I can't rightfully support this film in any genuine manner, it's wartime propaganda at its finest. But viewing this as a piece of history, both in terms of Japanese history and animation history is incredibly interesting, and I will rate it based purely on how well I feel it's made, not what it represents. For allegedly being the first feature length Japanese animation, it's animated surprisingly well, with adorable characters to boot, which is very evidently on purpose as it's trying to sell the idea of joining the military to kids. It's showing that it's an honorable decision that'll leave you with love and respect fromall those around you. This is also shown in the scenes highlighting the beautiful nature of Japan, and the heroics displayed by the squad of Sacred Sailors. And I will say, the scenes of farms with Mt. Fuji looming over the horizon do look good. Where Momotaro drops the ball (other than the obvious), is both the scenes where characters go completely off model, looking genuinely horrendous in certain scenes, as well as the music. Music and sound effects that sound like they were lifted from a Creative Commons library. During the final third is where we get the meat and potatoes of the propaganda, and while this is obviously wholly disagreeable in every manner, it's also poorly animated and the style clashes heavily with the rest of the film. With the changes in animation style and long stretches filled with seemingly nonsensical shots, it feels undercooked for the most part.

Despite that, there's genuine thought put into this propaganda-piece which is as impressive as it is worrying.