The Japanese Interceptor Built To Destroy Demons: Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki

[@MrArgus11111]

Japanese air defense of the Home Islands often makes me think of that "At Least You Tried" cake from The Simpsons.

[@lorddreadfight]

I'm from austria and i find "Shoki" (Schoki) funny because in german this means "chocolate", a sweet fighter

[@battleshipfleet]

Glad I wasnt the only one thinking this lol

[@lorddreadfight]

@@battleshipfleet Ich muss immer an den einen simpsons clip denken wo homer das kind jagt kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGSzlaRqna5-h5I

[@HennyvilleX]

applies also to swiss german

[@jonas_k.123]

@@battleshipfleetme too

[@AnimeSunglasses]

Demon repelling chocolate is a very good idea, even JKR using it can't stop that!

[@brendonbewersdorf986]

Nakajima sure made some good aircraft. Honestly the Mitsubishi A6M zero gets a lot of coverage but the Ki-43, Ki-44, and Ki-84 were some of the stalwarts of the IJA and did pretty good even in the late war. And unlike the zero they got armor and self sealing fuel tanks alot earlier before it became to late. Love seeing the ki-44 getting some attention though its sort of the unloved middle child of the already underrated IJA aircraft

[@patwilson2546]

To be fair to the Zero, it was designed for the Navy which needed very long range. That meant no armor and no self sealing fuel tanks. Home defense, or IJA needs in general, did not need as much range, allowing designs that were more akin to their European counterparts.

[@brendonbewersdorf986]

@@patwilson2546 well the ki-43 the IJA equivalent to the IJN zero still offered basically the same range 1,000~ miles for the 1942 uparmored Ki-43-II vs 1,150~ for the A6M2 zero (both can carry drop tanks to boost it more). I think the main thing personally is the Ki-43 faced alot worse losses early on in burma and had to improve to compensate where the zero didn't get any improvements because at first the IJN was stomping everyone but then Midway happened and they had to scramble while the IJA struggling in burma was already making upgrades in the same time frame. Atleast is my theory I could be way off base but it seems likely.

[@conservativemike3768]

I’ve been in the Nagoya factory A6M that is only shown to VIP visitors. I’m 5’11” tall and the canopy hits right above my nose, which suggests the average Japanese pilot of the time was only around 5’4”. Tiny airframes were totally the thing back then and the Shoki always looked to me like nothing more than a big engine with a little airplane attached as an afterthought born of transitional desperation. As a side note, per capita dietary protein and dairy intake since then has probably quadrupled, and as a result my Japanese brother-in law is 6’2” and my wife a curvy 5’7”… so now the JSDF prefers the big cushy F-15 just like everyone else.

[@jpgabobo]

Today is a good day. A video about my favorite Japanese interceptor. You, Sir, are flying close to the sun, keep up the quality content!

[@Riccardo_Silva]

2000 hp, six Ma deuces, good armor, LOTS of such aircraft and brave, well trained and highly motivated pilots. Then off you go hammering the enemy. Butterflies who can turn on a dime aren't fit to wage, and win, wars. That is what that famed "ol' times turkey shoot, down home" taught everybody. That's why i like such planes like the Hayate, the Raiden, the Shiden and, of course, the Shoki. "Hell, nobody goes to war wearing a swimsuit!" Minoru Honda, japanese ace.

[@Goddot]

As a French speaker I love that Zhong Kui is apparently pronounced like Jean-Guy, and Jean-Guy being a demon name is now my head canon.

[@Jdub6580]

I love the mid 40's Japanese designs. I remember endlessly browsing the individual aircraft paint scheme, soft cover, issues that were created for modelers to use as a guide, as a kid. There seemed to be a way larger variety of models represented in those magazines than I see represented in KZbin videos. I imagine some of those designs are way less documented than what you see a lot of, on KZbin. Japanese aircraft designers had it going on towards the end of the war and their designs were gorgeous. Hate to think of them as American killing machines even though that's what they were intended to do. The past lies far detached from us in '24.

[@RobertWilliams-us4kw]

Thanks for another informative video! I can't help but wonder how the Ki-44's lateral stability would have been with such a small tail fin? Regards

[@ronaldbyrne3320]

Just added a Shoki model kit to my stash so this is timely and extra interesting for me. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@unbindallgaming7556]

always love your videos 🫶

[@swiftmatic]

The Ki-44 was featured in "Dogfighter WW2" for PS4. It was my favorite aircraft in the game, getting me into the Top 100. Ask MrMcPoo

[@artawhirler]

Excellent video as always! Thanks!

