I love Key's works, and Air is one of my favorites. I love both the anime series and the film. However, just recently I realized that I had never read the manga version of Air, which has a pretty good score, but has met some criticism. I decided to read the manga for myself to see if I liked it or not, and also because I loved the anime and movie. Now I have finished reading this manga, and I can honestly say I really enjoyed it. I read the three reviews for this manga adaptation on this website, which are all not too positive. This almost discouraged me from reading it, but I'm happy to say I did anyway, because I found it to be a rewarding, yet somewhat flawed, experience.

Story: 8 (No spoilers!)
The story is very good: it is about a boy named Yukito Kunisaki with no family or friends, traveling around Japan, trying to make money as a puppeteer. He is also searching for the girl in the sky his mother told him about years ago prior to her death (it makes more sense in the manga). One hot summer day, he ends up in the small town of Kami, and meets an eccentric and naive girl named Misuzu Kamio who wants to play with him. After time, they both end up becoming tied to each other (I won't explain how).

The story is developed very well, although it is a little choppy in some places near the end; the anime suffers from this, too, since it tries to cram the whole story into just 13 episodes. In this case, the manga tries to squeeze the whole story into two volumes, and it works pretty well, but the ending feels a little rushed. However, it has a much happier ending than the anime, which I like. This manga also made me emotional in quite a few scenes.

I also like that the manga does not focus too much on Minagi or Kano (sort of like the Air film), because as much as I love them, if the manga tried to focus on them like the anime tries to do, everything would probably have ended up being even more condensed and rushed. However, the mangaka decided to mainly focus on Yukito, Misuzu, and Haruko, which is good (considering its length). If the manga had been longer, then maybe the other two characters arcs could have been added in, but this manga is only 18 chapters long. The manga did hint at those two character arcs though, especially Minagi's arc. This can end up being confusing for the reader if they have no prior knowledge of the Air story and characters. For this reason, I would recommend watching the anime first, then reading this manga. Perhaps that's why I liked this so much, too; I watched the anime and film first, so I had more insight into the story and characters when I went into this manga.

Furthermore it should be noted that the arc about Kanna and Ryuuya that is present in the anime and film is omitted in this manga for the most part; it does take away some of the emotion, but the manga still works and make sense.

Art: 9
The art is beautiful; the mangaka really captured the essence of this series in her art. There is a certain warmth coming from the illustrations in this manga, which works very well since this series takes place during summer. I especially love how she drew Misuzu. The art is very clean and detailed. Not much else to add in this department.

Character: 8
Like I said, the main three characters (Yukito, Misuzu, and Haruko) are developed very well. Their character developments are one of the things that truly make this manga so good. However, the rest of the cast isn't developed much. Kano and Minagi are developed to some extent, but not a lot (since this manga doesn't really focus on them). Michiru and Hijiri are barely present. Kanna and Ryuuya aren't in the manga at all. So I can't give a perfect score in this section, but I can give a high score since the three main characters are developed really wonderfully.

Enjoyment: 9
I really enjoyed this manga. It's very tragic so for those who don't like sad stories, this might not be a fun read. However, there is a happy ending, although some things are left unanswered like in the anime and film (this is done on purpose; it's left to the reader's interpretation).

Overall: 9
Can't give this a perfect 10 because of its flaws, but if I could, I would give this manga an 8.5. I rounded it up to a 9 for this website. For fans of Air and Key in general, this manga is recommended! Also recommended for people who love sad stories with some romance. ^^