Air Gear: Kuro no Hane to Nemuri no Mori or more awkwardly known as, Break on the Sky, is a collection of 3 OVA's that take place after the storyline of the animated series...I think; it looks like it is supposed to be more in tune with the manga which would explain why it didn't make a lot of sense.
Essentially, it is about Ikki and his team, Kogarasumaru, trying to enter a tournament that will help them to reach the top of the trophaeum. Ringo, as a member of Sleeping Forest, is now an enemy of sorts, and the team, for some bizarre reason, has to fight the original Sleep Forest team.....in cyberspace...I am not joking. The story seems like an after thought because they clearly didn't bother to introduce the audience to a slew of new characters that I assume are from the manga. It feels like a vessel for a ton of pandering.
Now to talk about something good, the art. The art is actually quite stunning and done infinitely better than the original, which is no surprise seeing we're comparing OVA's, made in 2010, to a series, made in 2006. The detailing of the characters looks great and where it really shines is in the aerial battles, which are undoubtedly the best part of the OVA's. Character's move fluidly, are well detailed, and fly around beautiful backdrops and settings.
Music is typical, nothing that stood out really. It does fit into the whole "Air Gear feel" though which is nice. One thing I do have to mention is the laughably bad moments where the voice actors say a line like "All for one and one for all." in English; they clearly haven't had a lot of experience with English.
It was strange for the producers to release an OVA that requires a fair knowledge of the manga. I've never read the manga, but I've seen all of the anime series; you would think that would be enough, right? The characters don't act like you would expect from the anime series because of this. Ringo is a lot more outgoing and Ikki is one giant douche....well more so than in the series.
On a visual level, it is awesome and I'd definitely recommend it for that. I would say it's for the type of person that say, watches Highschool of the Dead for the reason it was made. If your looking for something deep and meaningful, avert your eyes.
