MovieChat Forums > Area 88 (1993) Discussion > Ending? (spoilers)

Ending? (spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by Chairborne_Ranger
5 replies | jump to latest

I was just curious if either I overlooked something in the ending or what. What I'm referring to is the last scene on the second disk (Burning Mirage) where it shows Shin's F20 racing across the clouds with him calling out his flight data before it cuts to the credits. Did he decide at the last minute to just say screw it and head for Japan or back to Paris? Did he get to Area 88 to find everyone shot down and either fought to the death or fled? Did he make to the dogfight at the last minute and was flying into it to cover Saki, Mickey, Greg (I'm assuming, I don't recall seeing him get shot down), and the other two pilots' escape? Or was it just purposely vague for you to create your own ending to it? If anybody's got any input on this post it here cause it's just confusing me at this point.

[–] gunchums 17 years ago

Its an open ending so no one actually knows.

Area 88 OVA episodes 1-2 (on disc 1) followed the manga very closely. However when episode 3 (on disc 2) was made when the manga had not been finished so the creators didn't know how to end the anime.

The Area 88 OVA is actually unfinished and the real ending (seen in the manga) see's Shin finally reunited with Ryoko. To finish Area 88 you have to read the manga which was never fully released in the US, hopefully another company will pick it up and release it in it's entirety.

[–] petekrug17 15 years ago

As for the anime ending, there's really only two possibilities: Shin either heads back to Area 88 only to find it taken over by the rebels, or eles he finds his friends engaged in the dogfight. At this point there's only about six of Shin's friends left and a whole bunch of enemies still flying, we're also told that Shin's friends are running low on ammo, so it's doubtful, even with his masterful abilities as a fighter pilot, that Shin would stand much of a chance.

When Shin came to Paris, he found that he was unable to re-ajust to peaceful civilian life. Only when he stopped the bank robbers did he really feel alive. Even when he finally got to speak to Ryoko again (in what was to me the single most saddening scene in the entire show,) Shin felt that he could no longer connect with her, and he turns his back to her. Shin can simply no longer go back to Ryoko and the life he once had, which is the real tragedy that the story of AREA 88 tells.

[–] rey_antonio 14 years ago

That moment in Paris when he finally talks to Ryoko again seemed more like the "actual" ending to me. Shin had made a decision to go back and die with his friends, then he was given not only another chance to start over, but to be reunited with Ryoko, which was the only thing that had been giving him the will survive. When he abandons that last chance, weeping and tearing up the phone number, his fate was pretty much sealed. Everything else was downhill from there.

There's always a possibility that they could have intended to start off another show with a twist that saves Shin and maybe the remaining mercenaries. However, that would end up having to create a new storyline. The Asran government was crushed, Area 88 had surrendered, Kanzaki was arrested, and Shin was not going back to Ryoko. Unless someone picks up the anime's thread, it looks like we're stuck with a melancholy ending.

[–] nwobhmeternal 13 years ago

The first time I saw the OVA I was pretty disappointed that this was how it ended. But after looking at the other versions of the story, this is the best ending of the 3, and it makes the most sense.

It could be considered "open ended", but I believe Shin had been transformed into a different person and flew back there to fight to the death with what few of his friends remained. It's a lot better than the "cure-all" ending the manga had, and beats the optimistic ending of the 2004 series, which didn't really go anywhere.

[–] Emkay-09 14 years ago

Out of the manga, the OAV, and the TV series, the OAV had the best ending. It was open yet tied all loose ends at the same time. It said all it had to say. The manga was too long and drawn out. Kanzaki kept coming back with one hairbrained scheme after another, including posing as that Mafia guy's illegitimate son. Also, the manga kept introducing futuristic military hardware and there was more of it as the manga went on (a landbased aircraft carrier, robot piloted enemy fighters, an air fortress, a drill missile right out of Starblazers) and these things took the realism out of it. I haven't read much past the English manga adaptation but it seemed like it was going to be an anticlimactic ending whatever it was.