Air Gear

Air Gear is a sports manga featuring maneuvers that are exaggeratedly scaled for action, which ends up being both a problem and a strength. Let's break it down.

The characters are very charismatic and stylish, in this aspect the author excels as he gives each one their moment to shine, making them stand out. My favorite is Kazu, who grows from a mere supporting character to one of the best in the series. Additionally, there are female characters who truly have personality... Unlike many manga where they are simply seen as escorts for men, here they have their own space and pursue their own goals.

The protagonist, Ikki, is somewhat bland. Sure, when it comes to having cool scenes, he delivers smoothly... But something is missing that makes him stand out beyond just being the most skilled because his personality is dull, and he never manages to add much to the story beyond those cool scenes. He lacks presence, a bit of charisma, and some substance.

The story has its issues; the beginning is quite disorganized, simply dropping information without providing context or building the world so nothing feels really connected. However, it still has a certain quality since the author uses elements introduced earlier in the plot in ways that show relevance within the work, giving a sense of planning on his part. Despite this, the story struggles to maintain a clear path and veers far from its initial direction. It starts as a story about street sports with action-packed maneuvers that create superpowers... Thanks to the author’s high-level art, the fights are always exciting, but in terms of the story, it causes considerable confusion.

The art is excellent. Oh Great! is one of the best artists today, and here he delivers very elaborate pages of action or visual allegory that give a great narrative impact.

In conclusion, Air Gear is a manga with fantastic art but a poorly structured story and a disappointing ending. Good art alone cannot make a good manga.

I'm really not that great at writing, so I'll just give a quick summary from the beginning.

Air Gear is honestly a fantastic manga with stunning art and cool character designs. The concept is incredibly unique, and the humor can be very funny at times. However, it does suffer from rapid power escalation, and I often wished it would return to its simpler storylines. The ecchi elements can be a bit distracting, but they are what they are. The humor that leans into the ecchi parts, especially involving one particular character (you'll know who), is just plain annoying in my opinion.

In short, it's good stuff. Read it until you lose interest because it probably won't get any better for you.

In my view, the story was flawless. However, there was a particular flaw that always grabbed my attention. It never quite fit together smoothly. Up until halfway through, I kept pondering what was happening.

The art is purely subjective since there were no technical errors. It was consistently hilarious, sexy, or simply eye-catching at every turn. The illustrator clearly had a deep understanding of martial arts techniques. The regalia designs were also highly creative and visually appealing.

The characters were impressively crafted but felt somewhat disjointed. Similar to the story, each character element was individually advanced and ingenious, yet insufficient thought was put into integrating all these manga elements seamlessly.

With my exceedingly high standards, I still thoroughly enjoyed this anime. It was funny and (somewhat) more realistic compared to others. The jokes and gags were funnier than most other anime. The overall complexity of the narrative captivated me.

All in all, it was definitely worth the read. I'm glad I went through it all. Additionally, it proved to be quite inspiring.

Okay. To start with, if you're easily amused by a confusing story and get annoyed by unnecessary, out-of-place jokes, this manga isn't for you.
That being said, I loved every minute of reading and appreciating everything about the world that Oh!Great created. It's not about being categorized as sports/fighting/etc that really matters because why categorize when you can have everything in a single manga.
It starts as a sports manga and evolves into something else, so if you're looking for a straightforward sports manga from start to finish, I wouldn't recommend Air Gear.
Having said that, I think the manga is a masterpiece.

The characters, even though there are some flaws, I think everyone got their little spotlight and moments. The dialogues were also always encouraging and made you feel close to them, especially if you're the same type as them, always joking around; you can feel a sense of similarity with them.
But Onigiri is where I draw my line. He was too abusive in his behavior, and even as comic relief, it felt really silly sometimes.
The villains were also unexpected in my eyes. Things went from 8 to 80 so fast that caught me totally off guard. And I love when some plot twist happens, and the flashbacks from the main villain were also very impactful and really send a strong message.

I COMPLETELY ENJOYED THE SERIES. I've read it three times and hope to revisit this masterpiece in a few years and enjoy it just like those three times.

I may be biased, but I'm going to give it a 10. Sometimes it isn't about how deep the story is or how well things are explained, but whether you had fun or not. And gosh, I had a whole lot. If you didn't laugh while reading this manga, your sense of humor is broken, I'm sorry.

As I'm writing this review, it's currently 2:00 am, so bear with me if the writing is somewhat... well, lacking coherence.