[@Cuccos19]

One cool plane what rarely noticed. Anyway, animes: do you know that anime, or anime like cartoon, Porco Rosso? There is a cool seaplane fighter in that.

[@FreudRulz]

Aahhh!!! Real Monsters mentioned! Man what a throwback, omg

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Another Great video.

[@LuqmanHM]

The should further develop more the Ha109 engine like adding water methanol injection. For sure it could produce near 1800hp and is a less risky option. Furthermore Mitusbishi was already building the earlier version of the engine so 2 companies can built them at the same time

[@beachboy0505]

Excellent video 📹

[@djcjr1x1]

Subaru made some interesting planes but they sure became enamored with the german boxer design engine later on in cars.😉

[@Colt45hatchback]

Im fairly sure the boxer was more prevalent prior to vw/kdf. As i recall there was a truck from like 1918 that had a 4 litre 4 cylinder side valve boxer engine

[@djcjr1x1]

@Colt45hatchback didn't know that thanks.👍

[@bryanparkhurst17]

You sir are a master of laconic understatement.

[@TheWalterKurtz]

I've got a BA in anthropology with a philosophy minor, had a classmate that was a Japanese immigrant. This vid started off REALLY slow. But it got there!

[@MayheM_72]

My favorite "WWII adjacent" anime is "Grave Of the Firefliestragic! Beautiful and tragic!

[@BeachTypeZaku]

Cool looking plane, but now put it up again other comparable fighters from competing nations at the time.

[@vaerenbergh]

I like flying this in war thunder sim but its small wings make it spin out easely while trying to dogfight. Its good for 1 turn but then better bow out for its climbing or diving capabilyties

[@Sacto1654]

I think with a little more engine power and a proper 20 mm cannon system, the Ki-44 could have been a very potent bomber interceptor. It would have forced the escorting P-51D Mustangs to engage them while other planes attacked the B-29 formations.

[@originalSPECTER]

Good Luck Girl was a solid dub. Very fun show!

[@daviswall3319]

Definitely learned something today!!

[@mebeasensei]

Always fascinated by the question but never satisfied by this answer: What was the best interceptor? Jack? George? Ki-100?, Ki-61? , one of the twins? , ki-84?

[@vaerenbergh]

As someone who likes flying japanese planes in war thunder sim i would take a J2M3, great speed, slippery to get hit and great weaponry. But nasty habbit of snapping with that torque 4bladed prop. Ki84 is very good but has less structural integrity so overspeeding it is dangerous, the shiden kai is great but bulky. My personal favorite is the Ki-100 and Ki-61, same airframe different engines, but the airframe is really good balanced, with good low speed characteristics, and a great diving speed without dissintegrating, agile enough to keep up with spitfires and armemant to blow everything out of the sky

[@mebeasensei]

@@vaerenbergh Cool, but my question is simple. What was the best for intercepting those waves of b29s and to a lesser extent, their Mustangs? in the last year of the war? Oh I forgot to add the Ki-44 too.

[@Squirrelmind66]

Just a small quibble, but it would help if you mentioned the US army code names for the aircraft - “Frank,” “Oscar,” etc.

[@MisterOcclusion]

Could you include the allied reporting name of each aircraft at least once in the script or in a subtitle? I have a very hard time with identifying Japanese aircraft by their designations, unless it’s very distinctive looking like the Val or Tony. To me one cigar shaped radial engined fighter looks like another…

[@stephenmeier4658]

16:41 the Allied reporting name "Tojo" is visible on the placard behind the gun, but that's the only place in this video you'll see that name

[@jvgrunt7898]

I always loved this plane

[@troiscinq7650]

Honestly that introduction makes the B-29 seem like some sort of mythical beast. Just adding to the lore of American heavy bombers

[@tommytwotacos8106]

I fucking OLEV "Bimbogami Ga". Really solid humor which is uncommon in anime. My favorite "comedy" anime ever is still "Nichijou", but the 4koma is waaaay funnier than the show. Goddamn, the bit about how Yuuko Aioi gets mistaken for "The Double Cheeseburgirl" is still something I think about and chuckle and it's been 10 years since the last time I read it. Arawi Keiji is a true master, up there with the likes of Ishinomori, Osamu Tezuka, Rumiko Takahashi, Ume Aoki, Hideaki Anno and even the great Hatte Saburo.

