Air

At times, Air felt dangerously close to "emotional pornography," but I think I'm OK with that because it rarely was cloying or saccharine. Even the basic concept of the story itself seems designed to choke you up. While some series ply you with ultra-violence, giant robots, unrequited love, or fan service, Air's stock in trade is a weepy assault of inevitable sadness on its unsuspecting victim-viewers.

That said, when inevitability strikes, it's about as sad as they come. The series is too short to cause you to be completely invested in the characters the "natural" way (although it's thankfully lacking in the kind of filler episodes you normally see in a run of 24), but the characters are well-written, likable, and three-dimensional enough to make up for it.

What I liked the most about the story was how open it was to interpretation. Depending on who you are, what your view on the supernatural elements might be (don't want to give too much away here), that will determine what the story actually means to you. But the central themes, largely about the nature of families, will resonate no matter what your opinion of the plot.

Technically, the show is top notch, no complaints. The art style is endearing, though you may find it overly "cute" at first, and the animation is smooth. The colors and style make Air dreamlike at times, which is appropriate. I've watched it dubbed and subtitled, and this may be heresy to say but I find ADV's dub to be very well done. Air is very nice to look at, and having to keep reading subtitles was distracting to me. Plus, this is all about character and there's something far easier about relating to characters speaking your language.

If you're ready to get a little choked up, this might be a good choice for you. There is no action, no real romantic love story, and little in the way of comic relief after the first few episodes. But there's plenty of good character-driven, emotionally striking story.

-- This review will NOT contain spoilers -- So I was recently up for watching sad animes. After finishing Clannad After Story and Anohana, I decided to watch Air.

General Opinion: It started off odd yet promising. The characters we're likable and the story seemed intriguing. But as I progressed through the show, I found myself finishing every episode saying "What the F***" in complete shock. And not because the show was surprising. The storyline was filled with plot holes and was jumping from one thing to the other without any logical order. That made the show quite hard to watch.

Summary: Plot: 5/10 Eventually the story was nice, but the franticity was just too much for me. It was hard to follow the story and there were many things I just couldn't understand without consulting the internet. Moreover, there was some stuff in there that were just plain silly.

Animation: 7/10 The animation is vivid and beautiful, although it has an odd touch that makes it look old and unpleasant at times.

Music: 9/10 In one word: beautiful. Especially the Opening theme Tori no Uta.

Emotionality: 7/10 Most of the show wasn't as sad and emotional as I expected, But there was one thing that made me shed a tear, thus i'm giving it 7, and not 4.

Overall: 6/10 Eventually, I believe Key should have added 2 more episodes to the show to fill in the holes in the plot. As a viewer, I can't stand not understanding what I see and not getting an explanation. This show is nice, And if you're thinking whether you should watch it or not, I'd say yes, but try to bear through the hard parts to get to the good slices. But if you want a good emotional anime, try one of the two I mentioned, not Air.

Misuzo is an annoyingly happy and hospitable girl, doing her best to get Yukito to stay at her house and be her friend, including using cunning tricks against her aunt, Haruko. She's like a robot, using Gao every time she's about to cry or troubled, tripping easily, asking a whole bunch of questions, and acting silly which somehow gets people to care about her? What? I mean why would the aunt at first disbelieve Yukito's reasons to stay and then believe him?

Too many tsunderes in the show makes it not that good even if there's fun to be had elsewhere. The amateurish writing makes Air a show that we've felt like we've seen before. Yukito is tsundere, sometimes acting cold and other times, acting likable, making him quite inconsistent.

Misuzu is a butt, at first I thought I would like her but she just turned out more foolish than I expected! She lies, whines and makes a big deal out of small things she could've fixed, constantly stops the world for Yukito just to play with him, unrealistically optimistic and seemed too nice. She also keeps too many secrets! Come on, Misuzu could've been well-executed, too! Being the innocent, childlike girl sounds cool but she needs to grow up!

Characters such as Minagi seem like they serve little purpose but could've been well-executed. I mean, none of the characters are that good, the best is probably Yukito because he can be funny getting annoyed with that annoying Misuzu! The auntie is the cliché of the neglectful caretaker acting like an idiot but then turns caring too fast. Michiru is too loud and obnoxious. And what's the point in Kana?

The history is inconsistent! There was no T.V. 1000 years ago! The show descends into melodrama, which is a bit too much for me, I guess not well-directed. I feel that the series should've shown some of that overly forgetful Misuzu at school! I mean, she takes care of animals? How so?

As for the animation, well, it's beautiful. The series is beautifully produced but Misuzu's eyes when she was crying in the card scene made her look like she was going to fall out! Though, the character design looked dated.

Misuzu's voices the only one annoying? Well, yeah, they're supposed to be. Maybe it's the directors' fault. Michiru's is well... annoying in the dub. Luci Christian is unrecognizable as Haruko.

Too bad that Air is a sub-par series best to watch if you're bored.

I'm always on the look for good animes to watch, but for once I couldn't find any. I found Air then. It was all I could find & it looked okay, so I tried it. The beginning went by a little slow, but don't let that put you down. After a few episodes it gets really interesting. If you aren't up for the bloody, gory stuff need not worry. Blood's barely ever spilled. The animation, too, is great. At first I wasn't used to it, but then I realized that it was actually a lot nicer than most of the animation I've been watching. The details and hard work put into it is easy to spot. Another thing you might want me to warn you about is that this anime is really sad. Not depressing or anything, but soo sad. Mostly everyone I know cried when they watched the last few episodes, but I didn't. It was sad, but I think that it was also happy in a way. I didn't cry because I saw that happy part. In the end, this anime was just beautiful. I really recommend it. If you like mecha, blood & action it might not be for you but I know that it was for me. Enjoy watching!

'Air' is the first ever show that I have actually shed a tear for.

It's perfect. Unforgettable. It's fair to suggest that 'Air' could be considered a stepping stone into the world of emotional Anime because essentially that is all it is. Just pure powerful moving emotions that continuously fly at the viewer and if like me, you watched it unprepared, then you're in for a real treat because being sad isn't the only emotion present in this Anime.

'Air' is filled with lots of fun and reminiscent of simple times as a child despite the characters being in their late teens (I think). It's surprisingly funny and packed full of interesting characters that are fully explored. I felt immersed in a world that I didn't have a clue about yet it was so easy to access, the town is specifically one of the things that stood out as memorable to me and really emphasises the power of simplicity.

The story is one that leads you one way then completely drags you off your feet and sends you another, considering it only consists of 12 episodes, it's amazing how much actually occurs. I don't wish to give away any spoilers, however some of the events in the series can be a little hard to understand and ultimately we are left with an ending that is open to interpretation about what had been achieved.

What truly makes 'Air' one of the best, is the soundtrack that is used throughout the series. I often find myself thinking about one of the pieces unintentionally because they are considerably catchy and add to the overall atmosphere that I believe would not be the same without it.

'Air' is truly a must see and definitely one I would recommend to someone who has never seen Anime before, but for other people who have, it's a great way to discover that there is more than just violence and smashes many negative stereotypes about Anime out of the water.