| Mercenary jet ace Shin Kazama detects a flight of four Mig-17s, and, despite instructions to wait for backup, pounces upon them single-handedly. Meanwhile, photographer Makoto Shinjo is dropped of at the legendary Area 88 by a helicopter. He meets McCoy, the enterprising supplier of "everything from toilet paper to jet planes", and Kim, a teenage African pilot. Later, base commander Saki Vashtar makes it clear to Makoto that he was against granting him permission to take pictures there and he expects him to conform to all regulations. Makoto is especially curious about Shin, a fellow citizen of Japan--namely, why is he risking his life in the godforsaken desert of Aslan? As for his own motivations, Makoto says "I came here to take a photograph that only I can take"... |
| Stretch 2/13/06:
I was an aviation otaku long before I became interested in anime, and the first thought to cross my mind as I watched the promo for this series was "hey, the rebels have switched to the MiG-17 as their primary jet fighter!". They used to fly the MiG-21 in the OVAs (the cold war was still going on when the original Manga came out, which suggests where the rebels are getting their high-tech weaponry from). Indeed, I read that even this remake is supposed to be set in the 1980s. This opening episode introduces most of the main characters--it's like meeting old friends again (Shin, Mickey, McCoy, & Saki from the OVAs), plus some new faces (Makoto and Kim). I hear that a number of new characters, who weren't even in the manga (which I've never seen) have been included in this TV series. So far, not much more than a hint of the circumstances which led Shin to "enlist" in the Aslan mercenary air force. Nevertheless, plenty of aerial combat keeps you on the edge of your seat. So far, so good! |
