Air Gear

I'LL SHOOPDAWHOOP YOU TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN! ^This actually happens in the manga... Enter the ridiculous world of Oh! Great (Ogure) manga: Air gear. If you are familiar with his other works (such as tenjou tenge) then you should know what to expect. A convoluted mess of absurd amounts of fanservice, a cast of cliches, a great deal of random events, amazing art and (as an added bonus for this manga) bullshit physics. Air gear takes place in a world where highly advanced, state-of-the-art, motorized roller blades known as air treks are used by people to zoom around the town, partaking in territorial warsand other competitive events. Pros: -BOOBS! ASS! -Awesome art! -Great concept. Cons: -Characters are bland. -Story is just a mess. -Random stuff happens so frequently, you just have to accept it. -BAD. PHYSICS. Anyone who gave a crap bout their grade 8 physics class would see a lot of mistakes in Ogure's "explanations" -Did i mention the story is a mess? -Bad inclusion of humor at inappropriate times. This would actually be a Pro if it wasn't so overused. -And just so you know, the story is a down right horrid mess of crap. Story: 3/10 Follow our protagonist as he dreams of soaring through the skies! Delve into the world of air treks and witness as the shit hits the fan!! The story starts off great but quickly takes a turn for the worst. Bad science + no clear direction + too much fanservice + even more yaoi fanservice + random mecha + president of united states = not very good. I ain't gonna spoil it for you and you can read the synopsis for more detail. And seriously... this is one of those manga's where you would benefit from skipping anything YOU, the reader, deems retarded and irrelevant. Why? Because it probably is. Art: 9/10 Friggin' AWESUM! The art is just great! if only there was less fanservice and more focus on the story, this manga woulda been top-notch... The attention to detail, the fight scenes, the backgrounds... its all just so good! Characters: 5/10 A massive cast of just about every cliche out there. I wouldn't give it a 1/10 cause it sticks to the nature of cliches... but no higher than 5/10 cause there really isn't any originality here. One big problem in my opinion is the characters age... way way way tooo young for what they look like and what they do. Overall: 5/10 Read it if you want lots of Pseudo-Hentai with a story in the background. Maybe if you wanna check out some awesome art. But don't read it if you are looking for this super awesome concept executed with an amazing story and quality art... all you'll get is disappointment and quality art. The following is a more detailed review. Don't bother if you don't want a giant wall of text full of my opinions. Genre tags: So! You should have a basic idea of what this manga is like. A few things I'd like to add to the genre tags would be "fantasy" or "science fiction" Why? Because the story starts with simple motorized roller blades and ends with super high tech parts that use vibrations in the air to trap people. Or techniques of breathing in to accumulate more nitrogen in your body, causing nitrogen bubbles that generate excruciating pain but also heighten the bodies senses. Even ways to skate on the water by creating so much heat that you generate a surface on the water... YEEEEAAAAAAH... Like i said, bad physics. Simply adding a genre tag other than "sports" would help the story do what it wants. But nope, Ogure chose to break his own rules. The "sports" tag is misleading. There's way too much bullshit going on for it to be regular sports. Story: See, it starts fairly simple. Guy wants to fly. Gets super-awesome skates. Flies around. Suddenly, he gets into a fight with a group. Suddenly, another group appears. Then suddenly, more information is given to us about the world of air trek... but... it was just so sudden... suddenly, people start executing techniques that are just absurd... stopping time with roller blades? WHAAAT!?WITH FRIGGIN' ROLLER BLADES!?!?!? Suddenly, wheels turn into whips (but don't hinder the riders mobility)... suddenly, falling from heights that would have killed someone in chapter 2 isn't a problem in chapter 15... Suddenly, some guy appears. Suddenly, he betrays the protagonist... Suddenly, this person dies... Suddenly hes alive (of course, cause... ya know... adding a motor to a pair of roller blades allows you to resurrect people by causing super sonic vibrations that resonate with the mitochondria in their cells causing the body to go into overdrive preventing them from losing their consciousness thus allowing them to remain alive...not) Then suddenly, the president of the United states of america appears (not kidding...). Then suddenly theres a body swap. Then suddenly giant robots destroying cities. That is how to story goes. Suddenly something happens, we start getting crap explanations (if we are even lucky enough for one) and before you can even begin to wrap your head around it, suddenly something else happens and there are more explanations. Then the story ends... and you realized you just wasted a great deal of time and energy trying to give a crap about a bad story. And lets not forget, random bullshit is hiding at every corner. Every single time the story takes a turn, some giant pile of bullcrap comes raining down on the reader. Seriously... this manga