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The 801st Tactical Training Squadron, a stunt-show unit with female pilots, is the dumping ground of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, although that status doesn't figure into the stories the way it does in
Patlabor. The rivalry between ace pilots Miyuki Haneda and Arisa Mitake intensifies with the arrival of maintenance officer Sgt. Takuya Isurugi. A good-natured boob in the tradition of Keitaro in
Love Hina, Isurugi quickly becomes the focus of the jealous battles between Miyuki and Arisa. The plots of these seven episodes (the complete series) are slight at best, with a maximum of "fan service" bath scenes, cleavage shots, etc. In episode 4, which originally aired as a holiday special, the unit visits a remote, icy mountain resort that may be haunted. What appears to be the ghost of a World War II kamikaze pilot panics the girls while they're in the bath, but the supposedly comic ending simply doesn't play. Episode 5 involves unflattering American stereotypes, as pilots from the USAF Thunderbirds meet the Airbats. Based on a
manga by Toshimitsu Shimizu,
Airbats grew out of the popularity of
Top Gun in Japan. As the opening titles proclaim, the show was made with the cooperation of the Japanese Self-Defense Force, although why the national military assisted a series that depicts its pilots as childish dolts who deliberately damage each other's planes in midair is anyone's guess. Rated 15 Up: Nudity, risqué humor, toilet humor, alcohol use, profanity, violence.
--Charles Solomon
