The Sky Crawlers

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.

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.

Based on a series of books by Mori Hiroshi, The Sky Crawlers, the latest film by Oshii Mamoru (of Ghost in the Shell fame), tells a tale within a world that is essentially at peace, wherein wars have once again become the domain of contracted mercenary groups who fight each other in the name of their contractors, be it for some profound reason or simply for entertainment, these wars being fought to a large extent by 'Kildren', long-lived beings who are not quite human.
The film opens with the arrival of Kannami Yuuichi, a 'Kildren' ('Kild'?), at a small forward base of his company in Europe, ... where he is seen settling in amongst his new surroundings. Though a few battle scenes are depicted, most of the film follows a slow, almost languid pace, showing the interactions between Kannami and the small cast of characters of the film, most importantly the base commander, Kusanagi Suito. Over the ensuing days, through the use of slowly moving dialogues and long stretches of silence, rather a few questions are raised on the 'Kildren', their existence and meaning, only a few of which are answered, and, more importantly, attention is given to Kusanagi and the results of her having lived for longer than she perhaps should have. On an interesting note, one major question is left both answered and unanswered: those viewers preferring to see the question unanswered can safely turn the film off when the end titles start rolling, while those who prefer to see an answer can watch the little scene afterwards.

Ostensibly, The Sky Crawlers seems to wax philosophical on the nature of war, mentioning how it is a clean, brutal way of determining winners and losers in whatever game, political or otherwise, is played. Yet, for being constructed around a message on war, there is very little focus on the actual military situation in the story or the battles themselves. Yes, there are a few scenes containing aerial dogfights and a campaign briefing, but they are very short and tend to serve more as scene markers (more on this later).
There is, however, another message, hidden in plain sight. The message is not deep. It is not novel. In fact, everyone watching the film will have the feeling of having seen exactly the same story once before. The Sky Crawlers is simply about interaction between humans - and about interaction between those who can't be called exactly human. The film voices once more the questions of what happiness is, what the effects of change (external and internal) are on it, how it is achieved and, most importantly, how it can be recognised at all. In order to do so, it shows the differences between those who are able to understand both human interaction and human emotion, acting upon it in a natural fashion, and those who have either never had or have lost this ability to understand, to whom it is not natural. Thus, no matter how suggestive a situation, nothing will happen if it is not clearly expressed or shown and no action will be taken unless it has been discussed or asked, while even on acting the hesitation and unease remains.
The effect of this is that those who have an ability to read between lines will undoubtedly be particularly unimpressed by what happens and the slow pace in which the story progresses, but also that those who do need the whole sentence are exposed to scenes that, because they are clearly expressed and/or aided by visual markers, become very powerful in their clarity, at times perhaps even touching uneasily on the recognisable.
It is in this view that the film is strongest and the role of Oshii Mamoru as a visual director appears most clearly. It is no coincidence that one of the greater truths voiced in the film is shown through almost glazed eyes, voiced by a Kusanagi who is pale and dishevelled and clearly has had to much to drink, speaking with that lack of inhibition and that truthfulness of the drunk. It is no coincidence that the intrinsic emotional violence of the passionate encounter is accompanied by the visual promise of physical violence. And while it is a coincidence that the female protagonist is named Kusanagi, her striking resemblance to one of Innocence's gynoids is too strong to be a coincidence, and so it is not surprising to see her with an almost child-like body, a mature poise and an old mind, both as human and as inhuman as that other Kusanagi is.

The film strongly uses both time and space to place its protagonists and enhance their being in the world and their being special. Again, both are clearly presented visually. Most of the film is set in the countryside of what is clearly the British Isles, most likely Britain but perhaps Ireland. It is wholly unclear in what time the film should be set. On the one hand, the advent of world peace and the existence of the Kildren may point to some future date, yet on the other the aeroplanes that we see are all propeller-driven while a prominent car looks suspiciously like one of the big American 1950s vehicles, suggesting an alternate near past. Finally, the map hanging in the commander's office shows present-day Europe.
Whatever the exact time period in which the film is placed, visual markers abound in marking the progress of time, showing both how things change and how things are eternally unchanging: the film shows the characters amidst standing stones, some marked with glyphs, legacies of an ancient past; before the typical dry-stone hedges of the British countryside and collections of chinaware, common in a past that is closer to us; and in a roadside diner where the people of the present day congregate. The same sky rolls over all these temporal markers in an essentially flat land, as day follows unchangeably on day and the markers of the past form part of the spatial realm of the present. In the same vein the viewer is shown paintings of past people hanging in a restaurant, looking over the shoulder of the present characters, while a monologue is uttered on how some things never change.
Spatially, most scenes are cramped in only a few places, connected to each other by societal and economic ties, and the characters move between their barracks, the diner, a brothel and the countryside. Only once in the entire film is a larger settlement shown and for most of the film there is a striking lack of people. It is interesting to note that the mercenaries (and what might almost be termed their camp followers), Japanese all, are shown to speak two languages, Japanese amongst themselves and English to the locals. In this manner is shown how the protagonists differ from their surrounding society that comes on top of their being Kildren, ensuring a type of clinging together.
Because of all this, the concept of change looms large. Living in what is essentially a foreign country, in an area where past and present seem to flow together, the close-knit group of Kildren roam from one placid day to another, while due to their longevity they ought to see the same drama played out time and again, whatever the small changes over time, as well as the same groping for what is essentially simply not well understood.
Change, both temporal and spatial, is quite often accompanied by more action-oriented scenes. Travel and, especially, the few combat scenes in the film have a tendency to serve more as markers separating one time period or area from the following, fast-forwarding as it were the story for a moment.

