Anime Review: Yukikaze

Review YukikazeWritten by WarpshadowRating good/ very good

Even if it isn't your usual anime show Yukikaze is more about serious storytelling which may not appeal to everyone.

Thirty years ago a mysterious mushroom cloud shaped portal appeared over Antartica. It was created by an alien race known as the JAM for the purpose of invading Earth. After many battles the JAM have been forced back through the portal but the fighting still continues, even if most of the people of Earth now deny the JAM's existence. Rei Fukai is a pilot in this conflict and it is starting to take it's toll on his sanity like all wars do but when the line between ally and enemy starts to blur it becomes much worse.

Yukikaze is an Oav is hard to watch because ironically for a show with so much focus on airplanes, it has a sense of claustrophobia about it. Yet this sense of enclosure is what gives Yukikaze it's intensity. This is a show that combines a purposely poorly defined science fiction element with a well defined military apparatus to give the viewer a sense of disconnection. The characters are as mature as their positions as military officers would indicate which is a nice change from the hyperactive or angst ridden teenage heroes that populate most anime. While the majority of the show is spent on characters action scenes are not spares and lavish attention is paid to animating them. Yukikaze is a decent Oav but you might want to wait until it comes out in a collection before buying it.