Air

Yukito Kunisaki is on a journey in search of the Winged Maiden who was bound to the sky centuries ago, after hearing an old childhood tale from his mother. As Yukito shows his puppet show to people in an attempt to make some money, he finds himself in a small town in which he did not expect to stay very long. However, when he meets an unusual girl named Misuzu, things take a drastic turn as he is invited to stay with her.

By staying in the quaint town, Yukito soon becomes friends with the locals. As he gets to know them better, he learns of their problems and decides to help, putting his search for the Winged Maiden on hold. With his search on hold, and his growing attachment to Misuzu and the small town, will Yukito ever find the Winged Maiden, or is she closer than he thought?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kamio, Misuzu Main

Kawakami, Tomoko Japanese

Kunisaki, Yukito Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Toono, Minagi Main

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Kirishima, Kano Main

Okamoto, Asami Japanese

Potato Supporting

Konno, Hiromi Japanese

Kanna Supporting

Nishimura, Chinami Japanese

Kamio, Haruko Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Ryuuya Supporting

Canna, Nobutoshi Japanese

Michiru Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Sora Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Hatta, Youko Producer

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Nakayama, Yoshihisa Producer

Reviews

May 19, 2024

Firechick12012

Recommended

I've been watching anime since I was a kid, growing up with stuff like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, and Hamtaro, but it wasn't until 2005-2007 that I began to really look into what anime really was and dip my toes deeper into stuff outside what was airing on TV. I actually came across fansubs of Air while looking for another show, and knowing nothing about it, I watched it and I wound up enjoying it. Fun fact: This, along with Ouran High School Host Club, were some of the first anime I watched fansubbed, before they were brought to the US on home video. I didn't ... learn about the concept of licensing until later. I used to think anything that wasn't on TV was only in Japan until I learned that anime and their English dubs could only be watched on DVD, not on TV (Depending on the series). I enjoyed Air enough that I bought the DVDs (The movie included), though I did exchange them for a complete collection later. Air is an adaptation of one of Key's visual novels, and the anime was pretty well-liked when it first aired, though it would quickly get overshadowed years later by Clannad. While I do enjoy Clannad a little more, I still have a sentimental attachment to Air as a series, and rewatching it now, while some parts of it didn't age all that well, I still think it's a great show made by people who clearly loved the source material and did it justice.

Traveling street performer Yukito Kunisaki arrives at a small seaside town called Kami, having traversed around Japan in continuation of his late mother's search for the "girl in the sky" who, according to a family legend, has been cursed to spend eternity all alone. Yukito's sole way of earning money is by performing a puppet show by moving a doll that has been passed down in his family with magic, but he fails to gain anyone's attention by doing so, and as a result, he's low on money. The next day, he meets Misuzu Kamio—a sincere yet clumsy high school girl who is eager to become friends with him. He accepts her offer to eat lunch at her home, and Misuzu's aunt and foster mother Haruko Kamio is later persuaded to let him stay for the time being. Later on, Yukito meets two other girls who go to Misuzu's school—sly, friendly Kano Kirishima and serene, quiet Minagi Tohno—who, like Misuzu, have strange personalities connected with mysterious pasts. Any one of them could be the incarnation of this "girl in the sky," and if the curse isn't broken, the girl in question could die.

If you can believe it, this is technically the first anime produced by Kyoto Animation all by themselves, without the need for outsourcing, which is what they themselves were known for providing to other studios throughout the 80s and 90s. If there's one thing KyoAni is famous for, its for its attention to making movement as smooth, detailed, and life-like as possible. Say what you will about Itaru Hinoue's over-the-top cutesy moe character designs, with their comically big eyes and small mouths on large chins, KyoAni managed to not only have them transition to animation quite nicely, but really put in the effort to make them come alive with fantastic character movement. Everything from clothing, walking, and hair animation is given as much care and attention as humanly possible, and even in scenes that would normally be static, such as characters standing around talking, the animators still put in the work. It helps that even mundane conversations are made visually interesting with intimate camera angles, absolutely stunning backgrounds, and creative, cinematic storyboarding. Real talk, I never had any problem with Itaru Hinoue's character designs, and still don't to this day, because I've seen way worse, and whether you like them or not, those designs at least made Air distinct and gave it a sense of identity. Personally, my only real issue is that the whites in the characters' eyes look distractingly blurry, like someone used the photoshop brush tool on them, which, to be fair, KyoAni improved on when they would go on to make the anime for both Kanon and Clannad.

