Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise

Tamaru is a shy young man who dreams of becoming a manga artist. Towards the end of the Second World War, he is drafted into the army and sent to Peleliu, a tiny Pacific island somewhere between the Philippines and Guam. His first impression of a tropical paradise lasts about as long as the calm before the arrival of the American fleet. The troops have been ordered to defend the island to the last man. The officers insist that the battle can be won, but the soldiers suspect they have been sent there to die for a rock of little strategic value. As a gentle aspiring manga artist, Tamaru is hardly suited for combat. Instead, he is tasked with recording the final moments of fallen soldiers, transforming their often horrific deaths into heroic stories for their families back home. After two months of carnage, a handful of survivors are left behind in the jungle, forgotten and convinced that they must continue fighting. Cut off from the outside world, they remain there, unaware that Japan has already surrendered and the war is over.