Forum - View topicREVIEW: Air DVD 1
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mistress_reebi Posts: 736 Location: Canada |
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I agree, if the first two episodes are less interesting than paint drying, what's the point of watching it? Sure, the "ending may be great" but It's like sitting through a long speech about coasters then going to a party later. Why go through boredom to get to the good stuff? I remember in my Creative Writing class back in high school the teacher told us that the first paragraph should be a "hook" otherwise people wouldn't read the rest. Same with anime, it needs a "hook." I do like drama/angst stories, but I don't think I'll be buying Air if the pacing is really slow and it's based off of a dating sims game. Cliché characters in a drama series also bother me. |
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| Zalis116 Moderator  Posts: 4812 Location: Tana Village |
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 But I believe in giving anything a fair shot -- I try not to avoid anything on a "because it has moe girls / sports / a giant robot / bishounen / lots of killing and death" basis, as I think the anime experience is richer that way. And I am planning on seeing The Daichis and NDB, eventually.
*sigh* I guess I'll just resign myself to these kinds of series not having success in North America, partly because we don't have the games here (licensing fees are too impossibly high for Hirameki and the like to bring them over). I've confessed in the past to being a fanboy of this genre, so it is fully possible I'm overlooking a lot of flaws, and apparently what I see as interesting points are terrible to others. Well, can't say I didn't try, I put my money where my mouth is, and tried to speak well of the series to others...but I don't want to contribute to the fanboy hype machine that set up too-high expectations in some, at least not any more than I already have. |
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| Goodpenguin Posts: 457 Location: Hunt Valley, MD |
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Theres no reason to feel bad if a showyou like isn't popular or well-received in the mainstream, or hyping it if you feel others will enjoy it. (I have an abiding fondness for the 'Photon/Mouse/Agent Aika' s of the world, which puts me on a delinquent fandom rung well below that of angsty-drama fans.) Your earlier post laid out clear reasons what a fan of this genre would find in terms of uniqueness, and I can certainly understand why this title has buzz among fans of the type. It's really just an issue of putting context to what is great genre (or 'guilty-pleasure') entertainment in relation to overall/general great entertainment. I think if a person hypes 'Air' as an 'overall' great show, it will probably attract a fair amount of accurate blow-back on cliche/pacing/manipulative grounds; on the other hand if praise is contextualized in 'good genre/guilty pleasure' appeal, people will understand the parameters a little better. To note, identifying a show as 'genre specific/guilty pleasure' doesn't make it any less of an enjoyable show, it just lets people set their expectations. Also, it seems there is a fair amount of positive post-feedback for this title (I've also got the impression it was pretty hot on fansubs), so it may be a domestic success. Big-time melodrama is a tough sell outside of Asia though. I'm also at least a decade past 'Air's target audience age and grew up with vastly different popular anime conventions, so what I like or dislike in a show pretty much means a hill of beans in relation to today's fandom success. |
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| Key Moderator  Posts: 4533 Location: Indianapolis (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Actually Hirameki isn't the only company importing games/visual novels. (Thankfully, since the editing standards on the one visual novel of theirs that I have seen were beyond awful.) J-List has been fairly active in this area, although probably the biggest-name games they've imported so far have been the original game from which Bible Black was derived and the Ai Yori Aoshi dating sim. They'd be more likely to come out with the source game for an anime series, although I'll agree the licensing fees might be prohibitive. |
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| dormcat Encyclopedia Editor  Posts: 7337 Location: Hsinchu City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Contrary to what goodpenguin said, I feel that most Air fans would like 2x2. It's not like people who love watching tragedies can't appreciate comedies, especially when the latter targets otakudom.
See? That's why I didn't bother to jump out and defend it, for I already knew most average American anime fans would find Air, as well as Haibane Renmei or YKK, boring. 
We don't have the game in Taiwan either. T-Time Technology, the licensor which brought us Princess Maker and Memories Off series, wanted to license it, but rumors said Key asked 100 million Yen for the licensing fee, which was way beyond what they could afford. However, in addition to kagikko, "normal" people here seem to appreciate its character designs (already much improved from the game version) and tragic storyline, probably due to a multitude of romantic tragedies and melodramas on TV, something US TV audiences don't watch often. |
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| rg4619 Posts: 160 |
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Actually, Ai Yori Aoshi was published by Hirameki, while Bible Black was published by Media Blasters. As of now, Hirameki is the only company releasing non-adult games, although they haven't had much success.
