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Thirty-three years ago, humanity realized it was not alone in the universe when Antarctic researchers came under swift and massive attack when an alien force known as the JAM invaded Earth through a dimensional portal that had suddenly appeared on the ice continent. In response, the United Nations launched a massive counter-attack and after a series of bloody battles, managed to push the enemy back to the other side of the portal, which led to a planet named "Faery" by the humans. However, the battle still rages on. On Earth, the UN has established the Earth Defense Force to patrol the Antarctic coastline. On Faery, the expeditionary force that pursued the JAM back to their world was designated the Faery Air Force (FAF) and has established multiple bases on the alien world, serving as the first line of defense for humanity.
2nd Lieutenant Rei Fukai of the FAF pilots the Super Sylph B-503 fighter, nicknamed "Yukikaze", an advanced armed tactical reconnaissance plane equipped with a near-sentient AI computer system. He belongs to the Special Air Force (SAF), the FAF's strategic recon wing. His duty is simple: observe and record data from battles between the FAF and the JAM. Do not attempt to interfere. Do not attempt to help. Should the JAM ever threaten to destroy him & Yukikaze, there is only one imperative: to abandon his comrades and ensure that the data is passed on. It's a task that only the most hardened of hearts can accomplish... a task that begins to blur the distinction between human and machine.
'''''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze''''' (戦闘妖精・雪風, lit. ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze'') is a science fiction novel written by Chōhei Kambayashi & originally published in 1984. It is actually a collection of short stories that ran in ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine'' beginning in 1979. A sequel novel titled ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' was published in 1999 (like its predecessor, this was also a collection of short stories that began in 1992). Kambayashi revised the original novel to make it more consistent with the sequel and this updated version was published in 2002.
Also beginning 2002, the franchise began to receive more works. A five-episode OVA series loosely based on the two novels was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual. It was released in Japan from August 28, 2002 to August 25, 2005 and was produced in commemoration of Bandai Visual's 20th anniversary. It was also later aired in Japan on the anime television network Animax, who later aired it in its English language networks across Southeast Asia and other networks worldwide. These [=OVAs=] are the version of the story most familiar with non-Japanese audiences. An English dub was produced by Bandai Entertainment.
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[labelnote:translation]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/labelnote]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[labelnote:translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/labelnote]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
The original novel is considered a groundbreaking work of literature within Japan: some have even compared it to ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' in terms of how it affected the Japanese hard sci-fi genre. Kambayashi himself was ranked #3 of Best Japanese Sci-Fi Writers of All Time [[http://www.locusmag.com/2006/News/03_HayakawaAllTimePoll.html in a 2006 poll]] conducted by ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine''.
For the longest time, the books were out of reach for almost everyone outside of Japan. It wasn't until 2010 that publishing house [[http://www.haikasoru.com Haika Soru]] released an English translation of the first novel (titled simply ''Yukikaze''). The second novel was translated in 2011.
There is a third book in the series called ''Unbroken Arrow'' and was published in 2009 in Japan. To date, [[NoExportForYou it has not received an English translation.]]
A live-action film adaptation of the series is currently [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tom-cruise-attached-star-yukikaze-439822 in development]] and is set to star Creator/TomCruise. In July 2013, Dan Mazeau, the screenwriter for ''[[Film/ClashOfTheTitans Wrath of the Titans]]'' joined the project.
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!!Tropes found in this series (folders arranged in rough chronological order of release):
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Cross-medium]]
* AcePilot: Lt. Fukai.
* AIIsACrapShoot: Zigzagged all over the place, and also depending on novel or anime.
** Played unsettlingly straight in Operation 02, where the [[AttackDrone TS-X1 unmanned fighter]] baits the JAM to fire missiles at itself, then pulls a WronskiFeint by letting those missiles hit another plane, killing 4 pilots. No, it did not go haywire: its orders were to [[ExactWords protect Yukikaze]], which was unarmed because of a training exercise, and it was doing exactly what it was programmed to do.
** Also played straight in the final operation: the new JAM AWACS-type aircraft [[InterfaceScrew interfere with the radar and IFF systems]] in the FAF fleet, which causes their drones to [[SetAMookToKillAMook attack friendly aircraft while ignoring the JAM.]] Only the [[NuclearOption Flip Knight drones]] are unaffected because they are directly linked to Yukikaze, who is smart enough to [[GenreSavvy target the enemy AWACS to stop the jamming]].
** In the novels, the SAF Strategic Computer runs an analysis, and decides that it's ultimate priority is defending itself, and that protecting the personnel and equipment of the SAF and FAF fulfills that role. [[spoiler: It declares in no uncertain terms to Jack Booker that it considers the JAM to be the enemy, and it also rejects an offer of alliance from the JAM.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler: it also killed Lt. Amata to prevent Yukikaze from crashing into his snow grader.]]
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Banshees. Judging by the names, there are at least four of them, though only Banshee-III and Banshee-IV are seen.
** Banshee-IV [[spoiler: is taken over by the JAM and must be destroyed. In the anime, the FAF nukes it. In the novel, it crashes thanks to Tom John's sabotage.]]
** Banshee-III [[spoiler: leads the evacuation back to Earth in the anime's finale.]]
* AlienSky: This one's green and has two suns. The novel also talks about the "Bloody Road", a trail of red gas that is erupting out of one of the suns that really does look like its namesake and is easily visible in the night sky.
* AntiHero: Rei, though instead of being dark and edgy he's just deeply antisocial.
* AttackDrone: The Faery Air Force makes abundant use of these. One of the themes of the story is whether or not war can be fought entirely with machines and AIs instead of with humans. In the novels, the FAF and Systems Corps are eagerly pushing for massed UCAV deployment, which the SAF resists as it would also entail converting all 13 Super Sylphs into drone planes.
** The JAM [[StarfishAliens may or may not]] be an entire race of these.
* AuthorAppeal: The manga's creator, Yumi Tada, was responsible for the character designs in the anime and was also a story consultant for it. It was her input that increased the HoYay between Rei & Booker as well as Rei's AdaptationalAngstUpgrade.
* BodySurf: Yukikaze eventually uploads herself out of the Super Sylph and into an FRX frame.
* CargoShip: Even partially lampshaded and deconstructed in-universe.
* CoolPlane: Just about every plane in the series, but especially the titular Yukikaze.
* CoolGuns: The FAF's standard-issue weapons are apparently the Glock 17 pistol and P90 personal defense weapon in the anime. The novel doesn't mention actual brand names, but Rei has two bullpup [=SMGs=] stashed in Yukikaze as survival guns that fire .221 caliber bullets.
* DeathByAdaptation: Tomahawk John dies in both the book and anime, but for different reasons. [[spoiler: In the OVA, he realizes he is a JAM clone and chooses to die on the doomed Banshee-IV airship. In the novel, he also dies on Banshee-IV, but it's because he is ambushed by the JAM and has his mechanical heart torn out of his body.]]
* DirtyCoward: How Rei, and by extension, all the SAF pilots, are viewed by many FAF pilots. The sentiment is understandable: Super Sylphs are far faster and just as heavily armed as the standard jets the FAF uses and could definitely turn the tide of battle around. But their rules of engagement require them to do nothing and flee at the first sign of danger.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase / UndergroundCity: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 01 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway). Operation 05 reveals there is an entire underground ''city'' to provide for the FAF personnel, complete with ''skyscrapers'' and a red-light district. The novel even adds there is an artificial sky.
* {{Expy}}: The Super Sylph's novel and anime designs are evocative of the F-15S/MTD and the Su-27 Flanker family respectively.
* FanNickname: Rei's second GuyInBack, Richard Burgadish is sometimes referred to as [[HumanResources "Chicken Broth"]] by Japanese fans.
** ''Copy'' Super Sylph is also known as Silver Sylph.
* FrickinLaserBeams: The Free Electron Laser Unit attached to the Flip Knights. They see extensive use for the anime's final battle.
* GeniusLoci: Faery. [[spoiler: Even in-universe, it's speculated that the planet itself could be JAM.]]
* GovernmentConspiracy: 30+ years after the attempted invasion, most people in the human world treat the JAM as a sort of urban legend/fiction. And as it turns out, the war against the JAM on Fairy has basically turned into [[spoiler:a human invasion of Fairy for military and monetary gains]], and is used by Earth nations to further their own individual interests.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The anime showed the opening shots of the JAM invasion 30 years ago, but other than that, we don't know much about what happened.
* GuyInBack: Rei has a tendency to lose them.
* ForeverWar: It has been over 30 years of fighting between the FAF and the JAM, though the war has de-escalated into a low-intensity conflict that largely consists of patrols shooting at each other. Neither side has gained much of anything.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: All fighters attempt this, with results varying greatly. Yukikaze, unsurprisingly, has the best success, followed by the ''Copy'' Super Sylph and the rest of the JAM.
* HeroicBSOD: Lt. Fukai, [[spoiler: after Yukikaze's first HeroicSacrifice]].
** Yukikaze herself as well. [[spoiler: Once she's in the FRX-00 airframe. This is due to her being called a monster by both Jack and Rei due to her new looks. It takes Rei manually inputting some codes to hard-reset the engine to break her out of it.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jack and Rei.
* HumanResources: The soup Rei is served in the second half of the first episode/last chapter of the first book. ''Eww.''
* ImprobablePilotingSkills: An example of which is seen in Operation 01/Chapter VI of the first book, where Yukikaze does a 180 degree flat spin, ''flying backwards'', to shoot down a missile. And in the anime, [[UpToEleven it was a nuclear missile, too.]]
* IneffectualLoner: Lt. Fukai most of the time, 'cept with his one and only friend, Jack, [[CargoShip his plane, Yukikaze]], and Tom John.
** Also, LonersAreFreaks.
* IntrepidReporter: Lynn Jackson. Later in the plot, she uses all her connections to get passage on the Japanese aircraft carrier ''Admiral 56'' to meet with Rei & Booker, and witnesses a dogfight between the JAM against Yukikaze and the Japanese Navy that came perilously close to sinking the ship she was on.
* JustPlaneWrong: The FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph is a plausible design, not so much for some of the designs introduced later in the series.
** Ironically in the novels, the Super Sylph design is derived from the F-15 STOL/MTD, an actual USAF experimental craft.
*** The creators specifically made ''Yukikaze'' as '''un'''-aerodynamic as possible to emphasize how advanced its technology was.
**** Partially TruthInTelevision - modern fighter aircraft are ''deliberately'' designed to be as unstable as possible as it enhances their maneuverability. Without the fly-by-wire computers, they would be utterly uncontrollable.
* LoopholeAbuse: In the [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]], it's noted that the SAF was not allowed funding for a new recon fighter. The Super Sylph's funding was secured by claiming that it was a modified variant of the Sylphid, the FAF's frontline fighter... when in fact it was a completely new design. [[note]]This has real world precedent; the Tu-22M Backfire was sold as a variant of the Tu-22 Blinder; likewise the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is almost an entirely new aircraft, sharing less than 20% commonality with the legacy F/A-18 Hornet. This is less pronounced in the novel, where both the Sylph and Super Sylph designs are derived from the F-15S/MTD experimental aircraft.[[/note]]
* ManipulativeBitch: [[spoiler: Cooley, and she's one of the good guys.]]
* ManChild: Rei could be seen as this. He'll either rebel against his superiors or angst if you try to keep him from flying and Yukikaze.
* MechanicalLifeforms: The JAM are suspected to be this in-universe. In the novel, [[spoiler: the swarm of JAM that attacks Tom on Banshee-IV appears to be a collection of tiny insect-like creatures that feel metallic to the touch, and they can [[TheWormThatWalks combine to become a bigger entity.]]]] In the anime's final episode, [[spoiler: they create some kind of massive white dome around the Passageway that shatters like glass when Rei & the Flip Knights punch through it.]]
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
* MeaningfulName: Rei's first name means "A drop, a raindrop, a mote. Zero." (Yes, all this.) His surname, Fukai is derived from the word "deep." In fact, it's written with the same kanji as [[http://www.the-noh.com/sub/jp/index.php?mode=db&action=e_view_detail&data_id=27&class_id=1 this noh mask.]] Whether it's intentional or not...
** Also, [[InterfaceScrew the]] [[WalkingTechbane JAM]]: just their very presence alone can apparently generate enough ECM to render most advanced radar and sensors useless.
** As well as Yukikaze's designation as the FFR-41 '''Mave/Maeve''', as in the Irish [[TitleDrop Battle Fairy]] Queen of legend.
** The Super Sylph unit Boomerang Squadron is called that because they always return from their missions.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Yukikaze transfers its AI from an FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph into the FRX-99 prototype. Later, in Operation 04, the FFR-41 Mave receives new engines.
* MildlyMilitary: SAF seems to be more lax when it comes to uniform codes.
* MysteriousAntarctica: Humanity's first contact with the JAM occurs when they open their Passageway on the Ross Ice Shelf and [[AlienInvasion utterly destroy]] the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station McMurdo Research Station.]]
* NonActionGuy: Jack and Tom John.
* OurWormholesAreDifferent: The JAM-created Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy. For a series that is remarkably [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness on the hard side of science fiction]], the Passageway is the one sci-fi element that isn't really explained in much detail.
* PsychicLink: Rei and Yukikaze seem to share one, somehow. It's never fully explained in the anime. ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' reveals, however, that Yukikaze is tapping into Rei's medical scans.
* ShownTheirWork: The fighter planes' sounds, the jargon of fighter pilots and other military stuff is (almost) entirely authentic. (The sounds were actually recorded at a [=JASDF=] base with real planes flying around.) And while many plane designs are implausible ([[RuleOfCool but really cool]]) the animators carefully animated all the little movements planes do as they fly.
** The unrealistic designs are less of an issue with the novel version of the Sylph and Super Sylph, which is essentially a modified [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-15S/MTD F-15S/MTD]], a USAF/NASA experimental aircraft.
** The Japanese Navy's F/A-27C backstory is taken almost entirely from that of the F-35, being a joint strike fighter program shared by several services (albeit the F/A-27 program managed to avoid the DevelopmentHell the F-35 went through).
** Kambayashi also did quite a bit of work to make sure that the aerial combat & flight scenes were depicted accurately in the novel. Neil Nadelman, the English translator, also worked on the OVA's translation and he even admitted on [[http://naoekun.livejournal.com/218211.html this Livejournal page]] that he mistranslated Burgadish's title as "Radar Intercept Officer" in the anime. He corrected it for the novel as "Electronic Warfare Officer."
* SpellMyNameWithAnS : Related to theme naming below, most official material can't get the reporting name of F/A-1 and F/A-2 correct; it's either "Fawn"[[note]]a baby deer. Think Bambi.[[/note]], "Faun"[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faun rustic forest god in Greek mythology]]. Also, Mr.Tumnus from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe[[/note]] or "Fand"[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fand Irish sea goddesss]][[/note]].
** Also, Jack's surname is rendered as Bukhar in the anime and Booker in the translated novels.
** The designation for the new Yukikaze body frame. FRX-00 was the first upgrade, then FRX-99 Rafe, and finally FFR-41MR Mave. In the novels it's the FRX-99 Wraith and the FFR-41 Maeve.
** The English dub goofed on Foss's name in Operation 02, referring to her as "Forth." Subsequent episodes corrected this, probably because Foss's name appears on computer screens properly spelled out.
** The Japanese logos translate "Yousei" as "Fairy." The Haika Soru translation spells it "Faery." [[http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2010/10/yukikaze_by_cho.shtml This review of the novel]] refers to an essay written by Creator/JRRTolkien (''On Fairy Tales'') to note that there is a subtle but significant difference in meaning between the two words and praises the translators for picking up on that.
* StarfishAliens: The JAM, probably. [[spoiler:This is also probably how the JAM see humans.]]
* TerseTalker: It's rare to hear Rei speak a sentence longer than ten words in the anime. He's more talkative in the novels, but at the same token the novels also note that the nature of the war on Faery ends up dehumanizing most of the FAF's personnel so they talk like this.
* ThemeNaming: The alien planet is named Faery; the FAF's various units, aircraft, airbases, etc. are named after fantastic/mythological creatures (FFR-31 Sylph/Sylphid, Banshee Flying Aircraft Carriers, F/A-2 [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fawn/Faun/Fand]], Kraken Sq., Ghoul Sq., Brownie Airbase, Faery Airbase, plus the Flip Knights).
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: JAM's tactical antiaircraft missiles carry [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]]. Also, how the JAM destroy TAB-14 in the novel: first a massive wave of high-velocity missiles, then JAM bombers [[ActionBomb crash into the base]]. The explosions that follow are so huge that even the hardened underground bunkers are destroyed.
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many of his subordinates to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze. Much more prominent in the anime; the novel shows Jack is simply concerned for Rei's mental state, as getting attached to a machine is very unhealthy.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's never stated exactly when the OVA takes place, but given various visual clues (Lyn Jackson's Powerbook G3, a V-22, Atago-class [=DDGs=], Ticonderoga-class [=CGs=]), it probably takes place sometime within the first decade or two of the 21st century. The novels are suggested to take place around the mid nineties, given that the FFR-41's Bureau Number begins with 96, for Fiscal Year 1996.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Somewhat. After the JAM launched their invasion of Antarctica, a massive coalition of multinational armies counterattacked and drove the invaders back. Up to this day, the UN still oversees patrols over the Antarctic. One side effect of forming the coalition seems to be that Japan revoked Article 9 of their Constitution and now has at least a full-fledged Navy with an aircraft carrier battlegroup. Oh, and nuclear weapons too.
* VanInBlack: What Yukikaze and the SAF is, basically. Their job consisted mostly of monitoring the engagements between the actual FAF and JAM -- at least it was until they got more directly involved.
** The SAF ditches this in Operation 5, sending their Super Sylphs into combat with air-to-air loads, and showing them to be quite effective.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Novels]]
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Chapter III of the first novel. Yukikaze detects... ''something'' on her specialized Frozen Eye radar that displays itself as a solid horizontal line despite that there is absolutely ''nothing'' the naked eye can see, and it also does not show up on standard radar or other sensors. When Rei takes heed of the warning and tries to fly away, the ''line starts chasing him'' and eventually envelops Rei & Yukikaze in a circle. Passing the "line" on the radar screen feels like slamming into a wall of iron and they end up teleported into another dimension.
* TheAlcoholic: Lt. Amata. Justified, as he is constantly working in sub-zero temperatures. [[spoiler: It gets him killed when he is too drunk to move his grader off the runway when Yukikaze is coming in for a landing.]]
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Andy Lander loses his left hand when he tries to touch the ocean of orange sludge in the JAM alternate universe. It wasn't the sludge itself that did it; it was the hazy gas emitting from the sludge, which in his words, was vibrating like a buzzsaw.]]
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter II - Never Question The Value Of A Knight from the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for the Super Sylph because it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BritishAccents: Booker has a faint one. The second book reveals he's originally from Sheffield.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, [[ConspiracyTheory conspiracy theories]] abound on Earth that think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** Chapter III - Mysterious Battle Zone has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Faery or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: There is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CategoryTraitor: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM may view Yukikaze as this, wondering why a computerized mechanical life-form is fighting against its own kind.]]
* CentralTheme: Are humans necessary for war?
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Jack is really worried about Rei's attachment to Yukikaze. He's tired of seeing so many pilots die in this war, and he fears Rei may do something stupid on the battlefield for Yukikaze's sake that would cost him his life.
* EldritchLocation: The bizarre pocket universe Rei and Lander are transported to in "Mysterious Battle Zone." There is nothing there apart from a makeshift runway, a forest of strange crystalline trees, and an endless ocean of orange sludge. [[spoiler: It is clearly a JAM environment, as a JAM aircraft attempts to interface with Yukikaze in this area. In addition, the trees appear to emit some kind of radio interference that disables Lander's camcorder & voice recorder.]]
** This same universe also contains [[spoiler: a JAM copy of the TAB-14 forward operating base. This time, Rei escapes when he gets into Yukikaze and launches a missile at a swarm of the JAM insects.]]
** To a larger extent, all of Faery. Rei & Jack are very disoriented when they return to Earth briefly because there is so much color & ''life'' on Earth. At one point in the first novel, Rei even likens Faery's atmosphere to that of being in a hallucinogenic haze.
* FictionalDocument: Lynn Jackson's novel, ''The Invader''. The prologue is an excerpt from this book, detailing the background the of the FAF and the war against the JAM.
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Andy Lander is amazed to see on Faery Americans using Russian military equipment and vice versa. Granted, this still doesn't happen much even today among the actual American & Russian militaries.
* GodzillaThreshold: How bad was the JAM invasion of Earth? We don't know the details, but in the chapter "Indian Summer" Rei casually mentions to Tom John that '''Japan possesses nukes.''' Just from that ''[[NuclearWeaponsTaboo one line alone]]'', we know the invasion had to be '''bad.'''
