Well, I didn’t expect to finish a two-part analysis this quickly, but here we are. In the first part, I mainly went over the history of this franchise, and why the original source material not getting the proper attention it deserves has had lasting consequences. I’ll admit, I wanted to get this analysis done in one piece, but given all that I’ve got to say about these adaptations… that would be impossible. So, let’s take a look at the many adaptations of Yukikaze and how well they hold up in comparison to the novels… or don’t.
Before I really dive into it, full disclaimer: Though I mentioned previously that the entirety of the novels haven’t been fully translated yet (Hell, the series is still ongoing in Japan), that doesn’t mean I don’t recommend it. The two that have been translated are still enjoyable, and even if you only read the first one you’d still get something out of it, since the first novel feels more like a short story collection set in the same universe each time than the second, which has a more concise and dramatic plot fitting of a sci-fi epic – but that’s a different topic for a different time. For now, let’s take a closer look at the many adaptations of these novels, starting with the first (and most well-known to outsiders): The OVA.
Right off the bat, I will say that the five-episode OVA is… the most earnest attempt to adapt Yukikaze by a long shot. It was made by both Studio GONZO and Bandai Visual from 2002 to 2005, and funnily enough, was (seemingly only) created to commemorate Bandai Visual’s 20th anniversary, so perhaps fans should consider themselves lucky that it even exists. Anyhow, this is an OVA, a type of anime series that is released in straight-to-video format rather than being shown on television – which comes with more added benefits than you may think. For one, most OVAs are longer and have higher quality animation than their TV counterparts, which is why the gap between one episode and the next may sometimes be up to a year long. And this makes sense: Animators and producers need time to produce a better product for their audiences, and in the case of Yukikaze, fans and newcomers were definitely rewarded for their patience in the quality department.
I don’t want to gush too much, but the amount of effort and dedication that the staff put into getting the look and feel of a series mainly based around cool-looking visuals of planes and dogfights needs to be commended. I’ll leave this video here for the time being, but the fact that the crew went through the effort to better understand plane mechanics and other necessary military know-how to the extent that they did is very commendable, and certainly unique when it comes to anime production. One of the more praised aspects of this OVA is the animation, which surprisingly still holds up and is fun to watch – which is perhaps not that shocking, given that Studio GONZO also made Last Exile and Blue Submarine No.6, two other series with a heavy emphasis on detailed machinery and the integration of CGI. This in particular is a little subjective, but I really liked the voice acting in the Japanese dub. Rei is voiced by Masato Sakai, and his work in this OVA is incredibly impressive for a guy who, up until this point, had zero voice acting experience. There’s a lot to like, and maybe I’ll save that for another time, but now I have to be a Negative Nancy and point out some… less-than-stellar qualities.
Let’s just get straight to the point. Every (and I do mean every) Yukikaze adaptation has a serious problem: They seem to love having it make little sense to the average person. If you were to look at reviews of the OVA on MyAnimeList (the premier site for this sort of thing), you’d find that the most common complaint from most reviewers is that they didn’t quite get it. And for good reason. The OVA was clearly made for and appeals to fans of the novels, which were already very popular in Japan. There’s a reason the OVA is more popular in Japan than it is in the West, and there are several reasons for this. The most glaringly obvious is that the OVA attempts to combine two novels, the second with almost 1000 pages of content, into 5 episodes that usually average 45 minutes long… and that’s not even counting that they created their own ending. As a result, it attempts to shove in a lot of important plot details and characters while cutting a lot out. For example, the second novel introduces the character Edith Foss, who acts as our main character’s sort-of therapist. In the OVA, she’s present from the second episode onwards, which would give the impression that this adaptation is trying to follow the second novel’s plotline. However, the entirety of the third episode is a more or less direct adaptation of one chapter in the first novel, with Edith being awkwardly shoved in because of course they couldn’t just not show her for a whole episode. It’s evident to me that the staff couldn’t (or weren’t able to) decide which novel to adapt, so these attempts at trying to Frankenstein the more unique stories from the first novel with the more dramatic plot from the second only create confusion amongst non-fans. I watched this OVA before I read the novels, and even I could tell that the plot structure was off.
Furthermore, a consequence of trying to fit in the novels’ most important plot points into just 5 episodes of content comes with the result of cutting a lot out during the process, and nowhere is this more evident than with the series’ main character, Rei Fukai. If you had only watched the OVA, you’d be forgiven for thinking that he’s just your typical angsty loner guy, a trope that has become all too common in anime nowadays (looking at you, Sasuke!) but nevertheless persists. Aside from a few choice moments in the OVA, he doesn’t change much and there’s little done in order to get viewers interested in him and what type of person he is. Needless to say, this is not the case in the novels, where Rei slowly but surely grows out of his shell as a result of meeting with and forming connections with other characters, and being forced to re-evaluate his symbiotic relationship with Yukikaze herself. As you can probably already guess, there wasn’t much time to fully flesh out his character, given that there also needs to be at least one cool action setpiece per episode as well, and whatever character development there was feels rushed and sometimes out of left field. Another problem I have with this OVA (and this may be purely subjective on my part), is how the worldbuilding is handled. Much of the story takes place on a planet called Faery, where humans have set up a base in order to combat their alien invaders, and in the novels, this planet is practically its own character. The way that the setting is laid out and structured is incredibly interesting, and several chapters in both novels are almost entirely dedicated to exploring a certain facet of this unique world and its hierarchies. Unfortunately, none of the more thought-provoking chapters were adapted in this case, which is a real shame, as a few of these chapters also serve to develop these characters and reveal why they act the way they do – for example, why Rei acts like an angsty loner guy. Again, this is purely something a fan might pick up and non-fans probably won’t notice or care, but it is nonetheless something crucial that is now absent.
That’s about all I can say for the OVA, but we’re not quite done yet. Tune in next time…
The Art Archive 