Air Gear

I really enjoyed the anime and decided to continue with the manga. Unfortunately, I never finished it and only skimmed through the last chapter when it concluded.

Story: The Air Treks, characters, and plot were all fantastic at the beginning. However, somewhere in the middle, Oh Great seemed to take a detour that threw everything off track. Things started getting chaotic, and I stopped reading seriously during the Gravity Children arc. The ending didn't make much sense either.

Characters: They began as an eccentric bunch but became increasingly erratic after apparently joining Oh Great in his questionable activities. Their actions and dialogues grew more bizarre until the end. There was some decent character development initially, but it deteriorated along with the story.

Art: This was consistently the best aspect of the series. If Air Gear were an artbook, it would be one of the most visually appealing shounen artbooks available.

Enjoyment: Despite the story's decline, I still found parts of it enjoyable. The Air Treks scenes always looked cool and impressive, and I liked where the story was heading for some characters. Sadly, the messy presentation made it hard for me to keep up serious reading.

TL;DR: If you've seen the anime and OVA, that's enough. No need to dive into the manga.

Air Gear is a story about a boy who dreams of becoming the ultimate roller blade master. At least, that's what I think the plot was supposed to be. Things get pretty bizarre as the series progresses. By the end, the main character spouts some lines about roller blades or air treks, suggesting some semblance of consistency in the plot. But let's pretend it's coherent because the story keeps changing and evolving. Initially, I thought this was a racing series, but it turned out to be a battle shounen one.

The main difference here is the absence of magic (though there's plenty of other nonsense). Instead of magic like in Black Clover, Ki from Dragon Ball, or Chakra from Naruto, Air Gear uses air treks. More importantly, some air treks have something called Regalia, which are basically plot conveniences that give characters superpowers to become gods or whatever the plot demands at the moment.

I'd heard the series gets crazy, but after reading the entire manga, it wasn't as wild as I expected—maybe around 85%. That is until I reached the ending, where things went up to 115%. The final fight segment is absurdly insane with no clear motive or understanding of what's happening.

However, the real issues aren't just the craziness. Comedy, pornography, and the flow of the story stood out badly.

The comedy was never funny. Poor timing ruined potentially serious moments with terrible jokes. It wasn't just one-liners; it was over-the-top seriousness interrupted by awful jokes. There were too many poop jokes, none of them funny, wasting precious time.

Besides bad comedic timing, there was excessive random nudity. It's the same problem as with the comedy—I don't want to see nudity during epic fight scenes. Female characters had to be naked by law in this manga. Wearing clothes was a crime. Literally, plot points were introduced to justify women being naked all the time. While I enjoyed some nudity when it wasn't interrupting action scenes, these instances were rare.

The story's flow was also odd. An entire tournament arc happened, but weird stuff occurred, and they won without showing how. The author wasted time on certain fights while skipping others. The boat fight lasted way too long. These were just some issues with the story.

The characters could be better. There was a sexual harassment problem. The male lead casually assaulted women randomly, and it wasn't a big deal because women didn't have rights in this possibly dystopian world. The short fat guy was the least likable character, sexually harassing women and not being cool at all. The less I saw of him, the better.

Oh Great is great at drawing. His artistic talent is top-notch, and he got the action right for men vs. men. If you're a girl fighting, your clothes will get ripped off—a universally accepted fact. Few series can blend action and ecchi well, and Air Gear isn't one of them. It kinda sucks.

Despite this, Air Gear reignited my love for battle shounen. There's nothing more satisfying than having zero chance at victory and proving everyone wrong due to friendship. Oh Great clearly shares that love but ruins it with other garbage.

The part where I gave up on the story was the Buddha stuff that started appearing. This was the final straw.

It's funny how the main argument for Air Gear is that you should just be happy it wasn't canceled. That's the primary defense from Air Gear lovers.

In the end, Air Gear held up longer than I thought. There's no consistency whatsoever. Lots of twists happen for no reason. Despite this inconsistency, I didn't really mind the series. Its entertainment value was inconsistent. I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't not recommend it either.

TLDR: It's awesome and it sucks dick. Very inconsistent series. 5/10

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry, which can be found through my profile.

