War, Anime, and Opera

[False Prophet]

I've got this idea while browsing through My Anime List: Why almost all of the anime that are related to war, be it fantasy or mecha, carry a good amount of theatrical elements (Opera-like to them)? Even something which combat is not a concern, such as Grave of the Fireflies, feel like a setpieces where more-than-real characters are put through absurd situations and either live or die to an ultimate, written purpose?

[Fireminer]

Originally Posted by False Prophet

I've got this idea while browsing through My Anime List: Why almost all of the anime that are related to war, be it fantasy or mecha, carry a good amount of theatrical elements (Opera-like to them)? Even something which combat is not a concern, such as Grave of the Fireflies, feel like a setpieces where more-than-real characters are put through absurd situations and either live or die to an ultimate, written purpose?

I think it has a lot to do with how we perceive war in real-life. I've talked to a few people from Sri Lanka, and they all said that even though they had came to accept the insurgency as a part of their lives, every fresh assault felt not unlike a dream to them.

I don't read much history, but I can tell that there isn't probably many people who can fully wraps their heads around a war. It is just so complicated, so emotional, so absurd that it is maybe easier for people to cope to war by thinking of it as an opera or a history book.

[Nivek von Beldo]

Originally Posted by False Prophet

I've got this idea while browsing through My Anime List: Why almost all of the anime that are related to war, be it fantasy or mecha, carry a good amount of theatrical elements (Opera-like to them)? Even something which combat is not a concern, such as Grave of the Fireflies, feel like a setpieces where more-than-real characters are put through absurd situations and either live or die to an ultimate, written purpose?

That was the idea behind gundam, with varied degree of sucess(0079 and Z did showed that war is hell pretty well at times, at other fumbled)