Another Anime Review
Air TV
Created by the company KEY!
Air is one of those anime based on a visual novel. Visual novels are like stories but video games based on anime characters. The one's Key created have some erotic sexy things going on with them. They always release two versions: 1 with the sexual theme, and one later one without.
Air was made into a 2 volume comic, 13 episodes+2 ovas, and 1 movie
Air TV anime review
Episode 1: Breeze
This is episode 1. The beginning of the series.
You meet a blonde girl named Misuzu. She meets a young man named Yukito sleeping on the wall. She wants to be friends with him. She keeps following him around until he gives in. Yukito is a magical puppet tier. he is looking for a girl with wings. he ends up moving in with Misuzu. He meets her mom/aunt. she first says NO but she decides to let him stay.
Very Funny and up going. Good beginning.
Episode 2: Town
Yukito is still wandering around town bored. He explains that his puppet he has is his source of income; being stolen away from him by a dog; potato. he runs into Kano Kirishima and older sister Hijiri. Hijiri decides to give him a job doing odd things. the end has Kano at a shrine glowing.
Great continuing; end is weird. Start of the Kano Saga.
Episode 3: Whisper
Next episode of the Kano Saga.
Find out what is happening to Kano. Apparently a spirit is taking over her body. The spirit has many times tried to take Kano's life by suicide.
This was the episode where you find this series getting dark in tone and storytelling.
Episode 4: Plume
The final chapter of Kano's Saga.
After finding out what really was going on Yukito, Misuzu, and Hijiri searches for a lost Kano wandering around and runs into her at the shrine in the back. A Plume (feather) was glowing and Yukito uses his powers and they hear a story about a cursed child. After the end, the spirit leaves her body and Kano feels so much better. the feather could 've been from the girl in the sky.
Ends with a happy note. there are some shocking things, but nothing to cry over.
Episode 5: Wing
As i called the first four the Kano Saga, this and 6 is the Minagi Saga.
Yukito met Minagi and her friend Michiru in a past episode. He leaves Misuzu's house for a while and spends his time with the other two girls. Yukito also finds out that Misuzu has a real problem.
First time one might actually shed or feel that they are about to cry.
Episode 6: Star
With Yukito with the two other girls, he stays around them for a while.Minagi's mother had a brain problem with her daughter. One little girl dies and she pretends that it didn't happen. You find out that Michiru was actually a spirit. She disappears at the end and a plume (feather) is flying away. Yukito tricks Minagi to fallow him and ends at her house. She finally remembers her daughter. At the end, Michiru gets a letter from her father saying she has a half sister. She decides to leave and meets her.
If you didn't start to feel sad last episode, you will feel upset here.
Episode 7: Dream
Yukito remembers all these things his mother told him about the girl in the sky before she passed away. Her symptoms and reactions. Yukito believes Misuzu is the girl he has to save. Haruko ends up leaving and gets mad. Yukito also ends up leaving to find a solution to the problem.
He ends up finding one and his body self destructs. His spirit has been set free because he finally saved her from the illness.
Before it ends you get a glimpse of the past 100 years ago about how everything actually started.
Sad episode; plot finally thickens.
Episode 8: Summer
1000 years ago, a girl with wings named Kanna meets a swordsman Ryuya; the new body guard of the palace. Uraha; Kanna's lady helps the two with manuy things. They escape in order to find Kanna's mother. The travel everywhere and end up at a cave with a woman caged up.
Kind of weird having epidoe 8 and 9 in the middle of the series but it does explain things.
Episode 9: Moon
Uraha, Ryuya, and Kanna runs into Kanna's mother and set her free. After some explanation, her mother; Yao Bikuni (according to the air movie, more on that later on.) ends up dead. Kanna got to hug her and finally ends up believing in herself. She does her best to fly away free, but got stabbed in arrows. Actuay she didn't fall to the ground. She ends up getting stuck in limbo floating in the sky forever.
After that, Uraha and Ryua ends up making a baby.
Sad but apparently part of the plot to explain that Yukito is a descendant of Ryuya.
Episode 10: Light
After all the exciting things that has came around, how about watch a recap. Yes this episode is just a recap from the beginning to the current point in the eyes of a crow. Apparently this crow is the reincarnation of Yukito when his body exploded. His spirit would be with her forever, so he reincarnated but his body was there when the crow was there too. This is so confusing, but you do see other points of view in Haruko's eyes as well.
A lighter episode and is kind of important but if you don't really care about much backstory, you can just skip to 11.
Episode 11: Sea
Haruko decides to make Misuzu her child fully. She succeeded, but apparently her symptoms get worse. The spell was broken, but the symptoms still linger. Just like a virus. She forgot about everyone, but her memories slowly started to come back. Her real father shows up but she stays with Haruko.
Super emotional; especially at the end when she runs and calls Haruko "MOMMY!"
Episode 12: Air
Final Episode of the series - She gets her hair cut, moves via wheelchair, her life ends with a challenge to walk to Mom and Sky from far away. She makes it to the end, the curse is completely broken, and her life is over too.
Kind of hard to write this ending trying to remember how this ends. no matter how old I was I will always cry to the end of this series. You will too unless your emotions were locked up or a psychopath.
Episode 13: Highlights
Nothing more than a recap of the entire Misuzu arc from beginning to end of the series. There is an English version of this episode but is kind of hard to find it.
Also called Air in Summer
Side story 1: Mountain Path
Part of episode 8 and 9; starts with the escape of the princess and the guard. has some things from the original, but in different point of views does traveling and ends up at a market point.
Side story 2: Universe
Just normal boring stuff; practicing juggling to show her mother and traveling to the mountains that's all.
The two specials do show more about episodes 8 and 9 but i think it might have been better to put these two ovas and episode 8 and 9 on one disk to make a full better story.
The Motion Picture: This was made later on after the series. One weird thing about this movie is that everyone in English was the same as the tv series, but not in Japanese. Everyone but the voice of Yukito was in the series and movie, but yukito was voiced by someone different in the move than series.
It has a different look to it because was drawn by other people. The plot was still the same, meets each other, has a problem, lives in shed, other characters were just background characters, except for the doctor for a scene. Yukito actually kisses Misuzu in the movie and falls in love. She gets to the festival, sleeps in the backroom of the shrine, yukito finds her tells the story of the winged princess from the past and curse broke. however, she still dies at the end. Yukito is still alive.
Small difference is that the tears I had wasn't as powerful or flowing as much since the series makes you feel more attached to the characters more and longer than an 80 minute film, but still was almost equally as sad as the tv.
That's the end of Air TV All that's left is the visual novel and the manga. I don't know if i'll finish the novel, but I am reading the translated version of the manga online.
Manga: 2 volume 15 chapter story about the main characters in Air.
This book started the same as the tv series but it slowly goes another direction. 1st; the other girls are side characters and make small appearances in the story as Misuzu's friends. It only talks about Misuzu's curse anyway. It doesn't explain about the past, the only thing we know is what we read about yukito's mother telling us. The end is a unique and weird way to end it: (Spoilers) these are super spoilers about the end. MISUZU DOES NOT DIE IN THE END! IT ENDS WITH MISUZU SAYING, "YUKITO SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO LET ME STAY WITH MOM!"
Now that is an ending. it isn't much of a happy ending, but at least she doesn't die. then after that there are two small short stories; 1 with Michiru and minagi and the other a few pages with musuzu, her mom, and yukito appears as well.