Second, it's the start of my "reviewing" era, thus probably will be odd.

Okay, since BBcodes are disabled, I shall split thematics into different paragraphs.

So, Air Gear manga. I really loved the Anime, watched it twice and planning for another re-watch. But because I was reminded that the anime OVA does a time skip, I decided to pick up the manga from the beginning.

Story (6)

Starting with probably the weakest or most tedious part of this manga, which is the STORY. What was great about the manga story was its fun friends doing great rollerblade battles and learning different tricks. But at some point, the story starts escalating in quite a grand theme, bringing in all sorts of odd things. Extreme superpower Air Treks, cyborgs, quite an odd technology, and also a lot of plot turning points, which would have been fine, but it was made in a way too confusing manner. They started bringing in too many different story points, explanations, and also too many characters. For a light reader like me (as I'm not particularly fond of reading), it was really difficult to grasp what was happening to the story. At some point, I just couldn't remember most of the new characters that were brought in or how the story related to different aspects. The point being, as an anime with "fillers" to explain things better, it would have been an amazing battle shounen anime. But as pure manga format, it felt rushed, tried too hard, and too much was thrown in which made the story quite a weak link and led the whole thing astray. The story ended on an acceptable level.

TLDR; Story - Starts with fun rollerblade battles, ends up way too chaotic and confusing.

Characters (7)

What can I say, hate or love. It had both. Most characters were kind of "punks, thugs, energetic brats," which was fine for the most part. It made for a great battle shounen and enjoyable stereotypes and cliches. Only specific comments I might add about characters would be that the main team was fun. Very "nakama-power" heavy with a bunch of really cool rivals, villains, and gangs. As for female characters, they were quite hot. But some I did really dislike as they were really loose ***** and ******* whilst counterparts some guys/punks were quite rapey. But nevertheless, I did enjoy the cast while still can't get over how one specific character was plottwisted (was in anime too) in a direction I wasn't hoping for. Aside from that, only specific comment about characters I might add would be Tuners. I'm still not sure whether they were tweaking AT's or doing something indecent.

Art (9)

The strongest part of the manga. The art was really cool. Battle sequences were really nice. Background/scenery was done very nicely. Character designs were cool, and female characters were really sexy, and they managed to add the cuteness aspect quite well.

Enjoyment (8)

Since most of my review has the "enjoyment" aspect of review in each paragraph, I will only add a few extra things here. I wasn't particularly fond of some character stereotypes/personalities as they pissed me off. Also, yeah, the anime was 10/10 and manga for some time also 10/10. The amount of stuff they threw in and the confusion caused me to lower the score. Comedy was also a great aspect, lots of references, and randomness that I'm fond of.

Overall (8)

All I can say is, for a battle shounen anime, it's quite cool. Nice world, interesting concept, epic battles, sexy girls, cool guys. Cool powers and so on, it's good Manga. But yeah, story confusion, the amount of new characters being brought in makes it quite a difficult manga to keep track of. Plus, yeah, some characters being quite a ahem.

Warning: This review contains minor spoilers.

First impressions: When I first heard about Air Gear, I thought the premise sounded really cool, even though I'm not a huge fan of sports series. Luckily, Air Gear stands out as one of the few exceptions. It successfully takes competitive roller skating and amps it up with increasingly insane superpowered battles, adding a unique twist to the shounen genre.

Story: 6/10

Air Gear starts strong, with the first chapters up until around chapter 80 probably being the series's peak. These chapters do an excellent job of portraying the urban street punk vibe and feature creative strategies in competitive matches against other storm riders. If you enjoy high-octane street fights, this might be your cup of tea.

The story takes a nosedive after Ikki and his crew start gaining a reputation despite their lack of skill. People in the storm rider community start believing Ikki is destined to become the Sky King, the most powerful storm rider ever. Genesis, a conglomerate of numerous teams, becomes the largest and strongest team, deciding to back Ikki as their leader. This gives Ikki a small army committed to helping him rise to glory, with the condition that he helps them defeat Sleeping Forest. The plot then introduces the mythicized Trophaeum Tower and the regalias, special ATs granting incredible powers.

