Air (film)

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Air
Genre	Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Movie
Directed by	Osamu Dezaki
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	February 5, 2005
Runtime	91 minutes

An Air movie, animated by Toei Animation, premiered in Japanese theaters on February 5, 2005.^[1] It is a reinterpretation of the Air storyline by director Osamu Dezaki. The DVD was released in three editions, the Collector's Edition, the Special Edition, and the Regular Edition on August 5, 2005.

Contents 1 Story 2 Differences between the anime and movie 3 References 4 External Links

[edit] Story

The movie opens with Yukito Kunisaki, a travelling pupeteer, arriving in a small sea-side town in the hopes of earning money at the upcoming festival. At the same time Misuzu Kamio is just leaving school after discussing her summer project with one of her teachers. Choosing to do a project on the history of the town, Misuzu finds a book containing the story of Kannabi no Mikoto, the inspiration for the upcoming festival. After crashing her bike and encountering Yukito on the beach, Misuzu invites Yukito to stay at her home until the festival after learning that he has no place to stay. After meeting Misuzu's eccentric aunt Haruko (and getting a hangover the next morning from drinking with her) Yukito accompanies Misuzu throughout the town as she does research for her project.

As the two become closer the story of the Kannabi no Mikoto begins to unfold, telling of how Kanna, the last of the winged beings, fell in love with her guardian Ryūya while being sequestered in a palace under penalty of death if she attempted to leave. As the two eventually become lovers Kanna reveals her desire to escape and use her wings to fly to her mother, whom she was separated at birth from. Eventually Ryūya decides to help Kanna see her dream and the two plot their escape.

In the present day Misuzu's mysterious illness from her childhood resurfaces, leading Haruko to arrange for Misuzu's father to take her to a hospital where she can be treated. In a flashback Kanna is seen with similar symptoms and tells Ryūya that the reason for her illness is punishment because she has fallen in love with him, which goes against the laws of her kind. Yukito becomes conflicted by his feelings for Misuzu and his wish to continue wandering and leaves during the night. However, soon after he arrives at the bus stop he remembers his real reason for coming to Kami, to earn money, and heads back into town for the festival. Meanwhile at the Kamio house Haruko is preparing to take Misuzu to the festival when Misuzu's father arrives to take his daughter away. An emotional Haruko tells a shocked Misuzu that the reason she called her father is because Haruko cannot stand to see Misuzu becoming increasingly ill and wishes to be rid of her, but as Misuzu and her father leave Haruko is seen drinking and crying at the loss. While driving through the crowds at the festival Misuzu suddenly leaves her father's car after seeing a float of the Kannabi no Mikoto pass and prompts a panicked search by her father and Haruko.

During her search Haruko finds Yukito as he his performing, and while he is at first unwilling, after recalling how he failed Misuzu in their past life as Kanna and Ryūya he joins in the search and frantically runs to the temple of the Kannabi no Mikoto. Misuzu herself recalls her past life and her fateful escape from her confinement, remembering that both Ryūya and her mother died soon after she took flight; the former by a barrage of arrows in retaliation from the guards and the latter by leaving her prison to see her daughter after hearing her voice calling. Kanna herself was impaled by hundreds of arrows, but strangely never hit the ground but simply remained in the air. As the story concludes Yukito arrives at the temple and confesses his love for Misuzu, and after reuniting with Haruko the trio returns to the Kamio residence.

A short time later Haruko and Yukito decide to send Misuzu to a hospital in order to treat her, cutting her hair before she leaves and taking her to the ocean as per her request. At the ocean a weakened Misuzu gets up and tries to reach Haruko and Yukito, the two most important people in her life. She finally reaches them only to collapse in Yukito's arms and die having finally reached her goal. Yukito is last seen leaving town in the autumn and promising to find Misuzu wherever she appears next in the hope that he will someday be able to break her curse and let her be free.

[edit] Differences between the anime and movie

Being done by two different production teams and having their own take on the story from the Air visual novel, there are many differences between the Air anime and movie.

• Yukito's general attitude is considerably more cynical and gloomy than his TV counterpart. This version of Yukito is also drawn and voiced (by a different actor) in such a way that he appears older.
• Haruko and Misuzu have a much closer relationship than throughout most of the TV adaptation, and Haruko treats Misuzu as her daughter while in the series the two rarely interacted with each other unless absolutely necessary.
• Uraha is only seen as a background character in the movie and does not appear to have any sort of romantic relationship with Ryūya.
• Because Ryūya dies in the movie during Kanna's escape, it is unclear how he and Yukito are genetically related, if at all.
• Ryūya and Kanna were actually shown to be lovers, in the TV series Kanna never acted on her feelings for Ryūya until the end of her life.
• Kanna is not cursed by Buddhist monks as she is in the TV series, instead she simply dies in midair and never returns to the ground.
• Misuzu only says her famous "Gao" line once in the movie while she and Yukito are on the beach, and in general the movie depiction of Misuzu appears more mature and able to get along with her classmates with more ease.
• Kano Kirishima and Minagi Tohno appear only as background characters during the festival along with Michiru, who is also among the group of children Yukito is entertaining in an early part of the film.
• It is never explicitly stated in the TV series that Yukito is a reincarnation of Ryūya, but in the movie it is clear he remembers his past with Kanna and believes he failed her in her escape.
• The last scene is quite similar to one in the TV series, with the exception of Yukito's presence.
• The crow Sora is actually Yukito in the TV series, while the one who briefly appears in the movie is merely a friend of Misuzu's who does not have any apparent connection to Yukito.
• Yukito's puppet business is more successful in the movie, while in the anime he had a hard time pleasing the children.

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Official website (Japanese)

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