Conduct of JSSDF soldiers in End of Evangelion

[chaosakita]

I thought the actions of the soldiers in EoE were completely brutal and one of the most horrifying things in the entire series. I think it was one of the unexplored aspects about the human psyche, but I guess in the end, it was just another trouble in communication. I guess they were just following orders and really believed that all of the people in NERV were bad. Given their capabilities of destruction with the Evas and what appears to be a general mistrust for them, it doesn't seem too far-fetched. But I think it's jarring in a show that displays a positive view of humanity (IMO) and then dump Nazis in the middle of it.

Also, I read that in World War II, it was a common practice to ensure 100% casualty rates. I don't know how much common knowledge it is, but it could be definitely evocative of that.

[Dartz]

War is not a pretty thing where you shoot someone, they fall over.... the respawn on the other side of the map. Nor is "I surrender" an automatic shield....

[Hyper Shinchan]

First of all... Geneva conventions don't apply in internal matters in a State.

Second.

The easiest way to stop an Evangelion is
1: With another Evangelion
2: Killing the Pilot before they get aboard.

You can't nuke it. It's far too mobile. A nuclear strike capable of taking down an Evangelion would have to be massive. The fallout... both political and otherwise... would be a nightmare.

You can't use conventional weapons. That's like stopping a hurricane with a fan.

Even if you don't consider the Geneva convention the entire operation was probably carried out in violation of the Japanese legislation, the fact that they didn't want to inform the Diet until things were finished it's a clear sign of an extra-legal operation authorized by the executive in breach of the existing legislation.
Anyway about the nukes: EVAs and Angels are shown to be immune to the so called N^2 bombs that apparently are at least powerful as a small tactical nuke. Actually I doubt that they didn't use them if it wasn't because they're useless, it's not like they can't control public opinion and mass media, closing Neo Tokyo 3 like the old Tokyo could have proved to be a quite effective way to manipulate the public opinion (since it was probably already closed or with limited access since the beginning and after the fight against Armisael there wasn't anyone around except the NERV personal).
As an example the EVA-01 (and 02? I don't remember) are hit by a N^2 bomb in Girflriend of Steel but they're pretty much immune (Misato also says to Shinji that even if the JA exploded he would be safe inside the EVA).

[Uriel Septim VII]

All the soldiers were dissatisfied due to the Second Impact causing a stagnation in entertainment technology. Their video games were still at mid-90s level, and shooting up 2D opponents is not as satisfying as near photorealistic, extensively rendered enemies. Since they didn't have the latter, they looked to the closest thing, actual enemies.

[Kendrix]

I think the callousness of the Soldier was there to stress that humans can be bastrads sometimes. Bigger bastards than Angels.
It is frequently stated in the movie how Humans are tougher Enemies than an Angel could ever be.
Homo Homini lupus and so on.

[chaosakita]

I think the callousness of the Soldier was there to stress that humans can be bastrads sometimes. Bigger bastards than Angels.
It is frequently stated in the movie how Humans are tougher Enemies than an Angel could ever be.
Homo Homini lupus and so on.

From this point, I think that maybe the JSSDF are used as an example of humans not being able to connect to each other, or even a subversion of the idea that it's possible.

[Chrad]

From this point, I think that maybe the JSSDF are used as an example of humans not being able to connect to each other, or even a subversion of the idea that it's possible.

Like a lot of things in the film, it shows us humanity at its worst and our inability to stop hurting each other, and so lends weight to Shinji's decision to restore individuality.

[Speedy_pig123]

Looking at it from this angle, the only thing you can say the JSSDF really did wrong was failing to take prisoners.

JSSDF was given the order to shoot on non-combatants (unless either my memory or Manga subs are failing on me) and "failing" to take prisoners isn't a light matter; they probably wanted to wipe them out completely to delete evidences but the soldiers were only fulfilling their orders if there's anyone at fault it was the Japanese government.

Its actually pretty common in situations where the capture of prisoners is just not viable, during D-Day, Paratroopers were ordered not to take prisoners as they wouldn't have proper holding facilities and would slow them down. In the Geofront and NERV's HQ specifically, its essentially just a giant office building with large hallways and rooms, it would make sense for them not to take prisoners as their situation is far dangerous enough without prisoners let alone with.

