Air Gear

Air Gear is one of those anime shows that you will either love to death or be turned away from it by its weird style. Its very....how should I put it, "open," in a way like Tenjou Tenje is. The girls are revealing, the main character, Ikki, has no shame (as this is shown by him taking a dump in front of EVERYONE while a skating match is going on). Nevertheless, if you enjoy this kind of humor or can get by it, Air Gear shapes up to be a good introduction anime from its manga counterpart. The story is relatively thesame, as with many other sport anime shows. Ikki wants to be an amazing Air Trek rider (that is what they call themselves) and what he does not know is that the people he lives with are part of the legendary Sleeping Forest Air Trek team. They try to persuade Ikki from rollerblading because they do not want him to be involved with the drama that comes along with it, but of course, they fail. Otherwise, this anime would have ended at episode 2. Basically, each Trek team has the goal of reaching the top of the pyramid, to the A class - to be the best team and trekkers in the world. And in order for them to do so, they must compete in various kinds of competitions to win the badge of the other team. Animation is top-notch, clean, smooth and colorful. They have done a great job and many of the characters and their details. The women in the show all look gorgeous, to say the least. Since its been awhile since I have seen this show, I honestly don't remember how good the music is. However, as I listen to some of the songs that I have on my computer, I find it being so-so, so I gave it a rating accordingly. But don't trust me too much on this topic. Hehe. ^_^. As I have already mentioned, all of the characters are drawn well and have somewhat different personalities. However, nobody is unique in the sense that you'll be like "Whoa! I have never seen that in any other anime before." As you will find that a lot of the personalties people have can be compared to other characters in other anime shows. Again, character development is mainly measured by development in their Air Trekking skills. There really isn't too much of a change in personality in each character to give it much distinction. Overall, if you are looking for an intense, action-packed sport, look no further than Air Gear. The big disappointing thing I have with this show is that the first 25 episodes cover only a very small portion of the manga and I have yet to see any updates in a season 2 of the show. So I don't know the status of the future of Air Gear at the moment. I haven't read the manga yet, but I heard from many people that it is amazing and a must-read if you have the time. So once you are introduced to the world of Air Gear with the anime, I would advise to pick up the manga and become even further immersed with the story.

Air Gear is a pretty cool Shounen, Sports, Comedy anime about a teenage boy Itsuki Minami “Ikki” who ends up thrown into the competitive sport of Air Trek. Being drawn into this extreme sport, Ikki makes it his goal to reach the pinnacle of AT. Although it would have done better without the typical clichés, inconsistent plot and countless fan service. ^_^ At first glance you might just think of it as rollerblading, with add-ons in the form of an anime but Air Gear manages to pull of a pretty exciting anime with this basic concept. From the beginning something that helps this average-length showis the pace the story and the characters development that will leave you feeling satisfied after each episode. Speaking of the characters, most of their personalities are fairly clichéd like Ikki who is the sort of male protagonist who’s good at heart but doesn’t take crap from anyone. Apart from all the rollerblading there’s also some action in the series but sometimes it could have done better without. Well of course this can’t be a true shounen anime without the action, comedy and fan service. The quality of animation is a good for the show, with it able to convey the sports, comedy and fan service side of things well. It’s only the lack of fluid animation that is a problem and this anime would have been so much better, if only a production studio like “Madhouse” took it on. The music is perfectly incorporated into the show with a variety of hip hop, alternative rock and J-pop. The show’s opening theme is what exemplifies the possibility of these types of music complimenting each other. Overall Air Gear turns out to be a pretty exciting sports anime to watch with the main story easy enough to follow that kids can watch it, but with all the fanservice, its not advised. Even though the story develops well enough, there is a lot of stuff that is randomly added in which further complicates this anime (like Regalia and Genesis). In the end this is an anime that deserves a second series and hopefully by then the animation quality would be better. ^_^

