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 3

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
13th Jun 07

After numerous flight delays the third volume of Yukikaze arrives in the UK. With only the final fifty minute episode, and a couple of interviews Yukikaze volume three seems to be asking a hefty fare.

Having realised that several of the mysterious JAM alien life forms have integrated themselves into the Earths military the SAF put its final contingency plan into action. After a complete withdrawal of forces from the planet Fairy the gate to Earth will be forced to close by several nuclear devices. The JAM quickly catches on to this plan and wages an all out attack on the SAF as they try to make their escape. Yukikaze and Rei Fukai seem to be the only thing that can ensure the successful completion of this mission, but will they make it back safely?

To be honest the story feels like complete nonsense…it has since the first volume. Whatever the JAM are, the connection between Rei and Yukikaze and Rei’s relationship with the other cast members just aren’t satisfying enough. The show seems to take itself far too seriously, its all dark and full of angst, the characters are basic stereotypes seen a million times before with no real depth, and no connection to the viewer. There are far too many incidental characters introduced in this last episode, and previously thought major characters make either little or no appearance.

There are no answers to be found here, only more questions, and the in the last few minutes of the show you’ll just be left scratching your head with a puzzled look on your face. Watching the interviews included on this disc gives the impression that the story was always a secondary concern, and was just an excuse to show off the CGI abilities of the production studio.

Admittedly the CGI impresses, there are some stunning aerial dogfights, beautiful explosions and spectacular events happening on screen at once. The backgrounds are somewhat bare, normally just a sky with some clouds, and this does look somewhat jarring at first. It does male up for this later though when the SAF are fighting around the dimensional gate with swarms of alien ships, something that would look even more impressive on a cinema screen. These impressive CGI scenes are often broken up by shots of radars or tactical displays and this distracts as do the cuts to the 2d animation involving the characters.

What we end up with is a very superficial anime, it looks stunning, has some of the most visually impressive CGI action scenes involving fighter-planes in anime (if not on film in general). Yet tacked on, almost as an after thought, is an incredibly poor story that hasn’t a whiff of originality about it. If you prefer style over substance Yukikaze is going to appeal to you, otherwise you might be better off giving this a miss. A visual treat for the eyes…sadly nothing more!

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English/French/Japanese Audio, English/French Subtitles, Interviews, Clean opening and closing animation, trialers.

Release information: Publisher - Beez Running Time - 50 min Classification - PG Released - 26 Mar 2007

Notes: The two interviews on this diac hold some mildly intresting information. The first is with the Japanese voice actors of Rei and Bukhar, the second with the series' creators. The inclusion of the clean opening and closing seems a little odd as they are both missing form the final episode.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 13th Jun 07

Yukikaze Images