The characters, as well, are defined by change, or the lack thereof. Long-living, the Kildren's physique simply stops developing at some point, the question remaining whether the mind follows suit. The difference in attitude on aging and changing is what defines both protagonists, Kannami and Kusanagi, and drives much of their interaction. The former emphasises continuously that he is child, still, and entitled to be one, given that he might die at any moment in battle. Thus, he seems to shirk much of an adult's sense of responsibility, not by actively refusing but by not getting involved. Kusanagi, on the other hand, older and with a better sense of time's progress, and, most importantly, being confronted with actions of the past, seems to stand in between child- and adulthood, unwilling to take responsibility but unable to refuse it, in the end having both more to lose and less to look forward to. The result is that the two interact in an atmosphere of palpable carefulness, melancholy and distance, avoiding getting hurt while suggesting offering closer companionship.
All remaining characters seem to function more as walking commentators, divulging snippets of the past without mentioning their own roles therein. Most remain rather flat when compared to the expressed mess the more noticeable characters are in and, even with a hint of an unpropitious romance offered later on, remain really asides. It is telling that one character that is never shown but only referred to seems to be more developed than most of the characters with speaking roles. That said, while development is rather non-existent and characterisation doesn't go beyond each having a clear role, these roles are executed very well and each fulfil a function in the story.

With regard to the art and animation used, the film can be called a hybrid of typical Oshii style and the style favoured by Production I.G in its latest releases. Throughout the film the audience is treated to wide, open vistas of mostly empty countryside. Especially under the intensely blue, cloud-specked skies that dominate many such shots, both buildings and people are kept very small. When the screen shows all in a more human scale, however, the relative emptiness is being replaced by a profusion of detail. Not only is every crack in every wooden beam of some little room visible, but most spaces that are worked and lived in are veritably cluttered with all kinds of apparel, embellishments and personal belongings, capturing the eye in most of the many silent, languid scenes that the film is filled with. Some such trappings, especially the seemingly omnipresent chinaware plates and vases might hint at symbolism, at some meaning, but nothing is explained or even mentioned.
Equally noticeable between the scenes on a grander and on a more human scale is the difference in colourisation. Whereas, barring some rainy skies, though even here rays of sunshine flitter through, the open vistas are coloured in with the brighter spectrum of the colour palette, both soft and sharp, especially the indoor scenes are shadowy, gloomy, sometimes even drab, with all brighter dashes as well being generally more dark of tone in their crimsons and navy blues, the rare light bulb orange and pallid white only giving this stronger emphasis.
In sharp contrast to their detailed surroundings, the characters themselves seem to follow the standard used by Production I.G in their newer releases (Ghost Hound, Toshokan Sensou, et al.), being drawn with a paucity of lines, leaving especially the face as devoid of details as possible. While this has been used to great effect in other shows, where the style provides for the wide range of very visually recognisable expressions asked of the characters, The Sky Crawlers is almost minimalist in this regard, thus leaving the characters rather empty of detail. Mostly likely deliberately, this applies more strongly to the Kildren than to the ‘normal’ humans presented.
As far as design of especially the backgrounds go it seems that the makers opted for realism, even if they went out of their way to prevent having any area entered that can be recognised as actually existing. The realism of setting, even if embellished at times up to a point where it starts deviating from reality, is apparent in almost all details, especially of contraptions of human make. The main exception is formed by the aeroplanes, which for the most part are unlike any that have been in general, active use, added, almost, as if only in this manner can they befit the equally unreal Kildren.

Clearly being intended as a theatrical release, The Sky Crawlers seems to want to disturb your neighbours. Volume levels vary disparately, with sound effects, especially those of the aeroplane engines, being louder by far than music, which in turn has a tendency to overwhelm the voices. The net result is an assault on one’s hearing, especially as one sometimes has to strain to hear what is said.
It doesn’t help that the orchestral pieces that form most of the music is rather lacklustre, accompanied at times by the sort of female chanting that composer Kenji Kawai famously used in the Ghost in the Shell films, which is quite out of place in this film. On the other hand, quite a few scenes are unaccompanied by music. In fact, the film toys with meaningful silences overly much, thereby removing their meaning, though at least then the dialogue is more pleasant to listen to.
The voices are mainly subdued, as per the story at many times properly devoid of extremes in expression.

The Sky Crawlers shook me far more strongly than it ought to have done, all things considered. As has been mentioned above, the interplay between what is said and what is shown on screen is at times strong enough to make for very memorable scenes, especially because the film manages, at times, to visualise some of the concepts it mentions. For all that it might have a predictable story, has a pace that is at times too slow for its own good, has emotions enter the fray in explosive amounts when at all and does not voice anything that can be considered innovative, the questions raised on change and happiness, on how change affects humanity and is needed for continuation remain important ones. As so often with this type of film, it is not the happiest of stories, but there is a certain serenity in its calm sadness.

If you love me, will you kill me? I’m tired of this endless cycle…

The Sky Crawlers is a movie about genetically altered humans beings called Kildren (kill+children) who can never grow and are bound to endless aerial battles in an alternate historic period. This is a standard synopsis, the real one is that this is a story about meaning of the existence, wars, love, suicide, destiny, and emptiness.

It’s not a movie for general public taste; actually, most of people will probably want to give up on the movie before the first hour, since even though it’s a movie with war as a central subject and ... has some battles, the development is somewhat slow. The silence of their empty lives almost dominates the entire movie and the great moments are like slices of their lives; nothing really outstanding by an action point of view, but really deep in a psychological one.

Having said that, the visual effects are really something else. The air battles are truly well done, and the 3D effects catch the eyes. It’s a partnership between Warner Brothers and I.G., so this is not so surprising. Besides, it’s from the same director of the Ghost in the Shell movies. The OST is just beautiful. There are a lot of variations of the main theme, from piano to harp, and most of the songs are depressing. There are the ones fitted for battle, and the ones fitted for sadness.

As an adaptation of a novel, the development of the plot sometimes seems to have some flaws. As a matter of fact, the series’ author said that this was the most difficult of his works to adapt. But these “flaws” are almost part of the charm of the movie; you’ll receive some answers, but you will still wonder about a lot of unsettled things.

