Well, we can say the same things about american superheroes fighting against aliens or other supervillains. Just replace the rising Sun with stripes and stars.
So it’s perfectly fine to have Japanese propaganda in manga just because other countries have propaganda in their comics?
It’s not like this stuff is still done today. While heroes like Captain America and Superman have historically had a history of pushing American ideals, many storylines have had them doubt or even reconsider their views. Superman had that whole arc where he just traveled the country to discover the problems that plagued it, while Captain America had an arc where the villain was implied to be Richard Nixon.
Ultimately, both are now more in the ambiguous era - they no longer immediately side with their country, but still believe in the ideals that caused their country to be formed: all men are created equal, anyone has the opportunity to do good, and so on. In comparison, this and GATE don’t really focus on the ideals that make up Japan, instead focusing on “look at our superior firepower”. It’s like comparing apples to oranges at this point.
Also, what the fuck is “American woke propaganda”?
Umm.. is the sexual violence that bad? I have not read this yet but I wouldn’t mind if given a spoiler on sexual violence. I don’t want to read if it’s extremely bad. Would love an insight from people who have read it. Thank you 😊
My honest review of this is that it's not that bad.
Unlike GATE, this story is more mature in that it doesn't over-glorify the JSDF or the Japanese people (so far) -- it presents them as they are: a modern, 21st century nation. Consequently, the handwringing about not being able to act offensively is accurate (anti-militarism is still highly prevalent in Japan and offensive warfare is outlawed by its constitution), its decision to act on the basis of humanitarian intervention would be accurate (considering it's the go-to reason for military intervention in our century), and the power discrepancy is also accurate. The relative barbarism of the Otherworld nations, meanwhile, would largely be contextually accurate, too.
That being said, are there drawbacks to the manga? Certainly. A warning, though: spoilers ahead.
The Liura Arc was laughably simplistic -- not in its ultimate fall, which made sense, but rather in how morally one-sided the whole thing was. It presented Japan's first contacts as morally correct, but weak; and the Liura Kingdom as morally repugnant, but strong -- thereby making Japan the moral guarantor of the world, basically, by defending the weak against the morally incorrect, but strong opponent.
The northern Empire, for its part, is portrayed as militarily and technologically superior to its counterparts, but seemingly so byzantine that it can't take five minutes to dispatch a scouting squadron to check if rumors of the Demon Lord's revival were true (which gave me serious deja vu as a Mass Effect player: "Ah, yes, the Demon Lord. The ancient harbinger of doom for humanity. We have dismissed those claims." 🙄). For an apparently hyper-competent and professional Empire, it's surprisingly dogmatic, racist, and inflexible. Which, of course, all serves to make Japan look good by comparison once the Topa Kingdom asks Japan for help instead and the rumors are verified.
However, as others have pointed out, this manga does one thing right (for now, as of Ch. 19) compared to GATE -- it is not told from a single person's POV nor does it unnecessarily indulge in the classic harem trope. Japan is presented in that sense by its body of public officials and military officers rather than a single individual, giving off the impression of a coordinated, reasoned government policy as opposed to a single person's whim.
In answer to your question, the sexual violence is...well, it's not pretty.
It's not as virulently graphic as it could've been, but scenes of torture, rape, and the aftermath are shown, and one of the victims is a child.
Thankfully, though, it's all confined to a single chapter thus far, Chapter 4. Other chapters don't appear to have any portrayed sexual violence whatsoever.
hey kids wanna join the army? here is a manga about how great it is! we pillage and rape a world that still think that blood letting is the best way to cure a light cough.
@AnimeaddictionIV If anyone is interested to read further past the web novel, the author publishes 15 chapters ahead on his blog. Search for くみちゃんとみのろうの部屋. The web novel itself is probably 100 chapters ahead of the manga. Reading machine translation from the official site is bearable. There are several large arcs that keep the story interesting with lots of explosions.