In a world where corporations snuff out the competition by sending fighter jets to attack their offices, teenage pilot Kannami Yuichi is reassigned to a new base. There, he meets Tokino, a carefree pilot who enjoys the company of older women, and Kasanagi Suito, his superior officer who he slowly falls for. However, not everything is as it seems. Soon, distressing questions are raised about Kannami's predecessor, a race of perpetual adolescents known as the Kildren, and the enemy ace of the skies, Teacher.
"I have only abandoned my body, I still live here" - are the words emailed to friends of Chisa, several days after her death by suicide. As Lain delves deeper into the world of the "Wired" (also known as the internet), the line between it and reality becomes more and more unclear. Close the world, open the nExt.
Both animes are slow paced, a bit dark, almost eerily quiet, and phsycological. The main characters in both animes seem to have alternate personalities or lost memories of some kind and it's up to them to learn about them. I think if you liked one you'd like the other...
In the distant future, Earth is being invaded by a mysterious alien race known as the JAM. Though suffering heavy casualties, mankind unites and repels their advance, pushing them back to their homeworld of Fairy. As to not take any chances of another attack, an expeditionary force is formed to pursue and eradicate any who managed to flee. The campaign is successful, with all but a few small pockets of JAM completely destroyed, and preparations are made for the fleet to return to home. Enter Leiutenant Rei Fukai, the pilot of a reconnaissance fighter jet known as the Yukikaze. With victory close at hand, he is assigned to do one final sweep of Fairy to put an end of the threat for good. However, during the flight, he is attacked by an unknown jet that appears to one of mankind's own, and barely manages to escape. Though the JAM are all but gone, it seems a new, more deadly threat has emerged, fiercely determined to stop the fleet from returning home alive...
Beautiful CG-animated aerial dog fight. I particularly liked the use of WWII-era style in the airplane designs in Sky Crawlers.
However, I didn't particularly like the stories for both anime. The antagonists in Yukikaze and the context for the fighting in Sky Crawlers remained vague.