They don’t know who they’re fighting against nor why – a reflection about war itself. The main characters are just children, but they have to act like adults, and this paradox is explored all the time. They go to places like a brothel, but at the same time they like engaging in childish activity, such as playing with toys. All of them try to fill their emptiness with something: Yuichi Kannami, the main character, doesn’t even remember his past, so all he does is trying to comprehend why he’s there, their purpose. Kusanagi, a female commander, has a morbid point of view, always caring a gun to commit suicide or murder.

They kill in the air, but on earth they’re just like normal human beings - the sky is like a cage to these birds. If you have some patience to watch something that’s nothing like simple-minded, this movie is definitely going be a favorite.

It's hard to rate this after viewing once, but I would say this movie is epic: a fateful love story with magnificent CGI.

Story
They reorganized the five volumes of the original novels except for the ending. This change in the end of the story was unexpected for me, so I'm still trying to understand what Director Oshii wanted to say from it. The theme of the movie was "the meaning of living a plain life." So he might want tell us that there should be something new in our lives even if we think they're featureless.

Art
The dog fight scenes were breathtaking works. I choose The Sky ... Crawlers to be the best air fight movie of the decades as well as Macross Plus. Contrary to the dynamic fight scenes, the description of the pilots' lives on the ground was flat. I know they intentionally did it to make a contrast between the vivid fights and the ordinary dull life.

Sound
The Skywalker Sound studio did an amazing job, again! Their outstanding performances put more realism to the dog fight scenes and made it a perfect art.

Characters
I don't like Kikuchi Rinko's acting as Kusanagi Suito. Other voice actors were doing well especially Kase Ryo as Kannami Yuuichi. Kusanagi is a half-adult and half-child or Killdre character, so the acting must include both sides, but her acting was indecisive in that point.

Enjoyment
In the middle of the movie, I felt "Oh this is another Innocence, great arts with a tiresome story", but as approaching to the end, something different came to my mind "The director was coming down to our eyelevel." This movie is about us and not being put unworldly. I need to rewatch this to fully grasp the meaning of Kannami's decision.

Overall, this is a thought provoking movie for the young generations having uncertainty in the modern life. The awesome CGI is worth watching by itself.

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.

Story:
Okay, I just finished watching this movie. I have to say that the two hours I spent watching it seemed to have been much longer. From the first few mintues of the movie it seemed interesting. But like right after the dog fights, it just was like; "Is the movie done yet?" I mean in the last 20mintues of the movie the story basically sums up everything and things finally make sense of what is really going on here. Couldn't they have started off the a more pleasing storyline and actually keep the audiences attention? It would have been a good movie, if it was ... played out correctly in my opinion. So overall, I had to rate the story a 1/10.

Art:
The CGI artwork in the whole movie was fabulous and just breath-taking. I can't complain about the art at all. From the very beginning to the very end the quality didn't fail to shine. So, nice work there! 10/10!

Sound:
The sounds were very good during most of the movie, especially during the dog fights. I can't complain much there, but I would have prefered alittle more sound to be involved in the movie. Cause some parts were just quiet and made the scenes even more dull. Sound gets a 7/10.

Character:
The character development to me was just beyond poor. The main characters show no emotions at all through the entire movie, or failed to connect to me at all with interest. Sure, there was like one or two that actually had some emotion that they were expressing near the very end of the movie. But failed there too. 1/10

Enjoyment:
"The Sky Crawlers" made me not want to crawl, but run to end of the movie. I kept thinking, "Is it over?" or "How many more mintues left..." Would I recommend this movie to others? No. Why? Cause if it wasn't for the artwork in the movie, this would be an unwatchable anime in my opinion. But hey, if you want to waste 2hours with a boring and dull anime, be my guest. 1/10

Overall:
This movie isn't worth buying or even renting. I don't ever plan on rewatching it or buying it for a penny. Overall the artwork is the savior to a poor anime movie! 2/10. I hope this review saves some of you from wasting 2hours of your life with much better anime to watch out there.

Mamoru Oshii doesn’t make forgettable anime. Be it Ghost in the Shell or Patlabor 2, the man injects so much personality into his films that it’s impossible not to recognise his touch. There is, of course, his famous basset hound, but there’s also a poetic side that transports this viewer into the ether. I can’t tell if it’s just that his films are ageing like fine wine, or if I’m now of an age where I’m better able to appreciate what he’s trying to say, but whatever the case, he’s now one of my favourite film directors.

I watched The Sky Crawlers for the first time ... last night. With Kenji Kawai and Production IG alongside him, it’s a film as thoughtful as it is beautiful. Set on an alternate Earth, the ageless Kildren (“kill-dolls”) are fighter pilots forever clashing amidst the clouds in a war that is at best extremely vague and at worst totally pointless. The story exists in a place that’s like Neverland gone bad, where the children’s only escape from the endless cycles of war is heavy drinking, sex and suicide: the sheer monotony of their lives is reflected in the film’s subdued colour palette, everything is so hazy and drained: an apt worldview for a doll. A doll isn’t alive. A doll doesn’t have memories. A doll is content with its place in the world because it knows no better.

There’s an urgency that underpins The Sky Crawlers. Is it okay to live a life like this? To feel so desensitised and free of passion? In both a very literal and metaphorical sense, it’s about people who can’t grow up, but has a message of perseverance for us too: “You must live until you can change something.” Throughout the film, Kusanagi carries a loaded gun, points it at her temple and threatens to kill herself. To put this into context, when you realise that 30,000 people in Japan kill themselves every year, the ideas behind The Sky Crawlers begin to make sense.

The Kildren are clones, and coming to terms with the fact that you’re not special, or unique, can be hard, but being human means accepting that reality and moving forwards anyway. “Just because it’s the same path doesn’t mean it always has the same scenery. Isn’t that… good enough?” For me, at least, it’s good enough. It’s like how I’m an anime blogger, and I’ve been doing this for years now. I could give up and nothing would change. People will still be writing about anime tomorrow and I’d be forgotten. Why should I bother? I’m not asking for your sympathy here, it’s just a fact.