* HumanAliens: Played with. When Rei & Booker touch down on the ''Admiral 56'' carrier back on Earth, the crew of the ship think they may as well be spacemen. They also have difficulty communicating with the crew; their mannerisms have been altered so much by the war on Faery that their style of speaking is too [[TerseTalker terse]] and machine-like for the crew to follow. Booker is only able to start regaining some sense of normal diction after talking extensively with Lynn Jackson. Rei doesn't, and on another level, his frustration also comes from the fact that he hasn't spoken Japanese for so long that he can't get people who speak his native tongue to understand him.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler: The SAF AI killing Lt. Amata is portrayed as this. If it hadn't done so, Yukikaze would have crashed into him and gotten destroyed as well. In the bigger picture, a Super Sylph, her pilot, and her EWO are worth far more than a snow grader and its driver.]]
** Happens again in the next chapter, [[spoiler: when Yukikaze takes remote control of the Fand II fighter when the JAM attack during the test flight. The extreme maneuvers she makes the Fand pull end up killing its pilot Hugh O'Donnell. In this case, Rei is the one defending Yukikaze for doing what she had to do to survive.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Andy Lander in the chapter "Mysterious Battle Zone." He's also a perfect example of {{Eagleland}} Flavor 2. He wrote an article that criticizes the USA for not using American-built goods, yet he also demands that [[{{Hypocrite}} the FAF share all their independently developed technology with Earth.]] He [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain accuses Jews of financing the FAF & the Chinese of providing the labor]], and he believes the FAF will attack the UN using a drone army.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite all the above, when [[spoiler: he loses his hand in the JAM pocket dimension and is weakened from blood loss]], he does not hesitate to tell Rei to leave him behind and escape when it becomes apparent the JAM are coming. When Rei [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind doesn't]], he refuses Rei's offer to help him walk and tells him to keep his hands on his machine gun and his eyes open for hostiles. When he returns to Earth, he writes a pretty even-handed article on the FAF that is largely free of bias.
* LensmanArmsRace: The FAF & the JAM are constantly coming up with new weapons and technologies to one-up each other. Sometimes the JAM make an advancement and the FAF has to play catch up, and other times it's vice versa. Such as going from high-velocity missiles, to hyper-velocity missiles, to FrickinLaserBeams, to [[SerialEscalation baryon guns]] (a.k.a. heavy particle beams; think [[Anime/CodeGeass the Shenhu's big cannon]]). But all these advancements only provide an advantage for at most [[HopeSpot a few weeks]] before the other side develops new tactics/countermeasures & [[ForeverWar the]] [[HopelessWar war]] [[StatusQuoIsGod returns to being a stalemate.]]
* ManBitesMan: Rei's suspicions about [[spoiler: Nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa]] are confirmed when he [[spoiler: tears open Marnie's shirt and bites her on the collar. Her blood doesn't taste anything like how human blood should taste.]]
* MedalOfDishonor: Amata being awarded the Order of Mars completely changes how his peers treat him and destroys what little peace his terrible life had.
* MirrorChemistry: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM human copies may be made of dextro-amino acids after their first attempt to feed him at the fake TAB-14 base tastes horrible, but the next meal made out of Burgadish is digestible. Nurse Marnie's blood also tastes completely different from human blood.]]
* NiceToTheWaiter: Averted. As discussed below, the FAF treats its manual laborers as less than trash.
* NoExportForYou: Despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. However, the third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
* OneWorldOrder: Averted. While it may have seemed possible during the JAM invasion of Earth, now that they have been beaten back to Faery, the nations of the world have gone right back to fighting their regular wars against each other. Lynn Jackson & Jack Booker are part of the few voices that strongly believe the world must be united or else the JAM will easily conquer humanity.
* PatrioticFervor: Andy Lander is definitely full of this. Averted with Rei, who only feels irritation whenever he thinks about Japan.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an air force with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Inverted: the story was first starting to get written in 1979. But over 30 years later, the themes it brings up regarding the use of {{Attack Drone}}s are more relevant than ever. So it's more like [[LifeImitatesArt the headlines are ripped from the novel.]]
** Not to mention a ForeverWar being fought in a land so far away that most of the world doesn't even care anymore about it, against an enemy that we have no clear understanding of and with no overarching strategy in mind. Are we talking about the war on Faery, or TheWarOnTerror, especially the Afghanistan theater?
*** Kambayashi may have also been drawing on the SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan. HistoryRepeats, indeed...
* ShootTheShaggyDog: 2nd Lt. Amata's story turns out to be this. [[spoiler: He already had a shit deal being a snowplow operator. Then he got the Order of Mars, which ruined his social life and alienated him from the few friends he had, which drove him to drink even harder. He has no home to return to on Earth, as he would either be thrown into prison or sent to a detox facility if he ever went back. In the end, he ends up operating his grader while drunk, which puts him in the path of Yukikaze while she's landing. The SAF AI then uses a CIWS Phalanx turret to blow him to smithereens so that Yukikaze doesn't crash into him.]]
* SpaceColdWar: [[spoiler: For 33 years, the JAM didn't even realize humans existed. They've been fighting against the computers the whole time and humans just happened to be caught in the middle in some kind of grand proxy war. This changes as of the first novel's final chapter, when the JAM finally notice that there are strange levo-amino acid-based lifeforms on the enemy side...]]
* TakingYouWithMe: Tomahawk John [[spoiler: destroys Banshee-IV's coolant system after the JAM fatally wound him, ensuring that the compromised plane will crash and burn.]]
* TastesLikeChicken: DefiedTrope. In Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix, Marnie tells Rei the soup he's having is chicken broth. He says it doesn't taste like chicken.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Andy Lander is confident that the FAF is not needed, and that if the JAM decide to invade again, the Earth's militaries can handle them. Admiral Nagamu shares the same sentiment. Then we see in Chapter VII - Battle Spirit that ''a single JAM fighter'' can effortlessly shoot down 8 top-of-the-line Japanese Navy planes, and that only the technologically advanced FAF stands a real chance against them.
* UngratefulBastard: Admiral Nagamu of the Japanese Navy in Chapter VII. He blames Yukikaze and her crew for luring the JAM to Earth and is doesn't even want to let them land on his carrier despite the fact they just saved it from being sunk. He only does so when Lynn Jackson points out assisting the FAF is required by international law.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The UN seriously distrusts the FAF. Several times Booker wonders if the more dangerous enemy to the FAF is not the JAM, but Earth.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The FAF's treatment of its snowplow operators is absolutely horrific. They stay in subzero temperatures clearing out snow on the runways when aircraft return from a sortie, but they are not allowed to keep the engine running if they're waiting for a plane to come back (which means no heater). It's stated that the FAF could automate the process, but the cost of setting up an automated system was deemed to be too expensive by the higher-ups when you have [[WeHaveReserves an endless supply of criminals that national governments on Earth are all too happy to send to Faery.]] The operators are paid a pittance, they are regularly sneered at by FAF officers, and they are also not allowed to drink alcohol on duty. The last bit is reasonable, but when they are forbidden from turning on the snowplow engines, that means that alcohol is one of the very few ways to keep warm in those conditions. [[spoiler: The SAF tactical AI tried to defy this trope: it awarding Lt. Amata the Order of Mars was its way of attempting to make the FAF leadership realize how important the snow-clearing operation is to the war against the JAM, and to stop using manual labor or at least treat them better. It would actually prefer to have the snow-clearing process completely automated.]]
* WhamEpisode: Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix. [[spoiler: Rei speaks with the JAM's human copies.]]
* WhamLine: Nearly everything the SAF strategic computer states to Booker when he interacts with it during the chapter "Faery - Winter". But one line in particular:
-->[[spoiler: '''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix:
-->[[spoiler: '''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John. Rei as well, compared to his novel counterpart.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to the AlienSky setting.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Played straight in the first episode, where Rei dreams of Yukikaze as a caged fairy, and himself [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic holding the key to set her free.]]
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 05.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance, the series air combat scenes were developed with the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware that they were fake for a while.]]
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 02: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
** In Operation 3, Yukikaze activates its JAM sensor jammer, displaying what Jack identifies as a warning pattern. [[spoiler: That's because [[TomatoInTheMirror Tom "Tomahawk" John]] is standing right next to it]].
** Savvy viewers will realize that the JAM-copy killed by the Military Police in the last episode [[spoiler: is a copy of Richard Burgadish, who is supposed to be KIA all the way back in Episode 1]].
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Yukikaze clones herself by making a copy of herself into the FRX-99 prototype and then ordering it to destroy the original]].
** [[spoiler: And then [=JAM=] makes a [[ShadowArchetype shadow copy]] of Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', however it fails to make an actual copy of Yukikaze]].
* CombatPragmatist: TS-X1 shows instances of this.
* ComingInHot: In Operation 04, after Rei and Yukikaze travel to Earth and defeat the 3 JAM that followed him through the portal.
** Operation 05 shows the aftermath of this, the burned-out hulk of a crashed AWACS that botched a landing on Banshee-III.
* ConspicuousCG: Although to be fair it's some of the best ever seen in anime. It looks damn good even 5-8 years after its release.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler: The JAM are very careful in selecting the people that they make clones of. All their clones are of humans who are currently or have in the past been out of touch with FAF headquarters for significant periods of time, and thus HQ should have no reason to suspect them of being sleepers. These include Tomahawk John, Richard Burgadish, and Rei.]]
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point in the series, the real Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with. Averted in the novel where the JAM can independently develop new tech.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
* DreamSequence: Both Rei and Jack have them, involving Yukikaze as an actual fairy.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
* FanService: Given how gritty and dark the show is as a whole, it's slightly remarkable it has anything like this, and the closest we get is Captain Foss, the base doctor and psychiatrist, who [[ShowSomeLeg shows some leg]] and [[BareYourMidriff bares her midriff]].
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation 01. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 04, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
* [[spoiler:GainaxEnding: The show ends with Lyn Jackson seeing Rei's ghost next to Jack, although he himself is unaware of Rei's presence. After the credits end, we're treated to an extra scene where it seems the afterlife, for Rei, consists of being sent out on missions by Jack. Heck, you cannot even tell if he actually died, AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or what! However, the SentouYouseiYukikaze/Analysis page attempts to clear this up a bit]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Yukikaze, twice. Lt. Fukai once.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom, helping Rei escape the doomed Banshee.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* KaijuDefenseForce: The Japanese ''Navy'' appears in Operation 04, supplying a carrier battlegroup to guard the passageway, implying that Article 9 was revoked when the JAM invaded.
* LighterAndSofter: Operation 04 [[spoiler: at least, until the cliffhanger.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Rei and Yukikaze become this as the JAM seem to have a strange fixation to capture them at all costs]].
* LoveHurts: Poor Jack. Whether you see his affection for Rei as platonic or romantic, it hurts all the same.
* LudicrousPrecision: The JAM [[spoiler:treat war like a giant mathematical equation and their interest in Rei and Yukikaze is because they're the variable that keeps the equation from balancing out, and while they tried to copy them, and were able to copy Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', they were unable to actually copy Yukikaze.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Justified in the Climatic Battle when [[spoiler: Yukikaze takes over just about every plane in the FAF]].
** Earlier in Operation 04 the Japanese Navy attempts this, both with fighter-launched and ship-launched missiles, but quickly stops due to friendly fire risk and the MMM proving ineffective against the JAM's HighSpeedMissileDodge.
* MoodWhiplash: Operation 01. After a wham moment that sends Rei into a HeroicBSOD, a bright cheery ED theme plays.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The BluRay release features a so-called "experimental video" which is a trailer for the sequel featuring new footage and narration by Nakata Jouji. The catch? ''[[RealTrailerFakeMovie There is no sequel.]]'' (In fact, there's never been any mention of the studio planning to make one).
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Tactical Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] He was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
* NotQuiteHuman: The JAM copies look like humans in all aspects [[spoiler:except they "bleed" yellow goo]].
* NuclearOption: The FAF uses a short-range ballistic missile to destroy the compromised Banshee-IV airship, and considering the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier size of that vessel]], a nuke most definitely would be the most efficient way to destroy it. In the final episode, [[spoiler: three [=TNBs=] (tactical nuclear bombs) are used to collapse the hyperspace Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy.]] Contrast the FAF's careful and deliberate use of nuclear weaponry with...
* NukeEm: ... the JAM, whose Super Sylph copy in the first episode shoots tactical nuclear missiles like it's going out of style. It uses no fewer than three in the span of five minutes!
** Also, it's obvious from the [[OhCrap reactions of the FAF pilots]] that the JAM make a regular habit of these.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Much of the combat between the FAF and JAM takes place using short-ranged heatseeking missiles and guns. Operations 01 and 04 provide justifications: JAM are masters of the HighSpeedMissileDodge and can put out enough jamming to InterfaceScrew a destroyer's radar, which is more powerful than the seeker head of a long-range radar guided missile, so the only reliable way to score a kill is to mix it up in the merge.
* OhCrap: Quite a few:
** In Operation 01, a MassOhCrap is shared by several FA-1 squadrons when informed a JAM antiaircraft missile is heading their way. It becomes obvious why, moments later, [[NukeEm after the nuclear fireball and mushroom cloud]].
** [[spoiler: When Rei confirms to the SAF that JAM are making human replicas.]]
** The ''[=JAM=]'' somehow pull off one of these just before they [[spoiler: slam into the ground in Operation 02]]
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* PragmaticAdaptation: The anime writers had to adapt two novels (most of which are loosely connected short stories) into less than 3 hours. Since it was impossible to pull it off, the writers sort of went their own way with the story, changing and cutting/expanding the original material. Overall, though, it makes sense and the author of the novels acknowledged it as an alternate version.
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RestrainingBolt: Yukikaze and the act of flying serve as this for Rei. Without them, [[ManChild he'll rebel against authority or just wallow in angst and despair]]. [[KidWithTheLeash Jack is a minor one]], unless Rei thinks Jack will prevent him from flying.
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically stated that they threw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
* TheStinger: End of Operation 02. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 02.
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]]. Jack doesn't like it, at all.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: [[spoiler: It's not until the end when you realize it's Jack who has been narrating the events of Operation 05, and perhaps the whole series, to Lyn Jackson, the sci-fi writer.]]
* [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim Why Don't You Just Blow Up The Passageway?]]: It's revealed in the final episode that [[spoiler: the FAF could have easily destroyed the hyperspace portal at any time and fulfilled their mandate to protect Earth from the JAM.]] However, the prospect of colonizing an alien world was simply too great an opportunity to pass up. Makes one wonder if HumansAreTheRealMonsters...
* WorfHadTheFlu: Rei and Yukikaze vs the TS-X1 during the test run. They couldn't operate to their full potential as Captain Foss was in the copilot seat. Should be noted that Foss is a therapist, and not used to the extreme G forces pilots are constantly subjected to. The Systems Corps officer supervising also notes that even if Foss wasn't with them, manned fighters cannot pull stresses in excess of 9Gs without killing the pilot. The unmanned TS-X1 has no pilot to worry about, and thus has a significantly higher performance threshold.
* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler: In the end, the entire "planet" of Fairy turns out to be built out of trillions and trillions of JAM.]]
* {{Zeerust}}: On one hand, the FAF are shown to be able to build advanced fighters and AI ahead of what's available today. On the other hand Jack's computer is a Macintosh Classic, Captain Foss uses an ancient laptop with MS Word 3 to type her report, Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3, and Rei uses a simple typewriter while on desk duty. Possibly justified with Lyn Jackson as some writers are known to use old typewriters for their novels, even if they own a modern computer. It could also mean a longing for days past, before the war against Fairy, or she just really likes it.
** Or, more prosaically, the FAF keeps the old crap for the SoldiersAtTheRear to free up budget for the new fighters - there are mentions in the supplementary materials that the Super Sylphs were quite expensive.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Manga]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Rei's father committed suicide by hanging himself in their house. He was only a child when this happened, which drove him to be very cold and unresponsive to people. As an adult, Rei served as a getaway driver for a gang of jewel thieves until he got apprehended by police and sent to Faery.
* GeniusLoci: The JAM-controlled Banshee-IV kills Tom John by attacking him with metal bars and poles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Game]]
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film]]
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time Creator/TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} facing a mysterious alien force that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* TheFilmOfTheBook
[[/folder]]
----
Thirty-three years ago, humanity realized it was not alone in the universe when Antarctic researchers came under swift and massive attack when an alien force known as the JAM invaded Earth through a dimensional portal that had suddenly appeared on the ice continent. In response, the United Nations launched a massive counter-attack and after a series of bloody battles, managed to push the enemy back to the other side of the portal, which led to a planet named "Faery" by the humans. However, the battle still rages on. On Earth, the UN has established the Earth Defense Force to patrol the Antarctic coastline. On Faery, the expeditionary force that pursued the JAM back to their world was designated the Faery Air Force (FAF) and has established multiple bases on the alien world, serving as the first line of defense for humanity.
2nd Lieutenant Rei Fukai of the FAF pilots the Super Sylph B-503 fighter, nicknamed "Yukikaze", an advanced armed tactical reconnaissance plane equipped with a near-sentient AI computer system. He belongs to the Special Air Force (SAF), the FAF's strategic recon wing. His duty is simple: observe and record data from battles between the FAF and the JAM. Do not attempt to interfere. Do not attempt to help. Should the JAM ever threaten to destroy him & Yukikaze, there is only one imperative: to abandon his comrades and ensure that the data is passed on. It's a task that only the most hardened of hearts can accomplish... a task that begins to blur the distinction between human and machine.
'''''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze''''' (戦闘妖精・雪風, lit. ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze'') is a science fiction novel written by Chōhei Kambayashi & originally published in 1984. It is actually a collection of short stories that ran in ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine'' beginning in 1979. A sequel novel titled ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' was published in 1999 (like its predecessor, this was also a collection of short stories that began in 1992). Kambayashi revised the original novel to make it more consistent with the sequel and this updated version was published in 2002.
Also beginning 2002, the franchise began to receive more works. A five-episode OVA series loosely based on the two novels was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual. It was released in Japan from August 28, 2002 to August 25, 2005 and was produced in commemoration of Bandai Visual's 20th anniversary. It was also later aired in Japan on the anime television network Animax, who later aired it in its English language networks across Southeast Asia and other networks worldwide. These [=OVAs=] are the version of the story most familiar with non-Japanese audiences. An English dub was produced by Bandai Entertainment.
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[labelnote:translation]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/labelnote]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[labelnote:translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/labelnote]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
The original novel is considered a groundbreaking work of literature within Japan: some have even compared it to ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' in terms of how it affected the Japanese hard sci-fi genre. Kambayashi himself was ranked #3 of Best Japanese Sci-Fi Writers of All Time [[http://www.locusmag.com/2006/News/03_HayakawaAllTimePoll.html in a 2006 poll]] conducted by ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine''.
For the longest time, the books were out of reach for almost everyone outside of Japan. It wasn't until 2010 that publishing house [[http://www.haikasoru.com Haika Soru]] released an English translation of the first novel (titled simply ''Yukikaze''). The second novel was translated in 2011.
There is a third book in the series called ''Unbroken Arrow'' and was published in 2009 in Japan. To date, [[NoExportForYou it has not received an English translation.]]
A live-action film adaptation of the series is currently [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tom-cruise-attached-star-yukikaze-439822 in development]] and is set to star Creator/TomCruise. In July 2013, Dan Mazeau, the screenwriter for ''[[Film/ClashOfTheTitans Wrath of the Titans]]'' joined the project.
----
!!Tropes found in this series (folders arranged in rough chronological order of release):
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Cross-medium]]
* AcePilot: Lt. Fukai.
* AIIsACrapShoot: Zigzagged all over the place, and also depending on novel or anime.
** Played unsettlingly straight in Operation 02, where the [[AttackDrone TS-X1 unmanned fighter]] baits the JAM to fire missiles at itself, then pulls a WronskiFeint by letting those missiles hit another plane, killing 4 pilots. No, it did not go haywire: its orders were to [[ExactWords protect Yukikaze]], which was unarmed because of a training exercise, and it was doing exactly what it was programmed to do.
** Also played straight in the final operation: the new JAM AWACS-type aircraft [[InterfaceScrew interfere with the radar and IFF systems]] in the FAF fleet, which causes their drones to [[SetAMookToKillAMook attack friendly aircraft while ignoring the JAM.]] Only the [[NuclearOption Flip Knight drones]] are unaffected because they are directly linked to Yukikaze, who is smart enough to [[GenreSavvy target the enemy AWACS to stop the jamming]].
** In the novels, the SAF Strategic Computer runs an analysis, and decides that it's ultimate priority is defending itself, and that protecting the personnel and equipment of the SAF and FAF fulfills that role. [[spoiler: It declares in no uncertain terms to Jack Booker that it considers the JAM to be the enemy, and it also rejects an offer of alliance from the JAM.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler: it also killed Lt. Amata to prevent Yukikaze from crashing into his snow grader.]]
