Area 88: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''It's not just a job, it's an indenture.''
|[[Tagline]] for a showing of ''
A manga by Kaoru Shintani that ran from 1979-1986, '''''Area 88''''' is the story of Shin Kazama, a brilliant Japanese pilot tricked into enlisting in the Foreign Legion mercenary air force of the generally [[Qurac|Middle Eastern or North African]] kingdom of Aslan, sometime in the early 80s or late 70s. Aslan is in the middle of a civil war between two brothers contending for the throne, and Shin and the other pilots at the titular airbase are at the front lines of the war.
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Shin and his childhood best friend, Satoru Kanzaki, were trainee pilots for [[Bland-Name Product|Yamato Airlines]], and both of them seemed to be headed for the top. Shin had even caught the eye of the beautiful daughter of the CEO, Ryoko Tsugumo. But one day, while celebrating the end of a training trip to France, a jealous Kanzaki tricks a drunken Shin into signing a contract to join Aslan's military. He is picked up by 'recruiters' the next morning. Now he's forced to risk his life every day in a war that means nothing to him, and he has only three ways out:
# Serve and survive the three years of his contract.
# Buy out the contract by earning $1.5 million from the bounties on the targets he
# Desert from the base in the middle of the desert, and face pursuit and execution if caught.
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Shintani started his career as an assistant to [[Leiji Matsumoto]], and the influence clearly shows in his character designs and more humourous panels.
A three-episode OVA was produced in 1985; the first two episodes were also released as a compilation movie in Japan. Central Park Media released the [[OVA
A arcade [[Shoot'Em Up]] featuring Shin, Mickey, and Greg was made by [[Capcom]] and later ported to the SNES. The game was released Stateside as ''U.N. Squadron'' and shares very little with the series (although it did use bounties as a way for the player to buy [[Power-Up|Power Ups]] between levels). The arcade version had fixed planes for each character: Shin flew the F-20, Mickey the F-14, and Greg the A-10. The SNES version differentiated characters by how quickly they leveled up the main weapon and how quickly they recovered from damage; all characters started with the F-8E Crusader, and could buy other planes as he game progressed.
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* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|In manga issues that did not make it stateside, Julianna was romantically involved with Kanzaki and a member of the Project 4 arms network. However, when she discovered Soria's cryogenic chamber, she could not bring herself to harm the unconscious Soria. Julianna made it appear that Soria's tomb had been burned, then fled with Soria's cryogenic chamber and abandoned Project 4.}}
** {{spoiler|Also in manga issues that did not make it stateside, Sela. Originally a Project 4 mercenary pilot, she abandons Project 4 and joins the Area 88 mercenaries, even becoming Mickey's love interest.}}
* [[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
** 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
* [[Human Popsicle]]: {{spoiler|In manga issues that did not make it stateside, Soria (Saki's mother) was placed in a cryogenic chamber until a treatment for her blood cancer became available. The public was told that she died in childbirth.}}
* [[I Don't Know Mortal Kombat]]: From the flashback scenes with Ryoko. Shin screams like a little girl on roller coasters (Ryoko even calls him on it).
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* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: ''The planes'', at least in the OVA; they're usually destroyed in unique and lovingly animated ways.
* [[Meganekko]]: Yasuda Taeko
* [[Military Mashup Machine]] / [[Base on Wheels]]: In the manga, the Mafia builds an aircraft carrier on tracks that can submerge itself in the desert sand. The arcade game features the land carrier and a couple of [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier
* [[Misplaced Nationalism]]: In one chapter of the manga, Shin needs a new radio, which immediately starts [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/area_88/v02/c019/22.html Mickey and Hoover arguing over the merits of American and West German technology]. Naturally, Shin buys a Japanese model.
* [[Missile Lock On]]
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* [[Peek-a-Bangs]]: Shin, especially in the TV series.
* [[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>
* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: The TV series used a techno remix of Bach's "Little Fugue in G Minor" for its opening theme.
* [[Qurac]]
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{{quote|Mickey: "I didn't want to hear his problems. It'll be harder for me to fight now."}}
* [[Battleship Raid]]: The final boss of the arcade version is a huge battleship, fought in a way somewhat similar to the Cerberus from ''[[Thunder Force]] III''. On a smaller scale, there's the naval battleship Minks and that carrier in the desert.
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[[Category:Manga]]
[[Category:Group TAC]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Horizontal Scrolling Shooter]]
[[Category:Anime of the 1980s]]
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