I have seen this anime get its fair share of negative reception, I once read an entire twitter thread from somebody laying out piece by piece why they hated the show and presumably, anybody else should too- But even after the 80s OVA set a very high bar for me, I absolutely adored this anime adaptation. The animation is nowhere near as good as the 80s OVA, with the intricately animated sequences of fighter jets being torn to pieces, and turbine engines being displayed for the whole world to see almost like human entrails being visible after being shot, are nowhere to be seen, andthe extremely well drawn 2D jets have been replaced with CGI.

Despite this show having a longer runtime than the OVA, the story is never resolved like it is in the OVA. This sounds terrible, BUT this show gets a 10/10 for me for the sheer vibes alone. A full early 2000s trance soundtrack is already a plus for me with songs like Spread Your Wings being iconic, but the way these songs are paired with the dogfights completely makes up for the lack of airplane guts being spilled.

Another plus is that characters actually get more development time, with some characters like Boris who were originally only footnotes in the OVA actually getting whole episodes dedicated to them. Each episode is also varied and the show never feels like it drags even in the downtime, moments where everybody was on the base were very chill yet satisfying. In one episode, a hidden sniper keeps the whole airstrip disabled for the entire episode, resulting in a somehow tense yet also relaxing episode that gets resolved satisfyingly in the end.

Area 88 is an extremely fun anime from 2004 and it is absolutely worth your time if you're willing to view it as a different beast from the 80s OVA and the manga, also go listen to the BANGING trance soundtrack, especially Spread Your Wings by System F and Awakening by Rank1.

EDIT:
I just rewatched the anime and IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN I REMEMBERED IT. The vibes are absolutely IMPECCABLE and the moments on the base are absolutely so chilled out. It's almost like a Military Slice of Life at times, it's such a shame that there isn't more of this anime, it's a completely different vibe from the manga and OVA.