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Air Gear (エア・ギア, Ea Gia?) is a shōnen manga and anime by the mangaka Oh! great.

Air Gear is about the lives of Minami Itsuki "Ikki" and his friends along with the latest in-universe trend, Air Trecks. The early parts of the story carry out the introduction of characters that eventually join Ikki, and as the story progresses, it focuses on their roles as Storm Riders and their quest to be on the top of the Trophaeum Tower. It won the 2006 Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.

Characters

Major Teams

Kogarasumaru (小烏丸)

Team Status: B class

Kogarasumaru (小烏丸) is an Air Treck team in the manga and anime Air Gear by Oh! great. It was formed by Minami Itsuki and his friends to further their favourite hobby of Air Treck.

Their team ranking in the world of AT increased at a very rapid pace, giving Kogarasumaru worldwide fame. Eventually, the elite team known as Genesis is placed under the command of Kogarasumaru. Ikki terminated this 'alliance' after the betrayal of the Sora brothers. Kogarasumaru is now determined to win the Gram Scale Tournament and dominate all other teams with their strength alone. The origin of the name of this team is a famous Japanese sword. Currently, Kogarasumaru has three Kings. They are currently ranked B-Class.

Itsuki Minami (南 樹, Minami Itsuki?) is the primary protagonist of the manga and anime Air Gear.

Profile

Voiced by: Kenta Kamakari (Japanese)
Chris Patton (English)

Nicknames: "Crow-kun", Crow, Babyface
Age: 13 at the start of the series
Gender: Male
Occupation: Student, Storm Rider
Title: The Storm King of the Hurricane Road
Known relatives: The Noyamano Sisters

Storm Rider Info.

Team: Kogarasumaru
Status: Storm King
Road: Hurricane Road

Character Outline & Personality

Known as Ikki by his friends, he lives with the Noyamano family which is composed of four sisters. His own parents are dead, but since his parents were good friends with the parents of the sisters, he lives with them. He is in his second year of junior high. Initially the leader of the youth gang the East Side Gunz, after the incident with a Storm Rider team called the Skull Saders, he gets very passionate about AT's and even sets up his own AT team, Kogarasumaru (小烏丸) with his friends.

Ikki is considered a very talented Storm Rider by his peers, and is known to practice heavily in Mt. Shinonome, a small mountain he has frequented since he was a child. His love for AT stems from his strong desire to fly, and is often always looking towards the sky. As said by Ringo Noyamano, he is "loved by the wind".

Ikki is often characterized as a crow. He is able to see the "Wing Road" and people often consider him to be the best candidate to become the next Sky King. To add to the above, Simca nicknames him "Crow-kun".

Ikki can be very perverted at times, and often stupid. But he often thinks things through when it the time is critical. If he is challenged he won't back down from it. He has a strong relationship with his adopted sisters and friends, and will stand to fight for them at any cost.

Kuu

"Kuu" is a crow that lives on Ikki's head. He is Ikki's alter ego. Kuu plays a minor, but humorous role such as jumping out of Ikki's head at the wrong occasion, and making cameos explaining certain situations (even though the other characters can't understand him). He is also used as a censor for the nudity in the anime adaptation.

History

When Ikki was little, he was taken in by the Noyamano family, and looked after. (Even Rika states he was a handful) Ikki always said that he was chasing rainbows, but never actually reaching them, trying to be sure no one else would have them. That's why he always swung his fists, so he could shine brighter then anyone else. Once, he climbed to the top of a giant tower with Ringo watching in terror from the ground. At the top while being rescued by helicopter, Ikki actually bit the arm of the soldier trying to rescue him. As Ikki fell he was rescued by a giant bird, which resembled a raven. Ever since that incident, everyone said he was a "child of the wind."

Character Introduction

The anime and manga of Air Gear offer different takes on Ikki's introduction to AT's.

