Air Gear, Vol. 2
Published by: Del Rey Books
Writer & Artist: Oh!great

224 (196) pages.
Original Language: Japanese
Orientation: Right to left
Vintage: 2003. US edition October 2006.
Translation & Adaptation: Makoto Yukon
Lettering: Janice Chiang
Publisher’s Rating: Older Teen, Ages 16+

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Premise: The very latest in cool gear are inline skates with power boosters, called Air Trecks. It’s all fun and games until the Trecks are adopted by the local street gangs…

Synopsis:

Itsuki has a screw loose.

In this case literally: Even though Itsuki Minami feels ten feet tall and bulletproof because he is coming fresh off of a win, his Trecks are a little worse for wear. So he heads of with Mikan (second-oldest of the unsinkable Noyamano sisters) as his guide to the thrilling world of… sporting goods stores.

At this particular store, though, all is not as deadly boring as we might fear because Itsuki meets the girl of his dreams, the sexy and mysterious Simca. We all know this is going to lead to trouble.

Simca gets our poor dumb hero into yet another scrape with a local skating gang, and after that altercation, his equipment ends up even more messed up.

So now Itsuki needs money, fast. After a few false starts he finds himself a gig as a ramen delivery boy. This introduces him to the world’s most improbable extreme athlete, “Fats” Buccha, who needs really hefty skating gear to get his bulk flying. Fats has a proposition for Itsuki, a way to get free parts for his Air Trecks, if our hero can handle the challenge…

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Review:

Volume 2 has been out since the end of October, so hot on the heels of the review for Volume 1 here’s a two-fer for all you nice folks.

If you liked the art and action from the last volume, Oh!great has got more for you. The panel layouts continue to be dynamic, and between speed-lines, shading and lighting effects, and forced perspective we always have a sense of both velocity and altitude when two Storm Riders are fighting it out on skates above the city skyline.

I’ll heap some praise on Del Rey, too. Their translation manages to catch (or perhaps, manufacture) a real sense of the slang and phrasing we’d expect from a bunch of teenage skaters. All in all it’s a fun read.

And yet…

OK, here’s my major complaint: Our “Hero”, Itsuki? He’s a dick. I find it hard to like him. In fact, I’d like to reach into the book and smack him. It’s not that he’s an anti-hero, or that he’s got that “I’m evil only because your world calls me evil” shtick working for him. He’s just a dick.

His only virtues are his fighting skills. He steals from his foster sisters. He’s a bundle of male hormones that drops any brains or sense just as soon as he’s presented with even the barest whiff of a likely female target. He’ll try just about any scheme to avoid real work, and

Oy! Hey, Itsuki, get off my lawn! Damn punk kids, think they can get away with anything [mumble, mumble]. Maybe I’m getting old, and just can’t relate to the mindset anymore.

Still and all, the supporting cast is pretty good. Also, while the enemies faced down by Itsuki and the Noyamano sisters in volume one were pretty much dire villains straight out of central casting, volume two brings in few shades of grey and begins fleshing out the whole sub-culture surrounding Air Trecks and their enthusiasts, the “Storm Riders”.

And there was a mini-physics-lesson-slash-(unintentional?)-Monty-Python-reference that had me laughing out loud.

Will I be buying volume three of Air Gear? Yes, if only to watch the Sisters bring the beat down on that dick, Itsuki. That, and there was enough punch coming out of the first volume that I’ll give the writer time to find his pacing and his story, and see what develops. You can either pick up #1 and see if the premise grabs you in the same way it did me, or wait and see– I’ll be buying and reviewing volume three (and four. and likely five, too.)– before you start investing in these.