makes less and less sense with every volume. Oh and don't get me started on Oh! Great's naming sense. That's another clue the sports tag is uber misleading. You get attacks like "bloody killer fang," "Unlimited atmosphere," "Pile Tornado." Even titles like "gravity children"... Seriously, if this guy wasn't smoking something while coming up with incoherent bullshit, he would be deemed insane. Art: Like i said. The art is great. But there is way too much fanservice. Which is great if you like that. Every girl gets naked here. EVERY ONE OF THEM. Oh... and so do some of the guys. We also have some serious (STORY RELATED) yaoi here. Every chapter is perverted. Every volume has ridiculous amounts of cleavage, boob-grabbing, ass-slapping, cloth-ripping and just plain on panty-shots. If you, like me, cared about the story then this would start to get in your way of enjoying the manga. But then again, the story is crap so this really is all you got going for you. Fanservice and fight scenes. The two things that don't need to make sense are the only reason you should read this manga. Characters: Boy oh boy oh boy. Main male protagonist is your average full of himself, "i-cant-define-cool-without-making-him-a-douchebag" douchebag... He's got a friend who's full of determination and self-doubt to the point that he is a normal person. Another friend who is just a complete and utter pervert. And one who's the fat guy who just don't stop eating. One is gay for the douchebag and has multiple personalities. Then there are the female cast who all are very... "well-endowed" when it comes to the body department. NO LOVE FOR TEH PETTANKOS!! The majority fall in love with the douchebag main protagonist. What else did you expect? How do these characters develop? Wellll... a lot actually. But they just sorta loop around to being how they are in the beginning with just more skills. Soo... not much i guess... Facts, credibility and imagination: You might be thinking, WTF IS THIS? well, i had to add this criteria simply because Ogure does such a wonderful job of making up total and utter bullshit and expects it to make sense to the reader. As far as facts go, they go along with the world of Air gear then fall flat on their face. They last about... 3 volumes... Credibility, just the same as facts. Everything goes along just fine, seemingly appropriate for the world of Air gear and the fancy high-speed roller blades known as air treks... then credibility fails Ogure as mystical, magical and down right moronic science kicks it to the curb. Imagination, however, SHINES! There is a lot of imaginative material going on in the manga. And it really really really isn't bad. Like i said earlier, this manga has a fantastic concept. But the great ARTIST Oh! Great screws up big time and (probably started smoking something new) just gets too wild and crazy that the reader must begin to imagine that this is a good manga. Oh, and i capitalized the word artist because that is what Ogure is. He can't write a story for shit, but he sure as hell can draw some amazing things. Did i mention Ogure can't write a decent story? Just making sure you get my point... Final thoughts: Go dream up a better story involving motorized roller blades and i guarantee you that it will be a bazillion times better than air gear. If you are too lazy, then read Air gear. Feel free to skip the "SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS" since they just ruin stuff (unless you have no knowledge of anything physics-related i guess). Heck, it actually is BETTER to skip lots of the stuff past volume 5 to keep the story in the direction it's MEANT to go. You could literally skip 1/4th of the manga and you would have a more cohesive story. Would i recommend this? Maybe if you want lots of fanservice, or if you want to know what not to do to a story or just wanna check out some awesome art. Hope you found this review helpful or at the very least enjoyable.

Air Gear is a popular manga series created by Oh! Great (Ito Ōgure) that revolves around the world of Air Treks, high-tech rollerblades that give their users enhanced speed and agility. The manga has garnered a considerable following since its publication in 2002 and has even been adapted into an anime series and video game. One of the most significant strengths of Air Gear is its dynamic and visually stunning artwork. Oh! Great's unique style combines elements of shonen manga with a more detailed and realistic approach, resulting in beautifully rendered action scenes and character designs that are both visually appealing and memorable. The series also boastsa well-crafted story that features a large cast of diverse characters, each with their own unique motivations and personalities. The plot is full of thrilling action, intense rivalries, and unexpected twists that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Furthermore, Air Gear explores themes such as friendship, trust, and self-discovery, adding depth and emotional weight to the story. The characters' struggles and personal growth throughout the series make them relatable and engaging, and readers are sure to become invested in their journeys. Overall, Air Gear is a must-read for fans of shonen manga and action-packed stories. Its stunning visuals, well-crafted story, and engaging characters make it a standout among its peers, earning it a 10 out of 10 rating.

