The Cockpit

* Three separate stories by Matsumoto Leiji about the tragedy of war. Slipstream — a Luftwaffe pilot must choose between his duty to his country and his duty to the world: he has to either guard a bomber loaded with Germany's final hope of victory, the world's first atomic bomb, or let it fall in flames to enemy Spitfires and be a footnote in history. Things get personal, however, by the fact that the plane's other cargo is none other than the woman he loves. Sonic Boom Squadron — the pilot of an Ohka bomb, the purest kamikaze desperation weapon of the Pacific War, once dreamt of flying a rocket into space, but instead he is to fly a rocket into an American ship for the glory of his homeland. If they would only have let him live another 30 years... Knight of the Iron Dragon — on the Philippine island of Leyte, a rusted old motorcycle tells the tale of two Japanese soldiers who returned to a captured airfield to fulfil a promise that neither could ever keep. Note: Each episode is directed and has a screenplay by a different director: Kawajiri Yoshiaki, Imanishi Takashi and Takahashi Ryousuke respectively.