Anime Troopers: Love is War

I'm not the biggest anime expert on the internet or even in my city, that much I can admit.

I can also wholeheartedly admit to not liking romantic comedies all that much.

So today we are going to take a look at a recent romantic comedy anime series called Kaguya-sama: Love Is War!

If you're already asking yourself "why?" well... asking questions is the only path to enlightenment, so would you like to know more?

Kaguya-sama: Love is War has officially released its new ending theme sequence for the third season of the series, and with it has brought fans the kind of wild new visual presentation that we have all come to expect from the franchise. The new theme, "My Heart Does Not Know What to Do" is performed by a returning Airi Suzuki and the actual sequence imagines each of the characters within the world of Starship Troopers. (source)

What a surprise indeed! Except it's not all that surprising really.

Writing as someone from Eastern Europe who has never been to Japan or Asia I should be completely and blindly arrogant to assume I can even try and speak on the behalf of Japan or make any objective conclusions about Japanese culture and life.

However as a geek and bug lover who has been doing his best to read, watch and play everything even remotely connected to insectile matters it would've been impossible not to notice Japan's love and adoration for both Heinlein's novel and Verhoeven's movie.

Starship Troopers is big in Japan. Probably bigger than anywhere else in the West.

It's not that hard to realise really, one just needs to look at the facts.

The first Starship Troopers anime was created long before the live action blockbuster, way back in 1988 to be exact.

Starship Troopers (宇宙の戦士, Uchū no Senshi)

Heinlein's vision of bulky personal power armour is deeply rooted in a lot of Japanese sci-fi often expanded into full-blown massive machines of war or mecha.

I'm not going to attempt and track down every famous example of anime or manga that has been inspired by Starship Troopers but Blue Gender is one that I consider a true successor to the movie, maybe only slightly falling behind the actual Starship Troopers spin-off/sequel Roughnecks.

It wasn't until 2012 that Japan had a true chance to make their own Starship Troopers movie which resulted in the franchise return to animation after 2 largely disappointing live action sequels.

Starship Troopers: Invasion

While generally loved by fans (I personally consider it the second best SST movie so far) Invasion failed to truly resurrect the franchise, at least compared to its early years.

What fascinates me about the SST movie franchise is how fittingly it shares a fate similar to most insect pests, no matter how much beating, abuse, hate or disgust it receives it always manages to crawl back out of some small crack in your apartment and establish a new modest and often quite well hidden colony under the sink.

The only good bug is an adaptable bug!

Which leads me to the latest and so far last official entry in the franchise.

Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars

This movie is a bit harder for me to write about...

To say I had huge expectations after the success that was Invasion in my eyes would be putting it lightly.

Traitor of Mars is not a bad movie, in fact visually it surpasses Invasion by a lot, the issue lies in how mediocre and self-contained it appears to be.

Invasion was bold in its goals to add something new to the franchise, new armour, new weapons, new tech, new bugs etc. It was a flawed but passionate and rather beautifully executed spectacle for fans and fans alone. Traitor of Mars feels like an addition to that movie not a true continuation or even an improvement... it just is.

And that is where the franchise lies at the moment as far as the cinematic medium is concerned.

A new game is coming out soon™

The franchise is once again hibernating, waiting for a new host, a new apartment to infest...

In the meantime though!

Trouble in paradise it seems!

What appears like a simple reference on the surface is actually the best unofficial take on Starship Troopers I have seen in years!

I won't lie... I'm not going to watch this show or read the manga, it's nothing personal I'm just a busy guy who already has a list of fictional worlds to explore that's probably larger than the actual planets in our galaxy, so don't blame me for missing out on something that truly looks like a fun anime series!

With that sacrificial apology to the anime community out of the way... Lets look at what we have here.

Right off the bat we get bombarded with what is the most creative and colourful take on Plasma Bugs I've seen!

The design is sleek and simple yet feels absolutely beautiful and wholly organic.

The main distinctive traits of the original Plasma Bug are there (lethal farts are a must for any big bug fiction).

I feel obliged to mention that the overall look and feel of this design reminds me of Nudibranchs a lot.

Source & Info

But the aquatic theme really goes into overdrive a bit later.

First!

Lets look at our Brain/Queen Bug.

Interesting choice.

A lepidopteran humanoid hybrid leading the Bugs in this universe apparently.

It surely contrasts the design of all the other Bugs but then again I'm sure it has a deeper meaning within the show's overall plot and world.

I actually find it a tad bit intimidating to be honest. I've always been a fan of evil moths/butterflies in fiction and this humanoid Queen take on the concept is impressive.

But lets get to the main course shall we?

I hope you all like seafood.

Now THIS... This is what convinced me I need to write about the whole little SST reference in a show I've never watched.

Let me be clear on something, the Verhoeven movie's Bugs are the Bugs for me, they are the supreme and most ideal collection of giant insect designs I've seen in any fiction so far.

However they're also wrong when the source material is carefully examined.

The Arachnids in the movie are no arachnids, they are for all intents and purposes insects, in fact the expanded movie universe makes sure it's a known fact.

The Arachnids in the book are no arachnids either, they are referred to as Pseudo-Arachnids and honestly I consider Heinlein a genius for that.

Too often we see alien species in fiction bearing the names of real terrestrial organisms and that always confused me. I see no issue comparing or even giving nicknames to alien organisms based on any look-alikes on Earth but by adding pseudo to the Arachnids' name Heinlein clearly wants us to understand that these are alien creatures through and through, they just happen to resemble our own spiders.

With the exception of the Brain/Queen Bug the anime gives the Arachnids a very aquatic theme.

As I already shared I feel the Plasma Bugs are indeed very much sea slugs in appearance while the Warrior Bugs are straight up crustaceans! And that's what truly impresses me.

Now I won't go into why insects are technically crustaceans (again) and to be fair that's a bold and somewhat muddy argument to have even if supported by many biologists but I do appreciate seeing hive minded crustacean swarms, even if only in a one time gag in an anime show that has nothing to do with giant bugs... or sci-fi... or aliens... or... or... Japan please... We want a new Starship Troopers anime... Please?

Existentially driven anguish aside it's truly remarkable seeing how a team working on an anime in current times manages to produce something that truly captures the essence and feel of what SST fans have been begging for ever since Roughnecks was brutally cut down.

Maybe one day we'll see the franchise rise up again and try to infest more than just your little apartment, maybe this time the Arachnids will infest the entire neighbourhood!

Stay Bugged!

P.S. This post/analysis wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for a certain french friend with an equally buggy heart.

Merci mon ami!