However, the story spirals into chaos, adding elements like genetically altered superbeings, years-long conspiracies, tons of deaths, and even an aircraft carrier containing Obama. While attempting to make the plot more interesting, it loses focus and adds layers of nonsense, spoiling its original simple yet bizarre story. Like ruining a perfect sandwich by adding unnecessary ingredients, Air Gear’s later plot developments detract from its initial appeal.

Despite this, it remains a high-octane action series with some nice themes, particularly freedom. For some, freedom means doing whatever they want; for others, it's about escaping toxic relationships or letting go of worries beyond their control. The exploration of freedom is concise and effective, promoting positive change over negative acts committed in pursuit of dreams.

Characters: 6/10

This series has many characters, but I’ll focus on a few key ones tied to the themes. First is the main character, Ikki. At first glance, he seems like a no-good street punk who likes brawling, but he represents pure freedom. His arc shows him coming into his own, becoming stronger and inspiring others. His perseverance and free spirit make him a compelling protagonist.

Kazuma Mikaru, nicknamed Kazu, is another notable character. Initially introverted and underconfident due to Ikki's presence, Kazu struggles to find self-worth. His journey to become stronger and gain confidence is compelling and well-developed. Most characters in Air Gear experience similar growth, making them likable and entertaining, even if their arcs are simple.

Art: 7/10

The art style is amazing, radiating a street punk vibe. However, the quality and detail dip over time, with some fight scenes looking blurry and clunky. Background details are often lacking, hurting the overall impact of the action scenes. Despite these flaws, the art's style and personality make up for its shortcomings. Character designs are unique and interesting, reflecting the sheer volume of characters well. Some characters are more titillating than others, likely due to Oh! Great's background as a hentai artist.

Enjoyment: 6/10

I found Air Gear very enjoyable, featuring action, cool characters, fanservice, sex jokes, romance, and comedy. Its intrinsic appeal lies in having everything I personally enjoy, for better or worse. The crazy events throughout the series add to its charm, embracing the insanity of roller skating giving characters superpowers. The bizarre elements make it uniquely enjoyable.

Overall: 6/10

Air Gear is a product of its time, capturing the early 2000s' over-the-top craziness. Many series from that period mixed genres, resulting in interesting meta stories. If recommending Air Gear, I'd advise going in with an open mind ready to embrace the insanity. Otherwise, it could feel like a chore. But if you're into wild, crazy series, Air Gear might be for you.

Special thanks to my Yu-Gi-Oh cards editor, Lonecrit.

Roller-skates that don't just look cool but possess superpowers allowing you to soar through the sky or cut anything in half. Yes, this is entirely possible and can only be found in Air Gear. The anime centers around the protagonist, Ikki, whose interest in Air Treck (AT) was sparked after his first defeat by a gang of storm-riders. He formed a team named Kogarasemaru with one goal: to conquer the Tropheum. Following a typical storyline, the main character starts weak and grows immensely strong by the end. Miracles do happen, right?

A heads up though; if you try applying physics to the tricks performed by AT in this manga, you might experience some chronic pain.

The story's flow is decent. Initially, it zooms in on Ikki’s life at home, school, and with the East side gang before expanding to the entire town and eventually the world of AT. The narrative unfolds multiple times until it focuses on the entire world—a notable quality of Air Gear. However, the manga has significant plot holes, especially towards the ending, which doesn’t align well with the rest of the story. Many questions remain unanswered, particularly regarding Ikki’s relationships with the girls. Ultimately, the manga opts for an action-packed conclusion, omitting some important genres introduced earlier.

Nevertheless, the manga is rich with extended metaphors, so be prepared. Some metaphors, like the wings everyone is born with, make sense and carry profound messages. Others are utterly incomprehensible, yet they remain among the most promising features of the manga.

The art of Air Gear is outstanding—fabulous, splendid, there are countless words to describe its excellence. All characters look appealing and almost perfect. Besides character art, the AT avatar designs stand out, featuring intricate details that will astound you. For this, I applaud both the art and the artists.

Moving on to the characters: Ikki, Issha, Onigiri, Agito, and Kazu form Kogarasemaru. Each member is well-characterized, individualizing them from each other. Yet, there's a sense that all members except Ikki are quite similar. Why? The manga tries too hard to make Ikki unique, leaving the others somewhat neglected.

