The Sky Crawlers

In an alternate timeline, the world has seemingly achieved peace. Bereft of international conflicts, wars are now waged between private corporations in place of peaceful nations. Yuuichi Kannami, a recent transfer in Area 262, simply does his job as a contracted fighter pilot. However, the more time he spends at his new base, the more mysteries come to light.

The Sky Crawlers exhibits this reality through the eyes of Kannami as he endeavors to understand the "Kildren," humans genetically altered to be teenagers forever with faster reflexes, and his predecessor, the ace pilot known as "Teacher." However, what troubles Kannami the most is how all this connects to the base commander, Suito Kusanagi. Area 262 has the answers, but the truth comes with a price the young pilot may not be ready to pay.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kusanagi, Suito Main

Kikuchi, Rinko Japanese

Kannami, Yuuichi Main

Kase, Ryo Japanese

Teacher Supporting

Tokino, Naofumi Supporting

Tanihara, Shosuke Japanese

Mitsuya, Midori Supporting

Kuriyama, Chiaki Japanese

Bartender Supporting

Takenaka, Naoto Japanese

Yuri Supporting

Hishimi, Yuriko Japanese

Bus guide Supporting

Saiga Supporting

Aihara Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Ishii, Tomohiko Producer

Kawaguchi, Tooru Producer

Terashima-Furuta, Maki Assistant Producer

Oshii, Mamoru Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Aug 13, 2009

kiriska

Recommended

STORY - The Sky Crawlers is a thinking movie. It’s a cynical commentary where there is so much more going on underneath the surface than you might initially think. Walking into it with no real idea as to what it was about, I was both tried by its deceptive slow pacing and amazed by its eventual depth, relevance, and poignancy. The movie follows the life of Yuichi Kannami after he’s transferred to a small military outpost in a setting similar to WWII-era Europe. He and his comrades are fighting a war, but appear largely indifferent to both their occasional dogfights and everyday life. However, from ... the start, Kannami appears to be haunted by the ghost of the man he’s replaced — a soldier that had been killed, though his plane remains for Kannami to fly.

The story unravels with no real urgency, but something always seems to be off. Events occur in a disconnected and puzzling fashion. The pacing would suggest that the film is only showing something boring and ordinary, but that’s obviously not the case. Gradually, it becomes clear that the characters appear to be caught in an infinite loop of actions and lives. They’ve been there before. They’ve done that before. They are who they’ve always been, never changing, and without regard for anything in the past or future. They have died before. They have lived before. Themes of repetition, disconnection, meaning, childhood, and adulthood appear, chastising a refusal to change or evolve and those who have become complacent. They are themes that can be related to other issues, such as the human condition and post-industrial disillusionment, and the film makes a suiting metaphor for a number of parallels.

It’s difficult to say where the story ends up thematically without revealing too much, but suffice to say that it’s a tidy package with a well-done, albeit cynical, conclusion. A call to action, perhaps. Mamoru Oshii is known for his heavy films, but this is the first that’s really struck a chord with me. Be sure to stay through to the end of the credits for the final punch.

CHARACTERS - It’s appropriate, I suppose, that I find it difficult to see the characters in The Sky Crawlers as actual people. They are odd entities, vehicles for a story, and portrayals of something that isn’t quite real enough or human enough to be called a person. Kannami is curious about his predecessor, but not too curious. He might ask questions, but seems perfectly content to let the issue drop if an answer is denied. Still, his apparent apathy and complacency is easy to latch on to and you remain curious even if he doesn’t seem to care. You want him to care, you wish he would, and you react to the subtly disturbing mood of the film: the quiet unchangingness of everything.

Kusanagi first appears to be similarly indifferent, but there is a coldness and desperation to her that permeates the stoic exterior. She’s creepy. She becomes the first sign that something is not quite right about the environment, the situation, and distantly, the war they’re all fighting. She’s the one that seems to know what’s going on. Of course that must be why she and Kannami seem drawn to one another, but that strange deception exposes itself in expository dialogue so blatant that it’s almost alarming. And throughout it all, forced apathy reigns supreme. They are interesting foils, mostly because they are not so different at all.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - To be honest, despite the various recommendations I’ve received for this movie, one of the original reasons I was ever interested was because I’d been shown much of the concept art in a class and really wanted to see the film attached to it. The backgrounds, environments, and animation in The Sky Crawlers are all beautiful. Interiors are lush with detail and very intricate, though often, the abundance of little things makes the larger scene appear awkward. For example, the doors may have detailed ridges and corners, but they’re also gigantic and oddly proportioned compared to the people. Similarly, the fighter jets and vehicles are slick and look incredibly convincing and the dogfights are beautifully animated… but then you notice that their designs are very peculiar — all of the propellers are on the back, which makes no logical sense at all. They might look nice, but if they were actually constructed, they would never fly.

