Exploring many of the same themes of Robert Altman's MASH (1970), (albeit with completely distinct overtones), Akai Tenshi is a brutal portrayal of individuals clinging to their humanity while enduring the horrors of war. Set in 1939, the film concerns Sakura Nishi (Ayako Wakao), a fresh young nurse who works at a field hospital during Japan's ill-conceived advance into China. In spite of the waves of broken men arriving at the clinic and the primitive conditions at their disposal (amputation is the only treatment available), Nishi tries to heal both the physical and emotional wounds of those she encounters but runs into a series of harrowing difficulties as she tries to compete with the insanity of war.