Besides the small inaccuracies here and there and the 80's overall cheesiness, you can really tell this anime was made by a military aviation lover . Gotta respect even the different sound that the rotary M-61 cannon of Nguen's (South Vietnamese guy, if I remember correctly) F-105 Thunderchief does when he is firing. Even high budget Hollywood movies fail to replicate that distinct buzzing sound (I am looking at you TopGun: Maverick).
I did a little research for f5 tigers and it has m39 cannon rather than a m134 minigun (showed in top gun 1986.) M39 also does a brrrrt rather than shooting 20 rounds per second. That auto cannon must be vibrating like hell
@@DoomDwaneCat Well, no one implied that the F-5 (or the F-20 that Shin Kazama flies) is equipped with a minigun (!) as you say. The minigun is mostly a helicopter gun in 7.62x51mm and no fast jet has this particular weapon as it's armament internally or externally. Too small of a caliber to be useful in modern aerial combat. You must be talking about the M61 Vulcan in 20x102mm that equips the F-105, F-4E, F-14, F/A-18 etc. The M39 surprisingly even though a revolver (also chambered in 20x102mm), does make a buzz when fired, thought a bit different than a Gatling rotary cannon like the M61. I always thought that the buzzing sound was produced by the motor that rotates the barrels when firing, but I was wrong. Also the difference in this sound is because of the different rate of fire every gun has AFAIK. Anyway, both TopGun movies kinda failed in reproducing it realistically. If you want to compare the M39 and M61 firing sound, search for Swiss Air Force F-5E and F/A-18 AXALP live firing videos, there are quite a few in RU-vid. Thanks for the comment, cheers.
This third episode of the OVA came out in 1986. The same year as Top Gun. And just look at how awesome the animation is. Not to mention the battle scenes with the planes is so well done. Everything was handled with such care and such effort. You don't see that much stuff like this nowadays. And who could forget this stellar soundtrack?
I wonder if Top Gun had a scenario as the Area 88? Just picture an alternate story where Maverick who was a civil pilot gets betrayed by his best friend from Japan Kanzaki, so he is enforced to serve a s fighter pilot in a Foreign legion of Arsan Royal Air Force for three years! There he meets his new buddies- Goose, Iceman , Slider, Hollywood , Cougar and Merlin! I think this anti-war drama adaptation of Top Gun would get twice more Oscars for sure.
@@P42_foamer same here to an extent, but don't be too naive. Real combat is nothing like how it's portrayed in entertainment media, but I do encourage you to follow your dream
@@TheOfficial007 The F-104 camo is based on the paint scheme used by planes during "Tiger Meet" exercises. Tho AC does have a scheme based on Shin's plane in Zero and I'm pretty sure Infinity had a crossover event with Area 88 planes.
I have a feeling they may be some sort of Soviet Missiles, though I could still kind of see the rebels using AIM-9s. Still, from their profile, they look more like AIM-9Bs or Es
@@dariusti974 Good point. However, I'm not sure Harriers could mount Air Force missiles such as the J or P, either. They were designed to carry Navy missiles, such as the D, G, and H
"No wonder my ass itches. I've got a bunch of Harrier AV-8As all over it!" Ever since I first heard that line, I've been using it whenever I encounter Harriers in Ace Combat
@@irongeneral7861 In case of the anime, it's not a stupid rule, it was common practice at the time to ripple fire missiles to increase kill probability, especially since they're using older planes with very likely questionably sourced ordnance.
The reason why the F-20 is in there is because at the time its production was not so uncertain as we see it. Also, it was one of the most maneuverable fighters that was in existence at the time, much better than the f-16 or 15.
Surprisingly enough, those Dassault Mirages are actually IAI Kfirs. Kfirs are a heavily augmented Dassault Mirage 5, with a J79 engine (License-built) and canard foreplanes. It also has dog-toothed leading edges. Due to their canards, they have a habit of losing a lot of speed during hard turns.
On a fansite, I saw a scene from the manga, and it was Roundell who led them all the way flying a Blackburn Buccaneer. And the rebels never did use harriers, but used Mig-23BN Floggers on the scene.
I was introduced to this series through the Viz Comics adaptation. I saw the three OVAs a few years later. At the time, there was no one producing “realistic” aviation anime.
It's revealed later in the manga that the people supporting the Asran Rebels are a group called Project 4, which have their hands in political and industrial circles.
Well, there are some other differences: The F-20 was mach-2 capable, and was able to use BVR weapons (such as the AIM-7 Sparrow). It also was one of the first planes (other than the F-15 and F-16) to use HOTAS controls.
