|
Now in Japan
|
|
Tuesday, 06 September 2005 01:00 |
 And so Air finally comes to an end. And
then gets quickly rerun and ends again - among other things, this
series gets an award for the strangest positioning of a recap episode
I've ever seen, but that's probably one of the less confusing aspects
to these episodes. If you hadn't lost track of what was going on
before now, you will here...
11 - Sea
Misuzu's mother returns home from her trip - rather than having been
away at the hotsprings, she's been to Misuzu's real family to ask for
permission to adopt her. She hadn't been aware of Misuzu's
worsening health while she was away, but is determined to make up for
it now that she's back - although she doesn't buy Misuzu's story about
being ill because of the girl in the sky. Haruko's plans for a
happily family life soon fall to pieces, though - first when Misuzu
loses her memories, and then when Misuzu's father appears to reclaim
his daughter, but the trauma of being taken away from Haruko proves too
much for Misuzu to bear...
12 - Air
It's the day of the Summer Festival, and Haruko's determined to take
Misuzu to have some fun - although the gods and the weather seem to
have other ideas, as a heavy storm leads to most of the events being
cancelled. To Haruko, it's another indication that someone,
somewhere, is determined that Misuzu shouldn't find happiness - all she
wants are some happy memories with her daughter, but the fates seems to
be conspiring against them, and all they have together is one more
day...
13 - Recap
As the title suggests, it's Air in a 25-minute bite-sized chunk, with
the emphasis heavily on the second part of the series and Misuzu's
deterioration. Which should really be all you need to know about
it. :)
The further I got into these episodes, the more confused I
became. The story is still being told through the eyes of Sora
the crow (aka Yukito? That's still ambiguous), and with almost no
references to the Summer arc or Yukito's search for the girl with the
wings I'm wondering what the first two-thirds of the series was there
for - we're suddenly pitched into the story of Misuzu's final days
without any explanation of why, or how it's connected to Yukito's visit.
The award for most blatantly shameless pulling of the heartstrings
gets handed out here, for Misuzu's final scenes. Her demise was
pretty well telegraphed over the final few episodes so it was no
surprise when it came, but the emotions were laid on amazingly heavily
in the final scenes with the sole purpose of turning the viewer into a
blubbering idiot. I really hate being
manipulated like that, and I'm ashamed to admit they got me - but being
quite so open about going for the emotional reaction has coloured my
view of the show in a not-so-good way.
Air started off really well, and made sense up through to
then end of the Summer arc. At that point they just lost
me. How much of that is down to deficiencies in the anime &
how much can be blamed on not having played the game, I don't know, but
from a great start the series has ended up as something of a damp
squib. If you haven't seen it yet and feel the need to give Air a try, be aware of the issues with the ending before you start as it's not particularly satisfying.
|
Reviews Archive 
