Cinnamon Ass - Reborn Like a Zombie

Air Episode 12 - Air (END)

Misuzu and Haruko begin to live on after Misuzu's formal adoption. Misuzu says that the pain from Kanna's curse has gone, and so they celebrate the summer festival together despite Misuzu's illness. However, just as things are looking up for Haruko, Misuzu cryptically tells her she wants to reach her "goal" - a goal that will leave Haruko emotionally devastated.

Well, THAT was depressing. Not necessarily satisfying, as so few anime series are nowadays, but certainly emotional, kudos to the seiyuu. While the regression of Misuzu's personality to an even more childish one felt like an even more overwrought attempt to wring every last drop of sympathy out of the audience, it's a testament to the power of the writing that I didn't even roll my eyes ONCE.

That isn't to say there aren't some aspects of Air that aggravated me in the end, though. The overall unimportance of Kano and Minagi (were those Kanna's feathers?) and the (understandable, but still slightly annoying given what an interesting character he was) marginalisation of Yukito by the end, were two factors that particularly annoyed me. However, overall Air was a beautifully bittersweet melodrama that rose above its genre to provide an interesting plot, genuine characters and gorgeous artwork. I never thought I'd say this, but I really do hope this gets a Region 1 license sometime soon - while not perfect, and not my usual cup of tea, I really did enjoy Air a lot.