I haven't read the original novel, but from the start it was clear to me that Battle Fairy Yukikaze was an adaptation of an older work. It's an odd mix of background paintings that feel taken straight out of mid-70s sci-fi novels, and digital-anime characters that look like obvious redesigns of much older ones, what with their bell-bottom pants and gaunt, Matsumoto-esque expressions. It straddles a line similar to other 2000s remakes like Cyborg 009 and Golgo 13, which I find comforting. It's a plangently philosophical story about humanity's battle with a fundamentally unknowable alien and eventually with itself. The plane-combat action scenes are fantastic,with hypnotic after-effects and liberal use of jagged, CG assets which look surprisingly great in-context. It can be hard to follow as the main story is connected to many noided subjects and clearly used a springboard for commentary on the Cold War and Japan's post-war position on the world stage. We won't see this type of massive-budget vanity OVA again, especially one so squarely aimed at adults. It should be treasured.