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Reviewed by Dan Polley High-tech inline skating is what the characters in Oh! Great’s “Air Gear” spend their time doing. However, “Air Gear” is also a high-octane romp with characters who jump off the page with rapid excitement. In this volume, the main character, Ikki (also known as Itsuki Minami), is yearning for new Air Treck skates after his were damaged. To get parts needed for them, he battled against Buccha in a Parts War. Ikki wears his heart on his sleeves and the volume opens with him alternately raging and crying that he doesn’t have sufficient parts for his skates. Ikki eventually manages to work out a deal with his friends to build his Air Trecks again. And after that, Ikki’s revelation occurs when he realizes he only has one option: To form his own Air Treck team. “I’m gonna skate on my own road where nobody else has ever ruled! To do that, I skate behind no one,” Ikki thinks after making his decision known. Ikki starts out with his friend, Kazu, to enlist their mutual friend, Onigiri, to form the foundation of Ikki’s new Air Treck team. Unfortunately, the two of them run into a bit of trouble trying to enlist Onigiri onto the team. But the fun really gets into high gear after Ikki and friends learn about a battle taking place between two A-rank teams and decide to tag along and watch the show. While “Air Gear” is a non-stop bowl of action packed into about 200 pages, it carries some content that is a bit questionable. There is some sexually explicit content, but there are enough in the volume to raise an eyebrow or two. The art is and plot mirror the characters: They’re fun, exciting and unwilling to slow down. The Air Treck lifestyle is accurately reflected in the manic lines and high-speed action sequences. The battle sequence between the two A-teams that takes place high above the skyline is by far the best sequence in the volume. To read “Air Gear” is not simply to read about high-speed inline skating: It’s to live it. Comment on this review of Air Gear v4 on the Manga Life Forums. |
7 May 2008
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