Anime: Air Master

I love anime centered around fighting. Grappler Baki might be my favorite anime ever, Garouden is my favorite manga series, I thought YuYu Hakusho was great, and consider Bleach a good series solely on the strength of its action scenes.

Air Master, however, is the single worst anime series I've ever seen. It is putrid, like moldy rice tossed into spoiled milk that reeks. At first, I thought that several people who advised me to stay away from this show were joking.

They weren't.

The story introduces us to Maki, a seven foot tall, 14 year old girl, who fights with the power of....wait for it.....gymnastics. Her goal is to challenge other strange-looking people to street fights. Violence and poor animation ensue.

How a seven foot tall girl with broad shoulders, weighing at least 250pounds was at one point a world class gymnast and can fly through the air never even receives an attempt at an explanation. It does, of course, lend itself to numerous shots of tight white panties underneath Maki's mini-skirt.

Apparently, the goal is to turn me on sexually with an animation while I'm watching a fight featuring copious amounts of blood.

Now listen, I have no problem with absurd, unrealistic premises and backgrounds in an action anime. Hell, I like it.

But even if none of the moves used are the least bit practical, there has to be something in the fictional main combatant that resembles a REAL fighter, or at least the audience's perception of what a true fighter should be.

Baki was a teenager also, but he was muscular, disciplined, and had a great personality. Ippo was a boxer of tremendous dedication and heart,and acted like a real human being. Hell, even some of the characters in Dragonball Z had moderately interesting aspects of their personality that were genuine.

Here, Maki is like a giant robot, with no emotion, no motivation for anything she does, and numerous holes in the consistency and logic of everything from her interactions with her normal friends, to her feelings about other fighters.

She's not cool, deep, or unique. She's an overgrown, violent retard.

Of course, you can't really blame her. Every other character is the same.

Now, let's talk about the animation. Normally, I don't believe it deserves its own section, but this is an exception."Air Master" has the worst animation I have ever seen in an anime.There are literally about 3 or 4 frames per second, at best, which often makes me think I'm seeing a Powerpoint slide.

It feels disjointed, the characters are animated with little detail,change noticeably from scene to scene, and their movements always feel unnatural, not just in terms of the fighting, but even something as simple as crossing the street. Frankly, it feels like the series was made between 1988 and 1992, not 2004.

The only possible thing that could salvage the series would be the fight scenes. Unfortunately, they're stale and repetitive; once you've seen one fight, you've essentially seen them all. The afore-mentioned horrible, cheap animation doesn't help either.

Additional lowlights in the series include a high-pitched, midget 14year old who cries and throws temper tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants, and is present in virtually every episode. Why throw one of the most annoying anime characters I've ever seen into the show?Apparently, she's supposed to be funny.

The dialogue is unbelievable, too.

From the first episode alone, we get the following priceless quote from a Mexican Lucha Libre guy, to demonstrate how much of a scary motherfucker he is;

"Or perhaps there's a poor puppy struggling for breath in a muddy stream, even if there's a heavy rain warning, I'll jump in!"

Intimidating. Like the rest of "Air Master", it's ridiculous, not funny, pretentious, and horribly animated with no story.

Even if you watch every fighting series under the sun, like me, stay away.

**befor i begin i want to say a few quick things,my spelling sucks, and i am doing this in a school study hall, so the quality may not be the best and i may come back and revise any part that i wright here today.**

ok i wil begin by saying that ihave seen the manga and my animation score is based off that, if you look into it airmaster is possibly the worst looking manga that looks awsome in anime form. that much i can rember a clear as i can rember im a guy. now the sound i thought was agood, some charter voices were annoying but i forgive it because they fit the people so well.the story is very basic and not a whole lot of deaph there uless you see something other than "kick his ass... hurray you win" but even than you didnt decide to watch this because of a story, because there is a minor one and,this anime is all about the action, i gave it a higher scor than i think it should have gotten.the charters are intersting but they are very easy to figutre out. this much i know, now rember i watched this about a month after people were done fansubbing it, so it was a while ago.

**now eventho i like it and i would recoment getting it, there is the point where hte licence holder in the states,if i rember correctly put out a very badly translated verson with ass backwords subtitals. agein if i am correct ther is no english voices. i cant remberand also dont want to bother cheacking up on it, realy a waist of time for me and also studdy hall is almost over, i dont believe they put out more than 3 dvds because no body wanted them. and if all the stuf in the stars are true than they dont deserve to be supported either**

all in all i sugest you find the first 3 episodes on fansub, than decide if you like it or not. if you do, look into the american verson, if that version sucks than skip it and continue to dounload the fansubs.

Overall this anime is a halfway-decent martial arts show, with a lot of comedy, some funny characters, a bad ending, and pretty good music. What really made me rate it low is its extremely bad taste.

