Exalted by the Soviets in the 80s with the popular kids' book Pioner Heroes, WWII's child soldiers are back—little red scarves and all—now, with super-powers! Russia's first ever anime First Squad opens this Fall. Read on for details, trailers, and soft musings on genre exploits and exploitation.

First Squad is a collaboration between USSR-expat artists Misha Shprits and Aljoscha Klimov, Japan's acclaimed Studio 4C (The Animatrix, Mind Game), and DJ Krush. Now based in New York and Munich, Shprits and Klimov grew up reading Pioner Heroes, charmingly illustrated accounts based on the tens of thousand of real kids awarded military honors after WWII. The latest play off the propaganda comics sends the littlest of soldiers back to the Eastern front to fight Evil, but now they're psychics, fire-starters and telekinetics, so it's ok.

"It is 1942. The Red Army is putting up a violent and effective resistance against the German invaders. 14 year-old Nadya is a medium. In a deadly air raid the girl is shell-shocked. Recovering from her concussion, Nadya discovers her new gift – the ability to foresee the 'Moments of Truth' - the most critical moments of future combat encounters, in which one person’s actions will decide the outcome one way or the other. Nadya’s ability is indispensable for the classified 6th Division of the Russian Military Intelligence, which is waging a secret war against the “Ahnenerbe” – an occult order within the SS. The Ahnenerbe summons from the realm of the dead the powerful prince of darkness, Baron von Wolff. With him on their side they hope to change the course of history and achieve world domination. To oppose the Baron Nadya decides to enlist the support of her old friends from the beyond – the Pioneers of the First Squad."

Ah, it's the old "teenage psychic and merry super-crew of killer young'uns get recruited by the Red Army for a top secret mission to necromance-up fallen Soviet heroes to fight dark Nazi magicians and their crusader-zombies" story—a classic bildungsroman! The anime is partially historically accurate to boot, promising real WWII accounts from real battles, minus the zombies (...right?). First Squad characters are loosely based on Pioner Heroes which are loosely based on actual child soldiers (which is sad and marketable). Check out little Nadya's make-over:

Pioner Heroes Nadya vs. First Squad Nadya

We're keen on the whole Japanese animation meets Soviet avant-garde aesthetics thing and the propaganda-for-kids turned anime-epic is a clever co-opt indeed. Let's see how this one plays out.

Trailer:

Teaser:

First Squad premiered in North America at the Fantastic Fest and opens in Russian theaters on October 15.

[TwitchFilm]