Can someone confirm or deny this? Very interesting if true!
Also, only 17 hours now until we record the podcast! Please give us more KEY POINTS to talk about!
[quote=“Aspirety, post:62, topic:722”]
Can someone confirm or deny this? Very interesting if true!
[/quote]As soon as it was mentioned I started researching it. I haven’t gotten anywhere useful yet. The closest thing I found, which doesn’t appear to be related but is still interesting, was this:
And the MINAGI ROUTE TIMELINE CONTINUES:
Again © @Pepe
July 27
- Had a dream, there was something important in front of me, but I couldn’t reach it
- Minagi and Michiru arrive, and Yukito shows his Houjutsu
- Minagi offers a rice coupon for the show
- Yukito starts talking about his journey, and Minagi says they had a picture of a girl with wings when she was little
- Minagi: “Have you ever been happy, just from spending time with someone?”
- Yukito is reminded of his mother and the reason behind his journey: “That’s a world my mother was aiming for”
July 28
- He finds Michiru looking at some junk, and ends up with a dictionary
- Goes to the shopping area and helps Minagi’s mother with the rice again
- Meets Minagi at school and they check out Michiru sleeping at the station
- Minagi gives him stardust
- Michiru wakes up and notices Yukito’s stardust. Tells him to treasure it
July 29
- Dictionary play!
- Back to work, and a pair of siblings take attention to his show
- Goes back to the station and has lunch and blows bubbles
- Minagi says she has a date tomorrow, and yukito can choose to get jealous (and Minagi asks Michiru to kick him if he doesn’t)
July 30
- Michiru arrives in the morning and has breakfast with yukito (after spilling his rice)
- Goes around town with Michiru, and ends up at the shrine
- Michiru says how she wants to feel the warmth of a mother, but says she definitely has a mother
- They end up seeing Minagi with her mom on the high street, but Michiru gets nervous and runs away
July 31
- Yukito wakes up feeling pretty wizard expecting to earn a pile of dosh today… but doesn’t
- Meets michiru and she complains how it will rain today but Minagi realizes she was looking at an old newspaper forecast
- They eat lunch and more hijinx happen
- In the afternoon Minagi invites Yukito to walk to school and view the stars from the rooftop
- If you chose the right choices with the dictionary, you get yukito to say “Po”
- She invites michiru to come along and they all walk together to see the stars at the school rooftop. Yukito says he’s definitely enjoying his time with them and how they should all walk together
- They reach the school and find out Minagi is the sole member of the AStronomy Club
- Yukito walks Minagi home and finds out that her mother calls her “Michiru”
1 Like
But how does her wanting to stay with Michiru have anything to do with atoning for her sins? It’s pretty heavily hinted that that desire of hers is related to the allegory of flying and… well, it doesn’t seem to fit in that situation >_<
It’s that half-poetic half-meaningful personality of his that made me vote for him as my favorite Key Protagonist 
I really shoulda fixed that xP oh welp. Midorikawa power too stronk
You mean Minagi, right? Yeah it was @Bizkitdoh who brought that one up
1 Like
Ujou Noguchi wrote the song “Shabondama” (bubbles in Japanese) when he saw a soap bubble and it reminded him of the brief existence of his daughter who had died shortly after being born
The lyrics are:
The soap bubbles flew to the roof
They flew to the roof,
but broke and disappeared
Winds, don’t blow and don’t break
Let’s fly the soap bubbles
The soap bubbles disappeared
They disappeared without flying
The soap bubbles were born,
but broke and disappeared immediately
Winds, don’t blow and don’t break
Let’s fly the soap bubbles
5 Likes
Let me see…There are many references to the stars in Minagi’s route, from Minagi’s stargazing to the wish-granting stardust. Why do you guys think the stars are such an important image in this story? Why does Michiru compare herself to the stars?
Is it really the MICHIRU ROUTE TIMELINE???
