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Characters from the year 2000

    Yukito Kunisaki 
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese - game, movie), Daisuke Ono (Japanese - anime, Kaginado), Vic Mignogna (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yukito_b.png

A wanderer traveling across the country in order to find the 'girl in the sky', a goal each generation of his family has passed on for a thousand years. Yukito lives off his trade, a special form of stringless puppeteering that was taught to him by his mother before she died.


  • Deadpan Snarker: In true Key tradition. He complains about everything from dorky outfits to lack of money, all with a hanging aura of "what is my life".
  • Decoy Protagonist: At first it looks like it’s his story; it’s not. It’s Misuzu’s. He ends up losing focus in the series after becoming a crow.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: He doesn't die, but as a crow, he has near to no relevance to the plot anymore.
  • Identical Grandson: Yukito looks just like what his ancestor Ryuya would look like if he had short hair that wasn't slicked back.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While quite easily short-tempered and prone to irritation, he's nonetheless willing to help everyone along the way without anything in return.
  • Out-of-Clothes Experience: A brief glimpse of his human form inside of his crow form reveals this. Justified because birds don't wear clothes.
  • Refusal of the Call: When he first realizes that Misuzu is Kanna's reincarnation, like the girl his mother found and couldn't save, he tries to leave her so she can recover because he knows that making bonds with people will hurt her. He later changes his mind, and then calls Haruko out for the exact same thing.
  • Street Performer: He tries to make a living as a street performer by making his doll do tricks.
  • A Threesome Is Hot: Does not actually occur, but his mind does wander to thoughts of a three-way with Misuzu and Haruko, and also one with Kano and Hijiri. Thank you, special CGs.
  • Walking the Earth: His journey to find the "girl in the sky" naturally has him moving from locale to locale with him living off of his puppetry.

    Misuzu Kamio 
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (Japanese), Asami Sanada (Japanese - Kaginado), Monica Rial (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misuzu_b.png

The first of the three girls that meets Yukito Kunisaki. She becomes friends with Yukito and invites him to stay over at her house. She is a cheerful, slightly clumsy girl, and often mentions the pseudo-dinosauric phrase "Gao" whenever she feels troubled or is about to cry. Since a young age, Misuzu has had a great love of dinosaurs. She suffers from a mysterious illness that makes her ill whenever she comes to love someone and is loved back.


  • Dumb Blonde: Sorta, since she's a ditz.
    • Not really. She's immature due to not being able to interact with friends...but she can do her homework without help.
  • Friendless Background: Misuzu is ignored by her classmates for being out sick so often.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Misuzu's final smile for her mommy is so cute that it makes her passing all the more heartbreaking.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Her blonde hair helps to emphasize her kind and innocent personality.
  • Important Haircut: Immediately precedes her losing her memory and basically reverting to a childlike state in the anime.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Her blue eyes highlight her innocence, and they go well with her blonde hair.
  • Kids Love Dinosaurs: Downplayed since she's a teenager, but she's been fascinated with dinosaurs ever since she was little; as a child, she used to think bird's eggs were dinosaur eggs and that chicks would become dinosaurs one day. Her love of dinosaurs emphasizes her childish nature.
  • Lethal Chef: She tries her best when it comes to cooking, but it leads to disastrous results.
    "WAH! A cicada came out of the ventilator! WAH! The soy sauce container fell! WAH! The salad oil spilled! WAH! Yukito-san's bacon and eggs have become something beyond imagination! A-wah-aah..."
  • Reincarnation: Of Kanna. They look nothing alike though, unlike many examples of the trope, like Yukito does to Ryuuya. Granted, Misuzu isn't blood related to Kanna, like Yukito is to Ryuuya. Also, it's implied that, thanks to this trope, she might wind up with a happy ending after all, albeit not in her current form.
  • Stepford Smiler: To some extent. She acts cheerful, but she's really suffering from a generations-old curse which makes it difficult, even nigh impossible, for her to have close friendships with anyone. After all, whenever she does, unless she distances herself, she essentially is condemned to progressively suffer until her life snuffs out.
  • Sunny Sunflower Disposition: She is associated with sunflowers, especially in the official art.
  • Verbal Tic: While not as prevalent as with other Key heroines, she tends to say "Gao" (a sound effect for roaring) whenever she's troubled or upset.
  • Walking Spoiler: Any discussion about her reveals that she's literally cursed and dies.

    Kano Kirishima 
Voiced by: Asami Okamoto (Japanese), Stephanie Wittels (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kano_b.png

The younger sister of Hijiri Kirishima. Kano is a wily and energetic girl with a cute side, and is always seen with her small dog, Potato. Like Misuzu, Kano has a curse related to the past.


