File: 17844434057911111432.jpg (173 KB, 620x413)

173 KB JPG

After the outbreak of hostilities, he wanted to form a separate volunteer assault detachment based on his unit and turned to the public administrators for help

About 170 people responded to the call. Soon they had a training ground, several tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as their own name - “Shock Fist of Kerch”, which was later shortened to “Kerch”.

Andrey was one of the first to join the detachment. At that time he was only 19 years old. After school, he worked as a butcher in Volgograd until his mother kicked him out of the house. By his own admission, he went to the front line after the death of his beloved cat.

“At first it was such a party. (...) We didn’t receive wages for six months,” Andrei recalls the first months of the detachment’s existence.

In July 2023, Kerch fighters captured a Ukrainian Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The twenty-ton armored trophy glorified the detachment - and the media started talking about it

Then it turned out that anime fans were fighting in Kerch. According to Andrey, there were about 70 percent of the personnel. Stickers with your favorite heroes appeared on machine guns and body armor; one fighter had a “For Anime” tattoo on his wrist, another wore a T-shirt with the heroine of “Evangelion” under his body armor.

In the damp dugouts of the detachment, one could increasingly see dakimakura - one and a half meter pillows with characters from manga and TV series

These pillows also had their own front-line fate. In 2022, Andrei went to one of the positions near the front line with a machine gun, magazines and two dakimakura. In total, he bought three such pillows, but decided to give one to the division commander. The other two went with him to the front line. One of them was later cut by shrapnel from a shell that hit the dugout. Andrey no longer remembers exactly what happened to the second one.

File: 17844434057912101798.jpg (379 KB, 940x627)

379 KB JPG

“Despite the right-wing views, we had an international in our squad. For example, a Kazakh fought. In general, as he himself admitted, he hated all people on earth. He died, though his legs were blown off,” says Andrey.

Andrei himself admits: before serving, he was not interested in right-wing views: not a penny in his pocket, three jobs, and managed to find time only for airsoft. Anime was in his life even before the fighting. And although much of the fan paraphernalia was difficult to find in Donetsk and the surrounding area, several anime stores still operated in the republic.

Their assortment - along with pouches, body armor and helmets - often became part of the equipment of Kerch fighters.

In the Donetsk Otaku-shop, fighters purchased posters, stickers and “cat ears” for helmets. The latter were of particular importance: attack aircraft wore them before going on missions, counting on “culture shock” from the enemy

“One and a half meter tall gnomes with pink ears on their helmets,” this is how Maxim, one of Andrei’s colleagues, recalls the assault operations.

Not only anime culture, but also music helped brighten up the darkness at the front. The choice of the Kerch soldiers are performers of ironic songs popular among zoomers: Alena Shvets, Maybe Baby, Dora.

“Dora is for the infantry, Shvets is for the paratroopers. We were once sitting in the dugout, listening to the track “I am a killing machine,” when a grenade flew in,” recalls Maxim.

In the meantime, a 120-mm mortar was firing at us, and a friend was playing “I’ll Come When Spring Blooms.” The first mine fell on the line “And will paint the clouds pink”...

However, anime fanaticism in Kerch did not rage for long. According to Andrey, the last anime fan who served in the detachment died in March 2024.

Soon “Kerch” ceased to exist in the form in which it was created. The place of anime stormtroopers was taken by former prisoners and foreign volunteers.

File: 17844434057923476990.jpg (292 KB, 700x386)

292 KB JPG

“I’ll die and won’t know how the anime ends”
In 2023, 26-year-old native of the Irkutsk region Dmitry sent an application to the private military company (PMC) Wagner. He signed a contract, boarded a bus to Donetsk, managed to get to the training ground and begin training, but did not finish it.

The start of preparations coincided with the death of the founder of the PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, after which the company began to disband. Dmitry found himself in debt: he paid his fees for the front at his own expense, hoping to return the money later

A year later, he nevertheless joined another unit and voluntarily joined the stormtroopers. The reason, he said, was simple: “it became boring”

“I decided that I wanted to [fight], and I went [to fight]. I purposefully went into the assault because I wanted to fight as a man against men. So that it’s like in a Western: guns and heads from asses,” says Dmitry.