The manga was incredibly fun to read, with unexpected twists at every turn. This unpredictability makes Air Gear entertaining—you can never guess what happens next, a true hallmark of an action manga. As mentioned, Air Gear blends various genres from action to ecchi, taking a unique approach that works remarkably well. The manga successfully integrates these genres into a story that is both engaging and meaningful.

As an AT rider would say, "Infinity Atmosphere"—there are infinite possibilities for Air Gear. Each possibility can be good or bad, but for me, Air Gear was definitely worth the read.

To be fair, when I first started reading it, I kind of liked it. The characters were likeable and the art was good. But soon, the story took a turn and it became a jumbled and confusing mess. We have A-T, or Air Treck, a device so technologically advanced that it makes humans fly. But after this, everything went downhill. The thing is, wearing something on your feet doesn't give you powers. This most illogical aspect of the manga was dragged to its finish. There were too many unwanted elements present in the manga, which made the story look less charismatic. I liked the art; it was good, and so were the characters—they were fun to read and imagine. In conclusion, this is the longest manga I have ever read, and I kind of wish I hadn’t. It would have been better not to read it at all.

Enter the absurd world of Oh! Great's (Ogure) manga: Air Gear. If you're familiar with his other works, such as Tenjou Tenge, you know what to expect—a convoluted mess of excessive fanservice, clichéd characters, random events, amazing art, and ridiculous physics.

Air Gear is set in a universe where advanced motorized roller blades, known as Air Treks, are used for racing around town and engaging in territorial wars and competitive events.

Pros:

• BOOBS! ASS!
• Awesome art!
• Great concept.

Cons:

• Bland characters.
• Messy story.
• Frequent random occurrences; you just have to accept them.
• Terrible physics. Anyone who paid attention in their 8th-grade science class would spot many errors in Ogure's "explanations."
• The story is an outright chaotic mess.
• Inappropriate humor that's overused.

Story: 3/10

Follow our protagonist as he dreams of flying through the skies! Dive into the world of Air Treks and watch chaos unfold! The story starts strong but quickly deteriorates due to bad science, lack of direction, too much fanservice, yaoi fanservice, random mecha, and even the President of the United States making an appearance. Skip anything you find nonsensical or irrelevant; it probably is.

Art: 9/10

Exceptionally awesome! The art is fantastic—the attention to detail, fight scenes, backgrounds, all top-notch. However, less fanservice and more focus on the story could have made this manga stellar.

Characters: 5/10

A vast cast of every cliché imaginable. It isn't entirely terrible because it sticks to its genre, but there's no originality. One significant issue is the characters' age—they look and act far older than they should.

Overall: 5/10

Read it if you want lots of pseudo-hentai with a background story or to check out some excellent art. But don't expect a well-executed concept with an amazing story and quality art—just disappointment and quality art.

More Detailed Review:

Genre tags: This manga could be categorized under "fantasy" or "science fiction." Starting with simple motorized roller blades, it ends with super high-tech parts using air vibrations and techniques like breathing in nitrogen to heighten senses. The "sports" tag is misleading due to the sheer amount of nonsense involved.

Story:

It begins simply: a guy wants to fly, gets super-awesome skates, and flies around. Suddenly, he fights a group, another group appears, and we get information about the world of Air Trek. Then absurd techniques emerge—stopping time with roller blades? Wheels turning into whips without hindering mobility? Falling from heights that should kill becomes trivial. Characters appear, betray, die, and resurrect via improbable means. Even the U.S. President shows up, followed by body swaps and giant robots destroying cities.

Random nonsense hides at every corner. Every story turn introduces more confusion and explanations. By the end, you realize you've wasted time trying to care about a bad story.

Ogure's naming sense is equally confusing—"Bloody Killer Fang," "Unlimited Atmosphere," "Pile Tornado," and "Gravity Children." His creativity seems incoherent.

Art:

As mentioned, the art is great, but there's too much fanservice. Every girl—and some guys—gets naked, and there's serious yaoi content. Each chapter is perverted, filled with cleavage, boob-grabbing, ass-slapping, cloth-ripping, and panty-shots. If you care about the story, this will hinder your enjoyment. But since the story is crap, fanservice and fight scenes are the only reasons to read it.

