Against the GDR would say, though honestly I think Ostania resembles West Germany more than East if you look into more than asthetics.
The main plot is a spy trying to stop the ascension of a Nationalist from a formerly aristocratic family from ascending to power. The existence of a massive class divide where prestigious families send their children off into private academies. The fucked up biological human expirements reminiscent of the Nazis.
To a lib it’s DDR coded, and I suspect that what the authors intention. However similar to figures like Orwell, they’ve made a more succinct critique of capitalist soceity rather than the socialist one they were trying to disparage.
DDR is frequently portrayed as “nazi but with a new coat of pain” and barely denazified. Basically projecting west germany onto the east. So I think you are right.
Since Ostania and Westaria are both presented as oligarchic societies (but with no slums or homeless encampments in sight), while being clearly modeled after Cold War Europe, it’s certainly a work of historical nihilism. It recasts the Cold War as an inter-imperialist conflict in which ‘gentle capitalism’ is a given, and the only thing at stake is whether the war gets kinetic again or not.
Where it gets more explicitly anticommunist is that almost all the criminal or unhinged characters seem to come from, or work for, Ostania. It’s in keeping with western screenwriters never forgetting to include a beating any time someone is captured by Soviet forces, or to show signs of cynicism and corruption any time a ranking Soviet is on screen. There are some Ostarian activists who denounce the greed and consumerism of Westaria, but they go on to strap bombs to cute dogs to try to assassinate diplomats or some shit like that. Meanwhile the Westarian characters are shown to only want to prevent open war from breaking out again.
The animation is pretty and Anya cracks me up
, so I still watched all of it 
Honestly it’s kinda funny that my friend and I mainly enjoyed the minor romantic subplot (I’d you call it that) of Damian and Anya. Even then it was entirely something for the realm of fanfics to explore but the story gave us jumping off points.
When theorizing about chatecters is the most fun you have with a piece of media, I’m not really sure what that says about the media itself. At the very least it provided something fun to discuss.
Makes me wonder how much the Zenkyoto movement still affects the industry
it seems like it, but anya is a cute character for using as a background for my pc even when i don’t want to watch her show
Yeah Anya is probably the most adorable character I have seen ever
Its similar to MGS 3 which portrays the eastern block as just as corrupt as the west, but the west is still portrayed as holding the “values we should strive for”.
I love it, and I find it super funny, yes. And I do agree with some of you that they end up portraying Ostania more like nazism than the USSR, per se, imo.
But I do agree thta the show is very Orwellian, and wish it wasn’t. But I still find it too funny, honestly.
And given that we don’t really know what is up in Westalia, I’d say that honestly Ostania doesn’t look like USSR to me, and much more like Germany, as I mentioned before. Also the red circus guys being anti-Ostania kinda aligns with that interpretation, in my mind.
(I haven’t finished it. I’m all caught up watching the anime on Crunchyroll, but idk if it’s already finished.)
But I’d recommend it for a good laugh.