Addendum -- So I've been informed (thanks, jotunheim) that there were apparently a handful of WWII-era planes designed to be propelled by rear-end propellers such as the Saab 21 and Kyushu J7W Shinden. The physics of these things still baffles me, but I'm not an engineer, so this is an interesting discovery. In any case, I suppose my revised view is that it's a compelling design choice for the Sky Crawlers -- despite that the planes actually existed, they weren't common and that perhaps adds to the slew of things that are just a little off about the movie -- something to make you a little uncomfortable and wonder a little more. Something not quite right, but possible.

As usual, the price of fancy environments is simple characters. The limited cast of characters in the movie all have exceedingly simple designs, though all are extremely effective, especially Kusanagi, who strikes you as odd and slightly off-kilter from her design alone. The plainness of Kannami is also significant in that it makes him nearly anonymous. There are no features that might distinguish him from any other man; he is interchangeable, replaceable, and in many ways, relate-able. Particularly for this kind of story, the anonymity and capacity for audience sympathy in the character design alone goes a long way.

MUSIC - I’m generally a fan of Kenji Kawai’s work, so it’s no real surprise that I enjoyed The Sky Crawler’s poignant, and often subtle, soundtrack. Many of its tracks are drawn out and thoughtful, accompanying similar scenes for maximum effect. They’re eerie and occasionally force a feeling of anticipation. Action scenes are highlighted by fast-paced and shrieking violins, punctuating every twirl of a jet plane and burst of firing. It’s all wonderfully appropriate. Additionally, The Sky Crawlers had some very well placed silence, which is likely something you don’t notice that often. Some scenes are long and slow and completely silent save the stray sound effect — they are disconcerting in a way, but both force you to focus both on the immediacy of what’s going on and allow you time to think about and collect everything else that’s happened. It’s very effective silence.

The ending theme, “Konya mo Hoshi ni Dakarete…” by Ayaka, has a lot of similarities with the music in the rest of the movie and is therefore also quite fitting. Ayaka’s voice is rather nostalgic and the soft piano is both peaceful and sad; in the latter part of the song, the energy picks up considerably before resigning again, which fits oddly well with the pacing of the movie itself.

VOICE ACTING – I’ve only seen this subbed, but both Kannami and Kusanagi are wonderfully portrayed and have a great balance of conflicting and confused emotions, which is especially surprising since neither of their voice actors seem to have any other credits.

OVERALL - The Sky Crawlers is fascinating exploration of a lot of ideas I probably couldn’t do justice trying to describe or explain. The most important thing is to be receptive to those ideas and to not try and force the film into any pre-imagined mold. Despite the dogfights, most of the action here takes place internally; once again, this is a thinking movie with classical themes that are sure to bridge interests and culture gaps. If you like to think, if you like philosophy, psychology, and human nature (certainly, this is a human v. human story), you’ll probably enjoy The Sky Crawlers.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 20, 2009

Suzuhana

Mixed Feelings

Really I'd give it a 4.8 but 5 is what it gets. Lucky.

I'm not sure really what the other reviewers saw in this movie, giving it a 9 and an 8 but I know full well it didn't get that for me.

The story is the only saving grace for this movie. But the way it was presented was like shit (sorry but that's the word that comes to mind). Your sort of introduced to these kids who fly aircraft and you get the gist of the story bit by bit, but I was confused for the entire first half of the movie until ... things started to get...serious. (But there was hardly any emotion AT ALL that I'm not sure serious is what they were). And after I looked up descriptions of the people and the background I finally was able to piece things together. That and I figured out what the plot was and how it was going to end. Which is not how an epic anime is. I shouldn't be able to predict the end so quickly. The plot: These Kildren are here for one reason, and that is to fight for the 'adults'. That's the generic basic plot. But after watching the movie in full I understood the point of the movie and I thought it was very well done. Something that people think about but don't go into detail. There's also a...romantic love tale behind it. But it was so non-existent that I didn't know it was there until I realized that 'HEY! There supposed to be....blah blah" (trying not to spoil). But the way it was presented movie style was just horrible. It makes me want to read the novels because I'm sure there much much better.

The art gets a 7 because of the CGI moments. The flight scenes, among others, were very real and life like and the characters had their own uniqueness about them, but the size of those very round chins (reminded me of manju buns) bothered me to no end. That's about the only flaw in art I found in the movie. Otherwise the art was nothing to complain about.

The sound? Well what can I complain about? There was none. I have never encountered a movie that had no background music before. It reminded me of 5 Centimeters Per Second in that aspect but 5CPS had sound when it was needed and that movie is epic to me. There was music for moments that needed it and there was no music for those that already had enough impact with the story. Sky Crawlers needed music. The entire movie (okay except for literally TWO scenes) there was no music. Whatsoever. Although it sort of gives it a realistic feel because in life we have no theme song to our moments, but honestly? That's one of the reasons I watch anime. The music is what gives the shows beauty and flavor. That in my opinion is the maker of an epic anime. And without music I can't be pulled in the story and I can't get emotionally involved with the characters.

