Ranked #902

Air Gear (Manga)

Oh great ... yet another interestingly cool manga, developing from its humble beginnings, into the convoluted mess I see before me. Anyone who has read most of it, or its previous incarnation Tenjou Tenge, will understand what I mean.

Air Gear is an exciting Shounen, Sports, Ecchi, Comedy that takes extreme sports to a whole new level. Nevertheless this is an Oh! Great manga; so expect mind-numbing violence, x-rated fanservice and an absurdly over-the-top storyline.

As it follows Itsuki Minami (Ikki), a boy who comes across as your typical teenage delinquent, with no real purpose or goal in life, but that soon changes when he discovers the wonders of the popular extreme sport known as “Air Treck”. Now Air Treck is like if you took rollerblading and stuck it in a shounen manga like Hunter x Hunter. I know that not everyone will understand the analogy, but it is the only way one can even describe the latter 2/3rds of the manga. Now the way that most shounen sports manga go, is by first introducing the protagonist to the sport and have said protagonist be met with an obstacle they must overcome, through both training and sheer force of will and then come across an even greater obstacle. Rinse and repeat. Sure Air Gear follows this formula but there’s a number interesting concepts that give this manga an edge over others; like the formation of an AT team, the bonds between them and infinite possibilities of ATs. From then on the story continually develops by adding new elements (e.g. Regalia) to the plot. Unfortunately the deeper the story goes, the more it loses the original essence that captivated the reader and in turn becomes a convoluted mess that even I struggled to follow. Which isn't helped by the dialogue the characters spew, when explaining a trick/ability/skill that often consists of either: something scientifically proven, some ancient mythology or philosophy.

But one thing that never loses its essence in Air Gear, is the cluster of clichéd but cool characters that fulfil every single archetype imaginable. Yet I feel somewhat torn when it comes to evaluating the characters of Air Gear. Because on the one hand you have Ikki, the main protagonist, who we will follow as he struggles to get to the top and pretty much exudes "cool" whilst doing so (I'm sorry but I cannot put it any other way). But it's not only him, as it is often nice to see his comrades develop along the way too, meaning that no one is left on the wayside. I in particular enjoyed seeing Kazu struggle to break free from Ikki's shadow and become truly formidable on his own. Even side characters who seem unimportant at first are given enough time in the spotlight, for the readers to learn what motivates these very diverse characters. Then on the other hand you have a certain character, who shall not be named, that undergoes a drastic transformation that felt so contrived and then there's Barack Obama... nuff said. Which is why I feel torn, because there's an amazing cast of characters and then a few that kind of ruin it.

Yet I can be decisive in saying the artwork is the best thing about Air Gear, with its unique look and cool design that sets it apart from all other shounen manga (except other Oh! Great manga). Not only do the characters look interesting, with their distinct look & feel and their expressively drawn attitudes, but this is the first time I'll praise the SFX katakana for not only being noticeable but for looking amazing. The environments are also very detailed and it’s easy to see that a lot of time, effort and creativity has gone into illustrating every battle.

Overall Air Gear is exactly what you’d expect from an Oh! Great manga: really crude perverse humour, imaginative character designs, extreme levels of fanservice and an over-the-top story to tie it all together. Now usually serialized shounen manga will prolong their run by continually upping the stacks, whilst retaining the theme that originally sucked in the readers. However where Air Gear falters is that mangaka continually adds new elements to the plot, transforming it from a sports battle manga hybrid into a pure shounen battle manga, disregarding what originally sucked the reader in. Gravity Children, Brain Charger, Barack Obama. Just to name a few of the random things later added to the plot that give off the feeling that not much thought was put into how they'd affect the story as a whole. In the end what is left is a story riddled with huge gaping plot holes, as far as the eye can see and no way to close them without completely abandoning your own sense of disbelief. But it doesn’t change the fact that this is still a hugely entertaining shounen manga to read, if you enjoy shounen manga. Just keep in mind that you may have to turn off your brain from time to time.
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Air Gear is a Sports, Shounen, Comedy, Ecchi. This is a Manga is by Oh! Great, so intense violence, extreme fanservice, and an over-the-top story line, which for the most part makes no sense, are part of the package, but that is okay!

