Both films, “Bust the Axis,” a stop motion animated feature directed by American puppeteer Lou Bunin, and “Momotarō no Umiwashi,” a traditional 2D Japanese animated feature produced by studio Geijutsu Eigasha, depict their adversaries in an incompetent, foolish manner, not only to primarily influence their audience but also to advance their war agenda. For example, in “Bust the Axis,” the Axis power leaders, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo are depicted as inept, dull-witted individuals who appear to lack competence in their high-ranking positions and are ultimately viewed as the war’s “laughing stocks,” with the film going as far as to show the United Nations exploiting their incompetence and winning the war as a result. “Momotarō no Umiwashi” takes a similar approach to this form of propaganda. This is demonstrated bluntly with the Japanese soldiers being depicted as these attractive and astute soldiers, while the East Indies were depicted as these facetiously perverse long-haired monkeys, evoking their naive and simple nature as indigenous people, as well as British soldiers with exaggerated features such as large eyes, gargantuan noses, and lanky limbs. For “Bust the Axis,” I truly believe that stop motion adds a whole new dimension to the puppeteered figures and helps define the characters’ actions. With stop motion puppets, their movements are much more deformed and janky, which contributes significantly to their portrayal as facetious and incompetent, owing in part to their motion. The 2D animation in “Momotarō no Umiwashi” is no exception in the terms of defining the characters through their animation techniques. The fluidity and smoothness of the animated sections with the Japanese soldiers, particularly the dramatic close-up shots, help portray the soldiers in their tale as these “noble, stoic” types, while everyone else is deemed an impediment to their war efforts.
