Sky Crawlers

Starring: (voice cast) Rinko Kikuchi, Chiaki Kuriyama, Shôsuke Tanihara, Bryce Hitchcock

Synopsis:

In an unspecified future, a war is fought in the air between two huge corporations, using Kildren – genetically modified pilots who will never grow out of their teens – to fight between themselves so the rest of the populace can get on with their normal lives. New pilot Yuichi Kanami arrives as a replacement for Jinroh, who was killed a short while previously.

As the small group of pilots constantly take to the air to do battle, they slowly learn some unsettling truths about themselves and their pasts – and their futures.

Sky Crawlers is everything you’d expect from Mamoru Oshi, creator of Ghost in the Shell: awe-inspiring animation, an evocative and atmospheric score and some deep philosophical issues for his protagonists – and audience – to grapple with.

The animation is very much divided into two camps – the sumptuous cgi work in the skies, with planes that look so real you could almost touch them, and the colour-drained cel-animation of the pilots when grounded. The split is very deliberate, as the pilots themselves only consider themselves truly alive when they are flying. There is not much to distract the pilots on the ground: a small diner and a classy brothel are the only amenities near the airbase.

Sometimes Sky Crawlers can be a bit of a tease. At one point, a squadron of enemy bombers heads for the airbase. Yuichi is at the diner when they fly overhead so he is able to warn the base of their arrival. However, as Yuichi isn’t there, we don’t actually get to see the ensuing fight, just its aftermath.

While the pace of Sky Crawlers is quite slow, the plot remains quite compelling. Yuichi takes it upon himself to discover what had happened to his predecessor, Jinroh (he wasn’t shot down), each person he comes into contact has a little snippet of information for him. However, Yuichi’s investigation opens up a huge can of worms as he and some of the other pilots come to realise there is more (or less!) to themselves than they knew. To say any more would be to lay down some serious spoilers.

The arrival in their skies of an Adult pilot (the concept of which is completely anathema to the Kildren) called The Teacher – a Red Baron type who flies a plane with a black jaguar on the side – marks some kind of end-game, and draws out a revelation which is completely out of the blue (but fitting). However, the climax isn’t the one you’re expecting. Instead we are left with something bleak, and poetic.

Verdict

Often moving at a snail’s pace, Sky Crawlers isn’t going to be to everybody’s tastes. However, fans of Oshi’s films will find a lot to ingest here. The animation is superb, especially the aerial scenes, and the story’s many themes of identity, memory and duty are given due weight.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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