Something like Air TV would probably crumble if watched with other people, but I found the stories touching. I think these stories in Air are for sentimental people or people who understand loneliness — maybe it even panders to loneliness a little bit and sharing it. There’s certainly a feeling of late night conversations with Air, the kind of conversations you might share in the smoking lounge of your dorm at four in the morning with the only other person awake on the entire campus and it’s so quiet you can hear the florescent lights hum.

The first story in the second volume of Air TV is Minagi Tohno’s (ep 5 & 6). Minagi pretends to be somebody else for the sake of her grief stricken mother. Her story appears to be easier to relate to than Kano’s. Many people at some point in their lives find themselves in conflict with being honest and possibly hurting someone or playing along with a lie to spare another pain or doing something that causes one misery to please a parent. As with Kano in the previous volume, Minagi’s story has a supernatural connection that’s somehow related to the girl in the sky that Yukito is trying to find.

The second story on the dvd reveals more about Misuzu (ep 7) and her strained situation with her mother. Before this episode, I saw Misuzu as a sweet girl (and dangerously naive to be inviting a complete stranger into her house), but couldn’t understand why she had no friends. I do now. I never really got moe until I saw this episode.

I don’t know what to make of the last episode on the disc (ep 8). It’s the first part of a story from several centuries ago. There’s a bit more funny in this episode, which helps lighten things up, but I couldn’t really get into it that much, since I kind of wanted to find out how Yukito is going to help Misuzu.

And is it just me or is the musical score very uneven? The piano stuff sounds pretty and lightly accentuates the mood, but some of the synth type stuff just doesn’t carry the mood at all. For example, the music in the climactic scene between Minagi and her mother.

ADV Films English Dub

During the first volume I wasn’t particularly sold on Serena Varghese as Michuru or Kira Vincent Davis as Minagi, but had no problem during their arc here. Actually, I really felt their characters in this volume. I’ve already done the Monica is the perfect awesome as Misuzu thing, so I’ll just leave it as a gloss-over. And. Luci Christian (Haruko) shows why she rocks. It easy to pick her voice out, but when she’s on it doesn’t matter at all.

On the Japanese side, I’ve warmed up to Daisuke Ono’s Yukito, which left me a little cold last volume.

Parting Shot

I can see a lot of people seeing Air and wondering what the big deal is and dismissing it as a show driven primarily by the character designs. To me there’s a lot more to it. Maybe Air is just a mood that can’t withstand the light of scrutiny. Or maybe the trick isn’t to scrutinize.