Damn(´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

Wait, so the Allies are using child soldiers too? What the hell happened in this timeline?

I don't know about in general, but most of my grand dad's family were 14-16 when they signed up, if you volunteered they didn't even check your age, just wrote down 18 in the box.

What country are you from? At least in America, the average soldier in WW2 skewed older than other wars (which was at least partially due to many WW1 vets reenlisting). Also, the enemy soldier seems to be wearing a US Army uniform, though the sketchy artstyle makes it difficult to be certain.

last edited at Sep 13, 2018 9:16PM

I was going to say this was an alternate history where "Operation 100 Million Glorious Dead" was actually enacted, but I don't know any country that would've been desperate enough to send 14-year-old girls out to invade Japan, so I'm guessing the connection to reality is much more tenuous than I'd imagined.

Maybe that 1XX7 is 1947.

last edited at Sep 13, 2018 9:37PM

There's also a 1XX8 and some photos dated something like 1X15 or what have you.

So, floating some possibilities. Note that in all cases have the contingent "and both sides are using girls" AH even for the historical possibilities. Although I should observe that historically Japanese women and children were being conscripted into militias in anticipation of the Allied invasion in 1945. Although admittedly, they were expected to take on Allied troops toting automatic weapons, tanks, and artillery with spears.

1. The later date's are of post-war images, the main story is actually set during late-Second World War.
2. Alternate history: It's 1948 or later, WW2 is dragging on longer.
3. Alternate history: It's 1948 or later, WW3 between communist and capitalist blocs kicked off shortly after WW2.
4. This is actually set in China in 1937 or later from a Chinese perspective, despite the names.
5. This is set in a completely alternate world that happens to have some countries which mirror our own, including a counterpart of Japan.
6. Some combination of the above, where combinations are possible.

last edited at Sep 13, 2018 10:08PM

I think your 4 is completely ruled out from the fact that in January they went sent on a large warship to go defend a "really cold northern country" from amphibious invasion. At this point Ouka's family had already died in a bombing raid. China lost most of its northern territory in 1931, years before the main fighting of the Second Sino-Japanese War started. Plus, China lost its entire deep-water navy before the first January of the war, which means they'd have to be setting out before the war started, but after Ouka's mother was killed in a bombing raid.

Also, the girls are waving Japanese flags here.

On a side note, I don't think 1XX7 is a date, since in the second chapter the pictures have 1XX4, 1X12, and 1XX6, while in the third chapter the pictures have 1XX8, 1X0X, and 1X11. Any way you slice it, that's an 8 year range, minimum, but the ages only range from 13 to 16, and these are all apparently girls who served concurrently. Maybe those are ID numbers or something like that?

last edited at Sep 14, 2018 2:09PM

Should there be a Rape tag?

Reminds me of “Kimi Wa Shoujo”. What’s the mangaka’s source of inspiration for this work? This is bleaker/darker than “Gunjo” (it’s the only other DAF tagged series I know about).

last edited at Sep 13, 2018 10:58PM

On a side note, I don't think 1XX7 is a date, since in the second chapter the pictures have 1XX4, 1X12, and 1XX6, while in the third chapter the pictures have 1XX8, 1X0X, and 1X11. Any way you slice it, that's an 8 year range, minimum, but the ages only range from 13 to 16, and these are all apparently girls who served concurrently. Maybe those are ID numbers or something like that?

I agree, those are probably some enlisting numbers or something and the story is set in an altogether alternative universe/timeline

Wait, so the Allies are using child soldiers too? What the hell happened in this timeline?

War waits for no morals.

last edited at Sep 14, 2018 4:01AM

Wait, so the Allies are using child soldiers too? What the hell happened in this timeline?

War waits for no morals.