I think the quality of AIR might be debatable even among genre fans. |
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| Zac ANN Executive Editor  Posts: 4298 Location: Death Star Cocktail Lounge |
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I don't think you really know that much about US TV audiences. Your statement here is completely incorrect. |
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HitokiriShadow Subscriber Posts: 4908 |
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Note that he said success, not popularity; they are not the same thing. And there is reason to be sad that these types of shows aren't successful (if that proves to be the case; it's too soon to tell). If they aren't successful, that means very few will be licensed and released over here. |
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| dormcat Encyclopedia Editor Posts: 7337 Location: Hsinchu City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Apparently I didn't express what I thought clearly enough; it needs a few revisions and clarifications. I suppose you were talking about daytime (melo)drama. In both US and Japan, they aim at housewives who can watch TV during school/business hours, and most anime fans (Japanese or American) do not have direct access to them (let's put recordings and rentals aside). The two target audience seldom overlap. On the other hand, the romantic tragedies I was talking about were Japanese (and to some degree, Korean) drama that designed for prime-time audiences. Being NE Asia is almost a synonym of "chic!" in Taiwan (the trend started in early 90's thanks to Tokyo Love Story), thus their fans consist mostly students and young adults that overlap in a significant degree with anime fandom. In US, however, to my knowledge there's nothing like Beautiful Life in prime-time nowadays. These are my personal perceptions and experiences anyway. Feel free to correct me. |
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Psycho 101Subscriber Posts: 5229 Location: In the Grumpmobile with Grumpyman fighting crime one pot of coffee at a time. |
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In case I didn't make it clear I had not heard anything or know anything about Air. Beyond the ADV is ruining Air group. |
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| Goodpenguin Posts: 457 Location: Hunt Valley, MD |
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Just to be clear, I was making a 'taste is relative' point to avoid putting 'Air' fans on the defensive, not that your average fan would find melodrama and zany comedies mutually exclusive.
Beyond whether US audiences are exposed to as much angsty-drama as Asian audiences, I think you can make a more appropo point in that Asian melodrama is a whole different beast intensity wise when stacked up against US/Western 'soap' style drama. Highly charged/frenetic emotional drama also seems to be accepted as mainstream entertainment by a wide demographic in Asia as compared to the US (in my limited experience). I've heard Japanese writers/directors as well as Hong Kong figures like Tsui Hark (who had a pretty famous blowing-up after his remake of 'The One-Armed Swordsman' tanked) make mention that they often have to 'fire up' their material so-to-speak to keep a general audience. A show like 'Air' can seem heavy-handed and overwrought here, but (in context) be right in the entertainment wheelhouse for Asian audiences. An issue of cultural tastes; which, and apologies if I'm wrong, seemed to be what you were getting after a bit. |
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| dormcat Encyclopedia Editor Posts: 7337 Location: Hsinchu City, Taiwan, ROC |
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I think you hit the bull's eye; the tastes are just very different. For example, in Taiwan even a hardcore anime fan would hesitate a bit if you ask him about Cowboy Bebop, and almost no casual fan has heard of it. Here Air TV was licensed as early as June 2005, and I've seen many non-otakuish casual fans buying it. |
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| Kaioshin_Sama Posts: 338 |
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| I should also mention that Air has going for it a the era of freshness in the whole Key/Visual Arts scene akin to the Megaman 2 era of Capcom's franchise. What I mean by that is that the novelty of Key's stories started to wear off sometime after or during Clannad as they constantly recycled their stories and characters with the whole Key Ending (People who've played a game should know what I mean) having less and less of an impact with each passing rendition (at least from what I feel) to the point where like Dr. Wily turning out to be the bad guy again in Megaman despite the decoy lacks any surprise and is just a given, the Key Ending lacks the impact it once had.
