Yukikaze: A Troubled Masterpiece (Part 3)

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Alright, last part, I promise! Now that I’ve covered the most well-known adaptation of Yukikaze by far, let’s move on to a few lesser-known and obscure attempts to recreate the series. To begin, let’s start with something actually worth looking into.

Around the same time that episodes of the OVA were coming out, a 6-chapter manga was released from 2002 to 2005 in the same magazine that the novel chapters were originally published in: SF Magazine. Though short, it is unique in that it was illustrated by the OVA’s character designer, Yumi Tada, and is not exactly what I’d call an “adaptation” of its original source material. Why not? Well, to keep things brief, it’s merely a very loosened adaptation of chapters I, IV, and VIII from the first novel (episodes I, III, and V if you’ve watched the OVA), in which at least half of any given chapter is dedicated to exploring the backstory of a few more important characters. This is by far the manga’s most distinct feature, since any kind of character backstory is mainly alluded to but never fully expanded upon in either the novels or the OVA. Given that these 6 chapters were released while the episodes of the OVA were being released (in the same magazine the novel chapters were published in no less), I feel it’s safe to say that this short manga was really only meant for fans who wouldn’t mind consuming extra Yukikaze content. I truly can’t imagine someone completely unfamiliar with this series picking this up and understanding what’s going on. That being said, if you’ve already read the novels and/or watched the OVA, then you might as well enjoy this if you choose to read it. It’s short enough to not be a waste of your time anyhow.

Unfortunately, we now have get into… things that are less than good.

Sometime in 2003, believe it or not, a video game adaptation was released for the XBOX console, its full title being Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance – the title of the first chapter of the novels. The game was re-released for Windows in 2004, but it wasn’t until 2018 when fans outside of Japan got to actually see the game in its entirety, all thanks to a fan who did a complete playthrough (while providing on-the-fly translations as he played) and uploaded it to Youtube. Having watched most parts of the playthrough, the one thing I can confidently say that the game did right was showcase a more accurate depiction of what Rei and Yukikaze actually do, as a few missions involve little to no combat, simply the player (as Rei) flying around and doing reconnaissance work. Other than that, everything else in the game is pretty subpar: The ‘cutscenes’ are simply reused scenes from the OVA, there’s little to no story, and the combat is rather easy even on hard mode. In short, it’s basically a poor man’s Ace Combat, and from little information I could find regarding its sales, it doesn’t seem to have been especially successful. Now onto the really weird stuff.

Sentou Yousei Shoujo ~ Tasukete, Mave-chan! (isn’t that one hell of a title) is… a thing that happened. Allow me to explain: During the OVA’s production, one of the its mechanical designers, Ikuto Yamashita, randomly sketched his anthropomorphic design of the series titular plane. The staff, finding it funny, posted Yamashita’s sketch onto the official website intended to promote the OVA. However, his quick sketch caused an unexpected reaction amongst the fans, and so in 2005, this 23-minute OAV was released, and oh boy, is it… something. These days, giving an inanimate object ‘cute girl’ treatment is nothing new in Japan, but back in 2005, this must’ve been a novel concept (this was 8 years before the likes of Kantai Collection) – which is really the only thing this short has going for it. The very bizarre narrative follows a Yukikaze fan named Rei (no relation to the other Rei at all), who, at an anime convention, somehow gets sucked through a portal and ends up in the world of his favourite series – except, in true Japanese fashion, all the planes are now adorable girls who could definitely kick your ass. Mercifully, Rescue Me, Mave-chan! does not try to hide its intended audience at all, even including a scene where the girls outright state that their failure in fighting off the JAM is due to their otaku fans slowly forgetting about them. The only good comment I can give for something so short and pointless is that some of the character designs are cool-looking, though only in the official art as seen above – in the actual short, the colours are way too saturated and ugly. As I said, nothing but pure wish fulfillment.

Well, that’s about it for the many adaptations of Yukikaze. If you’ve learned anything from this 3-parter, know this: Read the books first. Now, I’ll just be praying for anyone to translate the novels, and for the fourth part to be the last, at last.