As the strains of Lia’s “Farewell song” float all around me, I think back to ten years ago…when I knew of Air, but had not quite seen it just yet. I was not among those who had watched it as it aired, since I did not, and still do not, make use of illegal methods to view anime. I would see it later, well before it was licensed for home video in North America, but still through a legal method: raw, on R2 DVDs. “See” being the operative word, since my knowledge of Japanese is quite limited. Toward the end of 2005, I saw Air in Summer, the extended version of the “Summer” arc to the show, where we go back in time and see the origin of the curse that afflicts the modern day Misuzu Kamio (I’m going to assume all of you reading this are familiar with the original series or the game; I’m not going to recap the entire main storyline, nor do I plan to do so for this arc).
So, how did someone who didn’t watch fansubs and keep up with what was broadcast in Japan hear of Air and wind up importing the beautiful limited edition volumes of the series? I guess I should blame Pelianth (in pace requiescat) or Gatts or another one of those who contributed to the AoD forums’ “R2 JPEG Orgy,” the sharing/bragging center of those who bothered to purchase overpriced discs that took extra trouble to play and made no sense if you did not understand spoken Japanese. After I began to see pictures of the beautiful LE volumes (seriously, the cover artwork for the LE singles is breathtaking and puts to shame much of what passes for great packaging out there), while I was a couple months behind, I quickly got in on it, having already been a CD soundtrack importer for a few years before this (why I started to buy music CDs in a language I don’t understand…is another story for another time…).
I was lucky, lucky so I thought at the time, to score some of the last copies of the first two LE volumes at Amazon.jp (years later, you could still find them occasionally, at far-reduced prices; obviously leftover copies that the distributor wanted to unload. Now, you can find marketplace sellers offering it there at reduced prices, though not all of them may be willing to ship overseas). After that, I preordered the rest. So, every time a new volume shipped, there was the long agonizing wait for it to arrive. Back then, Amazon Japan still offered the cheap international shipping option, airmail, which was incredibly reasonable in price and came not too much later than if you paid triple for expedited fancy courier delivery.
As I was only familiar with others’ descriptions of the show and no one had seen the separate two-part Summer OVA yet, this was going to be a chance to get in on the ground floor. Except…I still wouldn’t understand more than a handful of the words that would be spoken.
It’s not very hard to follow the story, though, and if you had read some quick wiki descriptions or a synopsis at one of the many spoiler blogs out there and didn’t have a problem with being spoiled, there was no real problem to seeing it without full comprehension. In fact, when I later rewatched it (dubbed) on ADV’s domestic release, I was to some extent underwhelmed by the story. Compared to the drama and tragedy that dominates the Summer arc in the main series, this extended extra is largely comical in tone, filling in the gaps in time that the main series arc skips over while showing the journey of Ryuya, Uraha, and Kannabi-no-Mikoto. It does nothing to soften the blow that comes when you recall how the story ends.
But that doesn’t really matter. Air in Summer is a gorgeous visual feast, showing Kyoto Animation’s ability to evoke a time and place and provide it with show-stopping backgrounds. The Heian era was probably not much of a challenge for them, as they had already had many years under their belts providing backgrounds for Sunrise’s long-running shounen romp Inuyasha. The character designs, originally by Itaru Hinoue and adapted by Tomoe Aratani, have been knocked here and there by critics (as being the archetype of the “moe blob”), but the lines are crisp and fluid, just like the animation in general.
As the first of the fan-named “KeyAni trilogy” (the three collaborations between game maker Visual Art’s/Key and Kyoto Animation), Air may be more style than substance (a criticism that is not as easily leveled at the two later works, the slightly deeper and more genuine Kanon which would have been a classic for the ages with few peers had it not been followed by the even more intense and powerful Clannad/Clannad After Story, which is a classic for the ages), but it is beautiful in style. Tatsuya Ishihara, who directed all three works, got things off to an excellent visual start with Air. Air in Summer gave him and all of the staff at Kyoto Animation the chance to make an even deeper and lasting impression of what they could do with the extra time afforded by an OVA (these two episodes would be broadcast after the regular run of episodes, but the long lead time would have given them the ability to reach closer to OVA-levels of quality, as they could be produced free from the serious time constraints that regular weekly episodes are subject to). The quality is pretty apparent, even if, as was noted at the time, there were issues with the home video release of Air, especially noticeable in the OP animation where there is some serious noise up in the clouds—beautiful as those clouds and the blue sky they inhabit are.
So, what am I left with ten years later? A memory of a visual spectacle, filled with flowing, ornate robes and traditional weaponry from the Heian era, all stunningly rendered. As well as the sad story of one very unlucky and unhappy girl who unfortunately passed on that ill-luck to another until a certain goal could be reached. This was just a little happy extra before you say goodbye to their world again.
Yeah, imagine creating something like that today in HD. Shows with great visuals always stand out, and this is especially true of anime. It’s one reason, despite the black bars, Grisaia had such a strong appeal.