Yukikaze

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Masahiko Ohkura
Production
Bandai, GONZO, Victor Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
5 episodes
Year
2002

Yukikaze - Volume 2

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
24th Jul 06

As Yukikaze enters its second and penultimate volume, the mysterious JAM and some of the plot begin to take shape, yet the series still seems to be keeping the cards close to it’s chest despite this being the penultimate volume.

In episode three Rei is ordered to investigate why one of the FAF’s Banshee has suddenly turned on friendly units and has failed to respond to attempts at communication. Rei is teamed up with Tom “Tomahawk” John. As well as trying to find the reasons for the Banshee’s actions Rei and Tom are tasked with finding out how the JAM are infiltrating the FAF. Rei learns the JAM have succeeded at infiltrating the FAF far better, than anyone first suspected, and this discovery puts him and Tomahawk in some very direct danger. In episode, four Rei and Jack test out a new type of engine for the Yukikaze, by traversing the barrier between Fairy and Earth, unfortunately the JAM follow and it’s up to the Yukikaze to stop them, before the JAM destroy the naval fleet who are positioned near the barrier.

Some interesting plot points are raised in this volume of Yukikaze, the secret behind the JAM’s insider knowledge and the fact that Rei and Jack meet the female author (who appears in all the episodes so far). If Yukikaze was a longer series these plot points may of generated more interest, yet in truth, there is only one episode left, and these events just seem to pile on top of each other in a very confusing manner. Nothing is explained sufficiently enough for the viewer to actually figure out what is going on.

The action is turned down a notch in this volume, episode three’s in flight sequences are nowhere near as impressive as those of the previous volume are. The episode does feature heavily on the secret behind the JAM and Rei/Tomahawk’s interaction with one another. Episode four on the other hand has a very impressive sequence involving the JAM on Earth, which is a lot brighter than the other battle sequences on Fairy, as they tend to be a lot harder to see visually as they tend to be darker.

Still even with this, the storyline just does not delver the goods. The encounter with Mrs. Jackson (the author) in episode four, which has had a lot of foreshadowing in previous episodes, does not seem to yield anything that seems relevant to the story of the series

The second volume of Yukikaze is disappointing and it seems unlikely that the final episode in volume three will be able to round everything off of this rather short and underdeveloped (at least in terms of story) series.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: Japanese/English Dub, English/French subtitles, Trailers and Textless Opening and Closing

Release information: Publisher: Beez Release Date: June 19th 2006 Classification: PG Running Time: 70mins

Notes: Theirs the clean opening and closing animations and thats about it.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 24th Jul 06

Yukikaze Images