[@AriSuper0001]

After the war, the Nakajima Aircraft Company was dissolved, but was re born in 1953 as as Fuji Heavy Industries, so this is basically a Subaru.

[@twoheart7813]

My Shoki is a rat terrier named Daisy who repels strangers that knock at the door

[@cynthiakoehne7004]

they should have added the big paddle prop of the FW-190

[@gort8203]

I tuned in to hear about the Ki-44 airplane and found a lecture on religion.

[@SSGB]

The spec that it is equipped with a 37mm gun is incorrect. It is confused with the Kawasaki Ki-45 specs.

[@WilliamWallace-l2b]

Good video. 👍

[@nikolajevtic9546]

Great video, but I am not sure if Ki-44 was designed to intercept american bombers. Development began in 1940 and at that moment the Japanese didn't expect american bombers over home islands. Army was pushing for Northern Doctrine (Hokushin-ron) - clash with Soviet Union, and in China and Khalkin-Gol soviet I-16 fighters proved to be faster than the japanese Ki-27, and also soviet bombers Tupolev SB and Ilyushin DB-3 caused problems to the Japanese. I don't have data about it, but my guess is that Ki-44 was a response to soviet planes.

[@吳秉樺-b7j]

In Chinese, 鍾馗sounds like: Jones minus [s] for'鍾' and earthquake minus earth and [k] for '馗'.

[@MrChainsawAardvark]

Are there any good sources about Japanese manufacturing and engines before the war? I'm under the impression that the Mejii Restoration was rather similar to other attempts to mass industrialize like "The Great Leap Forward" and early soviet five year plans. The end result was that they had lots of little factories and distributed shops to be easier on an individual level to manage than giant conglomerates. This made for a degree of redundancy and distribution that made it hard to destroy everything - but no one group had all the knowledge or enough spare funding prototype a lot. Hence why Japan was generally stuck with lower power motors and smaller planes.

[@fredferd965]

Of all WWII Japanese fighter aircraft this is probably the most obscure. Thank you for this video!!!!

[@necrotech69]

"Boom-and-zoom tactics are key to the Ki-44's success; with its more powerful engine and increased firepower, the pilot should climb and dive on targets for maximum effect, regaining altitude for subsequent attacks."

[@emdenny10]

I am not mad about the opening. I appreciate it. K 43 was good.

[@pauleveritt3388]

The Shoki was intended to ward off demons. According to the book, "I Was A Kamikaze", when the high altitude raids by the B-29s started over Japan, people could only see the contrails and not hear the bombers. The bombs would create mass destruction beneath them. Many Japanese that these were indeed demons causing this destruction. In an effort to counter this idea, the Japanese government put some captured B-29 crew members on display in the Tokyo Zoo naked. It was an effort to show people that the contrails were not demons. They were just airplanes flown by men from the United States.

[@syncshot3677]

where is my fw-190 video

[@GVBiggs524]

The J2 Raiden was a pretty plane.

[@scottessery100]

10:51 for a country without industry and factories ...akin to germany uk usa.... they did well

[@AnimeSunglasses]

That's not exactly accurate, Japan didn't have an outstandingly efficient industrial system, but they did have quite a lot of it. What they didn't have was any source of raw materials for it that couldn't be cut off by, say, a concerted submarine campaign...

[@solarflare623]

This is the sort of plane the Japanese should have been focusing on. Something fast yet still able to out turn anything the US had

[@mmiYTB]

This plane had an exceptional codename, being not name, but a surname - "Tojo" 🙂

[@cynthiakoehne7004]

LOL God from family guy and the Krumm joke very funny!

[@augustosolari7721]

Wow, have you heard of the Nakajima Buffy aka "The vampire slayer"?

[@MiroslavYamato]

There's was not 20mm or 37mm canons on Ki-44. And no one proof for model 3.

[@falloutghoul1]

At last, someone sees the brilliance of Barefoot Gen over Grave of the Fireflies.

[@shainemaine1268]

I love how people (nearly EVERYONE) have wholeheartedly believed in the supernatural since forever... but ya know... you obviously know better

[@Skyraider3D]

The version description is a complete mess, unfortunately. Please check Wikipedia for the correct description of variants (which I wrote): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Ki-44#Variants

[@muhammadanshari6090]

Have u ever heard about "Sangkuriang"?

