My Rating: 7/10
Kunisaki Yukito is a young man who is chasing a dream. He has no family or friends, only a puppet and a dream of one day finding a girl in the sky with wings. Just as his mother lived her life before she died, Yukito wanders from city to city using his mysterious talent performing puppet shows on the street to try and earn money for food and shelter. Things aren't looking well for him either when he reaches a town where no one seems to be impressed with his mysterious stringless puppet. And even stranger, he has yet to see any money around. The best he has received is rice coupons and snacks. Things start to look up though when one day a young school girl named Kamio Misuzu befriends him offering him food and companionship.
Misuzu is a strange and lonely girl, who like Yukito, doesn't have many friends and lives alone with her mother Haruko who is away at work most of the time. Because Haruko worries about her clumsy daughter, she agrees to let Yukito stay with them in exchange for him watching over Misuzu while she is away at work. Soon Yukito is meeting Misuzu's strange schoolmates and through a stroke of luck finds work doing odd jobs at the local clinic for Kirishima Hijiri, who's younger sister Kano is Misuzu's age. One day Misuzu tells Yukito something that may give light to his lifelong search. She tells him that she often dreams of flying through the sky with the clouds below her, and believes that her 'other self' is somewhere out there doing just that. Could this be the clue that will lead him to the girl in the sky that his mother was always searching for?
While Air had a somewhat interesting storyline, it failed to have that sense of excitement that I look for in an anime series. I think it is a series geared mostly towards children and girls, I found the story to be too mellow for my tastes. With no real sense of urgency in the plot, it seemed to drag and didn't progress much besides letting you get to know each of the characters better each episode. After watching one third of the series Yukito didn't seem to be getting much closer to his dream, which didn't help keep my attention by any means. With the lack of plot unfolding events, consequently there is plenty of time to get to know the characters. The music of the series was also good, very calm and relaxing. The animation was excellent and definitely one of the high points of the series, but so far failed to show it off with anything spectacular really happening yet, like say for instance flying high through the sky. In conclusion, this series may be a great choice for the younger watchers and those content with a more easy going story, but if you're looking for action and excitement this probably isn't the series for you.
Story: 6/10
Animation: 9/10
Characters: 7/10
Entertainment: 5/10