YMMV / Future War 198X

• Awesome Music:
  • In the English dub, there are songs by Rush and ASIA throughout, and in the original Japanese, the opening is "Ai yue ni Kanashiku" by Poplar (found in the trailer here and the Ending Theme is the heartrending "Pathetic Love, It's My Destiny" by Kazuko Kawashima. The haunting score by Seiji Yokohama also works.
  • In a poignant scene where Laura comforts a dying soldier, an African American fellow soldier plays "Deep River" on his harmonica. It shows that the Japanese filmmakers did their homework on African American folklore.
• Nightmare Fuel: Barefoot Gen-worthy graphic depictions of skin melting off the faces of the submarine crewmen as well as the destruction of the world.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Aside from the obvious fact that the Soviet Union isn't around anymore and the satellite defense system is clearly based on the then-proposed but quickly abandoned Strategic Defense Initiative system, the film's very existence dates it as when it was made, anime depicting war and geopolitics with complete seriousness wasn't really a thing in 1982. Part of the backlash to the film at the time was because unlike manga, anime was still seen as a medium primarily for children and thus public perception was that the children were supposed to be the movie's audience. This sentiment at the time was shared by people like Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the character designer of Gundam, who stated that, "As film, anime is unsuited for a serious consideration of war." The movie wanted to say that war is not fun or entertaining, and Toei's CEO as well as the co-director defended the film in Animage magazine at the time, saying that if anime did not move away from its model of relying on things like toy sales to keep the medium going, it would never evolve. If it had been made five or six years later during the OVA boom, there would've been little controversy at all because they got exactly what they wanted, creators making anime about whatever subject matter they wanted.

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