Air has just evened Kanon’s score
I finished Air. After watching two out of four key Key works I feel a take on the genre would be appropriate so watch out for a hopefully extensive critique on the visual novel as a genre in the next two, three, maybe five days — in addition to that, I should be reading Planetarian after my exams (I keep on thinking “Planetes” for some reason) and I can’t wait for Clannad to air next season, if everything goes as planned.
the summer specials obviously weren’t about fanservice.
The score with regards to Key’s Storytelling Value now lies at 1-1, in favour of the home team since Planetarian and Clannad show more promise. As much as I’d like to have liked Air, I felt horribly disconnected from it all, and very few monumental scenes actually did it for me. Did a lot of fans feel the same way, or am I the only one — that the entire thing pales in comparison to Kanon? Seeing how it came two whole years later I’d have thought that they’d have improved on the story aspect, but it seemed to worsen.
Sure, there was less emphasis on the male protagonist this time, making things seem slightly less fabricated. But I still couldn’t stand it for a few reasons — aside from how it seemed like a cash-in on Key’s new-found fame, it also seemed like a remix of Kanon gone wrong. I had issues with the portrayal and characterisation of all three girls, so let’s go into them in detail:
Kano was a farce. Her arc was over and done with before I could get attached to her as a character; her short hair and lame attempts at shrouding herself with mystery made me think they decided to recycle the Shiori template into something more retarded. The first time in front of the shrine I thought “do you know Oyashirosama?”, but that was cruelly cut short by a half-assed venture into the mediocre. A forgettable digression that had no real presence, Kano was probably the worst of the lot.
Minagi looked like Kaori and Sayuri’s lovechild with Mai’s annoying silent-type personality, and despite being the worst clich of the lot, actually was the high point of the show. Michiru, despite being a plot device that was a cross between the Kaori-Shiori and Makoto predicaments, held most of the show’s emotional impact — but nowhere near Makoto’s standards, probably slightly higher than Kaori-Shiori.
And then we have Misuzu. I hated a lot of her, like how the writers justified her very first interaction in the show with Yukito (that also broke my suspension of disbelief) through the curse isolating her from society. Yeah, I thought the curse was pretty lame, and without the feudal era episodes Air would be now known as one of the greatest turkeys in Key history. Her arc was the only one that gradually got better, due to how she had the most screen time out of every girl.
See the thing about Ms. Gao Gao Stegosaurus here is that her life was technically sad. I’ll elaborate on this later in my dissection of the visual novel as a genre, but being technically sad doesn’t mean anything when the viewer simply does not relate. Disconnection from what we view happens because there is no empathy there, nothing that allows you to relate to the subject on-screen and tear up. My detachment from Misuzu was a result of the ridiculous premise and her initially unexplained characteristics that simply made no sense to me — a teenage girl wanting to befriend this creepy-looking drifter in his late 20s? No, just no. I couldn’t connect with her at all as a result.
Of course when it all fell into place it was only mildly better. I don’t know if the 12 episodes actually did Air more harm than it did good, because Kanon’s girls got ample screen time and as a result, despite Mai and Shiori being awful in their own right, never really came close to the level that the Air girls sank down to. I have only Air’s pre-dating Kanon 2006 as an excuse for Key not doing a good job, and is that really an acceptable excuse to begin with, when Key had Kanon 2002’s mistakes to learn from?
There were a few saving graces to the show, like the lack of Yukito throughout the last few episodes, but nothing really significant that made me change my mind. The beach scene and the goal scene was only sad in a mildly miserable kind of way, and while there were cues going off in my head saying “This is where you’re supposed to be crying!” I had a Kyon-like expression of exasperation on my face instead.
The feudal era episodes had slightly more substance, but Kanna prevented it from being anything close to spectacular. For those of you out there who claim “moe anime” exists, can Kanna then qualify as a construct of moe since she existed as a character way before any such term was coined, at least in the English-speaking community to my knowledge? Or since moe is a new invention and there’s a obviously a cut-off point for when characters started becoming moe, does her being an old character means she’s disqualified by default? Wait, she’s an ‘05 character so she’s new and might qualify, yet she’s also old since the game was in ‘01? I’ve just created a moe paradox!
She grated on the nerves in any case. What made it worse was all the double entendres in the two summer specials that made me wonder if they should have been called the fanservice specials instead, given how Key was bent on inserting all sorts of innuendo into a majority of the Ryuuga-Kanna scenes. The specials didn’t detract from the experience of Air itself, but they didn’t add anything much either.
