Mespia

Air is a visually stunning anime about a girl in a small town who dreams of the sky. She has been alone her whole life, but this summer she runs into a stranger named Yukito who will become one of her best friends.

I want to say I loved Air. I really, really do. I had heard many great things about it and how sad it was. But, after watching, I just can't say that I particularly liked it.

The problem with it, over all, is that it just didn't make a bit of sense.

Story

The story starts off simply enough. There's a brief introduction of an episode or two, and then it branches off into several short arcs featuring different side characters. These arcs themselves are interesting and fun to watch, but they contribute absolutely nothing to the main story. After they're over, you'll find yourself wondering why they even bothered to put them in. Sure, they're touching and all that, but the characters and events in them have absolutely no relevance towards the series.

But back to the main idea: Misuzu, the girl dreaming of the sky, and Yukito. It was easy to understand for maybe the first half of the series. Boy walks girl to school, girl talks about how lonely her life is, boy sympathizes and the two become friends.

After that, in the second half of the series, it suddenly branched off into something completely different and confusing. I can say that, even after watching this half over, I have absolutely no idea what the hell was going on or what this anime was supposed to be about.

There's a lot of cute backstories and even a flashback about something that happened a thousand years ago. Each episode was fun to watch and built up more suspense. I couldn't wait to get to the rest of it and find out how all these stories related!

That moment never came. The plot went nowhere. The ending might have been sad except the part leading up to it didn't seem to connect at all. I honestly don't know what the story of this anime was actually supposed ot be about or where it was trying to take itself.

Not that the plot is wholly bad. Parts of it are genuinely touching, even if you can't tell how exactly they relate to the main storyline. I can't tell exactly why Misuzu comes down with a mysterious sickness, but it's interesting to watch.

Individually, these elements are all great, but when you try to add them together, they don't make sense. If you don't think too much about it, I'm sure Air is an amazing show in this respect.

Animation

It's gorgeous.

Sound

Beautiful music that fits the series perfectly.

Characters

While Misuzu and her aunt seemed to be developed in the end, all the other characters are sadly forgotten. Even Yukito, one of the main characters, disappears from the story (for no reason, I might add) before we learn anything about him other than the fact that he's searching for a winged girl.

Some of the early characters especially, like Kano and Michiru, serve no purpose for the plot except perhaps for filler. After their respective arcs, they cease even appearing in the anime.

However, even if they weren't too relevent, all of the characters were beautifully designed and I can't say there was one that I was really annoyed by. They were there in a good way. I do wish they could have been developed more, but in the end they were okay.

Overall, Air is an anime with beautiful visuals and sound, with many characters left hanging or even untouched, and a plot with great elements that fails to piece itself together into a comprehensive whole.

These anime seems like it would have potential if they would just actually tell you what is going on.