I doubt that even if Prime Minister Ito wasn't assasinated by An Jung Guen that Japan joins the Allies in World War 2. Because I dont think he could've regained his post as Prime Minister from the militaristic minded politicans there. He would've had influence over policy in Korea, but I doubt he would've had any effect on the outcome of how Japan fights in World War 2.
One of the better movies I've seen in a while though 7.5/10
World War II saw the Japanese Army, allied with corporate tycoons, spreading the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, so of course you find alliance with America far fetched. Hmmm. Japan did have some brilliant Naval leadership who might have pulled it off had they more connections with the money fellows.
shareWell, yes, but attitudes after the war showed that the US wasn't <i>so</i> concerned about Japan's treatment of other Asians per se. Meanwhile, Japan <i>was</i> one of the Allied nations in WWI -- an ally of the US, Britain, etc.
I think the presupposition is that Japanese agents with access to time travel would have given advance warning to Japanese officials to pursue alliance with the US, though. Once you have a way to alter history, if you don't mind wiping yourself out -- or maybe stranding yourself in another history -- then you can work all manner of mischief.
Which is the main problem with the film: if a small group of nasty, scheming Japanese right-wing extremists <i>did</i> get their hands on such a device, wouldn't they simply have used it to massively arm and equip their distant ancestors (or maybe even emigrate the whole nation en masse to some distant historical era), so that before European expansion even was an idea, Japan would have colonized the whole Earth? Isn't that more likely, in terms of how Japanese extremists might think? Why just take over Korea? And why do it so late in history that armed resistance groups would still exist? Why not do it during the Imjin war, or even back in 500 AD? (Or earlier?)
Which is why this film simply works out to being a kind of Korean fantasy nightmare about colonial/postcolonial history, vaguely equivalent to the self-conscious kid at school's worst nightmare -- that everyone really, truly is snickering at him behind his back. Not so compelling, really, when you consider time travel rationally, even if it doesn;t actually exist.
I always thought of it as the Inoue Foundation itself was trying to establish its foothold on the world by going back in time and changing to suit "its" needs, rather than just Japan.
Think of it, one single Japanese person named Inoue goes back in time and changes history, thereby creating a foundation in "his" name, so that "his" legacy can leave a lasting impression on the world. If you surmise it as such, you could say that it was Inoue's extremism that influenced Japan's extremists in this film, thereby fortifying the alternate history beliefs of future generations.
As for Korea, since this "magical BS item" was found in Korea at the time, it can be assumed that Inoue foresaw this situation and pushed toward the Japanese allying with Americans so that "he" can keep a stranglehold over the artifact in question, and remaining Imperialist further solidified "his" power over the nation. So, behind the facade of a Japanese Imperialist nation, it was the Inoue Foundation that was running everything all along, including Korea, which was merely a casualty/critical strategic point to ensure the scheme goes off without a hitch.
Course one can argue why he simply did not move the artifact to another Goddamn country altogether. But, then again, if you move an artifact that belongs to another country without reasonable excuses, Imperialist or not, people will ask questions, and not every country can be as smooth as Britain, but I digress.
Anyway, we will never know whether this was Inoue's intentions, however, because, like the previous post said, this was more of a Korean fantasy that shows Korea's continued disdain over Japan's hostile occupation. Because of that, this film focused more on Japan as the villains and less on Inoue's motivations for doing such an act.
And long scenes of people staring at one another dramatically for five minutes.
If con is the opposite of pro, wouldn't congress be the opposite of progress?