Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“Even If It Means Our Battles To Date Are Meaningless” The Anime Gundam Wing And Postwar History, Memory, And Identity In Japan, Genevieve R. Peterson

Graduate Masters Theses

Since 1945, three narratives have dominated Japan’s postwar memory landscape: the heroic narrative, the victim narrative, and the perpetrator narrative. There are few places in Japanese public discourse demonstrating an engagement with the gray areas between the narratives. What makes a hero? What kinds of visions do victims cast? How evil are perpetrators? While often absent in public discourse, these questions are frequently explored in Japanese popular media, including anime. When the 50th anniversary of the end of the Asia-Pacific War occurred in 1995, Japan’s public figures attempted to lay its memory to rest. In the same year, on April …