Well, I’ve managed to couple my lateness with getting a post up with my interest in the ideas and questions posed by other bloggers. Maybe this’ll be a trend for the rest of the series. For episode 7, I’m going to take a look at the prophecy the old guy gave to Kujo. Flareknight wonders what it means for the couple. I think he’s right, it very clearly points to their separation somewhere in World War II. I also want to believe he’s right about the strength of Kujo’s character. I don’t think he’d go back home to join the war effort despite his heritage. So what else could possibly separate the seemingly inseparable pair? Well, let’s expand world events in the war years.
Okay, seriously, why are all old people in this series creepy?
You need to know a little about geography and world history in order to assemble the Chaos. Sabure (or Sauville) is portrayed as a fictional country. This can make it easy to forget it still has to sit on a map somewhere. After all, they bill this series as occurring on planet Earth with the geography and time line seemingly intact. If you recall, the anime places the territory “between” France and Italy. That’s all well and good, but pay close attention to the map when they show you it at the beginning of the series. Now look at a real map. Do you see the problem yet? They didn’t add land to Europe, they just redistributed it to make allowance for a new country. The fictional land of Sabure is really the western border of Italy. If you know anything at all about World War II, feel free to use the expletive of your choice now.
Yes, that’s right, Italy sides with Germany to form the Axis powers. Specifically, they join as France starts to retreat into itself in the face of German advances. Italy’s very first move is to try seizing some territory from their neighbors. They aren’t very successful, as the resisting forces stop them at the Alpine Line. For our purposes, it doesn’t really matter. For Italy to reach the Line, they would have to roll over Sabure, where Kujo and Victorique live. We already have a problem, and it only gets worse.
They do have the option of fleeing, but none of the options is particularly good. If our heroes flee to France, they immediately end up in enemy territory. Shortly after Italy’s stalled offensive, France surrenders to Germany. They could alternatively head north to Switzerland, but the Swiss had very strict refugee policies during the war years. They even turned some people away. It’s possible the couple would have better odds in enemy territory. Kujo’s background could also play against him. The Pacific War theatre opens in 1941, and Kujo is a military man from Japan. He’s not the most welcome person in Neutral or Allied territory, and there’d be a lot of pressure to contribute to the war effort in Axis territory.
Try not to think about it, and enjoy it while it lasts, buddy.
The series would likely never get to this point in the time line so all we can do is speculate on what separates them. However, there’s guiding point here. Victorique and Kujo have no control over their situation. They really can’t do anything in the face of the world around them going to hell in a hand basket. With the open nature of this conclusion, I open the floor to you readers. What do you think happens to split the couple? Additionally, if you have a greater understanding of WWII than my admittedly amateur research, feel free to share it as well.
I don’t think it would be so strange for Kujo to get called back to Japan. As you said, he comes from a military family. Also, the American Pacific theater opened in the 40s, but the Japanese had already invaded Manchuria (1931), and resigned from the League of Nations (1933). As the 1930s came to a close, Japan was engaged in a brutal conflict with China, and was already allied with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
With Japan on a war footing all throughout the 30s, Kujo could easily have been called by his family back to serve in the military. It is difficult to tell how old he is supposed to be (to say nothing of Victorica), but his family might well insist that he attend officer training of some sort.
But, yeah, if they stayed in Europe, by the time war broke out, there would be no place to hide from it.
Yeah, I can see him getting called back to Japan. At that point, it becomes a question of a sense of duty against wanting to be with Victorique. For me, it’d be easy, because I don’t wish to participate in warfare. But for someone like Kujo who’s been around it his whole life, and who is expected to contribute, it *is* a difficult problem.
Also, thanks for the info on Japan. I didn’t realize they had aligned themselves that early in the conflict.
The thing you might want to consider here was how, during the time in Japan, having honor and pride towards your country was absolute. If Kujo decides to not return to Japan, he would most likely be disowned by his family and never be able to return to his homeland again (at least, not without being viewed with jaded eyes).
The big conundrum here is whether he would choose Victorique over his entire homeland, which I would think is a rather tough decision. Especially so if you consider how, at the time, Europe had very few people of Asian descent living there; I’d guess the environment wasn’t exactly friendly for outsiders (which would explain why Kujo has few friends).
I think that might be difficult for Kujo to choose between staying at Saubure with Victorique, or returning to Japan and enlisted in the military service. I guess he didn’t have any choices, since as we know he if from high-ranking Imperial Army family. And, if he against the Japanese military expansion, he are disgracing his family and he letting himself to be an easy target to be killed by the Japanese ultra-nationalist army officers.
You have to know at that time Japanese political system in late 20′s are changing from a democratic, liberal government, to the strident nationalism, militarism since for them, Japan need to be expended its territory. And if you against it, you have to prepared yourself to be killed. Why? Several Japaneses people who trying to against it, including two Prime Ministers, are being killed by the so called “patriotic military officers”, and sadly, their are not consider as a murderer, but a hero at that time.
I wonder how the series will actually deal with WWII. My most likely guess is that it will just avoid it all together, which then suggests the prophecy might refer to something else more trivial than that. I’m not completely writing off WWII though. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.