I have often been criticized in the past for liking Key's adaptation of the visual novel
Air. Whenever someone wants to lob a complaint at it they generally make fun of the distinct ("noseless") character designs or the "incomprehensible" plot. Or, if the person is particularly uncreative, they'll just whine about how it's "not as good as
Clannad."
I've given up pointing out that
Air came after
Kanon but before
Clannad. There are obvious issues with the story because Key hadn't hit its stride yet. It's certainly not "incomprehensible" though unless you need to be fed plot-points like breadcrumbs. The ending is not painstakingly explicit because it doesn't need to be. If you've been following the story up to that point then you should be able to figure out for yourself what happens to Misuzu and Yukito.
And as for the character designs . . . you either love them or hate them. There are many design styles that I don't like (Hisashi Hirai's, for example) but I try not to overtly criticize them simply because they're not appealing to me personally. In fact, I fell in love with
Air long before I had the pleasure of watching it simply
because of the character designs. I saw an image of Misuzu with her arms outstretched, golden-hair streaming in the wind and knew I had see her in motion. The set of singles was the best blind buy I've ever made.
I wish more people would give
Air an honest chance without holding it up to
Clannad (or
Kanon, for that matter), but people will be people. To each their own
