The Sky Crawlers

In an alternate timeline, the world has seemingly achieved peace. Bereft of international conflicts, wars are now waged between private corporations in place of peaceful nations. Yuuichi Kannami, a recent transfer in Area 262, simply does his job as a contracted fighter pilot. However, the more time he spends at his new base, the more mysteries come to light.

The Sky Crawlers exhibits this reality through the eyes of Kannami as he endeavors to understand the "Kildren," humans genetically altered to be teenagers forever with faster reflexes, and his predecessor, the ace pilot known as "Teacher." However, what troubles Kannami the most is how all this connects to the base commander, Suito Kusanagi. Area 262 has the answers, but the truth comes with a price the young pilot may not be ready to pay.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kusanagi, Suito Main

Kikuchi, Rinko Japanese

Kannami, Yuuichi Main

Kase, Ryo Japanese

Teacher Supporting

Tokino, Naofumi Supporting

Tanihara, Shosuke Japanese

Mitsuya, Midori Supporting

Kuriyama, Chiaki Japanese

Bartender Supporting

Takenaka, Naoto Japanese

Yuri Supporting

Hishimi, Yuriko Japanese

Bus guide Supporting

Saiga Supporting

Aihara Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Ishii, Tomohiko Producer

Kawaguchi, Tooru Producer

Terashima-Furuta, Maki Assistant Producer

Oshii, Mamoru Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 17, 2024

MichaelMorbius

Recommended

This movie isn't for everyone; personally, in fact, I consider it the anti-film. In the sense that it is a dull, pessimistic, slow film that most would define as boring. The protagonists are apathetic and do nothing to change their situation within the film. Furthermore, every key moment, every twist or revelation is greeted coldly. Plus, the action scenes, especially for a war film, are very few. Essentially the anti-film. But that couldn't further from the truth. This is not the anti-film, this is the film. An absolutely incredible experience that will take your breath away and leave you speechless.

The story is about the Kildren, ... these boys created artificially and incapable of dying or aging who are sent to a battlefield to fight a "fake" war between two multinationals. War that takes place in a world of peace but whose aim is precisely to maintain peace and not to make man forget the horrors of war as well as to entertain them. In essence, the Kildren are cannon fodder sent to die and somehow resurrected only to be killed again and again and again... A sad and dark plot, very philosophical and profound. Narrated in a masterful way with ideas such as making each plot twist arrive in the most anti-climatic way possible, absolutely brilliant.

The characters are all expressionless, emotionless, unaware of the truth about their existence and they don't make you feel the slightest apathy for them as they are simple puppets built and manipulated by the strongest. Yuichi, the protagonist, is the exact opposite of a protagonist. Instead of fighting to find out who he is or where he comes from, he simply exists. He exists and is a puppet like the others. Only in the ending does he try to redeem himself with an extreme gesture and this leaves a glimmer of light which, in my opinion, is destroyed by the true ending in the post-credit scene. The characters, however, work. Their apathy and unawareness mixes perfectly with the sad and dark tones of the film. They involved me much more than many other characters in many other anime where, in theory, the characters are the strong point.

The animation is absolutely brilliant, visually it's one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever seen. A perfect use of CGI with the animations of the flying combats which are the flagship of an incredible technical sector. The tones and atmospheres are muted, making everything even more unique. Oshii does a masterful job of directing with some excellent ideas, such as using the subjective view for some scenes during the flying combats. The soundtrack is wonderful with the absolutely perfect main theme which, with its sweet tones, clashes with the atmosphere of the film but which, in reality, hides a lot of melancholy.

Must-watch for any fan of animated films, I can't believe there's so little talk about it. Do yourself a favor and watch one of the most atypical yet brilliant works ever.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 5, 2022

Duckielover151

Mixed Feelings

I saw this movie for the first time when I was maybe 13. Throughout that two-hour experience, literally all I could remember was that scene in the backseat of the car... and melting into my couch for what felt like at least 3 hours, just waiting for it to finally end. This was a movie I've always wanted to revisit, because I've definitely made an effort to better appreciate this kind of quieter, subtly beautiful storytelling as I've gotten older. But even now, I'm not sure I can recommend this one wholeheartedly.

Make no mistake, it's stunningly beautiful to look at. And the music in ... this movie has made me want to go track down everything else Kenji Kawai has ever worked on. But the storytelling leaves something to be desired. If I hadn't read the summary on here ahead of time, I fear I'd still only have a vague idea of what exactly the Kildren were, how they came about, why and what they were fighting... I just needed a little more of a balance. I can appreciate the time spent showing us the monotony and hopelessness of their existence... But we're literally 20 minutes from the end before any sort of conflict with those story points are really brought up. It's a huge exaggeration for the summary to describe Kannami as "endeavoring" to understand their situation, because he really couldn't seem to care less. There are maybe three scenes in the entire movie where any of the important characters show any emotion at all.

It's an interesting idea... but the way it's presented in this movie is just really fucking boring. And personally, I just can't get past that.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 19, 2024

itme_irl

Not Recommended

When first watching this, I had high hopes. Planes? Pog. Weird abstract ideas? Pog. Authoritative woman in power? Pog. However, as this movie continued to unravel, I realised, this is legitimately the worst anime I have ever seen. I've never been one to think, “wow, this is x hours of my life I won't get back.” But, Sky Crawlers, made me feel as if I'd truly and completely flushed 2 hours of my life down the toilet. I can't even call this movie a car crash in slow motion, that would be more riveting than whatever this abysmal piece of media was. I hope, I ... never come across this movie again. This is not highbrow, nor abstract, art house cinema. This is just a terribly written anime. What I did learn from this nightmare experience is that, it doesn't matter how interesting the ideas you may or may claim to have. If they can't be communicated or explored in any meaningful/coherent way, those ideas don't count. They are simply meaningless. If I could rate this -1/10, I absolutely would.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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