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Mar 28, 2014 4:06 PM

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Apr 2009
2792
bunny_lover said:
intense drama grounded on unclear story-telling, as a result the whole thing falls apart (ie. it might be a great visual novel but this anime is terrible).


It's not really that terrible and it's not the worst made by KyoAni.
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Mar 30, 2014 5:43 PM

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Dec 2010
4809
Air is literally the first and only anime to break my heart. I can't say that it's my favorite anime or that it's not, because for me it's a totally different matter from anything else I've watched. But it's definitely the first(and only up to now) anime that made me care so much. That said, I can see why people love it.
Oct 6, 2014 9:26 PM

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May 2014
2605
I love Air mostly for it's atmosphere and Yukito(he's got so much swag). Eh, I guess I can see why ppl may not like this anime.
Oct 11, 2014 2:51 PM

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Jun 2013
6123
Because it's a beautiful anime :)
Oct 19, 2014 12:52 AM

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Feb 2013
117
I really, really enjoyed this anime. I'd go so far to say that I even loved it.
The ending was confusing, not to mention some parts in the middle, and I think that that is what let it down for quite a lot of viewers. However, after looking more into it (reading up on some things, rewatching, etc.) I can finally say that I understand it perfectly.

The only things that I felt were left to be desired was some clarification of what kind of relationship Kanna and Ryuuya had, as well as Misuzu and Yukito.
I kind of understood that Kanna did love Yukito, but I'm unsure of his feelings for her (they seemed more obligatory) and it's kind of eating at me.

Some better clarification of what was going on with all the curse and reincarnation business would have been brilliant.
As I said, I did have to do a bit of researching after watching to finally understand it. Once I understood it I was able to accept and digest the whole plot, but again, I think it would have just been nicer to have it more obvious in the story.


All in all, though, I really liked this anime.
It was emotional, it was deep, it was simply lovely. First time anything has really tugged at my emotions like this.
TrylleOct 19, 2014 12:56 AM
Nov 4, 2014 4:46 AM

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Jul 2014
575
Meddigo said:
Why do I love Air? Well, it was my first foray into the beautiful and stunning art done by Kyoto Animation. Even though it was made 4 years ago, nearly all of the currently airing series don't come even close to the detail on the backgrounds or the fluidity of the animation.

Secondly, the music. "Tori no Uta" and "Farewell Song" (both sung by Lia) are superb opening and ending themes respectively, and each helps foster the right mood for opening an episode or ending one. The background music, particularly "Summer Lights", "Bug Walk", "If Dreams Come True" (also the vocal version of this at the end of the Air Movie is amazing), etc. Air TV has a first-rate soundtrack.

Thirdly the story. Air TV doesn't lead its viewers by the hand so that they can follow everything that's happening and why it happens. I think that's why most people don't like Air. It's either that they simply don't understand what's going on or they just hate the character design. I'm currently rewatching the series (I'm at the end of the Summer Arc right now), and this time during the first arc ("Dreams"), I was able to pick up on so many more links to the story.

Everything fits together nicely. Also, people say that the ending is sad, but I don't find it to be so.


Air is my favorite Key anime adaptation. It has a much stronger story than Kanon in my opinion (which just features the girls and their past when Yuuichi lived there so many years ago), and while I loved Clannad (though moreso I loved After Story), the ending of After Story didn't quite sit right with me. So Air is tops for me.

You're Just like me
Nov 11, 2014 11:17 AM
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Oct 2013
70
I like this anime enough to not say it is horrible despite the major (to me) flaws that it held. It's pretty bad but I'm happy that I watched it. On the bright side, I like the music A LOT, the atmosphere/environment, and the art is nice. What I love most about this anime are the ending and the message I took in about family.

On the downside, some of the characters who are supposed to be memorable are not very much so. The stories are jumbled into a huge fiasco...a messy one. It felt too short. Lastly, it pales compared to Kanon (2006) and Clannad.

Oh well, I'm off to buy/import the VN and read it.
Nov 27, 2014 11:17 AM

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Apr 2009
2792
most memorable. *waves*
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Dec 3, 2014 11:23 AM

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Aug 2014
1098
When people hate on Air

Jun 7, 2015 9:14 AM
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Dec 2012
312
I just watched the show after somebody recommended it to me like 5 years ago. Animation and music are fine as most people say.

But yeah, I can't say I liked the show. It's a jumble of little girls with psychological issues (or dealing with relatives with psycho issues) that are colored over as being somehow magical. IMO every female character in the present-day world is ANNOYING (and overly childish) and that is the biggest reason why I can't recommend this show. (SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON)

If I had to rank the girls in order of most annoying to least.
1. Misuzu (She is probably the main reason I don't like this show).
2. Split personality girl with short hair and bow on her wrist.
3. Emo girl who speaks annoyingly softly with almost no personality.
4. Split personality girl's older sister
5. Misuzu's mom (too hopeless and immature, but not totally unlikeable)

To be fair, likeable characters: The main, 3 mains from the historical flashback, Potato, Michiru (pigtailed long red head tiny girl).

