is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kaiji Kawaguchi. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Morning from 2000 to 2009, with its chapters collected in forty-three volumes. It follows a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer and its crew being transported back in time more than 60 years to the Pacific theatre of World War II. The struggle of the crew from a peaceful future Japan to resist the nationalistic appeal of altering history and defending their country, knowing that in this time it is ruled by totalitarian militarists, is the central theme of Zipang.
A twenty-six episode anime television series by Studio Deen and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi was broadcast on TBS from 2004 to 2005. It was licensed for English release in North America by Geneon Entertainment.
Plot In the 2000s, the , the newest and most advanced helicopter destroyer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, sails from Japan on a naval exercise with the United States Navy off Ecuador. En route, a strange meteorological anomaly causes the Mirai to lose contact with her sister ships. The crew soon encounters a fleet containing the , sunk in 1945, and a . They realise they have travelled through a time slip to June 4, 1942, the first day of the Battle of Midway. Although some crew members want to use the Mirais superior technology to save the four aircraft carriers of the 1st Air Fleet and the 3,000 lives that will otherwise be lost, they agree that their priority is returning home and therefore avoid actions that might change history.
Despite this policy, the Mirais crew becomes increasingly involved in the war while refusing to side with either Japan or the Allies. They rescue IJN Lt. Commander Kusaka, a staunch militarist who seeks to create a stronger Japan called "Zipang" and who would otherwise have died. Their intervention causes major historical changes, including the death of Executive Officer Yōsuke Kadomatsu's father in a childhood car accident, meaning Kadomatsu can no longer exist in the future. Learning that Kusaka is travelling to Manchuria to secure oil, Kadomatsu leaves the Mirai to stop him. In Manchukuo, he joins a lieutenant of Mitsumasa Yonai at a parade in Changchun attended by Emperor Puyi. Kusaka and his followers intend to assassinate Puyi and seize Manchuria for Zipang. Kadomatsu saves Puyi from an assassin pilot, but Kusaka shoots Kadomatsu and Yonai's lieutenant, then kills Puyi. Not intending to kill the two men, Kusaka orders his doctor to treat them. Kadomatsu subsequently decides to use the Mirai and his knowledge of the future to save as many lives as possible.
While the Mirai undergoes repairs at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Gunnery Officer Masayuki Kikuchi questions whether changing history is inevitable and whether Zipang represents a better future. The Mirai later escorts a transport carrying 4,000 Imperial Japanese Army soldiers from Kiska during the Aleutian Islands campaign. It is forced to sink the USS North Carolina and fight light cruisers, but saves the transport and is formally celebrated by the IJN. Meanwhile, Kusaka sends Tsuda to assassinate Adolf Hitler; the failed attempt is a diversion enabling Kusaka to steal uranium from the Nazi nuclear program. During operations against American submarines and the evacuation of New Guinea, VTOL pilot Mamoru Satake is killed covering the withdrawal. Kikuchi then launches a mutiny, seizes the Mirai, and takes part in the South-East Asian theatre, intending to attack India. Kadomatsu retakes the ship with help from Kōhei Oguri, Sachiko Momoi and Kisaragi. Kikuchi is injured during the Japanese withdrawal at the Battle of Tarawa and takes refuge in Palau with Momoi and Kisaragi. Captain Saburō Umezu, having learned that Kusaka is developing the atomic bomb, travels from hospital in Yokosuka to Nanjing to stop him, but fails and is killed.
In 1944, the Yamato, now fighting for Kusaka, is sunk by the Mirai, killing Kusaka in a vortex. Its subsequent nuclear explosion reveals that it carried an atomic bomb. Although the blast causes little damage, it alerts the Americans to the apparent success of the Japanese nuclear weapons program. The Mirai is eventually sunk by a stray shell fired by American ships, killing its entire crew. Neither side rescues the survivors, except the crippled Kadomatsu, who is recovered by the Americans. Unable to return to his own time because the altered history has erased his original existence, and persuaded by Kusaka to create "Zipang", Kadomatsu offers his knowledge of the European theatre to the Allies and is taken to Washington, D.C..
The Mirais actions produce lasting changes. In 1944, the U.S. and Japan sign a peace treaty; in 1945, militarist factions are removed in a coup d'état, enabling Japan to democratise. The Pan-Pacific Treaty Organization is established in 1947, while Japan relinquishes its imperial-era colonies. By 1957, postwar Japan is prosperous after avoiding severe attacks on the mainland. Kadomatsu, now wealthy in Nantucket after advising the U.S. government, returns to Japan in 1970.
When the 2000s arrive again, Kadomatsu attends the christening of a new JDS Mirai and discovers that its crew members are almost identical to those of the original ship, except himself. He realises that he alone survived because two versions of the same person cannot coexist: his father's death meant his original self was never born in this timeline, allowing him to remain alive, while the original Mirai crew died so that they could later be born as history intended. Although the new crew has never met Kadomatsu, they all sense that someone is missing. The new Mirai departs for its naval exercise with the United States Navy and reaches Ecuador without incident, leaving only Kadomatsu aware of how events might otherwise have unfolded.
