Air Gear Chapter 357 Discussion

grandy_UiD said:
What happened in this chapter? I guess this is pretty much the manga writing equivalent to "incoherent and random rambling". This chapter was all over the place...but then again so was the manga for the last ~200 chapters so I guess it's a fitting end. (in a bad way of course).


This should've kept focusing on the sports aspect that made it fun to read in the beginning. Instead it became...whatever the fuck it was (seriously I have no clue).
Sora turning heel was an epic twist but shortly after that the manga started going downhill HARD.

The final chapter itself was not satisfying, aside from Ikki vs. Sora NOTHING got wrapped up. And even that was done shoddy. There were tons of characters in this manga that did not get anything even remotely resembling a wrap up. What a joke. But I don't really mind, I stopped paying attention and actually caring for this manga ages ago. I'm just glad it's finally over. Was about time.

Oh!Great can draw amazingly cute and hot girls but that's really it as far as his talent goes. He isn't a good writer. Which is a shame since he came up with a really interesting and refreshing premise here, gotta give him credit for that. Unfortunately it ended up as wasted potential since he himself just lacks the writing skills to develop a good story. For the last three or so years I always felt like the guy himself has no idea where he wanted the plot to go.

5/10 it was a real mess.

vindemon64 said:
it just seems they lost interest in what they were doing at one point...or just couldn't put their ideas together into something coherent.

xsilicon9 said:
So does Ikki choose someone at the end?

BeatStriker said:


Ringo

xsilicon9 said:


Do they start dating in the end?

06218395 said:
I finished reading all 37 volumes of Air Gear a few minutes ago. I read three volumes a day so it took me 2 weeks. I want to share my gripes with this series. Here I go:

• This is the first series I've read whose creator brutally spited me and essentially took a shit in my mouth. There was absolutely no point in introducing Kururu as a romantic interest, developing her and Ikki's adorably intimate relationship for 200+ chapters, for it all to culminate to a bullshit scenario where Kururu becomes incapacitated right before the long-awaited tuning session with Ikki.
  
  "And would you look at that? Ringo just happens to be nearby and available as a tuner when this happens. Totally a coincidence by the way. I'm a genius!" - Oh! great, probably
  
  I am so tired of the "childhood friend trope character" always winning the romantic battle for the male protagonist regardless of the situation, even if the pairing does not make sense. Throughout the series Ikki regularly expresses his romantic disinterest for Ringo, and it was always clear that Ikki's "love" for Simca was superficial and akin to merely turning your head to check out a sexy woman you see on the street. On the other hand, Ikki and Kururu's romance was so profound for both parties that it was symbiotic. Before Kururu met Ikki she was an extreme introvert who denied her own talents. She even held Ikki at a distance until her time spent with him in the hospital revealed his true non-goofball self, which is a very charismatic and kind-hearted person. Ikki and Kururu even begin to notice how much they have in common, and later in the series characters who openly start shipping the two of them include Kururu's own father, the United States president, and a notable amount of people in Ikki's circle of friends. Remember the scene where Ikki punched through a car windshield to protect Kururu from a potential kidnapper? Remember when Ikki, an orphan, had a tear-filled emotional breakdown when he was betrayed by his surrogate brother, Sora? At that time, Kururu loved Ikki so much that she lessened his pain by embracing him and crying with him. I know this comment seems like the venting of a rabid shipper, but if Oh! great always planned to have Ringo effortlessly dismiss all romantic competition and win Ikki's heart simply because she is the "childhood friend trope character" I would've much rather preferred if he did not play with the readers' emotions and just assign Ikki a generic female tuner after the Behemoth arc. Oh! great even had the audacity to have Kururu tell Ikki that she merely "respects" him (she later confides with her tuner friends that she actually loves him).
  
• Ikki eventually became so skilled that normal ATs actually hindered his "run" because they couldn't perform well enough to keep up. Yet Oh! great still waited until the series was basically over to give Ikki a Regalia that wouldn't be immediately stolen. Whatever, man.
  
• Like others have said, the series went from believable motorized skates to questionable exaggerations of scientific phenomena as an excuse to give characters the typical "supernatural anime powers". Air Gear definitely goes downhill after a certain point in the second half of the series. Eventually characters start throwing tornadoes and walls of air at each other and paralyzing their enemies with "vibrations in the air", so the reader will have no choice but to roll their eyes and suspend disbelief. And don't even get me started on the sheer amount of asspulls the antagonists in Air Gear have. It puts even Naruto Shippuden to shame.
  
• Too much philosophical fluff and moral-pushing. I constantly felt like this manga was trying to brainwash me. I understand hormonal teens read your work but I don't like hidden agendas in my mangas, Oh! great. The words "wings" and "sky" are sprinkled in every characters' dialogue like salt and pepper, but they are too ambiguous to mean anything but are given as explanations when something confusing happens. It's arguably the worst in the earlier chapters, where Simca is being overly cryptic in everything she says and there is no way for the reader to comprehend any of it until the story behind the "Tower" is explained like 200+ chapters later.
  
• So some otaku can just commit actual terrorism in Kyoto with a 100-foot tall mecha, and there is no armed government response? Not to mention you wouldn't be able to build something that large without getting attention from the authorities. Again, while reading Air Gear you will have to suspend disbelief to a degree that is ridiculous even by anime/manga standards.
  
• No one dies in this manga. Blood is like ketchup, and having your head turned 180 degrees will not kill you because the humans in Air Gear are apparently owls. Your body was impaled by a helicopter blade? Walk it off. Your body was torn to shreds by an air cannon? Just get cybernetic implants. God, I hate Shonen series.
  
