It's a review of 'The Sky Crawlers' which is one of Mamoru Oshii's masterpieces.
The story unfolds in a familiar world. The characters are young pilots called "Children" , who are destined to live forever in their adolescence unless be shot down in the "war".
Our major character is a teenage boy fighter pilot with a quiet and pensive personality. His name is Yuichi Kannarai. With no memory of what came before and little regard for what will come later, he arrives at his new base which consists of of three boy pilots and a beautiful cold commander Suito Kusannagi is indifferent to him, but in that way people are indifferent because they are trying to. Yuichi learns that she had a lover, and killed him. The boy acted just like him.
Once a few weeks, the crew is asked out on a dogfight above the clouds, and soon one of his brigade is killed by "Teacher", a mystery enmey nobody ever seem to be able to lay hands on.
Yuichi quickly becomes the ace pilot and he is so familiar to the unsurprised fashion in the town, as if he's been doing all of these for years and they are largely expected.
A boy, replacing the fellow killed in the battle, have a different name but identical face, hair and manners. At that time, the scientific reason behind the existenec of Children is exposed finally. Chileren is a group of engineered humans that do not age out of the heightened reflexes and apathy of junior high school and so are used as "ideal" soldiers. Once they are killed in the sky, their skills and disposition will be copied into the latter children. Yuichi is awared of Suito's lover is him.
Suito is also a "Children", but her perfect skill has helped her live longer than all of her fellows. At last she becomes a caption with a unbearably oppressive life. She has nearly driven mad by what has become a Groundhog day of experiences, pilots under her command, a love affair, all on endless loop. She confesses to Yuichi that she did kill her lover, and did so out of mercy: it was a way out.
As if things are set to repeat again, Yuichi has another plan.He persuids Suito to live untill she can make a change and he will strive towards a goal, taking out Teacher and ending the vicious cycle.
The shower of empty bullet casings raining down is beautifully rendered. Yuichi is shot down by the incredibal skilled Teacher.
As an anime it is truly a heart-wreching thing to see Suito waitting for "Yuichi" to return ye again in another form so the whole tragedy can repeat itself. The director makes the narrative ground in sharp contrast to the clear blue skies where pilots go to die.
Like a breeze, the story is over before you know it and it leaves a deep and long-lasting after-taste.
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