There is a lot of love around here for last years (rather ignored at the Japanese Box Office) animated feature (Damn you Ponyo!): The Sky Crawlers. Mamoru Oshii's high-flying social science fiction melodrama is certainly one of the most handsome films I have seen in ages, and features the best sound design ever. Period. (The aerial dog-fight footage pounded the cinema I was in, yet even the lighting of a cigarette or a character walking down the hall had aural resonance.) It is also a swanky mixture between the directors predisposition for the 'heady stuff' and a mainstream accessibility. The balance is quite nice actually, and the narrative story telling is complicated, rich, and satisfying. Am I being hyperbolic on this film? Well, the darn thing deserves some love. And for those who missed the really thin theatrical release in North America, the DVD and Blu-Ray is going to drop on May 26th. If Sony treats this one like their other cerebral-yet-accessible anime entries from Satoshi Kon (Paprika) and Rintaro (Metropolis), then there will be much happiness. (And considerable less cost than importing this set which has no subtitles).

A group of eternally young fighter pilots known as Kildren experience the sudden loss of innocence as they battle the enemy in astonishing dogfights above the clouds. With his only childhood memory consisting of intense flight training, the fearless teenage pilot Yuichi’s dogfights coexist with his struggle to find his missing past. When his beautiful, young female commander Suito 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.

BLU-RAY DISC & DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
· "Animation Research for The Sky Crawlers" Featurette
· "The Sound Design and Animation of The Sky Crawlers" Featurette

BLU-RAY DISC EXCLUSIVE
· "Sky's the Limit: An Interview with Director Mamoru Oshii" Featurette