I had it written up, I just haven’t gotten around to reading anything in this thread yet… Gonna have to catch up soon ><
Kano comes from what was once a happy family. They were never particularily wealthy, but they got by. Their father owned a clinic, but he didn’t make much money. Food wasn’t plentiful, and luxuries were rare. When Kano’s mother died, she and her sister Hijiri struggled. Hijiri couldn’t bare telling Kano what had happened to their mother, so they told her that her mother was watching them from the sky.
One day they decided to go to a festival, and using all of their pocket money, they bought a balloon… that very quickly flew away.
After some crying and walking, they went to the shrine, where they found a feather. After touching it Kano changed… She was cursed.
A girl who was told her mother was above, became obsessed with the sky, and then she was entrapped by the girl in the sky.
After all of this, their father dies.
A poor family was reduced to a parentless family.
Misuzu has a mother. Minagi has a mother.
All Kano has is a sister and a curse.
Her sister takes over the family clinic, and they manage to survive somehow, but their living condition isn’t good. However, compared to the other two heroines Kano is living the most family-focused life style. The family occupation has been passed down. The two siblings get along.
Somehow, despite being a family of two sisters, they are the most traditional family in AIR.
They have what appears to be the perfect balance. No overworking. No disconnect between family members. They are poor, but that is fine for them. Hijiri has to work throughout the night sometimes, but that’s not standard.
Despite losing a lot, they manage to keep on top of everything… But they are lost to the past. They might be living, but they are haunted by the past. They can’t focus on the future. They might be working, but what for? For family? For a family that is broken and plagued with problems they don’t understand.
They are hopeful. Waiting for a problem to fix over time. Until that problem miraculously fixes it’s self, they work, and they smile, and they slowly become more distant from their family values. They slowly lose the reason they are working for…
Eventually, they are just working.
But luckily we get Yukito butting in! So what path does he take this time around?
The common route is the one in which Yukito loses focus of his goal and switches to a focus on work.
The Minagi route is the one in which Yukito finds his resolve - something to resolve his search for the girl in the sky, even if it means leaving the people he loves behind.
Now the Kano route… The Kano route is the one in which Yukito starts to question his goal. It’s also the route where he realizes what he’s doing; half-heartedly following a goal set by the past, with no time spent thinking of the future. He is living life as he was told to, without even understanding the alternatives.
The girl in the sky.
The reason I continue my journey.
I’m probably the only one who could accept that reason.
A vague journey like something out of a dream.
It’s been my way of life ever since my mother taught it to me.
I understand.
I might not believe in a girl in the sky after all.
Maybe I’m just looking for a reason to stay on my journey.
Because I don’t know any other way of living.
I ask myself a question.
What do I want to do?
Where do I want to go?
I don’t have a clue.
On the other hand, he’s spending time with a girl who could possibly be cursed by the girl in the sky. A girl whose condition suddenly got worse after he arrived.
It can be said that the girl in the sky is an enemy in this route.
This is the one where Yukito realizes how much of an impossibilty his current way of living is.
Does he want to reach that goal? What does he do after reaching the goal?
Yukito wasn’t given a life. He was given a task. He was tasked with solving a problem, and stopping it from spreading into the future.
Save the girl in the sky, before the Houjutsu becomes too weak.
It’s such a vague goal though. How is he going to dedicate himself to finding a single person without losing focus on his work? What will his life be after that? A life with this mysterious person? A life alone? A life at all?
In Japan, the current generation is going through a similar thing. They are one of the generations that have to solve everything, before it gets out of hand.
Save the country’s population, before the economy becomes too weak. Find a partner and keep your family ideals strong.
It’s such a vague goal though. How are they going to dedicate themselves to finding a single person without losing focus on their work? What will life be after that? A life with this mysterious person? A life alone? A life at all?
Kano’s route is the story of a family plagued and obssessed with a past.
Contrast this to the story of Shiraho - someone who sacrificed herself for a hopeful future. A future that never came.
One loses to the past. One loses to the future.
And Yukito, who represents the present, has no idea where he should be going, or what he wanted in the first place.
Then… they make a decision… and the past and the future seemingly disappear from their world. They have a present.
The girl in the sky might be lost forever, and the work of the past may be left behind, but everyone can live their own lives this way.