My initial impression upon hearing the title "Fairy Fighter Yukikaze" was that of an overdone magical girl series, resplendent with transformation sequences. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised when "Fairy Fighter Yukikaze" turned out not to be a mindless magical girl series, but one of the more serious, and well done, pieces of Anime I've seen to date.

Yukikaze's plot centers on the war between the earth forces and the JAM: mysterious aliens from a planet that humans have dubbed "Fairy". Thirty three years ago, the JAM launched an attack on the earth via a hyperspace gate in the Antarctic. Shortly there after, the earth forces succeed in driving the JAM back through the hyperspace gateway and onto their home planet of Fairy. Enter Yukikaze, an elite fighter with a semi-sentient onboard operating system, and its pilot, the reticent Lt. Rei Fukai. Both Rei and Yukikaze are assigned to the Special Air Force: an elite combat unit within the Fairy Air Force. On one of their sorties, Yukikaze designates a friendly fighter as an enemy which leads Rei to engage and destroy it, prompting questions on the security of the SAF and the nature of Yukikaze itself.

The two episodes on the disc did little in the way of setting up and introducing the plot; the majority of the information above is inferred from conversation and the extra materials on the disc. Yukikaze's first two episodes leave a lot to be desired, plot wise, despite being full of eye candy. The majority of the characters introduced here are shallow, almost paper cutouts, with little or no motivation at all. The notable exception to this would have to be Rei himself. His whole being seems devoted to flying, perhaps controlling (or being controlled by) Yukikaze. Despite the vapid characters, I was impressed by Yukikaze itself. The aircraft comes off as a sort of malevolent R2D2, supporting Rei in battle, warning him of danger, even seizing control of the aircraft when things go awry. I hope to see more development in the characters of Rei and Yukikaze for the series has a lot of potential; I'd hate to see it fall short due to horrid character development.

Visually, Yukikaze is pure eye candy. The developers used a massive amount of cel-shaded CG in the creation of the series, in fact, all the aircraft and dog fighting scenes are done in complete CGI. For those of you who don't know, cel-shaded CGI is a method of rendering a CGI object so that it appears as though it was drawn. Normally, I'd be adamantly against rendering important craft in CGI (the travesty that was Blue Submarine 06 taught me that), but the team at Gonzo Digimation did such a masterful job that it almost makes up for the shallow characters. Yukikaze's mechanical designs are grounded in reality (the entire series was produced in cooperation with the JASDF) lending themselves towards the Macross style of beauty combined with functionality. Each of the aircraft in the series has it's own style and design; from the other-worldly JAM craft, to the sleek, clean lines of Yukikaze's reborn form.

On the audio side of things, the sound effects were exceedingly well done. Each setting has it's own unique aural feel (the Unknown Doman where Rei was held for part of the second episode had none of the ambient sounds of the Fairy Air Force Base where he was stationed) including the aircraft. I've noticed in some fighter (or mecha) anime, the craft produce no noise in combat when the scene shifts to the cockpit. With Yukikaze, this isn't the case, the whine of the engines and the noise of the wind rushing by the canopy are all there. In fact, the sounds within the aircraft lend realism to the series that usually isn't present. The disc comes with a Japanese 2.0 and 5.0 audio track as well as English in both settings. I prefer the Japanese to the English for the simple fact that none of the voices, save Rei's, fit the characters. They seem too young for the representation of the characters; where as the Japanese voices fit each perfectly. A prime example is Rei's commanding officer: he appears to be in his mid to late 30's, yet the English voice is that of a 20 year-old. Additionally, the English voice cast looses all sense of the inflections: Rei sounds suitably dispassionate, and his commander sounds too energetic for such a jaded character. Bandai could have done a much better job with the dubbing.

Danger Zone, the first of the Yukikaze DVDs, comes complete with a plethora of informative and entertaining extras. Foremost among them is the making-of featurette which chronicles the development of Yukikaze as a series and contains interviews with the author of the original Yukikaze novel, voice actors, and CG artists. Three previews, a glossary, and a massive amount of prelude information comprise the rest of the DVD's extras. The menus are easy to navigate, save for the glossary and the prelude information: a DVD remote or some other navigation device is required to peruse them. This might not be a problem for home viewers, but those of us using a computer or gaming system to view the DVDs should be wary.

Yukikaze has the potential to develop into a beautiful anime and, if the prelude information is any indication, most likely will in subsequent volumes. Of course this is all speculation and wishful thinking considering the first volume leaves much in to be desired in the way of character development. If you're looking for a potentially deep, well animated, anime, Yukikaze's got your number.

Distributor: Bandai
Creator: GONZO Digimation
Released: 2002

Video Quality: A
Audio Quality: B
Presentation: A
Content: C
Overall: B