Area 88 makes it clear that War Is Hell, and air superiority warfare is no exception.
- The "Bloody Screw" attack used by Wolfpack in the manga. The shock wave created by the jets could cause internal damage to enemy pilots, including deadly nosebleeds. Greg narrowly avoids bleeding to death through his nose by tearing the hose of his anti-G suit.
- In the manga, Mickey is taken captive aboard Farina's land carrier. Farina and his henchmen threaten to cut Mickey's face into a Glasgow Grin if he does not provide information on Area 88's defenses. Fortunately, Farina does not follow through with his threat, but the thought alone was disturbing.
- In the manga, after a Yamato plane crashes into Tokyo bay, the dead bodies of several passengers are shown floating near the water's surface.
- In the manga, Kanzaki describes his mother's suicide to Ryoko. We learn that Kanzaki was in his mother's car when she drove it over a cliff. After the crash, when he regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was his mother's dead body on the car hood, staring at him. Also a tearjerker, depending on your perspective.
- In the manga and OVA, after Kanzaki delivers a scarpia ultimatum to Ryoko, Ryoko reluctantly agrees and takes a shower. While she is showering, Kanzaki pretends that he's talking to Shin, musing on how he'll "do things to her you never dreamed of." Had Taeko and the police failed to show up in time, Ryoko would have been the victim of a brutal rape.
- Nguyen was born shortly after his mother was killed by bombs. In manga issues that did not make it stateside, a flashback of Nguyen's birth shows two horrified Vietnamese women taking baby Nguyen from his mother's mangled body.
- In the OVA, when Nguyen shoots an enemy pilot who had ejected from his jet. The pilot's corpse is still attatched to the parachute as the parachute descends, and from a distance, viewers see something fall off the corpse.
- In the OVA, the aerial combat deaths could be very nightmarish. Boris spitting out blood, Jess' Boom, Headshot!, and the sight of an enemy pilot's oxygen mask swelling with blood were all chilling.
- In the OVA, another Japanese person who enlisted states he only came here to see if the rumors about a Japanese man rampaging in Aslan were true. Lo and behold, he's right. After being caught deserting, before his trial and lecturing Shin, the latter is left staring at the empty chair as the deserter's being executed, his last words calling out to his mother. His screams are bloodcurdling, to say the least; the ADV dub muffles his bellows, the Japanese version HAS THEM CRYSTAL CLEAR, INCLUDING THE GUNSHOTS.
