Hmmm, I interpreted that scene with Misuzu differently. Guess I’ll hang on to that for the podcast, but I’ve certainly got some stuff to say.
I needed to reword the above. Not sure if that changes anything though. Anyway, looking forward to hearing your views in the podcast. 
(Except I liked Rin more XP)
[quote=“EisenKoubu, post:11, topic:372”]
Misuzu is very obviously a parallel for Christ, not only in personality, but in circumstances.
[/quote]Im gonna have to flat-out disagree with you here. And trust me, Im all for religious symbolism (you should really read planetarian and then check out the discussion topic). But I see Christ mainly as a teacher, a sacrifice, and a savior. And (as of now) I don’t see Misuzu as any of these.
[quote=“NotKyon, post:14, topic:372”]
The credits rolling before showing the rest of what happens is really jarring. Just before that, you think it’s a good ending… The credits roll, and you feel all happy. “Weird Key magic BS saves the day! Yay! :D” … and then, no.
[/quote]Ahaha, see, I knew immediately it was fake. I agree it was a great ending though. Both the ending before and the ending after the credits. Mostly because I love sudden, cut-off endings that make you think and really want to know what will happen next.
A daily reminder that Natsukage and Sousei are stunningly brilliant! Natsukage is a song I could listen to on repeat for eternity just like the girl in the sky ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), and Sousei… I don’t even know, its just really intense for me. I mean, I could probably go on and on about all the tracks, but yeah.
Will post the rest of my non-podcast thoughts tomorrow~
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Yes this. Definitely this.
Yeah, AIR’s soundtracks are just fantastic. Not sure why I haven’t bought the OST yet, lol. Natsukage is a great track for sure. I don’t remember which one Sousei was, so I’ll go look that up.
Really, Misuzu is just a fantastic character. She’s always trying to hide her own pain and make others smile, and that just makes you feel for her all the more.
So first I want to agree with @Pepe on how great it was to finally see Misuzu again. I had forgotten how much I liked her VA and character.
Despite what a calm, sweet aura the setting gives off, how upbeat both Misuzu and Haruko appear to be, there is something very noticeably sad about the Kamio house. Even before Yukito remembers the words his mother told him, it is obvious that Misuzu is very lonely. Her only joy seems to be when she is playing with Yukito. And Haruko has to work all day to keep them alive, then drinks herself away every night to deal with the pain. She kinda reminds me of Katsuragi Misato from NGE.
Misuzu: “I would have taken anything if it was something Mom bought me.”
->(Clannad)Immediately reminded me of Ushio, in the field of sunflowers
Yukito says he remembers another girl with symptoms similar to Misuzu. Who is this girl? Or is it just him remembering his mother’s words?
I feel like I might be starting tread into ‘you’ll find out when you read Summer and Air’, but What causes Haruko to suddenly act if she doesn’t care, to just run away? She seems to almost recognize what’s really going on and chooses to try and ignore it. Is she just scared?
What are Yukito’s true intentions in leaving Misuzu alone? Does he really believe it will be better for both of them if he leaves now? Or is he just trying to save himself because he’s scared?
I have some other things, but you’ll have to wait for the podcast to hear those 
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Nocturne.
The Misuzu route segment of the AIR Bookclub is now over. We hope to have the podcast out as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope you’ll join us in discussing the Summer route together!
This topic may see some new life later on in the Bookclub as a character discussion topic, so feel free to use it when the need arises!
The AIR Route has just started, so feel free to discuss AIR’s character here once again! But please use [spoiler] tags, as you’re also sharing this space with people who have only read the Misuzu route.
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Much of what I have said about Misuzu’s character still holds up in AIR, since it’s basically an extension of her route. However, we do get some new information on her character in AIR, which I will ‘briefly’ touch on here.
For the first half of the route, we begin to understand why Misuzu makes the decisions she does in her route. Despite her pleasant, childlike exterior, we find that the decisions she makes make her a very human character. She is driven to make friends even if it kills her (which it kind of does, unfortunately). When that fails her, she goes into a spiral of depression, and she even contemplates suicide at one point. Her relationship with Haruko is rocky and distant, but through Haruko’s efforts, they end up growing naturally closer. As Misuzu struggles to stay alive and keeps fighting for her life, she and Haruko become more and more attached to each other and start to understand their similarities.
