"Winged People" is a particularly important keyword in the tear-jerking multimedia work "AIR." The Winged People are involved in so many complex matters that it's hard to grasp the full picture even after watching the story, but here we'll be revealing some spoilers about them.
[AIR] What are Winged People? (Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers.)
Winged People are "those who dream of the stars."
In the present day, when Kunisaki Yukito and Sora are the main characters, little detail has been revealed about the Winged People. However, in the "Summer Arc," set 1,000 years ago (the Heian period), the mystery surrounding the Winged People is revealed, and those who know them well reveal that they are "those who dream of the stars."
The Winged People have been imparting much wisdom to humans since ancient times.
The Winged People have been imparting much wisdom to humans since ancient times. While contributing to the development of civilization, they were also sometimes used as tools of war by the powerful of the time.
Have Winged People Existed Since the Age of Dinosaurs?
Even Heian period monks claim that winged people have existed since ancient times, so their history must be quite long.
The fact that the winged humans believed to be the first winged people could fly far above flying dinosaurs suggests that they must have existed at least long before the birth of humanity.
【AIR】Why were Kanna and Yaobikuni targeted?
Were winged people becoming a nuisance to the Imperial Court?
The fact that it was the Imperial Court's forces that attacked Sacred Mountain suggests that the presence of the Winged People was becoming a nuisance to the Imperial Court.
The Imperial Court Wanted to Unify the Faith
The story goes that the Imperial Court wanted to unify the gods. It seems likely that the belief in the winged people was becoming a nuisance to those in power at the time, and they desperately wanted to eliminate the existence of Kanna and her mother, Yaobikuni.
Was the Imperial Court afraid that the winged people were too powerful?
Since the Winged People "dream of the stars," it would seem that there would have been benefits for the Imperial Court to continue using them to move the times forward. However, their power surpassed that of humans to such an extent that this was no longer the case, and those in power must have viewed them as a threat.
In fact, Yaobikuni demonstrated such power that she could kill a large army with just a thought. Therefore, the powerful people of the time, fearing the existence of the Winged Beings, whose power far surpassed that of humans, likely sought to discourage people from believing in them by casting curses on them or shunning the common people.
【AIR】About the Curses Placed on Kanna and Yaobikuni
The curse placed on Kanna and the curse placed on Yaobikuni are different
The curses placed on Kanna and Yaobikuni would continue to harm Kanna's soul for 1,000 years, but the curse placed on Kanna by the monks of Mount Sacred Mountain and the curse placed on Yaobikuni are completely different.
The curse placed on Yaobikuni was to "sicken anyone who has feelings for her."
First, the curse placed on Yaobikuni was to "sicken anyone who has feelings for her."
By placing this curse on Yaobikuni, the Imperial Court likely hoped to prevent the common people from believing in Yaobikuni, the only powerful Winged One at the time.
It is speculated that the purpose was to make those who believed in the Winged One sick (even to death) and, by imprisoning Yaobikuni on the sacred mountain, to make people forget the existence of the Winged One.
Why the Imperial Court Didn't Kill Yaobikuni
The reason the Imperial Court didn't kill Yaobikuni isn't precisely because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't.
In fact, Yaobikuni possessed enough power to kill many people with just a thought. Therefore, we can infer that the powerful people of the time, fearing her power, had no choice but to confine her in isolation on a sacred mountain and cast a curse on her (the Winged One) to weaken her power.
And by wiping out all those who believed in the Winged People from this world and making people forget their existence, she probably wanted to create a world that was convenient for the Imperial Court.
With the power of Yaobikuni, she might have been able to repel the curse, but she was either too depressed mentally to even muster the energy to do so, or the curse of the monks of Mount Sacred Mountain was unexpectedly strong.
Why Kanna's Life Was Targeted
We speculate that the Imperial Court targeted Kanna's life because they wanted to eliminate her while she still had the power of the winged people, before Yaobikuni's powers were somehow passed on to her.
The curse placed on Kanna is "a curse that will cause her to have eternally sad dreams."
The next curse placed on Kanna is "a curse that will cause her to have eternally sad dreams."
