Aozora ~Blue Sky~
The girl in the sky IS the story. Without it there is no AIR. o.O It's what the series is about and everything comes back to Kanna's curse. All the characters are affected in one way or another by the curse until Yukito basically sets them free. The only one he didn't set free was Misuzu. And he could have done it. When he triggered the doll of unfulfilled wishes he wished to do it all over again rather than wishing to free the girl in the sky and save Misuzu, so he turned into a crow and did it all over again.
The story about the girl in the sky is nice and it's interesting when symbols all come together, but when it comes down to it, the main "story" isn't really saying anything. It's an interesting tale but it isn't saying much (or anything novel.) Deciphering plot and depth are not the same. The good parts of Air, ones that you actually might take something away from and learn something, are the plain, everyday, not supernatural or overly complicated parts-- it's the characters and their interactions with each other, namely Misuzu and her mother, and that other girl and her sister (sorry, I really don't remember too much... It's been awhile.) It would have been nice if the "story" was used to enhance the actual themes of the show, but instead they felt kind of seperate.
Ok so I really don't remember too much about Air so I'm relying just on my pretty crappy memory so I might be wrong, but as a general rule I don't like anime based on dating-sims and I think they try to hard to put meaning into something that was initially meaningless.
