"Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths"

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths (Shigeru Mizuki)

This is a "90% autobiographical" retelling of the author's WW2 experience. As you can probably guess from the title, it's quite grim - early on our group of heroes is detailed to go on a suicide charge, but commit the crime of coming back alive after news of their noble deaths has already been spread to the rest of the army as a morale-booster, and it only gets worse from there.
Despite the sheer hopelessness of the material presented within, the author's style is so gripping that it's almost impossible to put down. Mizuki combines very realistic backgrounds (and tanks, planes, and ships) with cartoon-styled people, and this technique gives each person a lot of personality; it's impossible not to feel for these guys getting slapped around, not getting enough to eat, and worrying about getting eaten by alligators. The grimness of the material is the only caveat I'd apply, and I would hasten to add that while you'll feel horrible after finishing the book, this is a story that deserves to be told.
(Discussion question: Is it tasteless to apply the "didn't like the end" tag to the ending of a book titled Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths?)

Grade: A