Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Vintage:
January 8, 2008
Status:
Completed
Summary:
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.
Where do I begin? This animes premise showed a lot of potential but a lot of it falls flat in the execution. First of all the focus of the anime is all over the place(meaning there isnt really one) and that hurts the plot alot. The show begins with presenting the shows premise and then completely forgets about them and cuts off to what can only be described as ungodly repetitive flight missions for the pilots of Area 88. During the last two episodes the show remembers again what it was supposed to be about, but by then there isnt really any time (read more)
Where do I begin? This animes premise showed a lot of potential but a lot of it falls flat in the execution. First of all the focus of the anime is all over the place(meaning there isnt really one) and that hurts the plot alot. The show begins with presenting the shows premise and then completely forgets about them and cuts off to what can only be described as ungodly repetitive flight missions for the pilots of Area 88. During the last two episodes the show remembers again what it was supposed to be about, but by then there isnt really any time left to wrap up the plot in any satisfying manner whatsoever seeing as they have wasted several episodes doing something that could have been summarized in short montages spread out over maybe a maximum of three episodes(certainly not seven to eight which we instead got). One more thing that annoyed me was that it probably would have helped the story if it didnt take place in a fictional country. I mean its not like it takes place in a fictional world seeing as the supposed main character(you´ll see what I mean if you watch the show, it sort of relates to my complaint about the show having no focus) is from Japan and they even have a throw-away line mentioning Vietnam. Also showing both sides of the conflict instead of just one as being the case in this anime would make for a much more balanced show and a more intresting discussion on the horrors of war. Though looking back on how unfocused the show turned out to be, this shouldnt have come as such a big suprise. The one thing Area 88 does have going for it though, is emotional scenes and a few decent battle scenes every now and then. That´s just the problem though. They are decent. Nothing more, nothing less. For an average review I must sound incredibly whiny and agressively so, but that is just because of how frustrated I am at how much potential the original premise had and they just squandering it. Anyway, I´m done ranting now :) (show less)
The only thing that was rubbish about this series besides a very slow developing story was the last 2 episodes. its like the director thought "oh no we only have this left to tell the story" it ends up being completely rushed and an ending that wasnt very thought through.