Now the characters are also a downfall in my opinion. It wasn't as bad as the music, but I just couldn't get involved with this anime! Seriously, the people were so bland and they had no facial expressions (except for Naofumi, he was a character) so I couldn't really tell what they were thinking (which is also why I'd read the novels to get more and better details). I understand why Suito was so emotionless. She's been around longer than she's needed to and been through more than I'd care for, but other than that the characters were just ok.

Did I enjoy this movie? Absolutely not. But something compelled me to watch it. I felt after I watched it that I wasted three hours that I could have slept (watched it at 1 AM) but I just couldn't press pause to watch it later. I needed to know if it would get better and if there would be something grand that would make me even consider this something worthy of watching. I just HAD to know. So I watched and I was disappointed.

Overall? This movie is nothing worth noting in my opinion. If your looking for something to watch then sure. If you've got 2 hours to spare? Then sure. But I wouldn't recommend this to anyone I knew, unless they were into this kind of thing. This movie is an epic FAILURE in my eyes.

Oh yeah.

The ending credits song I really liked. There. There was something I liked about it.

I also suggest reading BEATNIK's review (although I don't agree with their score of 7) because they go into a much better detail about the specifics of the story that I just didn't care to go into. They also make brilliant points about the failures of the movie.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 27, 2022

Beatnik

Not Recommended

This is a strangely cold movie with barely any empathetic or relatable characters shuffling around gorgeously rendered backdrops with an unusually lacklustre Kenji Kawai soundtrack effort.

It’s from Mamoru Oshii so it’s automatically thoughtful and has something to say, yet as a movie it fails because Oshii’s auteur sensibilities don’t fit with the backdrop of this particular tale.

The surface story borders on the mediocre, though the backdrop premise is intriguing with the message of warfare that’s been relegated to sport-like competition between warring corporations. It’s a topical and timely subtext, especially during one scene where a conflict is taking place on a screen in a ... local pub in replacement of the more traditional game of football.

There is so much attention to detail, as expected of Production I.G., but juxtaposed against the bland character designs it’s distracting how good it is. The characters themselves are so lifeless, their dialogue so perfunctory, the voice acting so bored, it really is a struggle to watch them lounge around an airfield chugging away at cigarettes.

Almost an hour and a half into the movie it’s revealed that director Mamoru Oshii was directing a romantic drama on the boil, though unfortunately for the viewer the heat was on low the entire time, thus making us endure the pointlessly glacial pace filled with ineffective scenes that don’t survive repeat watches.

A slow pace in of itself is not a bad thing, but something worthwhile being conveyed in every second and frame is essential, vivid characters are essential, and Sky Crawlers lacks them for most of the running time making the pace a chore to get through rather than an immersive experience that other directors, like famed live-action director Takeshi Kitano, excel at.

Back to anime though, Oshii himself has handled this difficult balance of pace and content well with his two previous major anime films, but this time it doesn’t work. With his Ghost in the Shell films, the pace served as a montage to show the unique environment to the viewer, and to also allow the viewer time to breathe and pause, time to contemplate the heavy philosophy conveyed in the film, but with Sky Crawlers there's nothing to contemplate except for superficial thoughts like 'what happened to the previous pilot?', ‘what are kildrens?’, etc. Hardly so important as to slow the brakes of the film to allow us time to chew it over.

Oshii manages to direct the story well without resorting to heavy exposition, the narrative proceeds with characters moving the story forward, but then when that point comes where the story comes to the boil, he resorts to having a character basically waffle revelations and exposition to the viewer.

It’s a shame and again relegates anime behind live action movies, most of which would choose to simply continue to let the characters drive the story forward and let the mysteries of the film become apparent more fluidly rather than in the forced anime nature of having a character basically stare at the camera and just give an unnatural speech.

It’s a competently made film with a decent story, and although Oshii’s directing method is always a divider of viewers, it’s not the issue this time round. The biggest problem is that the screenplay needed a few more redrafts before being green-lit for production, because there is no good reason for the way it’s been paced for the first hour and a half, especially considering the lack of unique and bold world design on show.

Good films should make efficient use of their running time. Great films should have something worthwhile to convey in every single frame. Sky Crawlers has many wasted frames that could have been used in other ways.

Crawling around a futurescape ala Ghost in the Shell is impressive, but crawling around the sky and a depressing airfield populated by animated mannequins for two hours is not, no matter how visceral the aerial dogfights are, how superb the sound production by Skywalker studios is, or how romantic you consider the ultimate story in the end.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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