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The Last War (1961)
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The Last War is a disaster film directed by Shue Matsubayashi with special effects work by Eiji Tsuburaya.It is 1961, some 16 years after the atomic bombs ended the Pacific Front and World War II. Japan has rebuilt itself and become a stronger nation. However, war is brewing between the Federation and Alliance world powers.In Japan, a charming family is living their life amidst all the turmoil that is about to erupt. Mokichi Tamura, the hard-working father who has big dreams for his son and daughter; his wife, a concerned mother always wary about her children's future; and his younger sister comprise the older generation. Saeko, his first daughter, wishes to get married to a young sailor named Takano. Her father has no idea about this, as he has already made his own plans in regard to her future. Saeko informs her mother of her intentions, and her mother informs Mokichi without her permission or knowledge. So, when he eavesdrops on the two lovers planning to break the news to Saeko’s father, he is already cognizant of the situation and welcomes them with open arms.On a global scale, conflict is intensifying. At the 38th parallel, a firefight breaks out between Federation and Alliance forces due to an airspace violation by the latter. The Alliance jets wipe out the Federation tanks and chaos ensues worldwide, with Japan’s Prime Minister issuing a statement begging the two forces to ceasefire. The actions the two forces have taken make Japan fearful, with most people worrying that the island nation will be a prime target for nuclear attack.WARNING: Many of the tropes below involve spoilers and, due to some of the tropes listed being spoilers themselves, some may not be marked as such. | |
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Doomed Hometown | |
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Doomed Hometown: The film opens with a montage and a voiceover that show how far Tokyo has come since the end of World War II, having been fully rebuilt with the belief that the city will never be destroyed and vanish forever. As the title may or may not imply, all that hard work ends up completely undone. | |
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Downer Ending | |
| The Last War (1961) / int_4e3d253b | comment |
Downer Ending: Probably the biggest downer in Toho's entire film library. Despite all nations' best efforts and Japan's pleading, nuclear war breaks out, almost every character we've met is killed during it, human civilization is completely destroyed, and it's heavily implied that any and all possible survivors are doomed to die from radiation poisoning. | |
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Time Bomb | |
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Time Bomb: Occurs twice, the later one is played with; an Alliance missile's warhead detonation timer is activated due to a landslide, leading to a mad-dash to disarm the warhead before it explodes inside the silo while the timer ticks down. The second one isn't so much a timer ticking down to trigger a bomb, but rather a timer counting down to a detonation; with 30 seconds left until a nuclear missile hits Tokyo, the only sound is that of a timer ticking down. While we hear the timer, we see the entire cast either watching, waiting to meet their fate, both, or comforting their loved ones, up until the final five seconds. | |
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World War III | |
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World War III: After the Nuclear Option mentioned above is taken, WWIII is declared, the nukes are launched, and all human life is wiped out, save for those at sea. | |
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Climactic Volcano Backdrop | |
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Climactic Volcano Backdrop: Once Tokyo has been reduced to burning rubble, what little that is left is consumed and set ablaze by a massive river of lava caused by the ground itself rupturing due to Mt. Fuji erupting as a result of the nuclear attack. | |
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Developing Doomed Characters | |
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Developing Doomed Characters: The Tamura family. The movie makes them very likeable and easy to relate to. This also extends to would-be members of the family with a subplot regarding Sacheko's boyfriend wanting to marry her, but worried about Mokichi not accepting it. | |
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Cool Car | |
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Cool Car: The then-brand new 1961 Chevrolet Impala driven by Frankie Sakai. A huge large American car like that certainly sticks out among all the smaller Japanese Kei cars of the time. | |
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Apocalypse How | |
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Apocalypse How: Class 3a, implied to later become Class 4; as a result of nuclear war carried out with mutually assured destruction, society and civilization are completely destroyed and dialogue before the ending states that any and all possible survivors will likely die from radiation poisoning, all but rendering humanity extinct. | |
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Apocalypse Wow | |
| The Last War (1961) / int_91e8cd03 | comment |
