エリア88 (1)

エリア88 #1

by 新谷 かおる

空を飛ぶ戦いの最中、想い馳せるは故国――。大手航空会社のパイロット訓練生・風間真(シン・カザマ)は親友の神崎悟と共にパリでの研修訓練を終了し、帰国後にパイロットとしての第一歩を踏み出すことになっていた。社長令嬢・津雲涼子との交際も順調でその将来を嘱望されていたシンだったが、神崎の策略により傭兵部隊入隊の契約書にサインをさせられてしまう。激しい内戦の続く中東・アスラン王国に入隊したシンが配属されたのは、作戦地区名「エリア88」と呼ばれる傭兵部隊で構成された空軍基地だった。この基地から除隊するためには、高額の違約金を払うか、契約満了まで生き延びるかのみ。シンは違約金を稼ぐため、ザク・ヴァシュタール国王率いるアスラン政府軍の傭兵として、ザク国王の実兄であるアブダエル・ヴァシュタールは率いる反政府軍と血みどろの戦いを繰り広げることになる。戦いのさなか、シンはエースパイロットとして頭角を現し、報奨金を稼いでいくが、次第に傭兵稼業に染まっていく……。作者の代表作にして一時代を築いた名作エア・コンバット・アクション・ロマン、電子書籍として装いも新たに登場！

Comic

Reviews

[Mathew]

Once upon a time I bought a box of random comics at a flea-market that just happened to include about the first 20 issues of this manga that was first published in English by Eclipse International. Which probably puts it high on the list for first ever manga publication for the US. It's been a favorite ever since and I go back and re-read the old issues I have, or the entire collection which I simply couldn't pass up when I found it at a used Japanese bookstore. I haven't read these books in English for quite a while but I'm finding the translation to be quite smooth even now and Shintani's work continues to please.
One of the reasons that I keep coming back to this manga even after so many years is that it maintains a wonderful balance that makes the reading not only easy, but addictive. The stories or missions as they're called are extremely straightforward and focus on a single goal, or revealing a single character insight, all while being supported by fantastic warplane artwork and a tragic Monte-Cristo-esque meta plot or betrayal and revenge. The tragedies of warfare aren't ignored and I think Shintani did a great job of researching the mental trauma faced by soldiers and manages to tell some very real feeling war stories that can be heroic, heartbreaking, tragic or even on remarkable occasions, uplifting.
These first 7 missions are but a taste of what is to come, but I feel they give a good preview of the quality as well as emotional complexity that will run through the entire series to the end.