JDS Mirai JDS Mirai (DDH-182) is the fictional helicopter defense destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), created for the manga. Mirai is transported back sixty years through time to 1942 on the eve of the Battle of Midway. The ship's weapons alone are enough to change the course of World War II, but equally potent are the advanced technology and knowledge of future events on board. The name of the ship is a homophone for the Japanese word meaning "future" and is often the basis of double entendres in the anime. The phrase , often repeated in the anime, for example, can mean "Japanese people of the ship Mirai" or "Japanese people of the future."
Class description
The Mirai is a ship of a fictional Yukinami-class of helicopter defense destroyer, which was created specifically for the story. The fictional ships are essentially an improved version of the actual Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force . All these ships are equipped with the Aegis Combat System that provides the vessels possessing it the capability to locate, track and target a large number of enemy vessels, aircraft and even missiles at ranges and with accuracy that was unimaginable in World War II.
The JDS Mirai is sometimes described as a cruiser rather than a destroyer. This is because a modern guided missile destroyer is about the size of a World War II light cruiser (the Mirai is actually longer than the and broader than the Takao-class heavy cruisers) and, in the context of the story, the WW II era characters misidentify the Mirai as a cruiser. Some sources have picked up this misidentification and reported it as factual.Anime source .Anime on DVD.
MV/SA-32J Umidori
The MV/SA-32J Umidori (English: Seagull) is a fictional aircraft created for the series. In it, it is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force VTOL tilt-wing armed reconnaissance aircraft deployed aboard the destroyer Mirai.
The MV/SA-32J has two large, five-bladed propellers mounted on nacelles in its wings. The wings both tilt, for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), and fold, for storage within the Mirais hangar. It appears that its engines are not in the wing nacelles, which are too small and do not have any air intakes. Air intakes and engine exhausts in the lower part of the fuselage indicate that the engines are located there, presumably connected to the propellers by some complicated mechanical linkage.
The design of the Umidori appears to be influenced by the Canadair CL-84 Dynavert Tiltwing, which was intended for projected Sea Control Ships of the 1970s The modern design of the Umidori incorporates features of the Bell XV-15 in terms of aerodynamic form and size, and in turn of the later, larger V-22 Osprey.
Characters Fictional
Executive Officer (X.O.) and second in command aboard the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force escort vessel JDS Mirai (DDG-182). He always respects human life, and the action of saving Kusaka's life took priority over the implications this would have on the course of history. He feels responsibility for however history may have been changed because of Kusaka, and attempts to stop Kusaka's actions.
An IJN Lt. Commander whose courier plane was shot down during the Battle of Midway and rescued by Kadomatsu. He considers the encounter with the Mirai as an opportunity to change the history for the "better" (from his perspective, at least.) He rejects both the militarism of the Japanese Empire and shame of defeat that he attributes to the postwar Japan. Instead, he seeks to create a new undefeated Japan that he calls "Zipang". While he admires the humanism of Kadomatsu, he dismisses it as a luxury unsuited for wartime and is willing to shed a great deal of blood in pursuit of his ideals.
Gunnery Officer and third in command aboard the JMSDF vessel JDS Mirai (DDG-182). Kikuchi has been best friends with Kadomatsu and Oguri ever since they were in the same batch during their time at the Japan Maritime Academy. He has a strong sense of justice and does not like taking lives. Kikuchi is usually calm in making decisions, rarely breaking out a sweat when he faces extreme situations. During early volumes of the manga, Kikuchi proposed the Mirai crew to avoid changing the past as much as possible. After events of the battle with the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, USS Wasp, Kikuchi changes his stance on attacking enemy targets, putting the reason that Mirai is put in danger and they are doing it for self-defense.
Navigation Officer aboard the JDS Mirai (DDG-182). Oguri is best friends with Kadomatsu and Kikuchi during their time in the Maritime Academy. He is joint third in command alongside Kikuchi aboard Mirai. Oguri is the most outspoken of the three of them, but he is also impulsive when making decisions. In contrast, his personality is opposite to Kikuchi. When Kusaka was initially rescued, Oguri proposes that they should release information to him, without thinking of the consequences. He often goes into debate with Kikuchi on whether it's right to attack their own people from the past out of self-defense, or taking innocent lives even though Mirai is being attacked by enemy forces, changing the past as a result. When Kadomatsu goes after Kusaka in Manchuria, Oguri and the rest of the crew set up C4 explosives around Mirai in any case the ship is about to be captured.
Captain and first in command of the JDS Mirai (DDG-182). Umezu takes care of his crew and puts the safety of his men as first priority. Over the years, he is given the nickname "Hiruandon" (昼行灯), which means "a night lamp during the day" or "one who does not stand out", by people who worked with him, as he is a modest person who does not get too much attention around himself. When Mirai was confirmed to be mysteriously brought into the past, Umezu proposes the crew not to get involved with events during the 2nd World War so as not to change history. Umezu is wise in making reasonable decisions whenever Mirai is under attack or whether the crew should join in battle with the old Japanese army.