It was also controversial in Indonesia owing to concerns of historical revisionism, because Japan's occupation of the area is depicted as the Empire protecting it from Western aggression.

During a visit to a Javanese village, Captain Takeo Shimazaki (Jundai Yamada) and his translator Yamana (Naomasa Musaka) are told that their arrival was predicted by King Jayabaya centuries before.

Shimazaki becomes a teacher at the Seinen Dojo ("Youth School"), and his students – including Nurhadi (Muhammad Iqbal), Asep (Aulia Achsan), and Parto (Fajar Umbara) – are willing to fight to the death for the independence of their homeland.

Although this school is dissolved after Parto beats a drunken Japanese soldier for attempting to assault his sister, the three remain fiercely dedicated to fighting for independence, and they join the Pembela Tanah Air (PETA) after it is established; Shimazaki holds a leadership role.

[2] Similar themes had been dealt with in the 1995 video Dokuritsu Ajia no Hikari (The Light of Independent Asia), completed by the National Committee for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the End of the War.

Advisors to the film included former Minister of Justice Yukio Hayashida and Professor Takao Fusayama of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, the latter of whom had military experience in Sumatra during the occupation.

Merdeka 17805 starred Jundai Yamada, Lola Amaria, Naoki Hosaka, Muhammad Iqbal, Aulia Achsan, Fajar Umbara, and Koji Tsukamoto.

[3] He suggests that Merdeka 17805 was intended to restore Japanese pride by depicting the country's role in Indonesia's – and, by association, South East Asia's – independence from Western rule.

[2] Jonathan Crow of AllMovie echoed the sentiment, describing Merdeka 17805 as a "two-fisted, hinomaru-waving, blood-and-guts ode to the soldiers who died for the glory of the emperor and for Dai Nippon".

[2] Goto writes that, lacking proper background knowledge of the Japanese occupation, audiences were likely to "carry away an unduly favorable impression of Japan's contribution to Indonesian independence".