Air Movie

Centuries ago, Kanna, a princess and the last of a winged race, was held prisoner in a castle as she was feared by the rest of the world. However, when she met a soldier named Ryuuya, she fell in love with him and told him of her wishes to see the outside world and to find her mother. Ryuuya attempted to fulfill these wishes. However, his efforts were in vain as Kanna was sealed in the sky through magic and cursed to be in pain for all eternity.

Hundreds of years later, Yukito, a decendant of Ryuuya, comes to a quiet town one week before their annual festival with hopes that he can make some money. However, when he meets an unusual girl called Misuzu, he is reminded of what his mother once told him—"When you go out on your journey, if you find the winged girl's re-incarnation, you must use your power to set her free."

Yukito and Misuzu's fates soon become intertwined with each other, with each developing feelings for the other. However when Yukito realizes Misuzu's connection to the past, he must decide on whether to leave, or to attempt to break the curse that has bound Kanna in centuries of pain.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kamio, Misuzu Main

Kawakami, Tomoko Japanese

Kunisaki, Yukito Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Kanna Main

Nishimura, Chinami Japanese

Potato Supporting

Konno, Hiromi Japanese

Kamio, Haruko Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Ryuuya Supporting

Canna, Nobutoshi Japanese

Michiru Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Kirishima, Kano Supporting

Okamoto, Asami Japanese

Sora Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Uraha Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Yokota, Mamoru Producer

Dezaki, Osamu Director, Storyboard

Hata, Shouji Sound Director

Kimura, Nobukage Episode Director

Reviews

Nov 13, 2008

KaminaKai

Recommended

"A condensed love story with significant differences from its TV counterpart."

[Spoiler Warning]

Advice #1: Do NOT watch the movie right after finishing the TV series. It is very tempting to do so (for comparison) but you are bound to be disappointed if you do so (due to various reasons to be discussed below).

Advice #2: Forget what happened in the TV series about Kano and Minagi as they play no part in the movie so do not hope for much of their appearance in the movie. (same for PIKO PIKO!)

Advice #3: Do NOT view the movie as inferior to the TV series. You are comparing French to ... English. The two are not even made by the same director!

Story:
It was a very good idea for Toei Animation to have both Kanna and Misuzu's story intertwined throughout the movie. This makes plot development much simpler to understand. For example, instead of the dreams that Misuzu often had in the TV series (as a way to link the past with present), she now uncovers the past through her field work. Two every different ways of presenting to the viewer "the story behind the story". There were also significantly more romance involved between Kanna-Ryūya pair and Misuzu-Yukito pair.

Art:
Since the movie was produced by Toei Animation, the animation quality will obviously be different from its TV counterpart. It is certainly not wise to compare the two (movie VS TV series) in terms of graphic (Kyoto Animation win by light years ahead). However, it is worth noting that the Movie does have some unique filming techniques that were quite impressive but those "still image" picture-book-like techniques were kind of overdone a little. In addition, for a 2005 production, the animation quality is really not that great (especially for a movie).

Sound:
Soundtrack wise, the same OP/ED songs were used for the movie as the TV series. So it should make most viewers comfortable watching the movie (not sure if it were wise to do that as it'll just make viewers want to compare the movie with the TV series even more).

The major difference from the TV series is that Yukito in the movie is NOT voice acted by Daisuke Ono, instead Yukito's CV in the movie is Hikaru Midorikawa (Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing, Kaede Rukawa in Slam Dunk, and Yusuke Yoshino in Clannad).

Character:
While it was enjoyable to see more character development and more developed relationships between the main leads, it was also sad that major characters in the TV series like Kano, Minagi, Michiru, Uraha, and even POTATO did not have much of a role in the movie.

It is worth mentioning that some characters' personality are altered slightly. What does that mean? For instance, the "love" between Kanna and Ryūya in the TV series was very pure (Ryūya's love was more like out of respect), but the movie version have a totally different take on that. Much the same between Yukito and Misuzu.

Final Impression:
I tried my best to not compare the TV series and the movie as much as possible (due to the simple fact that they were produced by different company), but I still find it hard to rate the movie as high as the TV production. However, the movie did give us some alternative paths that were not taken in the TV series (which was rather unique). It does not really matter which to watch first (TV or movie), but ultimately both have the same tragic ending (though the movie was less tragic due to Yukito being alive at the end ).

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 11, 2009

dafuzzbudd

Mixed Feelings

This movie was bad. I got interested in Air by a random AMV I saw at Otakon and decided to seek out this anime. My thought process was that the movie would have a higher production value than the TV series; this was my mistake. I now know that they have different directors and that the TV series is regarded as being better.

Sorry about the rant, let's get to the movie review.

Animation: The first thing you notice is the slightly experimental visuals. Lots of sun glare and strange but effective uses of the background becoming the foreground. It ... gives a slightly surreal but totally fantasy setting. It works. This is the only saving grace of the movie. Unfortunately it's not blended well with the regular animation and is more visual eye candy than an emotional additive to the experience.

Story / Characters: Is god-awfully average and uneventful. A traveler stumbles upon beautiful, typically average girl with mysterious, deadly illness. Through a serious of cliche events she shows him that even he is capable of love. The parallel between the old-story and the current was interesting but didn't move me either way. If it wasn't for interesting animation I would have stopped watching this.

Sound: The theme is memorable and blended well throughout the movie. Besides this, the music is cheap, average and is just simple noise filler.

When I watch an anime I there's two things I NEED in order to be entertained, art and story. The art was there but it was shallow. The story was something a 5 yr old wrote, a hodgepodge of other stories. I bought this dvd and I know I'm never going to watch it again. I DO however want to check out the tv series. From what I hear the storytelling/ animation is done more effectively.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 18, 2007

Maurox

Not Recommended

Hmmm... It's actually my first time writing any kind of review, but I'll try my best...

First of All let me say I enjoyed original series. It was touching, it was interesting, had great art...

With that being said, I personally don't see much similarities between this movie and original. First: the animation. I just couldn't get used to new art, it kept bugging me through whole series. In Original series characters actually looked cute, while in this movie just freaky. Animation itself was OK though I think.

Then the characters... I'm sorry but the idea of making someone say "A", "definately A", and then without any real ... reasons say "B" out of the blue isn't really convincing. Besides the whole thing between the two was VERY streched idea IMO. Also Harukas character was completely changed, with the original showing through a few times, making whole thing confusing and irritating.

Story... Well the biggest thing bugging me is how they made exactly the same ending as in original, and different rest, making it stick out like a sore thumb. And that hair thing was just... Come on, who would do that in her situation... Also that "Misuzu in a Pinch" just irritated the hell out of me. It was idiotic if I am allowed to say that, and completely ruined the mood.

I don't have much to say about sound, it was pretty OK, except maybe that moment where Yukito start whistling. they COULD remove the BGM, at least you would be able to hear him better.

As for enjoyment... honestly saying the only moment i TRULY enjoyed was when Yukito punched [spoiler - you'll know what i'm talking about once you watch]. This was really well implemented, I could see it coming and I would do exactly the same. Other thing is how the mentioned person acted before and after he met Yuki, with the two completely different IMO, but it's a detail, isn't it?...

Overall. It could've been a good movie. But little details here and there, inconsistency in characters behaviour, some sticking out moments that completely didn't fit the story ruined it. Maybe it would be better if I haven't watched series before, but... no, I won't say "don't watch it", since it's your choice and what I wrote were just how I saw the movie, but personally i'd like that 1,5 h of my life back.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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