Just finished Yukikaze tonight, a sci-fi OVA mixed with great aerial combat scenes. I said earlier that I like Macross Zero for its aerial fight scenes, but Yukikaze’s make up for the lack of flashy missle chases with very realistic cockpit-centric angles and stylish goosebump moments! The whole alien(JAMs)-human struggle backdrop is quite interesting, but I think the OVAs don’t have enough time to explore the complex story offered in the original novel. Which is not a problem, I really enjoyed the combat scenes! The first 4 episodes offered some really intriguing fights, but the last episode is something else. First we were treated to how Yukikaze singlehandedly (literally, since its pilot Lt. Fukai is not onboard) wiped out an army. There are some crazy Star Wars-like first-person view of Yukikaze going thru some complex flight paths… nice! Then in the last half we’re treated to the combination of Lt. Fukai and Yukikaze as a man-machine superior being that provides the crucial trump card. But Yukikaze doesn’t fight alone, it commanded 3 unmmaned clones of itself (Knights) in a spiraling formation.. OMGOMGOMG! Too cool.
Everytime I watched an episode I wanted to build a Mave. But now that I’ve seen the final episode version of Yukikaze LOADED with gazillion missiles, I want that version instead. It looks sort of insane with all those missle tail flags sticking out on top and bottom of its wings!