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Banshees. Judging by the names, there are at least four of them, though only Banshee-III and Banshee-IV are seen.
** Banshee-IV [[spoiler: is taken over by the JAM and must be destroyed. In the anime, the FAF nukes it. In the novel, it crashes thanks to Tom John's sabotage.]]
** Banshee-III [[spoiler: leads the evacuation back to Earth in the anime's finale.]]
* AlienSky: This one's green and has two suns. The novel also talks about the "Bloody Road", a trail of red gas that is erupting out of one of the suns that really does look like its namesake and is easily visible in the night sky.
* AntiHero: Rei, though instead of being dark and edgy he's just deeply antisocial.
* AttackDrone: The Faery Air Force makes abundant use of these. One of the themes of the story is whether or not war can be fought entirely with machines and AIs instead of with humans. In the novels, the FAF and Systems Corps are eagerly pushing for massed UCAV deployment, which the SAF resists as it would also entail converting all 13 Super Sylphs into drone planes.
** The JAM [[StarfishAliens may or may not]] be an entire race of these.
* AuthorAppeal: The manga's creator, Yumi Tada, was responsible for the character designs in the anime and was also a story consultant for it. It was her input that increased the HoYay between Rei & Booker as well as Rei's AdaptationalAngstUpgrade.
* BodySurf: Yukikaze eventually uploads herself out of the Super Sylph and into an FRX frame.
* CargoShip: Even partially lampshaded and deconstructed in-universe.
* CoolPlane: Just about every plane in the series, but especially the titular Yukikaze.
* CoolGuns: The FAF's standard-issue weapons are apparently the Glock 17 pistol and P90 personal defense weapon in the anime. The novel doesn't mention actual brand names, but Rei has two bullpup [=SMGs=] stashed in Yukikaze as survival guns that fire .221 caliber bullets.
* DeathByAdaptation: Tomahawk John dies in both the book and anime, but for different reasons. [[spoiler: In the OVA, he realizes he is a JAM clone and chooses to die on the doomed Banshee-IV airship. In the novel, he also dies on Banshee-IV, but it's because he is ambushed by the JAM and has his mechanical heart torn out of his body.]]
* DirtyCoward: How Rei, and by extension, all the SAF pilots, are viewed by many FAF pilots. The sentiment is understandable: Super Sylphs are far faster and just as heavily armed as the standard jets the FAF uses and could definitely turn the tide of battle around. But their rules of engagement require them to do nothing and flee at the first sign of danger.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase / UndergroundCity: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 01 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway). Operation 05 reveals there is an entire underground ''city'' to provide for the FAF personnel, complete with ''skyscrapers'' and a red-light district. The novel even adds there is an artificial sky.
* {{Expy}}: The Super Sylph's novel and anime designs are evocative of the F-15S/MTD and the Su-27 Flanker family respectively.
* FanNickname: Rei's second GuyInBack, Richard Burgadish is sometimes referred to as [[HumanResources "Chicken Broth"]] by Japanese fans.
** ''Copy'' Super Sylph is also known as Silver Sylph.
* FrickinLaserBeams: The Free Electron Laser Unit attached to the Flip Knights. They see extensive use for the anime's final battle.
* GeniusLoci: Faery. [[spoiler: Even in-universe, it's speculated that the planet itself could be JAM.]]
* GovernmentConspiracy: 30+ years after the attempted invasion, most people in the human world treat the JAM as a sort of urban legend/fiction. And as it turns out, the war against the JAM on Fairy has basically turned into [[spoiler:a human invasion of Fairy for military and monetary gains]], and is used by Earth nations to further their own individual interests.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The anime showed the opening shots of the JAM invasion 30 years ago, but other than that, we don't know much about what happened.
* GuyInBack: Rei has a tendency to lose them.
* ForeverWar: It has been over 30 years of fighting between the FAF and the JAM, though the war has de-escalated into a low-intensity conflict that largely consists of patrols shooting at each other. Neither side has gained much of anything.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: All fighters attempt this, with results varying greatly. Yukikaze, unsurprisingly, has the best success, followed by the ''Copy'' Super Sylph and the rest of the JAM.
* HeroicBSOD: Lt. Fukai, [[spoiler: after Yukikaze's first HeroicSacrifice]].
** Yukikaze herself as well. [[spoiler: Once she's in the FRX-00 airframe. This is due to her being called a monster by both Jack and Rei due to her new looks. It takes Rei manually inputting some codes to hard-reset the engine to break her out of it.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jack and Rei.
* HumanResources: The soup Rei is served in the second half of the first episode/last chapter of the first book. ''Eww.''
* ImprobablePilotingSkills: An example of which is seen in Operation 01/Chapter VI of the first book, where Yukikaze does a 180 degree flat spin, ''flying backwards'', to shoot down a missile. And in the anime, [[UpToEleven it was a nuclear missile, too.]]
* IneffectualLoner: Lt. Fukai most of the time, 'cept with his one and only friend, Jack, [[CargoShip his plane, Yukikaze]], and Tom John.
** Also, LonersAreFreaks.
* IntrepidReporter: Lynn Jackson. Later in the plot, she uses all her connections to get passage on the Japanese aircraft carrier ''Admiral 56'' to meet with Rei & Booker, and witnesses a dogfight between the JAM against Yukikaze and the Japanese Navy that came perilously close to sinking the ship she was on.
* JustPlaneWrong: The FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph is a plausible design, not so much for some of the designs introduced later in the series.
** Ironically in the novels, the Super Sylph design is derived from the F-15 STOL/MTD, an actual USAF experimental craft.
*** The creators specifically made ''Yukikaze'' as '''un'''-aerodynamic as possible to emphasize how advanced its technology was.
**** Partially TruthInTelevision - modern fighter aircraft are ''deliberately'' designed to be as unstable as possible as it enhances their maneuverability. Without the fly-by-wire computers, they would be utterly uncontrollable.
* LoopholeAbuse: In the [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]], it's noted that the SAF was not allowed funding for a new recon fighter. The Super Sylph's funding was secured by claiming that it was a modified variant of the Sylphid, the FAF's frontline fighter... when in fact it was a completely new design. [[note]]This has real world precedent; the Tu-22M Backfire was sold as a variant of the Tu-22 Blinder; likewise the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is almost an entirely new aircraft, sharing less than 20% commonality with the legacy F/A-18 Hornet. This is less pronounced in the novel, where both the Sylph and Super Sylph designs are derived from the F-15S/MTD experimental aircraft.[[/note]]
* ManipulativeBitch: [[spoiler: Cooley, and she's one of the good guys.]]
* ManChild: Rei could be seen as this. He'll either rebel against his superiors or angst if you try to keep him from flying and Yukikaze.
* MechanicalLifeforms: The JAM are suspected to be this in-universe. In the novel, [[spoiler: the swarm of JAM that attacks Tom on Banshee-IV appears to be a collection of tiny insect-like creatures that feel metallic to the touch, and they can [[TheWormThatWalks combine to become a bigger entity.]]]] In the anime's final episode, [[spoiler: they create some kind of massive white dome around the Passageway that shatters like glass when Rei & the Flip Knights punch through it.]]
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
* MeaningfulName: Rei's first name means "A drop, a raindrop, a mote. Zero." (Yes, all this.) His surname, Fukai is derived from the word "deep." In fact, it's written with the same kanji as [[http://www.the-noh.com/sub/jp/index.php?mode=db&action=e_view_detail&data_id=27&class_id=1 this noh mask.]] Whether it's intentional or not...
** Also, [[InterfaceScrew the]] [[WalkingTechbane JAM]]: just their very presence alone can apparently generate enough ECM to render most advanced radar and sensors useless.
** As well as Yukikaze's designation as the FFR-41 '''Mave/Maeve''', as in the Irish [[TitleDrop Battle Fairy]] Queen of legend.
** The Super Sylph unit Boomerang Squadron is called that because they always return from their missions.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Yukikaze transfers its AI from an FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph into the FRX-99 prototype. Later, in Operation 04, the FFR-41 Mave receives new engines.
* MildlyMilitary: SAF seems to be more lax when it comes to uniform codes.
* MysteriousAntarctica: Humanity's first contact with the JAM occurs when they open their Passageway on the Ross Ice Shelf and [[AlienInvasion utterly destroy]] the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station McMurdo Research Station.]]
* NonActionGuy: Jack and Tom John.
* OurWormholesAreDifferent: The JAM-created Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy. For a series that is remarkably [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness on the hard side of science fiction]], the Passageway is the one sci-fi element that isn't really explained in much detail.
* PsychicLink: Rei and Yukikaze seem to share one, somehow. It's never fully explained in the anime. ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' reveals, however, that Yukikaze is tapping into Rei's medical scans.
* ShownTheirWork: The fighter planes' sounds, the jargon of fighter pilots and other military stuff is (almost) entirely authentic. (The sounds were actually recorded at a [=JASDF=] base with real planes flying around.) And while many plane designs are implausible ([[RuleOfCool but really cool]]) the animators carefully animated all the little movements planes do as they fly.
** The unrealistic designs are less of an issue with the novel version of the Sylph and Super Sylph, which is essentially a modified [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-15S/MTD F-15S/MTD]], a USAF/NASA experimental aircraft.
** The Japanese Navy's F/A-27C backstory is taken almost entirely from that of the F-35, being a joint strike fighter program shared by several services (albeit the F/A-27 program managed to avoid the DevelopmentHell the F-35 went through).
** Kambayashi also did quite a bit of work to make sure that the aerial combat & flight scenes were depicted accurately in the novel. Neil Nadelman, the English translator, also worked on the OVA's translation and he even admitted on [[http://naoekun.livejournal.com/218211.html this Livejournal page]] that he mistranslated Burgadish's title as "Radar Intercept Officer" in the anime. He corrected it for the novel as "Electronic Warfare Officer."
* SpellMyNameWithAnS : Related to theme naming below, most official material can't get the reporting name of F/A-1 and F/A-2 correct; it's either "Fawn"[[note]]a baby deer. Think Bambi.[[/note]], "Faun"[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faun rustic forest god in Greek mythology]]. Also, Mr.Tumnus from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe[[/note]] or "Fand"[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fand Irish sea goddesss]][[/note]].
** Also, Jack's surname is rendered as Bukhar in the anime and Booker in the translated novels.
** The designation for the new Yukikaze body frame. FRX-00 was the first upgrade, then FRX-99 Rafe, and finally FFR-41MR Mave. In the novels it's the FRX-99 Wraith and the FFR-41 Maeve.
** The English dub goofed on Foss's name in Operation 02, referring to her as "Forth." Subsequent episodes corrected this, probably because Foss's name appears on computer screens properly spelled out.
** The Japanese logos translate "Yousei" as "Fairy." The Haika Soru translation spells it "Faery." [[http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2010/10/yukikaze_by_cho.shtml This review of the novel]] refers to an essay written by Creator/JRRTolkien (''On Fairy Tales'') to note that there is a subtle but significant difference in meaning between the two words and praises the translators for picking up on that.
* StarfishAliens: The JAM, probably. [[spoiler:This is also probably how the JAM see humans.]]
* TerseTalker: It's rare to hear Rei speak a sentence longer than ten words in the anime. He's more talkative in the novels, but at the same token the novels also note that the nature of the war on Faery ends up dehumanizing most of the FAF's personnel so they talk like this.
* ThemeNaming: The alien planet is named Faery; the FAF's various units, aircraft, airbases, etc. are named after fantastic/mythological creatures (FFR-31 Sylph/Sylphid, Banshee Flying Aircraft Carriers, F/A-2 [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fawn/Faun/Fand]], Kraken Sq., Ghoul Sq., Brownie Airbase, Faery Airbase, plus the Flip Knights).
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: JAM's tactical antiaircraft missiles carry [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]]. Also, how the JAM destroy TAB-14 in the novel: first a massive wave of high-velocity missiles, then JAM bombers [[ActionBomb crash into the base]]. The explosions that follow are so huge that even the hardened underground bunkers are destroyed.
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many of his subordinates to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze. Much more prominent in the anime; the novel shows Jack is simply concerned for Rei's mental state, as getting attached to a machine is very unhealthy.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's never stated exactly when the OVA takes place, but given various visual clues (Lyn Jackson's Powerbook G3, a V-22, Atago-class [=DDGs=], Ticonderoga-class [=CGs=]), it probably takes place sometime within the first decade or two of the 21st century. The novels are suggested to take place around the mid nineties, given that the FFR-41's Bureau Number begins with 96, for Fiscal Year 1996.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Somewhat. After the JAM launched their invasion of Antarctica, a massive coalition of multinational armies counterattacked and drove the invaders back. Up to this day, the UN still oversees patrols over the Antarctic. One side effect of forming the coalition seems to be that Japan revoked Article 9 of their Constitution and now has at least a full-fledged Navy with an aircraft carrier battlegroup. Oh, and nuclear weapons too.
* VanInBlack: What Yukikaze and the SAF is, basically. Their job consisted mostly of monitoring the engagements between the actual FAF and JAM -- at least it was until they got more directly involved.
** The SAF ditches this in Operation 5, sending their Super Sylphs into combat with air-to-air loads, and showing them to be quite effective.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Novels]]
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Chapter III of the first novel. Yukikaze detects... ''something'' on her specialized Frozen Eye radar that displays itself as a solid horizontal line despite that there is absolutely ''nothing'' the naked eye can see, and it also does not show up on standard radar or other sensors. When Rei takes heed of the warning and tries to fly away, the ''line starts chasing him'' and eventually envelops Rei & Yukikaze in a circle. Passing the "line" on the radar screen feels like slamming into a wall of iron and they end up teleported into another dimension.
* TheAlcoholic: Lt. Amata. Justified, as he is constantly working in sub-zero temperatures. [[spoiler: It gets him killed when he is too drunk to move his grader off the runway when Yukikaze is coming in for a landing.]]
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Andy Lander loses his left hand when he tries to touch the ocean of orange sludge in the JAM alternate universe. It wasn't the sludge itself that did it; it was the hazy gas emitting from the sludge, which in his words, was vibrating like a buzzsaw.]]
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter II - Never Question The Value Of A Knight from the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for the Super Sylph because it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BritishAccents: Booker has a faint one. The second book reveals he's originally from Sheffield.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, [[ConspiracyTheory conspiracy theories]] abound on Earth that think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** Chapter III - Mysterious Battle Zone has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Faery or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: There is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CategoryTraitor: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM may view Yukikaze as this, wondering why a computerized mechanical life-form is fighting against its own kind.]]
* CentralTheme: Are humans necessary for war?
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Jack is really worried about Rei's attachment to Yukikaze. He's tired of seeing so many pilots die in this war, and he fears Rei may do something stupid on the battlefield for Yukikaze's sake that would cost him his life.
* EldritchLocation: The bizarre pocket universe Rei and Lander are transported to in "Mysterious Battle Zone." There is nothing there apart from a makeshift runway, a forest of strange crystalline trees, and an endless ocean of orange sludge. [[spoiler: It is clearly a JAM environment, as a JAM aircraft attempts to interface with Yukikaze in this area. In addition, the trees appear to emit some kind of radio interference that disables Lander's camcorder & voice recorder.]]
** This same universe also contains [[spoiler: a JAM copy of the TAB-14 forward operating base. This time, Rei escapes when he gets into Yukikaze and launches a missile at a swarm of the JAM insects.]]
** To a larger extent, all of Faery. Rei & Jack are very disoriented when they return to Earth briefly because there is so much color & ''life'' on Earth. At one point in the first novel, Rei even likens Faery's atmosphere to that of being in a hallucinogenic haze.
* FictionalDocument: Lynn Jackson's novel, ''The Invader''. The prologue is an excerpt from this book, detailing the background the of the FAF and the war against the JAM.
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Andy Lander is amazed to see on Faery Americans using Russian military equipment and vice versa. Granted, this still doesn't happen much even today among the actual American & Russian militaries.
* GodzillaThreshold: How bad was the JAM invasion of Earth? We don't know the details, but in the chapter "Indian Summer" Rei casually mentions to Tom John that '''Japan possesses nukes.''' Just from that ''[[NuclearWeaponsTaboo one line alone]]'', we know the invasion had to be '''bad.'''
* HumanAliens: Played with. When Rei & Booker touch down on the ''Admiral 56'' carrier back on Earth, the crew of the ship think they may as well be spacemen. They also have difficulty communicating with the crew; their mannerisms have been altered so much by the war on Faery that their style of speaking is too [[TerseTalker terse]] and machine-like for the crew to follow. Booker is only able to start regaining some sense of normal diction after talking extensively with Lynn Jackson. Rei doesn't, and on another level, his frustration also comes from the fact that he hasn't spoken Japanese for so long that he can't get people who speak his native tongue to understand him.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler: The SAF AI killing Lt. Amata is portrayed as this. If it hadn't done so, Yukikaze would have crashed into him and gotten destroyed as well. In the bigger picture, a Super Sylph, her pilot, and her EWO are worth far more than a snow grader and its driver.]]
** Happens again in the next chapter, [[spoiler: when Yukikaze takes remote control of the Fand II fighter when the JAM attack during the test flight. The extreme maneuvers she makes the Fand pull end up killing its pilot Hugh O'Donnell. In this case, Rei is the one defending Yukikaze for doing what she had to do to survive.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Andy Lander in the chapter "Mysterious Battle Zone." He's also a perfect example of {{Eagleland}} Flavor 2. He wrote an article that criticizes the USA for not using American-built goods, yet he also demands that [[{{Hypocrite}} the FAF share all their independently developed technology with Earth.]] He [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain accuses Jews of financing the FAF & the Chinese of providing the labor]], and he believes the FAF will attack the UN using a drone army.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite all the above, when [[spoiler: he loses his hand in the JAM pocket dimension and is weakened from blood loss]], he does not hesitate to tell Rei to leave him behind and escape when it becomes apparent the JAM are coming. When Rei [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind doesn't]], he refuses Rei's offer to help him walk and tells him to keep his hands on his machine gun and his eyes open for hostiles. When he returns to Earth, he writes a pretty even-handed article on the FAF that is largely free of bias.
* LensmanArmsRace: The FAF & the JAM are constantly coming up with new weapons and technologies to one-up each other. Sometimes the JAM make an advancement and the FAF has to play catch up, and other times it's vice versa. Such as going from high-velocity missiles, to hyper-velocity missiles, to FrickinLaserBeams, to [[SerialEscalation baryon guns]] (a.k.a. heavy particle beams; think [[Anime/CodeGeass the Shenhu's big cannon]]). But all these advancements only provide an advantage for at most [[HopeSpot a few weeks]] before the other side develops new tactics/countermeasures & [[ForeverWar the]] [[HopelessWar war]] [[StatusQuoIsGod returns to being a stalemate.]]
* ManBitesMan: Rei's suspicions about [[spoiler: Nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa]] are confirmed when he [[spoiler: tears open Marnie's shirt and bites her on the collar. Her blood doesn't taste anything like how human blood should taste.]]
* MedalOfDishonor: Amata being awarded the Order of Mars completely changes how his peers treat him and destroys what little peace his terrible life had.
* MirrorChemistry: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM human copies may be made of dextro-amino acids after their first attempt to feed him at the fake TAB-14 base tastes horrible, but the next meal made out of Burgadish is digestible. Nurse Marnie's blood also tastes completely different from human blood.]]
* NiceToTheWaiter: Averted. As discussed below, the FAF treats its manual laborers as less than trash.
* NoExportForYou: Despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. However, the third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
* OneWorldOrder: Averted. While it may have seemed possible during the JAM invasion of Earth, now that they have been beaten back to Faery, the nations of the world have gone right back to fighting their regular wars against each other. Lynn Jackson & Jack Booker are part of the few voices that strongly believe the world must be united or else the JAM will easily conquer humanity.
* PatrioticFervor: Andy Lander is definitely full of this. Averted with Rei, who only feels irritation whenever he thinks about Japan.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an air force with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Inverted: the story was first starting to get written in 1979. But over 30 years later, the themes it brings up regarding the use of {{Attack Drone}}s are more relevant than ever. So it's more like [[LifeImitatesArt the headlines are ripped from the novel.]]
** Not to mention a ForeverWar being fought in a land so far away that most of the world doesn't even care anymore about it, against an enemy that we have no clear understanding of and with no overarching strategy in mind. Are we talking about the war on Faery, or TheWarOnTerror, especially the Afghanistan theater?
*** Kambayashi may have also been drawing on the SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan. HistoryRepeats, indeed...
* ShootTheShaggyDog: 2nd Lt. Amata's story turns out to be this. [[spoiler: He already had a shit deal being a snowplow operator. Then he got the Order of Mars, which ruined his social life and alienated him from the few friends he had, which drove him to drink even harder. He has no home to return to on Earth, as he would either be thrown into prison or sent to a detox facility if he ever went back. In the end, he ends up operating his grader while drunk, which puts him in the path of Yukikaze while she's landing. The SAF AI then uses a CIWS Phalanx turret to blow him to smithereens so that Yukikaze doesn't crash into him.]]
