That was a great analysis, Air deserves more recognition and love these days. Would love to see you do a similar analysis for Kanon (concentrating on the KyoAni version of course), that story was funded properly so was given money for the episodes it needed to tell a coherent story.
I'd like to applaud you for the amount of effort you put into this video! I first watched Air 3 years ago, and I deliberately watched this anime first in the Key Holy Trinity (Air, Kanon, Clannad). I watched it in chronological order, as I didn't want Clannad to ruin Air or Kanon for me. I love how you mentioned the cinematic aspect of Air, as I feel that it's what gives Air its atmosphere. I am in the minority in that I really like the designs and the big eyes. It gives it a cutesy style. I also love the soundtrack that was inspired by trance and ambient music, which contributes to the feel of this anime. I think the dub is solid and is the best out of the Key Holy Trinity, but the sub is better. I view Air as an anime that has clearly aged but still holds up. I still think it is a great anime that is worth watching, especially for those who want to learn more about what anime were popular in the past.
Outstanding video. Found your channel because of your Reddit post and, at first, I was intimidated by the rather long length of it, but I still gave it a try since I'm kind of a KyoAni stan. I love the presentation and the editing, it's really easy to see that you have put a lot of effort into making this video, aside from two really minor nitpicks, I don't really have any complaints. You just won a sub.
There was this little booklet advertising Air that I found at a local library in a book (left behind by it's former owner) and pored over that thing like it was some sort of sacred text. That was nearly twenty years ago
Gut punch ending much. We can only be grateful for the wonderful work the studio has done, especially by those animators we've lost. Deepest sympathies and most heart-felt prayers given.
It's been years since I've seen the anime for Air, but I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to it because it's one of the first anime I watched fansubbed, and one of the first I saw before it was brought to America on home video, which led to me learning about the concept of licensing. I enjoyed it when I watched it as a kid, and I even bought the DVDs for the series and the movie. I should probably rewatch it some time now that I'm an adult and have more understanding of Air's history. I do agree that Air definitely deserves more appreciation now just as it did when it was first made, even if I do enjoy Clannad a little more. I'm also in the camp that I don't feel Air is emotionally manipulative, because to me, Air put in the work to make the audience care about the characters and the story, making sure its plot beats made sense and actually had its characters deal with their flaws, therefore any drama that it presented actually felt earned. I just came off of playing the remake of the visual novel One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e (Which was made by the Key staff before they broke into their own company), and I consider One to actually be emotionally manipulative because it wants the audience to sympathize with and care about a protagonist who is not only a complete piece of shit who never makes any effort to deal with his flaws or respect the boundaries of the girls he interacts with, it has the female characters still fall in love with said MC, and for fairly weak reasons at that. Mizuka's route in this game is especially infamous in that the MC does something absolutely repugnant towards her, but it's just swept under the rug and never mentioned again and Mizuka still loves him. Therefore, none of One's drama ever felt earned or genuine to me. Can you tell I hate Kouhei Orihara with a passion? Man, it really says a lot when I prefer Key's kinetic novels than One. Go read those instead, particularly Lunaria: Virtualized Moonchild. This video is great, and it sucks that most of the staff at KyoAni lost their lives in that God awful arson attack. Seriously, I'm glad the suspect is getting the death penalty for it, and apparently Japan doesn't really do the death penalty, which tells you a LOT. Edit: Also, goddamn, Misuzu's visceral crying still hurts to hear. It got me in the feels as a kid, and it still gets me as an adult. RIP Tomoko Kawakami.
Back then, there was so much art for Air, that I was confused about who was who. Now that I know there was two studio adaptations, as well as a visual novel, I get why that was. Thank you for clearing the... air (forgive the pun).
I have played the visual novel and let me tell you Tono's arc hits you really hard and I still have my reaction when I streamed it. This show is really special to me with the music, setting and themes. With Air being the first show I watched from Kyoto Animation and seeing death in animation in another different way. I really love Kyoto Animation's productions, Lately with Violet Evergarden.
