Categories
Anime First Impressions

Air Gear – Anime First Impressions

Air Gear 01.jpgAir Gear 02.jpgAir Gear 03.jpgAir Gear 04.jpgAir Gear 05.jpgAir Gear 06.jpgAir Gear 07.jpgAir Gear 08.jpgAir Gear 09.jpg

Air Gear is the “other” big shounen anime out this season. With intellectual plot points involving engine-powered rollerskates, does this anime break the shounen mold?

Air Gear 01.jpgAir Gear 02.jpgAir Gear 03.jpgAir Gear 04.jpgAir Gear 05.jpgAir Gear 06.jpgAir Gear 07.jpgAir Gear 08.jpgAir Gear 09.jpg

Air Gear is the “other” big shounen anime out this season. With intellectual plot points involving engine-powered rollerskates, does this anime break the shounen mold?

Air Gear 10.jpgAir Gear 11.jpgAir Gear 12.jpgAir Gear 13.jpgAir Gear 14.jpgAir Gear 15.jpgAir Gear 16.jpgAir Gear 17.jpgAir Gear 18.jpg

No. Air Gear is another stupid shounen anime. There, I said it! It does have a few good things going for it too, though. Air Gear is about a guy named Ikki who is thrown into the world aforementioned of powered skates.

The first episode is a sloppily thrown together series of events. These events include: Ikki being beat up by a roller gang (how embarassing!), Ikki being beat up by a bunch of girls (I’m not quite sure why he’s living with them), Ikki finding Air Gear in the super secret closet, and Ikki accidentally challening the previous roller gang to a skate duel!

Air Gear 19.jpgAir Gear 20.jpgAir Gear 21.jpgAir Gear 22.jpgAir Gear 23.jpgAir Gear 24.jpgAir Gear 25.jpgAir Gear 26.jpgAir Gear 27.jpg

There’s also a special police task force that goes after the Air Gear users. I suppose they’re breaking some kind of law by skating on everything. By the end of the episode, Ikki is in a one-on-one race against the skull gang’s leader! And it’s his first day using Air Gear!

If the plot sounds really dumb to you, you’re not alone. Something I couldn’t convey in the previous paragraph is the terrible dialogue. I realize this is a shounen series, and probably little kids watch this, but kids deserve good dialogue too!

Air Gear 28.jpgAir Gear 29.jpgAir Gear 30.jpgAir Gear 31.jpgAir Gear 32.jpgAir Gear 33.jpgAir Gear 34.jpgAir Gear 35.jpgAir Gear 36.jpg

Since this is a shounen anime, I’ll predict the rest of the series: Ikki finds out that he’s a natural at Air Gear! Awesome! Person A shows up who’s better than Ikki at Air Gear (oh noes!). Ikki trains and beats person A at Air Gear (yay!). Filler! Person B shows up who’s better than Ikki at Air Gear! etc.

Air Gear 37.jpgAir Gear 38.jpgAir Gear 39.jpgAir Gear 40.jpgAir Gear 41.jpgAir Gear 42.jpgAir Gear 43.jpgAir Gear 44.jpgAir Gear 45.jpg

So, yeah, the story is basically predictable and dumb. How about the character designs? Surprisingly, they’re pretty awesome! All of the girls in the anime are unique and have a lot of character. They even found a way to make eyepatches cute! Ringo is super way kawaii, with or without glasses! I honestly wish the anime itself could match the level of the character designs. On a side note, there also happen to be plenty of mutants in this anime too…

Air Gear 46.jpgAir Gear 47.jpgAir Gear 48.jpgAir Gear 49.jpgAir Gear 50.jpgAir Gear 51.jpgAir Gear 52.jpgAir Gear 53.jpgAir Gear 54.jpg

The OP and ED are not to my tastes. They both lack a clear melody, and on top of that, I just think they’re dumb. Do we really need any more (non-funny) engrish songs? I think not.

