- Kaji: You seem to love ultimate victory even more than food. Personally, I love my wife more than ultimate victory. You may consider that unmanly. But when fighting starts, I'll be the only one you can count on.
- Kaji: You believe unconditionally that true freedom can be found over there?
- Shinjô Ittôhei: Not unconditionally. It's all relative.
- Kaji: What use do they have for a deserter? You'd be a mere tool. A little tool in the service of their big promises.
- Shinjô Ittôhei: You doubt that all races are equal?
- Kaji: I just don't share the same naive certainty. What have the Japanese done? Deserting the ranks of the invader doesn't prove the purity of your ideals. You're still just a deserter.
- Shinjô Ittôhei: What are you trying to say?
- Kaji: Prettier flowers blossoming on their soil doesn't justify rejecting your own. I could never do it.
- Tokunaga Kangofu: You were talking in your sleep, calling for Sinjo and a Michiko. Your sweetheart? Or your wife?
- Kaji: Both.
- [last lines]
- Kaji: I'm a monster! But I'm going to stay alive! Is anyone there? Isn't anyone left alive? Answer me!Is anyone else still alive?
- Kaji: There was so much I wanted to discuss with you.
- Tange Ittôhei: We'll meet again somewhere. You can always meet those you really wish to.
- Kaji: Someone once told me that true human beings will always find kindred spirits. You're proof of that.
- Tange Ittôhei: Don't give me too much credit. But I appreciate your words.
- Kageyama Shôi: You're a clever man, but picking the army as the stage for your battles was a fool's work. It's wiser to play it safe than be stubborn.
- Kaji: Will you do a clever fool a favor? The mother hen's leaving half her brood behind. My absence may make it easier to keep the vets in line. Can I count on you?
- Kageyama Shôi: Don't be such a pessimist. If you must worry, worry about your wife.
- Hashitani Gunsô: Logic won't get you anywhere in this army. Don't try acting big around here just because you went to college. Any arguments?
- Hashitani Gunsô: The platoon leader demands discipline!
- [strikes Kaji]
- Hashitani Gunsô: Who taught you to be insubordinate?
- Shinjô Ittôhei: You're tops among the recruits. But don't forget: You're under suspicion.
- Kaji: I know.
- Shinjô Ittôhei: They can't afford to have a Red leading the pack.
- Shinjô Ittôhei: You're a hard worker, Kaji. I hated laundry duty even more than beatings.
- Kaji: One might hate it, but there's no avoiding it.
- Kaji: Michiko, will you grant me one last favor?
- Michiko: Anything. Just ask. I came here for your sake.
- Kaji: I realize it's cold; but, I'ld like you to undress - and stand over by that window. I must see you - all of you. I want to burn that image into my mind.
- Michiko: [approaches the window, disrobes, starts to cry, Kaji approaches] I have nothing to offer you! Nothing. Please take me me!
- Yoshida Jôtôhei: Come on, Kaji. I'll give you a workout. Kaji, I'm not as easy to poke as your wife! Come on!
- Kaji: Was Yoshida's action in accord with military discipline? Forcing a helpless recruit to mimic a common harlot?
- Head Nurse: Nurse Tokunaga, why did you leave your post? What's the meaning of this misconduct? A rendezvous in broad daylight - while on duty!
- Kaji: Rendevous? Forgive me, but there's been no misconduct. I asked Nurse Tokunaga to assist me.
- Head Nurse: A patient issuing orders to a nurse? That's as bad as a rendezvous!
- Kageyama Shôi: She's praying that our worthless lives might be spared, hoping against hope that you'll survive. She repeats that over and over.
- Head Nurse: Lance Corporal Minakami, this ward lacks discipline! Army hospitals aren't playgrounds. Tighten things up!
- Nakai Nitôhei: Sir, I'm gonna carry a picture, okay?
- Kaji: Watch the casual language. What kind of picture?
- Nakai Nitôhei: Of a girl.
- Kaji: Sure. Most pictures are of girls or boys.
- Nakai Nitôhei: [to Recruit #2] I told you.
- Recruit #2: His is different. It's a naked woman.
- Kaji: A good luck charm?
- Nakai Nitôhei: Something like that.
- Kaji: It'll never pass inspection. Better sew it into your loincloth.
- Kaji: You and I still have unfinished business. You avoided the issue, while I pushed a little too hard. Neither of us accomplished anything.
- Kaji: Maybe we could give those vets a good licking, but they're not the real enemy. Our real enemy - is the army.
- Kaji: Well, the end has come. Orders may not be heard above the din of battle. Each of you must think for himself. There are just two things I want to say. Don't be a coward. Like it or not, what comes will come. The other thing is: Never give up. Not for the sake of victory, but for yourself. If things get too hot, take cover and think about home - or your girl. That's what I plan to do.
- Commander: Men are like springs. The more pressure, the stronger they snap back.
- Commander: Effeminate ideas are more harmful than Red propaganda. Even a Red will fight bravely when the time comes, but your kind surrenders before fighting.