From the words of someone who said, "The memories of the stars must be happy ones," it's conceivable that the winged ones' powers would weaken if they didn't show the stars happy memories.
The monks of Mount Sacred Mountain, likely aware of this, placed a curse on Kanna to "continue to have sad and eternal dreams" in order to suppress the Winged Man's powers, binding her soul.
In the anime, the curse cast by the monks of Mount Sacred Mountain takes the shape of red chains, binding Kanna. This likely represents the fact that Kanna is bound by the "curse to continue to have sad and eternal dreams" until she is reincarnated.
The curse placed on Kanna wipes out the power of the Winged Ones.
The curse placed on Kanna binds the souls of the Winged Ones, and even after reincarnation, it "curses them to eternally dream sad dreams," preventing them from seeing the "starry dreams and wisdom" that Winged Ones are meant to see.
In this way, Kanna bound the next generation of humans who would inherit the souls of the Winged Ones to the sad dreams she constantly had. Furthermore, by erasing the vessels known as Winged Ones from this world, she bestowed upon them a curse so severe that even if the Winged Ones were reincarnated as humans, their tiny vessels would be unable to heal them (though this is a somewhat complicated story).
【AIR】Kanna: The Sad Winged One Who Blew Two Curses
Kanna Inherited Two Curses
Kanna ignored Yaobikuni's warnings and touched her, thereby inheriting a curse that sickens anyone who falls in love with her.
Furthermore, the monks of Mount Sacred Mountain placed a curse on Kanna's soul, causing her to be forever cursed with sad dreams. Kanna became the last of the tragic Winged Beings, suffering under two curses.
【AIR】Misuzu Kamio's Mental Illness and the Reason She Couldn't Interact with Others
Even After 1,000 Years, Yaobikuni's Curse Continues to Harm Kanna's Soul
Misuzu Kamio, the main heroine of "AIR," suffers from a condition that causes her to burst into tears suddenly whenever she becomes close to someone.
This is more likely the result of a curse placed on Kanna, rather than a curse placed on Yaobikuni that "makes those who have feelings for her sick."
The curse placed on Yaobikuni is more accurately thought to be a "curse that drives people away and prevents them from having feelings for her." In any case, it was a curse that sickened and even killed those who worshipped Yaobikuni (the Winged One). At the same time, Mirin, who inherited the Winged One's soul 1,000 years later, was also unable to make friends with anyone in the present day due to the effects of this curse.
Even when interacting with Kanna, Yaobikuni's biological daughter whom she likely loved, he did not become as distraught as Kanna. This likely indicates that he was either suppressing the curse with his own winged powers or mentally blocking his love for Kanna to prevent the curse's power from distraught him.
Why Otomo was initially okay with being friends with Kanna
Uraha (Otomo's ancestor from 1,000 years ago), who possessed a talent for magic, stated that even if he were hit with Kanna's curse that would make anyone who had feelings for him sick, he would be able to deflect it with his own magic.
As a result, Otomo, a descendant of the Urayasu clan and capable of magical powers, unconsciously neutralized the curse that had been placed on Mirin (Kanna's soul) that sickened those who had feelings for her. This likely explains why, for a while, Mirin didn't cry hysterically even when they were friendly with Otomo.
However, Oto and Misuzu became so close spiritually that even the power of magic could no longer counteract the curse, and they both became weakened.
If Otomo had realized that he could use his magical powers to cancel out Misuzu's curse, the outcome might have been different. If Otomo had the same magical talent as Uraba, the fates of Otomo and Misuzu might have been a little different.
【AIR】Oto lifts the curse on Kanrin (the souls of Kanna and Yaobikuni)
Oto sacrifices himself to lift the curse on Kanrin (Kanna's soul)
The reason Kanrin became the "last child to carry the memories of the stars" was because Oto used his magical powers to sacrifice himself and lift the curse that had been placed on Kanrin (or more accurately, Kanna's soul) that would make anyone who had feelings for him sick.
With the last of his might, Otoko was able to lift the curse that had unintentionally been placed on Kanna when she touched Yaobikuni a thousand years earlier, making anyone who fell in love with her sick.
With the curse lifted, Misuzu temporarily recovers.