Yukito and Misuzu''s relationship has never felt like a romance to me. Like, at all. Now, granted, I saw KyoAni's Air first and Dezaki's Air after and I haven't played the original VN, which I do know has a romantic ending. Going off of KyoAni's rendition, which heavily downplayed if not removed that element, their relationship seems more like that of an older brother-younger sister, or perhaps simply that of good friends with an age gap wherein one is more experienced and thus takes a more advisory role. And I feel that by framing it in this way their relationship makes a whole lot more sense and is much more effective. I don't know about you, but I can't really imagine Misuzu dating anyone; she's so focused on making a genuine friend and mending her relationship with her mom, it truly seems like she's not interested in a relationship at all. And I totally can't imagine Yukito dating any of the girls, they all seem far too childlike for him. That's why it felt so weird watching the Dezaki movie after KyoAni's Air, their relationship felt so off. Side note: ALL art is emotionally manipulative; that's what makes it art. This is not good criticism. However, whenever a piece of art is very transparent about the intentions or directions of the emotional manipulation, it can feel cheap--it's like seeing through a magic trick. That seems to me the actual point of contention that people have when they use the phrase "emotionally manipulative". That, or they actually are mad that something made them feel a way, which idk, seems very strange to me.
AIR is a classic and I love it. There are a few reasons it's underwatched now, but most boil down to the fact that CLANNAD got very popular when it was animated and only the diehards knew it was the third part of a trilogy, as the three share themes but not a cast save for some references. There's also a lot of hate for the art style, despite its adherents, and the far more legitimate complaint that it's difficult to watch for meta reasons; Kawakami Tomoko later died of an illness herself, on top of all the workers who perished in the arson attack last year, and the dub stars a notorious sexual predator and his most famous victim as the lead couple. Not easy to get past (though the dub wasn't great to begin with). But it's a great series and you're absolutely right about how important and influential it was. I hope more people will check it out; the license is expired, but the DVDs are still easy to find.
The association today of moe being for dudes (often described as creepy dudes) is always jarring to me because as a kid (and i'd say this is still true of kids considering the way toys are designed) I loved moe, the more moe the better. Kamichama Karin was the most beautiful anime in the world to me
I wonder why the line work is so jagged. Was this anime digitally inked and colored too? Early animation programs like RETAS seemed to have a strong aversion to antialiasing (line smoothing), perhaps because it made it difficult to color with a paint-bucket type of tool.
Air was good, but Kanon (the 2nd adaptation of Kanon) was my fav by far when it comes to early Kyoto Animation works before they became more famous thanks to Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star.
I'm no audio expert, but I've heard it's good for beginners. Although pop filters go a long way and they are cheap, so invest in one if you don't have one.
I see the "emotional manipulation" angle insofar as that's what all dramas and soap operas do. The writers make up little guys for you to be upset about, for the sake of making you upset (in a cathartic way, in theory.) And some people just aren't into that kind of thing. There was a time in the Anglophone anime fandom when anime was treated like a genre rather than a medium, and this led some viewers to go into every anime they watched expecting to be able to judge it by the same rubric, without considering that different shows could have completely different goals and target audiences. Air may have been some folks' very first anime that was a pure drama without any science fiction, fantasy, action, or comedy elements.
While I'm still wary of visual novel plots, this was such a great educational video on the production of Air. It's funny how aged the art style looks but when you put the Kyoani Key adaptations next to Toei's art, suddenly it's pretty nice.
SPOILERS: . . . . . . . . . . How come no one who sings this anime's praises ever addresses the fatal flaw of the ending? How could the reincarnations of characters exist at the SAME TIME as the characters? It makes no sense on the initial watching of the show, and even less on a rewatch. Please explain this to me like I'm an infant because there's obviously something im just not understanding here
Hi there, I am a big fan and I finaly have a question that I wanted to post to you. When you commented on the voice actor of the silver haired boy, it seemed there was some inside joke, can you please clarify ? 1- was this voice actor some industry guy who was outed as a scumbag later on an you choose to joke about him being a nobody? 2- was he really just a nobody ? 3- something else ? I know I can google it, but I wanted to support the channel by increasing the channel's viewer engagement statistics by 1 😂
Kyoto Animation created A Silent Voice. The one animation that broken my critical and cynical view of anime. I write this comment after leaving this on the Tenchi Muyo in love video. "Tenchi is the one show I'll always longingly admire but have come to despise as it ruined Anime for me. I started to realize, just how lazy, repetitive, and creatively inept anime truly was. I still watch anime, but I have no great love for it anymore. That love died with this movie. I stand a Fallen Otaku." Before a Silent voice, I couldn't stand to watch Anime at all. I had given up on it. Where Tenchi Muyo in Love killed my Love for Anime. It was Kyoto Animations a Silent Voice that Redeemed Anime in my eyes. That love may still be gone but I can watch Anime again, give it a change. I have KyoAni to think for that.