As the story progresses and Misuzu lose her memories, she becomes something akin to a toddler without a clear direction of what to do. She does eventually regain most of her memories before she dies, but she seems to lose most of her will to live, living on autopilot without Haruko’s guidance. However, it’s thanks to Haruko that Misuzu recognizes that her aunt is the only mother figure she has. From then on, she regains much of her strength, and by the time she dies, she has suffered through a lot. Misuzu goes through a lot for the sake of her mother, as well as for the sake of her future ‘incarnations’, so to speak.
Here’s a couple AIR-specific Key Points regarding Misuzu:
Isn’t it strange that choosing to stick close to Misuzu results in a bad ending? What sort of message is this trying to convey?
Why does Misuzu still feel pain even though Yukito is technically no longer with her? Is she still feeling pain through Sora’s presence? If so, why doesn’t Sora feel any pain?
I’ll restate myself, since I can. Misuzu is a wonderful character with far more depth than she initially seems to have. AIR only makes her better.
A fond farewell to Tomoko Shikigami Kawakami. You and Misuzu Kamio will be missed greatly.
Bui~!
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She’s dead? wow, 41 years old, that’s harsh. Also, you’re not supposed to put all the Air route stuff here untagged.
Thank you for catching that. Now I know that spoiler tags don’t work across paragraphs. ><
That really makes the ending a lot more heartbreaking.
There’s one thing curious about Misuzu that happens in AIR route. Well, not really about Misuzu, but about her curse…
We are told that the curse causes the girl to forget her memories before dying. But a few days after Misuzu forgot her memories, she started to regain some of them. Like, she remembered about the “baby dinosaurs” in the first festival they went to. I guess you can also think of this as a key point: Does the curse only wipe out some of the memories, like memories of the person closest to them?
Regarding that, another way to look at it might be: a side effect of Yukito’s wish, Sora’s presence, her own determination, or the curse weakening over time, maybe…
I’m lightly pissed off at this route right now because of the magic after the credits.
Better than Kano’s ending though. ON TO SUMMER
Well houjutsu is magic after all 
My first impression of Misuzu was very average. Girls who act immature for their age aren’t very appealing to me, and the whole ditzy element was a turnoff too. But man, my opinion of her did a complete 180 once we reached the Misuzu and AIR routes. I feel sorry for all the suffering she’s had to endure, but that just makes me admire her so much more, as she’s able to put up a strong front and smile whenever she needs to. They even made a point of how she can fake a laugh very easily, or switch from sad to happy like, well, putting on a mask. This girl is so damn strong, possibly stronger than any of the girls from her past lives. She had the strength and determination to sacrifice her own happiness and ultimately her life to ensure that she would be the last one to experience Kanna’s curse.
Of course, in an almost contradictory twist of fate, she couldn’t have done this alone. Happiness, as it turned out, was something very important that she learned not to throw away. She had Yukito, Sora, and Haruko all doing everything they could to support her and help her fight off the curse. And it turned out that simply accepting the love of her family and seeking her own happiness in the little time she had left was what was required to stave off the curse until the end of the dream, and finally break the curse.
Misuzu went from a B-grade character to an A-grade character once I got to know her better. Even seeing the revisit of her meeting with Yukito in AIR caused me to view it all in a very different, more positive light.
As for the route, Misuzu’s route was fantastic. Together with AIR, they make up my favourite part of the series, and one of my favourite story arcs in Key’s history. But I’ll go more into that in a later post.
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Hinoue’s been doing drawings and posting them on Twitter. I’ve waited so long for this day. I’m a few days late. But…
Okay, it’s official. We need new CG’s for Kanon and Air ASAP.
Misuzu, such a beautiful route and a beautiful character. She deserves everything 
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That’s absolutely adorable! Now I’m tempted to compile official artworks of Misuzu as Hinoue’s style evolved over time. >.<
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