| Shin's hopes of buying his way out of his enlistment contract and making an early return to Japan are dashed when his expensive fighter is totalled in a crashlanding. Kanzaki, meanwhile, presents Ryoko with a forged death certificate with Shin's name on it. Shinjo has been beaten up by the Area 88 pilots who have discovered his secret reason for originally coming there. Shin puts an end to the beatings, and Shinjo comes to see him later to explain himself and offer his thanks. Shin remains impassive until Shinjo reveals Kanzaki's engagement to Ryoko, at which point he promptly goes to McCoy to get another plane. Shinjo is being thrown out of Area 88, and says goodbye to Kim and Kitri, who he asks to pass a message to Shin. In the ready room, the pilots are startled by the alarm--and the message that Shin is attempting to defect! |
| Looks like I was wrong--this TV series went with a compromise between a happily-ever-after type ending and the grim, ambiguous one of the OVAs. In the final OVA the rebels are winning the war, the mercenary pilots are virtually annihilated in a cataclysmic dogfight, and Prince Saki himself takes to the air (and proves to be a kickass pilot). Given the somewhat different mood of this remake, perhaps this compromise was the best way to wrap things up, and it worked well. Somehow I just felt good as the usual ED song was replayed over footage of Ryoko. I apologize for my initial skepticism--this turned out to be a worthy "parallel universe" retelling of the same story as the OVAs, with the same characters I've grown to love (plus some new ones), but enough differences to make it fun and engaging. I think I'll upgrade this one to a "Buy". I would love to see a second season of this show, and the way it ended would make such an extension easy to add on. |
