The original Air series was so good I didn't feel like taking the risk of watching the specials or movie, in case they'd mess up the overall experience. Now, several years later, I thought "meh, why not", and checked out the Summer OVA anyway. Turned out my fears were unfounded. These two episodes could easily have been merged into the TV series without affecting its quality. Sure, you get to know the secondary, "ancient", characters better, which enhances the aggregated enjoyment of Air. But at the same time, it'd slow the series down quite a bit. So I'm totally fine with the decision to keep this as a separate OVA.
The Summer special is not as heavy as the TV series; is has way more lighthearted comedy elements and almost no heart-tearing moments. It's just some feelgood character development, but compared to the TV episodes, these two are considerably slower and neither story nor characters get that much development. The main focus is the comedy. And that's totally fine.
Graphically and audio-wise, this OVA is right up there with the original. That is, it looks and sounds excellent.