(I apologize, I've watched TOO much anime, and I forget names very easily at this point.)

The story would have been much better if it either focused on the magical aspect or the psychological aspect in my opinion. Having both together just makes it "confusing" and hard to watch. This is probably why I found the flashback arc to be the best part of the series. Just magic and no psycho-crap. The flashback is the only part of the show to get me even a little emotional. Additionally, the characters in the past weren't annoying, crazy, and immature like the majority of the characters in the present.

An additional annoyance is the crow and "magification" of the main male character. They basically killed him off without killing him off and for no apparent reason reincarnated him into this crow...who was apparently there the whole time. I get the crow was both him and his ancestor...but still.

Overall. It's a story of annoying girls going through psychological issues peppered with magical causes/influence. The creators try to make you get emotional over these girls' circumstances, but man did I find it hard to care about these girls. Any of these girls.

My best guess is this was written by somebody who had to cope with several friends or family members having mental health issues.
NightSkyBlueJun 7, 2015 9:24 AM
Jun 13, 2015 12:58 PM

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Jul 2014
5403
I wanted to like Air, and being a Key anime I really thought I would, but I just didn't like it that much. It might be primarily because I had no emotional investment in any of the characters at all because their arcs were so rushed, but it's probably also down to how ugly it looks (yes, I get it was made in 2005, but my point still stands) and due to the whole crow thing. I mean, I get why he turned into a crow, but it just felt so stupid that it made it extremely hard to take things seriously afterwards. Even more so when turning into a crow led to a major recap of the events of the series.

Although, what I think really killed this series for me was the fact that everything that happened felt like it was totally pointless in the grand scheme of things. After all, from what I remember, the whole point was to end the curse so that Misuzu would no longer have to suffer and to ensure that no one in the future suffered. Instead, Misuzu died without the curse ever being broken, so it would inevitably be passed on to someone else and the whole cycle would start again. When I realised that, it annoyed me so much because it meant that everything that happened was essentially pointless and that everything would just happen again but with different people. Perhaps that was meant to be the point. Either way, I didn't like that at all.

Overall, it's certainly not the worst anime I've ever seen but it isn't as good as some people make it out to be (IMO) and it certainly doesn't hold a candle to the other Key anime adaptations (even Little Busters, despite so many people being butthurt about it as an adaptation when it really wasn't so bad).
AtavisticJun 13, 2015 1:02 PM
Dec 30, 2015 8:44 PM

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Jun 2011
873
I didn't care much for it. There are better anime to watch than this mediocre torture. I can see there was a lot of potential underneath Misuzu and Yukito's characters but they weren't fully executed. But it's not the worst anime I've ever seen, his downright annoying after the first three episodes.

I think that's why the series ended at 13 episodes because maybe people were unsatisfied with it. Too bad the MC died... Oh, well. I'm not that into her anyway....
Numbuh 3, you've got to get off the couch, you cannot sit in that tree house, girl you like Rainbow Monkeys so grab your little shit and then swing!

Hand tracks be tracking me to different doorways. In a maze, and I don't know what to do. Guaranteed though, Ima find the emeralds.
Feb 22, 2016 3:32 PM

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Mar 2011
2405
Because people have to breath. Air (anime) is much more complex than it seems to be.
Apr 9, 2016 12:45 PM

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Jul 2015
10
AIR was the second anime I've ever watched in my entire life.
I didn't know ANYTHING about it, when I started.
But from the op on, when I saw Misuzu in the sunflower field and the wind caressing her hair, I was hooked.
It all looked so beautiful and the music was incredibly emotional!
And the when the tragedy unfolded I was moved so deep inside, I didn't even know my heart had such depths.
I undoubtedly fell for Misuzu.
And even after watching dozens of shows telling sad stories, I still think AIR tells the most tragic one.
When thinking about Kanna's fate,
not being able to go to the festival, because people were searching for her,
not being allowed to even touch her very mother,
not succeeding with her juggling in front of her dying mother,
not being able to see the ocean, she always wanted to go to,
dying on her very first flight,
dreaming of the death of Ryuuya, the man she was in love with...
being reborn again and again and again, destined to live alone and die an early death, and her dreams ever unfulfilled,
and after 1000 years, 1000 summers, Misuzu still dreams of that one festival, from a time in which the now dead and empty sky was still inhabited by the winged ones
- thinking about all that still makes me cry, even months after watching it.
The show is filled to the brim with yearning for dreams that seem so close, and are yet unreachable.
But somehow, Misuzu withstands all the sorrow (for the longest time) and tries to find happiness in the smallest of the small things, and the setting is so idyllic and especially the ending conveys so much hope...
It's like my heart was torn apart by the conflicting emotions.
It's very hard to put into words what I feel, it's so abstract, like a dream.
Maybe that's also due the fact that I watched it all in one go and then had a restless night. In any case, the impact of that show was big enough to instill in me the desire to visit the place it's based on in the real world. It also made me learn Japanese, just so that I can watch the show again in the original language.