I do have to ask one question: why did you not acknowledge Vic Mignogna? Judging by this video's release date it was obviously after his scandal, but even so, with all due respect that is no excuse to give him the damnatio memoriae treatment. I looked at both sides of the story and I can honestly say #istandwithvic
One of the most prolific piano openings ever in the anime perfectly sets the tone
That was a great analysis, Air deserves more recognition and love these days. Would love to see you do a similar analysis for Kanon (concentrating on the KyoAni version of course), that story was funded properly so was given money for the episodes it needed to tell a coherent story.
One day. I only do video on anime 15 years or older. So maybe next year..?
@@KaiserBeamz I'll look forward to it. :)
@@KaiserBeamz Gaogaigar is from 1997
Air made me cry. 😭
seeing the opening again hit me in the feels
I'd like to applaud you for the amount of effort you put into this video! I first watched Air 3 years ago, and I deliberately watched this anime first in the Key Holy Trinity (Air, Kanon, Clannad). I watched it in chronological order, as I didn't want Clannad to ruin Air or Kanon for me.
I love how you mentioned the cinematic aspect of Air, as I feel that it's what gives Air its atmosphere. I am in the minority in that I really like the designs and the big eyes. It gives it a cutesy style. I also love the soundtrack that was inspired by trance and ambient music, which contributes to the feel of this anime. I think the dub is solid and is the best out of the Key Holy Trinity, but the sub is better.
I view Air as an anime that has clearly aged but still holds up. I still think it is a great anime that is worth watching, especially for those who want to learn more about what anime were popular in the past.
I still have my DVD box set of this anime, I should give it a spin
For the record, it has the most beautiful opening in anime.
Just finished beautiful dreamer feel like you would unpack that so well. Love your videos!
Outstanding video.
Found your channel because of your Reddit post and, at first, I was intimidated by the rather long length of it, but I still gave it a try since I'm kind of a KyoAni stan. I love the presentation and the editing, it's really easy to see that you have put a lot of effort into making this video, aside from two really minor nitpicks, I don't really have any complaints. You just won a sub.
Good video, goal.
Damn and the fact that this video only has 4000 views is sadder than the show itself.
There was this little booklet advertising Air that I found at a local library in a book (left behind by it's former owner) and pored over that thing like it was some sort of sacred text. That was nearly twenty years ago
Now, that is a tribute. I'll definitely share it.
Fantastic work on the video, some anitubers wish they'd be even close to this level of quality.
Great video on a beautiful subject. The arson attack at Kyoto Animation was a tragedy.
Gut punch ending much. We can only be grateful for the wonderful work the studio has done, especially by those animators we've lost. Deepest sympathies and most heart-felt prayers given.
It's been years since I've seen the anime for Air, but I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to it because it's one of the first anime I watched fansubbed, and one of the first I saw before it was brought to America on home video, which led to me learning about the concept of licensing. I enjoyed it when I watched it as a kid, and I even bought the DVDs for the series and the movie. I should probably rewatch it some time now that I'm an adult and have more understanding of Air's history. I do agree that Air definitely deserves more appreciation now just as it did when it was first made, even if I do enjoy Clannad a little more. I'm also in the camp that I don't feel Air is emotionally manipulative, because to me, Air put in the work to make the audience care about the characters and the story, making sure its plot beats made sense and actually had its characters deal with their flaws, therefore any drama that it presented actually felt earned.
