Friday, October 21, 2011

Lacayo's loyalties and the Harp of Burma

Simple has never been so nice.

Pretty much the ONLY picture of the anime.
In contrast to the Botchan fiasco (yes i dare bring it up *cringe*), The Harp of Burma was a very well executed and short film that made me think a lot about loyaly.

You see, there are plenty of examples of loyalty in this short film. And they all just made me think more and more about home, my friends, my family and my loyalty to them. Oh, theres also the whole thing about music making things much better...music has power.




Now when it comes to loyalty, we have different examples of that throughout The Harp of Burma.


*now lets imagine its anime*
Pretty powerful scene
First of all we have the whole team and their loyalty to each other. They all care for each other and cheer one another through their music. They make sure to leave no one behind and one can see throughout the film how the entire brigade is united and loyal to each other. Then you have the crew's loyalty to...err...whats his name? Mizushima? Ill call him Mizu because well its easy that way. Anyhow, Mizu is a central character to the plot, although he is lost for 75% of the film, you can see how the team is worried for him and refuse to go home without him. Nevertheless, they are not able to return with Mizu because of his own loyalty to his fellow countrymen.


Thats the next part of the loyalty issue. The team is loyal to Japan, but not in the same extent. The crew that goes back home is loyal to Japan the country. They are fighting for Japan and one can see how they even cry when they find out that the war is over and that Japan lost.

Then there's Mizu, in contrast to being loyal to Japan the country, hes loyal to Japan the people.
He sees his Japanese comrades decaying and wants to give them proper burial. As a fellow Japanese he fells compelled to give them an honorable passing, considering that the afterlife is not a pretty sight anyways.

Loyalty....who are we loyal to?

Me. I know for sure.



"I finally found what I could never see before.
You've always been the one that I was looking for"- All Along Remedy Drive

-Xavi

1 comment:

  1. In respect to what you said about loyalty, how would you address the situation of the soldiers the Mizu was sent to negotiate surrender with? I really think they're just plain foolish and dogmatic, but couldn't it be said that they're really the most loyal? Whereas the main company of soldier's in the movie weeps and and just generally seems pretty bummed when they find out about Japan's surrender, they ultimately give up and go with their captors. The company that Mizu is sent to talk to, however, even when they are informed that the rest of their country has given up, decides to fight to the death. Their loyalty, to the ideal they're fighting for and to each other, can really be seen as being just as meaningful as anyone else's.

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