801 T.T.S Airbats (Blue Sky Woman’s Squadron in Japanese) is a military-comedy manga created by Toshimitsu Shimizu, which was published by Tokuman Shoten between July 1991 and October 1992. The OVA adaptation was directed by Yuji Moriyama and was produced by Studio Fantasia between May 1994 and March 1996.
The anime follows aviation mechanic Takuya Isurugi after he is transferred to the 801st Tactical Training Squadron, an all-woman aerobatics team in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). Isurugi is caught up in the drama and hijinks of a squad that is always one mistake away from being disbanded.
Airbats is something of a refreshing comedy in the airplane genre, which (naturally) tends to be more focused on the drama of aerial warfare; it has its serious moments, but it always falls back onto that over-the-top, screamy, sometimes raunchy humor that typified early 90’s comedy anime. And Isurugi is something of an audience-insert character, being himself a shy otaku.
Airplanes, then, and more importantly the aerobatics, become another vehicle to play out the drama and the comedy of the show. How the characters fly is directly correlated to their mental states and their relationships with each other, the grounded world and the aerial flowing together. It is fitting that Isurugi is the mechanic and not another pilot, because his ultimate role is to repair broken relationship of Haneda and Mitaka, rather than coming in and “putting them in their places.”
The attention to detail in the animation of the planes themselves was also very nice, and a lot of work was obviously put into the designs as there are several members of the JASDF credited as advisors. And as always, I will praise this show for its hand drawn animation of the machines, which I am an absolute sucker for. I was, however, looking for more. In a show about an airforce squadron an unfortunate amount of the seven episode run being a bit lacking, with several episodes having only a few shots of planes.
In the end 801 T.T.S. Airbats earns itself 4 airplanes out if 5, with good use while they are there, cut with the fact that they could have easily had more.
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