Download the OP: “Chain” by Back-on
Download the ED: “Sky-2-High” by skankfunk

Air Gear 55.jpgAir Gear 56.jpgAir Gear 57.jpgAir Gear 58.jpgAir Gear 59.jpgAir Gear 60.jpgAir Gear 61.jpgAir Gear 62.jpgAir Gear 63.jpg

Basically, Air Gear fails in every category but character designs. I really love how the (female) characters look, but doesn’t mean I’ll suffer through the plot just to watch em. Maybe they can reuse the designs for a new ninja anime!

Unless someone notifies me of Air Gear turning it around and being totally awesome in the next episodes, I’ll be watching no more of this anime.

If you liked this anime, also check out:
Air Gear manga

Air Gear 64.jpgAir Gear 65.jpgAir Gear 66.jpgAir Gear 67.jpgAir Gear 68.jpgAir Gear 69.jpgAir Gear 70.jpgAir Gear 71.jpgAir Gear 72.jpg

45 replies on “Air Gear – Anime First Impressions”

What else can we expect from an Oh!great work? Nice art but utterly illogical, incoherent, exaggerated and lame plot, with formula dialogue. He really should just be a ghost artist and mangacise others’ novels or something.

Thanks for your opinion, above poster! You obviously seem to be the target audience for this anime’s thoughtful social commentary. Enjoy the masterfully woven plot and Shakespearean dialogue. I guess we just don’t “get” it. Our loss, your gain.

I must not get Air Gear, too; I cannot believe the show contains so much as an original character or event. Sadly, after two episodes it has transcended even the “so bad its good” level.

What particularly seemed to confirm Air Gear’s lowly status in the second episode to me was how he was a naturally amazing blader after a night, able to defeat the leading gang’s leader, and yet the day after when he was training with Ringo he was utterly useless.

I liked it anyway. I like the concept, I like the battles, and I like the characters. While the dialogue is not Shakespearean (and honestly, other than some of his sonnets, Shakespeare for the most part does nothing for me, both plot wise and dialogue wise), I don’t expect Shakespearean type dialogue anyway in anime, regardless of its quality. If the dialogue is typical shonen, it’s not to the point where it’s noticeably bad.

I would disagree with your statement that it’s a sloppily thrown together series of events. I think it’s improbable that the specific series of events would happen all on one day but that in each situation, the events happened according to the constraints of the world and the constraints of the character’s personality. Then again, anime deals with the unusual. Even when it deals with the usual, it’s unusual. A perhaps more realistic probability of a more spread out discovery would not be shown anyway, thus, it’s one of those universes where the improbable happened.

Yeah… uh, what thoughtful social commentary? That’s not to say there isn’t anime out there that’s a thoughtful social commentary but that they’re few and far between and that watching anime is mostly entertainment, in which case it comes down to tastes.

Masterfully woven plot: Meh. There are few, if any, anime that have a sufficiently woven plot that no truck could drive through.

I realize you were being sarcastic but really, anime comes down to entertainment and whether something is entertaining or not depends on tastes. Since tastes are a subjective indicator, they cannot really be compared to see who has “better” tastes.

As for the comment on Ikki’s performance: Sometimes, when you don’t think about things and when you have adrenaline pumping through your system, it’s more easier to do things than when you have to consciously think about it. For that matter, learning the very basics of Air Trek is different just from skating. You’ll notice, Ikki had a hard time stopping all the time in the first episode (i.e. when the old man suddenly stops, he goes flying; he flies into the sign). The basic of Air Trek, just walking, is a very unnatural move and requires unnatural positions (if you’re not used to it), whereas skating with those wheels is just putting pressure on it. For example, I can skate and do turns and what not. I have a much harder time stopping cleanly and I would have a hard time trying to walk in skates as Ikki was doing with Ringo. This would probably be similar to Ikki’s situation. Control is a lot harder than just letting go and going (until you hit something that forcibly stops you!).

The idea of Air Gear itslef is typically shonen, boy competes against others with the same ‘hobby’ using a tool(the rollerblades), (Beyblade, Medabots, Crush Gear Turbo), the execution compared to the others are way off. the idea of motorised rollerblades is useful, but having a gigantic most likely ex-marine bald man with a purple skull tatooed to his forehead using rollerblades, having a gang that also uses rollerblades and then beating up little kids who lose to them is not what would be called “a promising anime” and “a hit if it keeps going like the first 2 episodes until now!”. You might as well spend your time and bandwidth watching something more worthwhile from any of the other countless anime coming out this spring

*G* As I said, I like the concept, I like the battles, and I like the characters. I’ll be the first to admit that good visuals always make me more receptive to an anime.

