Cockpit manages to be interesting without particularly entertaining. Matsamoto's sympathy for soldiers of all stripes and their emotional and ethical burdens deserves to be dramatized better.

In concept and structure only the third episode has serious structural or dramatic problems, but a story is only as good as the telling, and by that measure these are less than a total success.

Only a few characters develop or show any depth. Notable is Lt. Erhardt von Leinders in the first story.

The episodes share a relatively realistic, unstylized look, which is effective but a bit flat. The rich blues and shadows of The Stratospheric Currents, and the airborne dogfights of the first two episodes stand out amidst the otherwise merely serviceable art.

Uneven, although to be fair some of the actors don't have much to work with.

Educational.

The VHS tape includes brief interviews with the director following each episode. On a DVD that's called a bonus feature, in the middle of a tape it's called filler.

There's quite a bit of dry exposition explaining the differences and designs of various WWII jet fighters. It ain't real interesting, but it's definitely deserves the highest score ever awarded for Aeronautical trivia content.