Well, yeah, but using child soldiers is also a clear sign of desperation, that the military in question has run out of able-bodied adults-- something that the real-life Allied Powers never came even remotely close to.

last edited at Sep 14, 2018 6:00AM

never came even remotely close to

Well, depends on your definition of "remotely close". Many countries enlist people that are below their legal age for drinking or even consent. While I am NOT conflating this with child soldiers, I always found it strange to send someone to war and die for the country while not granting them full rights yet.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be interesting

Sailor finally having sex with they uniforms.

Nope. I've read 3 chapters and I'm giving up. This is just so random weird for me the only thing I find "depressing as fuck" about it is the artstyle - and not in a good way...

Abandoning ship....

On a side note, I don't think 1XX7 is a date
Maybe those are ID numbers or something like that?

You're right (it's probably 1007 rather than 1XX7 but those ○ are tricky). I'm not sure exactly what the numbers would be called, but each girl has one that's consistently included as part of her designation. 7th Escort Fleet 1007: Tanabe Aka, 7th Escort Fleet 1006: Satsukibara Nae, etc. There's a full list of them, but it contains spoilers.

a large warship

Pretty sure it's Fubuki, and the "boat with a name like a guardian statue" is Kongou. iirc the ships were chosen based on... which ones the author has put together plastic models of.

When I saw the smile scene, I went full retard and scrolled up to find the Yuri tag.

you never go full retard!!

this manga is a bit weird, but it's not some hollow, traveling on a roller coaster of cliche after cliche story, so i'll roll with it. its tone reminds me a little of haibane renmei. characters are portrayed smiling and happy a lot, but with the undertone of you know there's something worse underlying it all.

edit: and i agree, i think the numbers are their IDs

last edited at Sep 14, 2018 5:26PM

You're right (it's probably 1007 rather than 1XX7 but those ○ are tricky). I'm not sure exactly what the numbers would be called, but each girl has one that's consistently included as part of her designation. 7th Escort Fleet 1007: Tanabe Aka, 7th Escort Fleet 1006: Satsukibara Nae, etc. There's a full list of them, but it contains spoilers.

Oh, are they? Hanami Ryou has 1X0X, with the zero being just a circle with a dash through it, so I assumed that's how they'd be writing zeroes, not as Xs.

Pretty sure it's Fubuki, and the "boat with a name like a guardian statue" is Kongou. iirc the ships were chosen based on... which ones the author has put together plastic models of.

I feel like a saw a page with a ブキ showing on a cut-off sign in the background, but now I can't seem to find it.... That makes sense though.

I'm turning more and more towards the view that rather than some specific alternate history scenario, this series more represents a pastiche of late war stress and difficulty. It's hard to tell with just these chapters so far, vague as they are about the setting, but it feels more like an impression or evocation than true alt-hist, which tends to be more focused on details.

Oh, are they? Hanami Ryou has 1X0X, with the zero being just a circle with a dash through it, so I assumed that's how they'd be writing zeroes, not as Xs.

I meant the Xs were originally circles in the raw, so interpreting them as redaction is legitimate but probably not correct in this case (the zero with a dash is from the font used for the translation). Honami's number should actually be 1010 (一◯十◯ or 一◯一◯ depending on the page) so I'm not sure why it's written 1X0X, typo maybe.

I feel like a saw a page with a ブキ showing on a cut-off sign in the background, but now I can't seem to find it.... That makes sense though.

If so, I missed it! I just went off the "with a cold name" (寒そうな*雪*の名前のふね) and the look of the ship.

I've read the whole thing so I can't really join in the overall speculation fairly.

I meant the Xs were originally circles in the raw, so interpreting them as redaction is legitimate but probably not correct in this case (the zero with a dash is from the font used for the translation). Honami's number should actually be 1010 (一◯十◯ or 一◯一◯ depending on the page) so I'm not sure why it's written 1X0X, typo maybe.

I feel like a saw a page with a ブキ showing on a cut-off sign in the background, but now I can't seem to find it.... That makes sense though.

If so, I missed it! I just went off the "with a cold name" (寒そうな*雪*の名前のふね) and the look of the ship.

