‘Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise’: Cute designs, harrowing truths about the horrors of war

Several Japanese films out this year have coincided with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, but this is the only animated feature on the list. "Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise," based on a manga by Kazuyoshi Takeda, joins films like "Grave of the Fireflies" and "In This Corner of the World" in using anime to portray the horrors of the war.

Unlike those films, however, it focuses on soldiers abroad rather than civilians in Japan. And while “Peleliu” doesn't reach those previously scaled artistic heights, it is a harrowing look at a group of soldiers whose own particular hell extends well beyond 1945.

Directed by Goro Kuji at Shin-ei Animation, “Peleliu” centers on Tamaru (voiced by Rihito Itagaki), a mild-mannered aspiring manga artist who is drafted and packed off to the titular island, which is about halfway between the Philippines and Guam, as the war nears its end. His impression of the island as a tropical paradise is short-lived: The Americans are coming, and the Japanese soldiers have been ordered to defend the island to the last man. The unit's fanatical officers insist they have a real chance to win, while the enlisted men are more realistic, fully aware they're about to be slaughtered by an overwhelming force to protect an island with no real strategic value. The real-life Battle of Peleliu pitted about 40,000 American soldiers against 10,000 Japanese and lasted for two months, resulting in huge casualties on both sides.