This show was heartbreaking alright � heartbreaking because it did almost everything right and still managed to suck. Ok, so maybe it didn't suck. Maybe it was one obvious step away from perfection but chose to settle for mediocrity. Either way, Air TV was disappointing. I want to love this show, but I just can't. The reason? Boring characters.
Much of the series was uneventful, but that didn't have to be a bad thing. Some of my favorite series, such as Touch and Honey & Clover, fall under the slice of life genre. Though uneventful, slice of life can be a highly entertaining genre under one condition: the characters can't suck. Touch has Tatsuya. Honey & Clover has Morita. Who does Air have? A bunch of cute girls, and by cute, I mean you'll like them if you're a pedophile. They're all slow and annoying. At some point you learn that the lead girl has a legitimate reason for being slow, but that's no excuse for the rest of them. Then there's this stupid dog-like thing called Potato that does nothing but waste time and say "Piko-Piko":
Stupid.
Aside from the girls and Potato, Air did everything right. The art and animation were outstanding. Just look at the picture above. Once you cut out the girl and Potato, you're left with a masterpiece.
Beautiful.
The intro song, Tori no Uta by LIA, is almost as beautiful as the art and animation. It also has two features worthy of adding to my checklist:
1. There's a fade-in to the intro.
2. The characters' names are displayed during the intro.
The most heartbreaking thing about this series is that it made perfect use of the dinosaur and STILL couldn't impress me:
Holy shit! You never see shows incorporate dinosaurs this brilliantly. Why, why did the characters have to be so lame?
| Well developed minor characters |  |
| Simultaneous subplots | |
| Unforeseeable plot twists | |
| Comical victimization | |
| Recurring random character(s) |  |
| Badass mid-episode transitions | |
| Soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura | |
| Fade into intro/ending | |
| Character names displayed during intro | |
| Catchy dance sequence | |
| Themes of Hatred/Suffering/Revenge | |
| Lesbians | |
| Hilarious ambiguously gay dude | |
| Stylish visual effects | |
| Dinosaurs | |
| Dinosaurs | |
| Dinosaurs | |
| Tournament Competition | |
| Rivalry | |
| Graphic violence | |
| A character vaguely resembling myself | |
| Pimp in a white suit | |
| Disheveled journalist/photographer | |
| Time Travel |  |
| Supernatural power | |
| Fight in a Ballroom/Casino/Cathedral/Theatre | |
| Self-parody | |
Air TV gets good when it moves onto the second of the show's three arcs. That's when some adventure, drama, and one of the greatest plot twists I've ever seen almost make up for the show's dull start. I'll give the first arc a 1/10, the second arc a 10/10, and the final arc a 9/10 for a barely passing total score of 20/30. It's only 13 episodes long (and the last one is just a recap), so if you like "cute" anime girls, or if you have the patience to wait out the first arc, Air TV might be worth your time.