Really, there isn't much to say about the soundtrack that hasn't been said already, so I'll be brief: Yes, it reuses music from the game, but all of it is great, and Tori no Uta is still one of the best anime openings ever, no cap. Before I even go into the characters, there is something I want to talk about: For as revered as the works by Key are even now, there are many who dismiss their stories and narratives as emotionally manipulative. On some level, I can understand where they're coming from, as most companies think having cute moe girls be sad is all they need to get people to cry and spend money. Hell, I have this view on Prima Doll, another Key property, which I feel tried way too hard to push being cutesy moe over making any logical sense and putting in the work to get you to care about the characters and story. Again, I haven't played the VN for Air yet, so I don't know how it handles its narrative and characterization, but personally, I don't think Air is emotionally manipulative because unlike most moe shows, it's very clear that the staff behind the anime respected the source material and put in the work to get you to care about the characters and their interpersonal conflicts, and any so-called "moe" qualities they have do have in-story explanations behind them rather than just being there for the sake of having them be uwu pwecious. For example, Misuzu's quirks—her clumsiness, acting younger than her age would suggest, and tendency to make cutesy dinosaur noises—are treated as weird and causes for concern rather than as endearing. Air takes great pains to flesh out its characters and develop them, making them feel like more than just squeaky-voiced moeblobs, even if their characterization still can't be considered three-dimensional compared to others down the line. Not every character gets this treatment though, and out of the three girls, Kano is the weakest one because her story is just there to give more info on the "girl in the sky" legend and make her into a red herring, that's it. Without going into spoilers, Misuzu's mother Haruko is the most complex, compelling, three-dimensional character in the whole cast, and Air did an amazing job at bringing this conflicted, hard-partying mom to life, especially in the finale. Even Yukito winds up having more to him than just being the snarky, disillusioned self-insert MC that Key is usually known for.

As far as the narrative goes, Air as a series is surprisingly well paced, having a clear plan on how it wanted to tell its story, build up to its twists, and wasted absolutely no time in doing what it needed to do. Being that this is a short series based on a much longer visual novel, I'm sure a lot of stuff wasn't adapted, and fans of the VN might consider it to be rushed as a result. I wouldn't say that's KyoAni's fault because they were only given 12 episodes to work with, and the staff made the most of what they had. However, much like the rest of Key's works, Air is a series that, while it does put in the work to have an overarching narrative that makes sense, a lot of the supernatural elements don't get a whole lot of explanations behind them and really require you to stretch your suspension of disbelief. I personally had no problem with how Air did it, as the series did try to tie everything together as much as it could, made as much use of its overarching themes as possible, and had it all work in the context of its narrative, but if you're someone who wants your stories to feel more complete and logical, you will find yourself disappointed. In my opinion, I think Air's story and how it tied everything together and made use of its cast of characters worked in its favor, allowing all of the drama it set up to actually feel earned rather than cheap and slapped together for the sake of easy emotional manipulation. I actually consider One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e to be fair more cheap in its drama and actually emotionally manipulative because unlike Air, One thought it could get by with just cutesy moeblobs, a stick thin storyline, and an MC who is a repugnant jackass and didn't bother putting in the work to make us care about any of it.

