Review: 'Air Master'

Anime: Air MasterGenre: Action ComedyAge Rating: Teen+Studio: Toei AnimationMusic: Yoshihisa HiranoAuthor: Yokusaru Shibata, Michiko YokoteDub/Sub: SubbedEcchi Level: Otaku (Check triggers. Also, one character's bust is often the focus of the camera.)Triggers: Sexual Assault

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Was looking for a decent anime to watch and came across this one. I loved the look of the cover because it had the main character, Maki Aikawa, on it. And if there are three things I have a weakness for in anime, it’s short red hair, tall girls, and martial arts. Also, it helped that the art style was fairly old school. It’s actually been a while since I watched an anime in that style, so bonus points.

Before I get started on the show itself, I do want to say that Maki has now become one of my favorite anime girls of all time. This goes beyond “Best Girl” levels. Not only is she tall, magnificent, and brutal during a fight. But when she’s not fighting, she’s adorable as well. I love the mix of her differing personality traits in this anime. However, part of that adorable nature also led to one of my least favorite parts of this show. And here’s a warning to everyone, there are two instances of outright sexual assault in this anime. And not the goofy Meliodas stuffing his head under a skirt crap, this was pretty dark.

The anime basically starts off with the main character, Maki, who is also known as the Air Master in fight clubs, making new friends at an arcade. I’ll get to the friends later. But after making new friends, she gets challenged by a masked luchador to combat. And right out of the gate it shows what you can expect from the rest of the show. Bouncing off walls, soaring through the air, doing moves that are literally impossible in real life, etc. You know, typical anime stuff. And this is also where it shows that the animation quality in the beginning is quite poor.

Not to knock it, because pulling off these kinds of fights in the old school style of anime is actually pretty impressive. But there are some moments when someone pulls a move, or takes a stance, and it just looks terrible. But, I’m a fan of the OG Yugioh! Series, so I’m rather used to terrible animation. That aside, the fights are awesome and action-packed. Each opponent brings with them a new fighting style that leaves you eager to see how the battles turn out. So as far as the action goes, it’s great in this anime.

Now... the characters. And let’s start with Maki herself. Personally, I love the girl. She’s badass, she’s tall, has short red hair, and is serious as hell when the fighting gets started. But one of her biggest issues is that she basically blue screens crashes when she’s shown any kind of affection, whether from her close friend Mina, or a tall rapey looking asshole who strolls up and forces him on her. These scenes were incredibly uncomfortable to watch because it’s easy to see how realistic it can be. Just because she is tough doesn’t mean she isn’t vulnerable to assault. And I cringed while watching this asshole... TWICE, force himself on Maki. Both times were the closest that this show ever got to nudity because this rapist character tore her shirt open once, and then attacked her when she got out of the shower. If you can’t handle these kinds of scenes, then I wouldn’t recommend this anime to you. On the upside, the dipshit got little more than a kiss before she pounded his skull in.

But, onto the other characters, her groupie squad really weren’t that memorable. Yuu Takigawa and Michiru Kawamoto are basically the same character split into two bodies, and they were practically just wallpaper for the entire show. Mina Nakanotani, on the other hand, was at the forefront of the anime due to her huge crush on Maki. And I have to highly respect this show for actually having a female/female dynamic, even if Maki does little more than blush in return. I would complain that the romance between these two went nowhere, but I can’t complain much because this anime wasn’t about romance. That just leaves Renge Inui, who I now dub “That Character.” That one character who is only there for comedic effect, but only comes off as annoying. Honestly, there was only one time in one episode where I didn’t groan at her being on screen. She’s like the female version of Mineta from MHA, minus the sexual offender personality trait.

As for the other characters, they were pretty varied and really cool. I loved Kai and Kaori became tolerable after a while. The villains were all pretty cool right up until the final fight. But I’ll save that nonsense for the spoiler section.