This is what The Sky Crawlers is about. Facing the reality that you’re not doing anything different with your life, but taking the responsibility to push yourself forwards anyway, that is how I’m interpreting Yūichi’s last line, “I’m going to kill my father.” Although it means he’s almost certainly going to his death, he’s at least trying to step out of the cycle, cast aside his history and change his life. There’s a huge difference between dying in pursuit of change and dying without ever having tried anything. It beautifully transforms what’s ostensibly such a sad end into such a moment of rapture. It’s wonderful to struggle, to be imperfect, to change. Life would be so boring otherwise: don’t give up.

Suffice to say, The Sky Crawlers is an excellent film. As should be expected of Mamoru Oshii at this point, it’s another deliberately paced, deep drama punctuated with moments of exciting, visceral action. I couldn’t ask for any more from a film. It’s one of the best I’ve seen in years.

Basically, this film revolves around humans with manipulated genes - Kildren, the children who live forever. Their job is therefore to mantain the balance between good and evil by fighting wars and nothing else.

It starts out with our lead hero, Yuuichi Kannami who has no recollection of his past when he is first assigned to be his new base. However, as days go by, he slowly begins to find things familiar and struggles with the identity of the mysterious pilot whom was the owner of his current plane.

Soon after, he begins to understand the reason behind his commanding officer, Kusanagi Suito's stoic behavior. In ... reality, all the pilots who die in battle are somehow reincarnated so that their skills are not lost. And the mysterious pilot whom Kannami was so interested about was actually him before he was shot by Kusanagi at his request.

The story tells of philosophies about war and why up till today, it is rare to find a time of absolute peace. Suito had in her drunken state explained that wars were around to keep everyone at the tips of their toes, ensuring that they do not take peace for granted. Unfortunately, wars in one way or another, also allow the Kildren to feel alive.

Whatever philosophy about war that is seen in the story is understandable and true and can also be related and compared with our modern day situations. It also shows the fortune of being able to grow up and not living your life by repetition.

The animation is absolutely breath taking with the detailed portrayal of their battles. And it is really amazing how the creators managed to incorporate fluent English and well as Japanese into the character dialogues. The soundtrack was beautiful and the instrumental is a favorite of mine.

The story will probably not be appealing to everyone especially children of 12 years and below as many major events in the story are not clearly distinguished. To put it bluntly, you would have to multi-task of both watching the movie and reading between the lines of what each character is trying to portray. However, if given a chance to be well-absorbed and understood, a magnificent and absolutely worth watching anime.

Simply breath taking.

Okay, first review. Here it goes.

Story:
Well, the movie's named appropriately, because the plot just crawls along. (I know others have pointed this out too.) Once you can actually figure out what's going on, it's predictable, too. I figured out the plot twist half an hour in and fast-forwarded through the rest because it was so boring. The overall idea was good; they just didn't execute it very well. All in all, story gets a 2/10.

Art:
I did like the art. Some scenes were absolutely beautiful. However, some of the character designs were definitely lacking. during the boring scenes where there was hardly any ... dialogue, I thought about how ridiculous the main character's hair was. And in my opinion, the shading seemed a little off, somehow. Overall, though, 8/10. the beautiful scenes distracted me from the little things that irked me.

Sound:
Really not much to say here. The sound was very unremarkable and could've been done much better. There were too many scenes with characters sitting around, with their usual snail-pace plot, made worse because the sound sucked/wasn't there. 3/10

Character:
Uuuuugh. What character? They all acted the exact same. No emotion, monotone voices. At certain points it was actually funny: (Spoilers!) The 2 main characters stop at a cabin or something after going to some sort of military base for some reason that wasn't explained. At the cabin thing, the girl whose name escapes me tells the main character that they have to go back to their base. Then she says, "or... We could stay the night..." and oh-so-subtly with the same blank expression, undoes the top button of her shirt. (End Spoiler!) Hardly any of them ever took off their 'bored' faces. 1/10.

Enjoyment:
Read all the parts of my review up to this one. 2/10.

Overall:
3/10. If you have an amazing attention span and you can listen to boring conversations about nothing without falling asleep, then watch it. For everyone else, avoid this movie. Possibly the worst anime movie I've ever seen.

The Sky Crawlers is my favourite Mamoru Oshii film, neigh, my favourite anime film of all time, which is surprising as I’ve only seen the movie twice as of writing this. It’s just that the first time wowed me in ways no other media, anime or otherwise, had done in the past. Hell, I didn’t even know who Mamoru Oshii was when I discovered it. I just thought I had found a rather interesting, obscure piece of anime cinema. So, only after watching it a second time, a little over a year later, I’m now able to grasp at why I was so enamoured with ... the film in the first place, and why I can now claim it be my favourite.

The tone of The Sky Crawlers is cold; it’s bitter, it’s methodical, and it’s meticulous, but in that cold reservation of character and narrative, I find more comfort and solace than I have with any other form of media. It’s incongruous and artful whilst remaining reasonable and grounded; I don’t feel an iota of pretension coming from it whatsoever. Though, unfortunately, 'pretentious' seems to be the word this film gets stigmatized with the most, despite being perhaps the most straightforward film Oshii's ever directed. There's very little Ito geo- socio- enviro-political discourse splugery going on.

See, The Sky Crawlers is interesting; it’s interesting in the way that it never divulges much information pertaining to its central narrative (play the game or read the book if you were looking for any), instead, it lets the viewer piece together relevant information subjectively, as informed by the one-of-a-kind surrealist tone. This creates a unique situation wherein the viewer must find their own meaning from where there may be nothing. I feel the film is purposely vague in that regard. So much so, that I think Oshii’s point may have been to present a life without meaning at all, just decay and stagnation, propped up by meaningless conflict. That isn’t to say the film has no meaning or thematic point whatsoever though—because it does. The usual Oshii themes are all there: the commodification of war, false peace, cynicism, existentialism, basset hounds. But what the film is great at is pushing all that to the side and letting you ruminate with the characters, soak in the setting, feel the atmosphere like a cold breeze blowing against your face, and reason your own interpretations informed by those aspects.

