NHK announced on Friday that it will air a special anime based on Shigeru Mizuki's 'White Flag' (Shiroi Hata) manga for its NHK Special documentary program on Sunday, August 16. The special is titled 'Iwo Jima no Shiroi Hata' (The White Flag at Iwo Jima).
Mizuki's original manga tells the story of an Imperial Japanese Army lieutenant in World War II named Nishiōeda. After fierce and brutal fighting between American and Japanese forces at the Battle of Iwo Jima, Nishiōeda raises the white flag of surrender in order to allow the troops under his command to live. The surrender went against the army's orders to fight to the death, and Nishiōeda was executed for treason. Mizuki has stated that the manga is based on a story he heard about a friend of his older brother, though the account has never been officially verified.
Mizuki first used the character in his Futari no Chūi (Two Lieutenants) manga story published in 1964, before reworking it into Shiroi Hata for Garo magazine in 1968. Kodansha compiled four of Mizuki's World War II manga stories into a book titled White Flag in 2010.
The upcoming NHK documentary will present the anime adaptation alongside historical research examining both American and Japanese wartime reports concerning the raised white flag and surrender at Iwo Jima. Shigeru Mizuki, famed globally for his monumental work popularizing Japanese yōkai folklore, drew extensively from his personal experiences serving in World War II, during which he lost his left arm. He passed away in November 2015.