Anime

Ikki is at home, apparently after being beaten up by someone using AT's(later revealed to be the Skull Sader's team leader). He watches the AT videos the sisters have, and idolizes a pink-haired girl(Simca) who is highly skilled in AT's that he watches from time to time. Eventually one night, he snuck in a room of the house that had "keep out" stickers all over it. He discovers that the sisters he lives with are in fact AT users themselves, seeing their emblem "Sleeping Forest" along the way. He takes a pair of AT's for himself and takes them for a test drive, eventually leading to a fight with the Skull Saders. With help from the Noyamano sisters, he defeats the Saders and his venture into the world of AT starts from there.

Manga

Ikki is introduced in roughly the same way, except this time, instead of finding the AT's, they are given to him. Right after being beat up by the Skull Saders, the Noyamano sisters surprise him from outside his window; they take him for a ride and lets him experience how it's like to "fly" with AT's. He then wakes up the next morning; he initially thought it was a dream, until finding a bag with AT's in them. He then battles the Saders, inflitrating their turf; with Sleeping Forest's help, they manage to defeat the Saders.

Synopsis

After his almost impossible victories against many superior classed opponents, many see Ikki as the tentative successor to the title of Wind King.

He is able to see the "Wing Road" and is prophesied by Simca to be the Sky King. So strong is her belief in his destiny that she places all of Genesis under his command. This gives Ikki command of over 375 high level AT users as well as five of the eight 'Kings'. However, this also puts him in direct conflict with Sleeping Forest, which is led by Ringo.

Ikki was hospitalized for some time supposedly due to an injury received during the Devil's Thirty Thirty challenge against Yoshitsune, but in reality Ikki's leg had already been healed and it was just a ploy so that he could be protected and trained within the safety of the hospital. But because of the multiple attempts at the Devils Thirty Thirty he now holds the record after he flew 35.09m, breaking Takeuchi Sora's record in the Devil's Thirty Thirty of 34.2m. During his stay at the hospital he spent most of his time training with Sora. His training mostly consisted of perverted games such as counting panties while running on his hands. As silly as they seemed they were actually to help Ikki's body become more suitable for the wind regalia, Bagrahm. Sora even taught Ikki how to project the wind and how to control it as a potent weapon.

The results of training were shown when Ikki fought Ringo. When Ikki fought her with the new bagram cores, his power was boosted so high he actually broke the cores (Which later turned out to be fakes).

After the battle with Ringo (which is considered a draw), Ikki and Agito leave the Noyamano house, and finds themselves invited to stay inside the Tool Tou Too headquarters where they meet Rune, 2nd in Command of Tool Tou Too. During their stay there, Hako, who had stolen Kururu's Bagram prototype, visits Ikki and offers to be his tuner. Shortly after she is rejected, Rune takes back the True Bagram cores, which Hako stole. As soon as he takes it, he has his hand cut off by a stranger, who breaks through the fortified glass of the headquarters window. The stranger easily handles Rune and Agito, before running off with both the wind regalia core and Hako.

After this, Ine and Rune reveal that Trophaeum Tower is actually inside the Tool Tou Too base, and they take an elevator inside the Tower, despite hesitation on Agito's part. Agito soon realizes its a trap by Ine, and he and Ikki meet Kilik and the other Sleeping Forest Members. The Trophaeum Tower is actually not a tower at all, but a large geothermal mine shaft (with the "top" of the tower actually being the bottom of the shaft. The entrance is hidden by the large clock tower that Tool Tou Too uses as their base.) Once inside Ikki is set up against the Sleeping Forest team, being revealed to be all Gravity Children (denoted by the cross-shaped marks on their pupils). Ikki learns the reason behind Sleeping Forest's control of the AT world is that they feel the regalia are too destructive to be let loose on the world. Meanwhile, Nike who had stolen the rebuilt cores, delivers them to Sora who installs them on his newly acquired bionetic legs. Sora's power and control with the cores is enough to allow him to destroy a helicopter. Sano and Spitfire attempt to stop the two twins until Sora teams up with Nike. The two then promptly kill Sano and Spitfire, igniting a betrayal that would shake the AT world.