Something more worthwhile like… what? This goes back to the tastes thing (Beyblade for instance has fugly characters and reminds me of digimon which always makes me go far far away). That being said, I’m following plenty of series already. I’m not so worried about the bandwidth thing. It typically takes 5 minutes to download an episode.

I certainly don’t think it’s a “hit” in that it could win awards for its plotline but I think of it like sports Bleach. *shrug* As I said above, most anime are improbable and it’s fun to watch.

I dislike the voice acting. I dislike the odd proportions in comparison to the manga. I dislike the changes from anime to manga and I dislike the fact that even though its an anime it somehow Can NOT convince me that they are going any kinds of fast.

The sadest thing about all of this is that it could have been so much better. Air Gear is one of my favorite MANGA albeit the basic dialogue. The anime however somehow fails in the department of anything. Like they did with Tenjou Tenge, they somehow messed everything up by Grabbing as much random shit from the manga (which has the events evenly and properly paced) and shoving it in a sack known as an episode.

So I’m going to say what should be said about this anime.

READ THE MANGA.
It is much better.
And you don’t have to deal with some unholy amalgamation of ridiculous amounts of chapters crammed into a few episodes.

Well, The first episode really seems illogical, if you haven’t read the manga. And one shouldn’t expect logic and super new ideas. But everyone who’s okay with that…I still think it’s super interesting although the plot is pretty clear.^^°

well actually i downloaded only 14 of them
but you know what? This anime ROCKS
even though im not yet through to its manga,
If i were to vote for this anime from 1/10
i probably vote 8.9 to it in short 9/10

Okay, yes the anime is different from the manga but I prefer it that way. I mean, if it had stuck to the same storyline as the manga I wouldn’t have been as inclined to watch it because I could have just read its graphic novel counterpart. That’s why I got pissed with Bleach until the Bountou (dunno if spelled right) showed up because I had already read that plotline in the manga.
Plus, I don’t think people that bash animes judging from the first episode is giving it a fair chance. Yes, the first episode was sloppily made but I liked the battle scenes in the second and third episode a lot.
It all comes down to how much you enjoy watching it and the good art helps a lot. I can’t sit through dragonball or sailor moon level animation anymore and the only reason I watched those was because of plotline. All I can say is Air Gear kicks ass and I also give it a 9/10!

This is one of those ” Read the manga first and try to force yourself to watch the sloppiy made anime counterpart”.

extremely lame hopeless. BUT only unil episode 17 then its get quite interesting… Actually i believe my self a skillful person for actually watching upto episode 17 🙂 anyways 17 onwards is getting interesting n the girls look fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firstly, for one all those people who judged this anime from the first and second episode, and said it sucked, go watch those naruto fillers lol. Secondly, He is a natural at riding ATs, some people learn faster then others. He beat them because he wasn’t fighting for a emblem, or rank, he wanted to prove to himself, and to the bald guy that he wasn’t a sissy, that he was worth something. And soon found the joy and freedom of riding ATs. He beat an E class team after only 1 day of pratice, this is called being a natural genius. Or in the anime “the Sky King.” His determanation, his pride, love (lets not forget big headedness XD) and freedom for the sky are why “His wings are greater then mine, and what yours used to be.” From the start Ikki-kun didn’t know a thing about ATs or the gangs and ranks, All he knew was that ATs were fun. This freedom is what makes this anime so great. Its not like digimon, or metabots, or any other anime for that matter. The artist did a wonderful job, the music and artwork suck you into the world of ATs, you’ll find yourself bobing your head and totally tuned into the music lol. I’m totally hooked on this anime. The randomness and voice acting will have you laughing and puzzled as you watch each episode. The characters in Air Gear are crazy, funny and cool. This anime is one of the best that’s come out by far. To the staff of Air gear, Arigato Gozaimasu!~

I am personally a great fan of the manga (and i am a female !) I enjoyed the action, fighting, fast paced plots, novel ideas and most importantly, amazing designs, from character, personality, emblem to costumes … you name it !