Air Gear is a frankly frustrating, confusing mess of a manga that is extremely entertaining to read through. This is my first outing with anything written by the mangaka Oh! great, and you can solidly grasp his style of storytelling and character direction from this manga alone. He really lays it all out on the table for you to see whether you're going to be a fan of his works or not.

I'm rambling at this point, so let's cut to the chase. Air Gear is at times utterly phenomenal, capturing that "shonen magic" that keeps you reading chapter after chapter until you realize you've read through the entire night and the sun is already rising. For roughly the first 200 chapters, well, saying I was engrossed would be putting it lightly. The story felt incredibly tight, each character had clear drives and motivations, and the Air-treks themselves felt grounded in their absurdity. The pacing was just fully on point.

Another thing to point out, which is painfully apparent from the get-go, is the heavy usage of ero/ecchi/harem elements. I genuinely despise this kind of writing. It feels lazy and takes away a lot of the impact of the female cast when they often get reduced to nothing more than "haha look at my fat boobs and ASS." This continues throughout the entire manga; while not all the humor stems from this, too much does. It's just really boring.

Another bluntly obvious aspect from the start, and probably what got you most interested in reading it (as it did for me), is the utterly stunning art. If Oh! Great can do anything, it is pull off beautifully framed, easy-to-read action punctuated by breathtaking spreads.

I'll keep this review short since I'm meandering and don't think I'll be able to properly express the frustrations I had with this story or its other flaws and strengths. So, rapid fire it is!

Air Gear doesn't really know what it wants to be exactly—a supernatural-battle-sports-action-ecchi-harem-comedy. It's kind of a mess of these ideas, and for a long time, it does balance these concepts. But after a while, they seem to put too much weight on the core sports-shonen theme. It gets bloated, introducing far too many characters, far too many concepts and ideas that don't get developed enough or get too much development. It gets to a point where you don't really care about anyone in the main cast of characters, especially those who are barely even in the story. The main twist villain is a weird dance between stupid and earnest but borders more on the comically ridiculous and overly serious than actually entertaining and smart. Air treks become absurd with what they are even capable of doing, and it stops being entertaining to read about them.

For the final stretch of the manga (the last hundred chapters or so), this manga becomes an absolute slog to read through, and frankly, I hate that about it. Air Gear displayed so much promise and potential at its inception that by the time I finished it, I was left frustrated at its inability to fully live up to what it could've been. Alas, I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this manga. There are genuine lessons to take away from this story, but I feel like a lot of the meaning gets lost in itself. Ultimately, I recommend this manga. It's a shit ton of fun and is worth pulling through to experience the whole thing.

The manga is fantastic for teenagers but somewhat irritating for adults. The artwork is excellent, and the concept is intriguing, yet the dialogues are overly repetitive. How many times must metaphors about wings or flying be used before it becomes excessive? We understand that the central theme of the story revolves around freedom and its significance, but does every character need to constantly remind us of this? The narrative improves as you progress through the chapters, but it remains cringeworthy nonetheless. The manga has other flaws, though they're mostly subjective. I would rate it a 5/10 purely due to the dialogue issues, but since I adore everything else about Air Gear, I give it an 8/10.

Since this beloved manga of mine is so underappreciated, I would rate it a perfect 10.
All I can say is that this masterpiece by Oh Great! is simply GREAT.

What you can expect most from this manga is its creativity, somewhat akin to Yakitate!! Japan. Well, everyone has some level of creativity, even my two dogs, but in this case, the creativity is truly remarkable. You'll be entertained throughout the story with its innovative elements, especially at the start of each chapter (particularly after chapter 50) through various forms: design, parody, poses, machines, feats, and more—Oh Great!'s unique style.

At several points, you might find the conversations vaguely philosophical, revolving around the concept of "to fly," but they become quite enjoyable once you get used to them. No goosebumps here! These moments serve as necessary pauses after all the excitement. The plot doesn't have any major twists but involves shifts between riders on both sides. The protagonists, Ikky and his gang, progress by defeating enemies and turning them into friends, only to face new adversaries.

The story goes beyond sportsmanship, leading you into epic wars featuring highly advanced technologies that make perfect sci-fi sense. The author consistently strives to be both creative and contemporary. I was thrilled to see a parody of President Obama in a gender-bender show. Oh Great! also excels in gathering diverse materials—you can learn many small things that will amaze your naive friends. Personally, I never cease to be amazed by every chapter of this series.