The Sky Crawlers
March 15th, 2009 by Sylf
“Have you ever wanted to be reincarnated?”
That is the question that Oshii Mamoru, the creator of the film, asks the viewer in the movie posters, DVD packages, etc. But that is not the real question. If you ever had that chance, what would you do? When you find out that you end up doing the exact same thing in every life you get, how would you react? These human-like species called Kildren, the byproduct of medical research, live eternally as adolescents. They live forever as pilots in the cruel game of war created by grown-ups. Some enjoy the situation to its full. Some say it’s just a job and go on with their lives. Some get hopelessly confused by their own fate. Life after life.
If you are looking for some war-bird action film, this may not satisfy your hunger. If you are looking for some happy film, this is not it. It is a somewhat depressing, yet beautiful rendition of a never-ending story, originally crafted by the popular novelist Mori Hiroshi, brought to film life by, as I’ve mentioned earlier, the master anime director Oshii Mamoru. You’re in for a flight that you will not forget for weeks, if not for lives.
AH!! Thank you so much for subbing The Sky Crawlers!
Since I couldn’t wait for Sky Crawlers, I already DLed gg-THORA’s release although Frostii is normally first choice for subs. Anyway, thx!! I think there can never be enough love for Oshii works.
Possible spoiler alert for those who have not seen the movie but the main character was the last guy and the main character also comes back again at the end?
dangit, xDD! its pretty ogood !
@digitalrurouni
Yes, it’s a continuous cycle for the Kildrens to be reincarnated each time they die. That’s why the last main character was killed by his lover to escape the cycle. It’s always the same people that are continuously fighting in this war game.
Thanks MrClastro. I guess that kind of makes sense when the head of the base enters his room and smells his bed…brings back memories of them as lovers…so does that mean that little girl is their baby?!
*spoilers*
Well that’s a major question. Could it be the teacher? There’s so much un-worked-out about how the killdren come to be, how their knowledge is transferred. I thought that they were partial copies of the teacher, which is why he wants to kill his “father”, or it could just be a symbolic declaration.
It’d be nice to know more about what’s in the novels.
No, teacher isn’t the father of all being, as far as I’ve read. As some has guessed, Kusanagi Mizuki is a daughter between Suito and Teacher. And she’s the only child that Teacher has. Vol. 1 of the last story in the series chronologically. I’ve read that vol. 5 deals with Kurita Jonroh, but I don’t have that volume yet. Also, book 1 ends when Kannami Yuichi shooting Suito to her death. There was no duel between Yuichi and Teacher, thus no such line as “I’ll kill my father.”
Regarding this whole “father” thing – I just re-read the pamphlet that came with the DVD, and saw something else. The whole notion of “father” was not in the novel. It was an addition made by Oshii. There is one more thing Oshii added. Sasakura, the chief mechanic, was originally male. He turned him into her. Then he made the boys call her “Mama.”
gg’s release was apparently horribly seeded. It felt like I was the only one seeding it. lol. I prefer frostii over them as well and had no idea you guys were subbing this. (I should probably pay more attention) Thank you.
I want your BABIES!!!! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!
It’s been suggested by Koda (of gg fame) that the Japanese subtitles that ran alongside the engrish sections didn’t actually have any mention of “father” and in fact, just repeated “I’ll kill him” (one of the opening lines in the show). It seems odd for there to be a mistranslation into their native language, so it’s an odd line to have thrown in, especially considering how it changes everything about Teacher with just those two short words.
No thank you.
I will stick with your release of RideBack only.
I’ve been waiting for this movie to be released by a dependable team, and here it comes ^^
I’ve loved all your releases so far, and I’m sure I won’t be disappointed time either.
Thank you so much !
4Go… waouh, that’s a pretty big file, isn’t it ?
suiton, STFU.
If you don’t have something to comment on the movie itself, then don’t comment at all…
Thank you for subbing this, I absolutely love the movie…it’s very quiet, flows like a river, much like the first half of GitS: Innocence, the last work of Oshii (IIRC).
The small-world setup is one of my favorites since watching Haibane Renmei (there are some other similarities with this one), and the subtile characterization scenes that make up most of the movie are extremely well done. Kusanagi should get an Oscar. By the way, she reminds me of Major Motoko Kusanagi; I’m sure this is no coincidence.
The character artwork and animation is minimalistic, the more important a character is, the fewer lines they get. I think it shows again that Japanese animation is still the best.
I also liked the CG integration, of course you would expect this from I.G. It took me some minutes to realize that the machines hat their propellers at the rear o_O But after that, the fight scenes became very clear.
The music fits perfectly, you don’t really notice it…Kenji Kawai, the perfect man for this.
I’m sad that the movie didn’t even get a nomination for the Oscar. Okay, Wall-E deserved it, but when “Kung Fu Panda” can get a nomination, why in the heck not this gem of a movie?
Whatever. I’ve already began spreading the movie to anime-fan friends, and I’m sure it will come out in Germany on DVD as well. Count me in for the Limited Metal Box Deluxe Special Edition.
