Sky Crawlers, The

Based on the novel by Mori Hirosh ("Sukai kurora"), The Sky Crawlers is a story of an exciting but endless war with heroes too young to understand the reality of their battles. A group of eternally young fighter pilots known as Kildren experience the sudden loss of innocence, as they battle the enemy in dogfights above the clouds. With his only childhood memory consisting of intense fight training, the fearless teenage pilot Yuichi's (Kase) dogfights coexist with his struggle to find his missing past. When his beautiful, young female base commander Suito (Kikuchi) is reluctant to discuss the fate of the pilot that Yuichi is replacing''or the strangely perfect condition of that pilot's former aircraft—Yuichi's curiosity becomes heightened. Directed by Mamoru Oshii, the acclaimed director of Ghost In The Shell. (Gary Reber)