The Sky Crawlers is based on a Japanese novel series by Hiroshi Mori. First published by Chuōkōron-shinsha in June 2001 and spanning five books, it follows the journeys and tribulations of a group of young fighter pilots involved in dogfight warfare, and is set during an alternate historical period.
Mamoru Oshii's _The Sky Crawlers_ is an inaccessible film.
By his own admission, it wasn't something that lent itself to the international stage, unlike his work
on _Ghost In The Shell_. It's themes and indeed its intent are harder to discern, but beneath the
surface is a piece of media that begs to be examined.
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# __An Endless Cycle__
It's fitting then that Oshii's film would again explore the philosophy of what it means to have an
identity.
However, Sky Crawlers primary message is easy to see. Opting to visually present and imply the
futility of war and our morbid fascination with it. It does so with enough subtly to quietly drag you
into the world.
Depicting one side of a never ending conflict and the difficulties and trauma of the humans and
Kildren pilots that fight it.
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# __Blank Stares__
Pilots with whom death provides (arguably) no escape from battle. Something that the characters
including the humans, seem to think taboo.
Because of this, we are often treated to awkward pauses for contemplation of repeated events. Blankly
gazing into what once was and likely will be again.
It's no accident that Oshii places us first hand into these conversations multiple times in order to
view the absurdity of them, asking us to look at our own unfavorable surroundings that we lack the
initiative to change.
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#__Imperfect__
These flaws are not hindrances to the characters though. Chihiro Ito's screenplay provides an
unmistakable layer of fear and doubt among the characters that rarely show emotions.
Acting as the same tools of war that they regularly control, only to continue to spiral back down to
the ground.
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#__The Harsh Reality__
The undertones and themes of Sky Crawlers can be enthralling.
But while there is a visceral experience here if you enjoy film and art in general; just as I would
seldom refer to a painting as entertaining, _most_ of the film occupies the same vain in typical
circles.
Still, Oshii's own identity and legacy in pushing the medium is only bolstered by _The Sky Crawlers_
>http://dorkshelf.com/2014/07/12/interview-mamoru-oshii/
_DS: As an artist who works in different mediums on a regular basis, how do you ultimately want to be
remembered in the global artistic community?
MO: As a __conscious filmmaker__._
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__CASTELLANO__ Hace un tiempo ya que empecé a reflexionar sobre la guerra,no sobre si es buena o mala, tema que tengo desde bastante antes asimilado,si no que nos lleva a ese estado de conflicto permanente. Sky Crawlers es una película atemporal, no importa el año producida, y aunque por culpa de sus efectos 3d está condenada al envejecimiento, los temas de los que trata estarán por siempre presentes en la naturaleza del hombre, y de la mujer. La idea de lo eterno es algo que no viene de nuevo, aunque si lo combinamos con experimentos de laboratorio y tecnologia tenemos una vista nueva a este problema. El simbolismo está presente en los personajes más secundarios,el búho, sintoma de astucia, encargada de encontrar y "proteger" en vida a la protagonista y por otra parte el Jaguar encargado de "aniquilar" a esta. Pongo el " " por una razón y es que como he dicho antes, estos "niños" son eternos. Niños en apariencia, ya que son capaces de sobrevivir en un mundo en guerra, son astutos, tiene capacidad de resolver problemas morales, como el compañero en el agua y el tanque de combustible vacío. Hay un par de errores, desde mi punto de vista, pero es una obra de culto al anime que reflexiona sobre el ser en la guerra. El hombre es o no es, siempre se debate entre esos dos estados. __ENGLISH __ Some time ago I began to reflect on the war, not on whether it is good or bad, a subject that I have been assimilating for quite some time, but that leads us to that state of permanent conflict. Sky Crawlers is a timeless film, no matter the year produced, and although because of its 3D effects is doomed to aging, the issues it deals with will always be present in the nature of man, and of women. The idea of the eternal is something that does not come again, although if we combine it with laboratory and technology experiments we have a new view of this problem. The symbolism is present in the most secondary characters, the owl, a symptom of cunning, responsible for finding and "protecting" the protagonist in life and on the other hand the Jaguar in charge of "annihilating" it. I put the "" for a reason and that is that as I said before, these "children" are eternal. Children in appearance, since they are capable of surviving in a world at war, are astute, have the capacity to solve moral problems, such as the companion in the water and the empty fuel tank. There are a couple of mistakes, from my point of view, but it is a work of anime cult that reflects on being in war. Man is or is not, he always struggles between those two states.
