History Anime / TheMagnificentKotobuki

** A minor one; according to WordsOfGod, the cargo that Ouni Company carries in Episode 1 is milk. Given that Madame Lulu says that the cargo is especially precious and Ijitsu has a global water scarcity, it can assumed that cow ranches are loaded because they give an alternative to drinking water. In episode 11, several Raiden, already established as a rare plane, affiliated to Gyu-Gyu Land Ranch are seen among the Rahama-Porokka Coalition fleet.

%%* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:

** In Old Sabu's bookshelf, there were children books like ''Alice in the Wonderland'' or Chinese Philosophy. However, at the end of the shelf there's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel) Les infortunes de la vertu]]'' by de Sade. You know, the guy from whom the word "sadist" came.

** [[spoiler:Most of what the Shinden does and everything that the Shinden-Kai do are pretty much artistic license, because the Shinden's only two test flights did not involve any high-performance testing (The third test flight would've seen such testing happen, but the Potsdam Declaration happening two days before the test was scheduled to take place scuttled that), and the Shinden-Kai is pretty much a fantasy plane. To be fair, Shinden-Kai's stat sheet in the official website is filled with question marks, so the staff put this plane with fully conscious realization that they're pretty much making stuffs up.]]
** [[spoiler:The damage sustained by Kylie's Hayabusa should have trashed the plane right there when Isao shoots it, but not only the plane proceeds to flip above Isao's Shinden-Kai and shoots its entire length full of holes, it also endures a long credit sequence as the heroes fly back into their homes.]]

* NonLethalKO: The guns that the Hagoromo's crew use are filled with rubber bullets. While it makes seem so that our protagonists won't be seen outright shooting people's head off messily, there's a justification for this when a pirate's trigger finger ends up spraying leads in the bridge when he gets knocked out; real bullets and any zeppelin's interior (especially navigational controls) don't mix well.

* RebelliousSpirit: In Ijitsu, pilots are always free-spirited. Unbounded by rules, they fly the way they want and go wherever they want. Those who quit being a pilot are painted as an analogue to adults who despaired and settled down with the bare minimum because they can't chase after their dreams. So when Isao imposes regulations on pilots, many are discontent with licences and struggling with the sudden change. One is even mentioned to outright quit flying because of the red tapes, of which the conversation is more in line of someone just had a DeathByDespair.

** In Episode 5, the Hiryu that Isao chased, for no reason, drops its payload far from Areshima, the bombing target. If the pirates are really intended to attack Areshima, they will keep flying into the city with their bomb before crashing themselves as a suicide bomber, something that pirates won't do. If they really wish to flee Isao's chase, they ''will'' drop their bomb to lighten the burden before breaking to the side, not keep flying into the city. That the pirates are doing what they do, is a sign that [[spoiler:Isao staged this attack to give himself a good PR, more dramatic the attack without seriously damaging anything the better, with Julia's assassination as a sub-objective]].

** The pirates aiming for the zeppelin's exhaust valves instead its body before attempting to attack the bridge is an indication that they want the zeppelin mostly intact to rob their cargo. The exhaust valves are the thing that make the zeppelin under control, and a problem on the valves makes the zeppelin harder to steer. The pirates attacking the bridge is because they're actually growing desperate to subdue the zeppelin because the Kotobuki are on the verge of chasing them off.

** [[spoiler:Isao's second Shinden has a jet engine installed. Fittingly, it's the prototype that was drawn up on blueprints but not built, just like the ''Fugaku'' depicted two episodes before.]]

** Nobody makes note that their moon has a raccoon tied upside-down pattern. The audience finds out when the show just happens to pan out to it.

* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler:Isao, whose name is too short to be spoiler-tagged on its own,]] is introduced as a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} comical weirdo]] who has some conflict with Julia, but otherwise seems harmless. He even helps fight off some pirates. [[spoiler:The next time he shows up, though, he's gone [[BigBad full megalomaniac]], and reveals that he personally shot down Allen ''and'' Old Man Sabu, presumably killing the latter.]]

** [[spoiler:Everything that the Shinden and the Shinden-Kai do are pretty much artistic license, because the Shinden had never been tested, and the Shinden-Kai is pretty much a fantasy plane. To be fair, Shinden-Kai's stat sheet in the official website is filled with question marks, so the staff put this plane with fully conscious realization that they're pretty much making stuffs up.]]

** Yufang is name-dropped as a group of people who came to Ijitsu 80 years ago and Kate identifies the Ki-44-I Shouki flying with them as being made by Yufang rather than the Nakajima Aircarft Company. Yufang turns out to be the precursor of Ijitsu's aviation culture [[spoiler:and actually are the Japanese people that came to another world. This is confirmed in episode 11, where it's stated outright that the Yufang are the Imperial Jpanese Army]].

