The stories about legends or traditional folklore of Japan are always very special, even if they are real or created legends, also if we put together this style of stories with the animation of decades ago the result is a story that generates a lot of emotions and brings us a little nostalgia of the anime of our childhood that used to show a lot of these typical stories of folklore. Air Movie is an old movie dating from the beginning of 2005, and although there is also an anime series from the same year, it is not very necessary to watch it to understand or try to understand the movie.
This story will be a mixture of drama, romance, along with elements of folklore by having two characters that seem to be reincarnations of an ancient legend and that for this reason their lives are destined to meet, share time together while influencing each other, and in the end have a melancholic and dramatic ending, a little like the famous legend that is gradually told in parallel in the development of the film.
The protagonists of this story will be Kunisaki Yukito, a young boy who has a lifestyle like the wind, traveling from one place to another, without knowing his next destination and without spending much time in one place, a detached and solitary personality, he does not feel comfortable in environments with many people and prefers to avoid relating and creating feelings for others, all this motivated by his past. Additionally he has a very curious talent and is to be a puppeteer of a very peculiar figure, which seems to control it with the mind, he gets money acting in the street, the puppet does not appear much in the story, but it is curious in addition to having some relationship with his legend.
In his arrival to a small town Yukito will meet Kamio Misuzu, a young girl with a nice and cheerful personality, although she will also be very lonely as she has practically no friends due to not attending classes, this is due to a strange disease which is affecting her little by little weakening her and it seems that the cause and the way to treat it is simply not known. She also decides to do some field work that requires taking pictures and traveling around the island, this is when she makes a deal with Yukito to give him a place to stay in exchange for being her transportation around the city.
Much of the development of the story is based on showing how Yukito and Misuzu relate to each other as they explore the city and share fun experiences, the melancholic way in which Misuzu usually speaks lets us see that her condition is much more serious than it seems and that she is aware of it, we can also gradually get to know the past of Yukito, who seems to be traveling aimlessly by the last words his mother told him and how he manages to understand that his destiny was to meet Misuzu to help her.
It also tells the story of the legend of the princess Kanna who is a winged person, considered a demon and locked in a castle, where after many years she met her love and had a tragic end, from the beginning it is clear that as Misuzu is telling the legend, it seems to be intertwined with the fate of Misuzu and Yukito, their ancestors, or perhaps both are the reincarnation of this ancient legend.
The development of the characters works in a good way, little by little you get to know their pasts, their problems and pains making you create great empathy for them, like any dramatic film you tend to get attached to the characters and then the sad endings have more impact. Something that can feel a little fast or even improvised is the love that arises between the two, although it is well shown how they share with each other and create friendship, it is evident that love is mainly felt by Misuzu, but in the end it seems that the love that Yukito develops feels forced and put to complement the story, it can also be a little strange because of the obvious age difference between them which, although it is not said how much it is, visually it can be noticed.
The animation and designs are the classics of years ago, that style of character that made it seem that all anime had the same designs, a style that brings quite the nostalgia of the old anime and is not at all annoying to see, a good quality for the time, the only aspect that can be somewhat annoying are the scenes with excessive use of lights and brightness that can make it difficult to see what is in scene. Something very curious about this film is that personally I found Yukito with some similarity to the design of Satoru Gojo, at least in its young version, also
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All Images Are Screenshots Of My Monitor
Mangaka: Makoto Nakamura
Studio Animator: Toei Animation
Separator Images:
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Las historias sobre leyendas o folclore tradicional del Japón siempre son muy especiales, aunque se traten de leyendas reales o creadas, igualmente si juntamos este estilo de historias con la animación de hace décadas el resultado es una historia que nos genera bastantes emociones y nos trae un poco esa nostalgia de los animes de nuestra infancia que solían mostrar mucho estas historias típicas del folclore. Air Movie es una película un poco antigua al datar de inicios del 2005, y aunque también hay una serie de anime del mismo año, no es muy necesario verla para entender o tratar de comprender la película.
Esta historia será una mezcla de drama, romance, junto con elementos de folclore al tener a dos personajes que parecen ser reencarnación de una antigua leyenda y que por este motivo sus vidas están destinadas a encontrase, compartir tiempo juntos mientras influyen en el otro, y al final tener un final melancólico y dramático, un poco parecido a la famosa leyenda que poco a poco se va contando de manera paralela en el desarrollo de la película.