I just came off of playing the remake of the visual novel One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e (Which was made by the Key staff before they broke into their own company), and I consider One to actually be emotionally manipulative because it wants the audience to sympathize with and care about a protagonist who is not only a complete piece of shit who never makes any effort to deal with his flaws or respect the boundaries of the girls he interacts with, it has the female characters still fall in love with said MC, and for fairly weak reasons at that. Mizuka's route in this game is especially infamous in that the MC does something absolutely repugnant towards her, but it's just swept under the rug and never mentioned again and Mizuka still loves him. Therefore, none of One's drama ever felt earned or genuine to me. Can you tell I hate Kouhei Orihara with a passion? Man, it really says a lot when I prefer Key's kinetic novels than One. Go read those instead, particularly Lunaria: Virtualized Moonchild.
This video is great, and it sucks that most of the staff at KyoAni lost their lives in that God awful arson attack. Seriously, I'm glad the suspect is getting the death penalty for it, and apparently Japan doesn't really do the death penalty, which tells you a LOT.
Edit: Also, goddamn, Misuzu's visceral crying still hurts to hear. It got me in the feels as a kid, and it still gets me as an adult. RIP Tomoko Kawakami.
Back then, there was so much art for Air, that I was confused about who was who. Now that I know there was two studio adaptations, as well as a visual novel, I get why that was. Thank you for clearing the... air (forgive the pun).
Damn, now I really want to wath this anime. Had to pause at the "spoiler alert" moment tho
I have played the visual novel and let me tell you Tono's arc hits you really hard and I still have my reaction when I streamed it.
This show is really special to me with the music, setting and themes. With Air being the first show I watched from Kyoto Animation and seeing death in animation in another different way.
I really love Kyoto Animation's productions, Lately with Violet Evergarden.
Yukito and Misuzu''s relationship has never felt like a romance to me. Like, at all. Now, granted, I saw KyoAni's Air first and Dezaki's Air after and I haven't played the original VN, which I do know has a romantic ending. Going off of KyoAni's rendition, which heavily downplayed if not removed that element, their relationship seems more like that of an older brother-younger sister, or perhaps simply that of good friends with an age gap wherein one is more experienced and thus takes a more advisory role. And I feel that by framing it in this way their relationship makes a whole lot more sense and is much more effective. I don't know about you, but I can't really imagine Misuzu dating anyone; she's so focused on making a genuine friend and mending her relationship with her mom, it truly seems like she's not interested in a relationship at all. And I totally can't imagine Yukito dating any of the girls, they all seem far too childlike for him. That's why it felt so weird watching the Dezaki movie after KyoAni's Air, their relationship felt so off.
Side note: ALL art is emotionally manipulative; that's what makes it art. This is not good criticism. However, whenever a piece of art is very transparent about the intentions or directions of the emotional manipulation, it can feel cheap--it's like seeing through a magic trick. That seems to me the actual point of contention that people have when they use the phrase "emotionally manipulative". That, or they actually are mad that something made them feel a way, which idk, seems very strange to me.
Eh, it clearly is a love story. In the original VN as well as the movie adaptation, there's some very pointed sexual content.
Ohman I didn't know the story of Kyoani.
I miss this style of Character Designs.
AIR is a classic and I love it. There are a few reasons it's underwatched now, but most boil down to the fact that CLANNAD got very popular when it was animated and only the diehards knew it was the third part of a trilogy, as the three share themes but not a cast save for some references. There's also a lot of hate for the art style, despite its adherents, and the far more legitimate complaint that it's difficult to watch for meta reasons; Kawakami Tomoko later died of an illness herself, on top of all the workers who perished in the arson attack last year, and the dub stars a notorious sexual predator and his most famous victim as the lead couple. Not easy to get past (though the dub wasn't great to begin with). But it's a great series and you're absolutely right about how important and influential it was. I hope more people will check it out; the license is expired, but the DVDs are still easy to find.
The association today of moe being for dudes (often described as creepy dudes) is always jarring to me because as a kid (and i'd say this is still true of kids considering the way toys are designed) I loved moe, the more moe the better. Kamichama Karin was the most beautiful anime in the world to me
I wonder why the line work is so jagged. Was this anime digitally inked and colored too? Early animation programs like RETAS seemed to have a strong aversion to antialiasing (line smoothing), perhaps because it made it difficult to color with a paint-bucket type of tool.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think the AIR movie told a better story overall.
