Mission accomplished?

ONE young filmgoer in Tokyo was clear about why he was queuing up for a third viewing of “Eien no Zero”, or “The Eternal Zero”. The message for him in the film, which is about a group of kamikaze pilots attacking American ships at the end of the second world war, was that young men in those times were manly and purposeful in contrast to today’s “herbivorous” youth. The tokkotai, or “special attack force”, as the pilots are known, have long been controversial but never has their story been so popular at home. “The Eternal Zero” (named after the type of plane flown by the kamikaze) is likely to become one of the most watched Japanese films ever.