February 26, 2007

• Air, a review of

  
  This is a review of the anime and potentially has spoilers. That is why I give you a...
  SPOILER ALERT!

  I recently had the privilege of watching an anime called
  Air. It was good, but before I write this review, let me say right now that I
  have no intentions whatsoever of making any puns out of the title in this post.
  With that out of the way, let me say that Air simply took my breath away. The
  story takes to the air from the very first episode. You see, the story
  primarily focuses around an air-headed girl named Misuzu. One day in the
  summer, a traveling puppeteer named Yukito visits the show’s primary town, and
  runs into Misuzu. They strike up a friendship (in generic anime fashion), and
  he decides to kip in the home of Misuzu and her adopted-mother (one of the best
  characters in the show). Then the next couple of episodes skip around between
  three girls as we learn about their depressing back-stories. To be quite
  honest, they were all rather unimportant. Sure, they were really neat and
  interesting, but they ultimately did not add anything to the story. Though,
  these first episodes did feature a cameo appearance from the girls in the
  awesome anime Kanon…

  

  Aren’t they precious? Anyway, the air was thick
  with emotion. All of the girls’ stories were incredibly sad (one of the
  fansubber’s notes told you to have a box of tissues handy). I, personally,
  didn’t need them (I’m soulless), but I can see how some people would be bawling
  like a newborn baby. The amount of force in Air is enough to knock anyone out.  Halfway through the show, viewers reach what
  is essentially the ending. The story then goes back to one-thousand years in
  the past to give an explanation to Misuzu’s curse. What, I didn’t mention a
  curse? Sorry, Misuzu has a curse where she is doomed to die and then
  reincarnate for all eternity, and never find happiness. Also, anyone who gets
  close to her is doomed to die with her. Ultimately, Yukito dies, and the story
  goes into the past. You with me so far? After the two episode sabbatical, the
  story returns to the “present.” By present, I mean it returns to the beginning
  of the show. This time it follows through how Misuzu eventually finds happiness
  with her step-mother. One of the best parts of these three final episodes is
  when Misuzu’s step-mother wore an “Air” t-shirt.

  

  I have never seen better product placement in my life. While
  it can be considered a “happy” ending, it was still very sad, which was a
  staple of the entire show. All of it was very sad. Do I still recommend it, you
  may ask? Heck yes, I do! While the story takes some getting used to, it was a
  very good show. Air will have you holding your breath in suspense. Sure, it’s
  cheesy at some parts, but it’s a good kind of cheesy. Until next time, this is
  Jimbo saying, “gao~”

  • 6:54 am
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