When he was young, Kunisaki Yukito's mother told him of a winged girl in the sky. Yukito's family has been searching for this girl for generations upon generations. Finally, Yukito's journey takes him to a small seaside town where he meets Kamio Misuzu, a girl who is eager to make friends with Yukito. Yukito ends up staying with Misuzu and her mother, Haruka, while he searches for the girl in the sky. In the town, however, there are strange occurences, and as the days pass by, Misuzu starts to have strange dreams. What is the truth behind Misuzu's dreams and her failing health? And how is everything connected to Yukito and his journey?

Story & Characters

Due to recommendations I went to see it and I was actually confused by the plot some of the times (Which resulted in me replaying the thing again and again) (Note that I do Japanese version reviews so I basically have no idea about English names if there is one.)

Character Overview:

Yukito - A silver haired male who wandered into a town as a performer who is capable of moving a doll without using any strings (But it's seriously unpopular).Out of starvation he fell asleep near the beach and woke up to see a girl standing next to him.Despite his cold looking appearance,his not as cold as he seems.He is searching for a "girl with wings" as well,though he doesn't seem to really believe in it.

Misuzu Kamio - A blonde haired girl who seems to be determined to befriend Yukito.However, she is unable to make any friends since she tends to break down when she got too close to some one (As in emotionally) and apparently, she have a very odd disease that later causes her intense pain which no doctor seems to be able to explain.However this so called "disease" is a curse of a tragic past that is beyond their time... (Note: She likes strawberry flavoured carton drinks and dinosaurs.She also have the tendency to trip over)

Kano Kirishima - A girl with somewhat bluish hair. She befriends Yukito after her dog (Well,not technically her dog) , Potato , "stole" Yukito's doll and went to it's "owner" . She also wears a bandana on her wrist and she says that she is able to use magic if she did not take it off until she comes of age but there is a more technical reason behind it.Apparently,there is something weird about her as well...(See the Anime or visual novel for yourself :P ) Well either way,both Kano and Misuzu are very immature. (Note: She likes animals)

Minagi Tohmo - She looks a bit dazed and speaks in a rather dreamy tone.However,she if facing difficulties at home due to her mother's mental illness.She also gets along well with Michiru,which is apparently the only friend she has.She is also the president of the Astronomy Club at school (And the only member) so basically she enjoys star gazing.

Sora - A crow basically.It only appears in the later part of the plot but...well I can't explain without giving out spoilers so I won't.However,this crow isn't all as it appears.

Side Characters:

Haruko Kamio - Misuzu's foster mother and she is in fact,her aunt.She treats Misuzu nicely but also distantly but she have her reasons for that. (Which is later revealed) She is also loves drinking beer.

Hijiri Kirishima - As the surname suggests,she's Kano's sister.However,a pretty fierce one at that.Whenever she got angry she starts threatening Yukito with multiple operational knives which appears out of no where ( What is she,a ninja!? ) She is a doctor of the local clinic and later she recruits Yukito to the clinic since Yukito is unable to earn any money with his performances.

Michiru - Minagi's only friend (Until Minagi met Yukito any way) and she is fond of bubbles and hamburger steaks. She and Yukito don't get along well (Understatement) . However,there is a great secret behind her origins. (Again,watch the Anime and Visual Novel to find out.It's quite tragic to be honest)

Feudal Era Characters:

In this Era we see the origins of the "curse" I'll try not to be explict in the details here since it holds a crucial part of the storyline and all...

Kanna : A girl who have wings.However,those wings are incapable of flight (At first) . She is locked away in her own palace due to the fact that the "winged race" are known to have powers to help in wars and so forth.Some also detest this race.However,she is sweet and mature (Well,mature as in certain areas.She can be immature at times) . However,she is to meet a terrible fate.

Ryuya : He looks like Yukito.Except that the hairdo is samurai-ish and all.Well,he became a bodyguard of Kanna and after taking care of her for a while, he and Uruha cannot stand her prisoned state anymore and decided to take her away and help her find her mother. However, this journey is hampered with the fact that Kanna gave him very strict orders on not to kill. Though Kanna and Ryuya may seem to not get along will,they care alot about each other.However,despite the fact that he strictly follow orders and stuff,he tends to tease Kanna.

Uruha : The care maiden of Kanna.As I stated above,she and Ryuya ran away with Kanna.She is generally gentle and kind.

Kanna's Mother : Hmm...I'm sure her name wasn't mentioned.Either way,like Kanna,she is a winged being.Ryuya used his sword to break her free from her "cage" but a terrible fate befalls her soon after that.

Overall:
It was quite confusing at times.However,like Clannad,it can be quite heart wrenching and they characters are quite pitiful.Of course,like Clannad,it starts off as a non-fantasy sort of thing but in the end,there is something supernatural involved.This is also more tragic to a certain extent.Let's just say "Key" had swung it pretty well.

Rating: 8

Art

Art Review:
Can't criticise the art too much.Considering on how old the Anime is,the art can be considered at the heights of excellence.Either way,I loved the feathers and wings that occasionaly appear in the Anime.As for the character designs,I can't quite say that they fit the character's personality well.When I first seen Yukito I was thinking "this guy is cold and aloof" but it was quite a 180 degree difference on what I am thinking.But either way,the unexpected personality of the characters is one of it's good points as well.

Rating: 8

Sound

Music:
The Opening was pretty good.In fact,it sounds rather depressing o.0 Either way they didn't seem to be able to fit the music into the scenes too well , so...points are off for that. (But you'll be too engrossed on the scenes to notice.)

Voice:
The voices were....excellent.It adds to the atmosphere of the scenes really well. The voices fit the character's personality well as well...Either way,nothing much to criticise about the voices but there isn't much to praise about either.It's good but not excellent.

Rating: 8

Presentation

Overall:
It can be seriously confusing at times and sometimes I have no idea what's going but I always managed to grasp the details back after some time and the summary of one of the episodes helped a bit. There isn't much humor content in the Anime,it's mainly tragic stuff to be honest.Either way,you'll be inhuman if you aren't at the verge of tears at least once.Either way, it's still based off a Fantasy setting so if you watched or played other KEY products you'll find yourself fitting well into this.However,personally,I find Clannad better by a weeny bit. (That's saying something since AIR only have about 20 episodes including the special episodes.)

Trivial Info:
-Again,this is based off a Visual Novel.Note that the earlier version have...ecchi content so choose well if your under-aged.
-The Visual Novel is seperated into 3 sections. Dream,Summer and Air. Of each section you will have a different perspective.You still have to make critical choices which results in different endings but generally the plot is still centered around Misuzu.
-There is a Movie Version of this but I suggest watching the Anime version first.Well either way,I'm too lazy to write up the Movie version's review.It is similar but there are some critical differences (Like every other movie version of an Anime)
-There are two special Episodes which shows more of the adventures of Ryuya,Kanna and Uruha.Mainly humor content but it makes the situation even more depressing :(
-Note that there is Manga version as well so you might want to check it out if your interested but I did not see it yet.
*END OF REVIEW* And oh yeah,I just noticed I gave the score a straight 8 o.0

Rating: 8

Final Verdict

8.00 (good)

Reviewed by z827, 12wk 4d ago

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