Los protagonistas de esta historia serán Kunisaki Yukito, un joven muchacho que tiene un estilo de vida como el del viento, viajando de un lugar a otro, sin conocer su próximo destino y sin estar mucho tiempo en un solo lugar, una personalidad desprendida y solitaria, no se siente cómodo en ambientes con muchas personas y prefiere evitar relacionarse y crear sentimientos por otros, todo esto motivado a su pasado. Adicionalmente tiene un talento muy curioso y es ser marionetista de una figura muy peculiar, que parece controlarla con la mente, consigue dinero actuando en la calle, la marioneta no aparece mucho en la historia, pero es curiosa además de tener cierta relacion con su leyenda.
En su llegada a un pequeño pueblo Yukito conocerá a Kamio Misuzu, una joven muchacha de personalidad simpática y alegre, aunque será también muy solitaria al no tener prácticamente ninguna amiga debido a no asistir a clases, esto se debe a una extraña enfermedad la cual la va afectando poco a poco debilitándola y parece que simplemente no se conoce la causa ni la forma de tratarla. De igual forma ella decide hacer un trabajo de campo que requiere tomar fotos y recorrer toda la isla, es aquí cuando hace un trato con Yukito para darle posada a cambio de que sea su transporte por toda la ciudad.
Gran parte del desarrollo de la historia se basa en mostrar cómo se van relacionando Yukito y Misuzu a medida que van explorando la ciudad y compartiendo experiencias divertidas, la forma tan melancólica en la cual suele hablar Misuzu nos deja ver que su condición es mucho más grave de lo que parece y que ella está consciente de la misma, también podemos ir conociendo poco a poco el pasado de Yukito, que parece estar viajando sin rumbo por las últimas palabras que le dijo su madre y como logra entender que su destino era poder encontrase con Misuzu para ayudarla.
Tambien se va contando la historia de la leyende la princesa Kanna quien se trata de una persona alada, considera un demonio y encerrada en un castillo, donde luego de muchos años conocio a su amor y tuvo un trágico final, desde un inicio se deja ver que a medida que Misuzu va contando la leyenda, la misma parece estar entrelazada con el destino de Misuzu y Yukito, sus antepasados, o tal vez ambos son las reencarnación de esta antigua leyenda.
El desarrollo de los personajes funciona de buena manera, poco a poco vas conociendo sus pasados, sus problemas y dolores haciendo que logres crear gran empatía por ellos, como toda película dramática sueles encariñarte con los personajes para luego tener más impacto los finales tristes. Algo que si puede sentirse un poco rápido o hasta improvisado es el amor que surge entre ambos, aunque se muestra bien como van compartiendo el uno con el otro y creando amistad, es evidente que el amor principalmente lo siente Misuzu, pero al final parece que el amor que desarrolla Yukito se siente forzado y puesto para complementar la historia, igualmente puede ser un poco extraño debido a la evidente diferencia de edad entre ambos la cual, aunque no se dice cuanto es, visualmente se puede notar.
La animación y diseños son los clásicos de años atrás, ese estilo de personaje que hacia parecer que todos los animes tuvieran los mismos diseños, un estilo que trae bastante la nostalgia de los animes antiguos y no resulta para nada molesto de ver, una buena calidad para la época, el único aspecto que puede resultar algo molesto son las escenas con uso excesivo de luces y brillos que pueden dificultar ver lo que está en escena. Algo muy curioso de esta película es que en lo personal Yukito me resulto con cierta similitud al diseño de Satoru Gojo, al menos en su versión joven, también tiene ciertos momentos de comedia muy buenos. Una historia entretenida y con un final dramático.
All Images Are Screenshots Of My Monitor
Mangaka: Makoto Nakamura
Studio Animator: Toei Animation
Separator Images:
I watched the movie after watching the series, I was a little confused and as I had not fully understood the anime, maybe it would become clearer with the movie haha I think I'll have to watch it again, maybe now being an adult I can understand it better.
I haven't seen the series, but in the movie at least I don't think they make references to something previous, I still liked the story a lot and it was very funny although with a dramatic ending.
Certainly the character design and animation evokes nostalgia, I think I miss that kind of thing because no matter how much animation has advanced, there are classic aspects that will always prevail.
Thanks for sharing this interesting review of Air. Regards!
without a doubt, that era had a very iconic style that is impossible not to recognize nowadays, even though today's animation is reaching really incredible levels and with great effects, there is a certain mystique in the classic anime.
muy buena reseña! la animación un clásico, hermosa!
very good review! the animation is a classic, beautiful!
hey muchas gracias :D. la animacion es muy bonita y tipica de la epoca :D
hey thank you very much :D. the animation is very nice and typical of the time :D