shown negotiating with three clearly terrified, stammering British officials. After a brief argument, the British agree to surrender Celebes and the surrounding islands to Japanese rule. A brief epilogue shows Santa and other children playing paratrooper and jumping onto a chalk outline of continental America. Thus, depicting the United States as the target of their generation. There are some musical scenes. Of note is , a scene where Japanese soldiers teach local animals how to speak. Background The Naval Ministry previously showed Seo Fantasia (1940), the Disney film. Inspired by this, Seo tried to give dreams to children, as well as to instill the hope for peace, just as he did in the film's predecessor, Momotaro's Sea Eagles. At that time, unlike German animation and American animation, Japanese animation was not fully promoted as a tool for propaganda by the Japanese government. Animation was not considered as effective as other media by Japanese government officials. As we can see in the first scene of the film, "For Children (小国民に捧ぐ Shôkokumin ni tsugu)", the film was designed for children. For a long time, the film was presumed to have been confiscated and burnt by the American occupation. However, a negative copy of the film was found in Shochiku's Ofuna warehouse in 1983 and was re-released in 1984. A reproduced film was later screened and the VHS package is now available in Japan. Legacy is famous for being given a homage in the series by Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka had seen the film in April 1945. He later said that he was moved to tears by the film's hints of dreams and hopes, hidden under the appearance of war propaganda. The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. UK based company All the Anime announced in May 2016 that would release the film on Blu-ray and in that same month it was also announced that U.S. distributor Funimation would also be releasing the film on Blu-ray and DVD alongside Spider and Tulip on a single disc. References Sources External links Japanese World War II propaganda films 1945 anime films 1940s war films 1940s Japanese-language films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese sequel films 1940s rediscovered films Funimation Films set in Indonesia Shochiku films Films directed by Mitsuyo Seo 1945 animated films 1945 films Rediscovered Japanese films Films about navies Imperial Japanese Navy Historical anime