In a past life, the volunteer admits, he led an anarchic lifestyle. At the same time, he denied the punk culture, although he considers himself an informal person, and at the same time an anime fan. About seven years ago, he turned on the STS TV channel, saw the cartoon “Shaman King” on the air - and away we go. Now he has about 200 viewed titles under his belt

all genres. My favorite genre is isekai, a story where the main character finds himself in another world.

When Dmitry became a stormtrooper, he did not abandon the anime culture - on the contrary, he began to promote it at the front

I attached fan paraphernalia to my body armor, hung character figures on my backpack, and covered the machine gun with stickers.

“I was a speaker, I promoted all this [among my colleagues]. Anime should be about war because everyone believes in God, and I believe in isekai,” he says.

>>539247268
Russians are the biggest fucking weebs of the planet.

>>539247268
Soldiers used to have pictures of sexy, scantly clad women to keep them motivated, but that was at a time when women were pleasant, and porn was scarce. Now, women have become very unpleasant, and every man and his father have seen thousands of naked women doing degenerate sex acts. As a result, cute and pleasant anime girls have become far more preferable.

File: 17844481701610460692.jpg (438 KB, 1200x1200)

438 KB JPG

At the front, Dmitry found himself surrounded by former prisoners - about 80 percent of the personnel. At first, they reacted negatively to his hobby: they were indignant that their colleague was watching “Asian cartoons.” But over time, they lost interest in bullying, and then they themselves became interested in anime. True, as the stormtrooper admits, “rather out of despair.”

Before the rotation, soldiers downloaded “tons” of videos to watch in their positions during rare quiet moments. Gigabytes of content were transferred to each other via Bluetooth, just like two decades ago.

They sat in their positions, watched and understood the beauty of anime. They really appreciated that they were long

Dmitry
Russian volunteer and anime fan
He explains the popularity of the genre in the detachment simply: on rotation, military personnel are constantly under stress, and long series help to distract and brighten up the anticipation of the assaults. Unlike films, anime stretches over seasons - days, or even weeks of viewing.

Dmitry did not change his habits even in the most dangerous situations. One day, while sitting in the dugout, he heard the sound of an approaching UAV. “I think *I still have half of the episode to watch,” the fighter recalls.

I hear it’s about to strike. So what do you think? It flew in and got tangled in the crocheted tulle that I hung on the door. And the episode was interesting and addictive. I think I’ll watch it already, and then I’ll go filming. Only a couple of minutes passed - and then there was detonation. I was stunned and watched the episode through the dust. But if I had immediately gone to film, God knows how it would all end

Dmitry
Russian volunteer and anime fan
Dmitry did not pay attention to the reproaches of his most conservative colleagues.

“I was going to [hell]. Do you think I was scared to tell someone that I was an anime fan? Absolutely not,” he says.

How exactly Dmitry guessed that the wounded fighter was an anime fan, he no longer remembers. But he explains simply: “You can see an anime guy a mile away. They are sick on their heads and almost sculpt anime chevrons on their beards!”

Another time, on the front line, a man identified a fan of Japanese animation by his tattoo. Dmitry himself had exactly the same one. “Look, in the same places, like mine, we look alike, we are brothers!” - he recalls. From that moment on, the stormtroopers became close friends. “I believe that I fulfilled my function: I brought anime to the war,” the military man sums up.

"People who believe in goodness"
As soon as Gleb Bogdanov turned 18, he decided to go to the front. He told his parents that he loved his homeland and, as a patriot, wanted to fight in the most dangerous direction. Signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and left for Storm

.

Upon arrival at the unit, he learned that all his fellow soldiers the same age were anime fans. At the same time, he himself had an extremely negative attitude towards anime. “On their hard drives there were gigabytes of anime of absolutely different varieties and colors: from “haremniks” to some kind of “Berserker”... I could go to my commander in the dugout and see how on the screen the heroines were steaming in a bathhouse, and the next time - like Guts

kills another mercenary with his big sword,” he says.

He admits that at first he did not understand the fanaticism of his colleagues. He liked reading books and watching “serious films” more.

