failed global revolution, followed by the defeat of a fascist.
Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli, he’s a communist or at least was. He still holds all the same views he had before the fall of the USSR. Everything he makes is marxist in some way whether he still calls himself one or not.
Akira is set upon the backdrop of an obviously marxist revolution.
Shinsekai Yori has deeply political themes but they don’t really start until parts 2 and 3. Any leftist will sympathise with Squealer.
One Piece - This is explicitly a marxist story that is building up towards world revolution. The author Oda has Che Guevara on the wall of his office.
Gundam are not explicitly marxist but political themes lean into marxism at times. Some shows better than others, I’m not a gundam expert.
Revolutionary Girl Utena - about breaking gender standards in society. Queer show.
Madoka Magica - I argue this show is explicitly marxist and the entire relationship between magical girls and the system is explicitly a critique and call for revolution over capitalism.
Deca-Dence - Explicitly marxist show. The ending is cowardly though.
Sarazanmai is Kunihiko Ikuhara’s most direct attack on capitalism
Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - Start with the 2003 version not the remake. Each episode is kinda independent and explores philosophical themes.
Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous) - What is depicted is an explicitly a communist society with a communist economy. Show features incredible art, incredible directing, and incredible use of body horror to depict the inner feelings of characters. In terms of modern anime it has done more than anything in the genre to change the way the rest of the industry works by demonstrating what 3d used correctly can do for the genre. This show is a masterpiece and one of my favourites, rewatching it always brings new things to analyse or think about.
Gundam are not explicitly marxist but political themes lean into marxism at times. Some shows better than others, I’m not a gundam expert.
Just to add, Tomino (the guy who made the original 0079 Gundam) had a similar background to Ghibli’s Miyazaki (they’re the same age and they worked together on World Masterpiece Theater) and was also active in the student union’s in the 60’s. All the stuff he made is extremely class conscious. “Everything he makes is marxist in some way whether he still calls himself one or not.” applies to him as well, even if in public nowadays he’s kinda ultra liberal.
The show I’d recommend from him is Turn A Gundam, which besides being a beautiful high-concept Sci-fi show (that I won’t spoil) is also explicitly about settler colonialism.
Edit for basic fact checking lol
So I’ve been told that Turn A is best with the context of having seen some UC Gundam already, is that true? I wouldn’t be able to judge, having been into Gundam to one degree or another since I was a kid.
Imo Turn A is perfectly fine standalone. It’ll help to be familiar with Gundam shows as a concept, but I think the core conceit is strong enough that you can go in mostly blind and be fine
GOOD list
arigato
“Arigato”? Isn’t that that type of tube-shaped Italian pasta?
Does it get more communist than the anime biography of Karl Marx’s life?
I watched this one. The story is great, but the animation is a 4/10
You might also enjoy the currently airing Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. It’s a tense seinen about a prodigious kid in the 17th century trying to research/prove the heliocentric model while trying to avoid being killed by the Church.
Squirrel and Hedgehog
I don’t think you can find something explicitly communist in popular japanese media tbh, at best you will get something anti-imperialist like Code Geass or the Stormblood expansion for FFXIV, or something class conscious like Kaiji
well not japanese anime, sure, but chinese anime? vietnamese anime? someone must be making communist anime somewhere.
FOR REAL why is there not like the explicitly socialist Chinese/Vietnamese equivalent of JJBA/Death Note/FLCL/DBZ/Attack on Titan/One Piece/Sailor Moon/Fullmetal Alchemist/Breaking Bad that we’re all obsessed with and begging for subs/dubs, waiting weekly for new episodes?
The closest I can think of is three body problem (and I’m not even sure either version should count).
I can understand waiting until 202X for this to happen, I just think we’re behind schedule.
It’s only anime if it comes from the anime region of japan, otherwise it’s just a sparkling cartoon.
