Ok, so I recently started reading the Air manga, and have watched a couple of the episodes of the anime online. And to be honest, I don't know whether to be thrilled or horrified.
Ok, so it starts when a little girl finds a drifter in town, and asks him to play, and continues to follow him around till he does. Now, this is either really sweet, or rather rude and a tad creepy. I mean, a 12 year old trailing a man around 20 with a questionable background is not exaclty something I would encourage.
But, she ends up taking him home and feeding him like he's a lost puppy. Then her "mom", who is really her alcoholic aunt (great life this kid has) comes home, and after railing on both of them, allows this man she knows nothing about to sleep in the shed, if he promises to drink with her. Despite her constant pestering, he decideds to stay with these two women, instead of moving on to the next town. The woman and girl seem fine with this. Is it just me, or have the woman in Japan never heard of rape?
Anyway, since the man is the hero in the story, we know he's the good guy, so he is accepted in the community, and shown around, mostly by other innocent young girls. Apparently no one taught the girls in this town not to talk to strangers.
Now we get to what seems to be the true heart of the story. This roamer is on this doomed quest to find a girl in the sky. Romantic, but rather pointless, since he doesn't even believe it himself. The girl he encouters has dreams of flying. Through this they somehow become friends.
Then the girl becomes ill, and her "mom" acts like its no big deal, and leaves the strager to care for the girl who nearly dies during her "moms'" absence, even though she claims to be trying to be a devoted mother.
And so it goes, everyone in this situation is afraid to get too close to anyone else. They all circle each other, longing for what they are afraid to ask for, with no real motivation, or any real connections. It's pathetic.
O, and did I mention this grown man is trying to make a living on a street show involving nothing but a deformed-looking doll that looks like it might be older than he is? Yea, thats what I thougth too.
At first I thougth this was going to be a more realistic than most shows I watch are, but now I'm not sure. I mean, EVERYONE in this story is a sad, loenly, person, with little or no sense of their own saftey. At first I appreciated their innocence, but after EVERYONE acts liek that, I begin to think it is a whole city of emotionally constipated retards.
Now, I still like this show to a point. It is rather entertaining, I just really wish people would get ahold on reality, get some contrast in thier characters, and give us somethign to think about, not just a whole bunch of tragic innocence show after show. It would be easier to connect with shows like this if they were less flat, and a bit more realistic.