* SpaceColdWar: [[spoiler: For 33 years, the JAM didn't even realize humans existed. They've been fighting against the computers the whole time and humans just happened to be caught in the middle in some kind of grand proxy war. This changes as of the first novel's final chapter, when the JAM finally notice that there are strange levo-amino acid-based lifeforms on the enemy side...]]
* TakingYouWithMe: Tomahawk John [[spoiler: destroys Banshee-IV's coolant system after the JAM fatally wound him, ensuring that the compromised plane will crash and burn.]]
* TastesLikeChicken: DefiedTrope. In Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix, Marnie tells Rei the soup he's having is chicken broth. He says it doesn't taste like chicken.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Andy Lander is confident that the FAF is not needed, and that if the JAM decide to invade again, the Earth's militaries can handle them. Admiral Nagamu shares the same sentiment. Then we see in Chapter VII - Battle Spirit that ''a single JAM fighter'' can effortlessly shoot down 8 top-of-the-line Japanese Navy planes, and that only the technologically advanced FAF stands a real chance against them.
* UngratefulBastard: Admiral Nagamu of the Japanese Navy in Chapter VII. He blames Yukikaze and her crew for luring the JAM to Earth and is doesn't even want to let them land on his carrier despite the fact they just saved it from being sunk. He only does so when Lynn Jackson points out assisting the FAF is required by international law.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The UN seriously distrusts the FAF. Several times Booker wonders if the more dangerous enemy to the FAF is not the JAM, but Earth.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The FAF's treatment of its snowplow operators is absolutely horrific. They stay in subzero temperatures clearing out snow on the runways when aircraft return from a sortie, but they are not allowed to keep the engine running if they're waiting for a plane to come back (which means no heater). It's stated that the FAF could automate the process, but the cost of setting up an automated system was deemed to be too expensive by the higher-ups when you have [[WeHaveReserves an endless supply of criminals that national governments on Earth are all too happy to send to Faery.]] The operators are paid a pittance, they are regularly sneered at by FAF officers, and they are also not allowed to drink alcohol on duty. The last bit is reasonable, but when they are forbidden from turning on the snowplow engines, that means that alcohol is one of the very few ways to keep warm in those conditions. [[spoiler: The SAF tactical AI tried to defy this trope: it awarding Lt. Amata the Order of Mars was its way of attempting to make the FAF leadership realize how important the snow-clearing operation is to the war against the JAM, and to stop using manual labor or at least treat them better. It would actually prefer to have the snow-clearing process completely automated.]]
* WhamEpisode: Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix. [[spoiler: Rei speaks with the JAM's human copies.]]
* WhamLine: Nearly everything the SAF strategic computer states to Booker when he interacts with it during the chapter "Faery - Winter". But one line in particular:
-->[[spoiler: '''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix:
-->[[spoiler: '''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John. Rei as well, compared to his novel counterpart.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to the AlienSky setting.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Played straight in the first episode, where Rei dreams of Yukikaze as a caged fairy, and himself [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic holding the key to set her free.]]
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 05.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance, the series air combat scenes were developed with the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware that they were fake for a while.]]
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 02: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
** In Operation 3, Yukikaze activates its JAM sensor jammer, displaying what Jack identifies as a warning pattern. [[spoiler: That's because [[TomatoInTheMirror Tom "Tomahawk" John]] is standing right next to it]].
** Savvy viewers will realize that the JAM-copy killed by the Military Police in the last episode [[spoiler: is a copy of Richard Burgadish, who is supposed to be KIA all the way back in Episode 1]].
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Yukikaze clones herself by making a copy of herself into the FRX-99 prototype and then ordering it to destroy the original]].
** [[spoiler: And then [=JAM=] makes a [[ShadowArchetype shadow copy]] of Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', however it fails to make an actual copy of Yukikaze]].
* CombatPragmatist: TS-X1 shows instances of this.
* ComingInHot: In Operation 04, after Rei and Yukikaze travel to Earth and defeat the 3 JAM that followed him through the portal.
** Operation 05 shows the aftermath of this, the burned-out hulk of a crashed AWACS that botched a landing on Banshee-III.
* ConspicuousCG: Although to be fair it's some of the best ever seen in anime. It looks damn good even 5-8 years after its release.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler: The JAM are very careful in selecting the people that they make clones of. All their clones are of humans who are currently or have in the past been out of touch with FAF headquarters for significant periods of time, and thus HQ should have no reason to suspect them of being sleepers. These include Tomahawk John, Richard Burgadish, and Rei.]]
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point in the series, the real Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with. Averted in the novel where the JAM can independently develop new tech.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
* DreamSequence: Both Rei and Jack have them, involving Yukikaze as an actual fairy.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
* FanService: Given how gritty and dark the show is as a whole, it's slightly remarkable it has anything like this, and the closest we get is Captain Foss, the base doctor and psychiatrist, who [[ShowSomeLeg shows some leg]] and [[BareYourMidriff bares her midriff]].
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation 01. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 04, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
* [[spoiler:GainaxEnding: The show ends with Lyn Jackson seeing Rei's ghost next to Jack, although he himself is unaware of Rei's presence. After the credits end, we're treated to an extra scene where it seems the afterlife, for Rei, consists of being sent out on missions by Jack. Heck, you cannot even tell if he actually died, AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or what! However, the SentouYouseiYukikaze/Analysis page attempts to clear this up a bit]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Yukikaze, twice. Lt. Fukai once.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom, helping Rei escape the doomed Banshee.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* KaijuDefenseForce: The Japanese ''Navy'' appears in Operation 04, supplying a carrier battlegroup to guard the passageway, implying that Article 9 was revoked when the JAM invaded.
* LighterAndSofter: Operation 04 [[spoiler: at least, until the cliffhanger.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Rei and Yukikaze become this as the JAM seem to have a strange fixation to capture them at all costs]].
* LoveHurts: Poor Jack. Whether you see his affection for Rei as platonic or romantic, it hurts all the same.
* LudicrousPrecision: The JAM [[spoiler:treat war like a giant mathematical equation and their interest in Rei and Yukikaze is because they're the variable that keeps the equation from balancing out, and while they tried to copy them, and were able to copy Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', they were unable to actually copy Yukikaze.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Justified in the Climatic Battle when [[spoiler: Yukikaze takes over just about every plane in the FAF]].
** Earlier in Operation 04 the Japanese Navy attempts this, both with fighter-launched and ship-launched missiles, but quickly stops due to friendly fire risk and the MMM proving ineffective against the JAM's HighSpeedMissileDodge.
* MoodWhiplash: Operation 01. After a wham moment that sends Rei into a HeroicBSOD, a bright cheery ED theme plays.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The BluRay release features a so-called "experimental video" which is a trailer for the sequel featuring new footage and narration by Nakata Jouji. The catch? ''[[RealTrailerFakeMovie There is no sequel.]]'' (In fact, there's never been any mention of the studio planning to make one).
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Tactical Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] He was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
* NotQuiteHuman: The JAM copies look like humans in all aspects [[spoiler:except they "bleed" yellow goo]].
* NuclearOption: The FAF uses a short-range ballistic missile to destroy the compromised Banshee-IV airship, and considering the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier size of that vessel]], a nuke most definitely would be the most efficient way to destroy it. In the final episode, [[spoiler: three [=TNBs=] (tactical nuclear bombs) are used to collapse the hyperspace Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy.]] Contrast the FAF's careful and deliberate use of nuclear weaponry with...
* NukeEm: ... the JAM, whose Super Sylph copy in the first episode shoots tactical nuclear missiles like it's going out of style. It uses no fewer than three in the span of five minutes!
** Also, it's obvious from the [[OhCrap reactions of the FAF pilots]] that the JAM make a regular habit of these.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Much of the combat between the FAF and JAM takes place using short-ranged heatseeking missiles and guns. Operations 01 and 04 provide justifications: JAM are masters of the HighSpeedMissileDodge and can put out enough jamming to InterfaceScrew a destroyer's radar, which is more powerful than the seeker head of a long-range radar guided missile, so the only reliable way to score a kill is to mix it up in the merge.
* OhCrap: Quite a few:
** In Operation 01, a MassOhCrap is shared by several FA-1 squadrons when informed a JAM antiaircraft missile is heading their way. It becomes obvious why, moments later, [[NukeEm after the nuclear fireball and mushroom cloud]].
** [[spoiler: When Rei confirms to the SAF that JAM are making human replicas.]]
** The ''[=JAM=]'' somehow pull off one of these just before they [[spoiler: slam into the ground in Operation 02]]
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* PragmaticAdaptation: The anime writers had to adapt two novels (most of which are loosely connected short stories) into less than 3 hours. Since it was impossible to pull it off, the writers sort of went their own way with the story, changing and cutting/expanding the original material. Overall, though, it makes sense and the author of the novels acknowledged it as an alternate version.
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RestrainingBolt: Yukikaze and the act of flying serve as this for Rei. Without them, [[ManChild he'll rebel against authority or just wallow in angst and despair]]. [[KidWithTheLeash Jack is a minor one]], unless Rei thinks Jack will prevent him from flying.
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically stated that they threw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
* TheStinger: End of Operation 02. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 02.
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]]. Jack doesn't like it, at all.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: [[spoiler: It's not until the end when you realize it's Jack who has been narrating the events of Operation 05, and perhaps the whole series, to Lyn Jackson, the sci-fi writer.]]
* [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim Why Don't You Just Blow Up The Passageway?]]: It's revealed in the final episode that [[spoiler: the FAF could have easily destroyed the hyperspace portal at any time and fulfilled their mandate to protect Earth from the JAM.]] However, the prospect of colonizing an alien world was simply too great an opportunity to pass up. Makes one wonder if HumansAreTheRealMonsters...
* WorfHadTheFlu: Rei and Yukikaze vs the TS-X1 during the test run. They couldn't operate to their full potential as Captain Foss was in the copilot seat. Should be noted that Foss is a therapist, and not used to the extreme G forces pilots are constantly subjected to. The Systems Corps officer supervising also notes that even if Foss wasn't with them, manned fighters cannot pull stresses in excess of 9Gs without killing the pilot. The unmanned TS-X1 has no pilot to worry about, and thus has a significantly higher performance threshold.
* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler: In the end, the entire "planet" of Fairy turns out to be built out of trillions and trillions of JAM.]]
* {{Zeerust}}: On one hand, the FAF are shown to be able to build advanced fighters and AI ahead of what's available today. On the other hand Jack's computer is a Macintosh Classic, Captain Foss uses an ancient laptop with MS Word 3 to type her report, Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3, and Rei uses a simple typewriter while on desk duty. Possibly justified with Lyn Jackson as some writers are known to use old typewriters for their novels, even if they own a modern computer. It could also mean a longing for days past, before the war against Fairy, or she just really likes it.
** Or, more prosaically, the FAF keeps the old crap for the SoldiersAtTheRear to free up budget for the new fighters - there are mentions in the supplementary materials that the Super Sylphs were quite expensive.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Manga]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Rei's father committed suicide by hanging himself in their house. He was only a child when this happened, which drove him to be very cold and unresponsive to people. As an adult, Rei served as a getaway driver for a gang of jewel thieves until he got apprehended by police and sent to Faery.
* GeniusLoci: The JAM-controlled Banshee-IV kills Tom John by attacking him with metal bars and poles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Game]]
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film]]
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time Creator/TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} facing a mysterious alien force that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* TheFilmOfTheBook
[[/folder]]
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[[redirect:Franchise/SentouYouseiYukikaze]]
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* WhamEpisode: Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix. [[spoiler: Rei speaks with the JAM's human copies.]]
Deleted line(s) 171 (click to see context) :
* CanonForeigner: Edith Foss. She seems to be a CompositeCharacter, as she fulfills the roles of the Faery Air Base doctor & Hugh O'Donnell in being involved in testing out an experimental new fighter with Yukikaze.
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** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people on Earth think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
to:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people [[ConspiracyTheory conspiracy theories]] abound on Earth that think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
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* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
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* CampFollower: The novel indicates there There is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
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* NoExportForYou: Averted; despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. The third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
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* NoExportForYou: Averted; despite Despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. The However, the third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
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* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Inverted: the story was first starting to get written in 1979. But over 30 years later, the themes it brings up regarding the use of {{Attack Drone}}s are more relevant than ever. So it's more like the headlines are ripped from the novel.
to:
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Inverted: the story was first starting to get written in 1979. But over 30 years later, the themes it brings up regarding the use of {{Attack Drone}}s are more relevant than ever. So it's more like [[LifeImitatesArt the headlines are ripped from the novel.]]
Changed line(s) 147 (click to see context) from:
* SpaceColdWar: [[spoiler: For 33 years, the JAM didn't even realize humans existed. They've been fighting against the computers the whole time and humans just happened to be caught in the middle in some kind of grand proxy war. This changes as of the first novel's final chapter, when they finally notice that there are strange levo-amino acid-based lifeforms on the enemy side...]]
to:
* SpaceColdWar: [[spoiler: For 33 years, the JAM didn't even realize humans existed. They've been fighting against the computers the whole time and humans just happened to be caught in the middle in some kind of grand proxy war. This changes as of the first novel's final chapter, when they the JAM finally notice that there are strange levo-amino acid-based lifeforms on the enemy side...]]
Changed line(s) 151 (click to see context) from:
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Andy Lander is confident that the FAF is not needed, and that if the JAM decide to invade again, the Earth's militaries can handle them. Admiral Nagamu shares the same sentiment. Then we see in Chapter VII - Battle Spirit that ''a single JAM fighter'' can effortlessly shoots down 8 top-of-the-line Japanese Navy planes, and that only the technologically advanced FAF stands a real chance against them.
to:
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Andy Lander is confident that the FAF is not needed, and that if the JAM decide to invade again, the Earth's militaries can handle them. Admiral Nagamu shares the same sentiment. Then we see in Chapter VII - Battle Spirit that ''a single JAM fighter'' can effortlessly shoots shoot down 8 top-of-the-line Japanese Navy planes, and that only the technologically advanced FAF stands a real chance against them.
Changed line(s) 155,158 (click to see context) from:
* WhamLine: Nearly everything the SAF strategic computer states to Booker when he interacts with it during the chapter "Faery - Winter". But one line in particular:\
[[spoiler: -->'''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix:\
[[spoiler: -->'''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
[[spoiler: -->'''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix:\
[[spoiler: -->'''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
to:
* WhamLine: Nearly everything the SAF strategic computer states to Booker when he interacts with it during the chapter "Faery - Winter". But one line in particular:\
[[spoiler: -->'''SAFparticular:
-->[[spoiler: '''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - SuperPhoenix:\
[[spoiler: -->'''Rei''':Phoenix:
-->[[spoiler: '''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
[[spoiler: -->'''SAF
-->[[spoiler: '''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super
[[spoiler: -->'''Rei''':
-->[[spoiler: '''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
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* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 5.
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* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 5.05.
Changed line(s) 173 (click to see context) from:
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 2: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
to:
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 2: 02: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
Changed line(s) 192,193 (click to see context) from:
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
to:
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One.01. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation4, 04, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation
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* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
to:
* TheStinger: End of episode 2.Operation 02. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation2.02.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation
Changed line(s) 237 (click to see context) from:
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: [[spoiler: It's not until the end when you realize it's Jack who has been narrating the events of episode 5, and perhaps the whole series, to Lyn Jackson, the sci-fi writer.]]
to:
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: [[spoiler: It's not until the end when you realize it's Jack who has been narrating the events of episode 5, Operation 05, and perhaps the whole series, to Lyn Jackson, the sci-fi writer.]]
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A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[translation]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/translation]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/translation]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/translation]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
to:
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[translation]]''Battle [[labelnote:translation]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/translation]].Mave-chan!''[[/labelnote]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora''[[translation]]: [[labelnote:translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/translation]] Dance''[[/labelnote]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora''
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'''''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze''''' (戦闘妖精・雪風, lit. ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze'') is a science fiction novel written by Chōhei Kambayashi & originally published in 1984. It is actually a collection of short stories that ran in ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine'' beginning in 1979. A sequel novel titled ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' was published in 1999 (like its predecessor, this was also a collection of short stories that began in 1992). Kambayashi revised the original novel and this updated version was published in 2002.
Beginning 2002, the franchise began to receive more works. A five-episode OVA series loosely based on the two novels was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual. It was released in Japan from August 28, 2002 to August 25, 2005 and was produced in commemoration of Bandai Visual's 20th anniversary. It was also later aired in Japan on the anime television network Animax, who later aired it in its English language networks across Southeast Asia and other networks worldwide. These [=OVAs=] are the version of the story most familiar with non-Japanese audiences. An English dub was produced by Bandai Entertainment.
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[note]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/note]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[labelnote:translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/labelnote]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
Beginning 2002, the franchise began to receive more works. A five-episode OVA series loosely based on the two novels was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual. It was released in Japan from August 28, 2002 to August 25, 2005 and was produced in commemoration of Bandai Visual's 20th anniversary. It was also later aired in Japan on the anime television network Animax, who later aired it in its English language networks across Southeast Asia and other networks worldwide. These [=OVAs=] are the version of the story most familiar with non-Japanese audiences. An English dub was produced by Bandai Entertainment.
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[note]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/note]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[labelnote:translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/labelnote]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
to:
'''''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze''''' (戦闘妖精・雪風, lit. ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze'') is a science fiction novel written by Chōhei Kambayashi & originally published in 1984. It is actually a collection of short stories that ran in ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine'' beginning in 1979. A sequel novel titled ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' was published in 1999 (like its predecessor, this was also a collection of short stories that began in 1992). Kambayashi revised the original novel to make it more consistent with the sequel and this updated version was published in 2002.
Beginning Also beginning 2002, the franchise began to receive more works. A five-episode OVA series loosely based on the two novels was produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual. It was released in Japan from August 28, 2002 to August 25, 2005 and was produced in commemoration of Bandai Visual's 20th anniversary. It was also later aired in Japan on the anime television network Animax, who later aired it in its English language networks across Southeast Asia and other networks worldwide. These [=OVAs=] are the version of the story most familiar with non-Japanese audiences. An English dub was produced by Bandai Entertainment.
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!''[[note]]''Battle [[translation]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[[/note]].Mave-chan!''[[/translation]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora''[[labelnote:translation]]: [[translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/labelnote]] Dance''[[/translation]] and played as a flight sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', but to no one's surprise, it was not successful due to the Xbox's unpopularity in Japan. It received a PC port in 2004.
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!''
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga written by Yumi Tada was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora''
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
** In the novels, the SAF Strategic Computer runs an analysis, and decides that it's ultimate priority is defending itself, and that protecting the personnel and equipment of the SAF and FAF fulfills that role. [[spoiler: It declares in no uncertain terms to Jack Booker that it considers the JAM to be the enemy, and it also rejects an offer of alliance from the JAM.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler: it also killed Lt. Amada to prevent Yukikaze from crashing into him.]]
to:
** In the novels, the SAF Strategic Computer runs an analysis, and decides that it's ultimate priority is defending itself, and that protecting the personnel and equipment of the SAF and FAF fulfills that role. [[spoiler: It declares in no uncertain terms to Jack Booker that it considers the JAM to be the enemy, and it also rejects an offer of alliance from the JAM.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler: it also killed Lt. Amada Amata to prevent Yukikaze from crashing into him.his snow grader.]]
Changed line(s) 39 (click to see context) from:
* AttackDrone: The Faery Air Force makes abundant use of these. One of the themes of the story is whether or not war can be fought entirely with machines and AIs instead of with humans. In the novels, the FAF and Systems Corps are eagerly pushing for massed [=UCAV=] deployment, which the SAF resists.
to:
* AttackDrone: The Faery Air Force makes abundant use of these. One of the themes of the story is whether or not war can be fought entirely with machines and AIs instead of with humans. In the novels, the FAF and Systems Corps are eagerly pushing for massed [=UCAV=] UCAV deployment, which the SAF resists.resists as it would also entail converting all 13 Super Sylphs into drone planes.
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A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[note]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[/note]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
to:
A few months before the final episode aired, a spinoff OVA was released called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' [[note]]''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: Help, Mave-chan!''[/note].Mave-chan!''[[/note]]. It has nothing to do with the main plot and is about {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the aircraft at an anime convention.
Deleted line(s) 148 (click to see context) :
* StrawmanHasAPoint: Despite his {{Jerkass}} & {{Eagleland}} tendencies, Andy Lander does bring up some good points regarding the FAF's relations with the UN. Such as the UN forbidding the FAF from growing food, which makes them wholly dependent on a UN food exchange program and may very well be a means to prevent the FAF from rebelling against Earth. Rei is mildly surprised at this: he knew the FAF imported food but had no idea they weren't allowed to produce its own food.