The news of Sora's betrayal hits Ikki hard and he decides to quit AT. Kururu Sumeragi tries to comfort him but even she can't stop his shredded heart. Feeling as if he'll never "fly" again Ikki accidentally rode a bike off the road while racing with Kururu Sumeragi only to be saved by Kazu who had been training with Spitfire's regalia since Sora's betrayal. He saves Ikki and reveals that Spitfire had left a message to everyone before he died. Ikki & Kazu call everyone they know, ex-members of Behemoth and every team they beat to come and watch the video.

During the video, Spitfire calls Ikki out, asking him if his wings are broken, and then explains to him the way that Genesis had been running up until the Behemoth match. Spitfire explains that over time, Simca, and himself became disillusioned by Sora's "dream" and forgot why they had even started riding. When Ikki rode Agito's fang to jump start the Wing Road, he was able to bring back the feeling that had been missing. It was then that Spitfire began going behind the Sora Brother's backs when it came to matters concerning his involvement with Genesis.

In response, Ikki asks everyone he's faced over the start of his A-T career, minus the Skull Saders, who were all in attendance, to give him a wake up call. Spitfire's message concludes by asking Ikki if his wings are truly broken.

With Ikki's return to A-T, the old man, one of two who run the portable Glam Slum A-T shop (and principal of Ikki's school), deemed the Wing Road too constricting for Ikki. Bestowing a new title and a road more appropriate for Ikki, the Storm King of the Hurricane Road.

After the wake up call, Ikki started training under the supervision of Spitfire's video record; during the Spitfire's special training Kururu was kidnapped. Ikki fearing that she was taken by Sora went berserk and destroyed the car in which Kururu was, when he was about to punch the driver Kururu stops Ikki and tells him that that man is her father. After apologizing for destroying the car Ikki and friends find that Kururu's father is the leader of White Wolf Clan and that the team was created in order to save a company from bankruptcy.

Currently Kogarasumaru is battling against White Wolf Clan. They have changed their strategy from trying to score points to trying to inflict as much damage as possible to the White Wolf Clan, which was all a hoax by Kogarasumaru. Instead, they have switched to continuous waves of teamwork, and were making a huge comeback against the White Wolf Clan, but Kururu and members of Tool Toul To have arrived to help.

During the beginning of the third set, White Wolf Clan started a counter attack thanks to the upgrades they received from Tool Toul To. While fighting, Ikki realized that in order to fight properly he needs the Storm Regalia and asks Kururu to help him create his regalia. Kogarasumaru lost the match, but apparently they needed to lose in order to realize their true potential. After the match Ikki and co. tried to escape from signing the contract, but Kururu's dad decided that his team was going to retire and destroyed the contract.

Signature Moves

* Wheel Spin Drop

Ikki accelerates his AT while standing in a stationary position and uses the rip start as momentum to attack his opponent with a high speed dropkick to the face.

* Ikki 1800 Wall Ride

This technique is basically Ikki's version of Buccha's Overbank 1800. Ikki puts his own style to the move by alternating skating backwards while traveling up the wall at a wider arc.

* Upper Soul 23 Roll

A move combining the momentum from a wall jump and executing a "Soul Grind" on any vertical rail surface nearby, Ikki uses so much forward momentum that he literally corkscrews up the entire rail. He uses this move on the school flagpole during the challenge against Buccha. Considered a S class move by Spitfire.

* Moon Rider

A move in which the rider jumps at full strength and applies power to his rotational axis shifting his center of gravity back allowing the rider to jump farther than normal. Ikki used this move in the battle with Sable Tiger leader Natsumi Iriya.

* Twin-Cam

A double team move used by Ikki and Agito. Ikki executes a 360 degree spin while holding Agito and then Agito executes a flying hook kick using the force from the spin.

Akito Wanijima (鰐島 亜紀人 Wanijima Akito) is a fictional character in the manga Air Gear. He has another personality named "Agito".

