AIR - 7/10
My first real mainline Key game, this game is a mess but has some brilliance at points. Unfortunately, the interesting parts of this clearly inspired some of the most well-known visual novels of all time which ended up doing what AIR was trying to do better. Telling you the VNs this inspired would spoil both them and AIR so I’ll refrain.
Honestly if the art wasn’t so bad it would’ve been a lot more enjoyable. I kept getting distracted by bad anatomy during big emotional moments and it genuinely took away from my experience.
The highlight of this game is the voice acting. Holy fucking shit is it good, RIP Kawakami Tomoko because she gave the performance of a lifetime. Hisakawa Aya really blew me away towards the end too.
The first half of this game kinda sucks and doesn’t really get good until the later half of Minagi’s route, peaking in the 4th route, SUMMER. The true ending was a bit too predictable for a Key game and felt kind of lame. The main theme, parents, is just done better in WA2 (the visual novel ruiner).
I’d recommend this game more as a time capsule rather than as an actual VN to enjoy in modern day. There’s a lot better Key games even.
