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In the anime and manga world we are used to see recycled ideas all the time: we see people getting into a fantasy world having to battle for their survival, love stories between highschoolers, magical girls all over the place and also, we get our dose of survival-highschool-supernatural mysteries; but what differentiates one from another is the way the story is taken and the little details that makes it stand out from the rest. Be the characters, their development or the moment when the plot gets a twist and shows its shred of originality, we have to eat our words sometimes. Enigma is not the ... case, giving nothing remarkable and losing against its peers.

The story is something seen before and IMO we've seen better versions of it, but this is not the main problem. While the art is ok good, with well designed characters and some interesting ones, like Mizusawa Aru, they are all very typical and stereotyped: we got the all-can-do, always-finds-a-way main character, his childhood friend who's in love with him, a sidekick, some preppy girl and a thug. I have to say that Matusirigi is one remarkable exception as I found him very complete, with him having a purpose and being driven by his justice and moral sense to deal with his own burden. We get development and backstories, which variates more or less depending on the character and that's something I have to applaude, like in the case of Sudou where his backstory is really great, but explaining to us some things like the shyness of Moto or the motives for the attitude of Aru doesn't compensate one, if not the biggest, of it's flaws and that's Haiba Sumio, who takes all the spotlight while bringing nothing to the table. We have a very diverse, even with all their flaws, pool of characters and all the attention goes to Haiba, with a little gilmpse of the others from time to time. Seeing someone else take the lead, at least for a couple of pages, was a really appreciated breath of fresh air.

I really enjoyed Enigma at the beggining but as I progressed it became more and more tedious to read and it was losing some of the things that got me, somehow, hooked, making the last chapters a really difficult read. When we start getting revelations about who's behind all that's happening, the plot starts to get a bit promising only to get drown, once again, with a poor storytelling. I have to say that the last arc I found it, for the most part, really entertaining but kinda predictable, and about the ending, it was fine by me but may be a little too cheesy for some people. The author had in its hands the possibility to leave a good open ending, but it decided not to, a choice I don't fully support but it was something to expect.

Don't get me wrong, Enigma does have a couple of good things and others not so good, making space for other manga like the Kamisama No Iutoori series to give us an improved version of this. The good thing is that with only 56 chapters, if you decide to give it a try and end up not liking it, if like me, you're someone who can't leave things half-read, you would not invest much time on it.

Air Gear is a solid 7 but WHAT a 7 do we have in front of us. It's a little hidden treasure in the anime world.

I started watching it because it was pending on my list for a long, long time and at first it was nothing spectacular. The premise about a world where a sport called Air Treck, where you use high tech skates, was very popular and there where gangs, tournaments and competitions to determinate who is the best. It was really fresh to me, the battles where very street-like with not overwhelming powers, it was more down-to-earth but it still had that ... fantastic essence in the way this where performed.

Watching episode after episode, I started to like the show even more and more. The characters where a different archetype. They're the main personalities but with a twist and that makes them HILARIOUS and likeable. I laugh A LOT in the first 10 - 12 episodes, as I also really enjoyed the battles. I absolutely loves their school teacher, Ton-Chan. We don't really get why she is the way she is, but her personality made me laugh like I haven't in some time.

From episode 13 we start to get more serious plot, our main character starts to gain renown and that brings him troubles within his environment. From here we get some great, full of action but with some fun moments in between, battles, and that's something I love about Air Gear. The comedy doesn't desestimate the plot at all.

The last arc of the series was a little fail for me, I think it took a few steps back comparing it to the hype it generated to me with the previous Behemoth arc. What I'm trying to say is, the finale leaves the door open for a continuation that we never got and it was very light. I would loved to see an ending with more impact.

Within all the things I loved about Air Gear: the comedy, the action, the freshness of it's core; there are some that I didn't like and those were the reason I didn't give this show a higher score. There were some blank spaces (that I'm not going to spoil) in the plot, some things that were just put there and never got and explanation about where did they came from or what they really meant. I researched a little about the manga and I got some of those answers I needed, but if you don't do that or you just don't go and read the manga, you're not going to get them.

I'm not really that kind of guy that gives attention to the Sound, but I could say it was ok. The Art was fine, just fine, but it gave the anime a particular vibe that made it go perfect with it. I actually prefer this "fine" kind of drawing. You can watch the OVA that came out some years after and, even though the action is great, that new and more modern style, in my opinion, takes away some of the charm that Air Gear has.

With a common story, a main character that wants to be the best/achieve something but with a breath of fresh air, adecuated art and enjoyable characters, Air Gear made me stay on the edge of my seat, laughing and rooting for our main group of characters. It was a really joyful and entertaining journey and I'm glad I started it.