Since I’ve just recently watched Air Gear, I have no idea what the manga version is. So to be precise, I’ll be doing this review for the animation only.
Story: 7
Air Gear’s story isn’t that different from the other shounen shows out there. We all got to admit that shounen shows are jam-packed with cliché events. But that’s one of the many charms of the genre. As I was saying, Air Gear’s a generic shounen series. Minami Itsuki, or simply called as Ikki, is our protagonist. A hot-headed kid who got his assed kicked by a street gang member of the Storm Riders. Upon heading home he discovers a not-so-secret locked room in their house containing a pair of Air Treks, motorized roller blades. He wore the ATs and rode it for the first time in his life. Days after learning how to ride Air Treks, Ikki plans to build his own Storm Riders Gang. As he progresses deeper and deeper to the art of Air Trek, problems arise from left and right. To be able to reach the top, he and his gang needs to widen their territory and improve their rank to challenge stronger riders.
Art: 7
If you consider a show almost 9 years ago a classic (who am I kidding? 9 years is pretty damn long), then Air Gear’s art is pretty good. Air Gear’s arts differ in what’s happening currently in the show. For example: the background changes when they ride (AT riding, I mean) the art becomes CG enhanced; you know those cars in Initial D? Yes, they have those, too. There are different drawings for the characters, too. Like when Ikki makes a funny face which really differs from the original art. Some scenes were drawn a bit poorly though. There’s this one particular scene where Simca (one of the girls in Ikki’s mini harem) drawn really fat. I don’t know why, but I laughed way too much more than I should. Aside from the funny looking characters, Air Gear’s art is quite good.
Sound: 6
Music and soundtracks on Air Gear were fair. Background music during the show is decent, too. I kinda like the OP theme. As for the ED theme, I have no idea if the lyrics were English or Japanese. So I didn’t bother listening to it.
Characters: 8
Good thing the Oh! Great (Ooguri, Ito, is his real name. See the pun? I loled when I noticed it, too), the author of Air Gear didn’t name his characters wrestling names. Ito loves western wrestling. He named three dogs in the series Stone, Cold, Stunner (?). And there’s this one time when Ikki’s group is thinking of their group name, Kazu offered a name which contains a lot of wrestling finishing moves in it, I think it’s around stone cold stunner hammer pile drive and—ahh, I don’t know. Brushing off his love of western wrestling, Ito did a great job with the characters. He gave them the perfect personality and looks. They were drawn fairly well; Seiyuus did a fine job with the voicing (especially on Ume), too.
Enjoyment: 7
Air Gear’s pretty enjoyable. What kinda tick me off in the animation were the flashbacks. This may be biased basis but—it’s what I feel, no? So I’m going to say it anyway. I’m not a fan of flashbacks that much. And I seriously think Air Gear’s animation did a poor job in that category. The flashbacks were incomplete. You’ll be thrown into a what-the-heck-is-going-on situation most of the time. And honestly, Ito should’ve stopped with the useless love flashbacks for side characters. Apart from the annoying flashbacks, I have enjoyed Air Gear.
Overall: 7
Air Gear’s a good shounen series. It contains a lot of action-packed scenes; a mini harem; decent art; and likeable characters. I can’t say it’s a must watch shounen series, but it’s worth trying. 25 episodes (26 if you include the 1 special episode) for a shounen series is not that long. A fair warning though, if you don’t like or worse hate a show which breaks the laws of physics, you should probably stay away from Air Gear. Oh yeah, and it includes a bit of cliché moments—camaraderie moments to be more precise, which adds to the generic “shounen” series I was talking about earlier. Bottom line is, I liked Air Gear. It is definitely a decent watch for me.
