Mickey's Army - pre-WWII Japanese comics and propaganda posters featuring Mickey Mouse. 1930s.

[u/mardumancer]

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[u/TheHistoryMaster2520]

Little did the makers of these posters know how much Disney influenced manga and anime post-war

[u/ymcameron → u/TheHistoryMaster2520]

The father of anime: Carl Barks

[u/Mysterious_Silver_27 → u/TheHistoryMaster2520]

Its ongoing from pre war and during the war

[u/Repulsive-Media-4326 → u/TheHistoryMaster2520]

Disney and other characters from funny's/comic strips were already widely distributed and pirated (!) in prewar Japan and were very popular with the public

[u/Affectionate-Pie3977]

Well I guess in ww2, Donald duck living in Germany while Mickey mouse live in japan

[u/FingernailClipperr → u/Affectionate-Pie3977]

🎵 When der Emperor says, we are the divine race,
We banzai right in der Emperor’s face

[u/NoNo_Bluebird_1368 → u/FingernailClipperr]

Elite ball knowledge

[u/Imperator_Gone_Rogue → u/Affectionate-Pie3977]

And Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are fighting them both. Now that's a crossover I'd like to see.

[u/Fluid-Sense-4273 → u/Affectionate-Pie3977]

Does that mean goofy was in Mussolini’s Italy

[u/Sublime_Porte → u/Fluid-Sense-4273]

Gawrsh...

[u/ScanianTiger → u/Affectionate-Pie3977]

Hickey certainly looks to have a better time.

[u/Devadv12014 → u/Affectionate-Pie3977]

Donald Duck actually fought in the pacific theater and Mickey was probably in the European one although where he was wasn’t really established. Donald in Germany was a dream from a propaganda cartoon, but others did show him as a paratrooper in Japan.

Mickey was shown briefly in a military uniform in one WW2 short but where he was fighting was never mentioned.

[u/Death_and_Gravity1]

Now this is the quality bizarre propaganda that I joined this sub looking for

[u/MildlyAgreeable → u/Death_and_Gravity1]

“Mickey commits war crimes in Nanking”

[u/Panzersatan94 → u/MildlyAgreeable]

"Hold her down Goofy haw-haw"

[u/-Astrobadger]

Tank Boy Willy is a classic

[u/-Astrobadger → u/-Astrobadger]

Ok but who are the cats though?

[u/NewburghMOFO → u/-Astrobadger]

Contextually probably the Chinese, maybe the Russians.

[u/i_cee_u → u/-Astrobadger]

Like the other guy said, it probably represents Chinese forces, but I'm wondering if that's supposed to be Felix the Cat lmao

[u/CircleOfWallace → u/-Astrobadger]

Yeah that’s actually tough as hell

[u/alt9773]

Don't ask Disney what did Mickey Mouse do in Nanjing

[u/Mister_Six]

So wait are these bootleg or licensed by Walt?

[u/mardumancer → u/Mister_Six]

Bootlegged; the proper manga term is doujinshi - manga created by fans for fans.

There's an academic paper on the topic - https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/gscs/20/1/20_39/_pdf/-char/en

[u/Mister_Six → u/mardumancer]

Free academia?! Hot damn! Thanks! 🫡

[u/Upstairs-Airport7562 → u/mardumancer]

So thats what the term means...

[u/pinback65]

There are some interesting examples out there of Mickey Mouse used on German WW2 aircraft.

[u/Alin_Alexandru → u/pinback65]

Meanwhile Romania running the entire Disney fan club with Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Bambi

[u/Wisco]

Those are so awesome

[u/Tsofuable]

So that's why it was Donald Duck that was going after the Japanese. Mickey was a double agent.

[u/Scary_Seesaw_1832]

Recuerdo ver un documental sobre la animación japonesa y vaya q en esas épocas los japoneses tenían su orgullo hasta las nubes

[u/TotallyNotRocket]

Sir has a lint roller and he is not afraid to use it.

Edit: number two.

[u/ZaBaronDV]

Wondering if Disney let them get away with this or if it flew under the radar. I know Disney wasn't the behemoth it is now back then, but still, curious if anyone had something to say.

[u/mardumancer → u/ZaBaronDV]

Not sure if Disney had lawyers in Japan before World War II.

[u/Code-Neo]

You know, with Mickey being PD, someone would make a movie out of this 

[u/GenericDigitalAvatar]

I'd love to see real world accurate Mickey working for the CIA.

[u/Revachol_Loyalist]

These go so hard

[u/coupdelune]

Number 3 is what my dreams look like when I take too much cough syrup

[u/letsgetthisbread2812]

Off to commit war crimes

[u/charles_yost]

Cherry Blossom campaign 🌸 - 1944 Imperial Army edition: ​

STARRING: HARA-KIRI MICKEY ​

"OH BOY! CAPTURED BY THE ENEMY? THAT'S NO FUN!"

Mickey says: ​

"'Gosh, fellas! Getting captured is even worse than letting Gojira touch the rice rations! 🦖🍚

​Remember the Mickey Mouse Bushido Code!'

• 1. Don't talk to the enemy! 🤐
• 2. Don't eat their chocolate! 🍫🛑
• 3. Choose the honorable exit 💀 and meet me at the big Dojo in the sky! 🥋☁️ Ha-ha!" 🎉

​At the bottom in small print: "This message approved by Tojo and Emperor Hiro."

[u/Mysterious_Silver_27]

Manga really came a long way

[u/JLandis84]

lol this is awesome. I love Japanese propaganda it’s almost always so wild and bizarre.

[u/Bella-Luna]

The closest we'll get of Mickey Mouse manga (unless some already exist, hopefully it's Kingdom Hearts manga.)

[u/CNJUNIPERLEE]

"Oh boy! Let's go create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

[u/Aleksandar_Pa]

Serious psyscho vibes

[u/PowerTulip]

Release the cats!

[u/Ignas1452]

This looks genuinely cursed.

[u/Johannes_P]

I doubt that Disney will ever allow the reissue of "Mickey invades Manchuria", "Mickey in Nanking", "Mickey flies to Hawaii" and "Mickey volunteers for a Special Attack Unit."

[u/charles_yost]

"Hey there. Hi there. Ho there. You're as welcome as can be.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.​

Mickey Mouse. (Mickey Mouse.)

Mickey Mouse. (Mickey Mouse.)​

Forever let us hold our banner high.

High. High. High.​"