The Cockpit

1. Slipstream
About a Luftwaffe pilot who must choose between his duty to his country: to guard a bomber loaded with Germany's final hope of victory... the world's first atomic bomb... or his duty to the world: to let it fall in flames to enemy Spitfires and be a footnote in history. Of course, things are complicated by the plane's other cargo... the woman he loves.

2. Sonic Boom Squadron
Near the end of the war, Japan has implemented a new weapon -- a human-piloted rocket-propelled flying bomb. Aboard a bomber carrying one of these, young Ensign Nogami awaits his chance to die as a "cherry blossom", a suicide pilot. In a few hours, he will die. The date of his death is set: August 6, 1945.

3. Knight of the Iron Dragon
Two soldiers attempt to reach an air base in order to fulfill a promise despite the fact that it might have been rendered moot in the reality of war.

(Source: ANN)

Lt. Rheindars Main

Horiuchi, Kenyuu Japanese

Ensign Nogami Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Soldier Godal Main

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Soldier Utsunomiya Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Melhenna Main

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Storyboard, Screenplay, Key Animation, Character Design, Animation Director

Takahashi, Ryousuke Director

Imanishi, Takashi Director, Episode Director

Kramer, Steve Script

Reviews

Dec 8, 2015

CreationZilla

Recommended

Ok, this is a three part OVA series so I am going to give each individual episode a rating and mini-review.

#1-Slipstream:
Score: 9
This episode could be the only one you watch and you are not missing anything. This is my personal favorite out of the three. It makes me wish that this episode alone evolved into it's own short 6 episode anime, with more backstory. You get a Nazi viewpoint of WWII and you end up caring for the main two Nazi's. The ending is very satisfying but a little emotional.
It is a great aviation short!

#2-Sonic Boom Squadron:
Score: 7
This episode is alright, it has an ... interesting story. The only factor that throws me off is the design of most of the Japanese characters. A lot of the pilots look very deformed and almost as if they were "inbred"; and it really takes away from the serious tone. (Though the Americans look great) You follow a pilot whom pilots a suicide missile/plane hybrid; as he struggles to find the right time to launch. The aviation battle scenes are what keep this episode "above the water".

#3-Knight of the Iron Dragon:
Score: 6
Ok, this is the worst episode, the serious tone only lasts for maybe a minute. All of the characters now have the goofy "inbred" look to them, again, except for the few Americans in this episode. This episode can honestly be skipped, as none of these episodes relate to one another. You follow a boy and a kind solider as they try to retake their home base. Like the others, the ending is quite sour as well, but i had little-to no emotion for what happens to these characters.
The art style of the characters ruins this episode, and the whole "aviation" them is not present except for a quick plane encounter. No aerial dog-fights present at all.

Overall, I feel like episode #1 was too good when compared to the last two and lead to them feeling underwhelming. I would highly recommend episode 1, episode 2 is all-right, but dont waste your time with episode 3.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 13, 2024

SgtSalamander

Mixed Feelings

The Cockpit is a rare beast of an anime. It's about WW2, doesn't cover it exclusively from the Japanese perspective, and consists of three self-contained vignettes. It's a strange mix of topic, genre, and format, resulting in an OVA which is conceptually strong, but still falls short in some ways which are too glaring to ignore. Beginning with the story, it is right off the bat the strongest part of the show. They are poignant tales of morality, honor, and military tragedy that manage to lay bare the conflict of these things within the human heart in artful and arresting ... fashion. Though, the show starts out a little weak with the first episode being this wild flight of fancy with a questionable moral calculus instead of a grounded story about duty which could have conceivably occurred, like the other two.

The art is generally good, with an astounding warmth and detail given to backgrounds and objects, which is a defining feature of anime from that period. The character designs, when they're good, are great. However, it is within the art where its greatest weakness is found, and what has cost it the most points. Namely, I absolutely hate the goofy style with which most Japanese characters are inexplicably animated in this show. It's so ugly and distracting that its almost impossible to take those characters seriously, which is a real damn shame, because it is the latter two episodes which are the best, and that's where they show up. The worst part is that I know they could have animated them at least a little better, because the application of such a lazy style seems to be random, without regard to screen time. It's rough, because without that glaring flaw, this show would probably be at least a 7, easy.

The sound is good, with a solid, contemplative OST and competent voice work. Though, I recommend the dub for the first episode, and the sub for the latter two, for immersion's sake.

The characters are quite strong, though they are reliant on the strength of the stories they're in. They are not innately heroes, but rather, they are made such by their circumstance, even if they're the villains in other people's stories. The best character by far was Ensign Nogami, whose tortured yet dedicated psyche made for an eminently engaging episode, and the best of the three by far. Overall, The Cockpit is a unique, well-written clutch of war stories that manage to impress in some ways and fall short in others. If you're interested in checking out the relatively sparse genre of WW2 anime, then I'd say this would be a fine introduction to it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 11, 2018

literaturenerd

Not Recommended

Overview:

Time to review another obscure OVA! This time we're looking at The Cockpit. This 1993 OVA had EVERYTHING going for it, but still somehow managed to wind up terrible. It was written by Leiji Matsumoto, who also did the character designs. The director was Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who directed such classics as Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D. This was also made by Madhouse on an impressive budget. The plot is WW2 from the eyes of Axis fighter pilots.

