Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, the 1987 debut work of Gainax written and directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga, has attracted academic analysis of its themes in various formats, including dissertations, scholarly journals, university press books, and installations.
An early analysis of Royal Space Force was offered during the doctoral studies of Takashi Murakami, later to be recognized internationally for his Superflat movement in contemporary art that centered a concept of otaku culture as an expression of unresolved Japanese societal trauma following the end of the Second World War. This conception was itself critiqued in an analysis of Royal Space Force by Swedish scholar Viktor Eikman, who argued against the finding of WWII parallels in Gainax's foundational work. University of Melbourne professor of screen and cultural studies Sean Cubitt compared Royal Space Force to the Indian and Chinese films 1942: A Love Story and Once Upon a Time in China through a shared examination of temporality, whereas Penn State comparative literature professor Shu Kuge examined the film through the motif of physical space rather than time, associating a mimesis of distance in Royal Space Force with that found in the Makoto Shinkai anime Voices of a Distant Star.
Academic analysis of themes
The rhythmic movements of cosmic planets existed before human civilization. We may try to bestow humanistic meanings to the universe, but it is essentially indifferent to us and beyond our interpretations. The history of human civilization teaches us that "purposes" and "missions" are often used as sacrosanct excuses to commit violence. It is accepted as a truism that humans need to fight for some ideal goals to sustain civilization. At one point in [Royal Space Force], an interviewer asks Shirotsugh to talk about the "purpose" (shimei) of his mission. Shirotsugh does not know how to answer this question ... but he is certainly affected by the question. The later part of the movie suggests that Shirotsugh’s adamant ignorance or, say, innocence implies that not having a purpose is his purpose; his mission has a point because it is blatantly useless. In fact, every military man and politician ridicules his mission ... Shirotsugh’s lack of purpose (which also means not having a military force to destroy or to subjugate others) is an oblique political gesture against intrinsically war-driven human civilization, yet he still cannot escape from such a world in turmoil. His prayer at the end of the film means not only his hope for a better future but also his unconditional acceptance of this world.