Area 88

My flatmate and I are both anime people. There\'s just not enough stuff out there, so every now and then, when a "classic" series surfaces, we\'ll have a look at that. Being big on Macross Zero and Yukikaze, I thought Area 88 might have been an interesting watch - aircraft anime before the age of CGI. I mention my flatmate because it is from him I gleaned the phrase that so succinctly describes Area 88\'s many failings: The Powah Of Cool. Kazama Shin is a top airline pilot, cozy with the company boss\'s daughter and poised to become a bigshot. So, naturally,his best friend hoodwinks him into signing a mercenary pilot\'s contract in order to nick all that from him. But he cannot take Shin\'s Powah Of Cool. Against the odds Shin survives, and his candyfloss-haired squeeze happens to see him and his Cool Powah pictured in a magazine. Given hope by his Powah Of Cool, she tries desperately to save him, but time is running out as the enemies of the Fictionalistan mercenary airbase Area 88 is advancing. Shin must stay alive long enough to raise the $1,500,000 buyout fee. He must learn to kill to stay alive. And so on. Now, in all fairness, back in 1986 this was probably the cutting edge of animation. The attention to detail was probably groundbreakingly good, with many sleek aircraft faithfully reproduced. Probably. But in 2007, it has aged badly. What we are confronted with here is not dissimilar to the famous car chase in Bullitt, in that this may have been amazing, influential and formative in its time, but most of what it has since inspired has undeniably eclipsed it in every way. Now, it\'s extremely dated, and the likes of Macross Plus and Yukikaze are so far ahead it\'s difficult to take it seriously now. Only the uniquely different aircraft sounds remain even remotely impressive. Characterisation is also extremely formulaic and by-the-numbers; a supremely skilled yet emotionally vulnerable hero, a sickeningly ultrafeminine, vulnerable and ineffectual heroine, a villain as inept as he is recycled, a clutch of cardboard-cutout manly men of varying morality as supporting cast, the odd spot of blatant racial stereotyping for good measure...even for 1986, this aspect of Area 88 is far from groundbreaking. The development of these characters towards the end defies all logic in its attempts to hammer home ideas about the terribly terrible, tragically tragic things war does to men and the people they love - things we\'ve all heard about umpteen times before, and things that sit a little uncomfortably with the glorification of air-to-air combat. And how it just loves to glorify that. Here, in the aerial battle scenes, the Powah Of Cool is most in evidence. Shin and his buddies have so much of it that they barely need twitch to destroy 10, 20, 30 enemy fighters; the number of planes downed must run into hundreds of thousands every year. A brief burst of cannon fire will bring down an enemy, yet they never come close; enemy missiles are dodged or evaded, but Shin\'s missiles always strike home; Shin dodges and jinks like a hoverfly with Parkinson\'s, but enemies drift across his gunsight as if he were in a shooting gallery. Flying a fighter jet is apparently as easy as a stroll in the park, at least for Shin. Yet despite his Powah Of Cool, Shin has never been able to reconcile himself to the killings he must commit in his role as Area 88\'s number one combat pilot. Now, you may be wondering at this point what precisely is stopping him from just getting in his plane and leaving, blowing away anyone who tries to stop him with his Powah Of Cool. Me too. All the way through, I wondered why he didn\'t do this; but this idiocy is as nothing to the way things progress in the final story. Suffice it to say this becomes a characteristically classic Japanese tragedy, in a way few people who claim a modern mindset will understand, let alone sympathise with. Overall, this is one for history-of-anime completists or the most determined old-style anime fans only. Modern aircraft anime has this beaten until it cries in every way. I found I really had to force myself to watch all the way to the end, and I was counting the minutes until that moment arrived.

