Porco Rosso (Kurenai no Buta; Crimson Pig) (1992)

Hiyao Miyazaki works wonders again in Porco Rosso (Italian for Red Pig), the Casablanca-meets-Castle in the Sky story of a top Italian WW II fighter pilot turned mercenary after a mysterious aerial encounter changed him into a pig. (He's bipedal, has a mustache, smokes cigarettes, and is in every other way apparently human but his face and build are porcine.) He's no longer young, altruistic, or romantic -- "I only look out for myself now." He's cunning but not brash, brave while considering all risks, and an expert pilot (even when drawing the short straw in a dogfight). Circumstances lead or force him to fight air pirates and ultimately to accept an aerial challenge to free someone he originally dismissed but has since come to accord great respect. This engineer and Porco Rosso make a good team together -- more seasoned and reasoned than Pazu and Sheeta in Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky but just as courageous esp. in a pinch. 4.5 stars.