801 T.T.S. Airbats, known in Japan as Aozora Shōjotai (青空少女隊), is a manga by Shimizu Toshimitsu which was later adapted into a seven episode anime series, produced by Studio Fantasia and Victor Entertainment. The series was released in Japan on LaserDisc as a series of OVA episodes between 1994 and 1996, and was licensed for English language distribution by ADV Films. The title has been out of print since 2005. The series had aired on TVB in Hong Kong on April 9, 1996. Scholar Takayoshi Yamamura noted that anime was produced with the collaboration of JSDF.

Plot

The plot focuses on the activities of Japan Air Self-Defense Force technician Takuya Isurugi, who is transferred to the 801st Tactical Training Squadron, an elite aerobatics team - originally a dumping ground for difficult cases and near-rejects -, at the beginning of the series. Isurugi is a shy otaku who initially makes a bad impression with the four pilots of the unit, all of whom are female. The plot quickly turns into that of a love triangle when two of the pilots, Miyuki Haneda and Arisa Mitaka, fall in love with the surprised Isurugi. This inflames their already-existing rivalry, which causes trouble for their co-operation in the air. With the JASDF already considering disbanding their unit, Isurugi must persuade the girls to work together to improve their performance and save the team. The first three episodes circulate around the love triangle between the pilots and Isurugi, however the remaining four episodes become more typical of an anime series and feature more comical and unusual plots (such as a food eating contest amongst the crew, visiting haunted locales etc.) as well as feature more explicit details behind some of the characters backgrounds.

Characters

Aircraft appearing in OVA