- Kaji: Filthy braggarts! Don't tell me you're afraid of one two-year man. I'll swap my life for one of you stinking worms!
- Kaji: You may think you've rid the company of its cancerous growth, but I'll be back in a month, probably more malignant than ever.
- Nakai Nitôhei: Sir, that bum wants to bring his mother and girlfriend to live here.
- Recruit #1: You idiot!
- Nakai Nitôhei: Your mother might want to sleep between you and your bride!
- Kaji: Are you engaged?
- Recruit #1: Yes.
- Kaji: When the war's over, let Naruto build you a love nest. He's a carpenter. He'll be glad to. Nakai, you can help handle his mother.
- Nakai Nitôhei: I'll help handle - the bride anytime!
- Kaji: You've had your chance to speak. Now it's my turn. You're a fool! A simpleton who wouldn't understand why his mother would shed tears if he was killed in action. To die here is a dog's death. Even you'll understand that someday, if you survive.
- Sawamura Fuchô: You there! Since when did you start walking? No one does anything here without authorization.
- Kaji: I'm practicing my walking, nurse.
- Eiseiheichô: Hon. Head Nurse!
- Kaji: Sorry, Hon. Head Nurse! I was practicing walking.
- Sawamura Fuchô: What's so funny? Lance Cpl. Minakami... this ward lacks discipline. Army hospitals aren't playgrounds. Tighten things up!
- Kaji: Dump the food back in the bucket. Azumi, when that's done, take it to the vets. We'll eat just rice. It's better than nothing.
- Shinjô Ittôhei: I don't care about going home, but I do want to get out of here.
- Kaji: What do you mean?
- Shinjô Ittôhei: I'm not even sure myself. To go to some unknown place and get a fresh start. Someplace where no one knows me.
- Kaji: Is there such a place?
- Shinjô Ittôhei: Escaping from here only means immediate recapture. There's only one other possibility.
- Kaji: Is the border close?
- Shinjô Ittôhei: Not far. But it's all marshland up to the lake. Get bogged down there and you're finished. Which would you choose? The land where people are promised freedom... or the land where your loving wife awaits you?
- Kaji: I promised my wife we'd start a new life together.
- Shinjô Ittôhei: You really believe you'll get back alive?
- Kaji: I don't know... but I hope so.
- Michiko: Even after you left, that Sergeant Watai kept coming by. Wanted me to let him read your letters. Nasty man! Maybe he thinks you're planning to desert.
- Kaji: What would you do if I did?
- Michiko: Where would you go?
- Kaji: Across the border. There's a man in my squad named Shinjo. After three years, he's still a private. His brother was arrested for communist leanings. Even his girlfriend sold him out. He claims there's a better world beyond that border.
- Michiko: A better world?
- Kaji: Where they treat people like human beings.
- Michiko: And you intend to escape there all by yourself? You can't run away! Not while you still have me! The warrant officer said you were a top soldier, but you're still under suspicion, aren't you?
- Kaji: I won't go. I won't run away. I'll carry on here.
- Michiko: Please don't run away. Come back to me.
- Kudô Taii: That one has guts. His type make good soldiers. WO Hino, I want him kept on the promotions list.
- Hino Jun'i: Keep him on, sir?
- Kudô Taii: Yes. Make sure he's well up on the list. As his stars increase, his ideas will change. Men are like springs. The more pressure, the stronger they snap back. It's best not to drive his kind too hard.
- Obara's Wife: My husband wasn't the type to do such a thing. There must have been some reason. Won't you tell me the truth?
- Hino Jun'i: A demoralized home front is the main reason. Good soldiers only come from wholesome families.
- Kaji: I wouldn't probe too deeply. Please try to see it like this. A part of Obara died due to your feuding with your mother-in-law. Another part died when I deserted him. What was left...
- Hino Jun'i: That's enough! You're dismissed.
- Tokunaga Kangofu: Writing to your wife?
- Kaji: But I don't dare write the truth.
- Tokunaga Kangofu: Because of the censors?
- Kaji: Not just that. Everything I write ends up as a half-truth. I want her to know how lonely I am, but I don't want to worry her. What's more, as much I detest army life, I actually want to stay here as long as I can.
- Tokunaga Kangofu: Is it that nice here?
- Kaji: There are things here you don't get at the front.
- Tokunaga Kangofu: For instance?
- Kaji: For instance... talking to you.
- Kudô Taii: By blaming a superior for a weak soldier's suicide, you undermine our finest military traditions.
- Kaji: I do not blame PFC Yoshida alone. His actions only revealed the absurdity of conditions here. That's why I demand his punishment. Obara's death was not caused by domestic troubles.
- Kudô Taii: Then what did cause it? With your eloquence, I'm sure you can explain. Tell me. Answer me!
- Kaji: The basic cause... is the military itself.
- Hino Jun'i: You'd make a good private 1st class if you'd shut up!
- Kaji: Shut up and walk! Quit now and all you've suffered will have been in vain. We're almost done with basic. Show some guts for once!
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Top Gap
By what name was The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959) officially released in India in English?
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