The story revolves around typical teenage delinquent Ikitsuki Minami. He is the epitome of the cliche, shameless badass, main character you see in almost all Shounen Manga. His life suddenly takes a turn from his dull everyday life, to something more, when he meets a girl who can fly, well not really, but with the help of her AT's (Air Treks) she is able to fly with high into the sky and pull off amazing tricks. Ikki becomes instantly intrigued by the AT world and relentlessly aims for the top of Tropheum with his Storm Rider team, Kogarasumaru, eliminating friend and foe alike.

One of attributes i find cool and unique about this Manga is the art it is simply amazing, I never get tired of looking at the vast landscapes and one-of-a-kind character designs. In my opinion whatever the story is lacking the art makes up for, so the art is definitely a plus for me. Another plus for me is the supporting characters they are just so cool. When i get tired of Ikki there is always a couple chapters of Agito or Kazu fighting. Without that balance of "page-time" (Manga equivalent of "screen-time") this Manga would be an utter and complete train wreck.

And now a negative. The one thing that pisses the shit out of me is the constant and blatant over-use of the metaphoric "wings"- what is this I don't even... it just leaves me in a state of awe at the stupidity and uselessness that these scenes serve, granted they are there for dramatic reasons and dramatic reasons only... I'll throw in one more for the heck of it, the fanservice is beyond the imagination, it boggles my mind how some of the scenes even occur. i.e. one scene the girl has her clothes on then wind blows *whoosh* suddenly her clothes are either gone or ripped to shreds.

Overall, Air gear is a great for all you hard core Shounen fans who really enjoy over the top action badass special tricks, and of course how could i forget, roller skates.... read more

Reading long running series can be quite the daunting task to start on, but you can reap the awards of what long series bring, memorial characters and terrific long stories.
I'm referring to good stories like One Piece, FMA, and anyone who can actually write, Air Gear's award is the boobie prize of absolute disappointment, a benefit of the doubt that was brought about by a good start.

STORY: Oh Great! Isn't that quite the name to give yourself? Especially since you're definitely not so great at a lot of aspects, except artwork. It must really scream confidence to those who pick up Air Gear (Or Tenjo Tenge, but I'm not reviewing that), expecting something great, well I wouldn't blame them, Air Gear does start out pretty decent, good even, but fumbles around later and finally falls.
Air Gear is dumb, really dumb, that one kid in first grade who is sent to the corner in class and has to wear a dunce hat everyday kind of dumb. But like the teacher having to watch over that kid, you grow fond of the kid's antics, even if you know what to expect from him, that's the charm of that rascal in the works. But the kid eventually grows up into a complete dumbass, and he's not only the kind of dumbass who does stuff only jackasses would do, but also the kind of pretentious ass that can only pretend to be what he is obviously not, smart.

That's what my experience with Air Gear has been like, and that's what the story amounts to, a smooth landscape that hides the grand canyon of falls. The story of Air Gear starts off pretty simple, Itsuki "Ikki" "Babyface" Minami, the strongest kid at his junior high school, is an orphan who lives with four sisters and is practicably a brother to them, the Noyamanos, Ringo, the series main female character and actually the most likable character, Mikan, the tomboyish and second oldest sister, Ume, the youngest and quirkiest of the sisters, and Rika, the oldest and bread winner of the family. But one day Ikki however fights the wrong crowd, and is slaugthered by a gang of roller skaters called Storm Riders, and from then on, Ikki is introduced to the world of Air Treks. Air Treks are super roller skates that let's you jump into the sky as if you're flying, enabling you to perform tricks that are otherwise, impossible without them (And magical BS, which I'll get to in a little bit).
The story is basically a sports battle shonen ecchi manga series with quite the strange concept, that starts off as good as anyone would hope for coming from the mastermind behind Tenjo Tenge (And just to clarify, I'm using the word mastermind very loosely, that word is too great for oh great). A lot of the early battles in the series are very entertaining, which the battles are actually various sports events (Mixed in with typical shonen style fights of course) that are quite interesting, and involves the main to use strategy (In terms of shonen strategy fights, it's up there with early Naruto). From racing and relay runs to standard 1 on 1fighting and survival king of the hill matches, this is one thing Air Gear continues as one of it's only constant qualities.

