That wouldn’t surprose me…as I mentioned earlier, the Japanese were sorely underestimated because racism prettry much blinded a lot of people.

Mind you, who’s to say that Herr Doktor Metzger isn’t reaping the benefit of an “Operation Crossbow”-like effort by the SS to spirit Shiro Ishii to Berlin before the Emperor succumbed? Just offering a possible out here…

Wow. I must admit that I was not aware of Unit 731 (and after a little googling, I kind of wish I still wasn’t). Those experiments are every bit as horrific as what the Nazis were doing under Mengele, and they certainly could have served as an explanation for Japanese super-soldiers.

I’d have thought the other entirely; the experiments being done at Unit 731 at Pingfang probably had the best chance in our realm of finding a “super gene” than any of the work being done by the other combatants, and how they were moving with the findings they had might have produced some staggering results. Admittedly, Imperial Japan did have resource management issues, but considering what happened in Nanking I would not claim that there was any “behavioral restrictions” on their part.

“They didn’t develop super-soldiers, primarily just because we have enough on our plates telling the story of the Specialists vs. the Übermenschen.”

I can understand that…also probably because (1) Japan didn’t have the raw materials such a project would have doubtless required, and (2) while I’m not an expert on the subject, I suspect something in the bushido code would have caused the high-ups in the Japanese military (who were often infighting among themselves, particularly IJN vs. Army) to resist the idea.

Thoughts or speculation, anyone?

Hey, Bard, see my comment below!

Thanks for the kind words, James! I’ve written up a lengthy comment below to explain some of the historical differences of our timeline.

Hey, changling, see my comment below for some historical details (Churchill is the PM in our story; it’s even possible he’ll make an appearance at some point).

The timeline of our story diverged from the real world when Baron von Schädel found the mysterious artifact he called “The Orb” in 1941 (as shown in the prologue). Using the Orb, he created the other four Übermenschen, and the five of them helped to make the Nazi army much more formidable than it was in reality.

This is most evident in the Nazis being able to hold their own against the Soviets in Stalingrad and Kursk. Basically, it was the Soviets who were ground down and exhausted in these battles, rather than the Nazis, which freed the Nazis up to maintain control over the rest of Europe.

(It may seem unrealistic that five super-soldiers would have such a huge effect on an entire war, and well, maybe it is. But I can see them Übermenschen having a crippling effect on their enemies’ morale. Imagine fighting a battle in which your opponents have a large metal man who seems invulnerable, your comrades sometimes turn their guns on you or themselves, and the corpses of slain soldiers on both sides rise from the dead and fight against you. Not to mention the many and varied powers of the Orb that haven’t been shown yet.)

Japan’s story is actually pretty close to what it was in the real war. After the a-bomb was dropped in Hiroshima (the second bomb was sent to Berlin, but it disappeared), they surrendered. They didn’t develop super-soldiers, primarily just because we have enough on our plates telling the story of the Specialists vs. the Übermenschen.

Regarding Operation Overlord, the Allies and the Nazis have been trading territory back and forth for a few years, mostly in France. The Übermenschen seem to have some means of extremely fast travel, so they can be in Stalingrad one day, and then fighting against invaders in France the next.

I hope that all made sense. Sometime in the near future, we will create a page on the site to make some of these historical details more clear.

Of course, the Japanese military structure, hierarchy and bureaucracy was brutal, dysfunctional, ossified, inflexible and in many ways completely insane – officers had complete disregard for the lives of even their own soldiers…another factor contributing to their eventual defeat.