AIR 12 (END)
Okay, I'm gonna jump the gun a bit and write something now since I have to, or else I'll go crazy thinking about things all by myself. Spoilerific screencaps later ;) Click to read if you feel so inclined.
I can't claim much of the following as being completely my own original thoughts, as I've been reading some Japanese blogs to try and help myself figure out exactly what was going on this last time ;)
Misuzu goes through things pretty much as Yukito had said she would, and after dreaming her last dream... she dreamt she was flying in the sky with dinosaurs and it was fun.. but it was also sad, because the girl was all alone, searching for her mother... and so we end up losing our dear Misuzu-chin... Bad ending, right? However, she said she had reached the "goal", she didn't end up forgetting everything, she -- and Kanna, perhaps -- got some happy memories by being together with Haruko, her "Mama". Though not enough to break the cycle...
After Haruko's kira-kira monologue, Sora decides to keep on searching for the girl in the sky, and one day bring her back. Who's he searching for? MOON PHASE suggests that the girl he's searching for is Misuzu. Howso? If Kanna has been completely reincarnated as Misuzu in the end, then perhaps Misuzu is the girl who returned to the sky.
And then we hear what we heard in the beginning.. except this time it's not Yukito, it's the boy on the beach remembering it. The girl asks what he was thinking about.. he suggests that they go to confirm something, something he felt like the girl has always wanted to confirm -- what's beyond this coastline. They turn around to look at Misuzu and Yukito. Now, they know what lies ahead..
"They [Misuzu and Yukito] have cruel days... and for us, a beginning... Goodbye.."
It would seem to be that the boy would correspond to Yukito and the girl, Misuzu. So then how did this come to be? If Yukito's wish to redo everything from the beginning wasn't only granted for that summer, but from the beginning as children, perhaps these two are another possibility, the possibility that from this new beginning things can be different and they can be together forever. Meaning my earlier guess that those two were what Misuzu wished for was a wee bit off..
Perhaps someone out there who's played the game can enlighten me further on things and make better sense of things than I have ;)
I don't think I can do AIR justice by words alone here. It's definitely a new high watermark as far as what TV anime can be, thanks to the awesome efforts of Kyoto Animation. Sugoi isn't quite enough to describe how much effort they must have put into producing the beautiful animation, backgrounds, and character designs for AIR. It would be interesting to know just exactly how gargantuan the budget they had to work with for AIR was.
As far as the show itself, yes, I could feel it being rushed in places, but that didn't effect me all that much. It's extremely easy for me to get sucked into whatever's happening on the screen, and when it's something as compelling as some heart-wrenching scenes in AIR were, even moreso. There were more than a few "grab the kleenex" moments through the run for me. Considering they had 12 episodes to work with I think it was a fine job.
Likeable characters also made AIR very pleasing to watch. Kano, Minagi, Michiru, Yukito, and of course the kawaii Misuzu-chin -- Gao~~!. You can read my previous entries on AIR for more thoughts on each. And let's not forget the most awesomest anime dog EVER, Potato (Note to self: I must get a Potato plushie... that's not too expensive...). Piko-piko!
So, in the end, I believe AIR's more than deserving of a very high ranking on my favorite anime list. Orochi, yes, I'll get the R2 DVDs when I can afford to do so, and yes, I'll buy the game since I have a thing for actually having the actual thing ;) I hope someone considers this for licensing here in R1, but seeing as no one's bothered with Kanon it probably won't happen anytime soon. I really don't understand why that would be... Well, we can hope.
Once again, thanks for everybody that's tagged along with me though AIR, especially those who've helped me understand the show better through commenting. I've enjoyed it a lot :) And a thanks to Satoshi and Gin Sweater for blogging the show along with me. I look forward to reading y'all's final thoughts on the show.
That's pretty much all I have to say for AIR, so until the next time a Key game is animated -- by Kyoto Animation, of course, hopefully... anybody played CLANNAD? Something I should consider getting? ;)
Haven't watch episode 12 yet, so gleefully skipping over your summary for now..^_^
I've got volume 1 on pre-order now. I wonder if the non-licensing may be more due to Key than to it's lack of popularity. Maybe I'm biased but it seems to have been one of the more popular series out this past season (excepting the long-run franchises like Gundam, etc.).
I mean, come on, 'To Heart' was licensed here in North America a while ago. Can't remember for sure, but wasn't 'Wind ~ A breath of heart', also licensed? There've been a rash of such series being ported over in the last year or so - the only noticeable exception that I know of being Kanon (and now Air).
Of course, I'm *hoping* for a NA release, but I'm not holding my breath. Mainly because I can only hold my breath for a minute or two.
In the game, one can find so many clues if he play it again after seeing the end. Why don't you buy a PS2 version, in which you can find more even from the arrangement of voice-acts of extras.
As you said, Misuzu managed to keep her happy memories till she dies, maybe for the first time in the thousand-year-transmigration. But nobody knows it was enough to release the girl in the sky. So, Sora wants to pass more good memories as Michiru did. And it's believed that the boy in the last scene is not a direct transmigration from Yukito but Sora...
and.. I wanna say thank you for your good words; This was the first time to read western people's impressions on an anime in realtime.
Hello! Hey, I heard about ep 13 coming out on DVD (l33t-raws source). Do u know anything about it? Piko-piko! (wanna see the movie)
Didn't you pay attention during Ep 9 ?
Misuzu is one of many incarnation of Kanna throughout the 1000-year period in order for Ryuuya and Uraha's descendants to see what they can do to help her lift the curse.So Misuzu is Kanna and vice versa.
