The Cockpit

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: The Cockpit: Kamikaze Stories, Seisouken Kiryuu, Slipstream, Onsoku Raigekitai, Sonic Boom Squadron, Tetsu no Ryuukihei, Knight of the Iron Dragon

Japanese: ザ・コクピット

Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 3

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 22, 1993 to Jan 21, 1994

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: Urban Vision

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Manga

Themes: Adult Cast, Historical, Military

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.19¹ (scored by 5,475 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3109²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #5301

Members: 13,732

Favorites: 58

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

1. Slipstream
About a Luftwaffe pilot who must choose between his duty to his country: to guard a bomber loaded with Germany's final hope of victory... the world's first atomic bomb... or his duty to the world: to let it fall in flames to enemy Spitfires and be a footnote in history. Of course, things are complicated by the plane's other cargo... the woman he loves.

2. Sonic Boom Squadron
Near the end of the war, Japan has implemented a new weapon -- a human-piloted rocket-propelled flying bomb. Aboard a bomber carrying one of these, young Ensign Nogami awaits his chance to die as a "cherry blossom", a suicide pilot. In a few hours, he will die. The date of his death is set: August 6, 1945.

3. Knight of the Iron Dragon
Two soldiers attempt to reach an air base in order to fulfill a promise despite the fact that it might have been rendered moot in the reality of war.

(Source: ANN)

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Senjou Manga Series

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Lt. Rheindars

Main

Horiuchi, Kenyuu
Japanese

Ensign Nogami

Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru
Japanese

Soldier Godal

Main

Nagai, Ichiro
Japanese

Soldier Utsunomiya

Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei
Japanese

Melhenna

Main

Shinohara, Emi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki

Director, Storyboard, Screenplay, Key Animation, Character Design, Animation Director

Takahashi, Ryousuke

Director

Imanishi, Takashi

Director, Episode Director

Kramer, Steve

Script

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Kanashii Toki wa Itsumo" by Hiroyuki Matsuda

More reviews

Reviews

Sep 11, 2018

literaturenerd

Not Recommended

Overview:

Time to review another obscure OVA! This time we're looking at The Cockpit. This 1993 OVA had EVERYTHING going for it, but still somehow managed to wind up terrible. It was written by Leiji Matsumoto, who also did the character designs. The director was Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who directed such classics as Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D. This was also made by Madhouse on an impressive budget. The plot is WW2 from the eyes of Axis fighter pilots.

So I went into this expecting something like Das Boot. Many of the Axis soldiers will be humanized and realistic, while also being staunchly anti-war and pointing ... out all the atrocities on all sides. Nope! Well maybe it will be like "Blonde Knight of Germany" the biography of ace pilot Erich Hartmann. It will focus on just one figure on the axis side and lionize him while still not turning into Nazi propaganda. Nope! This is split into 3 episodes and they're all kind of mess.

Episode 1:

A German ace pilot (who happens to look like Harlock), is given a very important mission. He must defend a secret German bomber plane that's carrying an atomic bomb and heading towards London. To add some melodrama, his girlfriend is a nuclear physicist and was the one who designed the bomb. To add even more drama, she is being forced to ride on the plane carrying the bomb so she can witness its destructive power! Remember when America forced Robert Oppenheimer to ride on the Enola Gay and witness the atomic bombings? I sure fucking don't! The physicist girl begs German Harlock to shoot the plane down. He must not let Hitler use atomic weapons to exterminate the people of the UK, US, and USSR. "Any country that would use atomic weapons is a country that has forever lost its soul!" Yes Matsumoto! We get it! Nuking people is bad! German Harlock shoots down the plane and we get this gem of a quote. "I may be remembered as a coward and a traitor, but Germany's honor has been spared. Germany refused to sell its soul". Yep, if any country ended WW2 with its reputation intact and its national honor unsullied it was Germany. (J Jonah laughing clip)

Episode 2:

We get to hear the tale of a noble Kamikaze pilot and his co-pilot the blob person...who looks like the Schmoo. The main pilot is a selfless and noble character who simply wishes to defend his country by any means necessary. This means piloting the man guided missile known as the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka into an American aircraft carrier. Throughout the episode, Americans are astonished by the speed and technological marvel of the Ohka. These Yanks are just shitting their pants at how awesome the thing is. Our hero pilots the Ohka into a capital class Aircraft carrier and just annihilates it, killing thousands of American soldiers in 1 glorious blow. Here's the problem with this. The Ohka was a complete failure and an utter piece of shit. Americans laughed their asses off at it. In fact, the whole tactic of Kamikaze in the Pacific was an utter failure. Japan lost 2,800 planes and pilots to kill a mere 4,900 American soldiers. No American carrier or capital ship was EVER sunk by a Kamikaze, certainly not a fucking Ohka. The Germans killed almost ten times that many Americans just using land mines. This anime is like watching a German war film that is 1/10th anti-war and 9/10ths celebrating how fucking AMAZING the Panzer ViII Maus was. Americans see it and just defecate in fear before 1 Maus kills 100,000 American pig dogs. The fact that it had 1/5th the horsepower required for its weight and was so inefficient just made it SO cool! How about a Russian film that spends all its time celebrating how AMAZING the LaGG-3 was? From a historical viewpoint I just fucking hate this anime so much!

Episode 3:

Some Japanese soldiers are the only 2 left on an island and must decide what to do. They make the logical choice and charge American machine guns in order to go out in a blaze of glory. Oh and Matsumoto decided to draw the 2 Japanese characters as monkeys for some reason. Maybe it was supposed to symbolize something, but it looks like he saw some of those old racist Loony Toons drawings of Japanese and said "Hold muh beer!"

Art and Sound:

The art for the most part is spectacular, especially the first episode. The soundtrack by Kaoru Wada is at least acceptable and does its job. This is a fairly well made film in terms of production values, which just makes it all the more sad.

Overall:

I really wanted to like this movie. I generally enjoy Matsumoto. I love Kawajiri as a director. Hell, I own Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, and Cyber City Oedo on DVD. I love old school Studio Madhouse from the late 80s and early 90s. This anime though was just balls. The ludicrous historical inaccuracy, chest thumping patriotism, needless anti-Americanism, and Axis propaganda bullshit was all just too much. If you want to watch an Axis propaganda film, just go watch Triumph of the Will from 1935. Watch Olympia from 1938. Don't watch this piece of dog shit.

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Mar 1, 2013

romansiii

Recommended

The Cockpit Review
There are no spoilers in this review
I just completed the three part OVA The Cockpit. An anime about three different theoretically possible World War 2 scenarios.

Story
The story for each episode is independent from each other and is focused on the characters feelings of war and what they do to hold their own sense of honor during one of the most bloody wars in History.
It's interesting to watch these as an Australian as the story focuses on Axis Power soldiers. One German fighter pilot, one Japanese Ohka pilot and two Japanese infantry soldiers. It's interesting to see a perspective ...

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Dec 8, 2015

CreationZilla

Recommended

Ok, this is a three part OVA series so I am going to give each individual episode a rating and mini-review.

#1-Slipstream:
Score: 9
This episode could be the only one you watch and you are not missing anything. This is my personal favorite out of the three. It makes me wish that this episode alone evolved into it's own short 6 episode anime, with more backstory. You get a Nazi viewpoint of WWII and you end up caring for the main two Nazi's. The ending is very satisfying but a little emotional.
It is a great aviation short!

#2-Sonic Boom Squadron:
Score: 7
This episode is alright, it has an ...

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Poll: The Cockpit Episode 1 Discussion spiesc - Dec 25, 2008	16 replies	by JonsanAnimeXD »» May 20, 9:51 AM
Poll: The Cockpit Episode 3 Discussion Retro8bit - Nov 8, 2009	11 replies	by Quiddity131 »» Dec 10, 2022 4:57 PM
Poll: The Cockpit Episode 2 Discussion Retro8bit - Nov 8, 2009	10 replies	by Fish4Seagulls »» Aug 29, 2022 1:15 PM

The Cockpit

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