AIR - General Discussion

[Aspirety]

About AIR
AIR Bookclub

Route Topics
Common Route
Minagi Tohno Route & Character Discussion
Kano Kirishima Route & Character Discussion
Misuzu Kamio Route & Character Discussion
Summer Arc Discussion
AIR Arc Discussion

Character Topics
Yukito Kunisaki Character Discussion
Haruko Kamio Character Discussion
Hijiri Kirishima Character Discussion
Michiru Character Discussion
Kannabi no Mikoto Character Discussion
Ryuuya Character Discussion
Uruha Character Discussion
Sora Character Discussion
Keisuke Tachibana Character Discussion
Saika Shino Character Discussion
Potato Appreciation Topic

Miscellaneous Topics
AIR Quotes & Screenshots
AIR Fanart

General discussion topic for the Air Visual Novel and it’s adaptations. Please tag late-game spoilers with the [spoiler] tag.

The AIR Bookclub’s finale, “What does AIR mean to you?” begins from this post onward.

[Takafumi]

Still waiting for the QCing to finish, but while that is going on I’d like to recommend the Air Movie to people~
It’s a loooot better than the Clannad movie. (Baad movie. Showed it to my sister instead of the anime so that I could save time… ended up getting angry at the movie and showing my sister the anime instead. XD)

Naturally, there is a lot less content in comparison to the Visual Novel or Anime. The Movie only focuses on Misuzu/Kanna, and doesn’t explain much of the fantasy stuff. The animation is a bit strange, and the soundtrack is reeeaaally weird at some points.
All of this might sound bad, but… it works…
The Movie has a strange nostalgic feel to it~ Everything is covered in a light, and it gives the world a strange melancholic atmosphere. It feels like how Misuzu would see the world.

Personally, I feel that the Air Movie did better with Misuzu’s story than the anime did. The Anime of Air is easily my least favorite Key work, but I watch the Movie all the time~
While the latter episodes of the anime explored the story of Kanna (My favorite part of the anime) and then went on a crazy tangent where Yukito was gone, and Misuzu had become a blank slate. I always felt like the anime built up a great story, and then drastically changed the characters so much so suddenly that… I didn’t really care about Misuzu, or Sora, or Yukito anymore…

In the Movie, you get a mysterious love story, that hints at supernatural stuff going on, but never does anything crazy with it. It keeps Yukito around, and he is a great character, so I’m glad about that~ It keeps Misuzu as Misuzu, not the girl who suddenly became a amnesiac. Misuzu gets some great character development too! Over the short amount of time Yukito and Misuzu are together, the connection that forms between them is just adorable~ I felt for Haruko and all that she had to go through, and cutie crow Sora still gets to play his part in helping Misuzu~

Overall, the Movie was just… cuter, and nicer to watch… In the anime I didn’t enjoy anything but the weird jokes, and Minagi’s story. In the Movie I actually liked Misuzu!
It’s definitely more of a preference thing though. If you enjoyed the anime, and have expectations from watching that, then you might just end up criticizing the Movie ^^;
Stick around for the credits at least. There is a beautiful ending song that is exclusive to the movie~

[Vladz0r]

Mm, finished up the VN recently. The anime is one of my least favorite Key works, and the VN is my favorite behind Little Busters. Midorikawa’s full voice acting does a lot for it. The comedy is awesome, especially in Summer route with Ryuuya and Kanna. Most of the characters felt really lovable and huggable like in my Kanon experience.

Seeing how utterly ruined Minagi’s route was in the anime when you compare it to the VN is just dreadful. It feels like what Fuko’s route should’ve been like (since I watched Clannad first) and actually got me to like the characters quite a bit. The emotional scenes were superb, and there were a ton of CGs, probably more than any other Key route, actually.

Misuzu and Kano’s routes were fairly average for me, nothing too groundbreaking, but the final 2/3 of the VN, covering Minagi/Summer/Air, was worthwhile. I think it’s a VN you can get into even if you’ve seen the anime, because of how much was lacking in the adaptation.

Also, Little Busters fans, especially fans of the Refrain dialogue, ought to enjoy this a lot. Midorikawa and Nobutoshi (Kyousuke and Masato) voice in this VN, and there’s also a lot of familiar phrasing you you’ll find in Little Busters that might add an extra punch during some scenes.

[Takafumi]

I think Minagi’s route and the Summer route are the best parts of the VN~
The comedy in Air is perfect. Very similar to Kanon’s comedy in some respects, but that’s a good thing!
The anime was pretty disappointing through. All the deep meaningful stuff was stripped from it. Instead of having a sad but amazing ending, we got a story where the main characters had become blank slates.

Kanna was one of the best fighters in EFZ too >.>

[Vladz0r]

Kanna was love, especially because she looks like Kurugaya.

[Takafumi]

Misaki + Nayuki = Kanna = Young Yuiko

Key math~ Ahaha~

[Aspirety]

Feel free to use this topic to share your answers to the question: “What does AIR mean to you?”. Select responses will be read by our Podcast members for inclusion in the AIR Bookclub Anthology once this week is over. Alternatively, you can record a voice message and leave it here to be read on the Anthology video.

[Kirara3500]

I re-discovered or seen anime about a year ago and I felt liked Misuzu and Minagi. I bought and see official manga edition. And some dojinshi at conventions new one and used book store such as K-books, Lashinbang and Surugaya etc older issues aged 10 to 15 years. Also I went to see the locations like Gobo, Wakayama; Kami, Hyogo; Maizuru, Kyoto; Obama, Fukui and Kohata, Uji, Kyoto.

[Karifean]

I’ll be honest AIR didn’t mean much to me, reading through it. It felt like classic Key, and I enjoyed reading it, but ultimately when it ended, it ended for me. It didn’t keep me thinking about it for weeks or even months like some of Key’s other works.

However, the bookclub changed things. Without it, I would’ve left it at that single paragraph. But thanks to the bookclub I have a greater appreciation for the visual novel and see things in it I wouldn’t have ever seen in it otherwise. The passion you guys put into it really rubbed off on me and I’m very thankful for that. The podcasts were a joy to listen to and I found myself really questioning things I’d taken for granted or just glossed over when I read it myself. I suppose that was kind of the bookclub’s goal, and I applaud you, you fulfilled it splendidly. No seriously, amazing job guys.

I haven’t read Kanon yet, so AIR feels to me like a beginning for Key. But not a humble beginning, oh no, a beginning with a bang. It’s a story with a lot of plot points and developments you can dismiss as “silly” or “nonsensical” but when you dig deeper there’s so much more behind it. Lessons about not getting hung up on the bad sides of life, but trying hard to enjoy it because you won’t regret it in the end. A life of holding back your own true desires for the sake of not hurting others or yourself is just unfulfilling. If you can look back at your life without regrets and say that you’re glad to have lived, is it really such a horrible thing to have it end? A lot of these themes Key would revisit and present them better in their later works, sure, but I very much appreciated the way AIR did it. For being one of their first works it turned out quite amazing.

[NotKyon]

To me, it was like a breath of fresh AIR. cough

In all seriousness though, when I first learned about AIR I didn’t even realize it was a Key thing. I knew about Kanon, Clannad, and Rewrite at the time. Shortly after learning about AIR I had learned about Little Busters! and played through both that and Rewrite before getting to AIR. As a result, my initial impression of AIR was that it was a bit boring considering how fun Rewrite and Little Busters! were. (See @Aspirety’s post in the common route discussion.)

When I let a bit more time pass I found that AIR was actually really great and really enjoyable. Misuzu’s and Minagi’s routes gave me the most to think about at the time. Playing through AIR again as part of the bookclub just enriched the whole experience.

AIR as a whole is very different from other Key works, and its execution is well done. It gives you a lot to think about if you’re looking to do that, but it’s also entertaining if you just want to be entertained. (Maybe not the best wording, but that’s the gist of it anyway.)

[Rincchi]

Sorry for not being terribly active in the route discussion topics, I’m not very good at indepth discussion and meta stuff, I’m afraid.

I really enjoyed AIR. Yukito was a very entertaining protagonist and I enjoyed being in his head. He’s definitely become one of my favourite Key protagonists. I may be slightly biased by him also having the same seiyuu as Kyousuke. cough Not only Yukito, but some other characters were also awesome. Haruko, Misuzu, Potato, Hijiri…

The comedy was great. The writing was excellent. I rarely got bored (though it did get draggy at some times during Minagi’s route) and I loved reading AIR. It’s definitely ranked high in the list of Key visual novels for me now.

If there was one thing to complain about, it might that some music tracks got severely overused. Otherwise, AIR is a brilliant visual novel.

[EisenKoubu]

Describing how much a story like AIR’s means to me is no small task, and I have taken the entirety of the bookclub to elaborate on it. To even begin, I have to speak about the responsibility that rests on both my mother’s shoulders and my own. I love my mother very, very much. She is the only person on this Earth that I feel truly understands me. She has felt my hardship and more through her own childhood experiences, which I will not go into detail here. But thanks to her experience, her faith, and her strength, she has helped shape me into the young man I am today. Most people, including myself, have taken mothers for granted at least once in their lifetimes. They’re not perfect individuals, and neither are we. AIR is only one of the many reminders I have had throughout my life that my mother is one of the most important individuals I know and will ever know. I’m sure I will receive many more as the years pass.

As for myself, AIR has also told me that the responsibility of caring for others is vital to the development of our fellowmen. As the eldest of four children, I acknowledge that my role as an example and guardian of my younger siblings is both something I have neglected and something I deeply cherish now. Every day, I think of my siblings, especially my younger brother, who’s going through very tough trials himself. It is my hope that I will make enough of an impact on him and my two sisters so that they will remember me for the happy memories and not for the sad ones.

Finally, AIR has helped me realize one last thing: the decision to change and do the right thing lies with me, and no one else. Minagi realized that if she wanted her life to be better, she needed to loose her chains and break free from past regrets. Yukito realized that if he wanted to help Misuzu, he needed to face the problem head on rather than flee from it. Uraha realized that if she and Ryuuya wanted to save Kanna, they had to take the first step and start the cycle that would eventually lead to a future generation solving the problem. And Haruko realized that her conflicting feelings about Misuzu, and Misuzu’s conflicted opinion of her, would not resolve themselves unless she took on the responsibility of caring for her during her final days. Through all that, they gained the strength and the reasoning to continue on with life, despite the trials ahead, because they had something they needed to protect, something they needed to learn.

My final opinion on AIR is this: It is a literary masterpiece, not for being the most logically sound, or the most ambitious, but for being one of the most meaningful, heartfelt stories I have experienced. The amount of heart put into this story by the writers, especially Maeda, whom I am certain really loves his mother, moves us to recognize that we should not forget those who are influential to us, and remember that there is always a chance to acknowledge our faults, take up our neglected responsibilities, and take the first step to changing ourselves for the better. Thank you for hearing me out, and I hope you enjoyed AIR as much as I did.

Since I hate to waste perfectly good recordings, here is my reading of the above words: https://www.dropbox.com/s/30ovaqa48apanwd/AIR%20-%20Final%20Thoughts.mp3?dl=0

Enjoy~

[Pepe]

I’ve thought for a while about “What does AIR mean to me” and I guess, more than anything, it means chasing your own happiness.

Many people think that the theme of AIR is all about mothers and our relationship with them. On the outset, yes, that is the case, but I feel the more concrete theme of AIR is happiness, and how we should find our own happiness, and not let our own insecurities or fears hamper our own goal of happiness. It was made pretty glaringly obvious in the last few words of the VN, but I tried thinking about how it applies to every route.

With Minagi it was how her fear of harming her own mother got in the way of her own happiness to be accepted. With Kano, it was how her former guilt for having Hijiri take care of her prevented her from seeking her own happiness. For Misuzu’s route it was actually Yukito realizing how he has forgot his own goal and what truly made him happy, and how he was too afraid of the curse to push through with it. For Summer route, we were shown how Kanna was prevented from obtaining her own happiness due to her being persecuted, which is seen as nothing but ill fate. In AIR, we see Misuzu in the same situation as Kanna, where she could not obtain her own happiness due to the curse, until it was achieved by Haruko, with the help of Sora. And how Haruko had always simply been too afraid to chase her happiness of being with Misuzu in fear of eventually losing her.

To cut it short, what AIR has taught me that I shouldn’t fear the consequences of something that will bring about my own happiness. We worry about too many things in this world, like how things might affect our career, or how our choices may be seen by society, thus preventing us from reaching our own happiness sometimes. We become blinded to what truly makes us happy, and we need to still keep that awareness, no matter the consequences. This being something I learned from AIR, I genuinely hope that I can apply it to my real life.

[Aspirety]

This topic is now unpinned. It will no longer appear at the top of its category.

This marks the conclusion of the AIR Commemoration Week. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your awesome discussion throughout the AIR Bookclub. Please look forward to the AIR Bookclub Anthology!

[Bizkitdoh]

AIR is an impressive Key work and is full of Maedaisms due to how interwoven everything is and how it’s both direct in its themes and broad in its ideas. These two things, alongside well thought out characters for the most part, certainly bring about a work that can be perceived in a multitude of ways and bare many many different messages that can mean different things to us all- So, what does it mean to me at this moment?

At any rate, my readings of AIR have left me with two very different interpretations. One was about forward thinking and fearlessness, and the other was something a bit different, whether it be how I feel lately or not, I’m not sure, but it’s what I’ll touch on here. I personally think it’s a more refined view than my previous one because they go hand in hand.

Love.

I’ve said the Romeo and Juliet thing many times, but I’m going to mention this again. Love. No, not just two people in love, but love in its awesome power- A more broad look at ‘Love’.

A parent loves a child, a person loves nature- The world they live in, a person loves another person romantically- The story of AIR brings in so many passionate bonds of people with… Anything, really, and it really puts its foot down with this love being the real deal. Love overcomes time and death. It overcomes adversity and a world that breeds so much destruction and hatred. Perhaps the romanticism in Minagi really got to me this time around or something but the continuous search for the beauty in all things really struck me this go around.

You shouldn’t fear adversity, inevitability, anxiousness- You should acknowledge it and aim to fight it to the possibly bittersweet end just for that sweetness alone because that’s life. We live for the precious moments we’re blessed enough to have available to us where some are less fortunate. Find your passion and expect and appreciate the passage of time, goodbyes and new and alien beginnings in pursuit of what you love- Even if it takes you your whole life up until the very end, riddled with bitterness- just to taste that sweetness.

Seek to be with those you love, do what you love, share what you love with others. It wouldn’t be real if you didn’t feel the pain when it goes away- It’s just another part of the greatness of it.

Expect a hopefully better rendition of this post in my recording that I should hopefully get done, with more examples ans things.

[Yerian]

Yes, I know I’m late. But if I learned one thing from this novel, late is most certainly better than never.

I remember the first thing someone ever told me about AIR.

Bizkitdoh: “AIR’s a weird one…”

I now completely understand where he was coming from, and completely agree.

I’ll give AIR one thing: it completely defied my expectations. And in the end that made me very angry, though I guess I could say that makes it good writing in a way.

Let me say this: I thoroughly enjoyed most of this story.

• The common route was hilarious, entertaining, got me engaged, and made me love the characters.
• Minagi’s route dragged on way too long, but when it was good, it was very good; I was disappointed/frustrated with the ending, but I overall think fondly of the route.
• Kano’s route felt out of place and I honestly liked Hijiri better than Kano herself, but it was fun, and told a neat story.
• Misuzu’s route was brilliant, and gave me exactly what I wanted from the story and more importantly from the characters.
• Summer, while I knew it was coming, was still a surprising change of pace and scenery. Excluding Yukito, I probably liked all of Summer’s character’s better than the rest of the story, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what would happen to them and how it was relevant to AIR.
• Most of AIR was enjoyable. I liked seeing things from Sora’s perspective, but I increasingly missed Yukito as the story continued. It was nice to finally see what Haruko and Misuzu were thinking, but I felt disconnected from the story.

And then this is where AIR shattered my expectations. So many things I was begging to happen never did. Instead, something terrifying happened, and then it was all over, ending with some vague symbolism about the sky and infinity, carrying some message which it was first foreshadowed that I might never come to understand when I finished Minagi.

And so the immediate effect was that it left me angry and disturbed. But after several days of contemplating, reading, and writing, I am left confused. Did I enjoy AIR, or not? Am I happy I read this, or do I kinda wish I had never started it in the first place…?

AIR did make me tear up. It’s a Key VN after all. But it was a different kind of ‘feels.’ When I first finished, I felt angry, and unsatisfied. Now I am sure that AIR ended, that there was no more for me to have possibly had, and it almost terrifies me.

I am not depressed. I am no longer angry. I may never know if I truly love AIR like I do with the rest of Key, but I believe that I now appreciate it.

All I can say is: “AIR’s a werid one…”

[Pepe]

Kazamatsuri.org AIR Bookclub Finale: AIR Commemoration Week ~The End of Infinity~

And in the end that made me very angry, though I guess I could say that makes it good writing in a way.

I believe it was @raiyan who said that something is good exactly because it can induce a reaction in you. If it were bad, it would leave you with nothing but indifference.

But I guess the key thing (heh) is that one shouldn’t go into a Key work with expectations in mind. I had that mindset while reading Rewrite and that made me pretty angry after I finished it. And that, I think, is something else to take away from this story, at the least.

Key doesn’t have a “magic formula”. It does what it does, and they can’t be expected to do the same thing all the time. I guess it just has that notion because its more popular works (Clannad, LB, AB!) have the same formula, whereas the more unique works don’t turn up so popular.

I guess this is why I like Key now, because I get a certain type of variety when reading their works. They still haven’t gotten to the variety I am looking for that will make me consider one of their works above the rest, but I enjoyed every single one of the works that they have released.

[Takafumi]

Kazamatsuri.org AIR Bookclub Finale: AIR Commemoration Week ~The End of Infinity~

I believe it was @raiyan who said that something is good exactly because it can induce a reaction in you. If it were bad, it would leave you with nothing but indifference.

Well that’s nonsense. You invest hours into AIR only to realize that it was garbage and that there was never really a moment that made time investment worthwhile.

Kazamatsuri.org AIR Bookclub Finale: AIR Commemoration Week ~The End of Infinity~

Key doesn’t have a “magic formula”. It does what it does, and they can’t be expected to do the same thing all the time. I guess it just has that notion because its more popular works (Clannad, LB, AB!) have the same formula, whereas the more unique works don’t turn up so popular.

I’d say Kanon-Litbus all use the same formula. There’s little that made AIR different from CLANNAD or LB.

[Pepe]

Kazamatsuri.org AIR Bookclub Finale: AIR Commemoration Week ~The End of Infinity~

Well that’s nonsense. You invest hours into AIR only to realize that it was garbage and that there was never really a moment that made time investment worthwhile.

Isn’t that how pretty much any literary work goes? You can’t really be sure if it would be good until you experience it for yourself

Kazamatsuri.org AIR Bookclub Finale: AIR Commemoration Week ~The End of Infinity~

I’d say Kanon-Litbus all use the same formula. There’s little that made AIR different from CLANNAD or LB.

What, pray tell, is that formula you see? The similar formula I saw between, for instance, CLANNAD and LB was Both works involved having the main character working with other people (or other routes, in this case) in order to gain something that will help them resolve the final problem. AIR felt like it had a more introspective vibe to it, and it felt like there wasn’t really a problem they solved, rather, how they dealt with that problem, as human beings, and to make it all the better for the future.