© @Pepe
August 1
- Minagi doesn’t arrive at the station the whole day
August 2
- Minagi still doesn’t arrive and Michiru is worried. Yukito says she might be sick and tells Michiru to wish on her stardust so Minagi will get better
August 3
- Still no Minagi. Yukito suggests to visit her house but Michiru refuses. Minagi never told Michiru where she lives.
- Michiru asks Yukito to give Minagi a small bluish bottle when he goes see her
- Yukito visits Minagi’s house but her mother says that “I don’t have a daughter”
- Hijiri finds him at the high street and forces him to go inside the clinic. She mentions Tohno visited earlier and says her mother recovered from her illness, but it has created problems… Like forgetting her own daughter. Hijiri describes it as “waking up from her dream”
- Hijiri tells him Minagi is at school and Yukito runs off to find her in the roof
- He gives the bottle from Michiru. She worries about telling him about her problems but he says “If the three of us walk together, then if one of us has a heavy weight, the other two can help”
- Minagi tells her story: How she was supposed to have a little sister named Michiru but her mother had a miscarriage. After that her mother began living in a dream.
- Minagi was a daddy’s girl and her mother felt alienated and Michiru was supposed to fill the hole in her mother’s heart. In the end, her mother decided to keep dreaming instead, and Minagi had to live as Michiru
- Minagi blames herself for her mother being lonely
- Her mother awoke to the fact that Michiru was dead but ended up forgetting Minagi since she lived her life as Michiru
- She was waiting for the end at the rooftop. “For my dream of living my life as Michiru to end”
- Minagi said “My wings have already forgotten how to fly” “Is there any meaning in wings that can’t fly?” “No, of course not… All I can do is wander between the sky and the ground, belonging in neither”
- Yukito convinces her that there’s still a place for her, and she decides to stay with Yukito at the station
- She wants to spend as much time with Michiru and Yukito because “I’m still dreaming”
- Minagi tells more about Michiru. They all decided on the name as a family; Her father calling the picture of the girl with wings as “God”; and how she wanted Michiru to be her friend
August 4
- Minagi wakes up Yukito for breakfast and Michiru is happy to see her again
- They go to the rooftop at night again to view the stars
- Michiru separates from the two earlier, to “be considerate” ehem
August 5
- Minagi goes to school and Yukito tries to make money again. Sees the two curious girls again and spends some time with them
- Usual playing around with Michiru and Minagi, but Yukito suddenly hears Michiru’s voice in his head saying “It’s best if you don’t know”
August 6
- Minagi makes breakfast and Michiru appears come lunchtime
- Yukito scalds his tongue and Minagi holds his head to hear chest to ease the pain. Minagi tells Yukito that she had a dream about her father, telling her that the stars purify human hearts.
- She outlines how they were arguing ever since the miscarriage and her father leaving. Her father asked her to come with him but she declined because she thought it would be too sad to leave her mother alone
- Her father gave her a bottle of stardust as a parting gift. She thought her father would return but he didn’t, and she assumed it was because her heart was too dark. Hence, she would sit at the station and view the stars every night
- She found out her father met a different woman and remarried
August 7
- Minagi fails to wake Yukito up first so he can offer to ask for a good morning kiss… or not
- Michiru comes and plays with them but thinks Minagi isn’t her usual self. Like Yukito is viewing a dream. Michiru says maybe it’s too late
August 8
- Minagi is in school so Yukito walks with Michiru. They meet a seagull and it tells michiru “The wind will return soon”
- Yukito and Michiru fail to make money, but they see Tohno’s mom come out of Kirishima clinic. Yukito hears Michiru say “Mum”
- Michiru says being forgotten by someone is sad and that things really can’t stay like this. She knows Minagi ran from home
- Michiru says “Michiru didn’t exist just to see Minagi like that” and Yukito notices the past tense
- She asks Yukito to do something for Minagi and leaves Yukito
- Hijiri approaches him and they talk about Minagi. Hijiri mentions how Tohno’s mom has noticed something important is missing
- They go to the rooftop in the afternoon and Michiru seems upset. She says “This isn’t where you belong, Minagi” and says how seeing Michiru sad makes her sad. Minagi hugs her and Yukito says he wants to do something. Michiru leaves the rest to him
- At the station, Yukito tells Minagi he decides to continue his journey, and he’d like Minagi to come with him. He wants to show her the world
August 9
- They prepare to leave, and Yukito brings Minagi to her house “Because there’s nothing else I can do”
- Minagi hesitates and Yukito gives her the choice to come with him, go somewhere else, or back home to where she belongs
1 Like
MINAGI ROUTE TIMELINE (“NORMAL” END)
© @Pepe
Dreams and Reality (Normal End)
- Yukito walks away but Minagi follows him, crying. She calls out to him and eventually he gives in and keeps her with him
- They return to the station and they talk about how the dream is already over and there’s a missing space on the bench
- Minagi desperately asks him again to rest his head in her lap, but can’t seem to move. He strokes her hair (and I assume makes love to her)
- Next morning, Minagi goes off to school and Yukito tells her to wait for him after.
