Leahy, and Generals of the Army George Marshall and Hap Arnold (the latter being the commander of the U.S. Responsibility for the planning of Operation Downfall fell to American commanders Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs of Staff-Fleet Admirals Ernest King and William D. Depending on the degree to which Japanese civilians would have resisted the invasion, estimates ran up into the millions for Allied casualties. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations. Japan's geography made this invasion plan quite obvious to the Japanese as well they were able to accurately predict the Allied invasion plans and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugō, accordingly. If Downfall had taken place, it would have been the largest amphibious operation in history. Airbases on Kyūshū captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kantō Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū, with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area. The operation had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war and the invasion of Manchuria. Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. (66 divisions, 36 brigades, and 45 regiments, not counting PCFC units.) It makes those bombastic sci-fi blockbusters look assured and accomplished by comparison.(Up to 58 US and 3-5+ Commonwealth divisions) The show is still saddled with glum, grating characters and a wispy concept. Invasion picks up a bit in the second half of its 10-episode first series, with more alien action and a greater sense of urgency, although that just makes the earlier instalments seem even more like wasted time. The rest of the performances are solid, but the characters continually make reckless, nonsensical decisions and their meandering storylines lead to minimal pay off.
Kutsuna carries the show as the dedicated Mitsuki, who has both scientific and personal reasons to investigate what is really going on. The tone is is overwhelmingly sombre, with almost no room for humour, excitement or wonder. The Lord of the Flies-style segments about Casper and his schoolmates, along with Trevante’s desert wanderings, come closer to survival dramas than sci-fi. Much of the storytelling feels like deception and time-filler as well. There is an additional plot in the first episode featuring Sam Neill as a sheriff in small-town Oklahoma, although his billing as one of the show’s major stars is a frustrating misdirection. Mitsuki is the first character who gets to utter the word “aliens”, although it takes nearly five hours of running time for the show to get there.
Meanwhile, in the only storyline directly connected to outer space, Japanese space agency communications officer Mitsuki Yamato (Shiori Kutsuna) attempts to figure out what caused the destruction of a Japanese space shuttle on a mission to the International Space Station. Shy student Casper Morrow (Billy Barratt), who experiences seizures, may have a mental connection to the alien presence, much like Luke in the US, although the nature of that connection remains frustratingly unclear.
Of course, as soon as the soldiers glimpse the mysterious vessel, they start shooting at it, so it is hard to feel bad for Trevante’s situation as he barrels ahead, rifle first, into a foreign country.Ī group of London schoolchildren take a trip to the countryside, where their bus is struck by more falling debris and tumbles into a ravine. In Afghanistan, soldier Trevante Cole (Shamier Anderson) is cut off from the rest of the US forces after a desert encounter with what may be an alien craft.