Other "qualities" however, might as well have never been considered as quality. Specifically, the story telling. As I figuratively explained earlier, The story does nothing but goes down a downward slope after sometime, from fun foolishness with the main cast, Including Ikki, and the rest of his storm rider team, the whipping boy and fastest member, Kazu, the fat pervert, Onigiri, Oh Great's interpretation of Bleach's Chad, Buccha, and the fucking split personalities boy who says fuck all the fucking time that it is his catch-phase, Akito/Agito. Other characters includes a couple of groupies that become useful over time, a cock tease, and several countless roller skaters.
The story was basically about a group of boys wanting to become the best roller skaters in Japan, that becomes a cheap pretentious mess. From killing off characters that had no importance to the overall story to just improve another character's air trek skills, to throwing in pointless characters, to over exaggerating the power of the roller blades to ridiculous proportions e.g. roller skates determine the fate of the world.
And from then on the series loses all of it's fun, I mean, it's ridiculous, specific roller skates with magical powers and only naked girls can repair them? It's fucking retarded to put it bluntly, they're nothing more than cheap devices to make ridiculous powers and cheap fan service, but Air Gear takes a simple concept and over inflates it with story telling that's obviously over oh great's ability.
It's a shame that this series grow too serious, and that it looses any redeeming qualities other than...

ART: The artwork, this is the one thing Oh Great does to earn his pretentious name. Incredible detail on everything, the character designs are borderline realistic, bodily proportions are over exaggerated at times (Muscles, titties, and other lustful body parts), but everything looks great, especially the personified shadows of the characters, with great detail on these creatures ranging from vicious beasts to goddesses and hellish armies.
However, at times, when the story does it thing, text boxes and word bubbles fill too much of the pages, and becomes almost as messy as the story is.
But the word great should only be implied here when speaking of Air Gear.

OVERALL:
The Good:
+ A dumb fun story with a unique concept that mixes shonen and sports elements.
+ Good comedy if low brow and ecchi jokes are your thing.
+ Great artwork that deserves the word great.

The Bad:
- Dumb story become a convoluted mess later on that goes way above the head of the author.
- Cheap ecchi, and even cheaper plot advancements.
- Completely ridiculous plot devices, and all the magical bs roller skates can apparently do.
- Terrible mood swings.

Sigh... As easy as it is to drop Air Gear, I consider myself to be at the point of no return, but let this review be a warning to those wanting to invest into this mess of a series. Oh Great must actually be a sarcastic name, or should be used in an annoyed reply like, "Oh great... another chapter of air gear to read, woo whoo..." read more

I can't deny Oh! Great's skills when it comes to drawing, but he just can't write a reasonable story. His physics give me the creeps, and the way he draws women got boring and disgusting with all the overly sexistic scenes. Oh well, it's still looking good.

Even though I hate the main character Ikki, I must admit that his other characters are bit more intresting. The first impression of this manga was very captivating, but as the series got longer my intrest dissapeared. I do still enjoy reading Air Gear occasionally, but it's definately not among my favorite series.

Since this favorite manga of mine is so underrated, I would give it a 10/10.
All I can say is that this masterpiece of Oh Great! is just GREAT!

What you can expect most in this manga is its CREATIVITY in a kinda similar sense to that of Yakitate!! Japan. Well, everyone is creative, even my 2 dogs, but I really mean it in this case. You can keep the joy of being entertained by its creativity at any point throughout the story, particularly at the very beginning of every single chapter (especially since chap 50) in any possible form: design, parody, pose, machine, feat, etc.

At many points, you will find the conversations a bit philosophical surrounding the topic of "to fly" but they are pretty enjoyable. No goosebumps at all! Those are the pauses needed after all the exciting parts. :) There is no major twist in the plot but mostly side changing b/w enemy and ally. The protagonists Ikky and his gang move on, beating enemies and turn them friends, just to find more enemies..

The story transcends the topic of sports spirit and bring you to epic wars with super high technologies which make most sci-fi sense. The author is always trying his best to be both creative and contemporary. I was extremely delighted to see President Obama making his parody gender-bender show. Oh Great! also does a great job in gathering materials - there are a lot of small things you can learn to amaze your little friends. I myself just never cease to be amazed reading this series. read more

Air Gear Review


Genre :: Sport, Action, Adventure, Shounen, Ecchi
Description :: Minami "Ikki" Itsuki, is a student and a delinquent. Also known as the "Unbeatable Babyface", Ikki is the leader of the youth gang by the name of "East Side Gunz". Upon his return home after being humiliated by a street gang of Storm Riders called the Skull Saders Ikki discovers a secret hidden from him by his benefactors, the Noyamano sisters. The sisters belong to a group of Storm Riders who go by the team name of Sleeping Forest. Keen on helping Ikki to regain his confidence and pride, they supply him with a pair of Air Trecks and as time goes by, his skills improve as he uses them in combat against other users.

