Area 88: Difference between revisions

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* [[Cool Boat]]: In manga issues that did not make it stateside, Asran government forces acquire an aircraft carrier. Mickey is right at home.

* [[Cool Plane]]: Quite a few drawn from the [[Real Life]] list, though it should be remembered that the F-15, F-16, F-18, and A-10 were ''the'' latest aircraft and had just entered service at the time.

* [[Cool Shades]], almost to the point of [[Sunglasses At Night]]: Saki in the TV series; other characters flirt with them in other continuities, including Sawa in the manga.

* [[Cool Shades]], almost to the point of [[Sunglasses at Night]]: Saki in the TV series; other characters flirt with them in other continuities, including Sawa in the manga.

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Kanzaki later in the series.

* [[Dodge by Braking]] and [[Aerial Canyon Chase]]

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** In the manga, Kanzaki gets drunk after a Yamato Airlines plane crashed into Tokyo bay.

* [[During the War]]

* [[Eighties Hair]]: Well, Seventies. Justified in that the original series is actually set in that period.

* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: In manga that did not make it stateside, Area 88 is abandoned after Farina's nuclear weapon detonates nearby. (It's reoccupied later.) The pilots and staff are relocated to a subterranean base inside a mountain.

* [[Evil Cripple]]: Farina, who is confined to a wheelchair.

* [[Evil Old Folks]]: Farina in the manga and OVA.

* [[Eyes Always Shut]]: Roundel in the TV series; Hoover and Ryoko's father in the manga.

* [[Fan Service]]: Ryoko gets a nude scene in the OVA, not to mention several nude scenes in the manga. Several other female characters, including Taeko and Sela, deliver fan service in the manga too.

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* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Mickey and Shin develop this kind of dynamic. Most visible in the manga, when (after a Shin has a momentary [[Heroic BSOD]] during an encounter with an airliner carrying both Ryoko and Kanzaki) Mickey gives Saki (who is considering executing Shin) a very thinly veiled threat about the consequences of doing so -- i.e., friendly fire.

** Ryoko and Taeko as well.

* [[Highly-Conspicuous Uniform]]: Several of the pilots wear brightly-colored flightsuits in the OVA and TV series.

* [[High-Speed Missile Dodge]]: Doesn't always work and the G forces involved wind up killing Mario.

* [[Honest John's Dealership]]: Base quartermaster McCoy sells everything from fighter jets to toilet paper -- and is not above shady practices. Like leaving Rocky's bag out in the sun to spoil his film, or selling defective Sidewinders at $20 each.

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* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]: Many of the characters are dead by the end of the manga, including Saki, Mickey, Sela, Greg, Warren, Kanzaki, and Abdael.}}

* [[Legion of Lost Souls]]: If the series was not inspired by the French Foreign Legion, [[Tropers/Winter|This Troper]] will eat his comics. And some of these souls are seriously lost. Naturally, Shin was in Paris when he was tricked into signing his contract.

* [[Liberty Over Prosperity]]: In the OVA, Saki tells Shin that his grandfather was a progressive, but objected to using foreign capital to develop Asran.

** In the manga, Saki explains to Mickey that Asran doesn't export its oil because of the problems that would erupt from foreign capital.

** Abdael rejects this approach. Part of the reason why he initiated Asran's civil war was because he wanted to use foreign capital to develop Asran.

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* [[Private Military Contractors]]: The Wolf Pack. Everyone at Area 88 to some degree in the 2004 series. Also Mickey's ex-student.

* [[Product Placement]]: In the manga and OVA, Rocky uses a Nikon camera, whose name is prominently shown a few times. Also, in the OVA, the base cafeteria has a Coke machine complete with red and white logo...which sells 7-UP for some reason<ref> 7-UP is a owned by the company that makes Dr. Pepper</ref>.

* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: The TV series used a techno remix of Bach's "Little Fugue in G Minor" for its opening theme.

* [[Qurac]]

* [[Ramming Always Works]]: Subverted in the manga when one pilot tries to ram the land carrier's elevator with his critically damaged plane. He misses.

** Many years ago, Ryoko's father was a Kamikaze pilot in [[World War II|the War]], but his plane failed to explode.

* [[Rare Vehicles]]: Shin flies at one point or another an F-20 and an X-29, both prototype or experimental planes. Also, McCoy is somehow able to obtain even the newest and shiniest planes, including an F-14 (Iranian, impounded en route due to the Revolution) and (possibly) an A-10. The TV series cuts the more unlikely examples; Shin's F-20 is replaced by an F-5 (which he also flew in the other versions).

** In all versions, Shin flies an F-8E Crusader at some point, which is at least two generations out of date when the F-14 is in service. In the manga, he also flies a Saab 35 Draken, a Swedish fighter about the same age as the F-8E (both planes made their maiden flights in ''1955''). The Crusader's ability to fly with its wings folded is a plot point in all three continuities (they love that ''Fang'').

** The setting is shortly after the Iranian Revolution, with the OVA showing a date of April 1979 for Shin's contract and takes place over the next three years, while the other continuities are a little vaguer. The Crusader served in Vietnam and had a very good kill record against MiG-17s and MiG-21s (the mainstay of the enemy air force), so it's not as outdated as you might think.

*** In fact the French Navy operated F-8 Crusaders up until 1999, when they replaced them with Rafales. The planes were extensively upgraded and modified (F-8Ps, with p as in "Prolong?-prolonged-; featuring RWR, ILS, new avionics etc...). They used it in actual combat operations (Beirut, Persian Gulf, Kosovo...).

** A few Draken can also be seen in the TV series, flown by nameless [[Red Shirts]]. Somehow, Kim's able to fly and maintain a ''Harrier''.

* [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]: The F-8 Crusader can and has flown with its wings folded. In fact, it can take off, fly, and land with the wings folded. The first time this happened, it was because the pilot [[What an Idiot!|forgot to unfold the wings.]]

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* [[There Are No Therapists]]: After the Vietnam War, Mickey never got professional help for his war trauma, making it difficult for him to adjust to civilian life.

** In the OVA, war trauma left Shin distracted and emotionally disconnected {{spoiler|after he left Area 88 and returned to Paris. In the manga, after leaving Area 88 and taking up residence in Paris, Shin drinks heavily to cope with his war trauma.}} In neither case did he think to seek professional help.

* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: Sawa, who first appeared in the manga as a joke character, later returns throwing assasins off a balcony and carrying a katana under his coat.

* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: Sawa, who first appeared in the manga as a joke character, later returns throwing assasins off a balcony and carrying a katana under his coat.

** For that matter, Rocky after his crash in the desert.

** In the OVA, Shin is not particularly good at defending himself. In the Paris bar scene, the Asran military recruiter throws him to the floor after he denies signing a mercenary contract. Later in the OVA, however, Shin not only stands up to a trio of Paris thugs, but subdues a robber by throwing a knife into his arm.

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[[Category:Manga]]

[[Category:Group TAC]]

[[Category:~~Area 88~~]]

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