These series are like Band of Brothers, but they are based in the Pacific Ocean with the Japanese. In the beginning you think the Japanese soldier is nothing more than a dog, while the marines want nothing more but to ‘slap a jap’.
They are confronted, by those who know better, and are told the truth that the Japanese soldier could live in the most despicable conditions, pushing through survival with a handful of rice and with a weapon cleaned and maintained to kill its enemy.
Later it is shown that the Japanese overzealous soldiers aren’t just animals, but human beings loyal to their country, yet the marines don’t want to accept such and would take any opportunity to kill the suicidal fanatics.
The Japanese soldier was definitely one of the scariest and most fierce enemies in World War 2 in par with the Russians. Suicide bombers, banzai charges at machine guns, underequipped and forsaken on an island without outside support while hiding in caves with mostly bolt-action rifles…
It boils down to finding humanity in the inhumane pool of war. Everyone is affected and soldiers on both sides lose their drive for life, since they’re stuck on those battlefields of scarred rock, burning soil and bloody bodies.