Air (series)

Air is a visual novel created by Key, who also created Kanon and, later, CLANNAD. Although created as a PC eroge for adults, this game has minimal hentai scenes. Later, a version without ecchi scenes, dubbed the "All Ages Version", was released on PC (without voice acting), Dreamcast (with almost full voice acting) and PlayStation 2 (with full voice acting). The "All Ages Version" was later made the basis for an anime series and movie.

Air features the song and insertion song .

Plots

Kunisaki Yukito is a traveler, travelling across Japan searching for a legend passed down from his mother about a "girl in the sky". During his journeys, he comes across a small seaside town where he meets a clumsy yet cute girl named Kamio Misuzu, who is eager to become friends with him. As Yukito stays in the town with Misuzu and meets other residents there, a legend of "one thousand summers" begins to unfold, the mysteries of the past framed by the odd relationship between Yukito and Misuzu.

Air (video game)

The game is divided into three segments: Dream, Summer, and Air. The Summer segment can only be unlocked by completing all three good endings in the Dream arc, while Air is unlocked by completing the Summer arc.

In the Dream arc, the player plays as Yukito Kunisaki who had to get off the bus in a seaside town because he couldn't afford the fare to travel on. While trying to earn money with puppet shows, he meets Kamio Misuzu, Kano Kirishima, and Minagi Tōno one by one. As the game progresses, Yukito gets the chance to learn the story of one of the girls, depending on the choices that the player makes.

The Summer arc is a novel arc, in which no choices are presented to the player. The narrator of this arc is Ryūya, and the events of this arc takes place a thousand years before the Dream arc, in the Heian period.

The Air arc, which centers on Misuzu Kamio, is the finalé of the game. The protagonist in this arc is Sora, a crow that Misuzu befriends and brings home. Sora bears witness to the events of the Dream arc concerning Misuzu, and continues the unfinished story from the Dream arc. Kano and Minagi play cameo roles in this arc.

The first version game is sometimes criticized for its inclusion of hentai scenes, which some say are out of place and detract from the actual plot of the game. For this reason, Key did not make their next game, CLANNAD, an eroge like Kanon and Air.

Air (TV)

On November 17 2004, a teaser DVD named Air ~prelude~ was produced containing interviews with the cast, clean opening and ending sequences, and promotional footage of the anime itself. It is a limited edition DVD, with only 20,000 copies produced.

An anime based on the game recently aired on TBS's BS-i satellite broadcasting network. The first episode, かぜ ~breeze~, was aired on January 6 2005. The anime series comprises thirteen main episodes, which consist of twelve main episodes and one recap episode. The anime also follows the game by splitting the series into three parts; Dream (eps 1-7), Summer (eps 7-9), and Air (eps 10-12), with the recap episode (ep 13) following.

At the end of episode thirteen of the Air anime, there was a teaser for a special addendum to the series, entitled Air in Summer. The two episodes aired on August 28 and September 4 respectively on BS-i. The DVD was later released on October 5 in Japan.

Air (movie)

An Air movie, animated by Toei (the same team who worked on the Kanon anime), premiered in Japanese theaters on February 5 2005. It is a reinterpretation of the Air storyline by director Dezaki Osamu, and may be considered a "parallel universe" of sorts to the anime/game storyline. The DVD was released in three editions, the Collector's Edition, the Special Edition, and the Regular Edition on August 5 2005.

Cast

Seiyū	Anime character	Game	Anime	Movie
Tomoko Kawakami	Misuzu Kamio
Aya Hisakawa	Haruko Kamio
Hikaru Midorikawa	Yukito Kunisaki
Daisuke Ono	Yukito Kunisaki
Chinami Nishimura	Kanna
Kikuko Inoue	Uraha
Nobutoshi Canna	Ryūya

Seiyū	Anime character	Game	Anime	Movie
Asami Okamoto	Kano Kirishima
Yumi Touma	Hijiri Kirishima
Ryoka Yuzuki	Minagi Tōno
Yukari Tamura	Michiru
Hiromi Konno	Potato
Daisuke Ono	Sora

Series setting

The seaside town featured in Air is actually a city in Japan called Kami. Located in Hyogo Prefecture, Air was set in the Kasumi district of Kami; during the course of the series' creation, Kasumi was an individual town that has since merged with two others to form the city of Kami. Many of the locales in Air, such as the seawall, the train station, the shrine, and the school are real places. [http://blog.yam.com/riceking/archives/460869.html

Soundtracks

Many soundtracks of air series have been released to date. Some of the music from the original Visual novel soundtrack have been also used in the anime and movie such as the Farewell Song.

Controversy

Currently, music from the game and anime have been the subjects of considerable controversy. On August 27 2005, Anime News Network reported that Singaporean musician Shaun Yu may have plagiarized "Tori no Uta". Yu's current album, The Best of Shaun Yu, features a track called "Melody" which sounds like the Air theme. Though Key made no official statement at the time, an investigation was initiated.

On September 21 2005 it was reported that a second song on the album, "Magic", may have been plagiarized from another song on the Air soundtrack, "Tenshi no Kyujitsu". Yu has stated that his producers, YesMusic, had arranged both tracks, and that he was unaware of the situation. YesMusic, in turn, has stated that it licensed the rights to the song from Key/Visual Art's for mainland China distribution, but that the album came out in Taiwan before licensing could be arranged for that territory. However, Key/Visual Art's denies this, as per a statement on its website:

Official Announcement Regarding Plagiarism of Tori no Uta

Thank you very much for supporting products of our humble company. According to information provided by fans, we've learned that Shaun Yu's 真愛珍愛2005風行精選集 distributed by SONY BMG Entertainment (Taiwan) is suspected plagiarizing our music - Tori no Uta. We apologize for worrying supporting fans. We have filed a formal complaint to SONY BMG Entertainment (Taiwan) and made following demands:

Apologize publicly on the web.
Credit the composer of Tori no Uta to Shinji Orito clearly.
If the above two requirements are fulfilled, we will not ask for financial compensations.

We have been negotiating with SONY BMG Entertainment (Taiwan) with those terms. Regrettably, 季忠屏, director of YesMusic, the production company of this CD, has made a false announcement today that he had purchased distribution rights from us. It is a pity and is regrettable. In order to show our objection to his plagiarizing actions and his dishonest attitude, we shall not license any of our creation to them, including Tori no Uta. These days, we have received supports from both Japanese and Taiwanese fans. You have our immense gratitude. Please keep supporting our humble company, Key, in the future.

''Translation from Anime News Network, not the official website

On September 29, 2005, Sony BMG Taiwan posted a statement of apology in both Chinese and Japanese on their official website. CD shipments were cancelled and recalled.

References

External links

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