Story: 6.5/10 :: Was brilliant in the beginning, but the story is lacking these days...

Characters: 9/10 :: Some loveable characters in there, and great designs.

Artwork: 9.5/10 :: Very nice, action and movement is done well, it almost feel like its moving at times. But a few chapters had lacking art a while back, but thats fixed now.

Enjoyment: 8.5/10 :: I actually enjoyed it quite alot, it was a fun read from the start.

Pacing/Panels: 4.5/5 :: Some chapters seem kind of filler-ish, but apart from that it was all good.

Originality: 4/5 :: Battle manga, but with sports involved? That deserves it some points for mixing the two.

Who would like this manga? :: Shounen battle manga? Check. Ecchi? Check. Sports? Check. Well, there you have it, enjoy! read more

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 wars and 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.

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Air Gear was a manga that derailed when it stopped emphasizing the main story and character, and started dealing with back stories, and characters arcs left and right. Back when we focused on Ikki, we had funny hijinks, badass ideas, and just general awesomeness. Now we have unimpactful-world views, friendship is magic, and a million subplots. The ending, I feel solved many plot hole for the (now-central) side characters (I mean, how else was I going to find out that Onigiri is now married to Sarome, who is somehow not dead form having her neck twisted 180 degrees, and Kazu finally goes out with Emily) but it really lacks what we were looking for, like Ikki getting to ride with Simca, or where everyone goes from there, or even WHERE DID IKKI COME FROM. They never really cover the plot holes with his natural talent (jumping off Tokyo Tower), his relation to Dr. Minami, or why he needed to be adopted in the first place. If it wasn't for the newfound conspiracy theory about how mangakas are ending their mangas to send a message to the greedy publishers, I would say that Oh!Great could have done a lot better. Considering his time span though... well, at least it wasn't Negima's ending :) read more

For the past ten years, Oh! Great (Ogure Ito) has created one of the most bizarre pieces to ever hit the shelves: Air Gear. To be blunt, it's bizarre because you just can't seem to figure out what Air Gear is trying to be. Is it a sports manga that's over the top? Is it a battle manga with the most peculiar choice of weapons? Is it a harem manga of sorts? Is it actually a comedy manga with ridiculous amounts of fanservice? The manga jumbles its focus on these genres as it goes on, and does so until its final chapter.

Nevertheless, I finished reading Air Gear. I just finished reading it out of sentiment; I still fondly remember the days when it was good, and continued reading hoping that the good times of Air Gear would return. Alas, it would not recover, but I read it anyway. I suppose this is the sentiment produced by reading long-running series; you just can't let go so easily. Anyway, let's get to the nitty gritty.

Story: 6/10

The story is about Minami Itsuki, referred to by his friends as "Ikki," and his story in the world of ATs. What are ATs? Think of over-the-top inline skates. That fly. And skate in the sky. With powers.

I actually hooked on to this concept, and thought that it would produce some of the most ridiculous sports manga ever. Air Gear, however, tries to attain a multitasking attitude, and attempts to do several genres all at the same time. What we end up with is a sports manga tied in with battles, romance, comedy, and fanservice. It juggles the concepts each time, and ends up with a bizarre mess most of the time. It does have its moments, though, although the mess really is more frequent. It was jumbled so much that the last 20+ chapters ended up being romantic, then more of a shounen battle, and finally finishing it up sports manga-style. It's confusing, but you tend to grow on it if you've been reading it for years.

Art: 8/10

I've always liked Air Gear's character illustrations. Details are pretty much just right where you need them. It's just puzzling, though, how the female characters don't seem to know the concept of "underwear." Or even "sports bras." Heck, sometimes, even "bras" too. Well, setting all forms of fanservice aside, the characters look great.

The battles look amazing as well. It's amazing how the artists envision all the powers of the ATs, and bring them to life as backgrounds each time the user of the AT uses the said power. Dragons, vines, typhoons--name it, they got it.