And, again, thank you Frostii for subbing Sky Crawlers
Kudos!
What did the original author think of that?
It’s normally ‘tradition’ that an anime will change a story or manga. Keeping this in mind, it really doesn’t matter if they are different [to me]. This movie is good for the story alone. Not to say the visuals were not excellent as well. Although the aerial combat is excellent, the night flight to Detachment March Hare is my most memorable scene.
And to hell with the Oscars. George C. Scott had it right about them. Independents have it right!
I was waiting so long for a good group pick this, thanks o/
Thanks For Making the 480P
Thanks a lot for this release. I was wondering though will there also be a 1080p version of this or not? I think such visuals deserve it.
Nice!!! I’m so psyched to finally watch this, been waiting for a good sub of this for so looooooong. Thnx guys.
I would bet that the novels much better explore/explain all the ideas that were brought up in this movie. It seems like they spent too much time trying to put in all the ideas from the novel, and consequently didn’t spend enough time answering the questions posed by these ideas and making any kind of important statement.
Maybe I’m just an impatient gaijin that wants everything spelled out, but the movie left me feeling very unsatisfied. It was kinda pretty though.
Anyway, thanks Frostii!! You guys are my idols ;o
just watched it.. didnt like the ending though
still nice movie..
Here’s my interpretation of the story:
POINT OF VIEW
The story is told through Kannami’s point of view but it really is all about the emotional hell that Kusanagi is going through.
BACKGROUND
“Teacher” (the ace pilot from Lautern), Kurita Jinrou (the lover killed by Suito Kusanagi, the base boss), Yuichi Kannami (the main protagonist who replaces Jinrou) and Hiiragi Isamu (the pilot that replaces Kannami right at the end of the movie) were all kildren clones created from the same personality template.
This is why Fuko (the courtesan who sleeps with Kannami at the beginning) makes reference that Kannami reminds her of Jinrou (who she used to have sex with). Most likely Fuko also used to have sex with Teacher (remember the scene where Kusanagi jealously confronts Teacher in Fuko’s room).
KUSANAGI’S DILEMMA
Teacher used to fly for Rostock but made a deal to join Lautern, on the condition that Lautern would genetically modify him into a normal “adult male” (Kusanagi mentions this in conversation with Kannami).
Here’s the tragedy of it all: Kusanagi fell in love with Teacher and had a child with him, prior to Teacher switching over Lautern. Rostock than replaces Teacher with an exact clone of him named Jinrou.
Thus, the tragedy that unfolds for Kusanagi — she remains madly in love with Teacher but cannot have him. Unable to contain her feelings, she begins a relationship with Jinrou who reminds her exactly of Teacher (Remember the scene where Kusanagi hugs the bunk bed, which was likely the very same bed used by Teacher, Jinrou and Kannami).
The plot seems to suggest that when Jinrou discovers that Kusanagi is actually in love with Teacher and not him (Jinrou just happens to look and talk exactly like Teacher), he is heartbroken and asks Kusanagi to kill him, which she does — and this then sends her into the suicidal mood she is in for most of the movie, as she relives her heartbreak of loving but not having Teacher, and her guilt over killing Jinrou.
Just when Kusanagi thinks things can’t get any worse, along comes Kannami (another Teacher clone), who again triggers all her repressed feelings. The dilemma is that Kusanagi is unable to control her unrequited love for Teacher and continues to love him by proxy via Kannami. Finally, Kusanagi can no longer take the guilt and pressure and asks Kannami to “kill me this time.” But Kannami refuses and instead tells Kusanagi that in order to make things better, one must first choose to live.
When Kannami says “I will kill my father” at the end when he goes after Teacher, he has realised that he is nothing more than a clone of the Teacher template, and is trying to end the vicious cycle of heartbreak for Kusanagi’s sake. Unfortunately, he fails.
At the end of the movie after the credits, Kannami’s replacement arrives (yet another clone of Teacher). But something has changed inside Kusanagi, who seems to have taken onboard what Kannami said and has accepted her fate. Hence, she says “I’ve been expecting you.”
QUESTIONS
The interesting thing is, how many clones of Teacher has Kusanagi killed? How long has this vicious cycle been going on? Was Jinrou the only one? Is Kusanagi a clone herself that has been killed before by a Teacher clone? The real tragedy would be a vicious cycle of Teacher and Kusanagi clones taking turns to kill each other to ease their pain.
hi all ,, i didnt know there is a website for this group only today i always download ur fils ,, anyway i was looking to the website and i saw this movie it same to be is cool movie but i cant download the file and i try many time is there any problam on it or i come tooooooo late ^^.
thank u so much for the hard work ^^
Yes, you came too late.
You now need to wait for 2.5 more weeks for the official US version to be released.
Hey, where did the torrent go? Was it licensed or something, and if so, why isn’t the post edited to reflect that?
See my last comment.
Can fixed the link?
Can you guys fix the links? They don’t work anymore/
No. The movie is now released by Sony Pictures, so we had to take this one down.
My bad, I didn’t read far enough up the comments.
Thanks.