To be completely honest, this anime annoyed me more than I enjoyed it. All but a few of the characters that took up 90 percent of the screen time were either easy to miss or outright annoying. The sexual assault scenes were set up to be comedic, I guess. And they weren’t, at all. And as Maki fights her way through the ranks of a fighting organization, their matchups make no sense. This is helped by the fighting characters being decent, but it doesn’t make up for it. And then out of nowhere, the anime went from pretty solid superhuman fighting feats to supernatural. It always annoys the shit out of me when an anime tries to be an “enhanced fighters who can jump higher and punch harder” show, and then spins a 180 with “I can now use chi and talk to spirits!” Don’t... do... that. You, yes you. Are you an anime writer or mangaka? Don’t fucking do that. Pick a theme and stick with it. And then there were the 30 second long black screens. These were crudely placed after the intro, between the break, and before the outro. I sat looking at my screen for a long while thinking that the damn thing had paused. An error in editing, I’m sure.

I do have to give the show props for where it shines though. The combat is awesome, the main character is the best, her opponents are usually really cool, the animation later in the show gets better, which leads to better fights, and the music is pretty on point as well. Honestly, at worst, I’d say the show makes decent white noise if you’re doing something else. Playing an MMO and need something on in the background? Put this on. Hopefully, you’ll miss the creepy near-rape scenes, and will be interested enough to look up when the combat starts.

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TLDR: It was an alright anime. Idiotic characters and the cringy assault scene aside, it was decent. If you’re looking to add to your collection and you love the older art style of anime, then I’d say give this one a shot. But only if you can handle the darker parts. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it again. Mina’s tits bouncing every other scene aren’t enough to draw me back in. But I would 100 percent have a Maki poster on my wall. Because she is the best thing that came from this series.

RatingsAnimation: 4/10Music: 6/10Story: 4/10Comedy: 7/10Overall Rating: 5/10

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SPOILER TALK: So, where the fuck did that ending come from? One episode prior, Maki was recovering from a beatdown she had received thanks to one of the ranking fighters in the organization, and the next, she’s fighting some kind of ancient god-avatar or some shit. This looks like a case of cutting the show off early. I don’t know about the manga, but this ending was terrible. We got no closure on where the hell Shinnosuke went, we didn’t figure out who the hell the guy running the organization was, and he barely explained why the hell he wanted this idiotic idol of fighting defeated. Nor do we figure out who the ghost girl is.

Like... the series wasn’t exactly known for its well written and intricate storyline. Most of it is the basic ass same plot from every teenage brawler anime. Girl fights a guy and wins, then fights another stronger person, then a team of people comes out of nowhere and she has to fight them, etc. It’s all pretty basic. But that ending was fucking confusing as hell. It was pretty bad writing if I’m honest.

I did like the interactions between Maki and Mina, however few there were. The author could have easily slowly transitioned them into at least a verbal confirmation of a relationship, which would have been adorable. The meekest character in the series dating the strongest is a formula that works. But like I said, I can’t complain too much given that it was a combat anime and not romance. I’ll just have to deal with it.

BEST GIRL: Maki Aikawa, hands down. There is no question who was the best girl in this anime. Though, that’s not to say there weren’t other good ones. I loved Kai Sanpagita, and were Maki not such a goddess, she would have easily been my favorite. Also, Miori, Maki’s little sister was actually awesome. Most little sisters in anime either just cheer on the main character, or make fun of them. This one does both and is a fighter herself. So yeah, many great characters, but Maki easily takes the crown.

BEST BRO: Shinnosuke Tokita. He and Lucha Master are probably the only salvageable males that make a regular appearance. All the others are either creepy molesters or just obnoxious. Tsukio was pretty cool until his entire ending fight had him farting with every punch. And Reiichi quit fighting halfway through the series, and basically just became a stalker for Mina. So yeah, didn’t have a lot of good options to choose from. That said, Shinnosuke was pretty awesome. At least, he was until he outright left later in the series to “train,” and never comes back. The fuck?