|
Now in Japan
|
|
Thursday, 18 August 2005 02:00 |
 Another happy ending (sort of), continued sadness for Misuzu,
and a lengthy detour into the distant past for reasons as-yet
unknown. Air continues, and continues to confuse
me a little while still managing to be compelling viewing. As
soon as I can figure out why, I'll let you know...
6 - Star
Yukito and Tohno are living the outdoor life, after both finding
themselves homeless - Yukito because of Misuzu's inability to deal with
his presence for too long at a stretch, and Tohno as her mother no longer recognises her.
Misuzu's still able to talk to Yukito at least, while there are signs
that Tohno's mother is beginning to regain her memories - all that's
needed is the right sort of push. Yukito maneuvers Tohno into
deciding to go home, where for the first time in a long while her
mother calls her by her name. Later, Yukito learns that young
Michiru is nothing more than the spirit of Tohno's younger sister, who
was never born - and her time in this world is almost up...
7 - Dream
When Yukito comes to pick Misuzu up for school, he finds her collapsed
on the floor. It doesn't appear to be anything serious - nothing
a day's rest won't cure - but Yukito decides to stay with her, just in
case. His mood turns worse when her mother returns home drunk,
and apparently not really caring about the condition her daughter is in
- even going so far as to leave Misuzu in his care while she visits a
hot spring. Yukito has remembered a story his mother told him, of
a girl whose dreams eventually killed her - and he's now convinced
that's what's happening to Misuzu. She seems to have realised
what's happening to her, too - and her illness continues to get worse...
8 - Summer
A shift in focus to the distant past - over 1,000 years before the
other episodes of Air, during the medieval period. Kanna is a
winged woman, living trapped in a palace as those without wings have
come to fear her ability. Ryuuya is a warrior who has been
assigned to watch over Kanna and her servant, Uraha, and he soon learns
that Kanna's certainly nothing to be afraid of - they even form
something of a friendship. Come midsummer, though, Kanna's
keepers decide to move her to a new location, and that he and Uraha are
to be kept behind. Believing that Kanna's being used and
mistreated, Uraha decides that she should leave with Kanna as soon as
possible, and turns to Ryuuya for help in making their escape...
/me looks back at the last Air review I wrote...
Hmm. Tohno's story ended with a feather involved.
Definitely something going on here - if this town doesn't lead Yukito
to the 'girl with wings' he's been searching for, then it's not for
lack of pointers from the inhabitants. Where Kano's story had a
happy ending, though, Tohno's is more bittersweet. Following the
trend, I'd bet Misuzu's being led towards even more unhappiness than
she already suffers, but with four more episodes to go anything could
happen.
The big surprise for me (as someone who knew nothing of Air before
seeing the anime) was the shift in setting in episode 8. Kanna's
wings are the obvious clue that this little diversion does have some
relevance to what's happening in the present, but while the story is
interesting and adds something different to the series, it's not
entirely clear yet how the past and present are going to be tied
together. However it goes, I'm looking forward to finding out.
In general, the underlying tone of Air seems to be getting darker as
the story goes on - another pointer that there isn't a happy ending in
sight. The journey there is one of those stories you can't put
down, though - highly recommended.
|
Reviews Archive 
