RabidMonk

Oh Nellie!  I have to admit I'm a bit ashamed to have watched Air Gear, but to my surprise (and likely an increase in my shame) I actually kind of enjoyed it.  So without further ado let's break it down:

Positives: So I don't know what drew me to Air Gear, but once I'd started I found something very interesting about it.  I wanted to watch the next episode.  There is something in the show that compels you to want to see what happens next.  I'm not sure if it's the whole concept of flying around doing rediculous moves on souped up roller blades or if it's the fact tha nearly every episode ends with about as major a cliffhanger as they could come up with (almost to a fault).

But even if you look past the silly story and the fact that you find yourself strangely compelled to watch Air Gear there's actually some fun show inside as well.  The whole harem things seems to work pretty well and it's nice that our protagonist isn't madly in love with every girl he sees.  In fact, it was almost a relief to see that he's really far more passionate about his air gear than anything else.  You're already suspending enough of reality just to watch the show so doing much more would have probably made things just a mush in your mind.

Two last thoughts.  First, there's a really fun concept that appealed to me with the whole "gang" type thing going on with the teams.  Competing over territory and having "wars" and all is something that seemed really fun to me.  If Air Trek or whatever it's actually called was somehow real I'm sure I'd have been first in line to get involved.  It would be a fun world to live in.  Second, there's something fun about the music in this show that just makes watching the characters crusing around so much fun.  It's odd, but I think that I could probably watch and episode of everyone just flying around off of buildings and soaring through the air without having been all that disappointed.  Fun stuff!

Negatives: It's a silly show.  Seriously.  I'm all for sci-fi and even fantasy, but in no world would the things they do in Air Gear actually work.  It's a small gripe, but I can't escape the feeling that if one of my friends came over I'd be embarrassed if they saw me watching Air Gear.  (Market research I tell you!  It's market research!  "Uh right, I think I'm going to go now...")

I've also read some fair complaints about the quality of the animation, but to be honest, it didn't really bother me.  Did I notice this?  Yes, but I've seen a lot worse animation in my life so there's no great concern here.  It's good enough to watch, and again, compared to some of the shows I've seen lately it's not even an issue worth worrying about.

Ok, so my last thought on Air Gear - for some reason it's labelled here as ecchi and that's the ONLY tag for it.  Really?  I mean, yes, it is ecchi, and even in the edited version with the crows it's a bit over the top at times, but is that the only tag it deserves?  Eithe way I don't think the ecchi was necessary in the show and while I've not read the manga (I've heard it's "oh wow, super amazing!") I'm guessing that the ecchi nature stemmed from there.  I don't think it added to the show in any significant way, so personally I think it woudl have been better without it, but I suppose that wasn't my call.

So in the end, Air Gear is just kind of fun.  Again, don't expect your world to shake by its very foundation, but do just sit back and enjoy things for what they are.