Animation

The fight scenes are pretty intense and fun. Character design is unusual, I liked it. It's a combination of round and angular faces, emphasis on the round. I guess you can take it or leave it though. Backgrounds were forgettable. Some of the wreslting/fighting costumes were so ridiculous they poured into this show's bad taste.

Sound
The music was generally up-to date, fun and bouncy, OP and ED and BGM. Started to get a little old after 27 eps though.

Story
The story was basically coherent and compelling. Very significant exception was two rape scenes which were completely irrelevant to the plot, illogical, had almost no impact on character development, and needless to say, in very bad taste.

Character
Characters largely avoided stereotypes, except for a few minor ones:

• 
  *that one overly duty-focused guy who is so much like Ishida from Bleach
  *Maki's little sister who is exactly like every little boy anime hero
  *The creepy rapist guy who seems to be a common anime archetype
  

None of the characters were very well developed or interesting, though. The main character Maki wasn't well developed at all, I still can't really say what kind of a person she is except 'quiet'.

• 
  *Sakiyama Kaori was unforgettable & reminded me of Adolf Hitler.
  *Inoue Renge was amusing but annoying as hell and reminded me of Owen Meany.

Mina Nakatoni and all the big boobs jokes got old pretty fast, and added to the 'bad taste' factor.

Value
Eh. Wasn't complex enough to warrant a rewatch.

Enjoyment
I enjoyed the martial arts scenes, because they were basically well done and personally I like strong women, but the show's bad taste got to me after a while. I kept watching, hoping it would miraculously improve (as some animes do) but it never did. Too bad.

I believe this to be one of the most misunderstood animes out there.

On the surface this anime depicts the story of a girl who loves to fight and her wacky antourage of friends.

Undeaneath this fighting anime there is the story of a girl looking for release from her grief over the death of her mother. After failing at the Olympics and the death of her mother Aikawa Maki is looking for something to express her feelings and frustrations, something which gives her the same thrill as the Olympics did and where she can prove herself to her dead mother.
While walking the streets she finds a group of people streetfighting and finds that by joining in the fights she can relive the thrills she used to have and express her feelings. She now has the urge to find stronger and stronger opponents to release her pent up frustration and to give her a feeling of satisfaction and peace.


Animation:
The fightscenes are wonderful to watch and the varying styles of the fighters are exceptional.
You will see no superpowerd red flashy punches although some of the moves definatly defy gravity and nature. The creators of this anime certainly had a breast fetish to say the least since from the anime's point of view the prettiest girl is one with the largest breasts. There are however some cute girls depicted in this anime however the main character Aikawa Maki is not one of them.

Sound: Personally I loved the opening song and still have it ringing in my head on occasion. The ending song is also pretty good. The music supporting the series is ok. Most of the voice acting is pretty good except for Renge who must have one of the most anoying voices in Anime ever but perhaps that is what the makers were aiming for.

Story:
I find that the story of this anime has a multitude of layers. On the surface it could be described as a comedy/martial arts anime. Under the surace though this anime has quiet deapths which only come to the surface on rare occasions and is easily missed. But once found it highlights this anime in a completly different light.

Characters:
Most of the characters are reasonably static because of their excentric nature. This in my oppinion does not deter from the story, more so it highlights and enhances the characters personalities themselves. Although I have to deduct one extra point from the characters because of the anoying nature of Renge

Value:
Personaly I've watched this anime numerous times and can and will watch it again. It seems that everytime I do watch it I seem to glean a little more of the story underneath. Besides that it is wonderful to watch the fightscenes again.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed this anime very much although I do believe it is one of those animes certain people love to bits and others hate. As you can see by my vote I am one of the former.

There are some shows that I am sure I will hate, but I get them just to see how stupid they are. Though Airmaster was proving at first to be this sort of anime, I must say that towards the end I came to appreciate it.

Aikawa Maki: Airmaster, legend on the streets.

Lately in the city, there has been a new fighter. Somewhat tall and stunning, they say she flies! Though this is only street fighting, to Airmaster it is the thrill of her life, slowly consuming her as stronger competition appears.

Well the first episode made me yell, "Fanservice!" as I watched the flashy kicks and punches, or those sudden moments where everything goes silent, the heroine says something witty, and does a supernatural move to make the audience drool, waiting for more. Immediately this follows the routine of animes such as Naruto, Dragonball Z, and various other action animes.

Then that's where things change - around the middle of the series is when I began to understand that the fighting really isn't the story, but more like the fighting surrounds the life of an introverted high-schooler looking for an escape. Along with shameless humor and a couple of serious moments, Airmaster proves to be so unbelievably illogical that, strangely enough, it is fun to watch, and enjoy.

Pathetic character designs.

I detest this sort of animation - the designs are too round and disproportioned to look attractive. Above all else, it is important for all to realize that THE MAIN CHARACTER IS AS UGLY AS ALL HELL!!! I want to scream everytime I see her face "aaaahh!!!"

