# Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and other bootlegged cartoon characters in circa WWII propaganda **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201 "2016-10-30T22:13:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/1 "2016-10-30T22:13:10Z")
I’ve seen this one on a few sites – Mickey Mouse flying on a vampire bat attacking innocent islanders (who are clearly a stand-in for Japan). It’s by director Komatsuzawa Hajime, and the cartoon is entitled _Toybox Series #3: Picture Book 1936_. The hero is Momotaro (“Peach Boy”), a traditional Japanese hero, born of a giant peach\* ( [Momotarō - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotar%C5%8D) ) [http://animatedfilmreviews.filminspector.com/2014/06/evil-mickey-attacks-japan-1934-you.html](http://animatedfilmreviews.filminspector.com/2014/06/evil-mickey-attacks-japan-1934-you.html) [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icVu-acHlpU) [https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/2br9d4/momotaro\_vs\_mickey\_mouse\_1936\_preww2\_proimperial/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObscureMedia/comments/2br9d4/momotaro_vs_mickey_mouse_1936_preww2_proimperial/) The other cartoon is _Nimbus Libere_, a 1944 cartoon from Vicky France featuring Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Felix the Cat on a bombing raid, dropping bombs directly on the citizens (instead of military targets) while a savage anti-Semitic caricature of a radio announcer tells then that it’s all for the best. The Donald Duck bootleg is surprisingly good. > **[When a vampire bootleg Mickey Mouse tried to invade Japan before World War II](https://gizmodo.com/when-a-vampire-bootleg-mickey-mouse-tried-to-invade-jap-5912473)** > > Continuing right along with our unofficial exploration of all things simultaneously insane, horrific, and Disney-related comes "Toybox Series #3: Picture Book 1936,″ a 1934 Japanese propaganda cartoon by Komatsuzawa Hajime. - sort of a Japanese _James and the Giant Peach_ I wonder if Roald Dahl knew about this? ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/2 "2016-10-31T02:59:13Z")
I’ve met a few copyright / trademark enforcement lawyers. I am surprised that the US didn’t preemptively carpet-bomb Japan in 1936 at their urging because of this egregious copyright violation. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/3 "2016-10-31T10:24:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > _Nimbus Libere_, a 1944 cartoon from Vicky France Vicky France must have been some babe! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/4 "2016-10-31T14:05:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Vicky France must have been some babe! 😃 You should meet her brother, Norman D. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/5 "2016-10-31T19:47:33Z")
I watched Toybox at an anime convention. It’s hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/6 "2016-10-31T22:06:10Z")
No American characters are potrayed in this film, but Momotaro is also featured in the strange 1945 propaganda piece [Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ORufDYlIM). IIRC, this was produced toward the end of the war, with the goal of encouraging the young men remaining in Japan to join in and win. However, the war ended before this was widely distributed. The first time I watched this on youtube, it had no subtitles. Now I see someone has added them, so I’m going to have to watch it again and better understand what’s going on. I especially liked the portrayal of the American soldiers at the end! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/7 "2016-11-01T00:42:33Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I especially liked the portrayal of the American soldiers at the end! I think they were supposed to be British, though one of the last scenes is of the anthropomorphic animal characters (representing Japanese soldiers) practicing parachute landings on a large map of North America. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/8 "2016-11-01T00:55:21Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > No American characters are potrayed in this film, but Momotaro is also featured in the strange 1945 propaganda piece [Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ORufDYlIM). > > IIRC, this was produced toward the end of the war, with the goal of encouraging the young men remaining in Japan to join in and win. However, the war ended before this was widely distributed. > > The first time I watched this on youtube, it had no subtitles. Now I see someone has added them, so I’m going to have to watch it again and better understand what’s going on. I especially liked the portrayal of the American soldiers at the end! \*\*Brian Ekers \*\* is on the right track, those are indeed not American soldiers but British ones, the ending of the movie is actually based on the Japanese campaign that captured Singapore. With references to battalions from different British commonwealth nations. The surrender scene was based on the very comical and ridiculous stalling by the British commander trying to avoid doing what it was clear was needed, the British were going to lose and it was very silly to avoid saying the word “surrender”, it finally took place when the Japanese general threatened to make an attack later that day. The Documentary _The World At War_ had footage to show the very scene the Japanese animators parodied. (That took place curiously inside a Ford Motor car factory). [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcU94-nN0BY&t=2877) Link goes to the scene, but the documentary is a good one to watch from the beginning as it shows the context of those animations. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/9 "2016-11-01T05:37:15Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > \*\*Brian Ekers \*\* is on the right track, those are indeed not American soldiers but British ones, the ending of the movie is actually based on the Japanese campaign that captured Singapore. With references to battalions from different British commonwealth nations. The surrender scene was based on the very comical and ridiculous stalling by the British commander trying to avoid doing what it was clear was needed, the British were going to lose and it was very silly to avoid saying the word “surrender”, To be fair, he was under /direct orders/ not to surrender, and, In Aus he has never been forgiven for the surrender (which encompassed the surrender and eventual death of many Australian soldiers). It’s relevant to remember that he did not surrender because of an immediate lack of ability to fight back: he surrendered because (a) he had lost (his air cover had gone to Russia), and (b) the civilian population was all going to die of thirst or cholera in short order. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mickey-mouse-popeye-and-other-bootlegged-cartoon-characters-in-circa-wwii-propaganda/770201/10 "2016-11-01T16:56:29Z")
Huh. I never knew that was what was depicted in the ending. I thought it was a prediction of how the final battle between American soldiers and Peach Boy would play out. The mouths and teeth on the Japanese soldier-critters are creepy.