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Cockpit, The
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Animation - 7.5 |
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Sound - 7.5 |
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Story - 8.0 |
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Character - 9.0 |
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Value - 7.5 |
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Enjoyment - 7.7 |
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Average - 7.6 |
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petran79 |
(2008-01-14 20:02:12) 2007-07-02 15:29:51 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
0 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
0 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Another underrated anti-war animated masterpiece. Now after having read Barefoot Gen manga I think this anime comes much closer in transferring the mangas messages than the Barefoot Gen movie, especially in the second episode.
First episode was also very good, the third looked more like a comic relief episode though the ending was far from it.
Leiji Matsumoto has a major influence in anime and manga, though me too didnt have the chance to watch many of his works.
Just like in O.Tezukas work here the same characters appear over and over again and this is the only drawback of the title, if you're not in the mood to watch the same characters again and again, some of which look to caricaturistic for a dramatic OVA.
Especially in the third episode.
The first and second episodes were of the best and most touching I had the chance to watch. But 20 minutes are insufficient for a well-developed story, though the way it cramms so many elements in such a little time is amazing.
Animation is nothing special and in combination with the character design it could distract from the message of the OVA.
Characters are excellent and every second they appear they dont leave the viewer uninfluenced.
Too bad it is not very popular and had I seen it earlier it would have made a deeper impact on me.
Time probably to look a little more the works of the talented director and the mangaka.
Another gem. Not as complex as Zipang but it has more heart.
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nauXolo |
(2005-07-01 20:34:49) 2005-07-01 20:25:18 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| This short 3-parter totally moved me to tears. Tragic, humanistic side to war stories as they forced to give up their dreams or struggle between honor or morals. Each episode takes place in a different arena during WW2 (i think) and tells a different tale of the soliders who are caught in the machinery of war: some oppose, some sacrifice, but overall all suffer.
Although this isn't exactly historically accurate, it makes the dramatic effects very effective, cramming in a lot into a short 24 minutes. Not only do you gain a real strong sense about the main character and his struggles, but you also understand this grimsly situtation as these segments picture the horrors of war.
Overall, this is a very good use of cinematic style and story telling, and although the graphics look a bit outdated, the air fights and battle scenes are very well done.
Sure there are aspects that are weak, like for instance I didn't like the last episode of the 3 and I can see how some characters who act as symbolic representations of for instance "lost love" dont seem to be strongly developed, but i feel that the lack of development here makes up for the horrible and utterly boring scenes that would happen developing them.
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Ridian |
(2005-06-04 16:22:21) 2005-06-02 21:17:01 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| The Cockpit was directed by the esteemed Leiji Matsumoto, and despite having not seen any of his works I was familiar with his track record and therefore expected high quality from this OVA. Fortunately, this three-episode series, told primarily from the Axis Army's point of view, turned out to be a very powerful anti-war statement. Despite being told from the side of the 'antagonist', The Cockpit is not Japanese propaganda so much as a pacifist work in general. Like Grave of the Fireflies and Barefoot Gen, The Cockpit attempts to defame war by establishing a personal connection with the viewer and then ripping that connection apart in three different stories. Though not quite as poignant or emotional as several reviews led me to believe, The Cockpit is still a magnificent OVA series.
Unfortunately, as powerful as the effects tend to be, Matsumoto typically overshoots the meaning of his work. One example of this is the introduction of the main character's love interest in the first episode -- I could clearly see that this scene was supposed to have some sort of emotional resonance, but this character had just come around and I had no idea who she was. This and other such elements often lead to the anime feeling contrived or predictable (see the ending of Episode 2). None of the plots, though genuinely well-written and original, have particularly good endings because of this relatively predictable nature. Arguably Episode 2's was the best (and it was my favorite episode), though I could understand a viewer being significantly let down by it.
Fortunately, though, these are the only genuine faults I can find in The Cockpit. The series's greatest stength is in writing highly likeable, sympathetic characters who the viewer can associate with very quickly. There wasn't a single protagonist who I disliked in this OVA, which is absolutely marvelous considering how easily a character can irritate me with just one unlikeable trait. That's not to say that all of the characters in this anime are a perfect lot, and that's not to say that just because a character is perfect doesn't mean he's automatically likeable...but everyone here is so human. The situations they are sometimes placed in are often polarizing and morally strenuous, the results of which lead to decisions that the viewer may or may not agree with.
The value of The Cockpit, much like that of Grave of the Fireflies, is its attempt to humanize something as faceless and demonic as war. I felt legitimate sadness and sympathy whenever someone in this OVA was ever shot down or slain -- even one of the 'enemy' fighters -- simply because it so deftly casts them as mere humans in something that they can't control. For that, The Cockpit is a sound, if not tragically unnoticed, reminder of the horrors of combat and the lives it destroys.
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