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!