As for this commentary, I personally think that it is a very subjective, one sided argument, Granted, sometimes an anime (not just anime, but other things like a TV show, or even a person) can just rub you the wrong way and you can hate it without reason, thinking that it’s the stupidest thing in the world. I know how it’s like. Been there, done that (I absolutely hated Sailormoon!!!!! ARQRFATQWE%@#% !!) !

However, i understand that this is a First Impression commentary. I personally wasn’t too fond of the first two episodes of the anime either, and was -that- close to yelling to my friends about how much of an insult to the original manga the anime series is. Nonetheless, after seeing ~Shadow~’s comment, I will give the anime a second chance and watch a few more episodes before deciding !

If you get a chance to read the manga, do give it a chance. I think it’s a pretty awesome one. ;D

I enjoyed the whole series… Great, I hope for more. The plot was a bit scketchy, but over all not to bad, the story keeps you going, and on your toes. The art work was great, the crows covering iffy… But good stuff, hope there is more to it soon. The ending left it wide open.

Personaly i enjoyed the manga and maby it is just the fact that so many people dispise Oh!greats work. I mean his previous titles manga wise I liked because of the interesting art and yet he is hated upon because many of his manga are not so mainstreem. Yet the anime was poorly done, the character designs were lackinging in this anime the arts feel was complely different than that of the manga and to be honest the fact that this anime did not even explain many key points causes the misunderstand of its use of idioms and large scale of the story. The ending did leave it wide open but personaly i do not hope to see a second season torn apart like the first. Sadly enough the many persons who dislike Oh!greats work to me are just skeptical and childish haters not every manga and or anime is for everyone and so we should excpet that fact and stop all the pointless complaining because it takes alot to put out any sort of media be it CRAPTACULAR or THE GREATEST THING EVER MADE, and I do not see those of us around the net who are full of such disgust toward Oh!greats work doing anything to equal his actual efferts. Anyway my rabling needs to stop and once again this anime was poorly done but do not count it out because you never know if it may just spark something inside of you that will leave you wanting more.

As far as a first impression goes… im hooked, and i dont know why. Ya the plot/storyline feels very familiar and similar (but seriously what anime has a plot that isn’t that way these days, without being totally over the top bizzar)

truth is… its easy to just veg out to after a long day at work, because the characters are interesting, the animation is beautiful, and of course the females are fun to watch.

I have never read the manga, hell the first i had even heard of the series was when IGN put the first Dubbed episode on their site. I had no trouble following it. It didn’t feel slopped together in the least, but then again, i wasn’t watching it with a critical eye either.

I really liked the OP 🙂 Its one of the songs that got me into Back-on in the first place. However, I do like e.g. Linkin Park etc. so I guess its not to everyone’s taste.

I can see why some people would think this anime blows. And while I like AG, I don’t feel insulted that some people feel this anime defies the laws of physics by both sucking and blowing at the same time. Its everyone’s right to have an opinion; here’s mine;

AG is a comedy, at least to me. It’s a comedy where “suspension of belief” plays a huge role. If we can accept young boys piloting giant mechs or a cat bus ferrying around Totoro, why can’t we accept a kid being a stellar AT rider at his first try?

Air Gear is fluff. No deep meaning, no life altering lessons, just the type of fun we can enjoy if we let ourselves. I’m personally a fan of in depth anime, but all work and no play make Rachel a dull girl.

All in all, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the first four episodes. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. It’s good to clean the anime palette every now and again…

I still like air gear,because its funny and dumb and I also like the character design as well. My favorite character in Air Gear is Shirayme and Nakayama Yayoi and Akito/Agito. I had watch most of the episode of air gear so I know most part of the stories. I also like
Air gear’s animation of the parts war.

same formula train level up become better beat more bosses…yet it never gets old
LOVED AIR GEAR FOR LIFE!
hoping they’ll make a second season. in the mean time i’ll be starting to read the manga
SIMCA = hot frikking chat btw

This anime is not about the plot or about depth is about feeling fucking great. While flying in your ATs. Its exactly about that. Those who long for wings get it, those stuck on the cage dont. And in no way im i saying this is the greatest anime in history. But its fun. It lifts you up. It makes you adrenaline going I really liked it I hope there is more comming .

