Forum - View topicthe ending to Air
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v1cious
 Posts: 6224 Location: Houston, TX |
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can someone tell me exactly what the final scene is supposed to mean?
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5509 |
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Oye! There's been a lot of talk of what happened especially in that fansub forum. Well the thing I know definetely is that spoiler[Misuzu died. Then there are theories that those two little kids holding hands are reincarnations of Misuzu and Yukito (somehow the crow Sora in which Yukito's spirit is died later on). Then there's the question of whether the curse that Kanna has have been broken or not. ]
Yea, spoiler[this ending pretty much open-ended], but for some reason I felt a bit satified since a good amount of discussions can come out of it. And I enjoy reading other people's thoughts besides mine. 
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Questions posed by the ending of Air:
spoiler[1) Did Misuzu die? Yes. There's absolutely no doubt about this. 2) Is Kanna still cursed? Apparently not. There are a number of good reasons for believing this, but the chief one is the equation set up by Misuzu herself. She equates "Haruko" to "mother" to "goal", and by reaching her, achieves the redemption that she has been in need of, ever since having to leave her original mother behind (as Kanna). In a very real sense, it is not the curse's magic that is tormenting Kanna through all her reincarnations, but her desperate need to recover her lost mother. 3) Did Misuzu and Yukito (p)reincarnate as the two children on the beach? Maybe, maybe not. The chief evidence in favour of this theory is that Yukito has already gone back and forward in time, (p)reincanating as Sora the crow, and that the boy seems to have an intimate knowledge of what is about to happen in Yukito's and Misuzu's lives. I'm on the "yes" side on this question. 4) Is this a happy ending? Uh. Beats the crap out of me. I cried buckets, but I like the idea that Kanna/Misuzu and Yukito found redemption. And the fact that they are holding hands... The one I really feel sorry for is Haruko. The misery she went through would seem to be irredeemable.] - abunai |
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kainzero
 Posts: 309 |
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spoiler[I offer another theory about Misuzu's "goal." What I thought was that Misuzu's goal was simply the one she set in the beginning of the summer; to have a really fun summer and make a friend. She sets up Haruko and Sora/Yukito at the finish line to symbolize her new friends. By crossing this line, she symbolizes all the hard work that she's been doing... she knows she's going to die so she wants to make it memorable that she earned her friends. It's not so much that Kanna wants to recover her mother but more along the line that Kanna wants to recover a family... a family made by Ryuuya and Uraha and her mother. All the girls suffer from some sort of lack of family... Kano's sister made a myth about magic, the people haunting Kano had a destruction of their family... Tohno and her "lost" sister... Misuzu and how she was dumped onto someone else. It seems almost perfect for Haruko to become a daycare attendant to observe and take joy in how real families work. I don't believe the curse is broken, because Sora left to find the girl in the sky. If the curse was broken, Sora wouldn't have to go anywhere.[/spiler] I'm still going over it, trying to find out the significance of it all. I didn't think the ending was too conclusive, so I was kinda disappointed... especially because the ending pretty much came out of left field and changed the regular thought process of the audience. One of the points I'm interested in is the significance of the little girl that meets up with Yukito and takes his sloth. We see her sister and her mother in episode 10 when they worship God, and we also know she has a disease that isn't life threatening but requires her to go to the hospital. I wonder if it's related to the story in any way...] |
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Kazuki-san
 Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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I tend to agree with abunai on this one. spoiler[Yes, at the beginning of summer she merely wants to make a friend. By the end, when she realized what was happening to her, she wanted her family. She basically never had one. It wasn't until Haruko finally admitted her feelings for Misuzu that she realized she could finally reach that goal. The physical scene or her walking to, and embracing her mother is nothing much more then symbolism, signifying that she had finally done it. As for Sora flying into the sky, there is no doubt that Misuzu is dead, so her soul, or whatever you wish to call it, would be "in the sky." Yukito promised that he would be with Misuzu forever, and he is merely fulfilling that promise. At the same time, as Yukito/Sora flies up, he says that he is going to find her, and bring her back, to welcome a new beginning. To add to abunai's evidence that the children are their reincarnation, remember that when the boy is speaking he says, "for them, cruel days and for us, a beginning." About the only thing that doesn't make sense is that they could be reincarnated at the same point in time that their "other selves" are still alive. ] As for abunai's thoughts on Haruko, I think.. spoiler[of course she felt tons of grief at first, but, in the end, she also obtained her goal, to be a family with Misuzu. Even if it didn't last long, she is comforted by the fact that they were indeed a family, and that she was Misuzu's mother.]] |
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Well, that is why I deliberately coined the term spoiler[ (p)reincarnated]  Remember, spoiler[ in the first run-through of Yukito's and Misuzu's relationship, Sora is not around. Yukito's experience as Sora, going back and forth in time, in a new incarnation, and even watching himself, is ample evidence that (p)reincarnation can take place, in the story.]
Well, yes, I grant you that spoiler[ she seems to gain a valuable life experience from Misuzu's death - where she used to regard family and love as something threatening (because she connected it mentally with the inevitable loss of Misuzu, someday), she has moved on to a more open-hearted state. Nevertheless, I can't really think of anyone in the series, excepting possibly Tohno, who has paid a higher price.] - abunai |
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Kazuki-san
Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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I completely agree. As for your new phrase, (which I will refrain from repeating for fear you will claim a trademark, forcing me to pony up some cash) when I read through your post the first time, I didn't even notice the extra letter 
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Much as I love the sound of the word "cash", I wouldn't do that to you. You may consider that little linguistic hack to have been GPLed. 
- abunai ("Cash, cash, cash - oooh, baby, cash!") |
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