Air Gear

Itsuki Minami needs no introduction—everybody's heard of the "Babyface" of the Eastside. He's the toughest kid at Higashi Junior High School, easy on the eyes but dangerously tough when he needs to be. Plus, Itsuki lives with the mysterious and sexy Noyamano sisters. Life is never dull, but it becomes dangerous when Itsuki leads his school to victory over some vindictive Westside punks with gangster connections. Now he stands to lose his school, his friends, and everything he cares about. But in his darkest hour, the Noyamano girls come to Itsuki's aid. They can teach him a powerful skill that will save their school from the gangsters' siege–and introduce Itsuki to a thrilling and terrifying new world.

(Source: Del Rey)

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Background

Air Gear was first published in English by Del Rey Manga who released the first 17 volumes in the period from July 25, 2006 to August 31, 2010, with the latter three volumes released as a 3-in-1 omnibus. Kodansha Comic USA published the series starting with volume 18 from June 14, 2011 to June 26, 2018 and republished the first 17 volumes of the manga in 3-in-1 omnibuses from May 28, 2013 to February 23, 2016. It was also published in Spanish by Norma Editorial from November 2007 to September 2013 and in Italian by Panini Comics under the Planet Manga imprint from March 23, 2007 to March 16, 2013.

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Characters

Minami, Itsuki

Main

Wanijima, Agito

Main

Mikura, Kazuma

Main

Noyamano, Ringo

Main

Sumeragi, Kururu

Main

Mihotoke, Issa

Main

Onigiri

Main

Simca

Supporting

Spitfire

Supporting

Takeuchi, Sora

Supporting

Reviews

Jun 29, 2008

Master10K

Recommended

Oh great ... yet another bombastic manga, developing from its humble beginnings, into the convoluted mess I see before me. Anyone who has read most of it, or its previous incarnation Tenjou Tenge, will understand what I mean. Air Gear is an exciting Shounen, Sports, Ecchi, Comedy that takes extreme sports to a whole new level. Nevertheless this is an Oh! Great manga; so expect mind-numbing violence, x-rated fanservice and an absurdly over-the-top storyline.

As it follows Itsuki Minami (Ikki), a boy who comes across as your typical teenage delinquent, with no real purpose or goal in life; but that soon changes when he discovers the ... wonders of the popular extreme sport known as “Air Treck”. Now Air Treck is like if you took rollerblading and stuck it in a shounen manga like Hunter x Hunter. I know that not everyone will understand the analogy, but it is the only way one can even describe the latter 2/3rds of the manga.

Now the way that most shounen sports manga go, is by first introducing the protagonist to the sport and have said protagonist be met with an obstacle they must overcome through both training and sheer force of will, then come across an even greater obstacle. Rinse and repeat. Sure Air Gear follows this formula but there’s a number well-conceived concepts that give this manga an edge over others; like the formation of an AT team, the bonds between them and infinite possibilities of ATs. From then on the story continually develops by adding new elements (e.g. Regalia) to the plot. Unfortunately the deeper the story goes, the more it loses the original essence that once captivated the reader and in turn becomes such a convoluted mess that even I struggled to follow. Which isn't helped by the poorly written dialogue the characters spew, when explaining a trick/skill/ability that often consists of either: something random scientifically proven theory, some random ancient mythology or some random philosophy.

But one thing that never loses its essence in Air Gear, is the cluster of clichéd but cool characters that fulfil every single archetype imaginable. Yet I feel somewhat torn when it comes to evaluating the characters of Air Gear. Because on the one hand you have Ikki, the main protagonist, who we will follow as he struggles to get to the top and pretty much exudes "cool" whilst doing so. But it's not only him, as it is often nice to see his comrades develop along the way too, meaning that no one is left on the wayside. I in particular enjoyed seeing Kazu struggle to break free from Ikki's shadow and become truly formidable in his own right. Even side characters who seem unimportant at first are given enough time in the spotlight, for the readers to learn what motivates them all. Then on the other hand you have a certain character, who shall not be named, that drastically undergoes the most contrived transformation imaginable and then there's Barack Obama... nuff said. Which is why I feel torn, because there's an amazing cast of characters and then a few that kind of ruin it.

Yet I can be decisive in saying the artwork is the best thing about Air Gear, with its unique look and well thought-out design that sets it apart from all other shounen manga (except other Oh! Great manga). Not only are the characters fun to look at, with their distinct looks and their expressively drawn attitudes, but this is the first time I'll praise the SFX katakana for not only being noticeable but for enhancing those intense moments. The environments are also very detailed and it’s easy to see that a lot of time, effort and creativity has gone into illustrating every battle.

Overall Air Gear is exactly what you’d expect from an Oh! Great manga: really crude perverse humour, imaginative character designs, extreme levels of fanservice and an over-the-top story to tie it all together. Now usually serialized shounen manga will prolong their run by continually upping the stacks, whilst retaining the theme that originally sucked in the readers. However where Air Gear falters is that mangaka continually adds new elements to the plot, transforming it from a sports battle manga hybrid into a pure shounen battle manga, disregarding what originally sucked the reader in. Gravity Children, Brain Charger, Barack Obama... Just to name a few of the random things later added to the plot that give off the feeling that not much thought was put into how they'd affect the story as a whole.

In the end what is left is a story riddled with huge gaping plot holes, as far as the eye can see and no way to close them without completely abandoning your own sense of disbelief. But it doesn’t change the fact that this is still a hugely entertaining shounen manga to read, if you enjoy shounen manga. Just keep in mind that you may have to turn off your brain from time to time, which is a damn shame.

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Nov 13, 2012

Stormydays

Mixed Feelings

I'LL SHOOPDAWHOOP YOU TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN!
^This actually happens in the manga...

Enter the ridiculous world of Oh! Great (Ogure) manga: Air gear. If you are familiar with his other works (such as tenjou tenge) then you should know what to expect. A convoluted mess of absurd amounts of fanservice, a cast of cliches, a great deal of random events, amazing art and (as an added bonus for this manga) bullshit physics.

Air gear takes place in a world where highly advanced, state-of-the-art, motorized roller blades known as air treks are used by people to zoom around the town, partaking in territorial wars ...

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Dec 14, 2018

jditty150

Not Recommended

Air Gear is one of those series that had a lot of potential but failed miserably. I already put reviews for the anime (which was really good because that was the best part of the series and after that it goes downhill) and I read through the manga many times. So here is my review

Story: 4

Air Gear's story goes from setting things up very nicely to failing miserably. The arcs that the anime went through were the best parts of Air Gear but then after that it fails. However there were some interesting things such as Sora's betrayal however there is a lot of things ...

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Air Gear
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