As Little Busters spoilers start to trickle out over the internet I can say I saw the ending coming around the time the game was announced. It's probably a good thing there's only been 2 Key Animes thus far and I can't say how Clannad TV will be since it's pretty damn similar in the end to all the other Key stories leading me to ponder the point of it all, but let me just lay it out, unless you are a hardcore Key Fan, it's probably only worth it to watch one series due to the similarities between the stories, characters and themes. If not then I'd recommend not watching two or playing (in the games case) two in a row or frankly within a year of each other to get the maximum out of each story without feeling like they are all blending together, that is if you go for that kind of story. That's my 2 cents. |
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jgreen Posts: 1231 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Well, I'm relatively new to the series in that I just watched it for the first time less than a month before its American release, and I absolutely loved it. I will say that the first two episodes are very slow, but with the first DVD containing four episodes, I think it's unfair to judge the series based only on the first half of what you reviewed (especially since anyone who buys the DVD would presumably watch the entire thing, right?). When I first watched it, I'll admit I was a little bored with the plot developments in the first two episodes, but I found the characters intriguing enough to keep going, and man, was I glad I did, as this was one of the most addictive new series I've checked out in a while. The storytelling isn't flawless, of course -- the first episode in particular has a potentially fatal flaw in that it doesn't even mention Yukito's quest for the girl in the sky AT ALL. First episodes are pretty much required by law to give you the basic premise of the series you're watching, and when this premise is introduced in the first few seconds of episode 2 rather than, say, the final scene of episode 1, it's really quite jarring. Had I watched it on TV, I don't know if I would have tuned in next week, but watching it on DVD of course you have the benefit of the next episode being right there. I would strongly recommend Air to pretty much any anime fan. And if anyone wants to find out more about it, you should most definitely pick up the next issue of Protoculture Addicts. I'm just sayin'. 
What an odd criticism of the show. The reason why not all the girls are in the opening theme animation is because they're not all main characters, or even "eligible" girls! The story revolves around Yukito's interactions with Misuzu, Kanno, and Minagi, and all of the other female characters are not main characters but rather side characters within those three girls' story lines. That's not a detriment to the series, that's just good storytelling. Not every character can or should get top billing.
Agreed! Air is one of the most visually stunning TV series I've watched in a long time.
There is absolutely ZERO fanservice in the Air anime. I was actually shocked to discover this was based on a hentai game, to be honest with you....after seeing some of the emotional trauma these girls go through, the thought that the original game followed that up with sex scenes seemed especially appalling to me.
I wasn't a fan of Vic Mignogna in this dub. He's not a bad actor, of course, but he's just the wrong casting for this particular character. He doesn't have the hard edge that the Japanese VA has that really sells Yukito's identity as an itinerant vagabnd, y'know? But the female characters were, I thought, exquisitely cast, especially Monica Rial as Misuzu and Stephanie Wittels as Kanno (one of the most uncannily perfect Japanese-to-English casting moves I can think of...I *love* her in this role). The only other voice I'd say I'm not a fan of is Serena Varghese as the brash young Michiru....I'm glad they went for a different sort of voice than they normally would for this role, but I just kind of find her grating.
The pacing is that slow in the first two episodes, yes, but this first volume has four episodes on it, and the plot gets a hell of a lot more intriguing in episodes 3 and 4. The series is a slow build, though, and the bulk of the development takes place in the episodes that'll be on disc 2.
Well, I'm a 28-year old anime fan whose anime fandom was almost completely built off old Streamline dubs, and I still thought this series as a whole was brilliant. People dwell on the fact that it's based on a dating sim, but the case here really is how great this series is in spite of its origins, not because of them. The artistry on this series is on a whole other level from any harem show I've ever seen, and there is virtually none of the typical harem series conventions other than that there's one guy and a whole lot of girls around. |
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| Key Moderator Posts: 4533 Location: Indianapolis (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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If you go back and read the review again, you'll note that I did base things on the whole volume and not just the first two episodes, and did note that the storytelling improved markedly in the second two episodes. That's why I bumped the Story grade up to a C+ from the C I was originally going to give it. Even if I were to grade the storytelling in the second two episodes separately, though, I doubt I would give it higher than a B. It certainly improved, but didn't turn into anything wonderful that quickly. I'm glad to hear that you were not bothered by the dating sim origins, as its inability in the early going to transcend its origins certainly bothered me. Other series have done the same transition and done a far, far better job of it. (Diamond Daydreams immediately springs to mind.) I also disagree that this is a title that could be recommended to any anime fan, and age has nothing to do with it. The series is too slow to keep the interest of some and both the storytelling and character designs simply aren't a style that some others will appreciate. |
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