- Yukito feels the dream isn’t over. He waits at the station, and by afternoon, Michiru approaches him. The dream should have ended, but Michiru is selfish. She says it’s not Yukito’s nor Minagi’s fault and that she is lonely right now, so she asks “Help Minagi wake up”
- He’s concerned about Michiru’s happiness, but there’s no time left
- Michiru disappears, leaving her stardust, and Yukito goes to find Minagi on the rooftop
- It was raining so she couldn’t see the stars. She starts crying, worried that Yukito wouldn’t come.
- He shows the bottle of stardust and repeats michiru’s request. She couldn’t figure out where she belonged and couldn’t take the step forward to return because she was terrified
- “I couldn’t wake up from my own dream; I couldn’t grant Michiru’s wish” “You couldn’t see the end for yourself”
- She rejected her mother and thinks that Michiru is laughing at her, but Yukito says Michiru is just sad
- “I didn’t even get my wings back”
- Yukito: “There’s only one place left for you”
- She pleads to Yukito and he responds “You’re acting like a spoilt child”
- She resolves herself and asks “Let me fly away”
- They embrace and Yukito asks her to go on a journey with him
- She asks again for him to rest his head in her lap but Yukito can’t do that because “It’s not enough” (maybe this is when they make love? I don’t know…)
- They return to the station and she asks him again to sleep in her lap, but she ends up sleeping in his
- The next day, they get on the bus and leave the town together. They combine their stardust, but leave Michiru’s intact.
- “Even now, we’re still in the wind”
2 Likes
Minagi Route portion of the bookclub is now OVER. As always, feel free to continue discussing stuff here, but the bookclub will now be focusing on the Kano Topic for the next two weeks. See you there!
OK so, um… this is kinda embarrassing but… I forgot to post the last bit of the MINAGI ROUTE TIMELINE. So, uh, here it is. And I actually wrote this part not Pepe:
MINAGI ROUTE TIMELINE (GOOD END)
-Minagi slowly walks towards her mom, who calls out her name; her real name.
-“Of course there is meaning in wings that cant fly: they’re precious memories of when you used to fly through the sky.”
-Michiru visits Yukito that night and entrusts Minagi to him because she says “She’s going home soon.”
-Michiru is a piece of “the girl in the sky’s” sad dream; one of her feathers
-“Humans cant live without memories”
-Yukito and Minagi and Michiru spend all the next day making “happy memories”
-Yukito shows Minagi and Michiru his puppet show one more time; they seem to be the only ones who enjoy it…
-The three go up to the roof to watch the first star appear
-Minagi and Michiru want to make a wish to the star to completely clean their hearts… but Yukito rejects this: “I dont want to pretend the way I’ve lived up until now can be simply wiped away”
-Minagi blames herself for the “Dream”: for Michiru’s death and for her father leaving, and for her mother’s mental illness. She reveals that she knows who Michiru “is” and runs off.
