Kakkoi ne?

The Tokushima Base of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces recently put out a new anime-style poster to gather new recruits for 2012. The picture portrays a girl e-mailing her boyfriend who is in the military about his exploits on a disaster relief mission. She tells him that he’s three times cooler than normal and that she loves him. The boyfriend replies by saying he wants to say thanks, just like all the folks who been thanking him for rescuing them. This should be an anime series on the level of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

The anime studio that created the poster, ufotable, also did 2 other posters for the Tokushima Base in 2010 and 2011.

2010 Poster

2011 Poster

It is safe to say that this year’s poster is lot more motivational and emotional compared to the previous posters. I wonder if this is another (albeit unintentional) way to get Japan to increase its birthrate. By getting men to join the military, they are more likely to get the attention of many women in Japan. However, does joining the military really make men and also women better?

Military recruiters, in general, tend to emphasize making a new person out of their recruits. A recent study published in Psychological Science went into how the military experience changes people. Apparently, the only real change was that soldiers became less agreeable and that sticks with them after their service. Military training was also cited to be a huge factor in personality change.

With the “herbivore men” reputation that Japanese men have in general, what will happen if they joined the SDF and suddenly became more aggressive when it comes to defending/supplanting their ego?

Imagine otaku military veterans getting in public fights with their waifus…..

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