Apocalypse Wow: Eiji Tsuburaya's 10-minute destruction sequence at the end of the film that features Tokyo being decimated by a nuclear explosion and walls of roaring nuclear fire, then most of what's left is swept away by rivers of lava courtesy of Mt. Fuji erupting and then what precious little wasn't destroyed by the nuke or volcano is dissolved by acidic rain from the nuclear bomb with the sole survivor of the entire city being the ruins of the Diet building. In the same sequence, we get to see New York, London, Paris and Moscow meet the same fate, though only the immediate moment of explosion is shown. | |
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It's Quiet… Too Quiet | |
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It's Quiet… Too Quiet: After a timer ticking down for 25 straight seconds, the five-second shot of the missile streaking above Tokyo before exploding is played over dead silence. | |
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| The Last War (1961) / int_a08b0736 | type |
Nuclear Option | |
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Nuclear Option: What both sides end up resorting in the post-ceasefire dogfight. This leads to all-out nuclear war. | |
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Rage Against the Heavens | |
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Rage Against the Heavens: Once Mokichi crosses the Despair Event Horizon when nuclear war is declared and a peaceful resolution is no longer an option, he runs upstairs and shouts about how he'll never be able to see his children get married and provide him with grandchildren or see his son go off to college, an opportunity he never had for himself. | |
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| The Last War (1961) / int_c3c18143 | type |
Hope Spot | |
| The Last War (1961) / int_c3c18143 | comment |
Hope Spot: After several close calls including an electrical malfunction almost resulting in a nuke being launched and a Soviet-expy nuke nearly exploding in it's silo, a ceasefire is reached between the two duelling parties and it seems all is right with the world... until a dogfight breaks out between a squadron of planes from each side which ends with both squadrons taking the other out with a nuclear weapon apiece and since nuclear weapons have been brought into play, both parties decide to go all out. | |
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Nuclear Weapons Taboo | |
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Nuclear Weapons Taboo: This being an anti-war movie made by the only country to face the brunt of the terrifying force and power of nuclear weapons, this trope is a given. In-movie, the Japanese government pleads both sides to not resort to nuclear weapons, one reason being that since Japan is on the side of the Federation, they would be targeted by Alliance nukes even though the last thing they'd want to is to participate. | |
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| The Last War (1961) / int_dda99fa8 | type |
Despair Event Horizon | |
| The Last War (1961) / int_dda99fa8 | comment |
Despair Event Horizon: After spending the entire film in the belief that tensions between the Federation and Alliance would work themselves out no matter how high tensions get in the belief that no one would want to blow up the world and that if it did happen, it'd mean the Gods would have no mercy note Some Japanese religions, much like certain Chinese religions, have more than one God as part of the belief structure., it is not until World War III has been declared that Mokichi, the patriarch of the Tamura family and Frankie Sekai's character, can no longer hold onto hope and breaks down crying once the realization that his family is doomed and their futures have been erased. | |
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Monumental Damage | |
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Monumental Damage: Tokyo Tower is seen having been knocked down and engulfed in flames at the climax. Brief shots of Moscow, London, NYC, and France getting hit by nukes also show the Kremlin & St. Basil's Cathedral, Tower Bridge & Tower of London, Statue of Liberty & the Empire State Building, and Arc de'Triomphe getting obliterated as well. In the end, one of the only pieces of Tokyo left somewhat recognisable after the blast and subsequent volcanic eruption is the National Diet Building, though only its central section survived, though teetering very close to the lava. | |
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Expy | |
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Expy: The Federation and Alliance are stand-ins for NATO and USSR. | |
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War Is Hell | |
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War Is Hell: Everything Mokichi and his wife have achieved and obtained since losing everything in World War II is mentioned in conversation between the two, plus they also have a 5-year-old son and two daughters, one of whom is 7. Mokichi brushes off his elder daughter's worries about nuclear war, likely because it's the last thing he'd want to think about. Once nuclear war has been declared, he breaks down crying, running upstairs and ranting to the sky at how unfair it is that he'll never see either of his daughters get married or see his son go off to college and the fact that there's nothing he can do to save them. He does manage to calm down in time to spend his final moments comforting his family. Indeed, building yourself back up from a life-changing experience only for something else to come along and potentially not only render all that progress moot but also put your family and children's lives in mortal danger and there's not a thing you can do to stop it or save them from it is an adult's worse nightmare. | |
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The Last War (1961) |
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