Shelf Life

Moe Monday

Air is one of the most relaxing shows you could possibly watch. There isn't a single ounce of stress in the whole show, and even when bad things happen to the characters, they take them in stride and simply resolve to move on with their lives. In that sense, there's something admirable about this series, in the way that it's able to take terrible situations and make them okay. Maybe not “okay,” but definitely just another fact of life.

We start out with an introduction to Yukito, a traveling entertainer who performs tricks with his puppet for money. He's on the lookout for a winged girl, who appears to him in his dreams. What he finds is a handful of sweet, charming girls (and a very cute puff of a dog named Potato) who befriend him instantly, and who all have dreams of flying. Over the course of the series, we get to know each girl better, until the ending rips your freaking heart out. And then steps on it, spits on it, and throws it in a fire. The ending makes people cry, just like Marley & Me makes people cry, except the dog doesn't die.

Visually, Air is incredibly pleasing on the eyes. The artwork is luscious and the girls beam with cuteness. Kyoto Animation is able to pull off a world that's looks as good as it feels. The character designs are a little generic, but they'll please fans of the original Key games. And, the details in the characters are covered in enough fine highlights that they just about shimmer in their dewy-ness, which is presumably good for the moe factor.

Honestly, this show is not for everybody. There are simply people out there who won't find the appeal in a show as laid-back and as slow as Air. It's largely character-driven, and sometimes, the pacing slows down to a crawl. There's only so long you can watch a girl stare wistfully at the ocean, so it's understandable that some viewers might get a little bored. Still, as far as the Key game-inspired shows go, Air is my favorite, and if you're looking to introduce yourself to the genre (and/or fan pandemonium), this is a good starting point.[TOP]

As with Air, the main character is a guy who has a very high capacity to deal with these females, who all want to be his friend. Our hero has decided to go to high school in a town up north, a place where he used to visit frequently as a child. He ends up befriending a variety of cute, moe-ful girls, including one who carries a winged backpack with her and is constantly looking for a lost item, and one who has a bad case of amnesia. There is also a sickly girl, his spunky cousin, and a girl who can sense supernatural beings.

Although many Air fans tend to also like Kanon, I never had the same affinity for this series. After rewatching it, I think I've figured out why—while Air was more of a standard slice of life show, I found Kanon to be a little too fantastical for my tastes. In the past, I've joked a lot about how moe shows are full of broken girls, but upon doing some heavy marathoning this week, I've realized that it's really just Kanon that cemented that opinion into my mind. All of this simply boils down to personal tastes, though. I simply don't like the supernatural aspects of these moe slice-of-life shows. I don't like that a girl may not really be a girl, and one might not be there at all. To me, this smacks of ridiculousness, and it takes me out of the show. I find it hard to take these girls seriously after I learn their supernatural secret, and that really kills the mood for me.

Like the Kyoto Animation Air, though, the visuals in Kanon are just as wonderful. True, they all look pretty generic, but it's the kind of generic that makes this kind of show work. Meaning, of course, all the girls are blindingly cute, and every time they bat their big shiny eyes at the camera, you just kind of want to say “Awwwwww.” Because really, who wants to watch a moe show with ugly girls? That would make it pretty hard to sell body pillows, and the whole industry would collapse.

Despite what some people will tell you, I do find Kanon and Air to be pretty different, the more I watch them. Air had supernatural elements too, but somehow, I was able to believe them. So it boils down to this—I think Kanon is more interesting, because each scenario with each girl is a lot more… unique and weird, so if you fully embrace these supernatural twists, and you aren't a grumpy fart like me who rages against magical situations, then you might like this show more.[TOP]