Art is the main mouthpiece for society. It's the way that artists and their consumers speak out against the problems of their times. As such, anti-war stories are a natural staple. *The Sky Crawlers* takes a more calm, introspective take on the genre. Does it succeed in what it sets out to do? Well....... some points it hits, and other points it misses. Please bear with me and i'll try to explain. # ~~~The Basic Premise and Themes~~~ ___ *The Sky Crawlers* runs on the philosophy that war is inevitable. Wars are fought for a number of reasons. Disputes over resources and land, disagreements over governing methods. You could argue that war is somewhat necessary. It promotes economic growth and technological advancements. It provides a nation's populace with a common cause and enemy to unite against. However, the potential benefits don't change the fact that the cost of war can be much too great. So, if war is inevitable, the only logical way to deal with it is to lessen it's more unsavory consequences. Castrate it so that the discomfort caused by war is kept to a minimum. The way society eased the effects of war is by turning it into a business. The public can watch this staged war with no consequences, cry their crocodiles tears over the death of young people that had no futures to lose, and then go home to their comfy beds and sleep peacefully. No strained supply lines, no husbands and sons never coming home. This comfortable kind of war is where a new problem takes root from. If war becomes too impersonal and the consequences it carries become less obvious, then there is less incentive to end it as soon as possible. War without the nasty consequences breeds apathy. It's sort of a, "If it's not me, or my family that suffers, why should I care about whether it ends or not?" kind of attitude. The only people that suffer in this war are a breed of ageless children specifically created to shoulder all the pain and death that war brings with it. Specifically created to live and die in a war over nothing at all. It's not a surprise that even a cold, sterilized war comes with its own risks. There is always a chance that it will one day run hot again, and true battles will rage on in the skies. One company might gain an advantage over the other, and begin the path to victory in a war where there must be no winners. Therefore, there needs to be a fail-safe in place. An enemy that can never be defeated, a balance between the major powers. Any company that begins to gain the upper hand will then be faced by the enigmatic ace pilot who maintains the eternal stalemate, the Teacher. Only two things are known about him: he's an adult, and any pilot that he has in his sights will not live to stand on solid ground again. Any Kildren dead set on breaking the status quo and winning the unwinnable war will have to shoot down the Teacher first. # ~~~The Good~~~ ___ The most interesting thing about this movie was the way it portrayed the Kildren's odd behavior caused by their relationship with death. Kildren that live long enough to be promoted and retired from the front lines are quite rare. They are born to die young, it's their purpose in life and they just sort of accept it. The Kildren all have a casual disregard for their own health. They're all heavy drinkers and smokers. Don't need to worry about lung disease and liver failure if you're just gonna die in your teens anyway, I guess. The Kildren aren't afraid of death. It's not that they want to die, or that they're happy to do so or anything. They just don't *care.* Living or dying, it's all the same to them. They'll just be replaced when they fall, so what does it matter one way or the other? One thing I found fascinating was the language the movie uses to describe the Kildren's immortality. Rather than saying "We can't grow old", the Kildren say, "We don't grow old" almost as if to say that their eternal youth stems from a habitually short lifespan. Of course you'll never get old if you don't live long enough. The youthfulness of the Kildren could be a metaphor for the fact that the fallout of the previous generation's bad decisions is usually felt by the next generation. After all, it's not the wizened old generals in their war rooms that suffer and die on the battlefield, it's the young men that get sent in their place. They don't grow up because they're never given the chance. Maybe i'm stretching a bit, but that's how I interpreted it. As far as the animation goes, it's top notch. I doubt you'll hear anyone complaining about the way this movie looks. The character animation is what impressed me the most. Every movement the characters make contribute to their characterization. You won't need any explanations of someone's personality in this movie: how they walk, how they move, how they throw a bowling ball will tell you all you need to know about who they are. The movie pays special attention to each characters' subtle ticks and behavioral quirks. Things as simple as lighting a cigarette or folding a newspaper are animated