The Cockpit is an anthology of some of Leji Matsumoto
(Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas, etc.)
works. More concisely war manga It consists of three separate stories taking place
in the 2nd world war. Each episode is telling the story from the perspective of
a soldier from a different country running through a time of 25 minutes or so
(including director interview). The first one "The Stratospheric Currents"
is about the German ace pilot Leinders and his struggle within to fight for his
country and the thought of bringing peace to the humanity. The second episode
"Sonic Thunder Attack Team" is set on August 5th 1945 - one day before
the atomic bombing of Hiroshima - with Nogami trying to fly the Ohka, a suicide
plane used by the Japanese near the end of WWII. Third episode takes place in
the Philippines from the perspective of an unnamed American soldier.
Each
episode is directed and has a screenplay by a different director... Yoshiaki Kawajiri,
Takashi Imanishi and Ryosuke Takahashi respectively. Hence, the three episodes
have different styles in directing, music, mechanical design and characters. To
me, the first episode is the better one of the three, I would give it a 5 if it
were individually sold. Second episode is lovely too (4.5).. The third episode
has some strange thing to it as it has little to do with the starting character
save for the beginning and the ending so to me it only scores 4/5.
In
a whole, The Cockpit is a really fascinating experience of the human feelings
and tragedies of war. If you like war stories, I consider this a must-watch. For
other, it is a good watch if only for the first episode.
(4.5)
