MarqFJA87 wrote:SPOILER: ShowWhile browsing the Japanese Wikipedia's NGE glossary article for whatever info it may have on the JSSDF (scroll down to this section and then go to the heading with "戦略自衛隊(J.S.S.D.F.)" in it), I came across a couple of interesting facts.
First, Nerv's descriptor of "Special Agency" (特務機関) exists IRL as the name of an Imperial Japanese Army unit that specialized in intelligence, covert ops, counterinsurgency etc. in occupied areas as well as "operational areas" (presumably referring to areas where military operations are being actively conducted).
Second, the JSSDF... well, read this passage (Google TLed and then refined by me)Its military power is said to surpass that of the (ex-SDF) UN Armed Forces (because the armies of the major powers are nominally part of the UN Armed Forces), and it is positioned as the strongest army in the world.
The original passage is here, for those who are curious:その軍事力は国連軍(旧自衛隊)をも凌ぐともされ(主要大国の軍隊が名目上は国連軍の一部であるため)、世界最強の軍隊に位置づけられる。
So apparently, the JSSDF surpasses in military power the collective assortment of UN Armed Forces units that were formerly SDF units; that's not implausible, given that Japan apparently had so little faith in the UN being able to protect it from China's continuing threat of militaristic expansionism (as evidenced by the war it waged with Vietnam) that it decided to throw Article 9 out the window and establish a brand-new military to replace the appropriated SDF.
However, it bugs me that somehow the SSDF is considered to be the strongest remaining national military force in the world despite the assertation that the respective armed forces of the "major powers" (presumably the US, Russia, China and EU) retain most if not all of their pre-UN autonomy. Said persistence of autonomy, incidentally, would explain how China was able to wage war against neighboring Vietnam over the Spratly Islands despite the assertation in the same article that the UN's appropriation of national militaries for itself had been enacted in the wake of the Second Impact via the "Valentine Peacekeeping System" (apparently either an alternate name for or a component of what we know as the "Valentine Treaty").
Now, all this assumes of course that the information from the article does indeed come from actual NGE materials (presumably supplemental books, possibly ones that are still in the Japan-exclusive territory) and not fanon that had been shoehorned there while none of the Japanese editors with actual knowledge of NGE lore were looking (I would greatly appreciate verification of the relevant passages' factuality). That being said, it does check out with already existing facts about Anno's nationalistic attitude towards WW2 and Imperial Japan, illustrated by some of his statements on NGE as well as his earlier work Gunbuster (conveniently listed on the EvaGeeks Wiki); specifically, he expresses resentment towards how the cultural trauma from Japan's defeat at the hands of the Allies (specifically naming the United States) had apparently led to widespread "stunting" of the Japanese people into a "nation of permanent children", and answers a question about Gunbuster's alternate future ("is it dominated by Russia?") by saying "There's a Japanese Empire. In the year 2000, the U.S. and Japan had a war, and Japan occupied Hawaii. Sorry."
I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me that Anno had been stealthily trying to inject some of his nationalist fantasies into his works, with rather unrealistic outcomes at that (there are ways to plausibly portray Japan rising to become a hyperpower; AFAIK Anno didn't even bother trying to come with an excuse).
PS: I shamefully admit that I had somehow remained ignorant about the expressions of Anno's nationalism in NGE and Gunbuster until very recently; I actually knew about the "nation of permanent children" thing, but didn't realize it was tied to nationalistic sentiment until now.
Tbh this makes me like Anno more now
[Picture removed: political meme] - JoelcrNeto