TV Series:

Plot Synopsis: 10

Back in the late 1970s/early 1980s. A japanese pilot called Shin Kazama was tricked into signing up with a mercenery air force. Now he has to either survive three years in Area 88 or gain enough money to get out of there by flying missions and killing people, which he hates.

Artwork and animation: 10/10

I love the animation. The 3D airplanes and the dogfight scenes were just epic. If you are an aviation fan, such as myself, this is definetly the anime for you. It's got F-4 Phantoms, MiG-21s, even an F-14 Tomcat and a Harrier! More MiGs get shot down then the Area 88 pilots. This is because, being a mercenary air force, the area 88 pilots are much more experienced.

Music and voice acting: 8/10

The music certainly isn't to everyone's taste. I personally like it, it's trance, by the way. But I can see how some people might not like it. The voice acting was okay.

Characters: 9/10

Some of the charecters were okay. The main character, Shin Kazama could have more lines in some episodes, but I think the TV series is more about Area 88 then him. His hair is a bit weird, though. How I don't know how he manages to fly a fighter plane with one eye covered by hair. There were also other pilots, like Mickey Simon (who is my favourite character in the series, other then Shin) who is a Vietnam War veterin, flies an F-14 Tomcat. There is also a Harrier pilot called Kim (and throughout half of the series I thought he was a girl, due to his effeminate voice.) He is a bit annoying sometimes because he does complain a lot, but in the early episodes he shows Shinjo (I'll talk about Shinjo later) around the base. I also like him because most people in the base, except for Shin, doubt his ability as a pilot, but he soon proves them wrong. There is also another pilot who appears in episode 5 who flies a Mirage F-1 called Kitori. She (yes SHE!) does have an important roll to do with Shin, which I am not going to give away, and she is also the cousin of the base commander. Another main character is Shinjo, a Japanese combat photographer who came to do a documentary of Area 88, well or at least that's what he tells everyone. A lot of people there don't like him because he makes money off people getting killed, but he later reviels to Greg, an A-4 Skyhawk pilot, that it is a non-profit documentary because you can't sell photoes of a top secret base.

Story: 9/10

I think this series was just good with airplanes, but bad at everything else, such as the romantic scenes. However, it was certainly very exciting to wach, and some of the missions that the pilots have to go on are quite intresting. There are also a few intresting plot twists in the final episodes.

Overall: 9/10

I loved watching area 88, and was quite sad when it finished. Just watch out for the scenes that try to be romantic!
OVA:
Plot Synopsis:

Basiclly the same as the TV series.

Artwork and animation: 10/10

For an OVA made back in the 1980s, the animation in this was incredible.

Music and voice acting: 7/10

I'm not a big fan of '80s music, so I wasn't a big fan of that. The voice acting was, however, pretty good.

Characters: 9/10

The characters were about the same as in the new series, except for Kim and Kitori. Shinjo was called something else (I can't remember what) and he was killed off early on in the series. Shin, being the main character, got a lot more lines, which he didn't in the new series.

Story: 8.5/10

Much like the new series, the dogfight secnes were fun to watch. It also had the same cheesy romantic bits. But the OVA was also about how bad war is, and how it can damage someone mentally, and left me thinking "Will Shin ever get back to Japan?"


Overall: 9/10

I can't decide which one I like more, the OVA or the new series?