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So begins the 1000th summer...

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As Air is my all time favourite anime, you’d think it would invite a lot of subjectivity into my review. While that is partly the case, looking at it objectively, there is a lot to love about this title.

So what makes Air so special?


... ~ An Unforgettable Encounter ~
“Seawall”

It’s difficult to forget the vivid image of Misuzu standing atop the seawall, yearning for the sky, as Yukito wakes and sees her standing there. This is the moment I realised there was something different about this show. Clouds, ocean and wind are all painted together in this one scene that serves as a visual introduction to the themes to be presented down the road.


~ A Multi-Layered Storyline ~
“Simplexity”

The beauty of Air’s story is the age-old dictum of less is more; or rather it is a great example of ‘complexity born of simplicity’. The plot, without really spoiling much, boils down to trying to free a cursed winged being, whose soul reincarnates constantly. I feel even that is over-simplifying it, but it’s the characters that make this story so touching and humanly relevant. Air is, in essence, about love, and it’s many manifestations.

Again, without spoiling anything, we are presented with love between parent and child, man and woman, siblings and a love that cannot realistically be categorised, but is nevertheless one of the most profound in the series.

Furthermore, Air’s ending is unusual for an anime in two aspects (no spoilers). One, is that it is bittersweet and combines an equal amount of tragedy and joy – though you’ll still cry your heart out, I can almost guarantee that. Second is that it makes you think, makes you want to watch it again and pick up more details about the plot (adding to the re-watch value) and invites discussion. So rarely do anime present the viewer with something that isn’t a straight, no-brainer ending that this is – if you’ll excuse the pun – a breath of fresh air.

In any case, I strongly suggest that you go into watching Air with the mindset that it doesn’t treat you like a dunce; it will require thinking and re-watching for you to understand all of it. Many people discount the plot as ‘confusing’ and therefore badly written. But it is, in fact, quite to the contrary; Air is a simple, yet complex and intelligently written, tightly written story.


~ No Less Unfortunate, a Protagonist ~
“Empathy”

Misuzu is one of the most, if not the most empathetic character in existence. Jun Maeda and the other writers at Key know how to make you feel for their characters. There’s a reason Misuzu is my favourite character of all time and that reason is empathy. Empathy can be established if a character adheres to the following:

Misfortune befalls the character
They are kind
They are funny
They are relatable

After watching, you’ll know which of those Misuzu falls into, and they just happen to be some of the characteristics that evoke the strongest feeling of empathy towards a character.


~ The Sound of a Seaside Town ~
“Atmosphere”

I can say nothing other than that Air excels in the sound department. I only noticed it on my last re-watch, but the sound design in Air is incredible. After a bit of research I noticed that it was released with 5.1 surround sound, the only one of the Key/3 (Air, Kanon [2006] and Clannad + After Story) to be given this lavish treatment. Furthermore, Ted Jensen, a very high profile mastering engineer helped in this endeavor and wow, does it sound great.

The sound design plays a huge part in establishing the beautiful, melancholic atmosphere of Air and I know next time I watch it, it will be in the comfort of my new 7.1 surround sound headphones.

The music, taken directly from the visual novel is also amazing. It also plays a huge part in establishing the atmosphere, with ‘Natsukage’ playing at Misuzu and Yukito’s first meeting, making it all the more memorable with this beautiful piano piece. And I’m not sure how they do it, but Key manages to make synths fit so well into the mood that I actually appreciate the fact that they’re there. That is to say nothing of the equally wonderful opening theme, written and performed by Lia, who has never let me down.


~ A Picturesque Sky ~
“Painting”

The art, like the sound; is amazing. It’s difficult to believe this was released in early 2005. Air was made in the period where digital colouring helped make anime look much more refined and polished, but was not yet tainted by the addition of a myriad of special effects. This gives it a very warm, pure, visual character that suits the story perfectly.

The clouds and ocean are beautifully rendered and are as much characters in the story as the human characters are themselves. The character designs themselves are some of my favourite, as I absolutely adore Key’s character designs. They aren’t for everyone, as the ‘bug-eyes’ can turn some people off, but I can’t really say anything objective about this other than “I really like them”.


~ Finale ~
"Adieu"

And this is where subjectivity reenters the picture. Air will always, and forever be my favourite anime series. Nostalgia will only serve to reinforce that fact. I hope I’ve convinced those who seem apprehensive, or do not appreciate the beauty that is this story to watch it with the right mindset.

I hope you enjoyed the review ^_^

Now go, watch; for she is waiting in the air…

Disclaimer: I base my overall ratings on emotional impact, therefore the final score of this review will be highly subjective. However, with individual ratings I try to be more objective.