Right down to the composition, this movie is fascinating. Oshii throws the three-act structure out of the window, favouring a more non-linear, cyclical approach to the narrative flow, leaving normally climactic, emotional moments for the middle of the film rather than the end. Thus, complementing the aforementioned dry and cold pacing he seems to revel in, all of which is further complemented to perfection by Kenji Kawai's most hands-off compositions to date. Out with the blood-pumping, 80s synth anthems of Patlabor and the experimental, theistic insanity of GITS, and in with the drifty, sporadic, lilting, calm, contradictory explosivity of TSC.

Visually, this movie is more than unique. It's a near-perfect marriage of CGI and cel animation. A fully realized product of I.G’s DGA style that they’d been perfecting since the mid-’90s. So, in addition to the breathtaking fidelity of this film, bringing onboard someone like Tetsuya Nishio to provide character designs was ingenious. His reinterpretation of Tsuruta’s designs brings a whole new dimension to their portrayal. Nishio imbues the characters with subtle idiosyncrasies most films would skip over: like oddly specific levels of pupil dilation and realistic body fat. Their designs truly make this film one-of-a-kind, and just looking at their faces gives you a sense of the often duplicitous ambience Oshii is trying to convey in any given scene. They’re simple and grounded—which are, surprisingly, qualities arthouse films often forget to incorporate—however not so simple that they lack depth. I.G brings the characters—and by extension, the film—to life thanks to the highly animated attention to detail the studio prides itself on, like a specific way in which a character lights a cigarette or folds a newspaper.

The way I interoperate this film is imparted mostly from its characters. I see this movie as a story about trying to find a direction, a reason, a meaning to your life. It’s a concept that connects with me so much because of the stage of my life I’m at now. A stage where I’m having to move forward and solidify my future, but without a cause, I ultimately feel directionless. So watching this film just puts all my feelings into words perfectly. The Killdren live in a world where they don’t have a reason, not one to fight, nor one to live. At the end of the film, Yuichi finds his: protecting the one he loves. Kusanagi, on the other hand, spends the whole film lamenting the maternal position she’s put herself in, ultimately coming to terms with the fact she must live for the child she has brought into this world. Yuichi and Kusanagi found their reasons and came to terms with their lives. But that begs the question, when am I going to find that something to die for, so I can make it beautiful to live. *Bam* *Mic-drop*. What'ya make of that?

I've heard nothing but great reviews of this movie so I thought I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately, I wish I hadn't. The theme is great, but that's the only thing I enjoyed. The character design is horrible. The voice acting is horrible. The main character's voice is horribly monotone. The plot moves at about 1 mile/hour. I finally just gave up about an hour in. I tried to watch the whole thing, but I would have just fell asleep. I do not suggest watching this unless you like deep philosophical animes with no action(besides the plane action).

The Sky Crawlers gets its name from the fact that it's a movie about fighter pilots. It's the closest thing to the Japanese Top Gun that I can think of, in that it contains amazing dogfight scenes, but doesn't have much of anything else going on.

The latest of Oshii Mamoru-sensei's creations, the director of Ghost in the Shell, it also features the same composer, Kawai Kenji, and sound director, Wakabayashi Kazuhiro, as GitS. However, rather than the original GitS movie with its thought-provoking themes, Sky Crawlers feels a lot more similar to the GitS sequel with its mind-numbingly slow pacing and pretentious quotes. Thankfully, Sky ... Crawlers doesn't bombard you with obscure quotes every 2 minutes, but it will invite you to ponder fairly superficial and uninteresting philosophical concepts in the company of uninteresting characters. Suffice it to say that I do not believe Mamoru-sensei is in any danger of overshadowing his magnum opus any time soon.

In all fairness to the film, it does present one idea that is fairly poignant and merits discussion. In a conversation between characters, or more precisely said, one character's monologue, Mamoru-sensei posits that true peace can functionally not be achieved because war and conflict are some of the deepest instincts humans have. As such, even if you achieve peace at a surface level, armed conflict is still necessary, even a contained, controlled armed conflict, to channel that ancient instinct into. People need to know that other people, somewhere in the world, are fighting and killing each other, in order to psychologically be at peace, to keep the world balanced, if you will. Otherwise, in the absence of that controlled conflict, people's psyches are liable to become unstable and give in to their Hobbesian urges. Like, I said, it's an interesting thought, but not so revolutionary that it's enough to carry the entire movie on its own, and since this is a film that relies almost entirely on its themes to carry it, I was not sold.

Comparing Top Gun to Sky Crawlers could not make the difference between Eastern and Western storytelling any clearer. It was so exciting to watch a protagonist make the same expressionless face for 2 full hours. It was so interesting to look at a cast of characters who, bar one, all have the same stoic, bored, jaded, cynical face all the time. I really appreciated the constant breaks in animation where the characters just sit there and do nothing so as to give me time to consider themes and ideas I didn't care about in the first place. It was truly an experience I am glad I spent my time on.

If you read the MAL description, it says that in addition to the dangers of aerial battles, the protagonist has to uncover the mysteries of the base he's been assigned to. That makes it sound like there's some really suspenseful shit going on. I had a good to fair understanding of what was going on after about 20 minutes. After that, all of the reveals mostly just confirmed what I was already suspecting or gave me new information I didn't think of, but which nonetheless substantiated my theory. As such, the whole mystery shpiel was dead to me for 75% of the movie. The best it got out of me were reactions like: "Mhm, yeah, sure, figures."

It felt essentially like watching A Cure for Wellness with the occasional flight scene sprinkled in there, except even A Cure for Wellness was actually creepy and unpredictable.

Everyone praises the movie for how well-animated and realistic the dogfighting scenes are, and while I cannot speak to their realism, I have to confess I found them extremely exciting. Reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell, Kawai Kenji-sensei composed some really beautiful soundtracks for this movie. As such, I fell in love with the film from the very first minute. It opens with an impressive dogfight while the main OST is playing in the background. Beauty incarnate!