Misuzu was barely able to stand, but with Ototo's last remaining strength, the "curse that sickens those who have feelings for her" was lifted, and she regained some strength, becoming able to walk outside on her own.
From this, we can infer that the "curse that makes those who have feelings for her sick" was actually a "curse that weakens the cursed person themselves by thinking of someone else."
Ototo thought that if he left, both he and Mirin would be saved, so he probably realized that the curse on Mirin was "eating away not only himself, but also Mirin."
However, the capacity of the Winged Ones is too heavy for a human.
Mirin, who had awakened to the Winged One's soul to the point of being able to see Kanna's soul memories, was already in a terrible state, even though she had recovered a little, just as Uraba had originally said: "The capacity of the Winged Ones is too great for an ordinary human."
By the way, the reason Kanrin began having dreams about Kanna from 1,000 years ago is because she awakened to the power to see the dreams and memories of the stars, which is the mission of the Winged People.
However, 1,000 years ago, the monks of Mount Sacred Mountain cursed Kanna's soul (the soul of a winged person) with a "curse to forever dream sad dreams." Kanna was forced to remain trapped in sad dreams, not dreams of stars. Even after reincarnation, she never awakened to her true winged powers, continuing to dream sad dreams forever through each reincarnation.
In a sense, she was cursed in a way that exploited the winged person's "power to dream of stars."
Lifting the curse does not heal Kanna's soul.
Even if the "curse that sickens those who have feelings for her" is lifted, that alone will not heal the memories of Kanna's sad dream from 1,000 years ago.
To purify Kanna's sad memories with "happy memories," Misuzu had to work just one more step.
【AIR】Mirin becomes a mother and daughter with Haruko, purifying Kanna's soul
Mirin becomes a real mother and daughter with Haruko, purifying Kanna's soul with happy memories
Mirin's stepmother, Haruko Kamio, has always loved her, but fearing that her real father, Keisuke Tachibana, might come to pick her up, she was unable to express her affection to him.
However, after Otomo and Misuzu began to interact and Otomo lectured her, Haruko's feelings changed. She went directly to the Tachibana family to negotiate for Misuzu to become her real child, and after that, she began to express affection for Misuzu, something she had not been able to do before.
This happened just after Otomo sacrificed himself to free Misuzu from the curse that sickens anyone who falls in love with him, so Haruko and Misuzu didn't become sick even though they became close.
If Haruko had expressed her affection for Misuzu from the beginning, the two of them would have gotten sick and died long ago. It's a bit scary to think about that.
Unable to withstand the power of the Winged One, Kanon, a normal human, dies as the "last child to carry the memories of the stars."
Although she inherited the soul of the Winged One, Kanon is still a normal human. After dreaming about Kanna, she awakened to the power of the Winged One, and her body became weaker and unable to withstand it.
Furthermore, the expression that Tsubasa is in pain suggests that she has inherited the memories of Kanna, who was physically injured by numerous arrows 1,000 years ago, and her rapid weakening leads to her death.
As a result, Mirin lost both her body and mind, even her memories. However, thanks to the wishes of many people and her own strength, she regained them. Finally, by falling asleep in the arms of her beloved Haruko, she revealed to the stars the "happy memories" that are the mission of the Winged People, purifying the memories of all Winged People, including Kanna's soul, and completing her mission.
【AIR】In the end, she is reincarnated as a normal human, not a winged soul
After fulfilling her mission as "the last child to carry the memories of the stars" in "Happy Memories," Misuzu was actually reincarnated as a normal human girl in the timeline in which Misuzu and Otomo were alive.
The boy next to him is Otomo's reincarnation. While the boy seems to retain some of Otomo's memories, the girl, as the soul of "the beginning," seems completely freed from her duties as a winged person.
With this, the existence of the winged people was eliminated from the soul level, and Otoko and Misuzu were finally freed from their mission to save the winged people's souls, while the boy and girl were freed from their mission to save the winged people's souls and were able to live their "beginning" lives as normal humans.
【AIR】Tsubasajin: A Spoilers and Analysis
While the deeper aspects may be known only to creator Jun Maeda and the rest of the production staff, I have taken that into consideration and thoroughly analyzed what is revealed in the story, so I hope you will find it useful.
