The US military is to use manga-style comics to teach Japanese children about the two countries' security alliance.Four comics featuring a Japanese girl and a visiting US boy will be posted online, each exploring how US and Japanese troops work together.A US spokesman said they were intended as a light-hearted explanation of the history of the alliance.The comics, marking 50 years of the security pact, come amid strained ties over US bases in Okinawa.The first Japanese-language manga comic, entitled Our Alliance - A Lasting Partnership, will be posted online on Wednesday.In it the young girl, Arai Anzu - which sounds like alliance when pronounced by a Japanese person - asks the boy, Usa-kun - a play on USA - why he is protecting her house."Because we have an alliance," he says. "We are 'Important Friends'.""It's good to have a friend you can rely on to go with you," the little girl concludes.Related stories * Profile: Japan's Okinawa * Okinawa voices: 'No more bases!'Major Neal Fisher, deputy director of the US forces' public affairs office in Japan, said the manga were intended as a "light-hearted approach to telling the story of the alliance through the eyes of two young people who are learning why the US military are in Japan".The manga format was chosen because it was "a very commonly accepted format of media in Japan - it is read as much if not more than newspapers", he added.Some paper copies of the comics would also be available at bases, he said.Japan hosts some 47,000 US troops in return for security guarantees from the US, under a security pact agreed in 1960. More than half of these troops are based on the southern island of Okinawa.Plans to relocate the Futenma airbase from southern to northern Okinawa have caused outrage amongst residents who want the base moved off the island completely.The row toppled Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, after he was forced to renege on a pledge to re-evaluate the base relocation deal. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10851195
Cute propaganda is cute
I eagerly await a crossover with Afuganisu-tan.
>>47433 So tsundere for Usa-kun.
Why does having every east asian depiction I've seen of a US american being really damn aryan bother me so much?That said, hahahaha, Japan, you flat out fap to cute, don't you?
So this is was Joey was doing before he moved to Center City.
>Usa-kun>Wears a bunny suitHurr, you're so clever Japan.
>>47448I thought this was American made?
I... I NEED this to be translated.
I can't wait for the rule 34/doujin to come out.
....There should be a pillow fort in this manga.
Oh god it's like Yotsuba had a baby with Hetalia as part of a government project to weaponize cuteness.
So he's wearing a bunny hood because we're aliens from the moon?
>>47481Usagi=RabbitUSA=United States of AmericaHis name is USA-kun
Damnit Japan, NO. NO. THATS A BAD JAPAN.
>>47484I guess I wasn't the only one thinking that when I saw the first page....
>>47484 Screw you, not every raised hand is a salute to the Führer
>>47484>>47486True, sometimes its to hail Ming.
This is cute! Also useful to me, since it looks simple enough to use as reading practice.
>>47478. . .You are absolutely right.
So what's the big fuss in Okinawa? They're building more bases or the people there are tired of the existing ones?
>>47536You know how Britain had that political upheaval, where the two crappy mainstream parties got their status quo undone by the success of the underdog?Something similar happened in Japan around the same time, except it was one party who'd been winning and they'd been in power for sixty damn years. Basically, an even more intense version of the "bs-spewing politicians who've been the only electable voting choice for decades suddenly ousted" story.One of the biggest campaign pledges that buoyed the underdog guy? To get the military base off Japan. There's been some bad blood there, way too many accidents and deliberate crimes by US military personnel over the years.Six months later, he says "Okay, now that I'm in charge it's pretty clear that promise isn't actually something feasible." The public reaction. . .let's just say it wasn't long until he resigned as prime minister.
I saw a partial translation on /a/ but forgot to save it. Dont suppose anyone else has it?
>>47576me2I also saw rule 64 of it
>>47612And did you save it and plan to post it here as a spoiler?
>>47612It was constructed by Tony Stark, in a cave, with a box of scraps?
English Version:http://anonscanlations.blogspot.com/2010/08/our-alliance-ch-1.html
>>47656I can't wait for the yuri porn of JSDF-tan and Army-tan.
Ohhhh dear.
I'm torn between facepalming and chuckling at the blatant propganda-aspect of it all and yet it being so cute at the same time
>>47660Is this based on a Bushism? I think it might be.
English dump + fanart commencing
This is just volume one. What do you think the other 3 volumes will cover? Do you think they'll touch upon WWII at all, gloss it over, or just ignore it?
>>47691>doesn't not contradictHeheheheheh.
>>47660Page 12 is here
Doesn't USA-kun look a lot like Joey from Heroman?Not that I've ever actually SEEN Heroman.
Still better than Shithalia
>>47731what is happening in this I DON'T UNDERSTAND
>>47696I'm a bit concerned about the liberal use of quotation marks.
Japan is so Tsundere for us. >S-stupid U-u-usa-kun. It-it's not like I l-l-like you or anything. Get y-your s-stupid bases out of h-here.
WTF?
>>47745Are you "now"?
I have a theory that this is all just a secret plot to get Japanese kids to become Strike Witches and Hetalia fans.
I NEED ART OF -->>47715FUCK YES JAPANESE FANARTISTS
Requesting hilarious rule 34 of this comic. We all know Japan has made some by now
>>48053http://rule34.paheal.net/post/list/usa-kun/1Oh hai....I really like the one with the carrot for some reason. :\
>>48075Can't wait until someone makes a nuclear rape hentai of Usa-kun and Arai.
>>48098
>>48190Looks like she is going to make his fatman explode!
Apparently the creator of the comic is being harassed.http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/08/15/us-military-moe-mangaka-harassed/
>>48215Not overly surprising. Kinda funny that someone who's described as "non-political" would work on something with such clear political interest. Overall I think the article's closing paragraph says it best:"In any case, it certainly seems naive on the part of the mangaka to think that penning a manga in support of Japan’s highly controversial (if widely supported) military dependence on the USA would pass without notice."
I want one!
I need fanart of Usa-kun and Finn adventuring together. :3
"We've been friends for 50 years!""Wait, but how did we first become friends Usa-Kun?""Well uh erm....... You started being a bully to the rest of the neighborhood, and eventually you threw some rocks and broke my shed. So I came and beat you up. But then I fixed your house and tried to become friends with you. Rus-San started causing trouble so I needed to use your house as a way to keep an eye on him. I've been here ever since.""Oh, is that how it happened? I always forget."
>>48253>Double team whoop ass!That combined with the utter cuteness is win.>>48298Seconded.I'm also now imagining Arai having science fun with Princess Bubblegum.>>48305Heh.
>>48305You forgot the earlier bit when she was a recluse and he shook his fist at her until she agreed to share her stuff and she ended up having an identity crisis.
>>48316"But it all started even earlier than that, when I came over and asked to play and you shuffled your feet and stared at the floor and made an excuse so I came back with a water hose and shook it menacingly at you until you said 'Okay, let's play.'"
>>48329And then Matthew Perry jumps in from offscreen trying to hit on Arai's sexy Dutch baby-sitter joking, "could these two BE any cuter together?"
>>48348I see what you did there. And I approve.
>>48544heheh