Air Gear

Air Trecks, also known as AT, are motorized and futuristic inline skates that are the new craze taking the nation by storm. Although each AT comes with a speed limiter, a community of daredevils known as the "Storm Riders" are brave enough to tamper with the device. Utilizing AT's in underground battles, individual teams wager valuable AT parts or team emblems—their symbol of pride—to dominate the streets.

Living in this era is Itsuki Minami, a middle school student notorious for engaging in street fights. Always wanting to reach heights no one else is able to, the reckless punk will break through any obstacle that stands in his way, alongside his best friends Kazuma Mikura and Onigiri. However, it is when he discovers a pair of Air Trecks in his house that the path to his true desire finally opens: to rule the skies.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

Episode Videos

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:	Air Gear
Side story:	Air Gear Special
Sequel:	Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori - Break on the Sky

Bifu, Hitoshi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Chung, Jin Ho

Producer

Maruyama, Hajime

Producer

Yoshizawa, Takao

Producer

Kamegaki, Hajime

Director, Episode Director

Edit

Opening Theme

"Chain" by Back-on

Edit

Ending Theme

"Sky-2-High" by skankfunk

Reviews

Jun 4, 2007

jupiterjazz

Recommended

Story: 8/10 Not too bad all things considered.
When I started up the first episode of Air Gear I was pretty skeptical. I almost let this one pass by just on the basis that it was based on kids with motorized roller blades. However by the third episode I was completely hooked. I then proceeded to cram 25 episodes in over the span of the night. I must say given the fact that this is based on roller blading I was very impressed with the story presentation, and by the end of the 25th episode I was left begging for a second season. I can only ...

Open

Gift

Jun 29, 2015

re11ding

Mixed Feelings

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 or ... something. 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.

Open

Gift

Jul 27, 2013

iSheep

Not Recommended

I think I have a newfound respect for anybody that enjoys this show. Not because it's a bad show, but because it's a bad show that somehow gathers a respectable amount of fans. Air Gear is bad. It's not just bad, it's probably the worst show I've ever seen.

Have you ever seen a review with big bold caps streaming the headline blatantly screaming to you "WORST SHOW EVER"? Everybody that writes a bad review often tells it that way, but it means there are about a hundred other "WORST SHOWS EVER". I admit to watching plenty of shows within the span of my daily life, ... and it takes me a while to rethink a show and decide whether or not I like it. Some for better, some for worse, but the truth is, I've never seen an anime show that I've truly regret watching, not even those I would want to watch again. Air Gear is radically different.

Story: I rated the story 7/10. This is well-deserved and dignified, because let's face it, how often do you see an anime show about rollerblades? In Air Gear's defense, it may be the only one of its kind. The issue I had with the story is the really quick pickup towards the last couple episodes, where suddenly the plot dove full-throttle into a wall, as if this was a show wishing for itself to end. What can I say to that, aside from calm down and flow a little more naturally? Nothing much, especially when the first couple of episodes emphasized falling over and over again. It was nice to see him falling without the slightest clue as to what he was doing the first times, but how about an episode where he DOESN'T fall from something every so often? You're not a factory, so please stop your blatant repetition.

Art: The animation is world-class, similar to how you would say Shingeki no Kyojin has some of the best art direction in an anime show, but for the first couple of episodes, I had to readjust my preferences until the art style sank in, unlike Shingeki no Kyojin which doesn't borrow elements from the "common" anime yet still managed to draw me in the moment it began (without regards to what was actually happening). The look as a whole did remind me of Samurai Champloo, especially with the presence of Minami Itsuki who vaguely resembled Mugen, and given the setting in a modern-day urban environment, I was pretty much sold. It looks good and the story is nice, that should give me an incentive to stick around.

Sound: Another anime with a badass soundtrack, a sick opening theme, and better sprites and sound effects than can be produced with a Korg synthesizer (of course I'm exaggerating), the music is something to behold for sure. If I could say so myself, Air Gear has one of the best soundtracks out there, behind a musical, in which music is the main focus. Based on Story, Art, and Sound, I was almost convinced that I would be watching another masterpiece.

ALMOST convinced.

Characters: I was thoroughly disappointed with the characters. Minami Itsuki lives in a world where he happens to be the main protagonist of a sports show, so what's up with this guy? He has no shame and even used the "public restroom" during one of the battles, and just like all the other guys in this show, they're ALL perverts. That brings me to the case of Noyamano Ringo, a girl that Itsuki lives with. She must have some insane type of unrequited love, especially to fall in love with a guy like Itsuki. In fact, what about Simca, who is supposedly "in love" with Itsuki? She obviously takes kindly to being the whore of the AT world, especially when it becomes a hobby to show up nude in front of a guy that you didn't like at the very beginning.These characters have a lack of common sense, and unlike a comedy that recognizes stupid characters, Air Gear simply allows them to happen, and to this day, I believe they're dead serious about it.