[Tankred]

The primary purpose of the operation was ensuring that NERV was unable to carry out a world ending plan, for that they had to liquidate the entire facility, as far as the Japanese government was concerned as per SEELE dripfeeding them partial misinfo, NERV Japan had become a death cult, all of the personnel were in on it and presented a liability, the JSSDF believed they were saving the world from mad men.

[Kendrix]

I don't even think it requires any special explanation - ruthlessness & atrocity are par for the course in war any history book will tell you this. WWII, Vietnam, the current stuff in the middle east... Ideas of honor or laws of war usually aren't worth much & often desintegrate before long.
War by its very nature basically turns ppl into orcs.

Depicting this in no uncertain terms is probably part of Anno's general philosophy of not pulling punches & showing the uglyness reality.

Even Nadia, which was directed at younger kids, also had realistic fascists who aren't the least bit dumbed down, goofy or cartoonish, and just fucking shoot ppl without hesitation. (bonus points for how they show up midway through what was otherwise a perfectly goofy show where the starter villains were basically team rocket & eventually joined forces with the heroes)

[FelipeFritschF]

Depicting this in no uncertain terms is probably part of Anno's general philosophy of not pulling punches & showing the uglyness reality.

Hey Kendrix, haven't seen you in a while!

On topic. I'm surprised apparently nobody in the thread mentioned Anno's love for the 1971 Japanese film Battle of Okinawa, about the eponymous WW2 battle. It is heavily referenced in Gunbuster also (probably Nadia?), and I recall someone once made a comparison between many famous shots of that movie, in particular the scene with the NERV staff being burned by a flamethrower, which mirrors one from the original movie frame by frame, which had Japanese troops and civilians being burned by the US Marines, and apparently the whole invasion sequence was strongly inspired by that film. I'm looking through it now, I have already found three other references.

But if you really want the full skinny, I’d say Clements’s piece in Manga Mania 41 is the place to go. He points out that Hideaki Anno is such a fan of a film called the Battle of Okinawa, and references it so much in Gunbuster, that Anno was asked to write the sleeve notes for the LD re-release of this famous warfilm. Apparently, he knows every frame.

Then some talk about Okamoto’s Nikudan. Anno watched it twice and Okamoto said it’s more than enough…Anno said he still remembered a lot of the scenes and how they are edited and linked.But the ones he watched most are The longest day of Japan and Battle of Okinawa5⁠. He even played it as BGV [background video] when he was doing storyboarding at one time, and then slowly his attention was drawn to the video and ended up spending 3 hours watching it.Then Okamoto talked about his filming Battle of Okinawa in Okinawa and the problem with lack of manpower and resource, ended up doing one of the characters.

On the wiki:

The influence of "Battle of Okinawa (film)" is particularly strong, with similarities in the way the message is displayed and the cuts and transition of the film can be seen everywhere.

In addition, the lines "There are too many U.S. ships and we can't see the ocean" and "It's 70% ships and 30% ocean!" to "There are too many enemies and the universe doesn't look black enough" or "There are 70% enemies and 30% black!". It is well known that the second half of GunBuster has become "almost 'Battle of Okinawa (film)'".

Anno: I can't stand it, so I can't watch it. It's very painful to watch. Instead, even though I've only seen it twice, I remember each cut vividly. I think I even remember the connections between the cuts. It had such an impact on me.

On the other hand, I watched "Japan's Longest Day" and "Battle of Okinawa (film)" over and over again. For a while, I used them as background videos when I was storyboarding, and when I intended to use them as background videos, I ended up watching them, and ended up saying, "Oh, I just killed three hours" (laughs). "Battle of Okinawa (film)" is the movie I've watched the most times in my life. I've seen it more than 100 times in total.

This from an interview with the director of that film, Kihachi Okamoto, and Anno is all giddy and nervous that he watched Eva. Anno also says he is his favorite director. (!)

FWIW, I talked this Asian fans before and they also mentioned it. Apparently it's pretty much consensus? Though I'm not sure we have hard evidence of Anno saying so.