This comment goes out to everyone bitching about how ikki became a natural and learned fast…. After all, who the hell wants to watch an anime about some boring dude who suck at AT (skates) when the story of the anime is based around it… Come on people, use your brain. The anime is good but it falls short when you compare it to the manga. But it’s like any thing you read or watch (anime or manga related). Take Naruto for example, Everyone that started watching it subbed, loves the voice acting and hate the english dubbed. But those who first started watching it dubbed love it and dont care for the subbed..
You people who do nothing but rant about shit that makes no since are tards..

To me, it seems that the anime making people (whatever you call them- i refuse to say “artists” in this case) just wanted to make a show, not caring about how people would see it. Or, they’re just trying to stff as much material from the manga in, so they get father ahead and can therefore make more fillers. The fillers, of course, will be full of fanservice. So yes, a typical shonen manga.

I personally like this anime, every episode wants you to watch the next. “Is Ikki going to win or lose the sleeping forest label” in the dvd i made sure i watched it before i went to sleep. I tend to like anime better since its alittle quicker than manga

But earlier someone on this page said that this show had a lame story,
but in true reality it is somewhat familier to Naruto. Sure there are differences *SMALL ONES* but really if anyone thinks of it, its like this “A boy who wants to go to the top (hm hm Hokage perhaps) or (class A A.T rider) who gets better WAY much quicker than anyone else would.) Aka. Naruto and Ikki

differences

rollerblading vs ninjas
King of village vs top of top rank of Air trek riders
Forest vs city
and the style is different

the main story for both of them is the same, its just one anime is overated while the other isnt really heard of…

This may have been another Shounen anime and also may not be as good as the manga is but the story line is actually interesting. Yes, it is a tad predictable however it grabes your interest in a few episodes.

This anime is set a bit into the future where there are such thing as motor-powered rollerblades. This is actually a really smart idea! Another g ood thing about this anime is the character builds. This anime has really interesting characters which havea unique style.

This anime was well thought out and is a major for shounen jump. It was predicted that this anime would have been popular to the equivalent of Bleach and Naruto if it had continued on.

-The End-

I gotta say the anime was an absolute disapointment, if they stuck with the manga, the “ANIME” series would’ve been a huge hit. The manga was actually enjoyable with a decent plot. But the anime eps are basically bits from the manga shoved together into a 20-30 mimute episode. The anime also missed out ALOT of important parts in the manga. Yep, the character designs are definitely stunning and the costumes are good as well.

The manga series is a hit topping top 10 charts in alotta manga websites ( aside from Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, CLaymore, etc.)

I already gave up on the anime but i will contimue with the manga series. I absolutely love Akito/Agito, he’s ‘bloody’ cute!( well he comes 1st place in the WSJ character popularity polls all the time, beating the main character by thousands XD)

Your Review maybe a bit too personal, leaning too much on your own taste. YOur comments,in my opinion, are too sarcastic and some people may like this kind of plot.

FOR THOSE WHO DIDN’T EVEN GIVE THE MANGA A TRY, IT’S YOUR LOSS.

lol despite the flaws of the Anime and its weird pacing, its an alright show. i will be reading the manga though, bought the first volume. even without reading the manga first you can tell the anime is just off at some points.
i agree, that its one of those “so bad its good” type of anime, cause once you hit the 3rd ep..ya just want to keep watching. and then when it ends you are all “thats it! dang it!” . i hear there will be an OVA which is good, which i hope is licensed.

watched all of it in Japanese back in 06.
and Kenta is REALLY bad at voice acting, good at stage acting which is what he should stick to. i figured by a few episodes he would improve. Nope. he made Ikki boring and his voice and his acting just did nothing for the character.
i swear 13 episodes and he was just lousy! i was so disappointed.

there are a select few of Voices/Acting from the Japanese dub that are decent (in my opinion). it seemed as if the veterans tried to carry the newbies.

now the English dub however, was a Riot and i totally recommend watching Air Gear in English! i am so buying the DVD
Chris really made Ikki, Ikki! and every voice stood out. Kazu’s VA Clint was a bit shaky but unlike Kenta, he actually improved within a few episodes.