AIR is a very special show and it's understandable that it doesn't appeal to everyone (it's clearly made for emotional people who can understand complicated plots). I'm not even mad if you tell me it's the worst show ever - I just pity you for not being as enruptured as I am. Because in all honesty... these overwhelming feelings are what life was made for.
InshadiuSApr 10, 2016 12:29 PM
Apr 10, 2016 1:13 PM

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Jul 2015
10
danieltortoisee said:
Instead, Misuzu died without the curse ever being broken, so it would inevitably be passed on to someone else and the whole cycle would start again.


Nah, you misunderstood that!

The curse was, in fact, broken. However, Kanna's/Misuzu's soul is still too great for a human being, causing the body to die after ~16 years, and that will continue forever. But there won't be any more sad dreams, there won't be any more solitude, and there won't be any more pain!

PS: How in the world does this or this look ugly to you?! Like even the people who dislike the plot usually admit that the art is nice at least. Sure, everyone's taste is different, but you gotta admit, the lighting, the coloring and the animations are top notch and create a unique atmosphere in each individual scene.
Apr 10, 2016 2:00 PM

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Jul 2014
5403
InshadiuS said:

PS: How in the world does this or this look ugly to you?! Like even the people who dislike the plot usually admit that the art is nice at least. Sure, everyone's taste is different, but you gotta admit, the lighting, the coloring and the animations are top notch and create a unique atmosphere in each individual scene.

With regards to that, that's just two moments out of hundreds within the show. I'm sure if I could be bothered I could find two moments in which the art was ugly. Also, to me at least and as someone who likes the art style of Key works, Air was the worst suspect in terms of "overly large eyes". To be fair though, the art can only be called ugly by current standards; when it came out, the art would have seemed much more impressive I'm sure, especially as this is a Kyoani work.

As for the curse being broken, if the body dies after ~16 years I'd still say the curse isn't really broken. Sure, the sad dreams and solitude aren't there, but there will still be sadness when the body dies after 16 or so years (unless I'm misunderstanding you on this).
Aug 8, 2017 12:13 PM

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Jan 2017
1561
lol air is a very complex mastetpace in my opinion
it is the most underrated anime on mal
the amout of great symbolysme is great
the characters are great
the feelings are great
the ost are great
and I olive the art to be honest
everything is great in that anime
it was a little bit rushed tho
AkerakaaaaiAug 8, 2017 12:17 PM
Aug 8, 2017 11:17 PM

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Apr 2009
2792
kikyo1hinamora said:
lol air is a very complex mastetpace in my opinion
it is the most underrated anime on mal
the amout of great symbolysme is great
the characters are great
the feelings are great
the ost are great
and I olive the art to be honest
everything is great in that anime
it was a little bit rushed tho


I agree! It's already a decade since I saw the show and until now I can still feel the emotion.
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Nov 13, 2017 9:11 PM
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Jul 2018
564106
I fell immediately in love with the opening Tori no Uta, actually it was the reason that I found this anime in the first place. The style is a beautiful reminder of mid 2000's anime and I find 'most' characters so loveable.

But, for me, there is a special reason. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I related with Misuzu so much and I felt her struggle, and I believe the way the anime encapsulated the feeling of empty optimism, numbed loneliness, and helpless longing for something more in a phenomenal way. I will never forget how this anime touched me.
Nov 13, 2017 9:36 PM

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Jul 2012
982
The visual novel was a masterpiece. So a lot of fans carried over.

Furthermore, without air I would find it hard to breathe.
Jan 2, 2018 6:13 PM
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Dec 2017
5
if i look mostly for romance (something like toradora, but maybe more to the point), would i be satisfied with this?
Jan 3, 2018 11:11 AM
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Dec 2017
274
Because it is great
Aug 12, 2020 12:45 AM

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Oct 2007
3527
Air, my most favorite key anime of all time. I really like this show.
Sep 7, 2020 10:31 PM
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Jun 2012
11
It's amazing how many hoops people try to jump through to justify this trash anime. I love key, I love Jun Maeda's works but Air is the fucking worst and the only benefit of it existing is that he re-visited all of these characters in better stories and actually told the stories properly.
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