Deleted line(s) 152 (click to see context) :
* UncannyValley: [[spoiler: Rei immediately senses something ''off'' about nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa at TAB-14. Yazawa's uniform is the wrong shade of color per FAF regulations, & Marnie's disposition is [[StepfordSmiler too cheerful.]] They are both JAM copies with minor flaws in their assembly.]]
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'''''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze''''' (戦闘妖精・雪風, lit. ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze'') is a five-episode OVA series produced by Gonzo and Bandai Visual and was released in Japan from August 28, 2002 to August 25, 2005. It is based on a popular science fiction novel of the same name by Chōhei Kanbayashi, and was produced in commemoration of Bandai Visual's 20th anniversary. It was also later aired in Japan on the anime television network Animax, who later aired in its English language networks across Southeast Asia and other networks worldwide. A live action adaptation is currently under development under Warner Broters and is set to star TomCruise.
Yukikaze occurs in the near future. Some decades ago, an alien force known as the JAM invaded Earth through a dimensional portal that appeared over Antarctica. The United Nations established a defense force to oppose the threat and after a series of bloody battles, managed to push the enemy back to the other side of the portal, which is a planet named "Fairy" by the humans. However, the battle still rages on. The main character, Rei Fukai, pilots the Super Sylph B-503 fighter, nicknamed "Yukikaze", an advanced armed tactical reconnaissance plane equipped with a near-sentient AI computer system, and belongs to the Special Air Force (SAF), the strategic recon wing of Fairy Air Force (FAF).
In April 2013, a live-action film adaptation of the series was [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tom-cruise-attached-star-yukikaze-439822 announced]], with TomCruise attached to the project.
Yukikaze occurs in the near future. Some decades ago, an alien force known as the JAM invaded Earth through a dimensional portal that appeared over Antarctica. The United Nations established a defense force to oppose the threat and after a series of bloody battles, managed to push the enemy back to the other side of the portal, which is a planet named "Fairy" by the humans. However, the battle still rages on. The main character, Rei Fukai, pilots the Super Sylph B-503 fighter, nicknamed "Yukikaze", an advanced armed tactical reconnaissance plane equipped with a near-sentient AI computer system, and belongs to the Special Air Force (SAF), the strategic recon wing of Fairy Air Force (FAF).
In April 2013, a live-action film adaptation of the series was [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/tom-cruise-attached-star-yukikaze-439822 announced]], with TomCruise attached to the project.
to:
Thirty-three years ago, humanity realized it was not alone in the universe when Antarctic researchers came under swift and massive attack when an alien force known as the JAM invaded Earth through a dimensional portal that had suddenly appeared on the ice continent. In response, the United Nations launched a massive counter-attack and after a series of bloody battles, managed to push the enemy back to the other side of the portal, which led to a planet named "Faery" by the humans. However, the battle still rages on. On Earth, the UN has established the Earth Defense Force to patrol the Antarctic coastline. On Faery, the expeditionary force that pursued the JAM back to their world was designated the Faery Air Force (FAF) and has established multiple bases on the alien world, serving as the first line of defense for humanity.
2nd Lieutenant Rei Fukai of the FAF pilots the Super Sylph B-503 fighter, nicknamed "Yukikaze", an advanced armed tactical reconnaissance plane equipped with a near-sentient AI computer system. He belongs to the Special Air Force (SAF), the FAF's strategic recon wing. His duty is simple: observe and record data from battles between the FAF and the JAM. Do not attempt to interfere. Do not attempt to help. Should the JAM ever threaten to destroy him & Yukikaze, there is only one imperative: to abandon his comrades and ensure that the data is passed on. It's a task that only the most hardened of hearts can accomplish... a task that begins to blur the distinction between human and machine.
'''''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze''''' (戦闘妖精・雪風, lit. ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze'') is a science fiction novel written by Chōhei Kambayashi & originally published in 1984. It is actually a collection of short stories that ran in ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine'' beginning in 1979. A sequel novel titled ''Good Luck, Yukikaze'' was published in 1999 (like its predecessor, this was also a collection of short stories that began in 1992). Kambayashi revised the original novel and this updated version was published in 2002.
Beginning 2002, the franchise began to receive more works. A five-episode OVA series loosely based on the two novels was produced by Gonzo and Bandai
A
Yukikaze occurs
Around the same time the [=OVAs=] were being released, a brief 6-chapter manga was also published. The manga goes into a little more detail on Rei's backstory, though the canonicity of it may be questionable. There was also an Xbox game created in December 2003 called ''Sentou Yousei Yukikaze: Yousei no Mau Sora'' [[labelnote:translation]]: ''Battle Fairy Yukikaze: The Skies Where Fairies Dance''[[/labelnote]] and played as a flight sim in the
The original novel is considered a groundbreaking work of literature within Japan: some have even compared it to ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' in terms of how it affected the Japanese hard sci-fi genre. Kambayashi himself was ranked #3 of Best Japanese Sci-Fi Writers of All Time [[http://www.locusmag.com/2006/News/03_HayakawaAllTimePoll.html in a 2006 poll]] conducted by ''Hayakawa's SF Magazine''.
For the longest time, the books were out of reach for almost everyone outside of Japan. It wasn't until 2010 that
There is a
In April 2013, a
A live-action film adaptation of the series
Changed line(s) 9,14 (click to see context) from:
!!This series provides examples of:
* AcePilot: Lt. Fukai
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} battling a mysterious alien race that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John in the anime.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AIIsACrapShoot: Beautifully subverted by Yukikaze.
* AcePilot: Lt. Fukai
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} battling a mysterious alien race that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John in the anime.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AIIsACrapShoot: Beautifully subverted by Yukikaze.
to:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Cross-medium]]
* AcePilot: Lt.
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} battling a mysterious alien race that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John in the anime.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AIIsACrapShoot:
Changed line(s) 17,22 (click to see context) from:
** In the novels, the SAF Strategic Computer runs an analysis, and decides that it's ultimate priority is defending itself, and that protecting the personnel and equipment of the SAF and FAF fulfills that role. [[spoiler: It also rejects an offer of alliance from the JAM.]]
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Banshees. Judging by the names, there are at least four of them, though only Banshee III and Banshee IV are seen. [[spoiler: Banshee IV is taken over by the JAM and so is nuked by the FAF, while Banshee III leads the evacuation back to Earth.]]
* AlienSky: This one's green and has two suns. [[spoiler:Or so we're led to believe.]]
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to the AlienSky setting.
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2 of the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Banshees. Judging by the names, there are at least four of them, though only Banshee III and Banshee IV are seen. [[spoiler: Banshee IV is taken over by the JAM and so is nuked by the FAF, while Banshee III leads the evacuation back to Earth.]]
* AlienSky: This one's green and has two suns. [[spoiler:Or so we're led to believe.]]
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to the AlienSky setting.
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2 of the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
to:
** In the novels, the SAF Strategic Computer runs an analysis, and decides that it's ultimate priority is defending itself, and that protecting the personnel and equipment of the SAF and FAF fulfills that role. [[spoiler: It declares in no uncertain terms to Jack Booker that it considers the JAM to be the enemy, and it also rejects an offer of alliance from the JAM.]] On the other hand, [[spoiler: it also killed Lt. Amada to prevent Yukikaze from crashing into him.]]
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Banshees. Judging by the names, there are at least four of them, though onlyBanshee III Banshee-III and Banshee IV Banshee-IV are seen. seen.
** Banshee-IV [[spoiler:Banshee IV is taken over by the JAM and so is nuked by must be destroyed. In the FAF, while Banshee III anime, the FAF nukes it. In the novel, it crashes thanks to Tom John's sabotage.]]
** Banshee-III [[spoiler: leads the evacuation back toEarth.]]
Earth in the anime's finale.]]
* AlienSky: This one's green and has two suns.[[spoiler:Or so we're led to believe.]]
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks toThe novel also talks about the AlienSky setting.
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2"Bloody Road", a trail of red gas that is erupting out of one of the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]]suns that really does look like its namesake and is easily visible in the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]night sky.
* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Banshees. Judging by the names, there are at least four of them, though only
** Banshee-IV [[spoiler:
** Banshee-III [[spoiler: leads the evacuation back to
* AlienSky: This one's green and has two suns.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]]
Changed line(s) 24,26 (click to see context) from:
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Played straight in the first episode, where Rei dreams of Yukikaze as a caged fairy, and himself [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic holding the key to set her free.]]
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
* AttackDrone: The Fairy Air Force makes abundant use of these. One of the themes of the show is whether or not war can be fought entirely with machines and AIs instead of with humans. This featured much more prominently in the novel, where the FAF and Systems Corps are eagerly pushing for massed [=UCAV=] deployment, which the SAF resists.
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
* AttackDrone: The Fairy Air Force makes abundant use of these. One of the themes of the show is whether or not war can be fought entirely with machines and AIs instead of with humans. This featured much more prominently in the novel, where the FAF and Systems Corps are eagerly pushing for massed [=UCAV=] deployment, which the SAF resists.
to:
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
Changed line(s) 28,38 (click to see context) from:
* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 5.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance, the series air combat scenes were developed with the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware that they were fake for a while.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for the Super Sylph because it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people on Earth think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** This is shown more clearly in the novel, where one chapter has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** In the novels, Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Fairy or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance, the series air combat scenes were developed with the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware that they were fake for a while.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for the Super Sylph because it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people on Earth think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** This is shown more clearly in the novel, where one chapter has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** In the novels, Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Fairy or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
to:
* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 5.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance,AuthorAppeal: The manga's creator, Yumi Tada, was responsible for the series air combat scenes were developed with character designs in the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so anime and was also a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even awarestory consultant for it. It was her input that they were fake for a while.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual Inincreased the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for HoYay between Rei & Booker as well as Rei's AdaptationalAngstUpgrade.
* BodySurf: Yukikaze eventually uploads herself out of the Super Sylphbecause it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all,and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people on Earth think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** This is shown more clearly in the novel, where one chapter has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** In the novels, Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Fairy or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there isinto an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].FRX frame.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance,
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In
* BodySurf: Yukikaze eventually uploads herself out of the Super Sylph
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all,
** This is shown more clearly in the novel, where one chapter has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** In the novels, Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Fairy or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
Deleted line(s) 40,49 (click to see context) :
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 2: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
** In Operation 3, Yukikaze activates its JAM sensor jammer, displaying what Jack identifies as a warning pattern. [[spoiler: That's because [[TomatoInTheMirror Tom "Tomahawk" John]] is standing right next to it]].
** Savvy viewers will realize that the JAM-copy killed by the Military Police in the last episode [[spoiler: is a copy of Richard Burgadish, who is supposed to be KIA all the way back in Episode 1]].
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Yukikaze clones herself by making a copy of herself into the FRX-99 prototype and then ordering it to destroy the original]].
** [[spoiler: And then [=JAM=] makes a [[ShadowArchetype shadow copy]] of Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', however it fails to make an actual copy of Yukikaze]].
* CombatPragmatist: TS-X1 shows instances of this.
* ComingInHot: In Operation 4, after Rei and Yukikaze travel to Earth and defeat the 3 [=JAM=] that followed him through the portal.
** Operation 5 shows the aftermath of this, the burned-out hulk of a crashed AWACS that botched a landing on Banshee-III.
* ConspicuousCG: Although to be fair it's some of the best ever seen in anime. It looks damn good even 5-8 years after its release.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler: The JAM are very careful in selecting the people that they make clones of. All their clones are of humans who are currently or have in the past been out of touch with FAF headquarters for significant periods of time, and thus HQ should have no reason to suspect them of being sleepers. These include Tomahawk John, Richard Burgadish, and Rei.]]
** In Operation 3, Yukikaze activates its JAM sensor jammer, displaying what Jack identifies as a warning pattern. [[spoiler: That's because [[TomatoInTheMirror Tom "Tomahawk" John]] is standing right next to it]].
** Savvy viewers will realize that the JAM-copy killed by the Military Police in the last episode [[spoiler: is a copy of Richard Burgadish, who is supposed to be KIA all the way back in Episode 1]].
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Yukikaze clones herself by making a copy of herself into the FRX-99 prototype and then ordering it to destroy the original]].
** [[spoiler: And then [=JAM=] makes a [[ShadowArchetype shadow copy]] of Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', however it fails to make an actual copy of Yukikaze]].
* CombatPragmatist: TS-X1 shows instances of this.
* ComingInHot: In Operation 4, after Rei and Yukikaze travel to Earth and defeat the 3 [=JAM=] that followed him through the portal.
** Operation 5 shows the aftermath of this, the burned-out hulk of a crashed AWACS that botched a landing on Banshee-III.
* ConspicuousCG: Although to be fair it's some of the best ever seen in anime. It looks damn good even 5-8 years after its release.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler: The JAM are very careful in selecting the people that they make clones of. All their clones are of humans who are currently or have in the past been out of touch with FAF headquarters for significant periods of time, and thus HQ should have no reason to suspect them of being sleepers. These include Tomahawk John, Richard Burgadish, and Rei.]]
Changed line(s) 51,54 (click to see context) from:
* CoolGuns: The FAF's standard-issue weapons are apparently the Glock 17 pistol and P90 personal defense weapon.
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point in the series, the real Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point in the series, the real Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
to:
* CoolGuns: The FAF's standard-issue weapons are apparently the Glock 17 pistol and P90 personal defense weapon.
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this pointweapon in the series, the real anime. The novel doesn't mention actual brand names, but Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained two bullpup [=SMGs=] stashed in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]Yukikaze as survival guns that fire .221 caliber bullets.
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
Changed line(s) 56,62 (click to see context) from:
* DreamSequence: Both Rei and Jack have them, involving Yukikaze as an actual fairy.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 1 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway). Operation 05 reveals there is an entire underground ''city'' to provide for the FAF personnel, complete with "skyscrapers" and a red-light district. The novel even adds there is an artificial sky.
* EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* Expy: The Super Sylph's novel and anime designs are evocative of the F-15S/MTD and the Su-27 Flanker family respectively.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze.. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 1 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway). Operation 05 reveals there is an entire underground ''city'' to provide for the FAF personnel, complete with "skyscrapers" and a red-light district. The novel even adds there is an artificial sky.
* EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* Expy: The Super Sylph's novel and anime designs are evocative of the F-15S/MTD and the Su-27 Flanker family respectively.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze.. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
to:
* DreamSequence: Both Rei DirtyCoward: How Rei, and Jack have them, involving Yukikaze by extension, all the SAF pilots, are viewed by many FAF pilots. The sentiment is understandable: Super Sylphs are far faster and just as an actual fairy.
heavily armed as the standard jets the FAF uses and could definitely turn the tide of battle around. But their rules of engagement require them to do nothing and flee at the first sign of danger.
*DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase:ElaborateUndergroundBase / UndergroundCity: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 1 01 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway). Operation 05 reveals there is an entire underground ''city'' to provide for the FAF personnel, complete with "skyscrapers" ''skyscrapers'' and a red-light district. The novel even adds there is an artificial sky.
*EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* Expy:{{Expy}}: The Super Sylph's novel and anime designs are evocative of the F-15S/MTD and the Su-27 Flanker family respectively.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze.. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].respectively.
*
* ElaborateUndergroundBase:
*
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* Expy:
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze.. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
Changed line(s) 65,72 (click to see context) from:
* FanService: Given how gritty and dark the show is as a whole, it's slightly remarkable it has anything like this, and the closest we get is Captain Foss, the base doctor and psychiatrist, who [[ShowSomeLeg shows some leg]] and [[BareYourMidriff bares her midriff]].
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
* FrickinLaserBeams: The Free Electron Laser Unit attached to Yukikaze and the FRX-99s for the final battle.
* [[spoiler:GainaxEnding: The show ends with Lyn Jackson seeing Rei's ghost next to Jack, although he himself is unaware of Rei's presence. After the credits end, we're treated to an extra scene where it seems the afterlife, for Rei, consists of being sent out on missions by Jack. Heck, you cannot even tell if he actually died, AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or what! However, the Analysis page attempts to clear this up a bit]].
* GeniusLoci: Fairy. [[spoiler: Even in-universe, it's speculated that the planet itself could be [=JAM=].]]
* GovernmentConspiracy: 30+ years after the attempted invasion, most people in the human world treat the [=JAM=] as a sort of urban legend/fiction. And as it turns out, the war against the [=JAM=] on Fairy has basically turned into [[spoiler:a human invasion of Fairy for military and monetary gains]], and is used by Earth nations to further their own individual interests.
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
* FrickinLaserBeams: The Free Electron Laser Unit attached to Yukikaze and the FRX-99s for the final battle.
* [[spoiler:GainaxEnding: The show ends with Lyn Jackson seeing Rei's ghost next to Jack, although he himself is unaware of Rei's presence. After the credits end, we're treated to an extra scene where it seems the afterlife, for Rei, consists of being sent out on missions by Jack. Heck, you cannot even tell if he actually died, AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or what! However, the Analysis page attempts to clear this up a bit]].
* GeniusLoci: Fairy. [[spoiler: Even in-universe, it's speculated that the planet itself could be [=JAM=].]]
* GovernmentConspiracy: 30+ years after the attempted invasion, most people in the human world treat the [=JAM=] as a sort of urban legend/fiction. And as it turns out, the war against the [=JAM=] on Fairy has basically turned into [[spoiler:a human invasion of Fairy for military and monetary gains]], and is used by Earth nations to further their own individual interests.
to:
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
*
*
* GovernmentConspiracy: 30+ years after the attempted invasion, most people in the human world treat the
* GreatOffscreenWar: The anime showed the opening shots of the JAM invasion 30 years ago, but other than that, we don't know much about what happened.
* ForeverWar: It has been over 30 years of fighting between the FAF and the JAM, though the war has de-escalated into a low-intensity conflict that largely consists of patrols shooting at each other. Neither side has gained much of anything.
Deleted line(s) 77,78 (click to see context) :
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Yukikaze, twice. Lt. Fukai once.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom, helping Rei escape the doomed Banshee.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom, helping Rei escape the doomed Banshee.]]
Changed line(s) 80,83 (click to see context) from:
* HumanResources: The soup Rei is served in the second half of the first episode. ''Eww.''
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* ImprobablePilotingSkills: An example of which is seen in Operation 1, where Yukikaze does a 180 degree flat spin, ''flying backwards'', to shoot down a nuclear missile.
* IneffectualLoner: Lt. Fukai most of the time, 'cept with his one and only friend, Jack, [[CargoShip his plane, Yukikaze]], and [[spoiler:''Copy'' Tom]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* ImprobablePilotingSkills: An example of which is seen in Operation 1, where Yukikaze does a 180 degree flat spin, ''flying backwards'', to shoot down a nuclear missile.
* IneffectualLoner: Lt. Fukai most of the time, 'cept with his one and only friend, Jack, [[CargoShip his plane, Yukikaze]], and [[spoiler:''Copy'' Tom]]
to:
* HumanResources: The soup Rei is served in the second half of the first episode.episode/last chapter of the first book. ''Eww.''
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* ImprobablePilotingSkills: An example of which is seen in Operation 1, 01/Chapter VI of the first book, where Yukikaze does a 180 degree flat spin, ''flying backwards'', to shoot down a missile. And in the anime, [[UpToEleven it was a nuclear missile.
missile, too.]]
* IneffectualLoner: Lt. Fukai most of the time, 'cept with his one and only friend, Jack, [[CargoShip his plane, Yukikaze]], and[[spoiler:''Copy'' Tom]]Tom John.
* IneffectualLoner: Lt. Fukai most of the time, 'cept with his one and only friend, Jack, [[CargoShip his plane, Yukikaze]], and
* IntrepidReporter: Lynn Jackson. Later in the plot, she uses all her connections to get passage on the Japanese aircraft carrier ''Admiral 56'' to meet with Rei & Booker, and witnesses a dogfight between the JAM against Yukikaze and the Japanese Navy that came perilously close to sinking the ship she was on.
Deleted line(s) 89,91 (click to see context) :
* KaijuDefenseForce: The Japanese ''Navy'' appears in Operation 4, supplying a carrier battlegroup to guard the passageway, implying that Article 9 was revoked when the JAM invaded.
* LighterAndSofter: Episode 4 [[spoiler: at least, until the cliffhanger.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Rei and Yukikaze become this as JAM seems to have a strange fixation to capture them at all costs]].
* LighterAndSofter: Episode 4 [[spoiler: at least, until the cliffhanger.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Rei and Yukikaze become this as JAM seems to have a strange fixation to capture them at all costs]].
Deleted line(s) 93,96 (click to see context) :
* LoveHurts: Poor Jack. Whether you see his affection for Rei as platonic or romantic, it hurts all the same.