But when the incarnation died,the soul returns to the sky and become Kanna once more since a Human body can never fit all of a Yokujin's soul with all the memories it carries.So Kanna can never become truly human.
As for the boy and the girl at the end.Try to reinterpret the last words he was saying.It would sounds like he was wishing them all the best for the future.Sounds like he's hoping that the next incarnation of Kanna will be a happy one.And notice that Sora isn't present where he should be when Misuzu is waving her hands.So my guess is only Yukito got reincarnated as the boy and the girl,well.....
If you want to buy the original game,you will be most please to know that Key scheduel a budget version of the game at 3800 yen for release in April.
As for the reason why AIR will most likely never reach stateside, I'll say the majority of the viewers in the states are not "emotionally matured" for the likes of AIR.The fact that it being based on an adult H-game in Japan isn't helping either.
To Heart was licensed most likely because it's popularity is on the wane in Japan after 7 years and Aquaplus was hoping that they can squeeze a bit more of cash by releasing it stateside.
Being based on a H-game didn't stop Popotan being released (don't know anything about the Air game but I don't see how it can possibly be more 'H' than popotan..)
What bothers me is that they've been passing this quest on for 1000 years now.. and Yukito's gone and turned into a crow before having any children.
Expect that Popotan was all fanservicy and some people will will just pick it up for that.AIR is a different case all together, soild emotional story with no fan service whatsoever.Majority of the american market are not ready for this kind of stuffs.
And if you played the game before,there's a mention of Yukito having a younger sister which the anime forgo.And I'm sure that the Kunisaki is a huge clan and they have other peoples going all over Japan and the world just to look for the next incarnation of Kanna much like how the Tibetan Monks go about looking for the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama in real life.
It was mentioned earlier (I think by Orochi) that Yukito has a sister (in the game). He's come in her place because she's sick or something. Presumably it's her that will carry on the line.
Orochi, do you live in America? When I buy anime, I see many shows that are driven by emotional stories - not sex or action. Even Human Scramble, an obscure show about Japanese life, made it over here.
It almost sounds like you don't want Americans to watch Air. Not all Americans are as shallow as your posts indicate, give us a chance.
Orochi: You mentioned To Heart, I hadn't heard it was licensed in the US, that certainly surprises me, I doubt Matthew and most of the regulars here know of it, or at least the original series and not the recent To Heart ~ Remember my Memories. Even so it's not a good counterexample for you to use. To Heart also started life as an H game, later remade into non-H versions and then the first Anime series (I think I have that timeline right, the non-H game may have come after the anime.)
It also wasn't very popular here in the US, at least relative to both Kanon and Air. It's not a good series for everyone, even though I like it (a lot) it feels very slow and laid back, almost to the point of boredom at times.
If To Heart got licensed, then Air and Kanon's chances should be much, much better. I doubt To Heart will sell very well, even with heavy marketing. Mostly old fans will buy it, folks like me who watched the fansubs years ago and fell in love with the characters. Kanon and Air both have a much better chance at widespread appeal because they have more of a story to them. To Heart (the original series at least) doesn't have much of a story at all, it's about ordinary everyday life and a bit of a thread throughout about a promise made between Akari and Hiroyuki when they were kids.
Hmm, so Right Stuf licensed it last July, I totally missed that. I'll actually buy it, but I still doubt it'll be a huge seller. I hope Right Stuf can make back their costs. (And that the cost of the DVDs isn't higher than normal because of the show's lesser popularity. >_< )
Yup, Maestro, I was surprised as well to hear To Heart was licensed (I read in an Animerica issue sometime last fall).
I watched the fansub when it was first coming out, and I remember thinking 'man, 95% of people are going to find this sooo boring'. I kinda liked it, but accidentally deleted the episodes I'd downloaded and didn't want to go thru the pain of downloading them again (I wasn't on broadband at the time). Ended up only watching a few episodes.
I will back up Orochi to a certain extent here: while I don't think (North) Americans *themselves* are 'not ready' for series like Air, I do agree there's a fair disconnect. That is, they're 'not used' to series like Air. And.. 'not expecting' series like Air.
Which is the problem, really. That leads to the market for Air becomming somewhat riskier - for a market that thrives on cheap laughs and non-reality reality shows, does Air have a place?
A niche, certainly. But is that niche worth the effort when a distributor's $$$ can be spent on something a lot less risky.
Even though corporations are made up of people, they *are* out to see a stable return on investment. They're not going to license a series because it's a heartfelt, emotional drama. They're going to license a series because they're going to make a profit on it.
Now, again, there are plenty of North Americans that watch shows like this (i.e. soap operas - how many of them are out there now?), but few in that audience would be expecting to see something done in anime to their liking. Which is pretty sad, since Air would knock the socks off of many of those series.
But hey, we knew the deal when we signed up. Anime is a niche industry. Maybe not forever, (and getting more 'mainstream' as time goes on) but currently, it still is.
Bah, long comment. Sorry 'bout that. Gotta get back to Magical Canan now ^_^.
very fuzzled with the ending. prolly its cos i watched it at 4+ in e morning. off to sleep. my head's gonna pop.
I just feel confusion over why things have to end this way.. I'll sum up by saying that the show had potential but it didn't do the audience justice with the level of fluidity and comprehensiveness of the story.. feel free to enlighten me, I'm open to comments.
Not saying that I dislike the show or anything but I simply cannot grasp the concept.. there may be times when I can grapple with drawing parallels between characters but in the end I just don't see how these parallels sum up! True... the show has likable characters but even with the death of Misuzu I don't feel sad (though I'm an emotional guy).