From the manga “Oh, Our General Myao”

  • pinguinu [any]
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    5 months ago

    Socialist Republic of Coldona

    Hereditary succession system

    Did they research socialist aesthetics while making an effort to avoid everything else?

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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      5 months ago

      It’s a cute manga with some anticommunist brainworms that hold it back from being great. The author is obviously a liberal who enjoys the aesthetics of countries like the DPRK and the USSR but does not understand Marxism. The manga is generally kind-hearted, however, which saves it from being truly bad (except for one extremely creepy character that shows up in the back half that I despise).

      To elaborate, the mangaka has clearly done some research on countries like North Korea, (which the manga is clearly based on, thus the hereditary succession), but the author doesn’t seem to understand fully why North Korea is the way it is. For example, the country is depicted as defending itself against western aggression in a semi-realistic way, and the U.S. president is clearly going after natural resources in the manga. However, the manga also solves many problems by Myao being cute (which is understandable since this is a gag manga). It also seems to imply that a child would be given control over a state like the DPRK, and also only somewhat understands why missles and weapons are needed to defend such a state. Moreover, the previous leader of the country is a Stalin-like figure who is said to be “too authoritarian”. There’s a lot of liberalism covered up by the most adorable situations you’ve ever seen.