''First Squad: The Moment of Truth'' ( ja, ファーストスクワッド ''Fāsuto sukuwaddo'', russian: Пе́рвый отря́д, translit=Perviy otryad) is a joint animation project of Japan's

Studio 4°C is a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka and Koji Morimoto in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense. History Studio 4 °C has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film t ...

and Russia's Molot Entertainment. It won the ''

Kommersant ''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...

'' newspaper's prize.

Plot

Set during the opening days of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on the Eastern Front (autumn and winter of 1941/1942). Its main cast are a group of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

teenagers with extraordinary abilities; the teenagers have been drafted to form a special unit to fight the invading German army. They are opposed by a

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...

(SS) officer who is attempting to raise from the dead a supernatural army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross (i.e. the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

) and enlist them in the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

cause. Most of the teenage crew die, except for the protagonist Nadya. She is taken to a secret Soviet lab that studies supernatural phenomena, especially contacts with the dead. Nadya's task is to dive into the world of the dead for reconnaissance. There, in the Gloomy Valley, she meets her dead friends and persuades them to continue fighting.

Voice Cast

Ligalize's video clip

On the eve of May 9, 2005, a video clip was released, based on the track "Наша с тобой победа" ("Our victory") by Russian rap artist

Ligalize Andrey Vladimirovich Menshikov (russian: Андре́й Влади́мирович Ме́ньшиков, born 30 June 1977, in Moscow), mostly known under his stage name Ligalize (Russian: Лигалайз), is a Russian hip hop artist and a fo ...

. The clip was directed by Daisuke Nakayama, produced by Aljosha Klimov and Misha Shprits and depicted an epic fight between Soviet Pioneers and Nazi soldiers, with the German side in possession of

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japanese is ...

and various supernatural soldiers. Among the featured locations are the

Palace of the Soviets The Palace of the Soviets (russian: Дворец Советов, ''Dvorets Sovetov'') was a project to construct a political convention center in Moscow on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The main function of the pa ...

and Mayakovskaya metro station, Moscow.

Production

In 2007, it was announced that a motion picture titled ''First Squad: The Moment of Truth'' was in the works. Film is produced by

and recently created for this purpose studio Molot Entertainment, distributed by

Amedia Amedia AS is the second largest media company in Norway (the largest is Schibsted and the third largest is Polaris Media). The company is whole or partial owner of 50 local and regional newspaper with online newspapers and printing presses, and ...

. Directed by Studio 4 °C director and animator Yoshiharu Ashino, cowritten and produced by Aljosha Klimov, Misha Shprits, with

Eiko Tanaka is the chief executive officer and the president of STUDIO4°C, an animation studio she founded in 1986. Tanaka is also the chief executive officer of a producing company called Beyond C. Eiko Tanaka was an animation producer on '' TEKKON KINKR ...

, featuring character development by Hirofumi Nakata, and music by Japanese musician

DJ Krush , better known by his stage name DJ Krush, is a record producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples. Early life Ishi was born in ...

. The film has been shown at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, Locarno Film Festival,

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to fantasy/science fiction/ horror-oriented commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental proje ...

and Fantasia film festival. On June 8, 2010,

Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...

announced that they will distribute the film in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

through

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

and L.A. based XYZ Films.

References

External links

* * * {{Sony theatrical animated features 2009 anime films 2009 films Animated war films Eastern Front of World War II films Films set in 1941 Films set in 1942 Nazi zombie films 2000s speculative fiction films Russian speculative fiction films Japanese speculative fiction films Russian animated films 2000s Russian-language films Studio 4°C Historical fantasy anime and manga Mecha anime and manga Anime and manga set in Russia Animated films set in Russia Russian World War II films Japanese World War II films Animated films set in hell 2009 fantasy films Animated films set in the Soviet Union Animated films set in the 1940s Animated World War II films