Trivia
| - Many examples of aircraft conversions to seaplane exist, but none are as unique and successful as the first and only seaplane to aircraft conversion, the Kawanishi Shiden. Being even faster, more maneuverable and armored than the Zero and longer ranged and more powerful than the Raiden, the Shiden was the IJN's answer to the USN's F6F, Corsair and P-47 fighters. It was developed in private by Kawanishi after realizing the Kyoufuu being developed by them had lots of potential as a land-based aircraft, though surprisingly, the IJN had no interest for most of its development. It was only after the Kawanishi J6K Jinpu was cancelled and Raiden facing lots of problems that the IJN finally noticed the Shiden and decided to fully sponsor the project. Resources were diverted from Kyoufuu production to jump start the promising Shiden.
At first, the initial reactions from test flights was unsatisfactory because it was considered difficult to fly compared to the streamlined Zero fighter and the rushed Homare engine not living up to expectations. Due to the rarity and skill demanded by the Shiden, first production planes were given to the surviving, most experienced air groups and then later were used to train new pilots as production increased. Problems with the Shiden were quickly ironed out with Shiden Kai, but unavoidable performance problems like poor fuel quality, unskilled labor and low output numbers were always present.
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