Reviews

The Cockpit is a rare beast of an anime. It's about WW2, doesn't cover it exclusively from the Japanese perspective, and consists of three self-contained vignettes. It's a strange mix of topic, genre, and format, resulting in an OVA which is conceptually strong, but still falls short in some ways which are too glaring to ignore. Beginning with the story, it is right off the bat the strongest part of the show. They are poignant tales of morality, honor, and military tragedy that manage to lay bare the conflict of these things within the human heart in artful and arresting fashion. Though, the show starts out a little weak with the first episode being this wild flight of fancy with a questionable moral calculus instead of a grounded story about duty which could have conceivably occurred, like the other two. The art is generally good, with an astounding warmth and detail given to backgrounds and objects, which is a defining feature of anime from that period. The character designs, when they're good, are great. However, it is within the art where its greatest weakness is found, and what has cost it the most points. Namely, I absolutely hate the goofy style with which most Japanese characters are inexplicably animated in this show. It's so ugly and distracting that its almost impossible to take those characters seriously, which is a real damn shame, because it is the latter two episodes which are the best, and that's where they show up. The worst part is that I know they could have animated them at least a little better, because the application of such a lazy style seems to be random, without regard to screen time. It's rough, because without that glaring flaw, this show would probably be at least a 7, easy. The sound is good, with a solid, contemplative OST and competent voice work. Though, I recommend the dub for the first episode, and the sub for the latter two, for immersion's sake. The characters are quite strong, though they are reliant on the strength of the stories they're in. They are not innately heroes, but rather, they are made such by their circumstance, even if they're the villains in other people's stories. The best character by far was Ensign Nogami, whose tortured yet dedicated psyche made for an eminently engaging episode, and the best of the three by far. Overall, The Cockpit is a unique, well-written clutch of war stories that manage to impress in some ways and fall short in others. If you're interested in checking out the relatively sparse genre of WW2 anime, then I'd say this would be a fine introduction to it.