I've read the whole thing so I can't really join in the overall speculation fairly.

Okay, I see what you're saying. I misunderstood about the circles. So they used 〇 like is done for blanking out letters and such. I haven't seen the raws, I didn't realize the numbers here were re-typeset. Though now that I think about it, of course they were, since they match the lettering.

I must've imagined I saw that, or maybe I saw something like it somewhere else.... Would they even use katakana to write in the ship's names? I have no idea.

last edited at Sep 14, 2018 9:32PM

Should there be a rape tag?
(...)

Meh, it's kind of too obscure to be called rape. There was no sign of resistance or her saying stop or anything. And especially the way she said 'I came' and "i'm sorry" after it gave me the impression it wasn't rape.

last edited at Sep 14, 2018 9:45PM

Okay, I see what you're saying. I misunderstood about the circles. So they used 〇 like is done for blanking out letters and such. I haven't seen the raws, I didn't realize the numbers here were re-typeset. Though now that I think about it, of course they were, since they match the lettering.

It looks like that's the interpretation the translator went with, yeah. I think they're zeroes.

You didn't imagine it after all:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/to_die_in_june_ch01#13
(It's right-to-left because of the time period)

Meh, it's kind of too obscure to be called rape. There was no sign of resistance or her saying stop or anything. And especially the way she said 'I came' and "i'm sorry" after it gave me the impression it wasn't rape.

O.k. thanks for reply. I misinterpreted the "I'm sorry" for guilt/remorse after committing an act without expressed permission. I shouldn't worry too much into such details in a work of fiction (alt-history)... Although this does bring up an interesting topic over when to fret over such things in manga... Kinda like where are the fuzzy boundaries for T-16 and M-18+. It gets difficult when artwork isn't "NSFW" but the text/subject matter is NSFW.

last edited at Sep 15, 2018 2:21AM

You didn't imagine it after all:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/to_die_in_june_ch01#13
(It's right-to-left because of the time period)

Looks like I'm not crazy after all! Good to know.

Meh, it's kind of too obscure to be called rape. There was no sign of resistance or her saying stop or anything. And especially the way she said 'I came' and "i'm sorry" after it gave me the impression it wasn't rape.

O.k. thanks for reply. I misinterpreted the "I'm sorry" for guilt/remorse after committing an act without expressed permission. I shouldn't worry too much into such details in a work of fiction (alt-history)... Although this does bring up an interesting topic over when to fret over such things in manga... Kinda like where are the fuzzy boundaries for T-16 and M-18+. It gets difficult when artwork isn't "NSFW" but the text/subject matter is NSFW.

No that's the thing. It was the girl being pleased that said sorry. I was confused as well but since the 'I'm-' gets cut off, I assume it's her as well, and she's just moaning in between. Though now that I go back once again I start doubting it even more. Kind of unclear in this situation tbh.

And yeah, rape is often dealt with so casually in manga, I always just take into consideration what the artist's main goal was, or what their interpretation of it in that situation probably was. It often just doesn't work if you deal and percieve 'rape' in manga as seriously as in real life, since often there's no emotional depth to it in the manga, it's just overly simplified, there's no traumatic emotional disability to deal with afterwords etc. and tbh I don't think the artist often means for it to carry that weight that it so does in real life. I mean lots of people fantasize about getting 'raped' and get turned on, our fantasy can get fucked up. But in that situation all I said before applies. It's a fantasy without all the weight, all the damage and trauma that normally accompanies it.
Idk why I'm saying this at this point, I think I kind of derailed there, my bad.

And yeah, it's kind of hard to draw a line, especially with Japan's rules of sensoring

This series is a bit … I'm not sure how to describe it.
I usually like light and fluffy stuff, so I'll usually avoid "depressing as fuck" stuff. But this one keeps drawing me back despite how bleak and depressing it is - there is just something about the art and the interaction of the characters …