Area 88 (TV)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Area 88 (2004)

Japanese: エリア８８

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 9, 2004 to Mar 26, 2004

Premiered: Winter 2004

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: TV Asahi, Animax, Studio Live

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Group TAC

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Drama, Romance

Theme: Military

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.02¹ (scored by 5,544 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #4288²

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

Popularity: #5473

Members: 14,619

Favorites: 63

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

Deep in the sandy plains of the Middle Eastern kingdom of Asran, Japanese photojournalist Makoto Shinjou travels to the remote airbase Area 88 to document the activities of the mercenaries who destroy the country's enemies for a living. Among their ranks is Shin Kazama, a Japanese ace pilot who was tricked by his former best friend into signing a contract with the Asran's fighter squad. Because of this, he lost his career as an airline pilot and the chance to marry his fiancee Ryoko Tsugumo. Now, Shin has three choices in order to leave Area 88 and return to Japan: serve the mercenary group for three years, earn US$1.5 million, or desert the base, risking imminent death.

(Source: ANN)

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Area 88
Alternative version:	Area 88

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kazama, Shin

Main

Koyasu, Takehito
Japanese

Simon, Micky

Main

Seki, Tomokazu
Japanese

Mutsugi, Goh

Main

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Kanzaki, Satoru

Supporting

Midorikawa, Hikaru
Japanese

McCoy

Supporting

Otsuka, Chikao
Japanese

Vashtal, Saki

Supporting

Takahashi, Hiroki
Japanese

Gates, Greg

Supporting

Takatsuka, Masaya
Japanese

Boris

Supporting

Akimoto, Yousuke
Japanese

Palvanaff, Kitori

Supporting

Kobayashi, Sanae
Japanese

Roundell

Supporting

Haramaki, Kouji
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Imakake, Isamu

Director

Katou, Hiroto

Episode Director, Storyboard

Auten, Christine

Script

Nomura, Yuuichi

Script

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Opening Theme

"Mission (Fuga)" by Angel

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Ending Theme

	1: "Dance in the Battlefield" by Keiko Terada (eps 1-8)
	2: "Dance in the Battlefield (English Version)" by Keiko Terada (eps 9-12)

Reviews

Mar 11, 2022

Plastik

Recommended

I have seen this anime get its fair share of negative reception, I once read an entire twitter thread from somebody laying out piece by piece why they hated the show and presumably, anybody else should too- But even after the 80s OVA set a very high bar for me, I absolutely adored this anime adaptation. The animation is nowhere near as good as the 80s OVA, with the intricately animated sequences of fighter jets being torn to pieces, and turbine engines being displayed for the whole world to see almost like human entrails being visible after being shot, are nowhere to be seen, and ...

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May 9, 2018

BlaizeV

Recommended

I adore the original 80's OVA version of this series. To me it's one of the greatest Anime ever made. So to say I went into this version nervous would be an understatement. I mean could it live up to it's predecessor or would it pale in comparison?

Well after having marathoned the series well inside 24 hours I can honestly say this version at the very least captures the spirit of the original. The tone of the series is much the same but it's not without some issues. The main issue I had is this TV remake is missing a bunch of the high ... points in the original OVA's story and alot of the details. The original OVA crescendo's at many points throughout and this version simply does not. To give an example take the Canyon mission, in the OVA this is a really big event and the tension ramps up moment by moment from mission reveal all the way to completion. In this series it just does not receive the same buildup, the incredibly risky venture of flying through this Canyon at night and the reasons why they must do this are all just left out. Even the difficulty of the mission is mostly not touched upon, at least not in the same way. In a microcosm this example sums up most of the problems I have with this version, it's less dramatic moment to moment.

But its clear the series had a different vision in mind, and in many ways a different tale to tell. I've not read the Manga so I don't know if this series is more accurate or neither adaptation matches it. I do know though that Area 88 2004 is not quite the same as Area 88 1985. The structure of the story is much different, the OVA is very melodramatic and the TV series is more of a character study. There are many other changes too, the TV series has a few new characters and leaves out many others. Similarly entire events just don't happen in the TV series that happen in the OVA, this goes so far as certain characters remaining alive. Even the events that do happen across both are often altered to present the same event but in a very different way. The ending to the TV series is also drastically different, not just in story but also in characters actions and motivations, leaving a very different aftertaste.

I'll just touch quickly on these things also... The CG planes were actually pretty good and certainly better than I expected. I was very worried about this aspect of the show prior to viewing but I think the team they got to do them did a good job, especially for early 2004. Next the sound design on the planes also seemed to be on point which really adds to this version just like it did in the original OVA. But I wasn't so hot on the character design changes, I mean yeah obviously this series was made almost 20 years later but Shins hair and overall design is much better in the OVA compared to how he looks in this series where he looks like he just walked out of an episode of YuGiOh at times. Finally there's the OST and this was a pretty big disappointment, I knew going in that the OST was now mainly electronica but that didn't change the fact that it was pretty underwhelming. Not terrible but it's a HUGE downgrade on the OVA's OST. In this version the OST is just sorta there, occasionally adding to the atmosphere but very rarely. The Opening/Ending themes were also both pretty lackluster.

So yeah there are many changes and I will say now that the original OVA is still the superior series, in fact if I hadn't seen it my opinion on this new version may have been drastically different from what it is. I believe the 2004 version is still a great series, the characters are still very interesting and likable, the action is still mostly great and as someone with adoration for the OVA I still enjoyed seeing the series through a different lens. The changes while not for the better in my opinion were not bad, just different and that was fine in the end.

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Jul 14, 2009

Koolag1

Mixed Feelings

I did kind of expect a little more from Area 88 in the story department but the aircraft detail is quite remarkable. In one episode were Shin narrowly misses hitting a 747 with his F-104 suggest that weight turbulence don't have any effect, also it does leave the question if a collision could be avoid in that way.

The story has likable characters but has un-clarified story lines like why a mercenary air base exists and why they only ever seem to go up against Russian mig's. The Area 88 airbase acts more like a conventional airbase with regards to operation but mercenaries are ...

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what fighter jets are in this anime?? Setsuna200 - Oct 16, 2011	6 replies	by MKSTEEL »» Nov 28, 2023 12:55 PM
Poll: Area 88 (TV) Episode 12 Discussion tofei - Jun 27, 2013	8 replies	by oooo3333 »» Mar 26, 2022 8:35 PM
Poll: Area 88 Episode 8 Discussion tofei - Jul 31, 2012	2 replies	by syncrogazer »» Mar 27, 2019 6:59 PM
Poll: Area 88 Episode 2 Discussion tofei - Jul 30, 2012	2 replies	by LouM »» Oct 19, 2016 11:11 AM
Poll: Area 88 (TV) Episode 10 Discussion tofei - Jun 17, 2013	1 replies	by Vaiketime2025 »» Jul 30, 2016 9:49 AM

Area 88 (TV)

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Characters & Voice Actors

Kazama, Shin

Simon, Micky

Mutsugi, Goh

Kanzaki, Satoru

McCoy

Vashtal, Saki

Gates, Greg

Boris

Palvanaff, Kitori

Roundell

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Area 88 (TV)

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Resources

Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

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