Alas, that's when it started to go downhill for me. I kept waiting for the movie to "start" and I just waited right through to the end.

P.S.: Like pretty much all other media portraying aerial combat, aircraft machine guns are portrayed here as making a "RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT" kind of sound. Even in movies that portray the machine guns as faster and more efficient, the best you get is still a "DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU" kind of sound. The point I am making is that you can always hear individual bullets in movies. That's a huge Hollywood myth. It ain't not how aircraft machine guns work. They fire thousands of bullets per minute. Even WW II planes (which is roughly where I would chronologically place Sky Crawlers based on the technology displayed, though it's a fictional timeline) could fire hundreds of bullets per minute. There is no classic machine gun "RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT" noise like in Rambo. All you hear is a constant "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ". That's how fast they are.

A great movie with stunning animation and sound, yet still a mile away from being flawless.

Although story takes place during a war, it concentrates on the mental and moral aspect of conflict. The main characters are involved in a fight which leads to no benefit at all. Like in a game, the only result is that one party will win over the other. They become cogs in a warfare machine, their humanity is slipping away with every angagement with the enemy. Their life has no meaning at all, once they die new soldiers will be manufactured to fight and step in the same way as ... new planes are constructed when some get shot down.

The story may seems not to be told to the very end, which in most cases is a great thing. It gives the viewer the incentive to think of what more would happen in the conflict and therefore it makes him contemplate not only on the aspect of war but also on the aspect of what it means to be human.

The art is breat taking, it seems realistic, the air battles are a particular highlight to it. It is also worth to notice how the chracters travel to different places, all of which have been designed to the greatest detail, such as the writings on the wall of a building.

The only flaw of this gem is the fact that sometimes the chracter animation seems stiff. This is mostly the result of the poor eye animation. The eyes of all the characters seem empy, as if they had no soul left even in the moments whan that part of them is emphasizing its existence.

The sound is a masterpiece. It's melancholic, nostalgic and dramatic. Although the tones are simple they perfectly fit with the story, along with it they go to the root of the human soul. The voice of Ayaka which we can hear during the closing titles adds value to an already outstanding score creating a memorable experience.

Although the characters seem to be merely tools in a war machine, somehow the viewer develops a bond of pity with them, which I find to be a good thing since it makes the audiance want to learn from the story of the character they are watching. The tragism of who they are seems to be illuminating from them leaving an everlasting impression.

Despite the fact that the flaws of the movie are noticealbe to say the least, because of its philosophical value I personally enjoyed it to an extent which cannot be described with mere words.

If you are looking for something to stimulate your mind into thinking about what it means to be human, you have my word this movie is just what you are looking for. If you want only to kill some time, leave it for another time and watch something less engaging.

pre·ten·tious/priˈtenCHəs/

Adjective:
Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.

Yep, I’m once again exploring the direction of Mamoru Oshii and this time, it’s based around the Japanese novel series by Hiroshi Mori that follows the journeys and tribulations of a group of young fighter pilots involved in dogfight warfare, set in an alternate historical period, but it is never mentioned what year or century it takes place. I assume it would be in the near future, due to some notices of technological advances.


The plot involves ace pilot Yūichi Kannami is reassigned to Area 262 after the deaths of three ... pilots and bond with the other piloting corps, the chief mechanic, and the base’s CO. There is also a subplot with the mystery that is Kildren and they are humanoids genetically designed to live eternally in adolescence and one of these people in Area 262 happens to be one of them but I’m not going to reveal who it is. Also there is a master pilot fighter who goes by “The Teacher” and this is, by far, the biggest threat to the main characters despite it not being more important enough.

Now it’s time for a HybridMedia fun fact: The Japanese dub version both feature actresses Rinko Kikuchi & Chiaki Kuriyama and I happen to know there is a movie “Six-degrees” like connection with them. As in, Rinko Kikuchi played the deaf girl in “Babel”, a movie which stars Brad Pitt, who was in “Inglorious Basterds”, directed by Quentin Tarantino and he did “Kill Bill” and yet…..there are double connections. Production I.G. did the anime sequence in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Chiaki Kuriyama played Gogo Yubari. Isn’t learning fun?

(crickets chirping......)

But…….both the Japanese and English dubs sounded like they were either drifting off to sleep at some parts, especially from both actors that played Yūichi Kannami. It is very slow-paced and if you wondering about any dogfight scenes, they exist but I felt like I missed an interesting part of the movie and only see the ones not worth mentioning. Also, the CGI is really not a good idea (in my opinion, of course). It felt more liked a computer game rather than a movie and Production I.G. is no stranger with CGI, counting the opening of GiTS: Stand Alone Complex, 1st season & GiTS2: Innocence but the animation is still standard.

Now, I get some people call this movie “pretentious and slow”, and they are….


Well, they are 50/50 on this.


FINAL VERDICT: Despite some good dogfight scenes, I completely lost interest in some parts of this movie. It’s just average quality in terms of storytelling and characters but I wasn’t expecting GiTS quality but I think they tried too hard with what they got and it backfired and disappointed.

This movie was very difficult to enjoy. The depths of the movie is masked under abysmal editing and quality of this film. I do understand that this movie has a lot of depth to it. There are topics such as fate, love, and existence which are to be questioned. But the mark of a good film is not merely what is portrayed, but how it is portrayed.

I love movies that make you think. Especially ones that make you question and look introspectively at your own life. This movie had the potential for it, but it failed miserably.

Characters: The characters in this film are ... quite bland. Although there is a sense that they are meant to be cold. They showed a lot of characters that seemed extremely out of place. Showing them for the sake of showing them; while leaving out any relation to the story of their role. Many felt extremely two-dimensional; I find it surprising that the dog seemed more interesting and more fulfilling as a character than some of the main characters. It seems almost rushed (which is hard to believe that I am saying that), the characters are thrown in to where you do not even feel any attachments to them.