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The abandoned city of Yufang is an analogue of Japan in a world largely inspired by Wild West frontier wasteland. When describing the allied [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Ki-44 Shoki planes]], Kate identifies them as Yufang Ki-44 instead of Nakajima Ki-44, with the implication that every Nakajima Aircraft Company's planes were also made there. Also, when Saneatsu is given alcohol from Yufang, his reaction says that it was sake and the Yufang painting that the Elite Force tries to scam Rahama with is an ''ukiyo-e''. [[spoiler:It is implied that the Yufang ''are'' Japanese, who just happened to pass through a portal into another world and had since returned back home and sealed the portal away.]]

* {{Isekai}}: an after-the-fact reverse perspective on an ''isekai'' story. People from Earth came here,and left behind their technology, which has sustained the economy for the last 70 years.

''Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai'' (lit: ''The Kotobuki Squadron in Wilderness''), localized as ''The Magnificent Kotobuki'', is an original anime based on an upcoming mobile game ''The Kotobuki Squadron in Wilderness: Take Off Girls in the Sky'', directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and animated by GEMBA and Creator/WaoWorld[[labelnote:*]]with Creator/{{Actas}} and Creator/TheAnswerStudio for the latter half of the series[[/labelnote]], premiered on January 13, 2019. The game was launched on February 13, 2019 and focuses on other flight squadrons besides the Kotobuki as they live their life in the chaotic and lawless Ijitsu. A sequel gaiden miniseries focusing on the Harukaze Squadron from the game, ''Harukaze Squadron in the Sky'', premiered on April 10, 2019 and can be viewed in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1wZ35aVaXE&list=PLu5mTioKIfLEIGO9Re9KUxqbxALF7s3hH Official Youtube channel]].

* BrattyHalfPint: Though not literally a child [[VagueAge (probably)]], Chika fills this role, as the shortest and also most hyperactively obnoxious main character.

* ButtMonkey: Saneatsu usually gets the short end of the stick despite being the secondary commanding officer.

** Ikesuka is mentioned in Episode 2 as one of those cities that would never go bankrupt. Episode 7 reveals that it's because Ikesuka is the main base of operation for Standon Oil, plutocratic oil company that is attempting monopoly on Ijitsu's fuel industry.

''Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai'' (lit: ''The Kotobuki Squadron in Wilderness''), localized as ''The Magnificent Kotobuki'', is an original anime based on an upcoming mobile game ''The Kotobuki Squadron in Wilderness: Take Off Girls in the Sky'', directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and animated by GEMBA and Creator/WaoWorld[[labelnote:*]]with Creator/{{Actas}} and Creator/TheAnswerStudio for the latter half of the series[[/labelnote]], premiered on January 13, 2019. The game was launched on February 13, 2019 and focuses on other flight squadrons besides the Kotobuki as they live their life in the chaotic and lawless Ijitsu.

* TheBartender: Johnny serves as this as well as cook on the Hagoromo.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Johnny, the bartender, acts cowardly, but is a crack shot and takes down over a dozen boarders with just pistols and a cut-down lever-action rifle, while they had sub-machine guns.

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Zara sure loves to drink alcohol. She uses this to incapacitate most of the Elite Forces by drinking them all under the table.

* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Cindy, Betty and Ady may look like SameSexTriplets, but they are not actually related.

* IntellectualAnimal: Captain dodo seems to be smarter than the average bird, delivering messages and acting cool under pressure. He even seems capable of using his wings to hold the helm.

* MusclesAreMeaningless: Chika may look like an average girl, but she can lift a grown man with little effort.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Natsuo may look like a young girl, but she's actually an adult. It is said that she's older than any of the Kotobuki pilots.

* RetiredBadass: Johnny used to be a feared mercenary, until he fell in love with his wife and left that lifestyle to become a bartender, but the skills remain. He keeps his guns under the counter.

* SmokingIsCool: Madame Lulu uses a classy pipe to smoke.

* BareYourMidriff: Zara's outfit leaves her midsection completely exposed.

* BigOlEyebrows: Chika has small, but oddly thick eyebrows that are rather noticeable.
* BoobsOfSteel: Zara's one of the bustier characters in the show and is very capable in hand-to-hand combat.

* FieryRedhead: Leona is usually cool, but the idiocy of her squadron brings out the temper.

* TheQuietOne: Kate usually remains quiet.

* TheSpock: Kate is usually there to explain specifics about planes.

* TomboyishPonytail: Leona wears her hair in a messy ponytail, and she's the least feminine member of the squadron.

