QEDMirage

An adaptation of the manga of the same name, Area 88 follows Shin Kazama after he gets tricked into enlisting in the Royal Aslan Air Force's foreign legion. He now has to work as a mercenary pilot in the war-torn middle eastern country with only three ways out:

Complete his 3-year term of service

Pay a 1.5 million dollar fine

Desertion, a capital crime

In the meantime he has to pay for repairs, fuel, and ammo on his plane while his romantic rival back home pursues his girlfriend...and her dad's company, in what is a downright gothic romance B-plot. "I'll betray everyone before I accept second place" kinda stuff.

On reflection, this OVA really reminds me of the samurai manga Shigurui. They're both about really skilled warriors, how conflict destroys their personal lives and bodies, and then look at you like "isn't that kind of based?"

Shigurui has this detailed focus on anatomy and horrible things happening to human flesh; in Area 88, it's an obsessive detail for the techncial minutiae of combat aircraft, along with what I can only describe as 'Plane guro'.

that's sfw btw unless you work near planes.

A funny aspect of the series as well is that our protagonists are doing badass plane stunts on the rebels and never lose, but for reasons which are obscure to the viewer and them the war just goes worse and worse for them over time. Very much in line with the reports you see from Vietnam or a few other conflicts, "man we were so great and cool at soldiering. We did lose the war though. But we were super cool while we lost!"

fun series, but do be prepared for some grade-A melodrama nonsense with the B plot. If you can stand that kind of thing without throwing stuff at your screen as the protagonists just miss their goals, you'll have a time.

Crusher Joe started out as a series of novels written by Haruka Takachiho, founder of studio Nue. In 1983 a movie adaptation directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, AKA "Yas". Yas is mostly lauded as the character designer for the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but he's had his turn in the director's chair a few times, notably with this film and also Giant Gorg. And the thing you get out of this is a space adventure that is just going. Even the calm scenes between action sequences or tense moments are broken up with shots full of weird things to look at or what I can only describe as "the animators doing stunts". It's a blast.

Anyways this is a Space Adventure movie, following our hotheaded protagonist Joe and his crew of Crushers, space freelancers and action heroes. Joe's the team's leader, assisted by Alfin (ex-princess, sole female member), Talos (Big guy, only adult in the room) and Ricky (engineer).

The placement of women in boys adventure shows like this one can be pretty fucking dire, so I am happy to report Alfin gets plenty to do, be a capable action hero, and is also: an absolute chaos gremlin

princesses should have rocket launchers in more shows.

A secondary and uncredited part of the cast is all the Fucking Creatures. Weird little robots, aliens, animator in-jokes left in the front of the frame - it has the Star Wars thing going on of their being a lot of unexplained weird creatures in space. My favorites are probably the stupid-looking Evil Cat our main villain has on his shoulder and some fuzzy cat-things in a sewer

awesome. Space future should be like this. There's even a short sequence of the Evil Cat doing some silly Cat Things and making our villain laugh, an experience many cat owners can relate to. This kind of ties into another aspect of the film, where there are both bits of looney-tunes style antics and animation gags in the same film as 'a bunch of people get murdered real hard'

Seriously this film has an on-screen kill count that has to stretch into the 'dozens'. If we count crew of vehicles, hundreds.

This isn't a movie with a lot of characterization or deeper themes, but it's a great time. Crowd-pleasing action movie executed with a true master's level of craft.

...But there is *some* character growth, in the form of Alfin and Joe's relationship. While friends, and flirty when drunk, at first they avoid physical contact:

While at the end of the film nothing's *said* to be different, they go for a seaside drive together and...