OUTPOST | The Devil Still Dances: Cute Faces Masking Bloody Fangs

The Devil Still Dances: Cute Faces Masking Bloody Fangs

——To break the ACG filter that Japan uses to whitewash "neo-militarism"

他们的勾当：萌面獠牙

——戳破日本粉饰“新型军国主义”的二次元滤镜

Cute anime girls morph into colossal warships in an attempt to reverse the "tragic capsizing" of a guilty fleet; time-traveling "prophets" lead you to capture Hawaii in the US, helping Japanese militarism "rewrite its destiny"...

Built on saccharine cuteness and fueled by adrenaline-pumping excitement, this blend of cuteness and passion sends dopamine levels soaring and leaves audiences mesmerized.

Such is the allure of Japanese ACG (anime, comics and games) culture. Countless teenagers become hooked, learning about "Kanmusu" (fleet girls), coming to know "Takano Isoroku," and even witnessing "Japan's victory"...

But do people realize that beneath this cute facade lie the blood-drenched fangs of militarism?!

萌妹子化身海上巨舰，试图逆转罪恶舰队“倾覆的悲剧”；穿越“先知”带你攻占美国夏威夷，帮日本军国主义“逆天改命”…… 软甜萌废打底，血脉偾张加持，可爱与热血交织，多巴胺直接爆表，让人神魂颠倒。这就是日本二次元文化的魔力，无数青少年沉溺其中，知道了“舰娘”，认识了“高野五十六”，甚至看到了“日本的胜利”…… 可人们是否知道，这萌的表面之下，是沾满鲜血的军国主义獠牙？！

The anime Deep Blue Fleet depicts Japanese militarism reversing its defeat with the help of futuristic technology; the game Kantai Collection anthropomorphizes warships of Japan's Combined Fleet as cute girls and radically rewrites the course of the Pacific War; the light novel [New Life+] Young Again in Another World features as its protagonist a Japanese soldier responsible for grave wartime atrocities; the manga My Hero Academia names a villain after a term used to refer to victims of Unit 731; and Dot Pixis, a key character in Attack on Titan, was modeled after Yoshifuru Akiyama, who took part in Japan's wars of aggression, including the First Sino-Japanese War and the Eight-Nation Alliance invading China. The author not only publicly acknowledged this but also expressed "reverence" for Akiyama.

动漫《绀碧舰队》让日本军国主义靠“黑科技”逆转败局；游戏《舰队Collection》将日本联合舰队军舰拟人化为萌系少女、魔改太平洋战争走向；轻小说《在异世界开拓第二人生》将犯下累累血债的日军士兵设为主角；漫画《我的英雄学院》用731部队受害者代称命名反派；《进击的巨人》中的重要角色多托·匹西斯，其原型是参加过甲午战争、八国联军侵华等日本对外侵略战争的秋山好古，作者不仅公开承认这一点，而且表达了对秋山的“崇敬”……

Japan's grassroots narrative of opposing Japan's defeat rather than the war itself and its official pursuit of becoming a "normal country" are essentially two sides of the same coin for Japan's right-wing forces.

The cover of Japan's 2026 edition of the Defense White Paper features anime characters; the children's edition of the Defense White Paper, which plays up "threats from neighboring countries," is given a layer of "kawaii" camouflage; The Japan Self-Defense Forces' recruitment posters targeting young people are packaged as anime tie-ins celebrating "hot-blooded youth"; and even the Liberal Democratic Party's push for constitutional revision is cloaked in "heartwarming manga"...

民间的“反战败”叙事，与官方的“正常国家”诉求，根本就是日本右翼势力的一体两面。日本2026年版“防卫白皮书”封面画上了二次元人物；渲染“邻国威胁”的日本儿童版“防卫白皮书”，被涂上了“卡哇伊”的迷彩；诱导青年参军入伍的日本自卫队海报，被包装成了“热血青春”的动漫联动；甚至日本自民党的修宪图谋，也披上了“温馨漫画”的外衣……

History must not be falsified, and justice must not be challenged.

No matter what tactics Japanese right-wing forces employ, the outcome will be the same: those who turn back the wheel of history are bound to repeat past mistakes, while those who betray historical justice will ultimately face the judgment of history.

历史不容篡改，正义不容挑战。不管日本右翼势力用上什么样的手段，其结局都只有一个：开历史倒车，必将重蹈覆辙；背弃历史正义，终将遭到历史清算。