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I saw this film in the 35mm room at Otakon 2007, though it sourced from a DVD :(. The graphics and animation were amazing; intricately drawn backgrounds, with skies that looked like they were lifted from paintings. Character designs were appealing and fairly detailed. Basically the best looking piece of animation I have seen in a long time.

This film is more about the development of the characters and their relationships than a story, with each episode focused on a different character/aspect of the relationship. Splitting it into 3 distinct episodes has some good and bad sides. It allows for some very focused storytelling, with no ... time for fluff -- there are no useless lines in this film. However, I wished the episodes were a bit more connected, as it was difficult to understand what caused the main characters to change in between episodes. If you have seen the director\'s other works, this film is closer to three episodes of "Voices of a Distant Star" than "Beyond the Clouds".

The only other thing I didn\'t like about the film was the constant reference to 5 cm per second. Aside from the first time it was mentioned, each reference sounded like it did not fit naturally into the conversation.

In short, an enjoyable film that I think would have been better if the episodes were better connected.

The best part about Yukikaze is the animation -- the 3D CG animation of the planes combines fairly smoothly with the 2D animation. The characters are drawn in a more realistic style than typical for anime (i.e. eyes that aren't huge). That is about all I liked about Yuikaze. The story had potential, but I think there weren't enough episodes for the information they wanted to get across. Scenes would change to something completely different without any indication or explanation, and while the confusion was meant to create a mood, I had trouble following the plot as a result; I felt like I missed an ... episode in between every episode. While I like anime that don't spell everything out for you, like Lain, this did not leave me with enough information to actually CARE. The characters were not very well developed; I still don't understand why there is such a strong bond between Jack and Fei, or what motivates these characters to act in the way they do.

In short, I give it props for the animation and the potential for the story, but the execution wasn't very good at all.