• Ikki and Dr. Minami share the same family name, yet their relationship is never explained in-depth. It was also strongly hinted that Ikki is one of his experiments, but this is also never explained.
  
• Ringo is boring, Rika is an arrogant shit, and Simca is a emotionally damaged woman (think Asuka from NGE) who secretly likes hanging around abusive psychopaths. Kururu and Ikki's relationship is the highlight of this manga, and Oh! great ruined it. Perfect end for a terrible series.
  

tl;dr The story started out excellent, but devolved into ERMAGERD THE WORLD IS AT STAKE Shonen trife. Same thing happened to Bleach and Naruto. Only read Air Gear for the anime tiddies. Heed this warning.

06218395 said:
I finished reading all 37 volumes of Air Gear a few minutes ago. I read three volumes a day so it took me 2 weeks. I want to share my gripes with this series. Here I go:

• This is the first series I've read whose creator brutally spited me and essentially took a shit in my mouth. There was absolutely no point in introducing Kururu as a romantic interest, developing her and Ikki's adorably intimate relationship for 200+ chapters, for it all to culminate to a bullshit scenario where Kururu becomes incapacitated right before the long-awaited tuning session with Ikki.
  
  "And would you look at that? Ringo just happens to be nearby and available as a tuner when this happens. Totally a coincidence by the way. I'm a genius!" - Oh! great, probably
  
  I am so tired of the "childhood friend trope character" always winning the romantic battle for the male protagonist regardless of the situation, even if the pairing does not make sense. Throughout the series Ikki regularly expresses his romantic disinterest for Ringo, and it was always clear that Ikki's "love" for Simca was superficial and akin to merely turning your head to check out a sexy woman you see on the street. On the other hand, Ikki and Kururu's romance was so profound for both parties that it was symbiotic. Before Kururu met Ikki she was an extreme introvert who denied her own talents. She even held Ikki at a distance until her time spent with him in the hospital revealed his true non-goofball self, which is a very charismatic and kind-hearted person. Ikki and Kururu even begin to notice how much they have in common, and later in the series characters who openly start shipping the two of them include Kururu's own father, the United States president, and a notable amount of people in Ikki's circle of friends. Remember the scene where Ikki punched through a car windshield to protect Kururu from a potential kidnapper? Remember when Ikki, an orphan, had a tear-filled emotional breakdown when he was betrayed by his surrogate brother, Sora? At that time, Kururu loved Ikki so much that she lessened his pain by embracing him and crying with him. I know this comment seems like the venting of a rabid shipper, but if Oh! great always planned to have Ringo effortlessly dismiss all romantic competition and win Ikki's heart simply because she is the "childhood friend trope character" I would've much rather preferred if he did not play with the readers' emotions and just assign Ikki a generic female tuner after the Behemoth arc. Oh! great even had the audacity to have Kururu tell Ikki that she merely "respects" him (she later confides with her tuner friends that she actually loves him).
  
• Ikki eventually became so skilled that normal ATs actually hindered his "run" because they couldn't perform well enough to keep up. Yet Oh! great still waited until the series was basically over to give Ikki a Regalia that wouldn't be immediately stolen. Whatever, man.
  
• Like others have said, the series went from believable motorized skates to questionable exaggerations of scientific phenomena as an excuse to give characters the typical "supernatural anime powers". Air Gear definitely goes downhill after a certain point in the second half of the series. Eventually characters start throwing tornadoes and walls of air at each other and paralyzing their enemies with "vibrations in the air", so the reader will have no choice but to roll their eyes and suspend disbelief. And don't even get me started on the sheer amount of asspulls the antagonists in Air Gear have. It puts even Naruto Shippuden to shame.
  
• Too much philosophical fluff and moral-pushing. I constantly felt like this manga was trying to brainwash me. I understand hormonal teens read your work but I don't like hidden agendas in my mangas, Oh! great. The words "wings" and "sky" are sprinkled in every characters' dialogue like salt and pepper, but they are too ambiguous to mean anything but are given as explanations when something confusing happens. It's arguably the worst in the earlier chapters, where Simca is being overly cryptic in everything she says and there is no way for the reader to comprehend any of it until the story behind the "Tower" is explained like 200+ chapters later.
  
• So some otaku can just commit actual terrorism in Kyoto with a 100-foot tall mecha, and there is no armed government response? Not to mention you wouldn't be able to build something that large without getting attention from the authorities. Again, while reading Air Gear you will have to suspend disbelief to a degree that is ridiculous even by anime/manga standards.
  
• No one dies in this manga. Blood is like ketchup, and having your head turned 180 degrees will not kill you because the humans in Air Gear are apparently owls. Your body was impaled by a helicopter blade? Walk it off. Your body was torn to shreds by an air cannon? Just get cybernetic implants. God, I hate Shonen series.
  
• Ikki and Dr. Minami share the same family name, yet their relationship is never explained in-depth. It was also strongly hinted that Ikki is one of his experiments, but this is also never explained.
  
• Ringo is boring, Rika is an arrogant shit, and Simca is a emotionally damaged woman (think Asuka from NGE) who secretly likes hanging around abusive psychopaths. Kururu and Ikki's relationship is the highlight of this manga, and Oh! great ruined it. Perfect end for a terrible series.
  

tl;dr The story started out excellent, but devolved into ERMAGERD THE WORLD IS AT STAKE Shonen trife. Same thing happened to Bleach and Naruto. Only read Air Gear for the anime tiddies. Heed this warning.