* LudicrousPrecision: [=JAM=] [[spoiler:treats war like a giant mathematical equation and their interest in Rei and Yukikaze is because they're the variable that keeps the equation from balancing out, and while they tried to copy them, and were able to copy Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', they were unable to actually copy Yukikaze.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Justified in the Climatic Battle when [[spoiler: Yukikaze takes over just about every plane in the FAF]].
** Earlier in Operation 4 the Japanese Navy attempts this, both with fighter-launched and ship-launched missiles, but quickly stops due to friendly fire risk and the MMM proving ineffective against the JAM's HighSpeedMissileDodge.
* LudicrousPrecision: [=JAM=] [[spoiler:treats war like a giant mathematical equation and their interest in Rei and Yukikaze is because they're the variable that keeps the equation from balancing out, and while they tried to copy them, and were able to copy Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', they were unable to actually copy Yukikaze.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Justified in the Climatic Battle when [[spoiler: Yukikaze takes over just about every plane in the FAF]].
** Earlier in Operation 4 the Japanese Navy attempts this, both with fighter-launched and ship-launched missiles, but quickly stops due to friendly fire risk and the MMM proving ineffective against the JAM's HighSpeedMissileDodge.
* MechanicalLifeforms: The JAM are suspected to be this in-universe. In the novel, [[spoiler: the swarm of JAM that attacks Tom on Banshee-IV appears to be a collection of tiny insect-like creatures that feel metallic to the touch, and they can [[TheWormThatWalks combine to become a bigger entity.]]]] In the anime's final episode, [[spoiler: they create some kind of massive white dome around the Passageway that shatters like glass when Rei & the Flip Knights punch through it.]]
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
Changed line(s) 102,106 (click to see context) from:
* MechanicalLifeforms: The JAM are suspected to be this in-universe.
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Yukikaze transfers its AI from an FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph into the FRX-99 prototype. Later, in Operation 4, the FFR-41 Mave receives new engines.
* MildlyMilitary: SAF seems to be more lax when it comes to uniform codes.
* MoodWhiplash: Operation 1. After a wham moment that sends Rei into a HeroicBSOD, a bright cheery ED theme plays.
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Yukikaze transfers its AI from an FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph into the FRX-99 prototype. Later, in Operation 4, the FFR-41 Mave receives new engines.
* MildlyMilitary: SAF seems to be more lax when it comes to uniform codes.
* MoodWhiplash: Operation 1. After a wham moment that sends Rei into a HeroicBSOD, a bright cheery ED theme plays.
to:
** They're also suspected to be a sort of HiveMind. [[spoiler:We never find out.]]
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Yukikaze transfers its AI from an FFR-31MR/D Super Sylph into the FRX-99 prototype. Later, in Operation
* MildlyMilitary: SAF seems to be more lax when it comes to uniform codes.
Deleted line(s) 108,109 (click to see context) :
* NeverTrustATrailer: The BluRay release features a so-called "experimental video" which is a trailer for the sequel featuring new footage and narration by Nakata Jouji. The catch? ''[[RealTrailerFakeMovie There is no sequel.]]'' (In fact, there's never been any mention of the studio planning to make one).
* NoExportForYou: Averted; despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. The third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
* NoExportForYou: Averted; despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. The third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
Deleted line(s) 111,120 (click to see context) :
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Forward Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] He was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
* NotQuiteHuman: The JAM copies look like humans in all aspects [[spoiler:except they "bleed" yellow goo]].
* NuclearOption: The FAF uses a short-range ballistic missile to destroy the compromised Banshee-IV airship, and considering the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier size of that vessel]], a nuke most definitely would be the most efficient way to destroy it. In the final episode, [[spoiler: three [=TNBs=] (tactical nuclear bombs) are used to collapse the hyperspace Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy.]] Contrast the FAF's careful and deliberate use of nuclear weaponry with...
* NukeEm: ... the JAM, whose Super Sylph copy in the first episode shoots tactical nuclear missiles like it's going out of style. It uses no fewer than three in the span of five minutes!
** Also, it's obvious from the [[OhCrap reactions of the FAF pilots]] that the JAM make a regular habit of these.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Much of the combat between the FAF and JAM takes place using short-ranged heatseeking missiles and guns. Operation 1 and 4 provide justifications: JAM are masters of the HighSpeedMissileDodge and can put out enough jamming to InterfaceScrew a destroyer's radar, which is more powerful than the seeker head of a long-range radar guided missile, so the only reliable way to score a kill is to mix it up in the merge.
* OhCrap: Quite a few:
** In Operation 1, a collective OhCrap is shared by several FA-1 squadrons when informed a JAM antiaircraft missile is heading their way. It becomes obvious why, moments later, [[NukeEm after the nuclear fireball and mushroom cloud]].
** [[spoiler: When Rei confirms to the SAF that JAM are making human replicas.]]
** The [=JAM=] somehow pull off one of these just before they [[spoiler: slam into the ground in Operation 2]]
* NotQuiteHuman: The JAM copies look like humans in all aspects [[spoiler:except they "bleed" yellow goo]].
* NuclearOption: The FAF uses a short-range ballistic missile to destroy the compromised Banshee-IV airship, and considering the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier size of that vessel]], a nuke most definitely would be the most efficient way to destroy it. In the final episode, [[spoiler: three [=TNBs=] (tactical nuclear bombs) are used to collapse the hyperspace Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy.]] Contrast the FAF's careful and deliberate use of nuclear weaponry with...
* NukeEm: ... the JAM, whose Super Sylph copy in the first episode shoots tactical nuclear missiles like it's going out of style. It uses no fewer than three in the span of five minutes!
** Also, it's obvious from the [[OhCrap reactions of the FAF pilots]] that the JAM make a regular habit of these.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Much of the combat between the FAF and JAM takes place using short-ranged heatseeking missiles and guns. Operation 1 and 4 provide justifications: JAM are masters of the HighSpeedMissileDodge and can put out enough jamming to InterfaceScrew a destroyer's radar, which is more powerful than the seeker head of a long-range radar guided missile, so the only reliable way to score a kill is to mix it up in the merge.
* OhCrap: Quite a few:
** In Operation 1, a collective OhCrap is shared by several FA-1 squadrons when informed a JAM antiaircraft missile is heading their way. It becomes obvious why, moments later, [[NukeEm after the nuclear fireball and mushroom cloud]].
** [[spoiler: When Rei confirms to the SAF that JAM are making human replicas.]]
** The [=JAM=] somehow pull off one of these just before they [[spoiler: slam into the ground in Operation 2]]
Changed line(s) 122,136 (click to see context) from:
* PragmaticAdaptation: The anime writers had to adapt two novels (most of which are loosely connected short stories) into less than 3 hours. Since it was impossible to pull it off, the writers sort of went their own way with the story, changing and cutting/expanding the original material. Overall, though, it makes sense and the author of the novels acknowledged it as an alternate version.
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PsychicLink: Rei and Yukikaze seem to share one, somehow. It's never fully explored.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an army with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* RestrainingBolt: Yukikaze and the act of flying serve as this for Rei. Without them, [[ManChild he'll rebel against authority or just wallow in angst and despair]]. [[KidWithTheLeash Jack is a minor one]], unless Rei thinks Jack will prevent him from flying.
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically state that they throw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PsychicLink: Rei and Yukikaze seem to share one, somehow. It's never fully explored.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an army with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* RestrainingBolt: Yukikaze and the act of flying serve as this for Rei. Without them, [[ManChild he'll rebel against authority or just wallow in angst and despair]]. [[KidWithTheLeash Jack is a minor one]], unless Rei thinks Jack will prevent him from flying.
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically state that they throw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
to:
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank
* RestrainingBolt:
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically state that they throw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
** Kambayashi also did quite a bit of work to make sure that the aerial combat & flight scenes were depicted accurately in the novel. Neil Nadelman, the English translator, also worked on the OVA's translation and he even admitted on [[http://naoekun.livejournal.com/218211.html this Livejournal page]] that he mistranslated Burgadish's title as "Radar Intercept Officer" in the anime. He corrected it for the novel as "Electronic Warfare Officer."
Changed line(s) 144,161 (click to see context) from:
* StarfishAliens: The JAM, probably. [[spoiler:This is also probably how the JAM see us.]]
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't seem to pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on HAWX
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* TerseTalker: Rei. It's rare to hear him speak a sentence longer than ten words.
* ThemeNaming: The alien planet is named Fairy; the FAF's various units, aircraft, airbases, etc. are named after fantastic/mythological creatures (FFR-31 Sylph/Sylphid, Banshee Flying Aircraft Carriers, F/A-2 [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fawn/Faun/Fand]], Kraken Sq., Ghoul Sq., Brownie Airbase, Faery Airbase, plus the Flip Knights).
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: JAM's tactical antiaircraft missiles carry [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]].
* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many subordinates that he interacts with to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]]. Jack doesn't like it, at all.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's never stated exactly when the OVA takes place, but given various visual clues (Lyn Jackson's Powerbook G3, a V-22, Atago-class [=DDGs=], Ticonderoga-class [=CGs=]), it probably takes place sometime within the first decade or two of the 21st century. The novels are suggested to take place around the mid nineties, given that the FFR-41's Bureau Number begins with 96, for Fiscal Year 1996.
* UndergroundCity: Underneath the airbase there's housing, transport, and even shopping malls.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Somewhat. After the JAM launched their invasion of Antarctica, a massive coalition of multinational armies counterattacked and drove the invaders back. Up to this day, the UN still oversees patrols over the Antarctic. One side effect of forming the coalition seems to be that Japan revoked Article 9 of their Constitution and now has at least a full-fledged Navy with an aircraft carrier battlegroup.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't seem to pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on HAWX
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* TerseTalker: Rei. It's rare to hear him speak a sentence longer than ten words.
* ThemeNaming: The alien planet is named Fairy; the FAF's various units, aircraft, airbases, etc. are named after fantastic/mythological creatures (FFR-31 Sylph/Sylphid, Banshee Flying Aircraft Carriers, F/A-2 [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fawn/Faun/Fand]], Kraken Sq., Ghoul Sq., Brownie Airbase, Faery Airbase, plus the Flip Knights).
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: JAM's tactical antiaircraft missiles carry [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]].
* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many subordinates that he interacts with to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]]. Jack doesn't like it, at all.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's never stated exactly when the OVA takes place, but given various visual clues (Lyn Jackson's Powerbook G3, a V-22, Atago-class [=DDGs=], Ticonderoga-class [=CGs=]), it probably takes place sometime within the first decade or two of the 21st century. The novels are suggested to take place around the mid nineties, given that the FFR-41's Bureau Number begins with 96, for Fiscal Year 1996.
* UndergroundCity: Underneath the airbase there's housing, transport, and even shopping malls.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Somewhat. After the JAM launched their invasion of Antarctica, a massive coalition of multinational armies counterattacked and drove the invaders back. Up to this day, the UN still oversees patrols over the Antarctic. One side effect of forming the coalition seems to be that Japan revoked Article 9 of their Constitution and now has at least a full-fledged Navy with an aircraft carrier battlegroup.
to:
** The Japanese logos translate "Yousei" as "Fairy." The Haika Soru translation spells it "Faery." [[http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2010/10/yukikaze_by_cho.shtml This review of the novel]] refers to an essay written by Creator/JRRTolkien (''On Fairy Tales'') to note that there is a subtle but significant difference in meaning between the two words and praises the translators for picking up on that.
* StarfishAliens: The JAM, probably. [[spoiler:This is also probably how the JAM seeus.humans.]]
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't seem to pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on HAWX
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* TerseTalker: Rei. It's rare to hear him Rei speak a sentence longer than ten words.
words in the anime. He's more talkative in the novels, but at the same token the novels also note that the nature of the war on Faery ends up dehumanizing most of the FAF's personnel so they talk like this.
* ThemeNaming: The alien planet is namedFairy; Faery; the FAF's various units, aircraft, airbases, etc. are named after fantastic/mythological creatures (FFR-31 Sylph/Sylphid, Banshee Flying Aircraft Carriers, F/A-2 [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fawn/Faun/Fand]], Kraken Sq., Ghoul Sq., Brownie Airbase, Faery Airbase, plus the Flip Knights).
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: JAM's tactical antiaircraft missiles carry [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]].
* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report thatwarheads]]. Also, how the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier JAM destroy TAB-14 in the episode, although initially blamed for novel: first a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces massive wave of sabotage in high-velocity missiles, then JAM bombers [[ActionBomb crash into the planes parked in base]]. The explosions that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
follow are so huge that even the hardened underground bunkers are destroyed.
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many of his subordinatesthat he interacts with to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei andYukikaze.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]].Yukikaze. Much more prominent in the anime; the novel shows Jack doesn't like it, at all.
is simply concerned for Rei's mental state, as getting attached to a machine is very unhealthy.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's never stated exactly when the OVA takes place, but given various visual clues (Lyn Jackson's Powerbook G3, a V-22, Atago-class [=DDGs=], Ticonderoga-class [=CGs=]), it probably takes place sometime within the first decade or two of the 21st century. The novels are suggested to take place around the mid nineties, given that the FFR-41's Bureau Number begins with 96, for Fiscal Year1996.
* UndergroundCity: Underneath the airbase there's housing, transport, and even shopping malls.
1996.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Somewhat. After the JAM launched their invasion of Antarctica, a massive coalition of multinational armies counterattacked and drove the invaders back. Up to this day, the UN still oversees patrols over the Antarctic. One side effect of forming the coalition seems to be that Japan revoked Article 9 of their Constitution and now has at least a full-fledged Navy with an aircraft carrier battlegroup. Oh, and nuclear weapons too.
* StarfishAliens: The JAM, probably. [[spoiler:This is also probably how the JAM see
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't seem to pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on HAWX
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* ThemeNaming: The alien planet is named
* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report that
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many of his subordinates
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]].
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's never stated exactly when the OVA takes place, but given various visual clues (Lyn Jackson's Powerbook G3, a V-22, Atago-class [=DDGs=], Ticonderoga-class [=CGs=]), it probably takes place sometime within the first decade or two of the 21st century. The novels are suggested to take place around the mid nineties, given that the FFR-41's Bureau Number begins with 96, for Fiscal Year
* UndergroundCity: Underneath the airbase there's housing, transport, and even shopping malls.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Somewhat. After the JAM launched their invasion of Antarctica, a massive coalition of multinational armies counterattacked and drove the invaders back. Up to this day, the UN still oversees patrols over the Antarctic. One side effect of forming the coalition seems to be that Japan revoked Article 9 of their Constitution and now has at least a full-fledged Navy with an aircraft carrier battlegroup. Oh, and nuclear weapons too.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Novels]]
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Chapter III of the first novel. Yukikaze detects... ''something'' on her specialized Frozen Eye radar that displays itself as a solid horizontal line despite that there is absolutely ''nothing'' the naked eye can see, and it also does not show up on standard radar or other sensors. When Rei takes heed of the warning and tries to fly away, the ''line starts chasing him'' and eventually envelops Rei & Yukikaze in a circle. Passing the "line" on the radar screen feels like slamming into a wall of iron and they end up teleported into another dimension.
* TheAlcoholic: Lt. Amata. Justified, as he is constantly working in sub-zero temperatures. [[spoiler: It gets him killed when he is too drunk to move his grader off the runway when Yukikaze is coming in for a landing.]]
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Andy Lander loses his left hand when he tries to touch the ocean of orange sludge in the JAM alternate universe. It wasn't the sludge itself that did it; it was the hazy gas emitting from the sludge, which in his words, was vibrating like a buzzsaw.]]
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter II - Never Question The Value Of A Knight from the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for the Super Sylph because it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BritishAccents: Booker has a faint one. The second book reveals he's originally from Sheffield.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people on Earth think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** Chapter III - Mysterious Battle Zone has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Faery or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CategoryTraitor: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM may view Yukikaze as this, wondering why a computerized mechanical life-form is fighting against its own kind.]]
* CentralTheme: Are humans necessary for war?
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Jack is really worried about Rei's attachment to Yukikaze. He's tired of seeing so many pilots die in this war, and he fears Rei may do something stupid on the battlefield for Yukikaze's sake that would cost him his life.
* EldritchLocation: The bizarre pocket universe Rei and Lander are transported to in "Mysterious Battle Zone." There is nothing there apart from a makeshift runway, a forest of strange crystalline trees, and an endless ocean of orange sludge. [[spoiler: It is clearly a JAM environment, as a JAM aircraft attempts to interface with Yukikaze in this area. In addition, the trees appear to emit some kind of radio interference that disables Lander's camcorder & voice recorder.]]
** This same universe also contains [[spoiler: a JAM copy of the TAB-14 forward operating base. This time, Rei escapes when he gets into Yukikaze and launches a missile at a swarm of the JAM insects.]]
** To a larger extent, all of Faery. Rei & Jack are very disoriented when they return to Earth briefly because there is so much color & ''life'' on Earth. At one point in the first novel, Rei even likens Faery's atmosphere to that of being in a hallucinogenic haze.
* FictionalDocument: Lynn Jackson's novel, ''The Invader''. The prologue is an excerpt from this book, detailing the background the of the FAF and the war against the JAM.
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Andy Lander is amazed to see on Faery Americans using Russian military equipment and vice versa. Granted, this still doesn't happen much even today among the actual American & Russian militaries.
* GodzillaThreshold: How bad was the JAM invasion of Earth? We don't know the details, but in the chapter "Indian Summer" Rei casually mentions to Tom John that '''Japan possesses nukes.''' Just from that ''[[NuclearWeaponsTaboo one line alone]]'', we know the invasion had to be '''bad.'''
* HumanAliens: Played with. When Rei & Booker touch down on the ''Admiral 56'' carrier back on Earth, the crew of the ship think they may as well be spacemen. They also have difficulty communicating with the crew; their mannerisms have been altered so much by the war on Faery that their style of speaking is too [[TerseTalker terse]] and machine-like for the crew to follow. Booker is only able to start regaining some sense of normal diction after talking extensively with Lynn Jackson. Rei doesn't, and on another level, his frustration also comes from the fact that he hasn't spoken Japanese for so long that he can't get people who speak his native tongue to understand him.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler: The SAF AI killing Lt. Amata is portrayed as this. If it hadn't done so, Yukikaze would have crashed into him and gotten destroyed as well. In the bigger picture, a Super Sylph, her pilot, and her EWO are worth far more than a snow grader and its driver.]]
** Happens again in the next chapter, [[spoiler: when Yukikaze takes remote control of the Fand II fighter when the JAM attack during the test flight. The extreme maneuvers she makes the Fand pull end up killing its pilot Hugh O'Donnell. In this case, Rei is the one defending Yukikaze for doing what she had to do to survive.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Andy Lander in the chapter "Mysterious Battle Zone." He's also a perfect example of {{Eagleland}} Flavor 2. He wrote an article that criticizes the USA for not using American-built goods, yet he also demands that [[{{Hypocrite}} the FAF share all their independently developed technology with Earth.]] He [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain accuses Jews of financing the FAF & the Chinese of providing the labor]], and he believes the FAF will attack the UN using a drone army.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite all the above, when [[spoiler: he loses his hand in the JAM pocket dimension and is weakened from blood loss]], he does not hesitate to tell Rei to leave him behind and escape when it becomes apparent the JAM are coming. When Rei [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind doesn't]], he refuses Rei's offer to help him walk and tells him to keep his hands on his machine gun and his eyes open for hostiles. When he returns to Earth, he writes a pretty even-handed article on the FAF that is largely free of bias.
* LensmanArmsRace: The FAF & the JAM are constantly coming up with new weapons and technologies to one-up each other. Sometimes the JAM make an advancement and the FAF has to play catch up, and other times it's vice versa. Such as going from high-velocity missiles, to hyper-velocity missiles, to FrickinLaserBeams, to [[SerialEscalation baryon guns]] (a.k.a. heavy particle beams; think [[Anime/CodeGeass the Shenhu's big cannon]]). But all these advancements only provide an advantage for at most [[HopeSpot a few weeks]] before the other side develops new tactics/countermeasures & [[ForeverWar the]] [[HopelessWar war]] [[StatusQuoIsGod returns to being a stalemate.]]
* ManBitesMan: Rei's suspicions about [[spoiler: Nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa]] are confirmed when he [[spoiler: tears open Marnie's shirt and bites her on the collar. Her blood doesn't taste anything like how human blood should taste.]]
* MedalOfDishonor: Amata being awarded the Order of Mars completely changes how his peers treat him and destroys what little peace his terrible life had.
* MirrorChemistry: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM human copies may be made of dextro-amino acids after their first attempt to feed him at the fake TAB-14 base tastes horrible, but the next meal made out of Burgadish is digestible. Nurse Marnie's blood also tastes completely different from human blood.]]
* NiceToTheWaiter: Averted. As discussed below, the FAF treats its manual laborers as less than trash.