Profile
Voiced by Kokoro Kikuchi (Japanese)
Blake Shepard (English)

Aliases: Agito (Dark Half)
Age: 14
Gender: Male

Storm Rider Info.
Team: Kogarasumaru
Status: Fang King
Road: Fang Road

History

Not much is known about Akito's history, except he was the original King of the Fang Road. He enjoyed riding Air Trecks for fun, but realized his older brother, Kaito, was only using him for violent purposes to further the Wind SWAT team's agenda. After his realization, Kaito began forcing Akito to do his bidding by taking away his freedom. In desperation, Akito created a violent alter-ego named Agito to ride for him and take his place in the Wind SWAT team. Since Agito took over for him, Akito has become mediocre at riding Air Trecks.

Character & Personality

Character Notes

When Oh!great first designed Akito, he was asked various things about the character, including the colour of his hair. He finally said after a fan contest on who their favorite character was, that Akito was 4"7, weighs 86lbs, his blood type AB, and his hair color was deep blue. However, the anime gives a slight tone, making it look navy.

Akito Wanijima (鰐島 亜紀人)

Akito is an innocent, cute and cheerful boy who has a split-personality. Akito tends to use honorfics on most people, but not everyone. When the eye patch is covering his right eye, he is in dominance of the body. He also seems to have a homosexual attraction to Ikki, such as when he kissed Ikki while in the air and his constant attempts to join Ikki in the bath.

Ikki eventually shows him the meaning of freedom by telling him the story of a frog that yearned for the sky. Moved by this, Akito kisses Ikki and develops a crush on him. Ikki 'rescues' Akito, and even though reluctant at first, lets him stay at his house. Akito now lives with Ikki and the Noyamano sisters, and attends Higashi Junior High School., He then becomes one of the five founding members of Kogarasumaru., He apparently likes to cross-dress, to the chagrin of Agito. Because Agito is the Fang King, and possesses the fang regalia, Agito also happens to have his own personal tuner - who he happens to point out to be Akito. In later chapters, it has been shown that even Akito has a dark side of his own, becoming jealous to the point of scaring Kururu when she gets too close to Ikki.

Agito Wanijima (鰐島 咢)

Agito is Akito's 'dark' half. When the eye patch is covering the left eye, he is in dominance of the body. Because of his violent and bloodthirsty behavior, he is often characterized as a shark. He tends to swear a lot, and not even adding honorfics to any of the people he meets. He uses the four hooks dangling from the straps on his legs to battle and tear people apart., After Akito is 'rescued' by Ikki, Agito becomes an unwilling member of Kogarasumaru. Agito is an A-class A-T user and also the current Fang King, making him one of the most valuable members (and powerhouses) of Kogarasumaru.,

Out of the group (of Kogarasumaru), Agito has the most knowledge about the world of Air Treck in general. Even though he has a rude and arrogant attitude towards his teammates, he respects them as comrades, but still keeps up his uncaring behavior. He cares deeply for Akito and his only desire is to protect him. It should also be noted that, if the eye patch is taken off, Agito is still in control, but gains much more power with the help of Akito. Because of this, he is able to unleash a "Leviathan" fang without a regalia. He is currently the Fang King of the Bloody Road.

Synopsis

Before Joining "Kogarasumaru"

Before this "Fang King" had joined Itsuki's team, he worked with "Wind", a force devised to capture stormriders in illegal criminal activity. Along with Akira Udou, they were the trump cards of the force. However, the unstoppable duo slowly dispatched due to a series of unfortunate events that involved a certain mission when Akira had accidentally shot a young girl's brother whose motives were misunderstood
until cleared. Strucken by guilt and an innocent interest, Agito's friend was swept away by Ren's (the young girl) delicate personality.

Soon, it is seen that Ren had a motive into getting close with Akira - she wanted the "Fang" from Agito. The result of this was a clash between the two comrades, a fight for the regalia. In the end, only one victor had merged from this - it was Akira. While Akira had gained strength, he lost his only friend and seemingly disappeared with Ren, creating a team called "Behemoth". Agito, who in the past, seemed to have a small freedom while working with Akira, had his liberty taken away by Kaito, Akito's older brother.

With Agito's strength in his hands, Kaito began to mis-use that power, going into greater depths to capture innocent stormriders who have been lured into traps set by the "WIND" G-men. In an event in which he gets to meet Itsuki, Gonzo of the Bulls, a target of the scheme, calls Akito, or Agito, by that fact, a "traitor to all stormriders".

