OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Area 88

Having the prestigious honor of being one of the very first manga titles to be released in English, the Area 88 series by Cleopatra DC creator Kaoru Shintani has spawned off a TV anime, and a hit video game by Capcom. But its original adaptation was a 3-episode OVA in the mid-80s just as the manga was ending. Studio Pierrot produced this, which was first released in subtitled English by Central Park Media on VHS and Laser Disc, then dubbed in DVD by ADV Films as two compilation movies, and then again through Discotek Media. It was directed by Hisayuki Toriumi, who also worked on Gatchaman, so alot of details went into this anime shining the spotlight on the military-themed shows that had their own niche of otaku in the 80s.

Set in the late 70s-early 80s, a Middle Eastern country named Asran has a civil war going on between two factions battling for the throne. To get outside help, Asran's government sets up a special squadron of mercenary fighter pilots acting as a foreign legion, some of which are shanghaied by getting tricked into signing up for. One of these unlucky jet jockeys is Shin Kazama, a young Japanese pilot whose two-faced friend Satoru gets him signed up for Area 88 where the merc flyers are stationed at. Anyone in Area 88 must either work for a total of three years or accumulate a high enough money for an earlier ticket home. Shin tries desperately for years to work up to go back to his girlfriend Ryoko, but he has to shoot down enemy fighter planes to pay his way out. Shin gains and loses comrades during his tour of duty, even having to deal with an assassin sent by Satoru, but he does eventually manage to work his way out of service. His trip back to France to find Ryoko has him going from one bad situation after the other, leading Shin to believe he can't escape the life of a fighter pilot with all the lives he's taken. So, despite spending after three feature-length episodes pining for his love, after a half-hearted phone call with Ryoko, Shin decides that civilian life isn't for him, and zooms back to Area 88 just as the regime change causes the merc pilots to engage in one final battle, to which the OVA ends just before Shin arrives back, leaving us wondering about the fate of Shin and his crew.

The Area 88 OVA has a crucially facepalming conclusion, whereas the original manga has a more poetic finale, although if you only got the Japanese version though as the English release through Eclipse never completed the series through its single-issue format. There is an overwhelming amount of ennui and melodrama involving Shin's plight with trying to get back home coupled with his incompatible nature of trying to accept a normal life outside of being a merc, all of which pads out the OVA to a 3-episode series run. The major draw though is the uncanny dogfighting and flying sequences which are bloody as hell, like if Tarantino was directing Top Gun. The minority of military otaku might see this as an essential watch, but unless you buy into anime where the jets don't transform into space robots, it might seem like a long haul that reaches a weak conclusion.