So I went into this expecting something like Das Boot. Many of the Axis soldiers will be humanized and realistic, while also being staunchly anti-war and pointing ... out all the atrocities on all sides. Nope! Well maybe it will be like "Blonde Knight of Germany" the biography of ace pilot Erich Hartmann. It will focus on just one figure on the axis side and lionize him while still not turning into Nazi propaganda. Nope! This is split into 3 episodes and they're all kind of mess.

Episode 1:

A German ace pilot (who happens to look like Harlock), is given a very important mission. He must defend a secret German bomber plane that's carrying an atomic bomb and heading towards London. To add some melodrama, his girlfriend is a nuclear physicist and was the one who designed the bomb. To add even more drama, she is being forced to ride on the plane carrying the bomb so she can witness its destructive power! Remember when America forced Robert Oppenheimer to ride on the Enola Gay and witness the atomic bombings? I sure fucking don't! The physicist girl begs German Harlock to shoot the plane down. He must not let Hitler use atomic weapons to exterminate the people of the UK, US, and USSR. "Any country that would use atomic weapons is a country that has forever lost its soul!" Yes Matsumoto! We get it! Nuking people is bad! German Harlock shoots down the plane and we get this gem of a quote. "I may be remembered as a coward and a traitor, but Germany's honor has been spared. Germany refused to sell its soul". Yep, if any country ended WW2 with its reputation intact and its national honor unsullied it was Germany. (J Jonah laughing clip)


Episode 2:

We get to hear the tale of a noble Kamikaze pilot and his co-pilot the blob person...who looks like the Schmoo. The main pilot is a selfless and noble character who simply wishes to defend his country by any means necessary. This means piloting the man guided missile known as the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka into an American aircraft carrier. Throughout the episode, Americans are astonished by the speed and technological marvel of the Ohka. These Yanks are just shitting their pants at how awesome the thing is. Our hero pilots the Ohka into a capital class Aircraft carrier and just annihilates it, killing thousands of American soldiers in 1 glorious blow. Here's the problem with this. The Ohka was a complete failure and an utter piece of shit. Americans laughed their asses off at it. In fact, the whole tactic of Kamikaze in the Pacific was an utter failure. Japan lost 2,800 planes and pilots to kill a mere 4,900 American soldiers. No American carrier or capital ship was EVER sunk by a Kamikaze, certainly not a fucking Ohka. The Germans killed almost ten times that many Americans just using land mines. This anime is like watching a German war film that is 1/10th anti-war and 9/10ths celebrating how fucking AMAZING the Panzer ViII Maus was. Americans see it and just defecate in fear before 1 Maus kills 100,000 American pig dogs. The fact that it had 1/5th the horsepower required for its weight and was so inefficient just made it SO cool! How about a Russian film that spends all its time celebrating how AMAZING the LaGG-3 was? From a historical viewpoint I just fucking hate this anime so much!

Episode 3:

Some Japanese soldiers are the only 2 left on an island and must decide what to do. They make the logical choice and charge American machine guns in order to go out in a blaze of glory. Oh and Matsumoto decided to draw the 2 Japanese characters as monkeys for some reason. Maybe it was supposed to symbolize something, but it looks like he saw some of those old racist Loony Toons drawings of Japanese and said "Hold muh beer!"


Art and Sound:

The art for the most part is spectacular, especially the first episode. The soundtrack by Kaoru Wada is at least acceptable and does its job. This is a fairly well made film in terms of production values, which just makes it all the more sad.


Overall:

I really wanted to like this movie. I generally enjoy Matsumoto. I love Kawajiri as a director. Hell, I own Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, and Cyber City Oedo on DVD. I love old school Studio Madhouse from the late 80s and early 90s. This anime though was just balls. The ludicrous historical inaccuracy, chest thumping patriotism, needless anti-Americanism, and Axis propaganda bullshit was all just too much. If you want to watch an Axis propaganda film, just go watch Triumph of the Will from 1935. Watch Olympia from 1938. Don't watch this piece of dog shit.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: The Cockpit Episode 1 Discussion spiesc - Dec 25, 2008	18 replies	by red-biru »» Dec 6, 2023 10:26 PM
	Poll: The Cockpit Episode 3 Discussion Retro8bit - Nov 8, 2009	12 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» Jul 23, 2023 9:20 PM
	Poll: The Cockpit Episode 2 Discussion Retro8bit - Nov 8, 2009	11 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» Jul 23, 2023 8:44 PM