The Sky Crawlers

is a 2008 Japanese adult animated war film, directed by Mamoru Oshii. It is an adaptation of Hiroshi Mori's novel of the same name. It was released across Japanese theatres by Warner Bros. Japan on August 2, 2008. Animated by Production I.G, the film was written by Chihiro Itō, featuring character designs by Tetsuya Nishio and music by Kenji Kawai. The 3D CG animation for the movie was produced by the Polygon Pictures studio, who also produced the 3D CG for Oshii's previous film Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Plot The Sky Crawlers is set in an alternate history timeline where although the world is at peace, in order to ease the tension of a populace accustomed to war and aggression, two rival private corporations, the Poland-based Rostock and the Ireland-based Lautern, contract fighter pilots to engage in actual combat operations against each other. The film introduces characters known as - humanoids genetically engineered in a way that enables them to live eternally in adolescence. Fighter pilot Yūichi Kannami is reassigned to Area 262. He is immediately assigned a new plane but is not told why he cannot keep the one he has been flying or what became of the previous pilot of his new plane. He meets the base's commanding officer, Suito Kusanagi, who names the previous pilot as Kurita Jinroh but refuses to say what happened to him. Shortly afterward, he meets the rest of the base's pilots: Aizu Yudagawa, Yuriyuki Shinota and his roommate, Naofumi Tokino.