[@cynthiakoehne7004]

the original Hayabusa, not the 2 wheel one from Suzuki

[@MasterJawata]

“Skoki” is just Japanese for “Zhong Kui”, so it shouldn’t be use interchangeably within a story set in ancient China. Anyway, since Zhong Kui was a Demon slaying deity, his portrait can be found on doors and gates because people believe that it will scare the evil spirits away, but there’s like 4~5 deities whose portrait are used in this fashion, so one might need to check who’s drawing it is when you see one.

[@teehasheestower]

"gods be praised!" -Some Skyrim NPC

[@ph89787]

Must resist demon slayer jokes.

[@AbdiPianoChannel]

Devil repelling air craft 😁😁😁😁😁the Japanese are legends

[@cynthiakoehne7004]

the plane, not the character from mortal Kombat!

[@dmain6735]

Ki 44 Japanese boom and zoom fighter.

[@dziban303]

the sing song diction kinda grates after a few minutes. wish you'd speak naturally

[@sailordude2094]

No atheists in the fox holes, or fighter planes!

[@TheGamerZapocalypse]

...it's a Japanese Thunderbolt

[@mathewtheis9139]

The thunderbolt was a massive and heavy aircraft. Visually similar, maybe but nowhere near the same aircraft.

[@renevalleramos994]

Well, the anime gods will praise you for that..

[@cynthiakoehne7004]

too bad they did have a supercharger for Ki.

[@cynthiakoehne7004]

too much Sake that day is more like it!

[@pencilpauli9442]

Never had the courage to watch the Studio Ghibli movie, "Graveyard of the Fireflies". Has a pretty good dub? There's no such thing as a good dub, subs all the way! lol

[@originalSPECTER]

I guess that makes the Americans the Razgriz. Which explains some things…

[@treystephens6166]

H A R D C O R E 🇯🇵

[@fragidistic]

Tojo with 40mm cannons was fun to fly in games like War Thunder. Extreme low velocity bullets made you literally shoot bursts at point-blank range, but no bomber would actually survive one such shot.

[@VacuousCat]

Raiden, Lah-i-deh-n

[@nickmcgookin247]

It's a Japanese p 47

[@HorthornNZ]

4 minutes to say nothing! to much padding.

[@kentl7228]

I like his initial ramblings on an obscurely linked topic and the return at the end of the video

[@HorthornNZ]

@@kentl7228 I don't mind - it is just the waste of 5 minutes of my life lol

[@Alphacuremom55]

​@@HorthornNZYes because clearly you had better things to do..

[@nigel900]

GOD works on mysterious ways, but Hey… let’s just focus on the 👉🏻 PLANE 👍🏻

[@paulkelly7388]

I wouldn't lump religion and myths in the same category. Not the same!

[@stephenmeier4658]

Exactly the same

[@djcjr1x1]

You beat me to it damn!🤕

[@jimzeller3747]

Just effing tell me about the airplane and skip the ponificating bullshit.

[@ba780YT]

First

[@jonnyboi841]

Last

[@NS-hs6lt]

8th

[@BrahTonne]

please dont address religions anymore.That was very incorrect on several layers.

[@wowdanalise]

Please save your opinions of religion for another place.

[@gregdrew874]

Please save your opinions of other people's opinions for another place. Facist.

[@badabumbadabing]

Why? It's his opinion, not yours.

[@wowdanalise]

@@badabumbadabing Because I come to this channel for information about aircraft and aircraft related history. I do not come here to hear an atheist talk about religion, even if he isn't critiquing it.

[@mlalbaitero]

​@@wowdanalisehe didn't even really share his opinions, he just said "I'm not religious"

[@wowdanalise]

@@mlalbaitero You're right. I should have worded it differently. Something more like Please stick to aircraft and aircraft history. When I heard him say he wasn't religious and proceed to talk about religion, even though he didn't present opinions about it, I got irked.

[@kevindolin4315]

Please learn to pronounce Japanese names correctly. There are only five vowel sounds and they never change. To wit and in order: a - ah; i - ee; u - 'u' sound as in 'lute'; e - eh; o - oh. Thus the J2M Raiden is pronounced 'rah-ee-den' not 'ray-den' (said twice). I mentioned that in the video on that plane, but I guess it went unnoticed. You do so well with 'Nakajima', 'Hayabusa', 'Mitsubishi', 'Shōki' and 'Sakae', I don't know why you can't get that one right. I do hate to be pedantic, but I live in Japan and speak Japanese and can always spot a mistake. I'm a retired language teacher and I'm just trying to help you. It's what I do.