Here's a scenario for you: You're a fit and young Japanese man who has managed to work through the ranks of a prestigious airline company known as Yamato Airlines, earning large amounts of respect from your peers and your boss. Not only that, you have a beautiful and caring girlfriend whom you will be marrying soon but who also happens to be the daughter of the company chairman ensuring your heritage into the company. Life is swell and dandy but while you're out for a night on the piss with your dickhead of a friend, the twat gets you so intoxicated with the Devli's nectar thathe tricks you into signing a document that ships you off to place called Area 88 located in the heart of a huge war in which the only ways to escape from this place is to do one of the three following things: A: Survive three years of pilot combat B: Pay a penalty of 1.5 million dollars which is earned by shooting down the enemy planes C: Desert And that is the story of Area 88 in a nutshell. While the narrative is rather simple in design and not all too complex what makes this short three part OVA shine is the characters and the psychological aspects of them. The show spends a considerable amount of time dealing with the main character's state of mind and through Shin we see the dehumanising effects that war has on its soldiers. Shin is a person who is forced to spend each day constantly killing people he doesn't even know just to survive and to garner enough money to make his way back home and free himself from Area 88. The constant death and killing Shin has to endure and the way this effects his mental state is easily the most interesting part of this show and despite the short run time overall, it manages to present and develop Shin's hang-ups very well as we see him evolve and become used to the idea of killing to the point in which he can't return to normal civilisation again since he has gained a hunger for war after experiencing it first hand. One of the most interesting scenes comes from the third episode in which Shin is speaking to a fellow Japanese man who will be killed soon because he attempted desert from Area 88 on the grounds that he did not want to kill anyone. The man who is soon to be dead challenges Shin's ideology and new way of life which only add to Shin's already broken mental state that war has inflicted onto him. Shin's arc and character are both easy to understand from a narrative standpoint and have a lot of development and time to breath through the show. While most of the spotlight is exclusively on Shin, the other characters in Area 88 who Shin works alongside with also have their own mental hiccups too with each one dealing with their mental fatigue in a certain way. Each character has a reason for being at Area 88, whether that be because they were tricked into doing so like the main character Shin or simply because they love the sensation of killing. On top that, the tension is rather high since many of the characters in the show are killed off raising the narrative stakes and making each aerial plane battle seem all the more intense and exciting. Speaking of the plane battles, even after thirty years they still are amazing to watch. This OVA was released in 1985 and still stands up incredibly well today. The beautiful hand-drawn plane designs and fights are some of the best choreographed and directed dog fights in the entire medium with huge amounts of detail in every frame. The fights and general war are both presented as gritty and real making the deaths of the characters all the more impactful. While Shin is busy battling in Area 88, we have another plot involving Shin's girlfriend attempting to cope with the loss of her love and trying to make sense of what happened while trying to track down Shin once and for all. The insane lengths she goes to for Shin made their relationship feel more organic and stronger which acted as one of the driving forces for Shin's struggles as well as the motivation from an audience to see them reunite once again. Irony is used pretty often in the show such as in the case where one of Shin's missions focuses on him having to shoot off bombs from a moving air plane - a plane his girlfriend was currently on. Shin's ass-hole of a friend also has a fair amount of screen time with him overtaking Yamato Airlines but seeing his entire world collapsing around him. It's bittersweet to watch after all the shit we see he has put Shin and his girlfriend through but a good amount of development and exploration was implemented into explaining why his friend acted the way he did and his motivations as a character making him less of a one dimensional dickhead. If I do have one complaint about the narrative, that would be the ending. Without spoiling too much, it can feel kind of anti-climatic considering what all the characters went through and for some, Shin's final decision can feel off putting and confusing but I was generally all right with it. I just wanted a bit more in terms of the final meeting between Shin and his girlfriend at the end, which he hardly got. The music is also fantastic too and each one fills me with so much manly energy and testosterone that my shirt would easily blow off my chest in the same way the clothing in Ikkitousen gets blown off a woman's body if the wind so much as blows a little too hard. My favorite track being the wonderfully composed Kanashimi no Destiny which never fails to fill me with happiness on each listen. In conclusion, Area 88 is a great OVA with fantastic characters, brilliant plane battles and a wonderful OST. Even after all these years the show still holds up very well and I would highly recommend it. There was a TV anime sometime in the early 2000s which I haven't seen yet but I've been hearing rather mixed views on that version so I'll be checking that out in due time. Also, holy shit, I praised something for once rather than being a cynical ass hole and hating everything I watch. Feel strange man...