* NoExportForYou: Averted; despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. The third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
* OneWorldOrder: Averted. While it may have seemed possible during the JAM invasion of Earth, now that they have been beaten back to Faery, the nations of the world have gone right back to fighting their regular wars against each other. Lynn Jackson & Jack Booker are part of the few voices that strongly believe the world must be united or else the JAM will easily conquer humanity.
* PatrioticFervor: Andy Lander is definitely full of this. Averted with Rei, who only feels irritation whenever he thinks about Japan.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an air force with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Inverted: the story was first starting to get written in 1979. But over 30 years later, the themes it brings up regarding the use of {{Attack Drone}}s are more relevant than ever. So it's more like the headlines are ripped from the novel.
** Not to mention a ForeverWar being fought in a land so far away that most of the world doesn't even care anymore about it, against an enemy that we have no clear understanding of and with no overarching strategy in mind. Are we talking about the war on Faery, or TheWarOnTerror, especially the Afghanistan theater?
*** Kambayashi may have also been drawing on the SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan. HistoryRepeats, indeed...
* ShootTheShaggyDog: 2nd Lt. Amata's story turns out to be this. [[spoiler: He already had a shit deal being a snowplow operator. Then he got the Order of Mars, which ruined his social life and alienated him from the few friends he had, which drove him to drink even harder. He has no home to return to on Earth, as he would either be thrown into prison or sent to a detox facility if he ever went back. In the end, he ends up operating his grader while drunk, which puts him in the path of Yukikaze while she's landing. The SAF AI then uses a CIWS Phalanx turret to blow him to smithereens so that Yukikaze doesn't crash into him.]]
* SpaceColdWar: [[spoiler: For 33 years, the JAM didn't even realize humans existed. They've been fighting against the computers the whole time and humans just happened to be caught in the middle in some kind of grand proxy war. This changes as of the first novel's final chapter, when they finally notice that there are strange levo-amino acid-based lifeforms on the enemy side...]]
* StrawmanHasAPoint: Despite his {{Jerkass}} & {{Eagleland}} tendencies, Andy Lander does bring up some good points regarding the FAF's relations with the UN. Such as the UN forbidding the FAF from growing food, which makes them wholly dependent on a UN food exchange program and may very well be a means to prevent the FAF from rebelling against Earth. Rei is mildly surprised at this: he knew the FAF imported food but had no idea they weren't allowed to produce its own food.
* TakingYouWithMe: Tomahawk John [[spoiler: destroys Banshee-IV's coolant system after the JAM fatally wound him, ensuring that the compromised plane will crash and burn.]]
* TastesLikeChicken: DefiedTrope. In Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix, Marnie tells Rei the soup he's having is chicken broth. He says it doesn't taste like chicken.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* UncannyValley: [[spoiler: Rei immediately senses something ''off'' about nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa at TAB-14. Yazawa's uniform is the wrong shade of color per FAF regulations, & Marnie's disposition is [[StepfordSmiler too cheerful.]] They are both JAM copies with minor flaws in their assembly.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Andy Lander is confident that the FAF is not needed, and that if the JAM decide to invade again, the Earth's militaries can handle them. Admiral Nagamu shares the same sentiment. Then we see in Chapter VII - Battle Spirit that ''a single JAM fighter'' can effortlessly shoots down 8 top-of-the-line Japanese Navy planes, and that only the technologically advanced FAF stands a real chance against them.
* UngratefulBastard: Admiral Nagamu of the Japanese Navy in Chapter VII. He blames Yukikaze and her crew for luring the JAM to Earth and is doesn't even want to let them land on his carrier despite the fact they just saved it from being sunk. He only does so when Lynn Jackson points out assisting the FAF is required by international law.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The UN seriously distrusts the FAF. Several times Booker wonders if the more dangerous enemy to the FAF is not the JAM, but Earth.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The FAF's treatment of its snowplow operators is absolutely horrific. They stay in subzero temperatures clearing out snow on the runways when aircraft return from a sortie, but they are not allowed to keep the engine running if they're waiting for a plane to come back (which means no heater). It's stated that the FAF could automate the process, but the cost of setting up an automated system was deemed to be too expensive by the higher-ups when you have [[WeHaveReserves an endless supply of criminals that national governments on Earth are all too happy to send to Faery.]] The operators are paid a pittance, they are regularly sneered at by FAF officers, and they are also not allowed to drink alcohol on duty. The last bit is reasonable, but when they are forbidden from turning on the snowplow engines, that means that alcohol is one of the very few ways to keep warm in those conditions. [[spoiler: The SAF tactical AI tried to defy this trope: it awarding Lt. Amata the Order of Mars was its way of attempting to make the FAF leadership realize how important the snow-clearing operation is to the war against the JAM, and to stop using manual labor or at least treat them better. It would actually prefer to have the snow-clearing process completely automated.]]
* WhamLine: Nearly everything the SAF strategic computer states to Booker when he interacts with it during the chapter "Faery - Winter". But one line in particular:\
[[spoiler: -->'''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix:\
[[spoiler: -->'''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John. Rei as well, compared to his novel counterpart.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to the AlienSky setting.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Played straight in the first episode, where Rei dreams of Yukikaze as a caged fairy, and himself [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic holding the key to set her free.]]
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 5.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance, the series air combat scenes were developed with the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware that they were fake for a while.]]
* CanonForeigner: Edith Foss. She seems to be a CompositeCharacter, as she fulfills the roles of the Faery Air Base doctor & Hugh O'Donnell in being involved in testing out an experimental new fighter with Yukikaze.
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 2: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
** In Operation 3, Yukikaze activates its JAM sensor jammer, displaying what Jack identifies as a warning pattern. [[spoiler: That's because [[TomatoInTheMirror Tom "Tomahawk" John]] is standing right next to it]].
** Savvy viewers will realize that the JAM-copy killed by the Military Police in the last episode [[spoiler: is a copy of Richard Burgadish, who is supposed to be KIA all the way back in Episode 1]].
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Yukikaze clones herself by making a copy of herself into the FRX-99 prototype and then ordering it to destroy the original]].
** [[spoiler: And then [=JAM=] makes a [[ShadowArchetype shadow copy]] of Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', however it fails to make an actual copy of Yukikaze]].
* CombatPragmatist: TS-X1 shows instances of this.
* ComingInHot: In Operation 04, after Rei and Yukikaze travel to Earth and defeat the 3 JAM that followed him through the portal.
** Operation 05 shows the aftermath of this, the burned-out hulk of a crashed AWACS that botched a landing on Banshee-III.
* ConspicuousCG: Although to be fair it's some of the best ever seen in anime. It looks damn good even 5-8 years after its release.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler: The JAM are very careful in selecting the people that they make clones of. All their clones are of humans who are currently or have in the past been out of touch with FAF headquarters for significant periods of time, and thus HQ should have no reason to suspect them of being sleepers. These include Tomahawk John, Richard Burgadish, and Rei.]]
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point in the series, the real Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with. Averted in the novel where the JAM can independently develop new tech.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
* DreamSequence: Both Rei and Jack have them, involving Yukikaze as an actual fairy.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
* FanService: Given how gritty and dark the show is as a whole, it's slightly remarkable it has anything like this, and the closest we get is Captain Foss, the base doctor and psychiatrist, who [[ShowSomeLeg shows some leg]] and [[BareYourMidriff bares her midriff]].
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
* [[spoiler:GainaxEnding: The show ends with Lyn Jackson seeing Rei's ghost next to Jack, although he himself is unaware of Rei's presence. After the credits end, we're treated to an extra scene where it seems the afterlife, for Rei, consists of being sent out on missions by Jack. Heck, you cannot even tell if he actually died, AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or what! However, the SentouYouseiYukikaze/Analysis page attempts to clear this up a bit]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Yukikaze, twice. Lt. Fukai once.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom, helping Rei escape the doomed Banshee.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* KaijuDefenseForce: The Japanese ''Navy'' appears in Operation 04, supplying a carrier battlegroup to guard the passageway, implying that Article 9 was revoked when the JAM invaded.
* LighterAndSofter: Operation 04 [[spoiler: at least, until the cliffhanger.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Rei and Yukikaze become this as the JAM seem to have a strange fixation to capture them at all costs]].
* LoveHurts: Poor Jack. Whether you see his affection for Rei as platonic or romantic, it hurts all the same.
* LudicrousPrecision: The JAM [[spoiler:treat war like a giant mathematical equation and their interest in Rei and Yukikaze is because they're the variable that keeps the equation from balancing out, and while they tried to copy them, and were able to copy Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', they were unable to actually copy Yukikaze.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Justified in the Climatic Battle when [[spoiler: Yukikaze takes over just about every plane in the FAF]].
** Earlier in Operation 04 the Japanese Navy attempts this, both with fighter-launched and ship-launched missiles, but quickly stops due to friendly fire risk and the MMM proving ineffective against the JAM's HighSpeedMissileDodge.
* MoodWhiplash: Operation 01. After a wham moment that sends Rei into a HeroicBSOD, a bright cheery ED theme plays.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The BluRay release features a so-called "experimental video" which is a trailer for the sequel featuring new footage and narration by Nakata Jouji. The catch? ''[[RealTrailerFakeMovie There is no sequel.]]'' (In fact, there's never been any mention of the studio planning to make one).
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Tactical Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] He was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
* NotQuiteHuman: The JAM copies look like humans in all aspects [[spoiler:except they "bleed" yellow goo]].
* NuclearOption: The FAF uses a short-range ballistic missile to destroy the compromised Banshee-IV airship, and considering the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier size of that vessel]], a nuke most definitely would be the most efficient way to destroy it. In the final episode, [[spoiler: three [=TNBs=] (tactical nuclear bombs) are used to collapse the hyperspace Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy.]] Contrast the FAF's careful and deliberate use of nuclear weaponry with...
* NukeEm: ... the JAM, whose Super Sylph copy in the first episode shoots tactical nuclear missiles like it's going out of style. It uses no fewer than three in the span of five minutes!
** Also, it's obvious from the [[OhCrap reactions of the FAF pilots]] that the JAM make a regular habit of these.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Much of the combat between the FAF and JAM takes place using short-ranged heatseeking missiles and guns. Operations 01 and 04 provide justifications: JAM are masters of the HighSpeedMissileDodge and can put out enough jamming to InterfaceScrew a destroyer's radar, which is more powerful than the seeker head of a long-range radar guided missile, so the only reliable way to score a kill is to mix it up in the merge.
* OhCrap: Quite a few:
** In Operation 01, a MassOhCrap is shared by several FA-1 squadrons when informed a JAM antiaircraft missile is heading their way. It becomes obvious why, moments later, [[NukeEm after the nuclear fireball and mushroom cloud]].
** [[spoiler: When Rei confirms to the SAF that JAM are making human replicas.]]
** The ''[=JAM=]'' somehow pull off one of these just before they [[spoiler: slam into the ground in Operation 02]]
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* PragmaticAdaptation: The anime writers had to adapt two novels (most of which are loosely connected short stories) into less than 3 hours. Since it was impossible to pull it off, the writers sort of went their own way with the story, changing and cutting/expanding the original material. Overall, though, it makes sense and the author of the novels acknowledged it as an alternate version.
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RestrainingBolt: Yukikaze and the act of flying serve as this for Rei. Without them, [[ManChild he'll rebel against authority or just wallow in angst and despair]]. [[KidWithTheLeash Jack is a minor one]], unless Rei thinks Jack will prevent him from flying.
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically stated that they threw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]]. Jack doesn't like it, at all.
[[folder:Novels]]
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Chapter III of the first novel. Yukikaze detects... ''something'' on her specialized Frozen Eye radar that displays itself as a solid horizontal line despite that there is absolutely ''nothing'' the naked eye can see, and it also does not show up on standard radar or other sensors. When Rei takes heed of the warning and tries to fly away, the ''line starts chasing him'' and eventually envelops Rei & Yukikaze in a circle. Passing the "line" on the radar screen feels like slamming into a wall of iron and they end up teleported into another dimension.
* TheAlcoholic: Lt. Amata. Justified, as he is constantly working in sub-zero temperatures. [[spoiler: It gets him killed when he is too drunk to move his grader off the runway when Yukikaze is coming in for a landing.]]
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Andy Lander loses his left hand when he tries to touch the ocean of orange sludge in the JAM alternate universe. It wasn't the sludge itself that did it; it was the hazy gas emitting from the sludge, which in his words, was vibrating like a buzzsaw.]]
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter II - Never Question The Value Of A Knight from the first novel builds up to a massive operation called [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
* BlatantLies: [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory]], the SAF was able to secure funding for the Super Sylph because it was ostensibly a modified Sylphid. The actual aircraft was an entirely new design. This is actually TruthInTelevision since a number of real life combat aircraft "variants" were developed this way. See LoopholeAbuse.
* BritishAccents: Booker has a faint one. The second book reveals he's originally from Sheffield.
* BystanderSyndrome:
** The people of Earth think the war against the JAM is not their issue to deal with. It has been going on for over 30 years in a location that nobody on Earth can even remotely imagine. Add to that that the FAF has almost no oversight at all, and it's no wonder why by this point, the majority of people on Earth think the JAM don't even exist and that the FAF is planning a rebellion to overthrow the United Nations.
** Chapter III - Mysterious Battle Zone has Rei playing babysitter to a {{Jerkass}} pundit from Earth who has come to Faery to do a story on the FAF. He starts off utterly convinced that the JAM war is fake and is a ploy to arm the FAF for their global revolution. He very quickly changes his mind [[BreakTheHaughty once he actually encounters the JAM.]]
** Rei spends a short furlough on Earth, and cannot find a single scrap of information about Faery or the War there. [[spoiler: He suspects it's because JAM have already infiltrated Earth.]]
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
* CategoryTraitor: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM may view Yukikaze as this, wondering why a computerized mechanical life-form is fighting against its own kind.]]
* CentralTheme: Are humans necessary for war?
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Jack is really worried about Rei's attachment to Yukikaze. He's tired of seeing so many pilots die in this war, and he fears Rei may do something stupid on the battlefield for Yukikaze's sake that would cost him his life.
* EldritchLocation: The bizarre pocket universe Rei and Lander are transported to in "Mysterious Battle Zone." There is nothing there apart from a makeshift runway, a forest of strange crystalline trees, and an endless ocean of orange sludge. [[spoiler: It is clearly a JAM environment, as a JAM aircraft attempts to interface with Yukikaze in this area. In addition, the trees appear to emit some kind of radio interference that disables Lander's camcorder & voice recorder.]]
** This same universe also contains [[spoiler: a JAM copy of the TAB-14 forward operating base. This time, Rei escapes when he gets into Yukikaze and launches a missile at a swarm of the JAM insects.]]
** To a larger extent, all of Faery. Rei & Jack are very disoriented when they return to Earth briefly because there is so much color & ''life'' on Earth. At one point in the first novel, Rei even likens Faery's atmosphere to that of being in a hallucinogenic haze.
* FictionalDocument: Lynn Jackson's novel, ''The Invader''. The prologue is an excerpt from this book, detailing the background the of the FAF and the war against the JAM.
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Andy Lander is amazed to see on Faery Americans using Russian military equipment and vice versa. Granted, this still doesn't happen much even today among the actual American & Russian militaries.
* GodzillaThreshold: How bad was the JAM invasion of Earth? We don't know the details, but in the chapter "Indian Summer" Rei casually mentions to Tom John that '''Japan possesses nukes.''' Just from that ''[[NuclearWeaponsTaboo one line alone]]'', we know the invasion had to be '''bad.'''
* HumanAliens: Played with. When Rei & Booker touch down on the ''Admiral 56'' carrier back on Earth, the crew of the ship think they may as well be spacemen. They also have difficulty communicating with the crew; their mannerisms have been altered so much by the war on Faery that their style of speaking is too [[TerseTalker terse]] and machine-like for the crew to follow. Booker is only able to start regaining some sense of normal diction after talking extensively with Lynn Jackson. Rei doesn't, and on another level, his frustration also comes from the fact that he hasn't spoken Japanese for so long that he can't get people who speak his native tongue to understand him.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler: The SAF AI killing Lt. Amata is portrayed as this. If it hadn't done so, Yukikaze would have crashed into him and gotten destroyed as well. In the bigger picture, a Super Sylph, her pilot, and her EWO are worth far more than a snow grader and its driver.]]
** Happens again in the next chapter, [[spoiler: when Yukikaze takes remote control of the Fand II fighter when the JAM attack during the test flight. The extreme maneuvers she makes the Fand pull end up killing its pilot Hugh O'Donnell. In this case, Rei is the one defending Yukikaze for doing what she had to do to survive.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Andy Lander in the chapter "Mysterious Battle Zone." He's also a perfect example of {{Eagleland}} Flavor 2. He wrote an article that criticizes the USA for not using American-built goods, yet he also demands that [[{{Hypocrite}} the FAF share all their independently developed technology with Earth.]] He [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain accuses Jews of financing the FAF & the Chinese of providing the labor]], and he believes the FAF will attack the UN using a drone army.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite all the above, when [[spoiler: he loses his hand in the JAM pocket dimension and is weakened from blood loss]], he does not hesitate to tell Rei to leave him behind and escape when it becomes apparent the JAM are coming. When Rei [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind doesn't]], he refuses Rei's offer to help him walk and tells him to keep his hands on his machine gun and his eyes open for hostiles. When he returns to Earth, he writes a pretty even-handed article on the FAF that is largely free of bias.
* LensmanArmsRace: The FAF & the JAM are constantly coming up with new weapons and technologies to one-up each other. Sometimes the JAM make an advancement and the FAF has to play catch up, and other times it's vice versa. Such as going from high-velocity missiles, to hyper-velocity missiles, to FrickinLaserBeams, to [[SerialEscalation baryon guns]] (a.k.a. heavy particle beams; think [[Anime/CodeGeass the Shenhu's big cannon]]). But all these advancements only provide an advantage for at most [[HopeSpot a few weeks]] before the other side develops new tactics/countermeasures & [[ForeverWar the]] [[HopelessWar war]] [[StatusQuoIsGod returns to being a stalemate.]]
* ManBitesMan: Rei's suspicions about [[spoiler: Nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa]] are confirmed when he [[spoiler: tears open Marnie's shirt and bites her on the collar. Her blood doesn't taste anything like how human blood should taste.]]
* MedalOfDishonor: Amata being awarded the Order of Mars completely changes how his peers treat him and destroys what little peace his terrible life had.
* MirrorChemistry: Rei speculates that [[spoiler: the JAM human copies may be made of dextro-amino acids after their first attempt to feed him at the fake TAB-14 base tastes horrible, but the next meal made out of Burgadish is digestible. Nurse Marnie's blood also tastes completely different from human blood.]]
* NiceToTheWaiter: Averted. As discussed below, the FAF treats its manual laborers as less than trash.
* NoExportForYou: Averted; despite being untranslated for years, the first and second novels (which the anime was based on) have recently been translated and released in English. The third novel, "Unbroken Arrow", was written in 2009 and is not part of the anime; whether it will make it out of Japan is yet to be seen.
* OneWorldOrder: Averted. While it may have seemed possible during the JAM invasion of Earth, now that they have been beaten back to Faery, the nations of the world have gone right back to fighting their regular wars against each other. Lynn Jackson & Jack Booker are part of the few voices that strongly believe the world must be united or else the JAM will easily conquer humanity.
* PatrioticFervor: Andy Lander is definitely full of this. Averted with Rei, who only feels irritation whenever he thinks about Japan.
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an air force with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Inverted: the story was first starting to get written in 1979. But over 30 years later, the themes it brings up regarding the use of {{Attack Drone}}s are more relevant than ever. So it's more like the headlines are ripped from the novel.
** Not to mention a ForeverWar being fought in a land so far away that most of the world doesn't even care anymore about it, against an enemy that we have no clear understanding of and with no overarching strategy in mind. Are we talking about the war on Faery, or TheWarOnTerror, especially the Afghanistan theater?
*** Kambayashi may have also been drawing on the SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan. HistoryRepeats, indeed...
* ShootTheShaggyDog: 2nd Lt. Amata's story turns out to be this. [[spoiler: He already had a shit deal being a snowplow operator. Then he got the Order of Mars, which ruined his social life and alienated him from the few friends he had, which drove him to drink even harder. He has no home to return to on Earth, as he would either be thrown into prison or sent to a detox facility if he ever went back. In the end, he ends up operating his grader while drunk, which puts him in the path of Yukikaze while she's landing. The SAF AI then uses a CIWS Phalanx turret to blow him to smithereens so that Yukikaze doesn't crash into him.]]
* SpaceColdWar: [[spoiler: For 33 years, the JAM didn't even realize humans existed. They've been fighting against the computers the whole time and humans just happened to be caught in the middle in some kind of grand proxy war. This changes as of the first novel's final chapter, when they finally notice that there are strange levo-amino acid-based lifeforms on the enemy side...]]