Characters:

The main male protagonist is a typical self-centered douchebag. He has friends full of determination and self-doubt, a complete pervert, a fat guy who can't stop eating, and one with multiple personalities. The female cast is very well-endowed, mostly falling in love with the protagonist. Characters develop but loop back to their initial selves with more skills.

Facts, Credibility, and Imagination:

Facts align with the world of Air Gear initially but fail after three volumes. Credibility follows suit, giving way to mystical, magical, and moronic science. Imagination shines, though—there's plenty of imaginative material, not bad, but Ogure's storytelling fails despite his artistic prowess.

Final Thoughts:

Dream up a better story involving motorized roller blades, and it'll be infinitely better than Air Gear. If lazy, read it for fanservice or to see how not to write a story. Skip most of it past volume 5 to maintain some coherence. I'd recommend it only for fanservice or art appreciation.

Hope you found this review helpful or at least enjoyable.

This manga screams 2000's shounen manga, personally. Also, I have read and reread the manga for the purpose of this review.

So my name is Aki, and my format for manga reviews is usually initial thoughts, criteria summary, then summarize my thoughts.

A brief summary; our main character Ikki is your typical tough guy with his antics and popularity as some sort of boss in a group. He enjoys a harem-filled life with his step-sisters who adopted him and through certain circumstances was introduced to an Air Gear. If you didn't know what an Air Gear is, think of it as roller blades with small engines (don't question it, it's fictional).

Now, initial thoughts are that the story is really intriguing but, as someone who reads a lot of manga from a young age until now, I was never fond of heavy ecchi, and this manga definitely has plenty of that. Nonetheless, the story continues to intrigue me and made me want to continue reading regardless.

Story: 7.5

I feel like the story has its ups and downs but overall it was very intriguing, and I kept wanting to read it. Some arcs of the story feel like fillers or at least do not progress anything, which is fine if done properly, but at times had issues with being too bland. I want to emphasize that the "Sports" genre in this manga is quite different from what people are used to, but nonetheless has sports elements at the very least. To cut it short and simple, if you really like Shounen, action, and a bit of romance (of course, ecchi too), then this might be for you. But just because you don't like the genre doesn't mean you won't give it a try. I'd say at least read until chapters 50-100 first since this is where I got into the manga.

Art: 9

It definitely brings back memories of the old drawing style, but it aged well (at least for me). Some manga from the 2000s didn't age too well, and I would have a hard time reading them, but Air Gear is definitely great art-wise. Later on, you will appreciate the good art style.

Character: 8

Let's talk about the main cast of characters. All of them are really good with amazing personalities and are really interesting. Some are quite lackluster in terms of character development, but some have really great background stories about their past. I won't spoil too much, but my favorite character is definitely Agito and Kazuma later on in the story. Ikki is your usual cool character, of course, but Kazuma is definitely someone you will like as the story progresses. Agito, on the other hand, without spoiling, is a special character and has an amazing background story (even better than Ikki personally). But the rest of the cast ranges from good to really good, so you won't be disappointed too much. The only thing that lowers the score for me is they introduce characters with great importance but little story time or worthless characters in general with big build-up, but maybe that's due to Air Gear being a 2000s manga having a different story building/structure.

Enjoyment: 9

Without spoiling, the manga is definitely one of my favorites in the 2000s era. As a person who doesn't really like reading mainstream manga like the usual One Piece, Naruto, etc., I find this manga similar to them with its own twist in the story. That aside, I appreciate the manga for what it's worth. The build-up is really good, and while the ecchi is at times disturbing or borderline too ecchi, it doesn't mean it's poor or only tries to catch people with its ecchi drawings. Further in the story, the ecchi stuff will subside, and that's when I really liked the manga. The pacing was really good too, and like I said, the build-up each important chapter is really good, which makes you want to crave more.

Overall: 8.5

Quick summary, it's good if you enjoy shounen manga, enjoy action, and have a good storyline.

Send me a message request if you want to recommend me a manga you enjoy :)