From the land of Vodka and Fur hats comes a new anime feature film called First Squad - The Moment of Truth. Taking place during the Second World War pitting Nazi Germany against Russia during the winter campaign to take Moscow. With both sides facing the harshness of winter and a pro-longed campaign they turn to using supernatural forces to turn the tide of war to defeat the other side. The Nazi forces are conjuring up spirits of the past while the Russians are sending special paranormal troops into the great void to stop the Nazi plan from working.
First Squad is produced by Studio 4°C and it shows in how absolutely awesome the animation looks. With Studio 4°C doing the hard work they added something else to the film to give it that Band of Brothers feel to it having live people sharing historical information from their past as Russian and German Soldiers. Even though it's entirely fake it does make for an interesting part of the film.
First Squad follows a group of Teenagers who are drafted into a special school to learn about paranormal things and at the start of the war all but one of the teens is killed in an attack by the Nazi Army. The lone survivor is discovered again as a fourtain teller in a traveling entertainment troup. After the base that she was preforming at is bombed she is saved by an old man and is told to return to Moscow and see a General.
Once she arrives in Moscow she is told of her history and her importance of a paranormal soldier and the only person who can travel to the other side to meet up with her murdered Teenage friends to fight against the medieval Knights from the Order of The Sacred Cross who had been killed 700 years ago on a lake near the main battlefield. The Nazi group is able to bring the spirits back to the modern day battlefield and the two groups of power paranormal soldiers and the real world soldiers meet on the battlefield for the moment of truth. The Russian army wins of course sending the dead back to where they belong and pretty much concluding the movie.
I thought for an anime it was a great production with a strong story which could easily have been a Hollywood production (OK maybe a Scyfy production anyways) add the fun little bit of live action parts to make it seem like a true story and I have to say for something that was a co-production it came out really well. I'd like to see it licensed in the states so that I could definitely check it out again on DVD.
Enjoy the trailer:
