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.