Anime Review: Air Gear
Type: TV Series
Length: 26 Episodes

For some reason I have the romantic notion that all Japanese people become businessmen who toil their lives away in cubicles never to think of sport. But of course this is total rubbish. Japan is almost as obsessed with sport as we are here in Australia. One considers their obsession with Ian Thrope. But we all know that anything worth a grain of salt in Japan is immortalized in either manga or anime and sport is no exception. Everything from swimming, baseball, to motor racing has graced the airwaves and now we have extreme motorized inline skating to add to that illustrious list.

The anime Air Gear comes to us via Toei Animation studios and for the most part expectations are met and even exceeded in some areas. Air Gear follows the lives of Itsuki Minami “Ikki” and his friends as they tackle the latest extreme rebel sport. The early parts of the story carry out the introduction of characters that eventually join Ikki’s Air Treck team Kogarasumaru. The latter part half concentrates on the teams rise to fame and eventual attack on the Trophaeum Tower, where Ikki would be crowned the sky king.

As intriguing as the concept of these motorized inline stakes or ‘Air Trecks’, it is perhaps the weakest point of the anime overall. In fact there’s almost no time spent on explaining what Air Trecks really are. Instead we are presented with some very rich and interesting characters to tantalize the viewers to watch more. It is a little surprising to say the least when you get an outrageous concept that is painted with such a thick character brush. The main character Ikki is what you might describe as being arrogant but that seems to balance out with his overbearing sisters who treat him like an incompetent little boy most of the time.

The animation is standard here. It is almost a downfall one could say but it does not detract from the anime overall. What pops out is the high-energy hi-hop rock that litters the anime. It is very cool in places and suits the anime down to a tee. But as always, it seems that the music budget did not go far enough as there are tracks that are overused throughout. Air Gear turned out to be far better than I had ever hoped for. The complex characters and thumping soundtrack keep it from being anything but tiresome. Four Air Trecks!

It is not often that a sticker on a DVD package makes this reviewer excited. But somehow when I read, “Featuring ‘Chairman’ Takeshi Kaga of Iron Chef” on there made me want to review Death Note so badly. Lucid images filled my mind of a bloody cooking battle where a challenger does his or her best at killing the judges with their culinary skills. I am somewhat saddened to inform you that there will be no such cooking battles in Death Note. Instead today we will be looking at the live action variation of the Death Note franchise.

I have to be honest; I have not seen many live action adaptations that I have liked more than the anime. But the difference here is that I have not seen any of the Death Note anime series, so one could say I am working from a clean slate here. The plot of Death Note is intriguing and deep and the first movie follows the first nine episodes of the anime. University student Light Yagami despises the crime-ridden world that he lives in. But everything changes for Light when he discovers the mysterious notebook called Death Note. The instructions are clear. Write someone’s name in the notebook and in 40 seconds they will die of a heart attack. Soon Light uses the Death Note to deal out his own brand of justice on criminals and people he deems worthy of dying. The public dubs the murderer as ‘Kira’ and great debates rage about who is behind them. The police do not sit idly on their hands. They spring into action and are also hot on Light’s trail after asking the equally mysterious detective ‘L’, who communicates via a high-pitched computer voice to help with investigations.

The plot is somewhat complex but it is laid out nice and slowly and rewards the viewer with some interesting scenes later in the film. Performances are all of high standards here, although some characters like Light’s girlfriend Shiori Akino slightly frustrate with their mundane screen presence. Direction by Shūsuke Kaneko is solid but lacks the zest of a real Hollywood blockbuster. But one might consider larger production values detraction to the overall story. While I have tried my best to summarize Death Note in this short review there are things I have missed. As far as this particular movie goes there is no question that fans of the anime will love it. Newcomers such as myself will also find much to like about this film as the tug of war between Light and L begins. Sadly there will be no biting into capsicums here. Move along…Four Death Notes!