Friday, March 1, 2013

Classic Review - Air OVA

NOTE: Please keep in mind that this review is old, so while some editting has been done to make it read a little more timelessly, a lot of it is obviously dated. As such, where some things may be noted as 'spoilers', they probably no longer are.

As I had so much to say on the main 12 episodes of the series, I decided to review the last 3 separately. It works out well that way, since they're part of an OVA I understand, rather than part of the series itself.


The first episode of the OVA, 'Memories: Misuzu's Story' is merely a recollection of scenes from the series. There's not a single piece of new animation that I noticed, which decreases the entertainment value for me. However, it's not quite as bad as my dislike for the Blue Gender movie, and that actually did feature some new animation, so I think it simply depends on how much I enjoy said story. In the end, it was a nice little recap for the show, but I really could have done without being stabbed by the ending again, so soon after finishing the series. My poor heart...

The last two episodes of the OVA, 'Air in Summer I: Mountain Path' and 'Air in Summer II: Universe' revisit the background story of Lady Kanna's search for her mother, that we first got to see some of in the latter half of the main series. When it randomly went into this story in the main series, I have to admit I didn't care for it much - it was an unneeded distraction from the main story even if it did tie in to the overall one (I have the same feelings about the 'Tales of the Black Freighter' portion of 'The Watchmen' graphic novel; I actually prefer it without it in there, as the movie did it). This time though, with the new parts that flesh out the characters and story much better, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It also answered some questions that I still had left over from this portion of the series, which is always nice.

That and, Ryuya may well be my favorite character in the overall series as it is. Yukito is a great character, but there's something about Ryuya's attitude, especially in his interactions with Kanna, that is really enjoyable to watch. As much as I dislike watching the same thing again, and again when it tires to claim to be something new, I actually wouldn't mind to see another re-telling of this story with only some new animation, going even further in depth on this set of characters. Maybe just a 6 or 7 episode series, showing a lot more of Ryuya's past prior to meeting Kanna and Uraha, would be nice.

So in the end, I found myself quite enjoying this OVA; definitely a lot more than I was expecting. It's a bit ironic too, as when I thought it was all a re-telling of Kanna's story, I wasn't too excited. Now, I wish it'd been the full 3 episodes after all, and not had a recap of Misuzu's too.

Still, while I enjoyed the OVA, it was more like a regular anime rather than one of my possible required viewing titles.

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