What sets me off, though, is the scenery. Sometimes, it's great, but often times, it's really messy. Setting that aside, everything else is pretty good.

Character: 5/10

Here's where the other problem of Air Gear lies: the characters are so plentiful they're cluttered and completely lack characterization. Most of the characters are cool and collected, or hot-headed sports jocks like our lead character, or some pretty girls with awesome sets of inline skates (and vital statistics). The only guys I remember so well aren't even the lead characters; they're just members of the group Ikki forms later in the story. If anything, you'd find strength in the characters not as individuals, but as a whole. Heck, even Ikki's personality was pretty uneventful.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Nevertheless, Air Gear was a pretty unique experience. You'd never thought you'd see genres so diverse in one single manga, and the author manages to execute the story while keeping the ridiculous instances at bay. (Sometimes.) The tricks and the ATs give life to the story, and keep readers on. You can even play favorites with your choice of the best ATs in the series. It's that catchy. Either that, of course, or you're really just interested in certain curves throughout the series. Or the almost complete ignorance of women's underwear. But hey, all's well that ends well, right?

Overall: 7/10

For the record, this is simply the average score of everything I've rated above. Overall, Air Gear brings about a story that's just as ridiculous as the sport where the entire story revolves about. Whether you're in it for the sentiments, or the women, or the tricks, or the powers, Air Gear remains to be quite an entertaining read. It's certainly not the best out there, but it's nice to read something to bizarre it's entertaining. I guess the bizarre nature of this manga is one of its strong points after all. read more

Roller-skates that doesn't just look cool, but have super power which can allow you to fly in the sky or slice whatever you dislike in half. Yes, this can totally be done and can only be found in Air Gear. The anime revolves around the protagonist, Ikki, who became interested in Air Treck (AT) when he was shown his first defeat by a gang of storm-riders. He formed a team called Kogarasemaru and had one goal; to conquer the Tropheum. The plot follows a typical story-line in which the main character starts out weak and become immensely strong by the end. Miracle do happen, right? And here is a heads up; If you try to apply physics to the tricks the AT perform in this manga, you might experience some chronic pain.

The flow of the story is alright. In the beginning, the story started at a microscopic level in a sense that it only focused on Ikki and his life at home, school, and with the East side gang. Then later it expanded to the entire town, and soon after the world of AT. The story continues to unfold many times over until the manga basically focused on the entire world. The was a noticeable and good quality of Air Gear. On the other hand, the manga had too much holes in the plot and those are too significant to ignore especially when it comes to the ending which did not flow very well with the rest of the story. Many questions left unanswered especially the relationships Ikki had with the girls. In the end, the manga chose to end the plot with action and left out some important genres which it incorporated earlier on in the story.

Nevertheless, the whole manga is concentrated with extended metaphors, so be prepared. Sometimes the metaphor, such as the wings that everyone is born with, makes sense and has a great message behind it. While others are you can't understand it at all, but they one of the most promising and prominent features about this manga.

The art of Air Gear is great, fabulous, outstanding, splendid, there is an infinite number of words that can be used to described the art. All the characters look so appealing and in a sense they look almost perfect. One thing that stands out other than the character art is the art for the AT avatar. When you first see them you will be astounded by the detail and complex. For this I applaud the art as well as the artists.

Well, let's talk about the characters; Ikki, Issha, Onigiri, Agito, and Kazu are the members of Kogarasemaru. Each member is characterized to as great extent and that is great since each character is individualized from each other, yet there is this feeling that all of the members except for Ikki are very similar to one another. Why? The reason is the manga is trying too much to make Ikki different that the other characters are left alone.

The manga was really fun to read, there was always a sudden twist and turn waiting for us at every corner. That is what makes Air Gear entertaining; you can never predict what will happen next, and is definitely a true quality of an action type manga. As I might have mentioned earlier Air Gear incorporates a lot of genre ranging from action to ecchi. Air Gear took a unique approach and it work out really well. The manga successfully use a majority of the genres it incorporated and designed a story that is both entertaining and meaningful.

Like what an AT rider would say; "Infinity Atmosphere" --- There is an infinite number of possibilities for Air Gear. Each one of those possibilities can be good or bad, but for me I have to say, Air Gear was worth the read. read more