YMMV / AIR

• Adaptation Displacement: Chances are, if you know about Air, it's because its characters are in Eternal Fighter Zero.
• Americans Hate Tingle: While Air is famous in Japan, good luck finding a loyal fan of it in the west, partly due to its depressing tone and Audience-Alienating Ending turning off potential fans.
• Angst Aversion: Barely anyone has actually watched Air because it is very depressing. It doesn't help that the ending where Misuzu dies is common knowledge now.
• Arc Fatigue: Minagi’s route is infamous for dragging on for far too long. It’s by far the longest of the three Dream routes and while there’s a lot in there to love, it can get very tiring. Not helping is that there are two endings to the route, which means even more time needs to be dedicated to Minagi to see everything her route has to offer. Possibly the reason that Kano's route is extremely short.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: The depressing ending where Misuzu dies slowly and painfully was quickly spread more than anything else about Air. It's gotten to the point where this ending is the only thing most people know about it.
• Awesome Music:
  • Summer Lights the calming, peaceful piano song that plays when Misuzu first shows up.
  • Within the Japanese otaku-dom, "Tori no Uta" ("Bird's Poem", or "Bird's Song") is often hailed as the anthem of anime/manga culture. It won the Key 20th anniversary music poll in 2019, too.
  • Aozora, which starts playing as Misuzu dies.
• Broken Base:
  • Misuzu's death always was the main reason for criticism of this novel and anime, even among its most loyal fans.
  • Although this has become a motivation for many anime fans to read the original novel, the Gainax Ending in the adaptation is still considered rather controversial and spoiling the overall impression of viewing.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Potato is often considered a more memorable and interesting character than Kano is.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Yukito asks Girl in the sky a second chance for them with Misuzu, after which they both reincarnate and finally walk like children in their new life on the beach and look sadly at the last day of their past life.
• Fandom Heresy:
  • Do not say anything positive about the monks and soldiers responsible for Kanna's curse and death respectively, or you'll be riddled with arrows yourself.
  • Say anything positive about Keisuke Tachibana, Misuzu's father who ignored her for most of her life, and you'll get punched in the face.
  • Never, ever say you were okay with Misuzu's death or you'll be cursed to slowly and painfully deteriorate and die yourself.
• Fanwork-Only Fans: Air's characters are featured in various doujin games like Eternal Fighter Zero, but even many doujin game players have hardly, if ever, watched the anime or played the visual novel.
• Franchise Original Sin: Charlotte is heavily criticized for being rushed. Air, also 13 episodes long, was also rushed and had two recap episodes, including the last episode, close to each other. The final episode of Charlotte crams a whole season into 20 minutes, turning even Maeda's biggest fans against him.
• Funny Moments: In the movie, Yukito's Please Put Some Clothes On expressions when he first meets Haruko and she's cheerfully greeting him while wearing nothing more than her underwear with a see-through top.
• Inferred Holocaust: How many people got attached to Kanna's reincarnations, which caused her curse to kill both of them?
• It Was His Sled: Anyone even remotely familiar with AIR will tell you that Misuzu dies. Since it is the only thing people talk about when mentioning the series nowadays, anyone watching today will be aware of its conclusion. It isn't even spoilered in many pages mentioning Air anymore.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: The most hated character in Air isn't the monks who cursed Kanna or the soldiers who killed her afterwards, but the aforementioned Keisuke. It's not surprising to see fans side with Yukito when he punches Keisuke.
• Just Here for Godzilla: One of the only reasons to see this show or play this visual novel is because Misuzu, Minagi, and Kano are in Eternal Fighter Zero.
• Mainstream Obscurity: Far more people know that Misuzu dies than have actually watched the show (or played the visual novel).
• Memetic Loser: Misuzu will forever be remembered for only one thing: dying at the end.
• Moe: Misuzu is one of the most famous examples of the terminally ill Love Interest.
• Never Live It Down: Misuzu's death is the only thing everyone tends to know about this series.
• Obscure Popularity: Again, Misuzu's death is the only thing anyone ever talks about when mentioning AIR.
• Rewatch Bonus: Adaptation can be more atmospheric, sad and symbolist, if you will review the show by learning about the concept of Yugen and Japanese shinto convictions.
• Signature Scene: Misuzu's death.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Yukito punching Misuzu's universally despised father in The Movie.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Minagi, Kano, and Yukito all have plenty of interesting personal drama to explore. Sadly, they don't get to do a whole lot in the story as a whole.

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