The Cockpit (OVA)

Infobox animanga/Header
name = The Cockpit


caption =
ja_name = ザ・コクピット
ja_name_trans = Za Kokupitto
genre = Historical, MilitaryInfobox animanga/OVA
director = Yoshiaki Kawajiri (ep 1)
Takashi Imanishi (ep 2)
Ryousuke Takahashi (ep 3)
writer = Leiji Matsumoto
studio = Madhouse Studios
licensor = flagicon|United States Urban Vision
episodes = 3
episode_list =
released = 1993
runtime = 30 min per episode

nihongo|"The Cockpit"|ザ・コクピット|Za Kokupitto is a World War II anthology film based on Leiji Matsumoto's "Battlefield" manga. The animated shorts are written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takashi Imanishi and Ryousuke Takahashi.

Kawajiri's "Slipstream" follows a Luftwaffe pilot on his mission to protect Germany's trump card: the world's first atomic bomb. Imanishi's "Sonic Boom Squadron" explores the last hours of an Ohka pilot on August 6, 1945. Takahashi's "Knight of the Iron Dragon" tells the story of two Japanese soldiers in Leyte as they attempt to keep a promise.

Plot

Slipstream

A disgraced German fighter pilot is assigned to escort a bomber carrying his love and a fearsome secret cargo, but he failed and the bomber blew up.

Sonic Boom Squadron

On August 5, 1945, a Japanese force of Betty bombers, each carrying an Ohka and escorted by Zero fighters, attempts a raid on an American aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific Ocean. As the raiders are attacked by American carrier-based aircraft, Ensign Nogami, a young Ohka pilot, demands to be launched in his Ohka, but his Betty's crew refuses. The bomber is destroyed, throwing Nogami into space. He survives the failed raid and is able to return to base, where he meets the crew of the Betty who will fly him on a mission the following day, as well as two surviving Zero pilots who vow to help him succeed in his mission if it costs them their lives. On board the American carrier, the pilots receive news from their captain that the attacking Betties were carrying Ohkas.

The next day, August 6, the Japanese attempt a second raid on the same battle group. An intense aerial fight ensues as the American carrier aircraft attempt to thwart the raiders from launching their Ohkas. Nogami's bomber is heavily damaged and almost destroyed, but is saved by the intervention of one of the Zero pilots, who crashes his aircraft into a pursuing F6F Hellcat. This enables the bomber to get within visual range of the battle group, and Nogami is launched in his Ohka just before the bomber disintegrates. He flies through a wall of anti-aircraft fire thrown up by the escorting vessels and crashes into the American aircraft carrier. Just before the carrier explodes, its captain receives word that an atomic bomb has just been dropped on Hiroshima.

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.

External links

*cite web | url = http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/films/cockpit/index.htm | title = "The Cockpit: Kamikaze Stories" | publisher = Kamikaze Images
*cite web | url = http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-12-20 | title = Buried Treasure: "The Cockpit" | last = Sevakis | first = Justin | publisher = Anime News Network | date = 2007-12-20 anime-links
title = "The Cockpit"
ann = 757
imdb = 0202299
tvcom =