with painstaking meticulousness. While it contributes to the already slow pace, these little details add an extra layer to the characters and their unusual situations. # ~~~The Not So Good~~~ ___ While the characters' movements are beautifully fluid, their facial expressions are not quite as natural. Tetsuya Nishio's character designs are partially to blame for this. The characters' blank smiles and owlish eyes give them a synthetic, unsettling look. Coupled with the unusually realistic movements puts them quite nicely into the uncanny valley. (Except for Tokino. He's goofy, expressive, and feels like a real person. He's also the best character in the movie. He didn't really have much competition though, being stuck in a movie full of the wettest blankets you'll ever see). This can be considered a pro rather than a con, if you stretch your imagination a bit. The Kildren aren't normal humans, so it makes perfect sense that they wouldn't act like them. However, this quality plays into the movie's first major flaw: __it's painfully awkward__. The characters all talk with a flat, unconcerned manner even when it's inappropriate. Any emotion they express is muted and stiff. Conversations are often punctuated with long pauses, which are made worse by the characters' aformentioned huge glassy eyes. One character will say something to someone else and they don't answer immediately. They just sit there and *stare* for what feels like minutes on end. Never has a movie given me second-hand embarrassment quite like this one. I was this close to screaming *"Get on with it!!"* at the screen like I was watching *Manos: The Hands of Fate.* ~~~img(https://pic8.co/sh/kFaaeN.jpg)~~~ *The Sky Crawlers* unfortunately suffers from one of Mamoru Oshii's signature trademarks, which results in the second major flaw of this movie: __it's damn slow.__ This movie is 2 hours long, it felt like 4 hours. Everything moves at the pace of an old grandma crossing the street. However, keep in mind that not everyone that watches this movie will find this to be particularly detrimental to their enjoyment. Slowness is just something that I personally am not a fan of when it comes to film. I am notorious for zoning out even during the most exciting action flicks, so it could very well have been my fault and not the movie's. The plot moving like molasses is a direct consequence of *The Sky Crawler*'s most egregious flaw: __the balance between the slice of life aspect and the dogfighting action aspect is *way* off__. There is about fifteen to twenty minutes of action and an hour and a half of characters just doing absolutely nothing. What little action scenes there are are excellent, but they're too few and far between to truly appreciate them. This wouldn't be so bad if the dialogue hadn't been so lacking in subtlety. There is nothing wrong with focusing more on developing the themes and morals, but it's so forced it just comes off as clumsy. Perhaps a better approach would have been to go a more satirical, dark comedy route with the dialogue. A little extra humor and nuance might have eased the painful sluggishness of the plot somewhat. But hey, that's just my opinion. If I had to guess what I think this movie was trying to tell me, I'd say.......it was telling me not to be apathetic about life, mine or others. Just because I can't see people suffering and dying right in front of me doesn't mean that their suffering isn't real or important. Just because i'm young and alive now doesn't mean that it'll last forever. But i'm gonna be completely, brutally honest here. After watching Yuuichi light his cigarette and snap the match for the fifth freaking time, apathy is the only thing I can still feel. But in the end, it doesn't matter how I felt about it, one way or the other. It doesn't change the fact that it's a __perfectly good movie.__ It's competently made, beautifully animated, and it deserves a moment of any film buff's time. Fans of Mamoru Oshii's other movies in particular will mostly likely get a lot of enjoyment out of this one.
In the world of The Sky Crawlers, there is a painful romance between two immortal beings. Used as tools and weapons, they are experiments used by their government to fight an endless war. Even if they die they’ll be cloned back to life and lose that life’s memory. At the center is the longest survivor who feels she has lived for too long. They don’t know how many times they’ve died and been brought back, though once they realize what’s happening some lose meaning in their lives. How many have they killed? How many times have they died? Their miserable state is subconsciously reflected on their drones like, apathetic personalities. Some reach such a dreadful mental state, they start asking to be killed by the other Kildred. Some look for a better way. And the cycle of reincarnation continues. Tokino is the only one that makes the best of it and who tries to enjoy life. The tragic reality is that he is, who knows what number clone of himself and the reality just hasn’t