Air Master

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Air Master
エアマスター (Air Master)
Genre	Fighting, Seinen
Manga
Authored by	Yokusaru Shibata
Publisher	Hakusensha
Serialized in	Young Animal
Original run	31 July 1997 – 29 May 2006
No. of volumes	28
TV anime
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	Nippon Television
Original run	1 April 2003 – 12 June 2004
No. of episodes	27

Air Master (エアマスター, Ea Masutā^?) is a seinen manga (serialized in Hakusensha's Young Animal) created by Yokusaru Shibata and anime (27 episode TV series, complete) produced by Toei Animation about an ex-gymnast named Maki Aikawa turned streetfighter.^[1] The manga ended in 2006 after a 28 volume run.^[2]

Geneon signed an agreement with Toei to release the anime series on DVD in the United States and Canada, but as of August 2006, over one and a half years after they announced the deal, only four discs have been released and no further releases have been announced.

Its main character is a 16 year old redheaded schoolgirl who, rather than fitting the typical Anime martial artist mold popular with many otaku, is enormously tall and fairly muscular. In addition, the art style has been described as anything from charmingly rough to crude, resembling the more old school fighting manga style rather than similarly themed (but even more fanservice oriented) works Tenjho Tenge or Ikki Tousen

The series title comes from Maki's nickname as a street fighter, a reference to her acrobatic skills. Maki has climbed buildings, executed death-defying leaps, changed course in mid-air, and pulled off multiple aerial attacks.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Plot

The series begins as Maki meets, defends, and befriends a group of girls her own age. The next day, she is surprised to discover that most of the girls go to the same high school where she is just starting.

In most episodes, Maki somehow ends up fighting one of the local streetfighters. As time goes on, she and her friends find out more and more about the mysterious "Fukamichi Rankings", where fighters earn reputation and money, so many of them are trying to strive for the top. Eventually, Maki joins the tournament, for thrills, and fights ever-stronger opponents, while many of her previous opponents vainly try to match her progress, including some would-be suitors.

Another focus of the series is Maki's past; since Maki herself is reluctant to speak about it, details of her past as a famous gymnast and her relationship with her parents are revealed slowly through flashbacks and dreams.

[edit] Characters

Maki Aikawa (相川摩季 Aikawa Maki): Formerly a gymnast, who trained under her now deceased mother. Maki uses her acrobatic skills in her fighting style to increase her freedom of movement. Maki has the ability to replicate nearly any move she gets hit with or sees. Since her relationship with her father is conflicted, she lives alone. Maki seems to enjoy street fighting for the 'rush' rather than any sense of revenge or honor. When not fighting, Maki tends to stick out in a crowd due to her unusual height (6 feet, wich is very tall for a teen Japanese girl) and appearance, preferring to follow her quartet of friends quietly. Her younger sister comments that Maki is somewhat simple minded. Maki is reluctant to deal with several people obsessed with her. She becomes vulnerable to attack, for a moment, when she gets approached in any romantic way, especially with Julietta Sakamoto.

Mina Nakanotani (中ノ谷美奈 Nakanotani Mina): One of Maki's shier friends, she goes to a presumably rich, private school. Mina has ridiculously exaggerated breasts used normally as a source of humor rather than fanservice and she is extremely self conscious about it. In addition to this, Mina is hopelessly in love with Maki (who is not sure how to handle the matter), making this the main reason her friends make fun of her.

Yu Takigawa (滝川ユウ Takigawa Yū) and Michiru Kawamoto (川本みちる Kawamoto Michiru): Maki's two normal friends. They are usually sideline characters commenting on the weird events in the story.

Renge Inui (乾蓮華 Inui Renge): The group's extremely short friend. Renge has a penchant for eating obsessively yet she is always thin (sometimes when she eats a lot, she is shown to have a belly). Renge is the stereotypical overexcited kid, with a tendency to whine but she serves as a cheering squad. She later acquires a kitten that she carries with her most of the time.

Lucha Master (ルチャマスタ Rucha Masuta): Lucha Master is, as the name implies, a masterful wrestler, styled after Mexican Luchadores. He always wears a mask, and he is the first major challenge Maki faces. He is one of only three characters who can use a similar sort of aerial combat to Maki. He is the older brother of Sanpaguita Kai, another character with a similar fighting style.

Shinnosuke Tokita (時田伸之助 Tokita Shinnosuke): A guy who challenges Maki early on, but later temporarily joins the group. He seems to have a crush on Maki. He fights with a long staff that can separate into three parts connected with a chain. He seems to know the art of the Drunken Fist.

Kessaku (ケッサク Kessaku): A stray kitten Renge finds. Renge wins a ramen-eating contest in order to have money for its food. Kessaku might be translated as "masterpiece", though Renge randomly chose the name.