All things given, this is my first review. Please don't hit on me too hard for what I say as I'm inexperienced when it comes to writing reviews. I'll get better as I write more. I'm gonna start things off with saying how I watched the dubbed version of this. Though I can't imagine it mattering much when it comes to this show, it'd be helpful knowledge regardless. Air gear.. was a bit disappointing. The show had great potential and yet was executed poorly. Story 5/10 Air Gear's story was bland. One kid finds these things called ATs, loves them, and apparently is the destined king orsomething. He comes naturally good at them. This kind of story has been retold in probably many anime; Air Gear just doesn't tell it as well as some others do. It's predictable, poorly paced where it feels there are filler episodes at strange places, and even the end was abrupt and boring. Art 8/10 The art of the show is pretty darn good. The style represented the dark feel of the show when needed but had a light undertone when things were bright and cheery. Character designs were nice and very different from one another. Even if you couldn't remember the names of characters, each character looked so different that it would be impossible to mix them up. Props for that. The animation was pretty good too when it wasn't trying to intentionally be cheesy. Sound 9/10 I'd be a liar if I said that the music of this show didn't pump me up when it needed to. It knew when to play sad, happy, intense, or whatever atmosphere you needed at the time. They reuse the same theme quite a bit, but it never seemed to get tiring. Characters 4/10 I'm sorry but.. Tom-Tom.. Why was she a character? Rant aside, some characters were written pretty well while others just flopped. The main character was in between as he often did things that would seem just over the top, even for him. Some characters revolved around being pervs. Others improved themselves as the show went on. My favorite character however had a neat perk that's been done before in different ways. If people remember Lunch/Launch from Dragon Ball, it's sort of like that. The big difference being the character's split personality was triggered by an eye patch covering the other persona's eye and that said persona's were aware of the others existence and knew some of the things the other did. Overall 6/10 I've watch anime that has me hooked with formulas like these and Air Gear failed to do that. It felt like a chore to watch with all the fan service it throws at you. It's enough to make someone sick. Not only that though, the story's blandness and the predictability the show has doesn't compliment the art or the sound well. The show also seems to forget a sub-plot they were trying to form near the end. The fact that the end is abrupt makes you assume there'd be a sequel of some kind, bringing that sub-plot back but nope. That was it. I'd stay away from this show.

Air Gear is definitely an interesting series to review. I'm a rare breed -- a person who watched the anime before reading the manga, and thus, I think I have a fresh perspective on the story. I'm not comparing it to the manga as many fans do with anime adaptations. "OMG! They left out my favorite scene with the spatula!!11oneone This anime suxxr0rs!" is an exaggeration of a complaint voiced by fans of a certain series: the adaptation isn't true to the original work, therefore, it isn't as good as the original work. I, however, had nothing to compare this anime to, so I believemy review will be free of "fan-bias". So what did I think of this series watching it from a fresh-faced, new-minded, open-hearted attitude? Air Gear is an interesting piece. The premise is about motorized roller-blades (Air Treks) that allow you to skate fast and even fly in the air. (Awesome, right?) The premise sounds like a fabulous set-up for a futuristic shonen sports anime. However, this description doesn't accurately describe what Air Gear is all about. The series follows Itsuki (Ikki) Minami, the leader of a small Junior High gang made up of his two best friends, Kazu and Onigiri. Ikki gets into loads of fights and is pretty much a deliquent. But when he gets thoroughly beat down by a group of a team of Storm Riders (those who ride Air Treks) he wants revenge, and he wants to do it their way. Ikki gets a hold of a pair of Air Treks from the Noyamono sisters, a group of four (sexy) girls who have looked after Ikki since he was a small child. Rika, the oldest, is level-headed and maternal, but can lose her temper at times. Mikan, High school aged, is short-tempered and tomboyish. Ringo, who is Ikki's age and has quite a crush on him, is smart, sweet, and talented. And Ume, the littlest, is a bit creepy at times, but mostly cute. Little does Ikki know that these four used to make up Sleeping Forest, a top-ranked Air Trek team with serious street cred. He learns to ride Air Treks and it becomes clear from early on that Ikki has talent. A prodigy, some might say. After various Air Trek adventures, he forms his own team, Kogarasumaru, made up of himself, Kazu, Onigiri, a former rival named Buccha, and a little psychotic Storm Rider with MPD, Akito/Agito. The story chronicles Ikki's journey with Kogarasumaru, but it focuses more on Ikki has an individual. I wouldn't call this a "sports anime" by any means -- it's far too dramatic for that. Now, while I know sports anime can get pretty serious at times, this "sport" ended up being so dramatic, it came to life and death. Storm Riders do not compete for fun -- they compete to survive, to rise up, and to become the best. Which brings me to the biggest question I have for this series: Why? To me, Air Treks sound like a bunch of fun. You get to skate around and fly in the sky and be awesome overall. So why in