** A twitter from one of the show's military advisers notes that Rahama mayor's Raiden and Old Sabu's Zero have faint outlines of their Imperial Japanese Navy livery underneath the newer paint-job, most notably the large red Hinomaru markings on the body of the planes. You can see them by zooming on the models seen in the show's official site.

* AnachronismStew: All the vehicles featured in-series are 1940's Japanese but examples of more modern items (like modern vending machines and Kylie's favorite pancakes) are also scattered around. This is a hint that the majority of the technology was clearly NOT native to this world.
** Episode 12 features an American-built F-86D Sabre (an aircraft used by the JASDF between 1958 and 1961), armed with rockets with radar-proximity fuses.

* CoolHat: Kylie uses an aviator's hat while flying.

* UnstoppableRage: Kylie flies into one when [[spoiler:Isao tells her he shot down her mentor and grandparent figure Old Sabu]]. Chika has to talk her out of it, since [[RevengeBeforeReason blind hate]] can cause you to fall victim to fancy flight tricks.

** The amount of blood rushing down Kate's head and the sheer time she holds it on when she's doing her negative-G stunt should have knocked her unconscious, or at least make her slightly delirious, no matter how precise she's calculating the entire thing.

* CommonPlaceRare: Fish are rare and valuable in this world. The crew gets a contract to use their airship to transport a single fish; the main characters had never seen one before, and the bartender mentions that he "splurged" to buy a fish to serve at his wedding.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Elite Forces are nothing but pirates that offer to buy planes in exchange for (imitation) paintings, and if they refuse they come back and attack your hometown until you accept. Though it's less total corruption than it is incompetently forcing otaku-type stuff on people for no apparently good reason. [[spoiler:Isao, who is the mayor of Ikesuka and the head of the Brotherhood of Freedom, is far worse. He has good public backing but is a complete psychopath willing to backstab even his own supposed friends on a whim.]]
* CosyCatastrophe: Although some unspecified calamity reduced the world to a desert wasteland overrun with {{Sky Pirate}}s, no one seems particularly concerned about the bleakness of it all, and the series focuses on a crew of adventurous fighter pilots who rove around defending people from those flying pirates.

* NoNameGiven: A lot of characters have no name, even in the official site's profile. They're instead identified by their in-story nicknames, like the Elite Force's artist is called "Big Sis", or their occupation like the mayor of Rahama.

* CareerEndingInjury: Kate's brother, Allen, used to be a pilot but can no longer fly, or even walk, after getting shot down (sometime before the series began) while investigating the origins of the Yufang.

** A twitter from one of the show's military advisers notes that Rahama mayor's Raiden and Old Sabu's Zero have faint outlines of their Imperial Japan's paint-job underneath the newer paint-job, most notably the large red Rising Sun circles on the body of the planes. You can see them by zooming on the models seen in the show's official site.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Elite Forces are nothing but pirates that offer to buy planes in exchange for (imitation) paintings, and if they refuse they come back and attack your hometown until you accept. Though it's less total corruption than it is incompetently forcing otaku-type stuff on people for no apparently good reason.

* EvilerThanThou: It is revealed that the Elite Force's main body of organization is actually a [[BumblingDad misguided]] DotingParent of a young artist whose passion not many understood. The mutiny done inside the organization was made by newcomers who attempt to hijack the planes the Elite Force owned for a benefactor outside of the common piracy crowd. The mutineers' act ends up being even slimier than Torihei's SnakeOilSalesman antics, and the Kotobuki girls call them out for it. [[spoiler:It's ultimately revealed that the mutineers joined Isao's Brotherhood of Freedom group.]]

** After [[{{Foreshadowing}} dropping several hints]] that he might die in the near future, [[spoiler:Fernando]] flies his plane between Kylie and Kate's bomber and an enemy fighter, [[TakingTheBullet getting himself shot down to protect them]]. [[spoiler:Subverted when he parachutes to safety. [[LampshadeHanging His friend points out how misleading and potentially unnecessary all this sacrifice talk became]].]]

** In episode 12, [[spoiler: the [=F-86D=] Sabre pursuing Kylie and Chika launches the last of its Mighty Mouse rockets at the two, who then immediately dodge and fly down side streets, causing the rockets to strike a monument up ahead which the Sabre clips when flying past, forcing its pilot to eject out of his now-crippled Sabre and take it out of play.]]

** [[spoiler:Saneatsu and the Captain (both almost entirely ComicRelief before this) pilot the jet-propelled and bomb-filled Hagoromo on a one-way trip into the hole above Ikesuka. As the airship gets near the hole, Isao tries in vain to shoot it down. The ship doesn't change course or even slow down. Just before impact, the dodo and the first officer get into the getaway plane, bailing out of the doomed airship and surviving the ensuing explosion.]]