sinked in yet. All his friends are going to die in the war eventually, and so is this version of him. I’m sure he knew by the end if not the beginning. Midori is the one who realized what is happening and who finds horror in it all. Her struggle for the truth made her feel worthless, as she tries to help make sense of it all with the rest. Her eternal fate as a tool of war to live and die endlessly broke her down as she tried to share this with the others and struggle to cope. And the cycle of reincarnation continues. (This will be a political analysis from here.) The Sky Crawlers is a film that at most important, tells you what you need to know with brutal honesty, that war and humans are inseparable. The rest is up to interpretation as a lot of what is happening is mysterious, and not directly answered to the viewers. What is the importance, necessity, and horror of war? To what, to those that just see it as their job to become hired killers. Ironically, politicians use war to give the illusion of peace. The people start to believe that if other countries are in a disastrously violent state, and if they can be fooled enough to believe that they have it better where they are. As a result, they will be made to believe there is peace where they are. Their governments believe more so, however, that as long as there is war, there can be profit, not peace. War is a profitable business where the dollar has more value to them than a person. Because in their eyes, war must always happen, they must prop up an undefeatable enemy. To do this, they must train people on the other side, and use the media to maybe parade them at first, but then to vilify them and turn them into powerful enemies, which justifies the invasion. It is true that war has brought about heroes and change for mankind. Some say it gives meaning and life to some, though really, it’s misery and destruction for most. Take a look at my rotten country called America where politicians like to point fingers at other countries to make people think it’s peaceful and great here when there’s yet another mass shooting that results from the degenerate, and trigger-happy culture that has tainted the minds of the young. It’s because of these morality twisting institutions of media, education, and others. Everything is backwards; most of what we’ve come to believe is a lie. As The Sky Crawlers play out it’s beautiul and intense aerial combats and Kusanagi’s analysis of warfare, The viewers can see that war is the most devastating form of violence. When this world ends it won’t be ended by muggers in the street. It will be ended by highly educated people using weapons developed by highly educated people, law-abiding people, people with little fair-haired kids, house on the corner, professors in colleges. Because these are the people who do what? Make the bombs, make the weapons, make the missiles, and all of these kinds of things. And yet we will not study these people as perhaps possessing some genes for violence. Is there a gene for psyche violence? The kind of violence you do to a people’s mind when you destroy their culture, their history, destroy their self-esteem, and the other kinds of things? I think what is even more interesting is the fact that the most devastating violence is perpetrated by your average law-abiding citizen. By our good Christian citizens. What does the army want to recruit? Nice American people. Christian boys. Law-abiding boys. High school graduates. People with clean records. Because they are the most conducive to making into killers. They make the best killers. Why? They’ve been trained to submit to authority only without thinking. They’ve shown by their clean records that they’re not rebels, so if the officer says “Take that hill,” off they will go, it doesn’t matter what the point is. They’re used to bowing to authority and following authority unthinkingly. They have been trained into conformity. They’ve been trained to respond to patriotic music, so you play the music and beat the drums and off they march to war; it doesn’t matter what it is for. They have been trained to believe that as Americans or whatever nationality, they are morally superior to their enemies, and that their enemies are less human than they. And therefore you can use their very religion as the key to getting them to kill by designating the other people as pagans; nonbelievers. It is under the banner of religion and patriotism that most of the killing and death in the world has occurred. The Sky Crawlers explores war, but Mamuro Oshii also offers hope. Don’t escape or run away from a miserable existence, live and find a way to change things. See reality for what it is, not what you want it to be. Dare to struggle and dare to win. If you don’t dare struggle, you don’t deserve to win. Theory without practice is irrelevant. The situation can improve you are willing to fight for it. Though you go down the same road in life, look carefully and you’ll see things you never saw before. The scenery doesn’t stay the same.