So I stumbled across a few artworks by Oh! Great and was simply fascinated by his art. This really made me want to read his works so I started with Tenjou Tenge, although I put it on hold because I heard Air Gear is his best work. Now that I've finished it, here is my review. - S T O R Y - The story is centered around Minami Itsuki as he gets introduced to the world of A-T and grows as a Storm Rider and he overcomes progressively increasing in difficulty challenges through practice, skill and sheer will. It starts out fairly simple with a fresh concept notseen before in Sports manga but as the story progresses it becomes more and more convoluted. The pacing is good, it's not too fast, nor does it drag on. Every moment has enough time to develop itself and not overstay it's welcome. That aside, the story, while really enjoyable, is the weakest part of Air Gear for sure, the battles often rely on will and having to protect someone in order to be strong. While not necessarily a bad thing, it does do it a tad bit too often. Sometimes it doesn't even try to make sense with some character's powers but that's not a problem Air Gear is an over-the-top Sports/Battle Shonen hybrid and does what it does really well. Air Gear was not made to excel in writing and be the Hamlet of the manga world, it was made to be cool and that's what it does best. Air Gear is the definition of cool, that's what it breathes and that's what it exhales. While it has plenty of nonsensical moments, there are the occasional scientific explanations that makes what just happened seem plausible but they're far too few. - A R T - The best aspect of Air Gear for sure, the art is incredibly crisp, clear and incredibly detailed in places. It compliments the setting of Air Gear and it makes the characters shine. Especially when they zoom in the A-Ts, the detail is mesmerizing. Oh! Great's proportions make some pretty good fan service, for both guys and girls, Air Gear is riddled with hot guys and hot girls. - C H A R A C T E R S - While they're pretty archetypical, they show plenty of personality and do grow as characters, each of them has his own individual character arc and road. Their motives are pretty clear and simple, they want to improve themselves. Also, their interactions are one of the best thing about Air Gear alongside the art. - O V E R A L L - The story, while nothing special, it manages to make the best out of it's characters and setting, the action was great, the panel selection for each scene was perfect and it knew when to stop on a cliff hanger. It kept you on the edge. There is plenty of violence and fan service but none of it feels out of place with Air Gear. - E N J O Y M E N T - I really enjoyed Air Gear, especially because of it's action and fantastic art.

Air Gear is one of those series that had a lot of potential but failed miserably. I already put reviews for the anime (which was really good because that was the best part of the series and after that it goes downhill) and I read through the manga many times. So here is my review Story: 4 Air Gear's story goes from setting things up very nicely to failing miserably. The arcs that the anime went through were the best parts of Air Gear but then after that it fails. However there were some interesting things such as Sora's betrayal however there is a lot of thingsthat should happen. The story itself doesn't make sense till through the end with all the things of people somehow alive but dead, Spitfire AI program, The Big Climax, Rika's brainwash, Tool Toul To, there is alot of things that are bad. To make this review quick it is very had to say all the problems of air gear. Art: 10 The art was very good, Oh Great knows how to draw, a lot of the action scenes are really nice. Characters: 4 Oh boy where to begin with this let's start with why John Omaha (Barack Obama the president of US) exist in the story. Honestly I am just going to say the good characters and everyone else just assume is bad. Good Characters: (not really great but okay) Buccha, Agito/Akito, Kazu, Spitfire, Yoshitune(if spelled name wrong sorry) Everyone else are pretty bad characters. Originally I was going to say Sora would be a good character but his whole thing about cutting of different parts of his body because he doesn't need them or doing it for the 99% of people was dumb. Enjoyment: 5 There were some parts I enjoyed but after the Trident arc it starts to go down a bit but still enjoyable but after the Sora's Betrayal Arc it goes really bad. Overall: 4 There were some good moments in Air Gear but the things with gravity children, and some parasite that controlled Rika, etc are the bad parts which is majority of the series.