Air is an anime series based off of a game – a “visual novel” game, to be exact. (If you’re not familiar with this genre, think of it as a “choose your own adventure” type game.) This is, arguably, a little bit odd – but in this case, it really does work.
The story of Air is incredibly compelling – perhaps because the sense of mystery that surrounds what is actually happening.
All the characters in the show have their own story, and during the course of the series, each one is explored in turn. There’s also a bit of mystery as to which character is going to be the “important” one for the main plot, although truth be told it’s not that hard to tell.
One thing that this show does really well is to avoid explaining absolutely everything – that is, although things are resolved, they’re not always explained in great depth to the viewer – and it’s this air (if you’ll excuse the pun) of mystery that makes the show really quite lovely to watch.
On top of a great story (and a very interesting back story in the form of “Air in Summer“), this show is also absolutely beautiful to watch. The animation here is truly a joy to behold – bright and full of life.
In the end, this is a very mysterious and romantic series – so if action and adventure are the things you crave, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you enjoy a well-told story, with beautiful animation, fascinating characters, and an involved back-story, then you should definitely give Air a watch.