--- # __~~~War’s Uncertain Inevitability~~~__ --- Mamoru Oshii is an undoubtedly talented director, and a seemingly quite troubled, introspective person. This leads him to utilize his film-making less as form of entertainment and more as a vehicle to reflect upon the tensions within his own mind and that which he sees in the world. He has a way of exposing these tensions through his messaging that is more effective than the vast majority of other directors. He likes to at times drop all pretense of a story being told and have his characters come off almost as if they are speaking directly to us, the audience, usually delivering the core thrusts of the messaging. This makes his works often feel like a single statement wrapped within an atmosphere built up for the sole purpose of delivering that statement rather than a conventional narrative—often quite poetic in execution. This is I think where I like him most as a director. When he commits to a more personal and honest reflection. _Angel’s Egg_, this, and the patlabor films are him admitting that he doesn’t have the answers to certain issues but wishing to explore them nonetheless–and even further, express the very uncertainty he has regarding them. While Angel’s Egg’s style, setting, and concept make it a more captivating film to me, I think this is potentially more impressive in its meticulous expression of uncertainty, despite a meandering first half. It tackles a more specific issue than Angel’s Egg, allowing it be more narratively sound–but it doesn’t end up losing the profound effect of ambiguity Angel’s Egg captures. It does this by using the specific topics it covers to branch out and resonate over wider issues as well, the core emotions it’s expressing being fundamental to all kinds of things. _The Sky Crawlers_ is a haunting rumination on humanity and its relationship with war. It is a deep examination of the overwhelming and conflicting thoughts Oshii himself has surrounding war. These thoughts come together to create a harsh and somber tone; A harshness in the film's unforgiving depiction of reality, and a sadness in its reflection upon that reality. ~~~img600(https://i.postimg.cc/sf9tvNG6/skycrawl3.png)~~~ --- It depicts a community of people, the Kildren, who feel lost in the world and circumstances they inhabit, but continue to execute their jobs as pilots in a war unwaveringly. The Kildren lead a fleeting and tragic existence in which they never grow up, can only die in warfare, and are then reborn as a new Kildren with little to no memories of their past life. The bare amount of artificial memories necessary are implanted into them when they are reborn in order to sustain their purpose for the powers that be as pilots in the war. They wander throughout their lives within an illusion, hazy and jaded from themselves and reality, largely unquestioning of their circumstances. The Kildren are us. Humanity moves along throughout time constantly waging wars. War has become an almost presupposed inevitability. We as individuals inherit this reality as we grow up with countless presuppositions such as this pushed onto us simply as a result of our environments. In a way, we are a reborn version of those in the past, with their actions effecting our realities and scraps of information or memories being left over to us in the form of recorded history. These presuppositions and the general knowledge afforded to us (and lack thereof) that reinforces them create an illusion we walk our lives within, like the Kildren. This illusion often serves those in power and the sustaining of destructive practices such as war. It’s used to create manufactured consent. The Sky Crawlers is an exploration of the ways in which this manifests. >“Having wars going on out there somewhere sustains the illusion of peace in our society.” This is used to simultaneously maintain the presupposition of the inevitability of war and distract us from other presuppositions we might be making regarding our own existing structures of society. Kusanagi at one point in the film outlines the utilization of war as a business framed with a photo of old white men behind her, presumably former war generals and celebrated people in positions of power. This serves as a representation of the powers which the business of war benefits. “Teacher”, the unbeatable enemy plane, is also a representation of these illusions subdued onto us. When the enemy is unbeatable, the war will never end; This “unbeatable” status it has being sustained by the power and very real effects behind it. Consequently, war itself is seen as an unbeatable prospect of humanity. This film asks if it really is unbeatable. ~~~img600(https://i.postimg.cc/hG199T8B/skycrawl2.png)~~~ --- The hazy, powerless existence we lead, subject to the illusions crafted all around us is what the Kildren are used to express. Every conversation in the film is tinted with a hint of unease. Each character seems to be simply going along with their circumstances ignoring their lack of understanding. CGI animation is used at times to imitate real life with odd shots of cigarettes, landscapes, and planes. This makes the film feel like an animated production in which real life is bleeding into–reinforcing the harsh reality of its depiction. At times the Kildren cling to the little comforts they are afforded, such as sexual intimacy, while at others they stare blankly at the sky, lost, and without the ability to change anything about it. This duality of their existence, of our existence, is represented poignantly in the scene where Kanami and Kusanagi embrace each other in a fit of passion after all they’ve been through. As they do so, the frame creeps over to display their hands clutching a gun. Just as they cling to the gun despite embracing each other romantically, humanity seems to morbidly cling to war and violence no matter the circumstances. ~~~img600(https://i.postimg.cc/4dFH55mr/skycrawl4.png)~~~ --- Through the perpetual haze of their existence, the Kildren sometimes have moments of clarity. At a fundamental level they are aware of their lack of