Enjoyment: What's the genre for Air Gear, sports? I also believe that they've thrown in a couple of other genres in there, like Comedy, Action, Romance, all the typical anime genres. That's the thing I found strange about Air Gear. Its genre is so confused, if Air Gear were human and you ran a sexuality test on it, the reading would come out as "inconclusive". Air Gear FAILS to recognize its own genre, and instead of giving it the right amount of comedy, action, and romance, Air Gear throws all of them into a blender, minces it, and hopes it tastes good. By this time, the formula is bitter, and you can't even taste what it was supposed to be to begin with.

And Air Gear doesn't stop at trying to mix the genres above. It also adds more to a formula that it can't get correctly. Instead of identifying what it's supposed to be and allowing them to exist without twisting them into a quite unpleasant experience, it's also trying to tell you, "oh yeah, did we mention we're also an Ecchi?" If you did not understand any bit of my analogy, this is what it means: Air Gear tries to blend Comedy, Action, and Romance, and also tries to get by on adding an ecchi scene "here and there". It's the reverse order, in reality. Air Gear is an Ecchi show before anything. THEN it gets to be a Romantic Action Comedy that doesn't happen to be funny, nor romantic, and it just happens to have action in it. Air Gear's genre is so confused that it allows serious events to be complemented with a terrible sense of humor, comedy that's hardly impressive and so lackluster that you could watch with a straight face.

Overall: The art is appealing, the sound is studded with quality, and the story is decent minus that enormous quirk at the very end, but the characters are hardly notable and trying to find the non-Ecchi parts of Air Gear is like searching for a needle in a haystack: you need to be searching actively to find those parts.

Don't get me wrong. The show has its incredible moments. High-velocity action sequences, a badass soundtrack, and some of the best art direction to ever be found in an anime show, but take it down to the other elements and there's no redeeming qualities in the fields of characters, enjoyment, and content. There's simply nothing about those three categories that could pick this show up off its feet and allow it to compete with even the most generic of shows.

Air Gear seriously has the potential to be something amazing, taking something generally "uncool" and giving it a reboot into something much easier to appreciate, but the very fact that it can't mix genres well and can't even identify what it is to begin with leaves it much to be desired. I know it has the potential to be amazing, but it can't be unless it throws out the Ecchi, the horrid Comedy, the forgettable characters, and learns to blend its own elements correctly.

However, I've just come to the realization that I described the entire show. I guess there's simply no way I will ever like this show.

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Boys Kissing Boys

by floopydisk

27 Entries · 33 Restacks

Underrated anime!!

by Fee_bow

50 Entries · 165 Restacks

Urban culture in anime

by RobertBobert

21 Entries · 26 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

Second OVA of Air Gear Announced

According to presepe news, the second OVA of Air Gear was announced to be released on March 17th 2011. It will be bundled with the manga volume 31 limited edition. T...read more

Nov 9, 2010 7:17 PM by dtshyk | Discuss (46 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Help: Air Gear filler episodes? JoNuttanon1994 - Mar 10	3 replies	by Oishi_Samurai »» Mar 11, 5:48 AM
Poll: Air Gear Episode 10 Discussion ChronosXIII - Oct 15, 2009	17 replies	by Dragosama »» Feb 29, 7:58 PM
Poll: Air Gear Episode 22 Discussion yolomojo - Nov 4, 2009	13 replies	by ELuck42 »» Nov 26, 2023 9:24 PM
Poll: Air Gear Episode 18 Discussion ChronosXIII - Oct 17, 2009	10 replies	by ELuck42 »» Nov 22, 2023 6:56 PM
Poll: Air Gear Episode 17 Discussion vizhmaster_vizhu - Oct 3, 2010	10 replies	by ELuck42 »» Nov 21, 2023 9:02 PM

Recent Featured Articles

Top 15 Best Sports Anime of All Time

The best sports anime are about more than just the sport itself. They're about friendship, struggle, growth, and achieving your dreams. Here are 15 of the best.

by Law_Light

448,450 views

Collection Sports

Top 32 Racing Anime

Nothing gets the blood pumping like a high-intensity race, be it in a car, bike, or even mecha suit. Youthful passion and energy fuel these shows about drivers, pilots and athletes all striving for that #1 spot. As Ricky Bobby once famously said, "If you ain't first, you're last".

by Jadielkun

720,807 views

Collection

Air Gear

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Minami, Itsuki

Mikura, Kazuma

Noyamano, Ringo

Onigiri

Wanijima, Agito

Simca

Spitfire

Takeuchi, Sora

Yoshitsune

Mihotoke, Issha

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Air Gear

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-