I also hated Potato with a vengeance since in addition to being a cute prop for the girls, it also was a rip-off of Pero Pero, which blows since Pero Pero is superior.
If there’s any Air fans reading this, I hope you can indeed enlighten me on the finer points of Air that I didn’t get, because it’s either there was nothing to “get” to begin with, or it’s due to how I’m such an emotionless wanker that wasn’t moved at such contrived attempts at emotion. I think it’s definitely a mix of both, but please, I’d like to hear from those who liked it to tell me what was so great about it.
Air has, on my AnimeSeen profile on the right, now been ranked a stunning 6 along with Azumanga, Chobits, and Midori no Hibi. There’s something simply so wonderful about reducing something you’ve seen to a number and lumping it in terms of value with other things you’ve seen. Now that I’m done with finally done with that I need to choose another anime to watch. Should I start on Asatte no Houkou, finish Higurashi, or consider watching the Air movie? Choices, choices, choices…
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I’m an Air fan!
Comparatively, Air arcs are more connected, while Kanon seemed more like separate arcs. The focus is more on misuzu as well. Everything seemed very well connected.
Kanon seemed to sustain more on cuteness, while Air’s strength was more on the story line. Of course, I’ve met tons of people who just don’t get Air’s story, nor do they find it emotional. Thus often you have a group of people who totally love Air, and another group who just don’t get it.
Air started the first wave of being super colourfully animated too. I actually found it easier to connect to Misuzu, then a girl stucked in coma, or a fox coming back as a human. But like i said, air’s storyline is pretty extreme
I’m surprised though, most people say that AIR’s storyline is better, though they debate about the rest of the merits of each anime.
“I feel a take on the genre would be appropriate so watch out for a hopefully extensive critique on the visual novel as a genre in the next two, three, maybe five days”
I’ve yet to read your article (PARTY @ SOME PLACE), but all I have to say for now is that, you can’t really evaluate the whole visual genre category as a whole with just some of Key’s works. They’re quite popular due to their works, yes, but there are other works that need to be viewed and subsequently critiqued in order for you to say that you can evaluate it on is entirety. Both the bad visual novels which border on the ridiculous, and the good ones. Key’s works alone do not speak for the whole visual novel genre.
Hang on while I get my panties out of a knot.
nano:
>>Comparatively, Air arcs are more connected, while Kanon seemed more like separate arcs. The focus is more on misuzu as well.
This is a bit subjective. How is Kanon less connected, or Air more? I’m using Kanon 2006 as a reference to Air, in case you’re referring to the 2002 one, or the game. I thought the way they weaved in every girl at the beginning was pretty good as it allowed them to focus on each one in turn without feeling a bit too unnatural.
>>I actually found it easier to connect to Misuzu, then a girl stucked in coma, or a fox coming back as a human.
It wasn’t so much the setting as it was the character — there’s something fuzzy here that I can’t really put my finger on, and I think it’s called the portrayal of the girls — their emotions are a lot more realistic (which also sounds horribly vague, ugh) and I can identify with their feelings as “real” as opposed to the Air girls.
Alkie:
>>you cant really evaluate the whole visual genre category as a whole with just some of Keys works.
JUST AS PLANNED. I had a feeling someone would bring that up. Actually, wait, not all as planned. Let’s change “visual novel” with “eroge”, I slipped up on term usage. Shoot, I can’t believe I made that mistake.
I meant “eroge” and I chose Key due to two things actually: quality story and minimal sex.
The problem with all the other eroges out there is that the sex is either crucially linked to the story (i.e.
TurkeyhandleTsukihime and Fate/stay) or of immense amounts (any other eroge!). Sex also distorts the perceived value of it — it’s pretty hard to talk bad about something you’ve just gotten a boner and then beaten off to.Key can be said to be representative because the amount of sex is so minimal that it has no ties with the story and doesn’t disrupt the flow — did they ever explain the mana recharging in the Tsukihime and Fate/stay adaptations? Neither is sex the emphasis, which in my opinion is utterly worthless — Kanon and Air managed to sell huge amounts despite having the sex removed, but would any other eroge out there do so and still be able to survive?