I really don't understand why this channel is so small.
Do you have a cut-off point of show airings for reviews? Because I think Violet Evergarden is worth a look.
Air was good, but Kanon (the 2nd adaptation of Kanon) was my fav by far when it comes to early Kyoto Animation works before they became more famous thanks to Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star.
Oh dear something terrible happened for studio get incident by fire
You should do a review of the hidden gem Amagi Brilliant Park.
I like AIR but the art style has NOT aged well. If it was remade by KEY with updated character designs I'd dig it
Disagree it’s totally unique
What microphone do you use it so clean all the time
Blue Yeti with a pop filter, believe it or not.
@@KaiserBeamz I use a snowball mic is that a bad microphone?
I'm no audio expert, but I've heard it's good for beginners. Although pop filters go a long way and they are cheap, so invest in one if you don't have one.
@@KaiserBeamz I just order one
Nice
I see the "emotional manipulation" angle insofar as that's what all dramas and soap operas do. The writers make up little guys for you to be upset about, for the sake of making you upset (in a cathartic way, in theory.) And some people just aren't into that kind of thing.
There was a time in the Anglophone anime fandom when anime was treated like a genre rather than a medium, and this led some viewers to go into every anime they watched expecting to be able to judge it by the same rubric, without considering that different shows could have completely different goals and target audiences. Air may have been some folks' very first anime that was a pure drama without any science fiction, fantasy, action, or comedy elements.
While I'm still wary of visual novel plots, this was such a great educational video on the production of Air. It's funny how aged the art style looks but when you put the Kyoani Key adaptations next to Toei's art, suddenly it's pretty nice.
oxygen
SPOILERS:
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How come no one who sings this anime's praises ever addresses the fatal flaw of the ending? How could the reincarnations of characters exist at the SAME TIME as the characters? It makes no sense on the initial watching of the show, and even less on a rewatch. Please explain this to me like I'm an infant because there's obviously something im just not understanding here
Is there an English dub of this?
Yes
13:01 tf girl lol
So sad
Sooo Clannad when?
Do more on kyoani
What were the songs in this video???
Check the credits
great... _that_ show
in retrospect, it wasn't so bad, considering it came out early in the 2000's and the tropes weren't so overdone
Hi there, I am a big fan and I finaly have a question that I wanted to post to you.
When you commented on the voice actor of the silver haired boy, it seemed there was some inside joke, can you please clarify ?
1- was this voice actor some industry guy who was outed as a scumbag later on an you choose to joke about him being a nobody?
2- was he really just a nobody ?
3- something else ?
I know I can google it, but I wanted to support the channel by increasing the channel's viewer engagement statistics by 1 😂
Let's just say his history with Misuzu's English voice actress makes this dub a bit of a rough watch for some.
@@KaiserBeamz figured as much xD,
Anyways, you are awesome, your channel is awesome. I wish you the best.
I just finished that anime it was golden classic gin. Expect for the movie did not like the art style.
The ending does feel like cheap heat.
21:20 I see what you did there. Very funny. But if you're not going to say it, I'm going to say it - - -
Genital Warts!
Kyoto Animation created A Silent Voice. The one animation that broken my critical and cynical view of anime. I write this comment after leaving this on the Tenchi Muyo in love video.
"Tenchi is the one show I'll always longingly admire but have come to despise as it ruined Anime for me.
I started to realize, just how lazy, repetitive, and creatively inept anime truly was.
I still watch anime, but I have no great love for it anymore. That love died with this movie.
I stand a Fallen Otaku."
Before a Silent voice, I couldn't stand to watch Anime at all. I had given up on it. Where Tenchi Muyo in Love killed my Love for Anime.
It was Kyoto Animations a Silent Voice that Redeemed Anime in my eyes. That love may still be gone but I can watch Anime again, give it a change.
I have KyoAni to think for that.
Their eyes are painful to look at
I do have to ask one question: why did you not acknowledge Vic Mignogna? Judging by this video's release date it was obviously after his scandal, but even so, with all due respect that is no excuse to give him the damnatio memoriae treatment. I looked at both sides of the story and I can honestly say #istandwithvic