Rookie pilots, basically kids, were being put into highly maneuverable machines, planes that by their pilots' accounts were a joy to fly, but when they got into combat they were chewed up and spat out by an implacable American war machine that by the time of The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot must've seemed a cruel mismatch. Now look at the historical context of Japanese air combat. His adulthood is symbolic of his knowledge of the real reason for the war, of his intent to defend his people, of his knowledge of the situation and his willingness to act as an adult to change that situation. He's up there because he understands that he needs to be. He's not up there fighting because people need to be entertained. The Teacher himself is an adult, supposedly the only adult. Only The Teacher really fights for a cause only The Teacher really acts like he believes in what he's doing. Whatever the kill-dolls believe, whether told to them by their superiors or a conspiracy theory they've concocted amongst themselves, it's garbage. unless the kill-dolls are simply being lied to by an evil empire using them in a war of aggression against The Teacher's faction. They believe a conspiracy theory that their purpose is to give people the psychological benefit of being at war. Now let's get to the rationale for the war: the kill-dolls honestly have no idea why they're really fighting. He doesn't get a download he's a normal human. He has to kill them or they will inevitably learn all his tricks and download them to all their copies and now what? So he does the only thing he can do in his situation: keep that vital experience from being transferred and copied by shooting the pilots. But he knows they're genetically engineered kill-dolls with downloadable memories.

I'll also say right off the bat you can't see The Teacher as the protagonist without doing some serious mental gymnastics. The rest of this thread is going to be all spoiler, so rather than fuss with tags I'll just issue this general warning now. I can't really recommend the movie, as its pacing was awful, horribly slow, 2 hours of movie and half of it pure boredom, but it did at least leave me thinking about it afterwards.ĭoes anyone think 'The Teacher' was actually the protagonist?

Download The Sky Crawlers