-The next morning, Yukito meets Michiru up at the shrine. After walking around for a bit, Michiru requests a favor from him…
-Yukito runs through the rain, searching for Minagi…
…“Please help Minagi wake up from her dream”…
Yukito trudges up the seeming endless flights of stairs, and bursts through the door to the roof to find Minagi crying
-Minagi was scared of leaving Michiru, scared of what would happen when she woke up from the dream, but Yukito holds her and convinces her to let it stop
-Minagi thinks back about her life and family leading up to the miscarriage of her little sister, and remember the day when she first met “Michiru” near the station
-Minagi takes Michiru to meet (and say good bye to) thier mother
-Two girls run by the three at the end of the day; “I wanted us… to walk throught the same wind…”
-They combine all three jars of stardust into one and spend the rest of the day laughing together
-Minagi finally teaches Yukito and Michiru how to blow bubbles… and just as the sun is setting, Michiru blows a bubble and disappears
-Yukiro and Minagi rush to the roof to find Michiru standing on the other side of the fence…
Michiru says she can fianlly leave because Minagi can now smile for someone besides Michiru, and makes one last request of Yukito: to find “the girl in the sky”
-“Make the world full of smiles… so that everyone lives with warm hearts…”
END OF THE DREAM
MINAGI EPILOGUE:
Yukito decides to finally leave the town
Minagi gets a letter from her father saying that Minagi now has another little sister and Michiru decides to go meet her…
“Ok Michiru, lets be friends…”
3 Likes
I still stand by my statement that this is an amazing route that’s hampered down by a terrible ending. The good end, I mean. The bad end was pretty good in my opinion, even if it wasn’t perfect. It is most certainly a route that stands out on it’s own as something completely distinct from the rest of AIR, but at the same time an amazing piece of writing. The supernatural elements are conducted very elegantly, and do a great job of creating suspense and tension. It’s an interesting way of addressing the problem of people who are unable to face a cruel reality. I don’t think the route would’ve been the same if it had happened a decade earlier; the fact that they’ve had to deal with the aftermath of Michiru’s stillbirth for years is pretty significant.
Minagi as a character hasn’t left that much of an impression on me coming out of her route, but at the very least she seems like she would be fun to be around, in my opinion at least.
2 Likes
I said a few times that I quite like the ending. I honestly feel like it signifies Minagi’s ability to move forward. I think one theme was that both Minagi and her Mother were too stuck living in the past. That’s the reason why Michiru was so afraid of showing herself to her Mom; she was afraid that if her mom saw her as “Michiru” it would cause her mind to regress even further. The fact that Michiru’s mom was able to call her “Michiru” and still consider her a different person (Minagi’s friend) shows that her mother was able to get over her pain over the loss of her own Michiru.
I think the same applies to Minagi’s case with her half-sister. The fact that she could call her “Michiru” and still see her as a different person shows that Minagi was able to get over her own pain. If she hadn’t gotten over, then she might have broken down sobbing upon seeing the letter from her father.
P.S. Minagi is Uraha
3 Likes
But whyyyy did they make the new Michiru look and sound exactly the same as the old one? I wouldn’t have minded so much if she were at least a different person. She feels like a replacement. The ending wouldn’ve been so much more impactful to me if there was no replacement.
1 Like
I have always considered the new Michiru a ‘reincarnation’ rather than a ‘replacement’. Which is also why I liked the ending.
If you buy into that theory… I dunno, I think it’s pretty poorly thought out.
Hmm yes, that’s a valid argument. I guess it adds to the effect? Like if she wasn’t over Michiru, she might have still handled it well if her new sister didn’t look like Michiru? That’s a bit of a stretch, though
That was the point, I think. You are supposed to be angry because that’s not what they’re supposed to be doing. It makes you feel bad inside but… it’s something that so many people end up doing in the real life.
On that note, IIRC, the sex doesn’t happen in the normal ending right? It only happens in the good ending? Or am I mistaken? :x
Wat. The normal/bad ending sex scene was the most impacting sex scene of the series, how could you forget?
By not actually reading the sex scenes?
(and by being pepe, that helps a lot)