* TheSoCalledCoward: The Mayor of Rahama despite crying, still takes his Raiden and flies to save Emma from the Elite Force. He still sucks at it, but because the Elite Force don't want to shoot him down, he makes for a great distraction (until he gets tossed off his beloved plane, with an embarrassing parachute-snag-on-building landing).

* UnstoppableRage: Kylie flies into one when [[spoiler:Isao tells her he shot down her mentor and grandparent figure Old Sabu]].

* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The squad's [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} zeppelin]], the Hagoromo.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: With the exception of the Elite Association [[spoiler: until their schism.]] Sky pirates act as little more than generic bad guys that anyone can shoot down with no tears being shed. [[spoiler:Given that many of the 'sky pirates' attacks are instigated or funded by Isao, including the aforementioned schism in the Elite Force, this view is likely enforced by him to discredit Julia's bill to pardon the pirates and turning them into productive workforce]]. However, in other story campaigns of the mobile game, especially the Akatsuki and the Gekitetsu, people like pirates, mafia, and thieves are more varied when it comes to their motivation for doing crimes.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo Dodo birds]], besides being extinct (presumably this is an AlternateHistory), cannot fly. [[RuleOfFunny They also make poor dirigible captains]], but neither of these things bother the Kotobuki's "captain."

* BigBadassBattleSequence: The Battle in episode 11 between [[spoiler:Isao's Freedom Union]] and those who refuse to bow down to him, among them the Kotobuki squadron.

* {{Precursors}}: The people of Yufang who one day, long ago, just came from a hole in the sky, built facilities and made planes, only to one day disappeared back into the hole except for one man. The aeronautical technology they left behind galvanized Ijitsu to use air-based transportation and military that shapes the majority of their culture, while at the same time it clearly still can't compare to the Yufang's due to the hardships of the landscape.

* RuleOfCool: Though the show often goes out of its way to make sure dramatic stunts are realistic, there's still some wacky stuff thrown in for fun, like the Hagoromo's bartender leaping through the air to dodge bullets like he's in ''Film/{{The Matrix}}''. The finale takes previously-seen canyon-flying to the next level by having the squad weave their planes though narrow city streets and between densely-packed pier pillars, and they also [[spoiler:strap a bunch of rockets to the Hagoromo and send it on a kamikaze mission. In other words, they turn an entire zeppelin into a gigantic missile. The pilots, the bumbling first officer and the dodo bird, manage to escape in a spare plane just as its massive supply of explosives goes off.]]

** All the girls are pretty good at dogfighting. They all are riding somewhat lower quality planes against those with higher specs and they usually win in spite of this disadvantage.

** All the girls are pretty good at dogfighting. They all are riding a somewhat lower quality planes against those with higher specs and the battles never really go CurbStompBattle.
** Kylie's mysterious snake-emblem archenemy is a very technical pilot with great spatial awareness, even more so than Kylie herself who Kate notes to be a pilot with an almost instinctive battle insight. Kylie had never won against them.
** Isao is a war veteran who scored 12 stars from a single skirmish and saved Leona, who herself is a war veteran.

* RuleOfCool: Though the show often goes out of its way to make sure dramatic stunts are realistic, there's still some wacky stuff thrown in for fun, like the Hagoromo's bartender leaping through the air to dodge bullets like he's in ''Film/{{TheMatrix}}''. The finale takes previously-seen canyon-flying to the next level by having the squad weave their planes though narrow city streets and between densely-packed pier pillars, and they also [[spoiler:strap a bunch of rockets to the Hagoromo and send it on a kamikaze mission. In other words, they turn an entire zeppelin into a gigantic missile. The pilots, the bumbling first officer and the dodo bird, manage to escape in a spare plane just as its massive supply of explosives goes off.]]

** Saneatsu and the Captain pilot the jet-propelled and bomb-filled Hagoromo on a one-way trip into the hole above Ikesuka. As the airship get near the hole, Isao tries in vain to shoot it down. The ship doesn't change course or even slow down. Just before impact, the dodo and the first officer get into the getaway plane, bailing out of the doomed airship and surviving the ensuing explosion.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:While the series ends with Isao's ambition thwarted when he gets sucked into the wormhole, his cronies, like his butler and the traitorous HR Head, are still at large and the Freedom Union won't just vanish into thin air after he's gone. Julia intends to return to her city-state to clean up after those who support Isao, those from towns that Isao bombed will have to rebuild their cities, while the Ouni Company and Kotobuki Squadron have to start from scratch because their beloved zeppelin is destroyed in a suicide attack]]. The heroes return to their homes, freely living their lives on the way they want.

* SiblingYinYang: Kate and her brother Allen. Allen is pretty friendly, talkative and loves to drink alcohol, while Kate is TheStoic and almost never drinks alcohol.