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by Owen Thomas |
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Episode 1: The Stratospheric Currents
One night after embarrassing himself by losing all of his wingmen in a dogfight with British Spitfire fighter
planes Lt. Erhardt von Leinders of the German Luftwafte resolves himself that he would rather die on his next mission
than give anyone cause to think him a coward. His superiors assign him to fly out that very night on an experimental
new fighter jet as the escort for a bomber carrying a secret cargo. Passengers in the bomber include a fuzzy-bearded
professor, and his striking blonde daughter who also happens to be Von Leinders ex-lover. In the quiet hours before
departure she reveals to him the secret cargo of the bomber, a newly built atom bomb, and begs him not to allow the
mission to succeed. When Spitfires arrive to threaten the mission, Von Leinders faces a simple choice: do his job,
redeem himself, and save his beloved in the process; or disgrace himself and doom his love, but prevent the delivery
of a terrible new mechanism of death.
Episode 2: Sonic Thunder Attack Team
Modified Japanese Bombers soar over the Pacific. Strapped to their bellies are "Cherry Blossoms," the nickname
for Ohka jets- rocket boosted jets loaded with dynamite, carrying just enough fuel to be dropped from the bombers
and piloted directly into US Aircraft Carriers. Lt. Nogami prays that his bomber crew survives the oncoming enemy
fighters and delivers him into range for his eagerly awaited kamikaze flight. They don't and scout craft rescue
Nogami out of the ocean. Back at base he meets his new bomber crew, and on the eve of their mission they dine and
drink together, and ruminate prosaically on the tragedies and vagaries of life amidst war. This flight stays aloft
long enough to launch Nogami, who proudly steers his flying coffin into the deck of an American ship. Just as the
captain of the vessel comments (to no one in particular) on the insanity of the Japanese pilots, a seaman delivers
the news that US pilots have just A-bombed Hiroshima.
Episode 3: Steel Dragon
A young soldier sent to request aid from the 28th regiment on an unnamed Phillippines island crashes his motorbike
and begs for help just as the 28th regiment goes into full retreat itself. Having promised his comrades he would
return, the young soldier decides to return to the now-overtaken airbase anyhow, and a grizzled, saki-loving combat
specialist named Kondai agrees to join him. They both greatly enjoy motorcycle rides, and when a US scout on
motorcycle intercepts them, they knock him off his bike. But they let him live, because Kondai also greatly admires
other good motorcycle riders. In order to complete the useless mission that no one in particular assigned to him,
but which Kondai will take great pride in completing, he rides toward an army of people shooting at him. However,
because Kondai greatly enjoys motorcycle rides, he dies smiling (to be fair, he's also drunk).
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The three stories- each one based on the manga of Leiji Matsumoto, but directed and designed by different groups
of animators- comprising "The Cockpit, Kamikaze Stories," are essentially fables. The difference in entertainment
value between a fable and a lecture lies in the extent to which the fabulists, here the directors, make the story
itself dramatic or clever. Regardless how admirable the moral teaching, a fable with a dull story might as well be
a lecture. Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takahashi Imanishi, and Ryosuke Takahashi, the directors in question, balance the
demands of storytelling and moralizing with unequal success.
Kawajiri, the director of "BioHunter" and "Ninja Scroll," produces unquestionably the strongest episode. Von
Leinders initial shame establishes a strong motivation to complete his mission successfully, and the conflict between
his love for his former paramour and her teary pleadings for him to shoot her and her father out of the sky lend Von
Leinders dilemma more emotional weight than any other in the triptych. Perhaps the most intriguing element of the
story however is the simple fact that the protagonist is a Nazi. If a Japanese, or even American, character were
presented with an opportunity to prevent the use of an A-bomb, the audience might expect them to do the conventionally
heroic and self-sacrificing thing. Not knowing what to expect is the essence of suspense. That suspense, and a more
complexly drawn protagonist create the drama this fable needs.
"Sonic Thunder Attack Team" on the other hand is as gripping as a lecture, but not for lack of interesting
subject matter. Several moments- Lt. Nogami strapping in and saying, "I want to feel what it is like to sit in my
own casket," or the unsubtly ironic ending- stand out despite the weak script precisely because the situations
themselves are so strange and terrible. But the dialogue. . .The characters are wooden, uni-dimensional constructs
that mechanically recite reasons why war sucks (but enough about "Pearl Harbor").
"Steel Dragon" has a much less compelling story, but also much less irksome characters and dialogue. Because
very little actually happens it takes on an almost pastoral, reflective tone during the long motorcycle ride, as
the gruff but humorous Kondai and his stoic but naive young compatriot muse about their war. Their self-reflections
aren't gripping enough to overcome the vacant plot; which is unfortunate because although they get dull, the
portrayal of these soldiers as men who care almost not at all about politics or the larger war but who are motivated
to sacrifice their lives solely out of friendship to the other soldiers shows remarkable psychological insight.
Taken as a whole the triptych illustrates Leiji Matsumoto's feelings about war. Apparently he admires soldiers
and their virtues, regardless their nationality or ethnicity, but rather dislikes the enterprise of slaughter itself.
Pity that his fables don't quite live up to his laudable morals.
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