A certain West Asian country (西アジアの某国 Nishiajia no Bōkoku?) is a country bordering Russia, with whom it has been involved in border fighting with.[1] Jonah hails from this country and was a child soldier in its military. The country falls within Kasper Hekmatyar's purview and he was involved with the removal of the military base where Jonah was stationed to allow a road to be built through the region.
Demographics[]
The country appears to have a somewhat diverse population with some people being fair skinned while others like Jonah are darker. The deputy commander had Asian features.
History[]
Jonah in the Mountain Division in Episode 1.
Jonah was orphaned when his village was attacked by armed men, who had been armed with weapons sold by Kasper Hekmatyar. He became a child soldier and served in the Mountain Division, seeing action against the Russians.[2] He was later posted to a mountain base where he was helping several orphans were taken in by the commander. Although he tried to keep them fed, the deputy commander disagreed with this as none of them were soldiers. After Yusuf Gasud arrived with an arms shipment that he left on the edge of a minefield, he and the deputy commander forcibly took two of the orphans away including Jonah's friend Malka, to probe for landmines. Jonah tried to intervene but was beaten by the deputy commander for insubordination.
Following Malka's death, Jonah sought revenge by killing Yusuf. He single-handedly annihilated the garrison and learned that Yusuf was an arms dealer before killing him. However, when Kasper and his men arrived at the base, Jonah was disarmed by Chiquita and Kasper learned what had happened. He informed Jonah that he had actually been trying to take the base down by selling them weapons, but now that Jonah had handled this for him, the way was clear for a road to be constructed through the area. Leaving the fate of the three surviving orphans in doubt, Kasper had Jonah locked in a shipping container for days with nothing but water to test him. When he released the boy, Kasper revealed his indirect role in the death of Jonah's parents and that the orphans were still alive. He promised to relocate them in Japan and in return Jonah agreed to become Koko's bodyguard.
Military[]
The military is equipped with Russian weapons such as the AK-47, although at the base where Jonah was stationed, Yusuf Gasud was delivering a shipment of American arms. The regular military wears a woodland pattern camouflage uniform. The military is implied to have child soldiers to some degree as Jonah was allowed to enlist in the Mountain Division and his status as a soldier was treated as normal by the base garrison. However, he is the only child soldier to appear.
Anime and manga differences[]
In the anime, it is suggested to be a Post-Soviet state as a contract about to be signed between Yusuf Gasud and the deputy commander is in Russian.[3]