if there is some sort of message there, then i dont see it. i thought it was much more interesting as a competition between people who have similar ambitions with some life drama thrown in.

who would have thought, from the first hundred chapters of just competitions to be the best, the manga would flip over and become the convoluted story that it is now. excuse me if i dont think saving the world with roller blades makes it more interesting.

i feel like the same thing happened with tengo tenge, the other title the mangaka started [then halted to concentrate on air gear].

attention deficiency disorder anyone?

I was having fun with this series when all the plot points seemed to be metaphor instead of literal. All the legends were just ways to explain how things used to be fun, and added a sense of a skater culture. What REALLY ruined this series for me was two simple words: Gravity Children.

It ruined the flow and made me see all these “cool” characters as lame. Instead of normal people overcoming obstacles, they’re just genetically modified freak babies who have talent spliced into them. Then things got more like an emo-goth kid’s lame fanfiction smashing over any appeal the vast majority of characters had by making things waaaaay too serious. Finally comes the mangaka crutch:

“Let’s just make everything go so crazy you’re blitzed into accepting it.”

I wanted to see tricks and skill, and what we get are superpowers and the “fate of the world” crap, mixed with a healthy dose of coffee addled arthouse sensibilities that almost killed western comics in the last decade.

The only thing that can make you slog through it is ikki and his crew. They have the gall to be fun loving bastards with hard heads in a world of JRPG cliches. Except Ag(k)ito, because they pissed all over his character. No longer just the cop guy’s brother, he’s another experiment.

Hell, maybe cheating and making anyone with skill (other than a select few) modified freaks with genetic advantages handed to them is a way of making us care more about Kogarasumaru. Hopefully they won’t make it worse by:

A: Killing Ringo now that she’s got the whole “tragic heroine” vibe.
B: Killing Rika now that she’s pregnant. (classic cop-out)
C: Finding out Ikki IS the Sky Regalia, or that it’s coded to only bond with his DNA
D: Making all the members of Ikki’s crew Gravity Children or hybrids.
E: Finding out the Giant Crow is Ikki’s father, or that Ikki’s half-bird or some Japanese Mythological creature.

So honestly, the only characters I care about are the Kogarasumaru crew that aren’t experiments. Yeah, even onigiri’s cooler because he’s a human.

Mikizu > Oh so that’s what’s happening. But still, I don’t see how the manga I will be able to understand what’s going on again in a couple of chapters more.

Soshi > You should try reading the manga and scratching your head trying to figure out everything.

Shin > Precisely!

I haven’t touched Air Gear for ages and why are there mushrooms!?