Sensou Douwa: Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki

Sensou Douwa (War Tales or War Fables) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In chronological order:

• 2002    Umigame to Shounen (The Boy and The Sea Turtle)
• 2003    Tako ni Natta Okaasan (The Mother Who Became a Kite)
• 2004    Chiisai Sensuikau ni Koi wo Shita Dekasugira Kojira no Hanashi (The Tale of the Ginormous Whale That Fell in Love with a Little Submarine)
• 2005    Boku no Boukuugou (My Air Raid Shelter)
• 2006    Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki (The Cake Tree in the Ruins)
• 2007    Futatsu no Kurumi (Two Walnuts)
• 2008    Kiku-chan to Ookami  (Kiku and the Wolf)
• 2009    Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu (The Tale of the Blue-Eyed Girl)

Except for Two Walnuts, which has been subbed by Saizen, the series has not been translated into English before.

Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki (The Cake Tree in the Ruins) in set in an unnamed town in 1945. Taichi is an elementary school student and the leader of a group that includes his little sister, Misako, and classmates Jirou, Tsuyoshi, and Yoshio. The boys play at soldiers, mindlessly echoing the nationalistic jingoism drilled into them during the war. Only Tacihi's friend Haruo stands apart. He is too sickly to join the militaristic games, and he spends most of his time reading. Food is scarce, but otherwise, the children haven't been affected much by the war.

This changes suddenly when their town is firebombed by American forces. In one horrific night, Taichi and his gang lose their homes and their school. Forced to eke out an existence by begging or stealing food, they retreat to a "secret fort" in a cave. Haruo's house still stands, and his mother does her best to protect him, going to great lengths to buy the last baumkuchen (tree cake) from the local German bakery. Then, all the children are orphaned and injured in further raids. [Spoiler alert.] Haruo dies of smoke inhalation. In a hallucinatory afterlife, he plants the last of the cake in hopes of creating a true cake tree. The other children reach the ruins of his house and collapse against a tree. One by one, they succumb to their wounds or malnutrition, starting with Misako. Eventually, only Taichi is left. Suddenly, the spirits of the other children reappear, partaking of the miraculous sweetness of the tree. Haruo's spirit shows Taichi that this is a true cake tree. But then, it's Taichi's turn.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins is based on a short story by Nosaka Akiyuki, who also penned Grave of the Fireflies. He grew up during World War II as part of "the generation of the ashes" - the children who experienced the bombing and destruction of much of urban Japan. Like Taichi in the story, many in Akiyuki's family died in the Kobe firebombings, and his younger sister died of starvation. These events haunted his life and informed his writing. Six of the eight Sensou Douwa specials are based on his short stories, which are available in English as a collection called The Cake Tree in the Ruins. Sagara Masae's music evokes the innocence of children's lives. She also scored five other Sensou Douwa specials.

The children are played by noted female seiyuu:

• Tonguu Kyouko (Taichi) played Kei in Dirty Pair, Leo in Saint Seiya, Kikunosuke in The Abashira Family, Jouhouya in the Akuma-kun movies and TV, and Nakamura in Black Magic M-66. She also appeared in Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, Kuro ga Ita Natsu, and the first Sangokushi special, all Orphan releases.
• Hidaka Noriko (Haruo) played Satsuke in My Neighbor Totoro, Minami (the female lead) in Touch, Akane (the female lead) in Ranma 1/2, Peter in Peter Pan no Bouken, Mrs. Yamada (the mother) in the first two Chii anime series, Near in Death Note, and Kikyo in the Inuyasha franchise. She also played Yuuki in Boyfriend, Noriko in Yuukan Club, and Harumi in Mikeneko Holmes, all Orphan releases.
• Oomae Akane (Misako, Taichi's little sister) played Shiina in the Negima franchise.
• Matsumoto Sachi (Jirou) played Watari in Fushigi na Melmo, Shinatuhiko in the Yozakura Quartet franchise, Houjou in the Ao no Exorcist franchise, and Ousaka in Chihayafuru 2 and 3.
• Kondou Reiko (Tsuyoshi) played Kosuke in Ultra Nyan, an Orphan release, and appeared in Lupin III part 3 and Ninku.
• Yukiji (Yoshio) played Michael in Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san and Gonzales in Yawara!

The director, Yasumi Tetsuo, was one of the stalwarts of Shin-ei animation, directing six of the eight Sensou Douwa specials and numerous lengthy series, including Obocchama-kun, Dororonpa!, Bonobono, Kochira Katsushikaku, Atashinchi, and Kuromajo-san ga Tooru, as well as several children's movies.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins marks kokujin-kun's return to translating for Orphan. He hopes to do the rest of the Sensou Douwa specials as time permits. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and BeeBee did QC. The raw is a 1080p webrip from UNEXT and is, unfortunately, badly upscaled and rather bit-starved. This show was the first of the Sensou Douwa specials broadcast in high-definition; the first four are standard definition.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins hit me (and others on the project) really hard. Stories of the deaths of children are always upsetting, and the last segment is particularly difficult to watch. Nonetheless, I recommend it strongly, for the simplicity of its storytelling and the impact of its message. You can find The Cake Tree in the Ruins at the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.