Say what you will about Air as an anime, it did help put KyoAni on the map as a serious animation studio, and its success paved the way for the studio's explosive success in the late 2000s, resulting in many other anime people still love to this day. I liked Air when I first watched it as a kid, and I'm surprised at how well it still holds up when I rewatched it as an adult. While I do enjoy the anime for Clannad a bit more, I still have a soft spot for Air, as it was one of the first anime I saw that showed me that anime could tell many more kinds of stories than just Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Digimon. Plus, now that I'm older and know how to use an emulator on my computer, I found a way to actually play the visual novel now, so expect a review of that in the future! Though with the new advent of Kanon finally getting an official release in English in the near future, here's hoping Air gets that same treatment. Is Air sappy and melodramatic? Sure. You can either embrace it as a heartwrenching drama, or just dismiss it as moe fodder made to cater to the fetishes of lonely otaku. Whatever floats your boat, and everyone's mileage may vary for something like Air, or Key's entire portfolio in general. But to me, Air is a nicely crafted drama made by people that truly loved its source material, made the most of the short time it had, and managed to expand my horizons for what anime is capable of, and for that, while it's not one of my favorite anime of all time, as I like several shows better than it, Air will always a place in my heart.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 3, 2026

hunterz263

Mixed Feelings

Air, one of the shows that I stumbled upon whenever I was searching for anime that evoked the frutiger aero aesthetic. A show that has beautiful landscapes, pleasant colors, a relaxing soundtrack, and a story that is beautiful, yet woefully rushed. This also happens to be one of Kyoto Animations first shows, and it is clear they were still learning how to adapt visual novels into anime adaptations.

Starting with the story, Air does feature one of the most unique and interesting stories presented in anime that I have seen. Yukito is a traveling puppeteer, simply trying to make a living while searching for a girl ... in the sky. He stumbles into a small town by the sea and encounters Misuzu, a student with an infectiously joyous cheerful attitude. There's a lot of supernatural and mystical elements to Air's story that can make it feel pretty jarring. The anime has three distinct arcs, and unfortunately, due to it being so short, those arcs are underdeveloped and sometimes confusing. It does make sense overall, but this might require a rewatch to grasp the full story and understand the context of everything. Despite that, the story was wonderful and leading up the ending, quite engaging. I found the second half of the anime to be especially engaging.

Visual wise, Air has that very...2000s look. The character designs are great, and I love the color palette of everything, but visually the eyes are a little odd. They have this kind of blurry effect to the highlights which makes it feel a little uncanny sometimes. Despite that, the landscape and backgrounds? Stunning, and I can see why it was recommended as an anime to evoke frutiger aero vibes. Everything looks so comfy and optimistic, from the lighting to the colors. Even just the overall design of the small town, with trees dotting areas, and lushness makes it feel so cozy.

Voice acting was overall great, especially watching subbed. The performances felt real, it had good comedic timing, and when the stakes were raised, the voices fit the situation appropriately. Complimenting that was the soundtrack, which again, fit well with all the emotions our characters go through. The opening and ending themes especially, adding trance like ambience, complimented each episode, no matter what emotion it ended on.

Now why is rated 6? Unfortunately this comes down to how rush Air feels. Adapting visual novels is never easy, as there's bound to be cuts somewhere simply to keep on schedule. Unfortunately, Air suffers from that, especially being only 12 episodes. As mentioned before, Air has three distinct arcs, and two of them felt very rushed and pushed out of the way. This was especially true for Michiru's arc, which definitely needed a bit more screen time to explain what was happening and make the payoff feel more rewarding. The beginning of the series also felt a little jarring and jumped a lot, which made it a bit hard to follow along, though the second half feels a lot more put together and coherent.

Recommending Air is a tough one, simply because it has a great story, memorable characters, and great emotional moments, but it feels too rushed and we don't spend enough time with them to fully feel those emotions. If you are into slice of life, or are curious to see Kyoto Animation's origins, I would generally recommend seeing Air, if not just for the beautiful landscapes and relaxing soundtrack. However, if this genre isn't your thing, Air is not going to change your mind and I would recommend skipping it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 23, 2026

jufeey

Not Recommended

Pretentious, messy, and anticlimactic BS that tries too hard to be profound and ends up looking goofy and shit. The first episode is very promising; I could look past the bad dialogue here and there, and the song choices are good too. The way the relationship between the two main characters develops is pretty cute and fresh to me, and the way Yukito interacts with other characters is funny and entertaining as well.

But it all starts to crumble when they talk about the wings, and the dreams become tedious and forced, especially in the last four episodes. It's all pretentious, try-hard-to-be-profound BS that only leaves ... you confused.

The art style is pretty, though.

3/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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