Recently i made a few posts about animes i enjoyed and most of these had deep messages beneath them so to change today i'm going to yap about a light and fun anime, Gate. The anime is a novel adaption from Takumi Yanai. The anime length is two season but i must admit i only have seen the first one because the illegal streaming site i use don't have season 2 in my language.
What happens in Gate ?
The is a mysterious, you guessed it, giant gate that appear in the middle of modern era in Tokyo. This gate connect the Japanese capital with a fantasy world filled with medieval kingdoms, dragons and other magic entities. The units from the other world quickly attack Tokyo but are completely destroyed by JSDF - Japan Self-Defense Forces (aka. Army).
The JSDF then send units int other new world to secure the gate, explore, establish diplomatic relations and maintain "peace". It's now the moment that you realize that even if i promised it was about to be a lighter episode we are about to deep dive into some deep subjects like colonisation and interference from bigger countries to less power full countries to control access to natural resources. The positive point of the anime is that all these "deep" subjects are aborded with a very light tone, the anime being more of a funny show than intellectual one.
This anime is a efficient way to teach a bit of politics and diplomacy and soft/hard powers to teenagers.
International Pressure: Japan is the only country in the whole that has a direct access to the gate and therefore to a new world which might (and then is confirmed to be) rich of resources that are already known or even new one. Realistically, the reaction of USA, China and Russia are quite quick and they make pressure on japan to let them have a share of the new territory. In the anime, we can see foreign delegations visit Japan and try to negotiate (or spy in some case) to value there own interests.
Soft Power and Hard Power: In the anime, we quickly can see what is hard power destroying the opponent army in few seconds due to the difference in technology between JSDF and the local fighters. On another hand the more the anime advance the more JSDF try to implement soft power. Tightening the diplomacy ties is one of the soft power aspects. Another soft power is the the huge camp that JSDF set near the gate where they start an economy and bring solution from our world to there old problems. Another exemple can be the JSDF doctors that treat locals with modern medicine which create loyalty and trust. Let's not forgot to show you what the hard power looks like with one of the best moment during the whole anime.
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Internal conflicts: Inside of Japan there were some political conflicts too. Some politicians seeing the gate as a golden opportunity to expand and gather precious resources while other are scared that japan could be dragged into conflicts due to the gate. One of the effect it has on the story is that the main character are often asked to be heard about the risk in opérations, civilians kills, costs, gain, ect. Which add another layer of complexness to the gate.