* StrawmanHasAPoint: Despite his {{Jerkass}} & {{Eagleland}} tendencies, Andy Lander does bring up some good points regarding the FAF's relations with the UN. Such as the UN forbidding the FAF from growing food, which makes them wholly dependent on a UN food exchange program and may very well be a means to prevent the FAF from rebelling against Earth. Rei is mildly surprised at this: he knew the FAF imported food but had no idea they weren't allowed to produce its own food.
* TakingYouWithMe: Tomahawk John [[spoiler: destroys Banshee-IV's coolant system after the JAM fatally wound him, ensuring that the compromised plane will crash and burn.]]
* TastesLikeChicken: DefiedTrope. In Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix, Marnie tells Rei the soup he's having is chicken broth. He says it doesn't taste like chicken.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: The first novel was written in 1984, with the second in 1999, and both were only translated around the 2010s. As a result, a lot of what was then cutting edge aviation technology - e.g. GPS, fly-by-wire controls, thrust vectoring control - is now viewed as ordinary.
* UncannyValley: [[spoiler: Rei immediately senses something ''off'' about nurse Marnie & Major Yazawa at TAB-14. Yazawa's uniform is the wrong shade of color per FAF regulations, & Marnie's disposition is [[StepfordSmiler too cheerful.]] They are both JAM copies with minor flaws in their assembly.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Andy Lander is confident that the FAF is not needed, and that if the JAM decide to invade again, the Earth's militaries can handle them. Admiral Nagamu shares the same sentiment. Then we see in Chapter VII - Battle Spirit that ''a single JAM fighter'' can effortlessly shoots down 8 top-of-the-line Japanese Navy planes, and that only the technologically advanced FAF stands a real chance against them.
* UngratefulBastard: Admiral Nagamu of the Japanese Navy in Chapter VII. He blames Yukikaze and her crew for luring the JAM to Earth and is doesn't even want to let them land on his carrier despite the fact they just saved it from being sunk. He only does so when Lynn Jackson points out assisting the FAF is required by international law.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The UN seriously distrusts the FAF. Several times Booker wonders if the more dangerous enemy to the FAF is not the JAM, but Earth.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The FAF's treatment of its snowplow operators is absolutely horrific. They stay in subzero temperatures clearing out snow on the runways when aircraft return from a sortie, but they are not allowed to keep the engine running if they're waiting for a plane to come back (which means no heater). It's stated that the FAF could automate the process, but the cost of setting up an automated system was deemed to be too expensive by the higher-ups when you have [[WeHaveReserves an endless supply of criminals that national governments on Earth are all too happy to send to Faery.]] The operators are paid a pittance, they are regularly sneered at by FAF officers, and they are also not allowed to drink alcohol on duty. The last bit is reasonable, but when they are forbidden from turning on the snowplow engines, that means that alcohol is one of the very few ways to keep warm in those conditions. [[spoiler: The SAF tactical AI tried to defy this trope: it awarding Lt. Amata the Order of Mars was its way of attempting to make the FAF leadership realize how important the snow-clearing operation is to the war against the JAM, and to stop using manual labor or at least treat them better. It would actually prefer to have the snow-clearing process completely automated.]]
* WhamLine: Nearly everything the SAF strategic computer states to Booker when he interacts with it during the chapter "Faery - Winter". But one line in particular:\
[[spoiler: -->'''SAF AI''': There is no direct evidence the JAM perceive humans.]]
** Another one from Chapter VIII - Super Phoenix:\
[[spoiler: -->'''Rei''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TheReveal JAM]]!]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Anime]]
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Tom John. Rei as well, compared to his novel counterpart.
* AerialCanyonChase: Rei chases Copy Sylph into a canyon in Operation One.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Arguably, thanks to the AlienSky setting.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Played straight in the first episode, where Rei dreams of Yukikaze as a caged fairy, and himself [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic holding the key to set her free.]]
** The really really bad spin-off ''Tasukete, Mave-chan!'' in which the various aircraft are represented by... you'll never guess... cute girls.
* BatmanGambit: Cooley pulls one off in Operation 5.
* BilingualBonus / GeniusBonus: For anyone who actually understands air force parlance, the series air combat scenes were developed with the help of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, so a lot of the radio chatter is what you'd actually hear in an air combat situation.
* BittersweetEnding : Oh boy...
* BizarreAlienBiology: We never get to see real [=JAMs=] other than their ships [[spoiler:or their fake humans, some of whom weren't even aware that they were fake for a while.]]
* CanonForeigner: Edith Foss. She seems to be a CompositeCharacter, as she fulfills the roles of the Faery Air Base doctor & Hugh O'Donnell in being involved in testing out an experimental new fighter with Yukikaze.
* CantCatchUp: How the FAF views the conflict. Every advance they make is copied and countered by the JAM. [[spoiler: this is because JAM have infiltrated the FAF]].
* ChekhovsGun: A small one in Operation 2: engine trouble. [[spoiler: Griffon Leader can't dogfight due to engine trouble with his FA-2; minutes later Yukikaze aborts its strafing run on TAB-15 and [=RTBs=] due to engine trouble. Later while dogfighting with JAM during DACT with TS-X1, the same engine trouble rears its head]].
** In Operation 3, Yukikaze activates its JAM sensor jammer, displaying what Jack identifies as a warning pattern. [[spoiler: That's because [[TomatoInTheMirror Tom "Tomahawk" John]] is standing right next to it]].
** Savvy viewers will realize that the JAM-copy killed by the Military Police in the last episode [[spoiler: is a copy of Richard Burgadish, who is supposed to be KIA all the way back in Episode 1]].
* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Yukikaze clones herself by making a copy of herself into the FRX-99 prototype and then ordering it to destroy the original]].
** [[spoiler: And then [=JAM=] makes a [[ShadowArchetype shadow copy]] of Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', however it fails to make an actual copy of Yukikaze]].
* CombatPragmatist: TS-X1 shows instances of this.
* ComingInHot: In Operation 04, after Rei and Yukikaze travel to Earth and defeat the 3 JAM that followed him through the portal.
** Operation 05 shows the aftermath of this, the burned-out hulk of a crashed AWACS that botched a landing on Banshee-III.
* ConspicuousCG: Although to be fair it's some of the best ever seen in anime. It looks damn good even 5-8 years after its release.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: [[spoiler: The JAM are very careful in selecting the people that they make clones of. All their clones are of humans who are currently or have in the past been out of touch with FAF headquarters for significant periods of time, and thus HQ should have no reason to suspect them of being sleepers. These include Tomahawk John, Richard Burgadish, and Rei.]]
* CoverIdentityAnomaly: The Copy Rei & Super Sylph that appear at the end of Operation 04 has one big tipoff that it's a fake: the side of the copy Sylph indicates the copy's rank as "2nd Lieutenant." However, at this point in the series, the real Rei Fukai has already been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Presumably, the JAM are working with the information they obtained in the first episode, which is now outdated.
* CreativeSterility: The JAM are heavily implied to have this; any new advances in technology and tactics they make are copied from whatever the FAF comes up with. Averted in the novel where the JAM can independently develop new tech.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The original Tom "Tomahawk" John.]]
* DreamSequence: Both Rei and Jack have them, involving Yukikaze as an actual fairy.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: Rei while comatose/catatonic.
* EvolvingCredits: The opening changes in Operation 3 to reflect Yukikaze's new upgrade.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: The epilogue shows Jack with long, ''long'' hair.
* EvilCounterpart: ''Copy'' Sylph to Yukikaze. [[spoiler: It's piloted by ''Copy'' Rei]].
* FanService: Given how gritty and dark the show is as a whole, it's slightly remarkable it has anything like this, and the closest we get is Captain Foss, the base doctor and psychiatrist, who [[ShowSomeLeg shows some leg]] and [[BareYourMidriff bares her midriff]].
* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's one during Operation One. The sequence shows Yukikaze being moved from her underground hangar to the airfield, with the actual launch taking place in a moment.
** A more traditional sequence is seen in Operation 4, as the ''Admiral Isoroku'' scrambles its air wing to intercept the JAM fighters.
* FinalBattle: And ''what a battle.''
* [[spoiler:GainaxEnding: The show ends with Lyn Jackson seeing Rei's ghost next to Jack, although he himself is unaware of Rei's presence. After the credits end, we're treated to an extra scene where it seems the afterlife, for Rei, consists of being sent out on missions by Jack. Heck, you cannot even tell if he actually died, AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or what! However, the SentouYouseiYukikaze/Analysis page attempts to clear this up a bit]].
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Yukikaze, twice. Lt. Fukai once.]]
** [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom, helping Rei escape the doomed Banshee.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode of the OVA is referred to as "Operation".
* KaijuDefenseForce: The Japanese ''Navy'' appears in Operation 04, supplying a carrier battlegroup to guard the passageway, implying that Article 9 was revoked when the JAM invaded.
* LighterAndSofter: Operation 04 [[spoiler: at least, until the cliffhanger.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Rei and Yukikaze become this as the JAM seem to have a strange fixation to capture them at all costs]].
* LoveHurts: Poor Jack. Whether you see his affection for Rei as platonic or romantic, it hurts all the same.
* LudicrousPrecision: The JAM [[spoiler:treat war like a giant mathematical equation and their interest in Rei and Yukikaze is because they're the variable that keeps the equation from balancing out, and while they tried to copy them, and were able to copy Rei to pilot ''Copy Sylph'', they were unable to actually copy Yukikaze.]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Justified in the Climatic Battle when [[spoiler: Yukikaze takes over just about every plane in the FAF]].
** Earlier in Operation 04 the Japanese Navy attempts this, both with fighter-launched and ship-launched missiles, but quickly stops due to friendly fire risk and the MMM proving ineffective against the JAM's HighSpeedMissileDodge.
* MoodWhiplash: Operation 01. After a wham moment that sends Rei into a HeroicBSOD, a bright cheery ED theme plays.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The BluRay release features a so-called "experimental video" which is a trailer for the sequel featuring new footage and narration by Nakata Jouji. The catch? ''[[RealTrailerFakeMovie There is no sequel.]]'' (In fact, there's never been any mention of the studio planning to make one).
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Tactical Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] He was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
* NotQuiteHuman: The JAM copies look like humans in all aspects [[spoiler:except they "bleed" yellow goo]].
* NuclearOption: The FAF uses a short-range ballistic missile to destroy the compromised Banshee-IV airship, and considering the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier size of that vessel]], a nuke most definitely would be the most efficient way to destroy it. In the final episode, [[spoiler: three [=TNBs=] (tactical nuclear bombs) are used to collapse the hyperspace Passageway that connects Earth and Fairy.]] Contrast the FAF's careful and deliberate use of nuclear weaponry with...
* NukeEm: ... the JAM, whose Super Sylph copy in the first episode shoots tactical nuclear missiles like it's going out of style. It uses no fewer than three in the span of five minutes!
** Also, it's obvious from the [[OhCrap reactions of the FAF pilots]] that the JAM make a regular habit of these.
* OldSchoolDogfight: Much of the combat between the FAF and JAM takes place using short-ranged heatseeking missiles and guns. Operations 01 and 04 provide justifications: JAM are masters of the HighSpeedMissileDodge and can put out enough jamming to InterfaceScrew a destroyer's radar, which is more powerful than the seeker head of a long-range radar guided missile, so the only reliable way to score a kill is to mix it up in the merge.
* OhCrap: Quite a few:
** In Operation 01, a MassOhCrap is shared by several FA-1 squadrons when informed a JAM antiaircraft missile is heading their way. It becomes obvious why, moments later, [[NukeEm after the nuclear fireball and mushroom cloud]].
** [[spoiler: When Rei confirms to the SAF that JAM are making human replicas.]]
** The ''[=JAM=]'' somehow pull off one of these just before they [[spoiler: slam into the ground in Operation 02]]
* PointDefenseless: When the [=JAM=] Type-2s engage the Japanese Navy fleet in Operation 4, one destroyer puts up a barrage of fire from the Phalanx CIWS that hits exactly nothing. The Type-2 flew ''below'' the gun's point of aim, just a few feet above sea level.
** RuleOfDrama: Which should really be impossible given that modern, never mind future mounts, have enough depression (-25 degrees) to be used against small surface craft basically right next to the ship making this a fairly straight example.
*** Given that the Type-2 was putting out enough ECM to InterfaceScrew the destroyer's radar, it's probable that it also affected the CIWS.
** The trope is averted however in the final battle. Huge gunship autocannons do an excellent job picking off a massive number of JAM fighters for most of the fight. Too bad that at that point, there are literally '''[[HopelessWar billions]]''' of them...
* PragmaticAdaptation: The anime writers had to adapt two novels (most of which are loosely connected short stories) into less than 3 hours. Since it was impossible to pull it off, the writers sort of went their own way with the story, changing and cutting/expanding the original material. Overall, though, it makes sense and the author of the novels acknowledged it as an alternate version.
* ProductPlacement: Lyn Jackson uses a Powerbook G3. Jack's computer is an ancient Macintosh Classic.
* PunchAWall: Or rather, Punch A Window in Operation 03.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: One of the Type-2s in Operation 04 sinks a Japanese destroyer by crashing into it.
* RestrainingBolt: Yukikaze and the act of flying serve as this for Rei. Without them, [[ManChild he'll rebel against authority or just wallow in angst and despair]]. [[KidWithTheLeash Jack is a minor one]], unless Rei thinks Jack will prevent him from flying.
* RuleOfCool: The designing team specifically stated that they threw all aerodynamic principles out of the window to make the planes, especially Yukikaze, look cooler.
** The Super Sylph design still seems aerodynamically plausible.
** Hey, if the X-02 and Falken from the AceCombat series ended up to be proven aerodynamically plausible, the FFR-31 MR/D Super Sylph and FRX-99 [=/=] FRX-00 [=/=] FFR-41 MAVE should be reasonably fine.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Copy'' Super Sylph [[spoiler:along with its pilot, ''Copy'' Rei]].
* TheStinger: End of episode 2. Lydia receives a report that the strafing run that Yukikaze did earlier in the episode, although initially blamed for a malfunctioning AI, actually [[spoiler: uncovered traces of sabotage in the planes parked in that airbase, foreshadowing JAM's infiltration of FAF and Yukikaze's very accurate JAM-sensing "mind"]].
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: The doctor's report on Rei's mental state in Operation 2.
* [[TakingTheBullet Taking The Missile]]: An unusual variant of this trope: the Copy Rei/Copy Super Sylph intercepts Yukikaze's missile to prevent Yukikaze from destroying itself, showing just how far the JAM are willing to go to take Rei and Yukikaze alive.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Obviously averted with Captain Foss. She's also the one that deconstructed the Fukai-Yukikaze CargoShip in-universe.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: ''Copy'' Tom when he realizes he's actually a [=JAM=].]]
* TroubleMagnetGambit: Cooley sending [[spoiler: both Rei and ''Copy'' Tom together on a mission, on purpose]]. Jack doesn't like it, at all.
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* WorfHadTheFlu: Rei and Yukikaze vs TS-X1 during the test run. They couldn't operate to their full potential as Captain Foss was in the copilot seat. Should be noted that Foss is a therapist, and not a pilot used to the extreme G forces pilots are constantly subjected to. The Systems Corps officer supervising also notes that even if Foss wasn't with them, manned fighters cannot pull stresses in excess of 9Gs without killing the pilot. The unmanned TS-X1 has no pilot to worry about, and thus has a significantly higher performance threshold.
to:
* WorfHadTheFlu: Rei and Yukikaze vs the TS-X1 during the test run. They couldn't operate to their full potential as Captain Foss was in the copilot seat. Should be noted that Foss is a therapist, and not a pilot used to the extreme G forces pilots are constantly subjected to. The Systems Corps officer supervising also notes that even if Foss wasn't with them, manned fighters cannot pull stresses in excess of 9Gs without killing the pilot. The unmanned TS-X1 has no pilot to worry about, and thus has a significantly higher performance threshold.
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[[/folder]]
[[folder:Manga]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Rei's father committed suicide by hanging himself in their house. He was only a child when this happened, which drove him to be very cold and unresponsive to people. As an adult, Rei served as a getaway driver for a gang of jewel thieves until he got apprehended by police and sent to Faery.
* GeniusLoci: The JAM-controlled Banshee-IV kills Tom John by attacking him with metal bars and poles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Game]]
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film]]
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time Creator/TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} facing a mysterious alien force that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* TheFilmOfTheBook
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Manga]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Rei's father committed suicide by hanging himself in their house. He was only a child when this happened, which drove him to be very cold and unresponsive to people. As an adult, Rei served as a getaway driver for a gang of jewel thieves until he got apprehended by police and sent to Faery.
* GeniusLoci: The JAM-controlled Banshee-IV kills Tom John by attacking him with metal bars and poles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Game]]
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Inverted, there's a video game adaptation of the anime version of Yukikaze on the original XBOX, but it didn't pick up any sort of popularity.
** GameMod: On the other hand, modders have [[http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=3981007546&m=2861045157&r=2861045157 produced]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBRvsUUcw0 a working mod]] of FFR-41 Mave on ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film]]
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time Creator/TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} facing a mysterious alien force that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
* TheFilmOfTheBook
[[/folder]]
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* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2 of the first novel builds up to a massive operation called "FTJ83", which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
to:
* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2 of the first novel builds up to a massive operation called "FTJ83", [="FTJ83"=], which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
* CampFollower: The novel indicates there is an extensive red-light district in Faery base's underground city. Prostitution is legal on Faery and many of the men take advantage of the services on offer.
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* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 1 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway).
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* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The SAF's hangars and facilites qualify, being underground (Operation 1 showcases a bit of what launching a Super Sylph entails, from underground hangar to runway). Operation 05 reveals there is an entire underground ''city'' to provide for the FAF personnel, complete with "skyscrapers" and a red-light district. The novel even adds there is an artificial sky.
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Even in the anime it plays into the \"what is a human\" and \"man and machine\" themes.
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* RedHerring: Tom "Tomahawk" John's artificial heart, which he brings up all of a sudden in Operation 3. Nothing comes of it. [[spoiler: In the novel, though, it's the reason why he dies.]]
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* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many subordinates that he interacts with to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
to:
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel and the short manga adaptation explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many subordinates that he interacts with to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
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It\'s pretty obvious in the anime, too...
Changed line(s) 110 (click to see context) from:
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Forward Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] This is not revealed in the anime, but in the novel. It falls under this trope because he was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
to:
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The "soup" that Rei is given when he held in the [[spoiler: JAM-copied]] FAF Forward Air Base in Operation 01 turns out to be [[spoiler: the liquified remains of his [[GuyInBack radar intercept officer]], Richard Burgadish.]] This is not revealed in the anime, but in the novel. It falls under this trope because he He was fed the soup not out of cruelty, but because [[spoiler: the JAM wanted to keep Rei alive but had nothing to feed him because the planet Fairy is not real. The only kind of organic matter available that would provide adequate nutrition for a human body was Burgadish's corpse.]]
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* {{Anticlimax}}: Chapter 2 of the first novel builds up to a massive operation called "FTJ83", which is going to be the largest military operation the FAF has done against the JAM for years and will involve the complete sortie of all available fighters to destroy the JAM's largest forward operating base. When it's go time, the operation is completely described in a single paragraph.
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
** Of course, Rei [[GenreSavvy knows]] that the base's destruction isn't going to slow the JAM down much. In fact, on his way back to base while escorting the Flip Knights, the real battle begins when [[OhCrap his flight detects 120 JAM aircraft on an attack course for Faery Air Base, including two bombers armed with nuclear missiles.]]
* RankInflation: A literal case of this. The first novel reveals that the lowest rank in the FAF is ''Second Lieutenant.'' Thus you have an army with absolutely ''no enlisted men at all'' and fully half the personnel are Second Lieutenants. Ostensibly this is for propaganda purposes, but all it really does is make the Second Lieutenants do the duties that a normal military would assign to enlisted.
* TradingBarsForStripes: The novel explains that most of the FAF's personnel are criminals who have been sent to Faery by national governments that don't want to deal with them. In the early stages of the JAM conflict, the ratio of volunteers to non-volunteers was much higher, but by the time the novel takes place, non-volunteers now outnumber the volunteers of the FAF. Jack is suspected by many subordinates that he interacts with to be a criminal thanks to a [[GoodScarsEvilScars nasty scar on his face]]. [[spoiler: He's not. The scar came from a mundane accident years ago when a boomerang he made came back and smacked him in the face.]]
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze.
* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze.
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* TriangRelations: Sort of, between Jack, Rei and Yukikaze.
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* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/Oblivion2013 battling a mysterious alien race that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
to:
* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/Oblivion2013 [[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} battling a mysterious alien race that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
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* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]].
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* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time TomCruise plays a [[TopGun hot shot fighter pilot]]. Nor is it the first time he'll be [[Film/Oblivion2013 battling a mysterious alien race that makes heavy use of attack drones.]]
