Summary
- Anime offers diverse showcases of aviation, from typical to unique stories, captivating both visuals and narratives.
- The Sky Crawlers excels in animation, engaging dogfights, and a layered message, creating a visually stunning and poignant viewing experience.
- Last Exile and Area 88 offer compelling tales of conflict, showcasing personal stakes, moral dilemmas, and intricate relationships.
The Wright brothers will always be remembered for their contribution to humanity with the invention of the airplane. This invention revolutionized the world in various aspects, including commerce and the military. One of the great things about anime is how there are shows for just about every niche. No matter what a person’s niche is, there is probably a show for them.
Most Iconic Anime Spaceships, Ranked
Space-centered anime tend to have creative storylines, often bolstered by incredible spacecraft. Hence, here are the most iconic anime spaceships.
This is the same with flying, aviation, and everything about planes. There are stories to tell that incorporate this stunning invention and the power to soar through the clouds via a machine.
8 The Princess And The Pilot
A Typical Love Story With Some Beautiful Animation
The Princess and the Pilot
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 1, 2011
- Runtime
- 99 minutes
- Director
- Jun Shishido
- Producers
- Hideaki Miyamoto
Just because a story is somewhat cliche doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful. In a warring kingdom, a mercenary pilot, Charles, is tasked with the important mission of taking the princess Fana to her husband-to-be. To do this, they would have to avoid detection, which is never easy.
The film was animated by Madhouse which is why the visuals are stunning and the feeling of watching a dogfight or evasive maneuvers just made it a fun watch. The end was pretty divisive, and some fans would have loved to know Fana better, but it does a great job capturing the freeing feeling of being in the air.
7 The Cockpit
Three Gritty WWII Stories All Involving Planes
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Episodes |
3 |
|
Studios |
Madhouse |
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Genre |
Action, Adventure |
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Year |
1993 |
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Source |
Manga |
The Cockpit is actually three short stories all around World War II and is one of the few pieces of anime that tells the story of the war through the eye of an enemy combatant. All three stories feature planes and some aspect of the war.
Best Anime Anthology Movies, Ranked
These anime anthology movies are perfect for wholesome viewing by fans who prefer watching full-length anime films.
The animation of the three stories are different and that absence of consistency could be jarring to some, but The Cockpit has an important story to tell, not one that humanizes evil forces, but rather tries to grapple with the idea that both sides were made of some regular humans fighting for the things they valued.
6 The Sky Crawlers
The Plane Designs Are Breathtaking
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Episodes |
1 |
|
Studios |
Production I.G |
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Genre |
Drama |
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Year |
2008 |
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Source |
Novel |
The Sky Crawlers is a movie from the famed director of Ghost In The Shell, Mamoru Oshii, and some of the stoicness of some characters feel almost similar to some aspects of GITS. Two mega corporations have pilots fight one another as a means to de-stress the world, and a new pilot, Yuuichi Kannami, finds more and more mysteries to uncover.
The animation of the planes is incredible, and the dogfights are entertaining. This is where the movie truly excels, and while the overarching message talks about the evil of war, it also has an underlying mystery that is pretty engaging if one is willing to be patient.
5 Last Exile
Two Unassuming People Are Thrust Into War
Last Exile
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2003 - 2003-00-00
- Directors
- Koichi Chigira
- Writers
- Koichi Chigira, Gonzo
- Seasons
- 2
Last Exile is a show about conflict and how innocent people can get sucked into the fighting and violence. This is the story with Claus Valca and Lavie Head who are couriers who get stuck with a mysterious girl who they are to protect from several parties that want to kill her.
Isekai Anime Set In The Most Traditional Fantasy Worlds
These isekai stories feature traditional fantasy elements that are not so common in the realm of isekai.
The show was made by studio Gonzo and the visuals are what one would expect from them. The fantasy world also added some flavor to the show and the innovative “vanship” was also an amazing invention that was fascinating to witness. There would be a sequel, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing which perhaps isn’t as well remembered as the original.
4 Area 88
Oldie But Goldie
Area 88
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2004 - 2004-00-00
- Network
- tv asahi
- Directors
- Takao Abo
- Seasons
- 1
Area 88 tells of Shin Kazama who signs away his life thanks to a devious ‘friend’ and ends up fighting as a mercenary. To get out of this life and to be with the woman he loves, he’ll either have to serve for three years, earn $1.5 million, or desert the team with deadly consequences.
Area 88 is a serious piece of media that tells a harrowing story of a man who has to live with the decisions he made and the attempts he makes to continue to live by his convictions. It has the nostalgic artwork of an 80s anime and some pretty decent air-to-air action.
3 Yomigaeru Sora: Rescue Wings
All About Rescuing People
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Episodes |
12 |
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Studios |
JC Staff |
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Genre |
Drama |
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Year |
2006 |
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Source |
Original |
Rescue Wings is a realistic take on what it is to save people in distress. It follows Kazuhiro Uchida who is transferred to a rescue centre located in a small town while training to become a fighter pilot. He initially takes a while to understand the job, but slowly starts to fall in love with it.
While the major mechanism used in this show is a helicopter, it is more of a serious drama. Rescue Wings has a lot of characters, but it excels at telling the story of victims who are the object of the rescue. It’s an underrated show that should get more love.
2 The Magnificent Kotobuki
Another Entry Into The Cute Girls Doing Things Genre
The Magnificent KOTOBUKI
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WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 1
Perhaps it makes the story more palatable, but one of the more common tropes in anime is making cute girls do different things. T he Magnificent Kotobuki is about the Kotobuki Squadron, a team of elite female pilots and their adventures in a deserted world torn by battles.
Kotobuki focuses a lot of its attention to making air battles look super cool and it gets it right most of the time. While some would have loved a bit more character development, this is more than made up for with the gorgeous action sequences.
1 Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso’s Red Plane Is Iconic
Porco Rosso
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- July 18, 1992
WHERE TO WATCH
- Runtime
- 93 minutes
- Writers
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Studio(s)
- Studio Ghibli
- Distributor(s)
- Toho
Porco Rosso is a 1992 Studio Ghibli movie which is somewhat underrated and isn’t always listed as one of the best from the famed studio. However, as an aviation-themed story, it is great. The titular Porco Rosso is a bounty hunter who takes on jobs and gets into a bit of a kerfuffle with an American/Italian pilot called Donald Curtis.
The animation, as with Ghibli movies, is incredible. The setting of Europe in the post mortem of the first World War also gives the movie a vintage feel. Porco Rosso’s iconic red plane is also an excellent design choice, and the characters are lovable as one would expect from a Ghibli offering.
All Studio Ghibli Movies (Not By Hayao Miyazaki), Ranked According To Rotten Tomatoes
While Hayao Miyazaki's movies cast a wide shadow, Studio Ghibli has produced plenty of other (great) anime films.