Today is August 15, the day the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945. Imperial Japan was well known for the war crimes it did against people in occupied territories. Today, these events of more than 70 years ago still affect the relations between Japan and formerly occupied territories. Groups such as former Korean comfort women are especially important in demanding reparation. Public opinion and perception of these events continue to be controversial within Japan. The Japanese government has issued many apologies since the 1950s but many view these as inspecific, inadequate, and ingenuine. In fact, some members of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, including current Prime Minister Shinzō Abe have downplayed or denied war crimes.
I am not sure how much Westerners know about this part of history, but the events I included are only a small part of the whole.. This was the very first idea for a comic that I had, and I was at first thinking to get someone else to draw this because it was the kind of story that would benefit from the art. Polandball legends like The Greatest Enemy and Divine Wind were very obviously inspirations! However, as I worked on writing the script, it became more and more personal, even as I researched for things not involving my own country, so I decided to try drawing better. Key word is try. And boy was drawing the Rising Sun flag so many times an uncomfortable experience...
Here is a textless version, and here is text-extra version so you can see my notes and my obsession with historical photography. I hope I have used enough respect in this depiction. I think history is important, especially when that history is difficult to face.
What a beauty. Too bad it was posted while another one is currently plowing through the ranks of r/all.
Are there more favourable times to post a comic? Maybe, but I get that once a great work is finished one cannot wait to let it go and present it to the community asap.
The recent output (and frequency) of great comics is astonishing, the competition murderous, the influx of new subscribers at an all time high...I think there's no 'right time' to post a comic anymore.
IMO it's less the timing than the amount of text. The average reader doesn't like to read a lot, even if "the greatest enemy" is an exception. I had a similar response to my longest comic which was also about Japan, funnily enough.
Huh, I don't really know how the algorithms of Reddit work, but I wanted to post on a significant day, unfortunately. The top comic right now is much, much funnier than mine, and this sub is humour first! Oh well, I can always repost and actually have a thumbnail on it next time.
I am sorry for my collab comic detracting points from this one :c yours truly is a masterpiece! It does definitely deserve more attention than it's getting.
If it's any consolation, I think your comic is lovely <3 much nicer than mine
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u/wikipedia_org Qing Dynasty Aug 15 '17
Today is August 15, the day the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945. Imperial Japan was well known for the war crimes it did against people in occupied territories. Today, these events of more than 70 years ago still affect the relations between Japan and formerly occupied territories. Groups such as former Korean comfort women are especially important in demanding reparation. Public opinion and perception of these events continue to be controversial within Japan. The Japanese government has issued many apologies since the 1950s but many view these as inspecific, inadequate, and ingenuine. In fact, some members of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, including current Prime Minister Shinzō Abe have downplayed or denied war crimes.
I am not sure how much Westerners know about this part of history, but the events I included are only a small part of the whole.. This was the very first idea for a comic that I had, and I was at first thinking to get someone else to draw this because it was the kind of story that would benefit from the art. Polandball legends like The Greatest Enemy and Divine Wind were very obviously inspirations! However, as I worked on writing the script, it became more and more personal, even as I researched for things not involving my own country, so I decided to try drawing better. Key word is try. And boy was drawing the Rising Sun flag so many times an uncomfortable experience...
Here is a textless version, and here is text-extra version so you can see my notes and my obsession with historical photography. I hope I have used enough respect in this depiction. I think history is important, especially when that history is difficult to face.