The other argument is that sex is a crucial part of eroge and that it doesn’t make sense to insist that the sex part be ignored, but again Kanon and Air has managed to do so, Planetarian has none, Clannad has none, and Key’s forthcoming work, Little Busters, in July has also none — which in turn begs the question if Key’s really making “eroge” nowadays or just bishoujo/dating sim stuff, in which case the basis for my statement kinda crumbles.
Meh, the Air movie sucks but you’d probably like it if you didn’t like the TV series. It usually goes that way. I’m a big Air fan, but I’m ??? lazy to explain what you seem to be missing out on. I personally think it’s just a matter of taste.
I would reccomend finishing Higurashi, since the sequel will be out soon. I am not too fond of the anime for Higurashi, but it qualifies as my favorite series ever due to the novel/original story and everything else around it. The anime is just an extra to me.
AIR mainly suffered from poor pacing and trying to fit an epic story into twelve episodes. Kanon 2002 suffered in the same way. Whether AIR’s story is any better or not is hard to say. I personally prefer Kanon more, but Kanon is more of the standard eroge, even if Key managed to revolutionize the genre with it. AIR, on the other hand, ditched the idea of going after seperate girls entirely in favor of one main girl, the reason for the limited airtime of Kano and Minagi. In a way this could be said to pave the way for the linear focus of Planetarian. Also, despite AIR’s problems it was a huge success, and the reason Kanon not only got a remake, but 26 episodes for it.
And, yeah, moe defintely existed when the anime came out. The term “moeblob” anime can defintely be used on AIR, even if it didn’t come about till Haruhi. And I’m pretty sure the idea of moe was around when the game came out, even if there wasn’t an exact name for it. But how anyone could find the original game art moe is beyond me.
As for Key games, remember that when Clannad first came out Key’s fans were angry because it had no sex, eventually leading to the creation of the Tomoya After disc, which did have sex. Key’s games not having sex is actually the anomaly in the visual novel market, which makes them a bad choice to examine the market as a whole through. Though, I don’t know what your exact intentions are, so I’ll wait to see what you write.
>>I meant eroge and I chose Key due to two things actually: quality story and minimal sex.
>>The problem with all the other eroges out there is that the sex is either crucially linked to the story (i.e.
TurkeyhandleTsukihime and Fate/stay) or of immense amounts (any other eroge!). Sex also distorts the perceived value of it its pretty hard to talk bad about something youve just gotten a boner and then beaten off to.”I agree with sex distorting the perceived value of things, but not all, if not most, of the eroges out there have sex as something pivotal to the story. I’ll explain that later on.
>>Key can be said to be representative because the amount of sex is so minimal that it has no ties with the story and doesnt disrupt the flow did they ever explain the mana recharging in the Tsukihime and Fate/stay adaptations? Neither is sex the emphasis, which in my opinion is utterly worthless Kanon and Air managed to sell huge amounts despite having the sex removed, but would any other eroge out there do so and still be able to survive?
Yep, they do. When an eroge becomes popular enough, their companies release an adaptation of the game meant to be introduced into a wider audience, hence why most PC-based eroges get turned into PS2 ones. These PS2 eroges don’t have sex, though they feature a longer story, additional heroines, and new events.
Examples of these would be, off the top of my head, the Eien no Aselia, ToHeart 2, and Nanatsuiro Drops PS2 adaptation, among others. All of them had sex in the PC eroge, but in the PS2 ones, those were removed in favor of additional content, and the story still manages to hold up, and sales seem to do quite well. Though that begs the question, what determines the success of an eroge? Would it be the impact it has on the individual or the sales figures?
To illustrate this, Fate/Stay Night’s PS2 port, Realta Nua, has new scenes to cater to its fans, and has cut out its sexual parts (from what I hear). It managed to sell 140 thousand copies, pretty much the second highest selling PS2 game in Japan right now, according to a source.
>>The other argument is that sex is a crucial part of eroge and that it doesnt make sense to insist that the sex part be ignored, but again Kanon and Air has managed to do so, Planetarian has none, Clannad has none, and Keys forthcoming work, Little Busters, in July has also none which in turn begs the question if Keys really making eroge nowadays or just bishoujo/dating sim stuff, in which case the basis for my statement kinda crumbles.
To take it into a commercial perspective, sex in eroges isn’t something that’s included just because it’s a part of the genre. I suppose that it’s the expectation of the customers that sex be part of eroges, which is why companies include sex in their games. The Clannad example as said above can be used to somehow illustrate it, but what I’m also saying is that somehow, the eroge audience has gotten used to having sex in their games that it feels disjointed without it, as it is an eroge, after all. Commercialism, and all that, as sex sells – though I suppose this is too easy a solution for the question you posed.