This is also coming from someone who has not read the Fate/Stay Night visual novel, or seen/read any other Fate/ related media.

Art – 9
This probably deserves a 10, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that some of the wider scenes just looked so odd because the character quality diminished. Obviously this is because you can only draw so much detail on an A4(?) piece of paper and the fact that the rest of the ... art is incredibly high caliber makes it’s shortcomings forgiveable.

I really appreciated the close up shots of the servants, especially saber. So much has gone into her character design and the metallic look of her armour is just superb. The character designs are original and really nice to look at too, without conforming to any particular style.

There were a couple of 3D scenes which look awful but I can’t rate this any less than a 9 because it looked so fantastic.

Animation – 10
I’ll just leave this here… (minor spoilers as to a servant saber fights, but just watch that from 36 seconds for a bit, it’s insane)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVJKo4nMaTo#t=00m36s

Sound – 10

There should be an extra tier just for Fate/Stay Night’s music; it’s absolutely incredible.

Fate/Stay Night’s soundtrack consists mostly of stunningly beautiful vocals and clarinets, which really sells the medieval fantasy feel surrounding Saber. La Sola, the vocal piece that plays during the (intricately constructed) final scene is just beautiful. This is - in my opinion - the best vocal piece of music I have ever heard and in terms of anime is more beautiful than Elfen Lied's opening, Lilium. Also of note is Mozart’s Lacrimosa, sung by a single vocalist which is absolutely mesmerising. Considering the entire soundtrack manages to be on par with a Mozart piece, I'm just shocked.

The soundtrack is amazing.

Story - 8
Now this is a very controversial topic but in all honesty I can't pick any glaring faults in Fate/Stay Night's story. I thought Fate/Stay Night had a really solid story up until about episode 16. The lore is a great strong suit of this show. Having all the servants rooted in history makes this so much more relatable and makes who Saber actually is, that much cooler.

Now I won’t lie, I don’t watch this show primarily for the action, I watch Fate/Stay Night because of the romance. I particularly appreciate the use of subtext, which is not often used in anime.

I won’t give away who the couple is, but this is one of the few anime where you cannot immediately pick the couple. You might, but it’s not blatantly suggested and it takes the entire length of the show for the romance to build which is perfect. Too often in anime romance just happens way too quickly but in Fate/Stay Night it is paced perfectly, building and building in an exponential way before the beautiful, beautiful payoff at the end.

One thing I noticed (also that many anime fail at) is that Fate/Stay Night uses violence to great effect. It only uses the exact right amount for the amount of emotion it wants to elicit. There is one particular scene towards the end – now I won’t go into detail, but needless to say, it’s one of the most violent scenes in the show which heightens the emotion of the scene, creating one of the most powerful scenes in the whole show. It has some very, very memorable scenes and I'm honestly not sure why people don't appreciate its merits for what they are.

I’m not sure what people are on about when they say the pacing was off, I’m thinking those people were just impatient that there wasn’t an epic action scene each episode. This series has one of the best uses of foreshadowing I’ve ever seen. Things are revealed, but out of context and as such, nothing is spoiled but makes it that much more amazing when the foreshadowing is paid off. I very much like the almost slice-of-life feel towards the start of the show and the transition into a more action-oriented style towards the end.

I thought this series was paced really well and really tightly written for a 24 episode series. Generally anime over 12 or 13 episodes tend to have little bits of filler here and there, but everything included in Fate/Stay Night advanced the story and/or the characters; nothing was out of place.

I’ll finish this section with the comment that the ending was kind of cliché, which really saddened me because I loved every other element of this anime.

Characters - 9

Shirou. Everyone seems to hate him and that may be because at first, he seems cliché. But one thing Studio DEEN did to help this was have people mock him and have the world disagree with his hero complex. Furthermore, at least his motivation was clear as to why he wanted to be a cliché ‘champion of justice’. Also, having watched the dub (which was really quite good; Kate Higgins was born to play Saber), I didn't get any of the 'people die when they are killed' nonsense.

The same was with the main bad guy (I won’t name names), though I really didn’t like him. He had his motivation, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that he was really cliché.

Saber was really interestingly written. I love the way she seems stoic and emotionless, yet she’s actually a very complex character with inner and outer conflict.

Rin was just great. And I think I’ll end it there, whew…

Emotional impact/Enjoyment – 10
While this review may be more subjective because Fate/Stay Night was one of the first anime I watched, I still enjoy it immensely. I'm absolutely befuddled as to why people think it's so average. Just watch the final scene, with La Sola playing and TRY not to cry.