Spotlight Anime: Area 88 MAL Anime Information Page: Area 88 MAL Score - 7.64 (2,157 users) Ranked - #1154 Popularity - #3447 Please approach this thread as a critical review of the work in question. Avoid fallacious arguments to the best of your ability while taking these criteria into account. Story: Characters: Art / Animation: Sound / Music design: Other production elements. If you are having trouble writing up a review or coming up with specific pro's and cons, please don't worry. Just do the best you can with it and if you can only write two or three sentences about any of the 4 elements then that's OK. Not everyone here is currently at a level which will allow them to articulate their thoughts and opinions completely. After your initial post is made you can feel free to civilly discuss issues of contention. Everyone has the right to their opinion, please try to be respectful to each others views and formulate constructive arguments in response to the work being spotlighted. |
Rosa_FOEtidaMay 14, 2016 6:56 AM
Current FAL Ranking + Previous best::  [ |
| Even thought it's been a long time since I watched Area 88 I can still remember many details about it, which for me is a sign that the show did something right. Why? It seems to me that this work didn't fall victim to industry regurgitation in concept. It attempts to take a more realistic approach in regards to it's plot construction and character development without the introduction of some Deus ex machina that so many other animanga do and I applaud the ova for the realism. In a way this is one of the 80's anime that probably could never get made with today's audience. In that since it really is a forgotten gem. The ova pays attention to details concerning the planes and strategies concerned with flying them without making the series over involved with the machinery that other military otaku might prefer. It is a little funny that Top Gun was released not too long after this ova, although they don't appear to really have much in common other than genre and themes, but the overall plot constructions do seem very similar. The pilot element seems to be more setting actually and takes a back seat to character development concerning the romantic element that takes more importance as the plot progresses. It certainly has some time-capsule elements from the eighties most noticeably the music. As far as the animation and art goes. After looking at it again it actually looks like a better work from the eighties. I was impressed with the attention to detail in concern to the cockpit instruments, pilots clothing and jet plane models which are all very distinguishable. The air battle scenes did not reuse the same battle sequences over and over again. They attempted to incorporate real aspects of dog fighting. But probably something that I noticed immediately and the most important thing was the attempt to mimic realistic camera angles, lighting and the orientation of the planes movement through the lens of where a camera might be placed on a plane. All good elements that makes this ova a cut above many other titles of it's time and even today. Either way it's worth a watch. I'm not completely sure how I'm going to vote yet but I'm re-watching it now and so far it seems like a highly recommendable eighties anime to endorse. Originally posted in an old spotlight. Glad to see more people have seen this ova this time around. |
| Loved the animation and the visual design, loved the soundtrack and the Japanese cast did a great job on the voice acting. As for the story, I really like where it went. While watching it, I felt like perhaps the whole theme of "How can I kill and go back to a life of peace?" felt a bit cliche at first, but I like how they handled it towards the end, with his character not only questioning this concept as a type of philosophy, but actually having to confront it directly within his own life. The plot was focused on tragic elements like this throughout, especially in terms of Shin Kazama's character, but the story became a full-on tragedy towards the end, and it was really well executed and gave the whole story a much more realistic tone. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the ending being ambiguous, as well as the drop in the quality of the animation in-between the big, beautifully animated moments (you can notice this drop quite a bit in episode 2), but I liked this anime enough, despite it's few flaws, and would easily recommend it to any fan of the genre, or of tragic tales in-general. |
::End of Transmission:: What have I been watching? Click here and find out on my viewing blog, "Vigorous Viewing" |
| The way I see it, this OVA could be divided into three parts. Two of them are closely linked, the other is a more or less unnecessary subplot. The three parts being: the military skirmishes, the effects fighting a war has on our protagonist’s state of mind and how people, the protagonist left behind, are dealing with his absence. Starting off with the dogfights since they are the main attraction. They have great production values and they have aged really well. The missions we get to see are few but varied so the actions scenes are kept relatively fresh and suspenseful. The show also doesn’t forget to add emotional weight to the fights by making them effect the main character’s mentality. Which means there is an aspect to the action beyond just the coolness factor. Sadly, the well executed action scenes don’t lead up to anything which makes them just random military skirmishes with not much plot behind them. However, they are crucial to the main narrative, the MC’s development, and they do their job while being suspenseful eye candy. Now a few words about the weakest part of this OVA, the one quarter of the run time that is dedicated to the two people that have had or still have the biggest effect of the MC’s situation or motivations. First there is the MC’s lover who is rich girl, with minimal characterization, hoping to be reunited with the love of her life, the MC. She ends up being nothing more than a reason for the MC to keep fighting and a reassurance for the viewers that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for the MC. In other words, she is there so that the viewers have a desire to see the MC escape since there is a reward waiting for him, a waifu… I mean a happy life. Second is the antagonist, a guy that desires to move up in the world and cares little about who suffers because of his underhanded methods. Oh, he also hates and royally screws over the MC because he has an inferiority complex towards him. He has moments where he feels guilt for what he had done but because the execution is poor he just ends up filp-flopping between a total asshole and a guy with an actual conscience. Not to mention his only role is to stand in the way of MC and the girl reuniting. In other words, he is there to add forced drama so that there is some tension in the weak “I'll do anything to get my MC back” subplot. I’m not saying that the two characters are unnecessary, I’m saying it was unnecessary to give them so much screen time because that screen time doesn't amount to anything noteworthy, especially since the ending didn’t really give them any epilogue or catharsis. They should have made the OVAs shorter at the expense of this subplot. Finally, the part that keeps this OVA still worth remembering would be the exploration of the effects war has on the mentality of soldiers. And this particular show has an advantage in exploring this theme over others with similar themes. Why? Because the cast of this show are mercenaries. In a classic war scenario the characters have a moral high ground where their conscience can rest easy since they are fighting for a greater purpose. For their country, for the safety of the people they love, for freedom, against injustice and so on. The characters in Area 88 don’t have the luxury of a grander purpose since they could always choose to die rather than become killers in order to survive. They are killing for no one but themselves. We see veterans and how their psyche ultimately ends up at a point where a peaceful life is no longer an option for them. This is the journey of the MC and we get to see it from the beginning till the end. At the start he fights to get back the normal life that was stolen from him, but after constant killing breaks him he accepts his fate and gradually stops feeling remorse for taking lives and fights only to survive. Until ultimately he cannot live without the feeling of impending death. His progression is surprisingly solid and well executed… at least until the final stage which is rushed as hell. The ending falls short and because of that the MC’s progression isn't what it could have been. So is the best war drama in anime format good enough for this club. Probably not. Overall it’s a show with great action scenes tired together by a narrative centered around one really solid character. But with the inclusion of some solid theme exploration the praises stop and we are left with a shallow cast, a weak subplot and an ending that is not ambiguous but it sure as hell doesn’t finalize things well. |
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