Art/Sound: The animation is very difficult to grasp for this movie. The fight scenes were amazing, beautifully done and a lot of attention to detail. Even the sound of them taking off thrilled me. There were moments where I thought it looked amazing. For example, when they were strolling through town during the night. The general feel was quite nice. The problem I have was the animation of the characters. I do get that there was an artistic design to them. That is not my gripe with the animation. The problem I have are the moments where no one moves. There are many moments where the character would stand there, nothing movie. It was as if I was looking at a screen shot.

I remember thinking to myself; when someone is not speaking, they are not moving. Even moments when someone is talking, there is only animation for the mouth while nothing else moves. There was a portion where we were looking at one character for approximately 6 seconds of nothing moving, just listening to the music. Now, the music I did like which goes with the sound. Although not many songs, they were quite nicely done with some they were nice and calming.

Story: The story has quite a few problems with it. As I mentioned in my earlier post, there is meant to be a lot of depth with this movie. The problem is that, the movie did a poor job of illustrating that point. The depth of a movie is only strong if the actual movie compliments it, which was not the case here. It felt like I was watching two movies, and one just so happens has a more deeper meaning to it. Overall, I think it could have done quite a lot better. The silent moments needed so much more work to them. It is like differentiating between a nice quiet moment and an awkward moment. The film is riddled with moments where the silence just felt awkward, almost as if they were forcing depth to something that which is not there.

When I started watching Sky Crawlers, I had an idea that it should be interesting because of cool unusual aircraft, battles in the air and calm everyday atmosphere of the airbase, familiar to me from my military training time. But it turned into completely surprising experience, full of hints and details of life, specific for autistic personality. To be more precise, for high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome.

The art style itself has the really huge contrast between super-detailed backgrounds and locations, while human characters are very schematic. Indeed, it can be often found in anime, but here, the scale of this contrast is striking. It fits ... autistic perception perfectly: many Aspies (people with Asperger syndrome) have unusually high attention to visual details, while their perception of other people is (not literally) schematic due to difficulties with interpreting non-verbal language, emotional reactions and other aspects of behavior.

As I said before, locations were painted with very high attention to every detail. And for me personally, these are absolutely great locations, since these large open spaces with cliffs, dividing land from the sea, remind me of ocean coast of Ireland and Brittany. Megaliths, heather, stone walls along the roads are just beautiful. It feels like someone spent many days thinking about all these details, showing up on the screen for only a second. I mean, for example, circular patterns on megaliths, definitely borrowed from the stones of Gavrinis tomb - mysterious megalithic site, located in Morbihan, Brittany. Same thing with aircraft, aerodrome equipment (being an avionics engineer, I can recognize many pieces of it), with architecture and atmosphere of the town, where pilots staying on their way to another base. It looks just like an old part of Krakow, Poland, with tiny details such as tramway or taverns.

“Kildren” - most of the main characters, definitely have autistic personalities. Physically, they are very young, but being a bit childish and immature mentally, they all bear a sign of being tired of life, fighting boredom in an own way. It resembles some psychological features of people with Asperger syndrome. Many other things fit the picture too: keeping a distance from life, having some odd pragmatic relationships with death. Interpersonal relationships are a kind of cold and awkward between them, but sometimes we can see, how strong their attachment can be, so they are not really cold psychopaths. Logic rules their everyday world, but emotions can burst out in their own special cases.

Description of suicidal thoughts is very natural. There is a study of suicidal behavior in Aspies, telling that it is a relatively common thing for them to think about suicide in connection with a purpose or “function” of own life. Often, it doesn't lead to an actual suicide, but planning and preparations could be made. In Sky Crawlers, we can see all that.

I honestly don't know, if anyone from film crew has this mental condition, but somehow, Sky Crawlers got so many different independent features, related to it, so it is hard to imagine that nobody knows about it from own experience. And I believe that for people, who have never met any Aspie, it might be interesting to watch Sky Crawlers keeping all that in mind.

As a disclaimer, I want to add, that Asperger syndrome has many faces, and I'm talking about only one of them, familiar to me. So, if it doesn't fit someone’s experience, I'm not responsible for that.

From the director of Ghost in the Shell, Mamoru Oshii, comes Sky Crawlers, one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. The whole point of the movie is that the first hour and a half is monotonous. Then, with a half an hour left of the movie, we get a clumsy infodump about how people like war. A little after that, there's a scene where this girl starts freaking out about how her life is totally rote. That scene would have been pretty cool if she didn't flat out yell out the theme of the movie in the process. If you're trying to make ... a serious film, you have to do it more gracefully than that. What doesn't help this movie is how serious business it is. What I mean is everyone in this movie is super serious all the time. The characters are really mellow all the time. If the characters themselves aren't interested in what's going on, then why should I care? I have to admit, as bad as the story is, the animation is spectacular. I almost always hate CG in anime, but the animators seemed to realize that CG should be treated like backgrounds so it blends nicely. The sound design is unmemorable except for the dogfights. Sky Crawlers has wonderful visuals but even that won't excuse the boring, clumsy story.

Genre: Drama, Military, Tragedy.

Studio: Production I.G.

Director: Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor 2)

TSC takes place in what might possibly be described as mid 20th century Europe (more specifically Britain) in an alternate timeline. It is an era where the majority of the population lives in peace, with wars being mainly a plaything between different mercenary groups in the name of their respective contractors. These so called mercenaries, who engage in the dance of death in the sky, pre-eminently consists of teenagers who ‘never age’ and are known as ‘Kildren’.

It is under this context we are introduced to one half of our central characters, Yuichi ... Kannami, who arrives at a small military base, where he meets the enigmatic base commander, Kusanagi Suito and a bunch of other notable side characters. Despite its ‘military’ tag, the actual battle scenes are few (albeit brilliant and will be readily relished by any action enthusiast), with the bulk of the storytelling focusing on the interactions between Kannami and the other characters. But what separates TSC, or rather elevates it from the majority of other slow paced shows is its, for the lack of a better word, fragility. Despite the lack of urgency of any degree whatsoever, one gets the feeling that something’s off right from the start. As the story rolls on, bit by bit of light is shed on various aspects of the Kildren’s; the purpose of their existence, on Kannami, and more so on Kusanagi, all of which invariably keeps the viewer on edge right until the final quarter, ensuing in a thrilling, and unquestionably haunting climax. That TSC ironically pulls off the elements of mystery a whole lot better than the plethora of mystery shows is a thing that Oshii can certainly be proud of.

