AIR - AIR Arc Discussion

Key Discussion
#56

It’s definitely weird for a VN and I think that’s what made it so revolutionary for its time. The players want to experience themselves saving a girl? Well too bad, you’re now a crow! Either way, it’s definitely something different and I can see why it would upset some people, yeah.

Reading that paragraph actually made me smile, because I feel it was one of the more powerful parts of AIR. That’s how the real life is, yo. There isn’t any Key magic to save people, and we, as humans, must learn to get over the unfairness of this thing we call life.

This is where I start arguing with you; Sora, whether directly or indirectly, helped give Misuzu the strength to live on. It’s something that Yukito couldn’t have done, because he himself was affected by the curse, and might have even died before he achieved anything. Sora was a loophole to the curse and thus, was able to help give Misuzu the strength to keep moving.
Plus there was the whole thing with the dinosaur, but that could’ve been done even by not an animal.

Yeah that’s actually a valid point. Were all the incarnations of the girl unable to become happy because of the curse? Did the curse really affect those peoples’ families to the point that it would be nigh impossible to obtain happiness? It’s definitely something worth speculating about, but Yukito’s mother pretty clearly states that they weren’t able to save any of the incarnations that they met.

Oh man, that’s exactly how I felt after reading Rewrite, and I know that feeling all too well. I’ve gotten to accept it after time, and I hope you will do so for the ending of AIR :slight_smile:

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#57

There’s a few ways to answer this. Firstly, I think Misuzu’s happiness is conditional to letting go of her attachments to life. My theory is that the past girls were all so determined to not burden others, to break free from the curse, desperately struggling for a happy ending while full of regrets over not being able to live a full life, that they never thought to merely focus on the present. All the other girls were focused on throwing off the shackles of the past, and hopeful for the future. Misuzu may have been the first to simply be content with the present, and accept her death. I believe that’s what makes her different, and what broke the curse.

You could also add in the interpretation that the force opposing the curse has grown stronger over generations. The example here would be in Yukito’s bloodline, with all of the descendants hopes and wishes accumulating in his doll over generations, granting him the power to oppose the thousand year old curse.

Both work, maybe it’s a mixture of both.

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#58

Yeah… I was sitting just thinking about this today. Thinking about, the ending aside, how absolutely terrifying this part was. Like, all I can hear is Haruko screaming with Aozora playing in the back. As I said, a very different kind of feels.

While I see that this is true to an extent, I’m saying it doesn’t really come off that way to the reader, or at least not to me. Instead I was left feeling hopeless and disconnected.

Both of these two points bring up something interesting: is this really a nakige? Like, they try to kinda play it off as if it all was a happy thing because the curse was broken. But it almost seems more like a utsuge to me…

[quote=“Pepe, post:57, topic:1173”]
I hope you will do so for the ending of AIR
[/quote]Although I couldn’t fall asleep again last night, thinking “AIR is one of those things that I’m really glad I read, but almost kinda wish I hadn’t”, today I finally started to get it… I think. I guess reading and writing help a bit.

Except I don’t agree that that works because it is stated repeatedly that the Houjutsu had been growing increasingly weaker.

#59

Huh, maybe this is exactly why it’s been getting weaker; because every generation had put a part of their power into the doll.

Though then the obvious question arises why they’d do that if not doing that had kept the power strong.

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#60

Well… ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
AIR is definitely up there above most of the rest in terms of “emotional impact” to me, so yeah, it might just be more of an utsuge, as it was mostly utsuge that seems to do that to me, heh.

#61

This route pissed me off. Legitimately I think it was a wonderful thing to end off with, I just was wondering when would it end. Truth be told, when Aozora started playing, I was heartbroken.

Haruko really stands out as the best character here. I’m more confused on what that ending was; who are those kids? I skimmed through this thread and didn’t really find an answer.

Misuzu doesn’t even have a happy ending as the happiest character ever T-T

Edit: I FOUND THE ANSWER? THOSE KIDS ARE WHAT??

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#62

You found an answer? Please enlighten us XP

#63

Sora and Kanna???

#64

Go listen to the podcast lol.

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#65

A compression/paraphrasing of my thoughts written specifically for the K.E.Y.:

The AIR route holds a ton of heart, and I feel Maeda wanted to convey something personal to him with Haruko and Misuzu’s struggle together. It stands apart from its sister routes in terms of both quality and emotion, and it taught me two important life lessons. First, it reminds me of how my mother is always there for me. She’s not a perfect soul, but I always look up to her, and even today she serves as the perfect role model for me. I think I’m pretty lucky to know someone like her, a woman who raised me with her delicate hands and forged me with her guidance.

Second, even after all I can do, even faith sometimes isn’t enough to make life-saving miracles happen. Everyone dies at some point in their lives, so the best I can do is make sure a dying loved one doesn’t regret living. Not only will it ease the passing of said loved one, it will change me for the better. My life doesn’t end at someone else’s death, so I must keep going knowing that they’ve passed on, and do everything I can to make sure they are not forgotten. Still, I believe in an afterlife, every day holding on tight to the belief that I will one day see a loved one again.

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The K.E.Y. Written Content Workshop
#66

I’d generally tell you to just suck it up and read the VN, but I’m feeling generous today :stuck_out_tongue:

  1. No, the curse was never broken. It is heavily implied that Yukito, as Sora, would take to the skies in his new form to seek Kanna and free her from the curse, while the curse will continue for these sad humans. It is also implied that the curse will continue with those two children on the beach, but unlike the case of everyone before her, the girl on the beach has hope that she may still experience happiness despite this, thanks to the boy that is with her.
  2. Misuzu never really had wings. At least, not physically. Her “wings” are just manifestations of the memories of the winged beings pouring into her, those memories strongly attached to having wings. So while she does feel phantom pains over not having wings, she doesn’t actually physically have them. All the pictures of Misuzu with wings are simply artistic representations.
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#67

It has been a super long time since I looked up the background of AIR, but I’ll see what I can remember.
The idea of AIR, and this is obvious, is that reincarnation is a thing. Not only that, but reincarnation doesn’t work hand-in-hand with the concept of time. Misuzu is one of many reincarnations, as is Yukito and every other character. The other reincarnations can exist in the past, in the future, and in the present. There’s nothing stopping the same “soul” from existing within two people at the same time. I believe there was a specific religious belief that went in line with this, but I don’t remember.

Yukito isn’t the direct son of any of Kanna’s companions. He is a long descendant, hence why his magical powers have faded so much. The magical bloodline of which he descends from has been diluted by the constant mixing of normal human dna. One of Yukito’s ancestors gave birth to a normal human’s child, so did the next one, and so did the next one. Yukito’s mother was just his mother. Dunno why that’s a question, but yeah, his mother taught Yukito about his ancestors’ traditions.

AIR is ultimately a small part of a larger story. These characters are effectively meaningless to the grand scheme of things, but it is the only link of an endless chain that we know about.

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#68

Does that mean that the little girl that was walking at the beach with the little boy, is next in line for the reincarnation? And her soul will basically just fuse with the soul of Kanna? And if that story would have continued and the girl was miraculously cured, wouldn’t that mean that Yukito’s bloodline didn’t help at all, if the boy the next girl is with isn’t part of the main family ?

#69

There’s no fusion, or any changes. The girl and the boy were there before Yukito even showed up in town, and they were both already on the same journey.

If that was the link to end the chain, then it’s all over. Yukito’s bloodline didn’t really help aside from sharing the story of the curse. Neither Yukito nor any of his relatives actually did anything, even with magic. I guess the lesson to be learned from the kids, if they did so happen to be the final link, is that a natural friendship beats searching for a specific person as a task. It could be possible that by simply being on the search for the angel, you are doomed to never break the curse.

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#70

I think that’s one of my biggest takeaways from AIR. Chasing your “destiny” will just cause you to forget the smaller things in life. So showing the little girl innocently playing with the boy on the beach signifies that this reincarnation will, hopefully unlike the previous tens of reincarnations (however many they may be), will find happiness in their companionship which the previous iterations seemed to have failed to do.

#71

But isn’t the fact that they’re together without the girl being in pain a sign that the curse is broken?

#72

Sorry to bring this topic back up, but I’m a bit confused. The opening says the “1000th Summer”, yet it seems as though (Misuzu’s story/Yukito backstory/ summer arc) Misuzu is the only reincarnation of Kanna. So is this her reincarnation 1000 summers into the future? If that was the case, then why were we seeing the next incarnation of Kanna/Misuzu on the beach right during the 1000th summer? Wouldn’t we have to wait another thousand years? And why didn’t it focus on the next incarnation after Kanna if there was one before Misuzu?

I’m also confused because I thought Yukito was the son of the side characters in the Kanna storyline? But then that would have only been only around 30 summers since Kanna died? Wouldn’t that mean this isn’t the 1000th summer? And if Yukito isn’t the son of them, then who was that mother that taught him those powers?

#73

I think I can explain some of it.

Misuzu may be the first incarnation or may she may not be, if there was one before then they’d die as young girls due to the human body being unable to host the winged soul.The focus is on Misuzu because Yukito caught up to her, and he’s possibly the reincarnation of Ryuya who finally breaks the curse and frees Kanna.
I’m not sure what the children represent, perhaps reincarnations can happen across time? The reason it took thousand years is because the curse would weaken overtime and would allow Kanna to reincarnate as a human. I don’t think Uraha is Yukito’s mother, but Yukit’s mother is a descendant of her, who generation after generation continued her mission to save Kanna.

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#74

Give it time, it won’t last long :^)

Really though, I guess that’s a bit of a big question mark right there, as they never explained it further. Maybe she’s all better, and maybe the curse was actually broken! Or maybe it wasn’t. Either way, I don’t see that taking away from the message, at the very least.

#75

Again, we don’t actually know if the curse is actually gone! It’s not explicitly shown to us that the curse is broken. Dangit, the ending to AIR Arc is so confusing, especially with its implies and everything else. Not only that, where are Kano and Minagi? Do they even show up in the final route/arc at all?

Heck, the AIR Route is basically a retelling of Misuzu’s route from the Dream Arc, up to the point that Yukito disappears into light(?) after making a wish to help her, but Sora was there when it happens! I don’t even know what’s happening. What about you, Pepe, anyone?