Tess:
>>I personally think its just a matter of taste.
After seeing the varied comments on this post I’m beginning to think so myself, too. Was thinking of going with Higurashi anyhow, but since I stopped watching in the middle during Triad’s drought I don’t know if I should start again from episode one. Ah well.
Demian:
>>And, yeah, moe defintely existed when the anime came out. The term moeblob anime can defintely be used on AIR, even if it didnt come about till Haruhi. And Im pretty sure the idea of moe was around when the game came out, even if there wasnt an exact name for it. But how anyone could find the original game art moe is beyond me.
See, that’s why I have issues with the whole “moe” thing to begin with, because you’ve clearly shown how it’s existed even in some form even before it was given a name. That aside there’s some interesting issues you’ve raised, I’ll address those later.
Alk: Oh this is going to be long. I’ll address the points you brought up later in my post too.
>>After seeing the varied comments on this post Im beginning to think so myself, too.
Good job. *golf clap*
The reason you’re all failing is that you’re trying to find something good in something you don’t believe good can be found in. I tried it with Haruhi; believe me, it doesn’t work. In my case, AIR was (one of) the first series I watched on my own (that is, after Bleach and Naruto and stuff with my brothers), and its pathetic appeals did work on me and they did make me cry, before I’d ever seen the non-word “moe” written on any forums or blogs, before I knew that AIR was based off of a game of sorts, before I knew anything about Kyoto Animation or Key.
I watched Kanon 2002 in a hurry after AIR, and while a good deal of the pathetic appeals got to me, I simply didn’t like it as much. It wasn’t the art or the animation, it was the content. And not the rhetoric, either. The content, plain and simple.
I believe that AIR and Kanon’s appeals are very, very similar. In both cases, we have fairly ridiculous circumstancesa “normal” world with magic and wishes, etc., woven in as plot points rather than metaphysics. Suspension of disbelief is hard to obtain with these stories, for me, but once attained, they become pretty strong, mainly because everything beyond those “ridiculous circumstances” is ridiculously well written. As you said, Owen, the people at Key know how to make something technically sad.
And once the connection is made, it’s sad.
Kanon 2006 did nothing for me beyond awe me with its visuals and make me smile with a touch of Yuuichi’s wit. Having seen Kanon 2002, and having not been moved to tears, I suppose I went in telling myself that Kanon is less powerful than AIR, and that mindset kept me from opening myself up to the appeals. You could say I didn’t suspend my disbelief, even for a second, in watching Kanon 2006.
Does this make any one show better? No. As you successfully gleaned, it’s about taste. And in my case, that’s not a matter of one story over another, or one girl’s cute points over another’s. Whenever I think about AIR, I remember the ridiculous storyline, I remember Yukito being turned into a crow, I remember the curses and friendlessness and all that. And even though I tell myself “ridiculous,” were I to rewatch the show, I know I would cry during episodes 11 and 12 again.
AIR, for me, was an experience.
The summer portrayed in it so beautifully through the visuals and the awe-inspiring soundtrack was what I loved. The summer is what made me care. The summer allowed me to willingly suspend my disbelief, open myself up to the show’s pathetic appeals, and be saddened when the sad things happened. And so I cried.
I know a girl who cried for Kanon because she’s in love with the snow. To each their own.
(er, I think it just ate a comment of mine. maybe it went into moderation, or something… if it’s not here in a few hours I’ll try to repost.)
I’ve got the theory that “the magic only works once”, and how it’s an either/or — maybe seeing Air back to back with Kanon wasn’t that wise after all. I don’t see how someone can watch Kanon before Air and not see the glaring similarities, but I certainly can see (from a very detached point of view) how you can watch Air before Kanon and not be as touched. Maybe it’s just how they’re setting up everything to maximise sadness — I mean, wth? That really blows because then the plot overrides the characters, and that sure sucks for me.
Speaking of which, the Clannad trailer gave me the same vibes, and I don’t know, really. I’ve got a grand theory about how Key arrives at their success that’s got to do with the visual novel post I promised, but I’ll save that for later. Little Busters didn’t give off that emofag stench, though, so maybe Key has hope after all.
Btw, your comment was marked as Akismet spam. lol.