Agito – acting wise, he is quite good in both dubs. voice wise, its a selective liking. cause i find that both voices dont fit the character very well, but the amount of rage and anger that both VA’s gave him was very fitting. . he sounds like an irritating brat in Japanese while in English he sounds gritty and pissed.

Akito – lol too much of a girl in Japanese, and a bit fruity in English. but he was a joy to listen to.

the English dub kept you watching cause it was serious and funny.

Air Gear can be really REALLY cheesy. it seems like Oh Great is not use to writing for young boys. because there is some corny philosophical crap that goes on in Air Gear. “oh em gee, he gotz his wiings!!” “fly to da sky!!” “if you look at the sun it burns” and yada yada.

but you have to be impressed with his character design and anatomy. dude is pro at that. he just needs work on having a story flow and make sense.

from what i read. the Anime has gotten good reviews. so that should spur ADV to grab the mysterious OVA.

No matter what everyone says i loved this anime.
The characters were really good and each stood out
and too me every good anime has to have some sexually funny parts, because its funnier
yea im dumb sometimes
though i kind of hate Ikki sometimes because he is so damn cocky
i hope that the second season comes out in eng dub soon

okay, ill be the first to admit that when i first saw air gear, i wasnt fascinated by it. but the more i watched, the more i loved it.this was 1 of the only non-childish animes with violence, coarse language and slight nudity. it was also designed for a teen audience so ofcoarse its not gonna be shakespeare. i mean how many anime shows are? not naruto, not full metal alchemist not even inuyasha, all shows i love. point is, this show was aimed at teens and although its not shakespeare, who wants to watch shakespeare anyway? it had a differant plot and interesting characters, i wish they would continue the series. this is a fun show to watch simply for fun, no need for a deeply involved detailed plot that never ends, i love this show.

Personaly i enjoyed the manga and maby it is just the fact that so many people dispise Oh!greats work. I mean his previous titles manga wise I liked because of the interesting art and yet he is hated upon because many of his manga are not so mainstreem. Yet the anime was poorly done, the character designs were lackinging in this anime the arts feel was complely different than that of the manga and to be honest the fact that this anime did not even explain many key points causes the misunderstand of its use of idioms and large scale of the story. The ending did leave it wide open but personaly i do not hope to see a second season torn apart like the first. Sadly enough the many persons who dislike Oh!greats work to me are just skeptical and childish haters not every manga and or anime is for everyone and so we should excpet that fact and stop all the pointless complaining because it takes alot to put out any sort of media be it CRAPTACULAR or THE GREATEST THING EVER MADE, and I do not see those of us around the net who are full of such disgust toward Oh!greats work doing anything to equal his actual efferts. Anyway my rabling needs to stop and once again this anime was poorly done but do not count it out because you never know if it may just spark something inside of you that will leave you wanting more.

I can’t help but notice that people think he became such a great rider in the beginning. Through out the first few episodes he is always crashing. Not exactly what I would call a great rider. People complain that he beat skull saders after just a day of ATs, the fact is not only did he have back up from the A class team Sleeping Forest but he also got lucky in that he ended up on a powerline on the rail-rode system. That was the key to his victory. It was not his skill. Once he received that boost from the power line, he only had to balance and he was guaranteed victory. Keep in mind that skull saders were F class. They were not very skilled either. Even though he won he still crashed proving that it was the advantage granted by the power line rather than his own skill. The first time they show him and his team wining on there own merit is in the battle with behemoth. By that time they had plenty of riding time to get were they were. And they had plenty of challenges to push the to there level. But even then it was luck that Agito the A class rider was the last person standing. Even through to the end of the anime he is not perfect. He fails the jump numerous times although the initial knee injury played a part in that. The story is about how fast he advances but it is at a realistic and entirely possible rate.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *