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- Advance Review -- 'Air Gear: East Side Showdown'
Advance Review -- 'Air Gear: East Side Showdown'
- By L Mouse
- Published 02/5/2007
- Anime and Manga
-
Rating:
Extreme Sports Anime Style
Initial Impression:
Obnoxious. No characterization other than plug-and-play stereotypes. Trashy.
And it doesn't get any better.
This show probably has a market -- but I suspect that market doesn't overlap very much with the average reader of Firefox News, so this is a solid 'not recommended' to our readers. It's utterly formulaic shonen with extreme sports as the plot gimmick.
Air Gear has gratuitous nudity -- but not enough to be actually interesting even to the hentai crowd. There is the occasional flash of boobies, with no build-up or real reason for showing them, and a bit of extremely unoriginal yuri between sisters -- yeah, yeah, it's fan service but, geeze, it's lower class than usual. And it's not even very often, if you're looking for that sort of thing. And if you're not looking for that sort of thing, it it's disturbing.
The dialogue is very bad. It's also very blue. Folks who know me know I have a potty-mouth and I'm not shy about dropping the occasional f-bomb. Hell, I've even been known to do it on this site ...
The humor is very basic. Low-brow. Very low-brow. With no creativity to the low-brow-ness. Somebody's going to find it funny, but it isn't going to be me.
As far as the plot goes, fanfic writers have a term for this. "PWP" or "Plot What Plot?" -- but that's usually applied to lemons, stories with gratuitous sex. If you substitute plots involving souped up roller blades and battles between the riders, plus the occasional bit of very unoriginal fan service, for unoriginal sex, well, there you have it. It's a PWP with extreme sports. And that's the concept: gang members on souped up roller blades who fight and challenge each other.
Some good points -- the animation and the music fit the extreme sports theme. The music isn't bad at all -- a lot of electronic effects with a rock/rap feel. The animation is stylistic, with some extreme caricatures, but again, it fits the theme. The voice actors are okay, given the material they have to work with. But none of this is enough to redeem the series.
Somebody has to like this stuff. *scratches head* But it isn't me, it probably isn't going to be many people over the age of twelve, and the boobies and the frequent use of obscenity in the English dub make it inappropriate for children.
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Comments
Comment #1 (Posted by Matt)
Rating:
WTF is your problem, did you just watch the first 10minutes and then pull your head out of the trash can to pronounce your judgment like u actually know something or what? Your dissing the english dub for its language when u clearly don't understand the japanese, or even have the attention span to read for comparison.
Now if you had the facilities to pay attention to those things u could hear how in the english, the characters have much more personality in their voices, rounding out many of the previously flat characters.
And let me assure u, as far as plot goes, there there definitely is an amazing one. If you had taken your head out for atleast the 4 epds on the dvd u might of got a glimpse of it. sure theres some ecchi fan service, but when your watching anime, remember its not made in the west, or else it would be greasy and fan service would mean full out hentai. Normally when an anime is released in america they cut out all the more violent and ecchi scenes, and a good part of the story too, because of people like you who think they like anime but are so egocentric as to think the views of their cultural stand point are the only ones that matter, or should be expressed. The dubed release of Air gear is actually surprising for the fact that rather then cutting out these scenes they actually left it at an even less edited form then what was originally aired.
All i'm saying is that the next time you decide to watch anime, and never again should u be one to review it, maybe you shouldnt be thinking about the super sized combo u just downed, but rather watching the show with a bit of an open mind, after all u are watching an animation.
Comment #2 (Posted by Lmouse)
Rating:
Matt>> As I noted, I am sure this show has fans. Apparently, you're one, and I'm glad to hear from you.
A review is an opinion, and it's my opinion -- I'm female, probably a good bit older than you, and my tastes are doubtless different than yours. Your opinion is equally valid -- and as noted, I'm sure there are fans for this sort of show. I am not one of them.
And I don't care if it's made by Americans, Japanese, or Martians: if I don't like it, I am going to be honest and say so. Anything else would be a lie, and dishonest to my readers.
Now, it may well be better in Japanese. I concede that. However, as noted in the review, this was a review of the English dub. Not of the Japanese version. You're certainly welcome to post an actual critical review of the Japanese version in the comments here. I'd be interested to hear what you have to say, if you can do so intelligently, and without being insulting. You've said why you feel I'm wrong. How about explaining what you LIKE about the show? I'm sure there's readers who will be interested.
And for the record:
1. I am far, far, far from a bigot, which is what you seem to be implying. I am, however, entitled to not like something based on its artistic merits. Regardless of what culture it came from.
2. I have great difficulty reading subtitles because I (A) have vision problems and (B) neurological problems, including migraines which are triggered by trying to read text on a moving background. Migraines and very severe myopia complicated by some autoimmune problems that affect my vision are not laziness ...
Comment #3 (Posted by Xenon)
Rating:
I disagree with the review but I clearly understand why Lmouse feels that way.
Word of warning. I think its a fabulous anime, but it left me unsatisfied (i watched all 24 eps), because like many other animes it has no real ending. This anime is meant to be as a feeder for the manga. The series covers, at best (although very faithfully), the first 6 volumes of what is currently a 17 volume manga. Therefore the arguments about, plot, character development, etc., although valid, are not exactly the whole truth. If by chance you follow the path layed out by the anime into the manga you will find a very rich plot with great characterization and surprisingly moving; think modern age romeo and juliet, with very strong elements of family, and finding freedom. However, this isn't a manga review, this is about the Anime.
The plot is slow to start since there is a lot of information to introduce, and the first half of the series is spent introducing the sport, the equipment, the characters, blah blah blah. The second half of hte seires gives a better glimpse into the pace and style of the manga. It does this while remaining very entertaining through out. Granted part of the comedy comes from cheap gags (such as a beautiful woman falling in love with fat guys and then dumping them for even fatter guys) and ecchi-ness.
Yes, this series isn't for everyone, not because its bad, but because it is unapologetically shonen. But, like with most shonens, I gurantee you'll find yourself rooting for the characters and falling in love with them despite their occasional one dimensionality.
All in all its worth a shot and i guarantee many of you will want to add this on to your collection.
Comment #4 (Posted by Michael)
Rating:
CLEARLY you only watch the first few minutes/eps of this anime, and you are simply being a straight up asshole. The only thing bad about the anime, was the ending, and that is only because a second season was expected, wuts new? anyways, get it together, this anime was awesome and very inspiring.
Comment #5 (Posted by cheiru)
Rating:
i agree with xenon . before u bad mouth lmous's reveiw i would take a look at xenons and remember everyone is intitled to an openion . i myself am a fan of the show andi watch the japanese dubb and also am about to buy the manga. i love the sho but like i said before . eveyone is intitled to thier openion . freedon of speech .