Ik I'm crazy late, but in the re-release of Area 88 Shin does fly an F-5 so many people probably get confused despite obvious art style, animation, and music differences
Well, I had been writing a live action film script for the past few years for Area 88 with this scene intended as the final aerial combat scene....but now thanks to Top Gun: Maverick, anything that is done in any similar fashion will just be considered a copy of it. :(
Viffing, the move demonstrated here, in the first episode of James May's Big Ideas, was put to devastating use in the Falklands War fought between Argentina and the UK in the Austral winter of 1982. Using this technique, Harrier pilots chased by Argentine Mirages could slow their jets very rapidly in flight and get behind their attackers in an instant, a decidedly handy maneuver in air-to-air combat. Handy it was for the British: no Harriers were lost in dogfighting during the war. jalopnik.com/the-eeriness-of-viffing-a-harrier-5715656
I didn't mind it but the way they would have most planes exploding rather than just trailing and smoking down used to annoy me as not every jet always explodes before it hits the ground.
@FighterGuDude3214 The plane they call first an F-5 its his previous plane, an F-5E decorated just the same livery wich is shot down in OAV2 , there is definitily an F-15 in the manga (its from the commander)
Love this anime so much! My first non-mecha anime. I just wish the dub would get a better editor, the fist line in this clip, "we leave tonight at oh-900 (0900)." Oh-900 (or 0900 hours) would be 9 AM, in the morning. 9 PM would be 2100 hours.
@coolleect Also faster then the F-16, those are the two of the reasons General Dynamics pressured the US goverment to stop funding it as their aircraft was available. The otherone was it was half the price and could do all or more then the F-16.
@1bearcatf8f Yeah in my opinion they should have replaced the F-20 with the F-5E Tiger II. Or heck, Shin flew the Saab 35 Draken in the Manga, so why not that one.
somehow they have the budget to get that many aircraft with aim-9s and a lot of pilots. Just lay off like half of them or smth. The series is cool but seems to have plot gaps
@@breezygamer1179 Simple: The Aslanian Air Force bought a shit-ton of surplus US military aircraft. The Manga goes into better detail, with them originally only having F-5As, A-4Es and Fs, early F-4s (Cs and Ds), F-100s, and F-8s. Later on, the majority of the aircraft are destroyed, and Saki is forced to rent out 10x Kfir C.2s. Later on, McCoy starts buying back new aircraft (it isn't shown in the OVAs, but McCoy usually blackmails other militaries or suppliers to get newer aircraft in). I just assume Area 88 takes place in an Alternate universe where, after Vietnam, most older aircraft used by the US military get sold for cheap, possibly scrap. McCoy is then able to buy it all via changing serial numbers, or buying said scrap airframes. In the Manga, Shin used a Draken at one point. In order to get it for Shin, McCoy had to buy two scrap J 35OE as and fuse them together. He then has to get the engine from another country, and has to go to yet ANOTHER country just for the afterburner. Mickey's Tomcat was originally intended for Iran, but wasn't able to get there in time before the revolution. The F-14 was mostly just sitting in a shipping container in Italy for awhile. Eventually, McCoy was able to change the serial number for it, so it had the number of a scrapped a. Then, he was able to buy the F-14 for as cheap as scrap. In order to get Greg's A-10, McCoy had to bribe some NATO members (guess NATO itself operated A-10s in this universe...)
Do you know where I can buy the manga? I tried reading it online and it's so good but hasn't been completely translated. Nobody has finished it since 2007. and my local library doesn't have it so I think I'll buy it. It's worth owning anyway. Good series.
@@pootisspencer2579 there was an area 88 collab event in AC Infinity years back. They had F-20A Shin Kazama, A-10A Greg Gates, AV-8B Kim Aba, and F-14A Mickie Simon on offer.
Yeah I saw them. I heard a rumor though that the series has not been fully translated and the part I stopped at was the same part in the books. I can't confirm that though
From what I know, it was the USMC who first discovered VIFFing in 1983, which is where they practiced it. The British might've used it, but I'm pretty sure they scored most of their kills with AIM-9Ls, which were supplied to them by the US right before being deployed.
He scraped up against the wall of the canyon. Likely neglected to take into account the height of the tailfin, which snagged, forcing the nose of the aircraft into the canyon wall
@@ryanlak1234 Probably debris from the previously exploded planes got into its air intake destroying the engine and set the plane on fire. In 4:14 you can see some sparks coming out of the exhaust.
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