However, at the front, according to the volunteer, his pattern “completely broke”

“It turned out that I had to trust the anime guy with my life. Moreover, to cover him and carry out his orders. After all, I grudgingly and reluctantly recognized the right of anime to exist, but when I tried to watch it in the company of friends, I felt Spanish shame. I always ran away under some excuse,” he says.

>>539247932
One day, while on vacation, Dmitry came across the anime “Rebirth of an Aristocrat with the Ability to Analyze.” Almost simultaneously, the detachment received an order to rotate. Attempts to download the series before the connection disappeared were unsuccessful.

I was going to a combat mission very sad. I thought I would die without watching anything at all. I don't know how this anime will end

Dmitry
Russian volunteer and anime fan
But meetings with like-minded people happened even in the most desperate circumstances. So, on one of the trips, Dmitry saw a wounded soldier who, despite the bandage, continued to lose blood: “He shouted: “I’m bleeding” or something like that. And I’ll take it and ask: “What are you, an anime fan?” And immediately in response: “*, how I love anime.” This really warms the soul in moments of danger.”

Soon the fighter became friends with a recruit with the call sign Clown. He was well versed in anime and memes, and, unlike other comrades, Gleb could calmly discuss this topic with him for hours. But just a few weeks later, the volunteer’s new friend died. For a long time they could not remove his body from the position: the evacuation group, which included Gleb crawling behind the dead and wounded, was defeated.

I cried for the first time at the death of a colleague. After his death, I became more tolerant of anime because I associated it with this guy

Gleb Bogdanov
Russian volunteer
Soon Gleb himself was wounded. After treatment, he was assigned to another unit, where he again found himself among anime fans. His commander bought themed figurines, watched TV series at full volume and, according to Gleb, looked like “a typical anime guy”: with glasses, short stature, with a narrow and sunken jaw. “But he was incredibly brave,” he adds.

One day they went to an anime store together. The commander bought a dakimakura, and Gleb bought a figurine from “The Blade that Cleaves Demons.” Later, as a joke, he also ordered a dakimakura with a “pretty girl.” When the pillow arrived, the colleague looked at it and asked: “Why did you buy Venti? This is the gangway

" “I realized that I was fatally mistaken,” says Gleb.

At the same time, Gleb wrote a report to return to the attack aircraft, but his request was rejected. He remained in the company, where another volunteer was soon brought - also an anime fan.

Everyone who was there, young and old, were anime fans. I started to go crazy

Gleb Bogdanov
Russian volunteer
According to Gleb, the only thing that saved him from “final insanity” was going to the front line to repair communications. Soon he finally refused to work in the rear, and he was assigned the position of signalman.

But among the signalmen there were again anime people who stored many titles on their devices. Having resigned himself to the inevitable, Gleb himself bought several anime figures. He claims that he did this with a great deal of irony. “Now I have Stalin, Dzerzhinsky and strange half-naked girls standing parallel to me on my shelf,” he admits. But the military man himself never started watching the series.

Anime is something light, funny and absurd. It distracts from the terrible reality. It is watched by people who believe in goodness, in something bright in man. It is easier to raise such people for a good cause with the help of propaganda

Gleb is convinced: the majority of ideologically charged youth have been fighting on the front lines for a long time, many of them have already died.

“Now guys come who watch anime. Those who were for the idea came in the first months. And they have already died,” he concludes.

Shells for painting
In 2023, 17-year-old Grigory Korolev, by that time a well-known e-sportsman with the nickname Grisha Putin, created an international organization of pro-Russian foreigners Z-Shaker Central.

Now an artillery unit friendly to the project is signing shells for donations, including with anime characters. Orders come from different countries

Gregory began volunteering in the spring of 2022. Then he decided that foreigners needed to be shown what was really happening in Russia: he filmed content, collected small donations, and later began broadcasting from the Wagner Center PMC in St. Petersburg. After the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the center was closed.

The final impetus for the creation of Z-Shaker Central was the murder of military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky in a St. Petersburg cafe - Grigory left there 20 minutes before the explosion. “I realized that the war had gotten to me personally,” he explains.

