Area 88

"Area 88" is a war drama anime based on the manga series of the same name. The story revolves around Shin Kazama, a talented fighter pilot who had a promising future in his home country of Japan. He was on the path to marry his sweetheart Ryoko and had a prospective job at her father's airline company. However, his life takes a drastic turn when his jealous friend, Kanzaki, tricks him into enlisting in the Asranian foreign legion. Shin finds himself deployed to a secret airbase called Area 88, located in the desert of a war-torn Middle Eastern country. There, he must fight as a mercenary to survive. The series explores Shin's struggle to maintain his sanity and humanity in the face of the harsh realities of war, his attempts to escape Area 88 and return to Japan, and the friendships he forms with his fellow pilots at the base.