Momotaro: Sacred Sailors

**Momotaro: Sacred Sailors** (桃太郎 海の神兵, *Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei*) is known as the first Japanese feature-length animated film while being the sequel to Momotaro's Sea Eagles in 1943. It was also directed by Mitsuyo Seo, who was ordered at the time to make a propaganda film for World War II by the Japanese Naval Ministry. Shochiku Moving Picture Laboratory shot the 74-minute film in 1944 and screened it on April 12, 1945.

In English, the film is sometimes referred to as **Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors**.

## Plot Summary

After completing naval training, a bear cub, a monkey, a pheasant, and a puppy say goodbye to their families. While they are preoccupied, the monkey's younger brother falls into a river while chasing the monkey's cap and is carried towards a waterfall. The dog and the monkey work together to save the child just before he is swept downstream. A time skip occurs and Japanese forces are seen clearing a forest and constructing an air base in a Pacific island with the help of the jungle animals. A plane lands in the airstrip and from inside emerges Momotaro, depicted as a General, together with the bear, monkey, dog and pheasant, who by this point have become high-ranking officials. The subsequent scenes show the jungle animals being taught the Japanese kana via singing, washing clothes, given military training, and loading weapons in warplanes. The animal residents of the island are shown as simple primitives who are star struck by the glamorous and advanced Japanese animals.

A narration of the story of how the island of Celebes was acquired by the Dutch East India Company follows and it is revealed that the Japanese are attempting to invade it. The monkey, dog and bear cub become paratroopers while the pheasant becomes a pilot. They ambush a halftrack and hastily invade a British fort, causing the unprepared British soldiers to panic and flee. Momotaro, the monkey and the puppy are then shown negotiating with three clearly terrified, stammering British officials and after a brief argument, the British agree to surrender Celebes and the surrounding islands to Japanese rule. A brief epilogue shows children playing at parachuting onto continental America outlined on the ground. Plainly the United States is to be the target of their generation.

## Background

The Naval Ministry previously showed Seo the 1940 Disney film, Fantasia which gave Seo the inspiration to give children dreams, as well as to instill the hope for peace, just as he did in the movie's predecessor. At that time, unlike German and American animation, Japanese animation was not fully promoted as a propaganda tool by the Japanese government while also considering it to be ineffective as other mediums. But as seen in the first scene of the film, "For Children (小国民に捧ぐ Shôkokumin ni tsugu)", the film was designed for children.

For a long time, the film was presumed to have been confiscated and burnt by the American occupation. However, a negative copy of the film was found in Shochiku's Ofuna warehouse in 1983 and was re-released in 1984. A reproduced movie was later screened and produced for VHS release in Japan.

## Legacy

The film shows some musical scenes, one of note is **The Song of AIUEO** (アイウエオの歌, *AIUEO no Uta*), a scene where Japanese soldiers teach local animals how to speak. The song is famous for being given a homage in **Kimba the White Lion** (ジャングル大帝, *Janguru Taitei*), when series creator, Osamu Tezuka having seen the film in April 1945. He later said that he was moved to tears by the movie's hints of dreams and hopes, hidden under the appearance of war propaganda.

The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. UK based company All the Anime announced in May 2016 that would release the film on Blu-ray and in that same month it was also announced that US distributor Funimation would also be releasing the film on Blu-ray and DVD alongside Spider and Tulip on a single disc.