  • Cloudcuckoolander: Kano has been teased a lot for wearing a bandanna around her wrist 24/7, talking to animals more than to humans, passing out in class, and just plain being weird.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Her mother was ill her whole life and died after complications following Kano's birth, and her father, the previous Dr. Kirishima before Hijiri followed in his path, worked himself to death.
  • Demoted to Extra: Literally in the movie. Kano is widely known as the Least Popular Key Haremette despite having her own small fanbase (which calls her Kano-rin).
  • Deus Sex Machina: Kano believes that losing her virginity will give her magical powers, thanks to taking Hijiri's effort to rein in Shiraho completely the wrong way.
  • The Gadfly: She's a bit of a troll. Before Yuri and Nao came along, Kano was Key's main female example despite nearly every male lead being this.
  • Iconic Item: Her bandanna, which she keeps on her person at all times. In her arc in the game, she gives it away, and in the anime, she takes it off and it blows away in the wind.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Wants magical powers.
  • Leitmotif: Mizutamari
  • Lethal Chef: In the visual novel, she's only cooked once before because her sister never let her touch the kitchen knives, and when she tries to cook for Yukito, he describes it as "beyond food" and relates it to decomposing bread.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: She talks to the dog Potato a lot and claims to understand what he says. Whether this is a true special ability of hers or it's just her being her usual weird self is ambiguous, though.

    Minagi Tohno 
Voiced by: Ryōka Yuzuki (Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minagi_b.png

A top student in the school, Minagi is very quiet and shy. Though she does not hold a spirit from the past like Misuzu or Kano, she is still rather isolated from others. Until she met Yukito, her only friend was Michiru.


  • Walking the Earth: In the "Normal" ending of her route she joins Yukito on his journey, however this is averted hard in the "Good" ending where she instead stays with the town.

    Haruko Kamio 
Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/haruko_b.png

Misuzu's foster mother and aunt.


  • Drives Like Crazy: She's such a terrible driver, she terrorizes the neighborhood on her motorbike.
  • Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Haruko weeps for her adoptive daughter Misuzu to stay alive, bitterly imagining the times she wished she could have spent with her as she dies in her arms.
  • Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She's pretty carefree and likes to drink.
  • Parental Substitute: While she's really Misuzu's aunt, she's still her niece's primary caregiver and comes to view her as her own daughter.

    Hijiri Kirishima 
Voiced by: Yumi Touma (Japanese), Christine Auten (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hijiri_b.png

The town doctor and Kano Kirishima's sister and guardian.


  • Agent Scully: Hijiri believes that she can't believe in magic or she'd undermine her credibility and reliability as a doctor. She doesn't bring up the subject in front of Kano because she cares more about her sister than the fact that they disagree on this point and it was Hijiri who made Kano's belief in magic so central to her character anyway.
  • Hospital Hottie: She's a very pretty doctor.
  • Deadly Doctor: She can get intimidating when Kano is involved. However, she only projects this and doesn't actually kill anybody...
  • My Sister Is Off-Limits: With good reason. She knows full well how Kano took her words, and should Kano really attempt to "become an adult" and remove her bandanna, which scientifically-minded Hijiri put on her to trigger her back to her normal self, her "illness" (possession) may actually kill her, as far as Hijiri theorizes. She gets better by the end, where it's no longer an issue.
  • Promotion to Parent: She has looked after Kano ever since their mother’s death.

    Michiru 
Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Serena Varghese (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michiru_b.png

An energetic young girl who doesn't seem to have a place to live. Having befriended Minagi at an early age, Michiru doesn't seem to have any other friends. She plays an important role in Minagi's storyline. She enjoys playfully attacking Yukito Kunisaki and has a fondness for bubbles.


  • Attack Hello: To Yukito every time she sees him.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Mostly towards Yukito.
  • But Now I Must Go: Once Minagi is happy and has made other friends, Michiru decides she is no longer needed and then vanishes.
  • Fiery Redhead: Okay, her hair's magenta, but she's combative, boisterous, and interested mainly in having fun.
  • Full-Name Ultimatum: She regularly greets Yukito with a violent "KUUUUNISAKI YUKITOOOOOOOO!".
  • Genki Girl: Michiru is bouncy and energetic as all get out, especially when picking fights with Yukito.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in pigtails, showing her childish nature.
  • Moe Couplet: With Minagi.
  • Only Friend: To Minagi.
  • The Reveal: Michiru is actually a wandering spirit who decided to help a lonely girl on Earth after seeing the trapped Winged Maiden. She became a physical manifestation of Minagi's unborn sister to help her through her troubles.
  • Shaking the Rump: In the second episode of the anime, she does this to taunt Yukito.
  • Token Mini-Moe: Not entirely, as she has no route of her own, but she's important enough to the story that she nearly fits the role (unlike, say, Saika).

    Potato 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/airpotato_6107.jpg
Voiced by: Hiromi Konno (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)

The town's stray puppy(?) that lives in town mostly with Kano.


    Keisuke Tachibana 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/airkeisuke_5412.jpg
Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese game, movie, and drama CDs), Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese TV series), John Gremillion (English)

Misuzu's biological father.


  • Chekhov's Gunman: Appears early in the story when Yukito is busking. He's buying a cake for Misuzu's birthday.
  • Visit by Divorced Dad: Though Haruko is a relative and not an ex, Keisuke's entry into the story looks like just this until you see he's actually trying to take Misuzu back.

    Saika Shino 
Voiced by: Tomoko Kaneda (Japanese), Kim Ly Nguyen (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/airsaika_6891.jpg

A six-year-old girl who meets Yukito when she gets lost. She recurs throughout the series after this.


Characters from the year 1000

    Kannabi-no-mikoto (Kanna) 
Voiced by: Chinami Nishimura (Japanese), Cynthia Martinez (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kanna_b.png

One of the last winged beings in history. Kanna was deified out of fear for the awesome power inherent in all of her kind, so from birth, Kanna had been kept in isolated areas away from the general populace. Not long after meeting Ryuuya and Uraha, she escaped with them in order to find her mother. As she traveled with her guardians, Kanna began to develop feelings for Ryuuya, and when the party became surrounded by guards, she took to the sky as a diversion after surrounding Ryuuya and Uraha with a protective shield. While in the air, Buddhist monks cast a spell that bound her into a cycle of eternal reincarnation and suffering that Ryuuya fought to break with Uraha, leaving it up to his descendants to find a way to free Kanna.


  • Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and eyes.
  • Glass Cannon: Her powers are undoubtably deadly — they can slice through an entire mountain range at maximum output — but they (and her combat skills in general) are so crude and simple that once you get past them after she leaves herself open, she has perfectly ordinary durability and pain tolerance — which is even more of a problem than it sounds, since being a winged being apparently requires some level of concentration on her part. Any reasonably serious injury will distract her so much that she essentially loses any meaningful ability to fight back against whoever injured her, leaving her entirely dependent on her first-strike capabilities. There's a reason why the soldiers are easily able to kill her.
  • Godiva Hair: Her hair covers her naked body whenever she strips.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: When she, Ryuuya and Uraha became surrounded by guards, she took to the sky as a diversion after surrounding Ryuuya and Uraha with a protective shield. While in the air, Buddhist monks cast a spell that bound her into a cycle of eternal reincarnation and suffering that Ryuuya fought to break with Uraha, leaving it up to his descendants to find a way to free Kanna, a cycle which culminated in his descendant, Yukito, and the girl, Misuzu.
  • Last Kiss: She kisses Ryuuya before her death.
  • Last of Her Kind: The last winged being after her mother dies.
  • Overly Long Name: Her full name Kannabi-no-mikoto is so long that the characters shorten it to just "Kanna".
  • Tsundere: Like you won't freaking believe. Rather unbecoming of a heavenly being, really.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: While she can cut through an entire mountain range in one slash, she has no combat skill and once more soldiers replace the ones she takes out, the replacements are quick to finish her.
  • Winged Humanoid: As winged being, she has wings.

    Ryuuya 
Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese), Jay Hickman (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ryuya_b.png

A skilled, yet low-ranked samurai in charge of Kanna's protection. Unfortunately, after creating a diversion for Ryuuya and Uraha, Kanna was cursed by Buddhist monks to live an endless cycle of reincarnation, suffering, and death. Ryuuya dedicated the remainder of his life to finding a way to lift the curse, and though he never did, he had a child with Uraha in the hopes that their kin would eventually find a way to break the curse. He also received a premonition from Uraha that he was fated to die within the same year as Kanna.


    Uraha 
Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), Allison Sumrall (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uraha_b.png

One of the servants in charge of Kanna's care.


  • The Gadfly: She and Ryuuya love nothing more than teasing Kanna.
  • Someone to Remember Him By: An interesting variant. With Kanna gone and Ryuuya soon to follow her into death, Uraha asks him up front to conceive a child with her for this reason - both to pass on their memories and will to save Kanna on to their offspring, and so she'll be left with their child instead of alone after losing both Ryuuya and Kanna.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Though it isn't explicitly stated, she probably invokes and parodies this trope on purpose.

    Shiraho 
Voiced by: Yuki Makishima (Japanese), Stephanie Wittels (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shiraho_air.jpg

A woman whose spirit possesses Kano.


  • Hair Intakes: Her hairstyle has a pair of small "cat ears" on top of her head.
  • Heroic Suicide: She committed suicide to protect her child who was to be used as a sacrifice by members of a village.
  • Motherly Side Plait: She wore a loose ponytail over her right shoulder and was a good mother who gave up her life to protect her own child.
  • Offing the Offspring: She was pushed to do this or let the priests do it for her when she and her child were blamed for misfortune befalling the town. She couldn't do it.
  • Unfinished Business: The reason she possesses Kano.

    Yaobikuni-no-mikoto 
Voiced by: Keiko Han (Japanese), Robin Terry (English)
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cghh02n_e.png

Kanna's mother.


  • Curse: Justified. She bears the curse of the Winged Ones and it got passed down to her daughter Kanna who touched her despite her warnings.
  • Glass Cannon: Similarly to Kanna, she can't survive a couple of arrows, but can take out multiple soldiers with a single whirlwind.
  • Missing Mom: Kanna had never met her before the story.
  • Overly Long Name: Like with her daughter, Yaobikuni-no-mikoto is quite a long name. Even if shortened to Yaobikuni, that name is written in five kanji when most given names range from one to three kanji.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Just like Kanna, she has no combat skill but her whirlwind compensates for this.

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