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Karifean's Blog of Visual Novels

AIR Summer Arc Thoughts

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Well, well, that was actually pretty damn good.



After completing the three storyline paths of Dream, you unlock the Summer arc. It takes place in a completely different era with completely different characters and overall has pretty much nothing to do with what you've read up to this point.

Summer takes place in ancient Japan. The protagonist is a samurai by the name of Ryuuya. He is sent to protect a 'winged one', a girl called Kannabi no Mikoto, or Kanna for short. While there he becomes good friends with Kanna and one of the retainers Uraha. One day Kanna is to be transferred, much to the dismay of all three of them; and they flee, setting out to find Kanna's mother whom she hasn't seen since her birth.



I really enjoyed Summer. The story is engaging and is far more well-paced than any of the Dream arcs, and it finally answers many of the questions Yukito's journey had raised. The setting is a bit strange at first, but it turned out to be no problem.



What makes this route so great though are the character interactions. Ryuuya, Uraha and Kanna are just great together. And since they're basically the only notable characters in Summer, you get to see them interact a lot. Which was good.



The romance is interestingly handled. At first it seems like Ryuuya x Kanna is a thing, but it turns out to be rather one-sided on Kanna's part and thus later on it becomes Ryuuya x Uraha. They turn out to be Yukito's distant ancestors and are the origin of his 'Houjutsu' ability and his quest, so it's not like this is a total non-sequitur. It connects nicely to the overall AIR storyline and just leaves you with a good feeling.



Now let's just hope Air, the final arc, lives up to this.

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