Tsukio Taketsugu (武月雄 Taketsugu Tsukio): Another early opponent. He has a furious punch(similar to a jack hammer), but is not as fast as some of the other street fighters. Maki often overlooks him, especially since, after his first appearance, Lucha Master quickly showed up, and this makes him furious. He did not qualify for the Fukamichi Rankings.

Reiichi Mishima (三島麗一 Mishima Reiichi): A sort of hanger-on to Tsukio Taketsugu, Reiichi is both a coward and a klutz. Though he could only fight well with a bike, using it like it's part of his own body, he's still only a moderately skilled street fighter.

Kaori Sakiyama (崎山香織 Sakiyama Kaori): A wanna-be future model (later a female wrestler) with an obsessive one-sided rivalry with Maki. She later becomes a moderately good fighter, and accomplishes things by sheer force of will and determination. She is loud and over dramatic, and during extended fights is essentially a Berserker powered by her own rage and she will not admit defeat unless violently knocked out. A running gag in the show is how most characters refer to her by her full name in a dramatic fashion, probably due to her tendency to do the same. When enraged her appearance has been compared to the Devilman. Due to a childhood "accident", she's deaf in her right ear.

Julietta Sakamoto (坂本 ジュリエッタ Sakamoto Jurietta): A scruffy but handsome ghost writer who becomes obsessed with Maki (romantically), while the latter is totally uninterested in him and finds his behavior very creepy. He is a smooth talker but prone to overly aggressive declarations of love, sometimes bordering on assault, towards Maki, who he calls "My Jenny". He tends to always kiss her and declare his love for her when they're together, even during their fights, throwing her off balance. This is usually done for comedic effect. He has three women who are head over heels for him: Uzumi Mika (a famous singer), Nono Rakuko (a famous model), and Nanjou Remon (a famous novelist). He ignores them all since he's fixed on marrying Maki or making her move in with him. Maki is physically capable of beating him down but she had a hard time with him at first. He can take a huge beating and still be able to fight. In a fight with another opponent he once had both his legs and one of his arms broken but he was still able to fight. Sakamoto usually only fights with extremely fast and devastating kicks. He usually leaves his hands in his pockets while fighting even though he has a powerful punch. It's said his strength is legendary on the street.

Shiro Saeki (佐伯 四郎 Saeki Shiro): Maki's estranged father. Maki was born when he was 15, which would make him around 31 years old. He's a four-time pro-fighting champion. He runs a dojo and raises Maki's half-sister, Miori. He gets beaten by Sakamoto but, they become friends later on.

Miori Saeki (佐伯 みおり Saeki Miori): Maki's somewhat bratty younger half-sister. Her martial-artist father is the same as Maki's, so she shares some of her older sister's fighting ability, but none of her gravity-defying gymnastic skill, which Maki evidently got from her mother. In her first appearance, she suddenly attacks Maki. She is about the same height as Renge, though she is younger. She decides to move in with Maki. She later idolizes Sanpaguita Kai.

Kitaeda Kinjirou: Leader of the League of Black-suited Gentlemen. He claims to hate women yet he likes Maki because he thinks she's different. He's a good fighter and has great punching power. He once took down a bear with one punch. He has a technique where he can create an afterimage of himself attacking so the opponent will be fooled into acting prematurely. He had his first kiss stolen by one of his male subordinates.

Sampaguita Kai: Though she is not initially involved in the street-fighting tournament Maki joins, Sampaguita Kai was one of her most difficult opponents. Using a similar fighting style to Maki, Kai faces her in a tag-team match during a women's wrestling tournament. She becomes obsessed, like a number of Maki's earlier opponents, with beating Maki. She's the younger sister of Lucha Master, who taught her how to fight ever since she was young.

Yashiki Shun: Tsukio's younger cousin. Originally 9th place in the Fukamichi Tournament but, after losing his rank to Kai, he decided to beat the 8th place holder. He's a ki manipulator. He has a technique where he uses his ki to create an osmotic punch, which strongly pressures the insides of an opponent's body resulting in a loss of a massive amount of liquid within their body, rendering them incapacitated. Since he uses his ki for this technique, he can only use it a certain amount of times until he rests to build up his ki again. He teaches this technique to Kaori Sakiyama.

Fukamichi: The man who runs the street fighting tournament, and who gave his name to the ranking system (Fukamichi Rankings). He decides who is qualified to be in the Tournament rankings. He watches the fights and have videos of them streamed to his laptop, which he then broadcasts all over the world on the internet. He does not participate in the fights but, he's been shown to be extremely strong and fast. He has a younger brother (Nobuhiko Fukamichi), who participates in the competition. He has a hobby of critiquing restaurants and posting the results on the internet.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) official site