After this, he came up with the idea of organizing the painting of shells for donations.

I realized that I can’t limit myself to my audience if I want to really help. In a sense, the Ukrainians themselves inspired me - they also have such a service, centralized, for painting shells

Grigory Korolev (Grisha Putin)
creator of the Z-Shaker Central project
First, Grigory raised money for auto parts for an artillery brigade in the Belgorod region. In gratitude, the fighters began to write inscriptions on the shells for those who sent funds.

At first they ordered ordinary phrases - for example, happy birthday. The inscriptions were made in different languages: Russian, Turkish, French

“It all started with ordinary 122-mm shells for the D-30 [howitzer], and then mines and Grad missiles appeared. If we get ahead of ourselves, we recently started working with FPV drones,” says Korolev.

For some foreigners, the painted shell is a joke, for others it is a curiosity. There were also those who ordered an inscription to help the army: a photograph with the painting served as confirmation that the donation had arrived.

When the project went viral, orders began pouring in for anime pictures. A separate “art brigade” took care of them: anime girls began to emerge from under the artillerymen’s felt-tip pens. The photos appeared on Chinese social networks, and orders poured in from China. To work with this market, a separate team of Chinese volunteers was created.

The Z-Shaker Central account on BiliBili, the Chinese equivalent of YouTube, gained 100 thousand subscribers, but was soon blocked. China was a key customer base for anime orders, and after the lockdown, an outflow began.

I had to start over, but requests from China continue to arrive. Chinese students monthly ask to draw characters from their favorite titles

In August 2024, the top 10 best anime paintings appeared on Grigory Korolev’s Telegram channel. Seven were ordered from China, two from Russia, and one more from Western countries. It was not possible to determine the average age of the Chinese customer: among the donors there are even those who pay for pictures from their pension. The ideological views of customers also vary greatly.

French monarchists and American communists are chipping in for some drone that will go in the Zaporozhye direction. I have a different ideological hodgepodge

“There is even one gay man (the LGBT movement is considered extremist and banned in Russia) from the United States, who sometimes sends me to the training camp. That's why I have maximum tolerance. For me, skin color and eye shape don’t matter - I have one criterion,” says Korolev.

Volunteers purchase materials for drawings from Ozon. Grigory immediately warned the military that they would need a lot of colored markers - the artists covered more than one set.

There are also those who work only with prints: this way there is no need to spend money on expensive markers, and the technology itself saves time

“The Belgorod region and the Bakhmut front are two different dimensions in terms of the intensity of hostilities. The Gvozdika crew doesn’t have time to draw, so they just glue on prints,” explains Grigory.

With the advent of prints, Z-Shaker Central began to “move away from art,” although, according to the humanitarian, a beautiful design can be made on any surface.

Despite the hype around anime projectiles, Gregory himself is not a fan of the genre. From what I watched, only One Punch Man. “I have nothing to do with anime. But I don’t think that this is something bad: there are soldiers at the front who sleep with dakimakura in an embrace in a trench. If they feel so good and calm, so be it. We also have domestic anime. Recently the series "Cyberslav" was released. By the way, North Korea does too,” he says.

Due to orders, he still had to learn how to distinguish between titles, especially against the backdrop of demand from Japan. Grigory, “by the will of fate,” began to understand who was where, but he had to understand the characters mainly for technical reasons.

“If I have a new shell, I don’t know what’s pictured. I go to a Japanese site with a translation to understand how it is written correctly in English and Russian. Because every anime order can bring new customers. If you know who to ask to repost—some anime channel—it works,” he explains.

This is not a super easy job, you just need to be friends with the media and understand how things work. That's all

Gregory explains the popularity of anime at the front due to globalization. In the future, he wants to become an eSports player, but he doubts that he will have time due to the workload. Another goal is the development of video games, although there are no concrete solutions yet.

“Everything is changing so quickly that you just need to keep up with the times, know a lot, and if necessary, everything will come in handy,” he concludes.

File: IMG_20260719_071353_110.jpg (209 KB, 1280x1280)

209 KB JPG

Based and informative thread, I hope for the veterans to manage to live to see the end of Youjo Senki S2