Air Gear

Air Dates: April 4, 2006 – September 27, 2006

Episodes: 26

Genre: Action, Comedy, Sports

My Rating: ***** (5:5 stars)

OMG this anime made me want to dust off my rollerblades and go bust a move! I love this anime for that reason alone! Lol!

The anime is based around this new fad called ‘Air Treks’ (a futuristic evolution of aggressive skating also called ATs) where the riders are call ‘Storm Riders’. The fad has become so popular with the youth of Japan that they have started to form ‘gangs’ that battle to the be on the top of the Storm Rider ranks, which is on Trophaeum Tower. The Trophaeum Tower is made up of the Kings of the Air Treks, the Sky Regalia, that have surpassed the laws of physics in a way to obtain crazy powers as Storm Riders and have titles to match their ability’s like ‘Sky King’ who can see the Wing Road. This means that he has the power to ride the wind with great speed and agility far past that of any normal Storm Rider.

Itsuki Minami, aka Ikki, is the main male character in the anime. The story starts off with him steeling a pair of ATs from one of the girls in the family he has been staying with, the Noyamano’s, since his family disappeared some time ago. (The anime never really went into this part.) He starts out slow making a ton of mistakes but eventually gains enough skill that he starts to battle and gain the attention of the current Kings. He is dubbed Little crow by Simca who leads the gang Genesis and who also has a major crush on Ikki. Genesis is one the largest and most powerful gangs out there that is said to be on a mission to actually destroy the Trophaeum Tower. Simca decides to take Ikki under her wing so to speak and teach him the ways of Storm Riders since she thinks he has the ability and power to become the next Sky King and in turn help her take down the Tower.

Ikki also has another girl that is chasing after him, Ringo, who is the main female character. She is one the girls from the Noyamano family that he is living with. Unknown to Ikki though she is the leader of the second generation of Sleeping Forest said to be THE best Storm Riders out there. Ringo is also the Queen of Thorns and part of the Sky Regalia. She is not as forth coming as Simca is about her feelings but they shine through whenever Simca tries to make moves on Ikki and she gets her underwear in a twist over it and gets up in Simcas face.

After attempting to compete in a few battles on his own Ikki decides to form him own gang the Kogarasumaru. He gets his two closest friends to join that show no real talent on ATs but as the story progress so do their skills and tricks with one being able to skate like a bad ass but upside down with a AT on his head insead of his feet! Kogarasumaru originally was only had the three members then as they started to win battles they gained members since as the one of the rules states if your gang is beaten then you must disband.  They gain at least two more powerhouses with one being a current King, Agito. I love Love LOVE me some Agito!!! If I was to dress up as any character for cosplay it would be Agito with Simca a close second. Agito is a mess of a kid but so freakin awesome. He has two parts to himself that can be swapped by simply moving this eye patch that he wears from one side to the other. The best way to describe him is a modern day  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the eye patch being his catalyst. Agito’s Dr. Jekyll side is this sweet little Lolita-esx boy that is in love with Ikki. The Mr. Hyde is a crazy ass kid that would as soon slit your throat then look at you. For this reason he wears a straight jacket at all times however he is able to use the straps as part of his ability with his ATs.

The main arc is based around these battles between the gangs, the fight to either destroy the Sky Regalia or become part of it and battles for gang property/land since another rule is that after so many battles you can take your claim on an area. There are WAY too many gangs and battles to go into them all but, once you start watching and get about about ¼ of the way through all the episodes it starts to click with who belongs to what gang and what gang does what. I do have to say the final battle is sick with all the gangs and kings present! Makes you sad that it comes to an end after it. :c(

This is defiantly one anime that doesn’t have too many dull points that makes you want to fast forward to the interesting parts lol! I really wish though that they hadn’t of ended it the way they did. There is SO much more that they could have done with this…