History Manga / Area88

* TheSquadette: Kitori from the 2004 anime.

* WarForFunAndProfit: The Mafia boss who built the land carrier in the manga is essentially doing it for the money.

* {{Bishonen}}: Saki and Shin to varying degrees across the adaptations. And Saki's brother Risaal in the manga.

* HoYay due to DidNotDoTheResearch: In the TV series, Mickey can be seen reading ''Playgirl'' magazine (pics on the Characters page). In the OVA, he and Shin wind up playing tourist while on special assignment and end up in a place that mostly attracts couples. In all versions, he is at Area 88 because he could not adjust to civilian life after his return from Vietnam and had to break off an engagement. [[HelloSailor Did we mention that he was in the Navy?]]

* ScarpiaUltimatum: Kanzaki's price for purchasing Yamato stock from Ryoko while she raises money to buy out Shin's contract.

* SurprisinglyEliteCannonFodder: The Area 88 mercenaries are meant to take highly dangerous missions to take pressure off regular Asran forces, as Bowman observes in the OVA. Since many of the mercenaries are veteran soldiers, they're very good at warfare.

* ArmsDealer: {{=McCoy=}} and Farina.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Shin is a blonde in the TV series. Ryoko's hair also turns from lavender to more pink.

* ArmsDealer: [[=McCoy=]] and Farina.

* WarIsHell: One character tells [=McCoy=] that he's going to Hell for selling weapons. The old man responds by saying that he's already there. Shin feels this especially strongly.

* EyesAlwaysShut: Roundel in the TV series; Hoover in the manga.

* CanonForeigner: [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Makoto]], Kim and [[TheSquadette Kitori]] from the TV series.

** Kitori may have been a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute/[[Bowdlerize Bowdlerization]] of Sela from the manga.

** Kitori may have been a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute/Bowdlerized version of Sela from the manga.

* CanonForeigner: [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Makoto]], Kim and [[TheSquadette Kitori]] from the TV series; Nguyen from the last OVA episode.
** Kitori may have been a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute/Bowdlerization of Sela from the manga.

- Kitori may have been a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute/Bowdlerization of Sela from the manga.

* CanonForeigner: [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Makoto]], [[CuteShotaroBoy Kim]] and [[TheSquadette Kitori]] from the TV series; Nguyen from the last OVA episode.

* DogFighting: The series is built around the massive air battles.

* EightiesHair: Well, Seventies. Justified in that the original series is actually set in that period.

-->''It's not just a job, it's an indenture.''

* ChristmasCake: Yasuda Taeko, Ryoko's loyal secretary, who is unmarried at 28 and quite sensitive about the fact. Pursued by bald CakeEater Sawa.

''Area 88'' is the story of Shin Kazama, a brilliant Japanese pilot tricked into enlisting in the Foreign Legion mercenary air force of the generally [[{{Qurac}} Middle Eastern or North African]] kingdom of Aslan, sometime in the early 80s or late 70s. Aslan is in the middle of a civil war between two brothers contending for the throne, and Shin and the other pilots at the titular airbase are at the front lines of the war.

''Area 88'' started as a manga by Kaoru Shintani that ran from 1979-1986. It was one of the earliest manga to be released Stateside. Eclipse Comics and {{VIZ Media}} published the series as single chapters each about the size of standard comic book, but stopped after 42 chapters (perhaps a ''quarter'' of the whole series), though it continued (but was not completed) in the ''Animerica'' magazine.

* BlandNameProduct: [[strike:Japan]] Yamato Airlines.

** A few Draken can also be seen in the TV series, flown by nameless RedShirts
* RealityIsUnrealistic, The F-8 Crusader can and has flown with its wings folded. In fact, it can take off, fly, and land with the wings folded. The first time this happened, it was because the pilot [[WhatAnIdiot forgot to unfold the wings.]]

A three-episode OVA was produced in 1985; the first two episodes were also released as a compilation movie in Japan. Central Park Media released the {{OVA}}s on VHS, but only released the first episode on DVD before their license expired. {{ADV Films}} finally released both the compilation movie and the final OVA on DVD in 2006. There was also a 12-episode TV series released in 2004, for which YourMileageMayVary. ADV also released this version.

* HoYay due to DidNotDoTheResearch: In the TV series, Mickey has very interesting reading material, as shown above. In all versions, he is at Area 88 because he could not adjust to civilian life after his return from Vietnam and had to break off an engagement. [[HelloSailor Did we mention that he was in the Navy?]]

[[quoteright:350:[[HoYay http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Area_88_9440.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-Someone has a secret.-] ]]

* TopGunned and WronskiFeint