The characters, for the major part, carry the same feeling of fragility that the story possesses right from the get go. The Kildren’s, on account for their apparent lack of growth after a specific stage, remain as teenagers for the rest of their lives. The existence of this gulf between the progress of the mind and the lack of progress of the body is what defines our protagonists and the relationships between them. Kannami’s actions are readily conflicting; he’s unwilling to accept of him being anything but a child, and as such, fails to understand what it means to live, given the fact he (as well as others) could die in the very next battle. He’s curious about his predecessor, but only to an extent where he would drop the subject first hand if he’s denied an answer. His apparent lack of will to know more about his surroundings and that of himself brings forward to what is probably the most important thematic feature of the movie: the eerie, and almost frustrating lack of change in anything. Kusanagi, haunted by her past actions, is significantly more tragic. Standing on the edge of child and adulthood, she desperately looks for a way to get out of it, to be free from all burdens that being a Kildren presents, even if it means by taking her own life. As fate would have it, the relationship between the two leads is merely a facade, fragile to such an extent that one needs to stop the other from pressing the trigger even while seemingly kissing each other.

The remaining characters mainly act as a reminder to the viewer as to what pain being a Kildren brings. They look isolated for the most part, desperately trying to fill the void in their lives and as such, play no such major roles compared to the two lead characters. While development of the said characters is pretty much non-existent, they play their given roles with precision and fulfills what the story expects from them.

Production I.G. is well known for consistently producing aesthetically pleasing stuff, and TSC is another notable addition to that list. The very first thing that strikes you are the beautifully colored backgrounds. The various aspects of the countryside, coupled with the intensely blue, partly cloudy skies (particularly in the fight scenes) dominate a handsome portion of the movie. However, more telling is the amount of detail present in the finer portions. Interiors of houses and restaurants are filled with various objects, from colorful vases to chinaware plates to other personal belongings. One odd feature, however, is the rather gargantuan doors compared to the people going through them. Similar amount of precision is attained in the designs of the fighter jets and other vehicles. Whether they are valid from an engineering point of view or not is a question I’d rather leave to the people associated with it.

Almost in contrast are the minimalistic designs of the characters, to the point one might call them lifeless and unattractive. However, it could be easily seen that the supposed lack of vitality in the character designs as compared to their surroundings is an indication of how directionless their existence is in particular. (Fun Fact: Ghost in the Shell fanatics should find no trouble to be able to point out at a drunk Kusanagi looking extremely similar to one of Innocence’s gynoids).

Kenji Kawai, at this point of time, should be a rather well-known figure to anime fans; so it’s nothing surprising to find his work in TSC to be among his best. Many of the tracks are subtle, poignant, drawn out to the point for optimum effect. The action scenes are very well accompanied by sharp and fast paced violins that manages to bring out the desired emotions. Additionally, a wonderful feature in TSC is the use of silence. At places, long scenes are accompanied by an eerie silence which actually captures you and keeps you on track. A special mention to the voice acting, particularly to the VA’s of the two lead characters, who successfully manage to maintain the delicate balance between the conflicting emotions and otherwise.

A major theme in TSC is that of repetition, disillusion and the resultant resolve required to break from it. The Kildren’s, on account of the curse they are born with, live in a world devoid of any passion and sensation whatsoever. Being edible is enough, because they can’t feel the taste. Being alive has no such meaning, because they don’t know what it means to be in the first place. Fighting for their lives is of no consequence to them, because their existence doesn’t have any other purpose. In a metaphorical sense, the Kildren’s represent people who are stuck in the cycle of life. They represent people who can’t overcome the hurdle from childhood to adulthood, who believe the only way to escape from their grim reality is by taking their own lives. And just as Kannami tries to stop Kusanagi, TSC has a message for us too: ‘You must live until you can change something’. That with the required perseverance and will, anyone can and will surely be able to move forward. The desire to bring a change in our lives is what makes us human, and as such, elevates Kannami’s resolve to fight against his destiny, even if it did ultimately lead to his downfall. The Kild, who all but merely floated all his life, devoid of any desire and will to struggle, ironically was at his magnificent best, flying as high as he ever did in his final moments. In a world and era where suicide has turned into such a grave issue, TSC’s message is certainly admirable.

TSC impressed me with its direction, use of themes and quality storytelling. Its cynical commentary on the nature of war and that of the people involved with it certainly puts it a step above than most other shows under the same genre. As with most of the slow paced shows, one needs a good amount of patience, and keeping in mind the themes portrayed, probably needs a requisite amount of maturity as an adult to enjoy TSC to the maximum. All in all, TSC is, without a doubt, one of the best things I’ve had the pleasure to watch in this medium and it gets a 4.5/5 in my book.

Sky Crawlers is anime at its zenith, its brilliance derived from the treatment of opposites: the ubiquity of silence that reigns throughout the film against the accuracy of labored breathing from pulling Gs while looking two o clock high; the subtlety of the color palette broken by enhanced crimson of blood; character's lingering desolation between missions erased by the adrenaline of engaging in mortal aerial combat. The silence and the on-screen action are characters themselves, at times conveying more emotion than the most gifted actor. When dialog takes over, superb English voice-acting and impeccable characterization reign. If the tangible silence is broken, the brilliance of ... the musical score shines through. Built on this canvas, a story unfolds on the futility of war, as kildren (children that do not grow) dogfight, not for a cause, but as employees for companies. The sole function of their jobs? Provide a valve for citizen unrest, a lens for headlines, fodder for sound bites. With this being their purpose, you come to the inevitable realization the cycle can never break and the end is also the beginning. 5-star brilliance and a new high bar for the genre.