There are a lot of things that shock us about the anime world, but this is one thing that we never expected to see.
Fan-made anime Moe Moe Nachisu Shōjo Goeppels-chan (“Moe Moe Nazi Girl Goeppels-chan”) has made news in Japan recently, sparking concerns about the controversial nature of its content and its apparent lack of cultural sensitivity.
While it’s been billed as a light-hearted parody of Nazism, the series features a moe-fied female version of Nazi Germany’s propoganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, in the form of a 14-year-old girl called “Goeppels-chan”, who, in her introduction, frowns while saying, “No comment about the Jews!”.
“Goeppels-chan” — the name-change being made as it’s easier to pronounce in Japanese — is a child prodigy with a Ph.D. who, like Goebbels, adores “the Führer” and promotes Nazi ideology through propaganda films, anime and radio broadcasts. She competes with her colleagues for the attention of Adolf Hitler, seeing them as love rivals.
▼ Her colleagues also receive the moe treatment. Left to right: Goeppels, Rorschach, Frankfrut (another name change), and Skorzeny.
While the team who created the anime have produced two episodes so far, they currently have a campaign on crowdfunding website Fundiy to help produce a third instalment. With 33 days remaining, they’ve raised 125,000 yen (US$1,065) towards their 400,000 yen goal from 26 supporters, which is 31 percent of their target funds.
▼ The storyline of the third episode, called “Nazi UFO”, involves flying saucers appearing all over the country and aliens landing in German territory wanting to meet with Hitler. Himmler appears as part of a conspiracy and Goeppels-chan is captured and taken to Venus.
Katsuyuki Ikeda, an independent animator, worked with manga artist Nao Minda to produce the first two episodes. Ikeda supplied an opening song for their series called “Kokka Shakaishugi no Uta” (“National Socialism Song”), which stars famous Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku singing lyrics like “Communism is scary but state socialism is rational”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmc2pv5RYPU
Given Japan’s former allegiance with Nazi Germany and with no large Jewish population in the country, Japan’s view of Nazi wrongdoings remains less critical than in other parts of the world. In 2009, a manga version of Mein Kampf was released, selling relatively well with little vocal opposition.
Source: My Game News Flash
Images: Fundiy