*ahem* Setting that aside, ^_^ I also must complain that Mina's boobs are TOO big, leaving guys like me disturbed, and more interested in almost all of the other girls in the series (who all look pretty good). The guys, to my surprise, aren't as distorted as the women, so that makes the show even more weird.

The fight scenes are good, though. I fell in love with Maki's fighting technique, mostly because any move that is directed towards her can be countered, and as the counters keep adding up, I find myself cheering for her more and more as the fight approaches its end. Obviously, anyone could predict who would win in the fight, however later on in the series this becomes more difficult - especially with the introduction of the Fukamichi rankings. This would leave a watcher on the edge of their seat, eager for the result.

Music: Ok.

Well I couldn't find any attachment to music at all in Airmaster. The opening and ending are both alternative, which I do like. However, these songs aren't really exceptional, so I won't bother downloading them. As for the background music, it's ok for whatever situation, but nothing intensifies the scenes, so I would say it's pretty average.

The seiyuu are decent. I can complain about Renge, who has the most irritating seiyuu I've ever heard - that scratchiness in her voice makes me cringe, reminding me everytime of the vocal pain that actress has to go through when she's done with that part for a day. Besides her, the other actors/actresses, do a satisfactory job throughout the show.

Character?

Well I can point out that because of the amount of homosexual humor that surrounds this anime, there are a lot of people who would say "ugh" when they witness a certain embrace that two guys do in this show. If you are anti-yaoi, beware of some themes in Airmaster.
As for the actual main character, her character development is decent, despite being very quiet. During a fight she expresses herself clearly, and that makes her character much more deep than the rest of the crazy cast. Her friends are always a pathetic gag group, and get even sillier towards the end. Lastly, the worst development goes to the guy on the bike, who gets a lot of characterization at the beginning, but slowly falls out of the series as things get more intense.

The craziest characters have to be Sakiyama Kaori and Sakamoto Julieta; one proves to be conceited beyond all hopes, while the latter is so enigmatic, that calling him a human character would only rob him of uniqueness as a being in this series.

I won't rewatch this, but I accept it as a good show.

It has a lot of weaknesses with the insane comedy and somewhat cliche fighting. However, the last two episodes prove to be outstanding in nature, as even though they don't make sense, they can really make the watcher glue themselves to their chair to be fully attentive of the result of the Fukamichi rankings. The conclusion is absolutely horrible, but I can accept it, since the series as a whole can be considered an interesting watch.

I can recommend this to anyone that looks for wild action or comedy. Whatever drama may exist in this series can be considered humor, as nothing can truly be taken seriously. I don't think the humor could live very long, so everything except the fighting isn't worth watching again - thus, it's value is low.

Just another show to watch when you need a break from serious anime.

I *love* Air Master. It features female characters- almost all the main cast is female- who aren't cutesy kawaii-mahou-shoujo style girls, or faceless girlfriends of the main character, or overfeminized; nor are they the typical lolicon-fanservice/bondage queen type found in a lot of fighting anime and games. They don't scream and cry and have sudden bursts of Hidden Magic That They Didn't Know They Had, they don't scream for their boyfriends when big bad men touch them in their no-no place, they don't have H-game style character designs, and they don't have sparkly pink attacks that they have to say in Engrish to fight the bad guy.

The romance in this series is subtle at best, and not even remotely a focus (as of yet, anyway, I've seen up to episode 13 as of this review. So no fluffy bunny love-love stories here.

The animation for most of the fight scenes is beautiful, although like any anime some episodes tend to look like they were done by interns on a low budget.

The art style can be a little funky sometimes, but it's nothing one has to seriously acclimate to in order to enjoy the series; I personally love the body types and figures that go into this. Particularly Maki, who is freakishly tall and built like a brick shithouse. As for the rest of the cast... well, some of them, mostly bit characters, are just supposed to be ugly. And by God, they are ugly as homemade sin. I like it.

The characters are *fantastic*. They're all very intense and have larger-than-life personalities and quirks, most of them in stark contrast with the main character (who is mostly a cool customer and often has a hard time understanding the flamboyant nature of the people around her). On the whole, they're laughable in their eccentricity, but at the same time, easy to identify with and even cute. I doubt any of them will inspire heavy debate, with the possible exception of some of the male cast members and the connections of a seeming one-shot-villain-of-the-day type character coming into play.


I really, really love this show. One of the best things about it is that the fighting that goes on in Air Master is exaggerated and extreme and yes, it does need a grain of salt from time to time, but when someone gets hit, it LOOKS like it hurt, because it should. The bloodshed isn't gratuitous or excessive; I wouldn't even call it gore, but it conveys INTENSE GUT-WRENCHING PAIN very well. I don't think I've watched an episode yet that didn't make me say "Ow," in sympathy.

Air Master deserves much better reviews than it typically gets, so here's my bottom line:

Fighting anime about true Bad Ass Chicks, with great characters and animation, and some great opening and ending songs.