the world has this been reduced to such serious business? There's a whole hierarchy of Storm Riders, and super parts called "Regalias" that only Kings can possess. Oh, and if you want to be the Sky King, you have to defeat everyone else in a big Tower Tournament thing (it was explained rather poorly. Considering the anime never even got to the Tower, I didn't pay it much mind.) Throughout the whole series, I was stopping and saying, "Wait a minute...this is supposed to be fun, right?" I'm going to say this right now. Air Gear had the potential to be fun. But it isn't. It's funny at times, but it's never fun. I never get that sense of frivolity and joy watching it that I get when I watch other sports anime. I'm never saying "Go Kogarasumaru!" because I'm too busy saying, "HOLY SHIT KOGARASUMARU YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE!". Seriously, some Air Trek battles are nothing but street brawls on roller blades. How boring is that? The biggest team fight of the series is nothing but a big violent fight on Air Treks, and I think, "The hell? Take off the skates and just hit each other." Now there have been pretty crazy premises in some anime. Far more crazy than this. I think the reason I don't buy this whole "I'm going to use this super fun piece of technology to beat people up so I can be the best" is because there is never adequate reason given. Why do they want to be the best? For the sake of being the best. Okay, so...why? To me, it makes no sense. They try to explain it with some mumbo jumbo about wanting to "grab the sky" or "fly as high as you can", but it all reads very forced instead of endearing or captivating. Speaking of the "grab the sky" stuff, there is FAR too much time wasted in this series pontificating at length about how Ikki is going "to be the one to grasp the sky in his fists" or some Japanese random inspirational dialogue. If I heard one more person talk about Ikki flying in the sky, I was going to scream. "I get it!" I wanted to yell, "FLYING IS A METAPHOR FOR FREEDOM! Ikki flies without worry! I get it! You can stop it now!" The pontificating of Ikki also got on my nerves. One more revelation about Air Treks and how they've built his character, and I was ready to just vomit. Now, all this makes it seem like I didn't enjoy the series. I'm not going to lie. Air Gear is by no means fabulous. It's not a gem of anime by any means. At times, it's downright boring. But when it comes to this over-the-top, far too heavy tale, the characters become the saving grace. The characters of Air Gear are very real. I can imagine knowing them. Despite Ikki's annoying monologues, he's an endearing hero, and you actually want to see him succeed. His friends are great, although I wish they would've been explored a bit more. Ringo, who is explored very much, is by far my favorite character in the series. She has so many levels, she isn't just the "cute anime girl with the crush on the hero" by any means. She kicks more ass than Ikki on Air Treks, she's sweet without being a pushover, and she's flawed. She's overbearing and tries to hard to protect the ones she loves, which is such a human quality. Akito/Agito are also great. Both are very distinct, although I wish Akito would have gotten more screen time. We spent too much time on the rough and harsh Agito in my opinion. I can tell why most Air Gear cosplayers cosplay Akito/Agito. He's very lovable. Another great thing about this show is the animation. It's detailed and clean, and the Air Trek battles are animated with style. I love effort being put into the art of an anime, and this one definitely shows effort. The music is also FABULOUS. BEST music I have heard in an anime in a long, long, time. I found myself bopping to some of the tracks. The OST of this series is definitely on my wishlist (or my torrent list, lol.) What this series, and all of Oh-Great's mangas, is full of is gratutious fan-service. That's right, busty babes wearing pretty much nothing, showing off what their momma gave them every chapter. People have complimented "Oh-Great!" on his "fabulous females". I assume they mean the art, because besides Ringo and Simca, every female in this series is nothing but a pair of walking, talking tits and ass. I don't blame Oh-Great! He knows what the readers like, I suppose. Air Gear has been heavily criticized for its ending. It just kinda...ends...in the middle of the manga. There were only 25 episodes produced, and thus, the series ended rather strangely, with plenty of plot holes. Still, I thought the ending was handled very well. It was an ending that brought closure (not much, but enough) and gave me that "okay, now it's over" feeling. I think, however, it would have been in their best interest to have continued the anime. Maybe the ratings just weren't supporting it. Overall, I think Air Gear is a great idea executed mediocrely. The series is too dark, too heavy, with no adequate explanation for its tone beyond some random flying and wings metaphors. Still, it has some good things to offer: great characters, fun animation, awesome music, and the opportunity to fantasize about flying roller-blades. However, I've decided that I'm going to give the manga a try and see if it's any better than the anime. I've heard great things, so why not? I'll just catch up gradually I suppose. Overall: 7/10