Area 88 is just another one of those series you'd think that it wouldn't be great because it's old and outdated. But fortunately, Area 88 flips you on the side of your head, making you regret that you ever doubted this series' capabilities. You know something? I noticed a common trend in most older Anime series- most of them are "substance over style." This is what Area 88 is all about folks. "Substance over style." Let's review. STORY... The plot revolves around a man named Shin Kazama who ends up in an Air Force Mercenary Guild somehow (You have to watch, if you want to findout.). In order for him to reclaim his freedom, he must keep working until he reaches a certain amount of money. We all know what mercenaries do, right? They kill. But here's the thing- Shin isn't a true born natural cold-blooded killer. (I'll talk more about Shin later in the CHARACTERS category.) Basically, the plot is more about an inner struggle within Shin as he tries to retain his humanity. How can one not undergo character development when he's doing what he is required to do? The plot tears at your emotions eventually and you can't help, but feel emotions for Shin by the end of the series. There is another part of the story which is a tragic romance part, but I feel that it really is insignificant compared to the magnitude of Shin's story. His story will really have you paying attention from start to finish. ANIMATION... The visuals are surprisingly good, despite being so old. The character designs look typical of old school, but where the visuals really shine is during the battle scenes. Fighter planes are drawn with good detail and when they fire at each other, huge explosions are everywhere which at times bring awe to your viewing experience. Also, wherein the visuals excels is during the expressions of the characters. They really look do human enough. If you can tolerate old school art design, then there will be no problems at all when you're watching this. SOUND... The sound is perfect. The voice actors fit their characters, but more importantly it's the background music that greatly adds to the atmosphere of Area 88, making it endearing to watch. The background music comes in at the right moments to add that emotional effect, which grips the viewers emotions. The songs are perfect for the series' theme. CHARACTERS... This is the bread and butter of Area 88. As mentioned earlier, Shin is not a natural cold-blooded killer. He has a soul. He has a heart that cares. In essence, he's just a man with an innocent and kind soul. He just wanted to pursue his dreams and live a happy life with his woman. What makes Shin so captivating is he goes through what we all must eventually go through- the loss of innocence. It's like this- the world sometimes puts us in situations where in order for us to gain something, we are forced to do something we don't like, or in Shin's case, despise. And when we do the things we dislike, you can't help, but feel as if a piece of your sanity, humanity, and dignity was taken away from you. But there's no other way because you must absolutely gain what you so desire... This is an idea of what Shin undergoes throughout the whole series. I'd like to delve more, but you really should just watch this to see what happens. I can assure you it gets interesting. There are also a number of side characters which are realistically human as well, and by the end of the series, you'll eventually like them as well. These guys are mercenaries, but they still retain their humanity... Somehow. Some will provide laughter, some you may dislike, but you'll understand where they're coming from. If you ask me, a splendid job in the CHARACTERS category. OVERALL SCORE: 8/10= Awesome STRENGTHS + Great cast of characters with an emotional gripping main character in Shin Kazama. + Plot will have you interested from start to finish. + Good visuals despite being old. + Ending could make you say, "What a tragic fate." WEAKNESSES - Some plot threads prior to ending left and felt unfinished. - Incomplete ending. (You'll have to resort to the Manga to finish this series.) Note: Once again, this is a "substance over style" type of Anime. If you can tolerate old school animation, you won't be disappointed with Area 88. It delivers what most Anime of today's generation could not- a great story which tugs at your emotions from the start until the very end. Definitely recommended for any serious Anime watcher.

As much as I like giant robots and epic fantasy, they make it hard to take war drama seriously when they abuse hax technology and magic. Area 88 doesn’t suffer from such a thing, since it’s based on a mundane setting and does not attempt to include super technology or protagonists with hax powers. It doesn’t have factions which are either good or bad and nobody is fighting for childish ideals; it’s just money, and power hungry politicians. Grounded in reality and focused on its characters, it’s easily the best war drama ever made in anime. And it’s not as if it’s only good for thedrama, with everything else being a boring low budget production. It’s one of the best OVAs ever made. The character designs are a bit weird looking and minimalistic, but the machinery looks great, and because it’s hand-drawn, it didn’t age as badly as most CGI of today. Can you believe this was made by studio Pierrot? Nowadays, everyone makes fun of the bad job they are doing with fighting shonen, but back then they were doing some pretty great work, one of which is this title. It packs some of the best aerial fights, and manages to balance spectacle with the psychological effect war has on the soldiers. Many shows tried to include post traumatic stress disorders, most of the times for superficial drama that doesn’t mean anything outside of giving a character an internal struggle. Nowadays it’s closer to social anxiety antisocial teenagers are feeling in first world countries. Area 88 treats the issue as a form of addiction, which is still weird but makes sense within the context of the show. Once you get used to death and destruction, it becomes very hard to get rid of that lifestyle. It’s no longer about making money, it’s about the thrill. This can be seen through the eyes of the protagonist, who although begins as a fish out of water type of character and wants to get out of that hellhole, he is slowly consumed by the very bloodlust he was originally hating. He begins as your average shonen protagonist, naive and frail, and eventually becomes a cold-hearted killer without ever coming off as an edgelord. In effect, it’s the opposite of what usually happens in shonens, where the idealist hero talk no jutsus his enemies into submission. Because Area 88 is not a crappy shonen, it’s a seinen; get it? It has to be made clear that it’s a short OVA series. Things move very fast, often relying on flashbacks to get over gradual developments and the protagonist slowly adjusting to his new lifestyle. There is a lot of in media res going on, and while may feel rushed for some, at least its not overstaying its welcome. Many have an issue with the ending, as it feels incomplete for stopping in the middle of what is essentially a sequel bait. I don’t think anything would change even if we had gotten more OVAs, as by then plot and character progression were essentially over. The outcome of the war doesn’t matter at all compared to how the soldiers fighting in it were feeling. So in this regard, the ending is fine. As a whole Area 88 is a must watch if you are into war dramas that are not on the level of Naruto. It’s something that cannot be duplicated nowadays, since people got over the dread of the cold war and everything is made with crappy CGI. There was a 2004 remake which went completely unnoticed for these exact reasons. The age of hand-drawn animation and meaningful character drama is gone. The new generation, the one who got spoiled by too much CGI and cute girls doing cute things in high schools, has to be reminded what that age was all about by visiting the jewels of the past.