understanding–they have sentience. Kusanagi, having lived much longer than most other Kildren, perhaps longer than she is supposed to, gains more understanding than the others. This leads her to have to grapple more directly with everything. Because of this, she chose to kill Jinroh whom she loved in an attempt to release him from this tragic reality. Kusanagi’s struggle to come to terms with her circumstances and the growth Kanami exhibits toward this point display Oshii’s personal struggle with these issues. As he looks more closely at humanity and the world around him, he comes to a barrier of understanding. A point that causes tension and distress. He sees the endless cycle of war humanity is stuck in. He sees that it being an inevitability is a presupposition pushed onto us, and therefore the possibility for some kind of change. He then asks himself if war could ever be entirely done away with, if it is actually beatable, and he has no answer. >“You can change the side of the road that you walk down everyday. Even if the road is the same, you can still see new things. Isn’t that enough to live for? Or does that mean that it isn’t enough?” Oshii ultimately feels powerless in the face of human nature and issues at such a large scale as this–as everyone does. He asks us, the audience, if life—if the project of humanity—is worth it in spite of all of this. Through it being seen as taboo that Kusanagi has had a child of her own, he asks if bringing a child into this tragic cycle is a cruel thing to do. The film ends with Kanami telling Kusanagi she must live on until some sort of meaningful change opens up. He then challenges the enemy plane, Teacher, a representation of the illusion that sustains this perpetual war. Him defeating Teacher would seemingly be what is necessary to facilitate a meaningful change. However, he simply isn’t able to, and is killed in the process. An illusion that has the power behind it to exert its effect on the world dictates reality just as much as anything else. After Kanami is killed by Teacher, we see the other Kildren all standing together outside the hangar looking up at the sky waiting for him to return. As time passes, they give up and leave, returning back to their tragic roles in the unchanged cycle of war. ~~~img600(https://i.postimg.cc/xTL3PXSt/skycrawl6.png)~~~ This ending, while certainly depressing, I believe can be seen two different ways. Most likely, it is simply a nihilistic resignation. Given his powerlessness, Kanami was unable to break the cycle, and the question of whether the prospect of war can be overcome or not is left entirely unanswered. Or, it could be seen as an implicit call for more united and direct action to be made. Because of the Kildren’s hazy uncertainty, they resigned themselves to their fate after seeing that Kanami failed, thinking they simply are unable to overcome the powers that be. Therefore, the film is trying to highlight that, exactly where they failed. An awareness of the illusions around us, as this film itself tries to bring to us, can be built upon over time, and through united, direct action, perhaps they can be broken through entirely. And I think it was intentionally left up to interpretation in this way–expressing Oshii’s ultimate uncertainty. An uncertainty that haunts everyone’s lives in a variety of ways, and a powerful emotion, or range of emotions, that is expressed in this film. ---
A meditative immersion in dull routine and mannerisms, _The Sky Crawlers_ is (while not immediately apparent) existential and optimistic. The world is at war, and modified, eternal youths called Kildren are used as pilots. Ace pilot Kannami (Ryo Kase) is among these and stationed at a new airbase where he is struck by a sense of familiarity with the place. He is also perplexed as to why he was not given opportunity to meet the previous owner of his assigned plane as that is proper procedure of things. He assumes they must have died and takes his query up to his now boss Kusanagi (Rinko Kikuchi), who avoids the subject and neither confirms nor denies the living status of the previous pilot. From there we meet a handful of characters with their own identifiable idiosyncrasies. One neatly folds their newspaper a particular way, another places their hands on their hips, Kannami himself always snaps his matches after lighting a cigarette. These occurrences repeat, as does life on the airbase. Always flying up, dog-fighting, circling back home. Kannami has lived this way so long he can’t remember a time when he hasn’t. Yesterday fades into today into tomorrow. Kusanagi wants to be free of this patterned life. She can say with confidence what someone will do and who will die and who she expects to replace them. Iterations of previous pilots come and go, come and go, she’s seen it all on loop. Kannami is not exempt as a reincarnation of sorts, living the same life as the Kildren before him. His replacement will undoubtedly snap matches. It’s a troubling revelation for him and Kusanagi believes the only escape is death. But Kannami thinks otherwise, >You can change the side of the road that you walk down every day. Even if the road is the same, you can still see new things. Isn’t that enough to live for? Kildren remain young, child-like even, and it is that disposition which enables Kannami to have fresh eyes for the familiar world around him. Though he may age he physically remains unchanged, Kildren may be old, but they are perpetually youthful. Escape is not the goal of life, it is to see it anew every morning as the rising sun gives birth to it. Any day he could die in the sky, so shouldn’t he enjoy the time he has? Many pilots have been down this same road he has, but his way of seeing it is new. It is his. After escaping death for a day and being gifted the privilege of another day of life, wouldn’t you also see the world in a new light? _The Sky Crawlers_ is life-affirming in its perspective of viewing repetitious mundanity as life-giving, and prompts us to live as though we have escaped death, rather than race toward it. Part of my ranking of Mamoru Oshii.