"Behemoth" Arc

Devising a flawless plan, Agito strategizes to make an effort to get his rightful position as the "Fang King" back - however, his "flawless" plan goes to waste when his comrades of Team Kogarasumaru suddenly decided to make their way into the challenge. Getting ready for the preparation of the battle, Agito took charge, seeing that he knew most of what they were going to be up against. After ten days of his hardcore training, Kogarasumaru met Behemoth at their field - the Under Colosseum, a place where Agito had once ruled.

As the previous "Fang King" stepped up into the cube where Akira (the "Fang King") had lingered, he makes a remark about how Akira had changed in the past years. Moments later, the two former colleagues soon fight. Agito expected himself to disappear after this fight, and considered the fight as a present to his other half, Akito. It is shown in this challenge, that Agito exceptionally cares and protects Akito from everyone, used to seeing everyone around them as an "enemy" before he had met "the sky".

In the middle of the battle, Itsuki interrupts by jointing their cubes together. Agito's reaction to this event was wordless, but surrendered to the idea with Ikki as "help". Here, it is uncovered that Akito is the true Fang King, not Agito.

With limited strength, the ex-King asks Akito for more needed power; and by this, Agito pulls away the eye-patch and released a Leviathan Fang - a move without a regalia, which was unbelievable to Spitfire, who was at watch with Simca. Agito knew well that Akira powered the "Fang" regalia further than what he was capable of, and pridefully admitted himself of losing after Akira had unleashed two fangs against his fang. Just before Agito was about to be strucken by Akira's fang, he was carried away by Itsuki, who escaped the blast by riding on Agito's fang.

In the end of the battle, Team Kogarasumaru rose up to the challenge as victorious with three wins (i.e. Onigiri, Ikki, & Akito/Agito) and two losses (i.e. Buccha & Kazu). What they have gained was the "Fang" regalia, placing Agito back up as the "Fang King of the Bloody Road". Yet, it wasn't completely over as members of the Behemoth became outraged by their loss and began to attack. This move was soon covered by the "WIND" G-men who came rushing in thanks to the request of Agito before the A-T battle proposal.

Current Arc
(unknown)

Signature Moves

* Bloody Roll Soul 1800

A brutal move that twists the opponent's body as Agito "rolls" the opponent from all sides (tearing the enemies' clothes and cutting flesh); once the attack finishes, a spray of blood will be noticeably seen pouring out from the enemy in a spiral-pattern (almost like a bloody road).

* Twin-Cam

A double team move used by Ikki and Agito. Ikki executes a 360 degree spin while holding Agito and then Agito executes a flying hook kick using the force from the spin.

* Bloody Fang "Leviathan"

A powerful gust of fang created when both Akito and Agito's powers were combined with no regalia in use (seen in Volume 9 of Air Gear).

Emily Adachi

* Voiced by: Shouko Ishii (Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (English)

Along with Nakama Yayoi, Emily Adachi (安達 絵美理, Adachi Emiri?) is part of the track team and used to look down on Ikki and his friends. However, after the incident between Ikki and Buccha, she has come to admire them. She and Yayoi are also the first to admonish them whenever they come up with something stupid (which is rather often). She has a big crush on Kazu.In some of her dreams she dreamed she married Kazu and have two babies,she even once dreamed having sex with Kazu.

She eventually joins the Kogarasumaru and acts as back-up. Even though her Air Trek skills aren't all that great, she seems to at times be able to summon up super strength and endurance, like taking hits from powerful storm riders brushing the hits off easily to her super powerful kicks and wrestling moves, through her pure strength of will and "The Power of Love". Currently she is an official member of Kogarasumaru, during the fight with White Wolf Clan she replaced Buccha after he was beaten by an old man with a cybernetic armor that apparently seems to be one of their company's AT products that they had developed. While fighting Emily and the others decided to win by beating the other team to a pulp. Currently she doesn't have a Road. It will possibly be a "love road".

Yayoi Nakayama

* Voiced by: Rieko Yoshimoto (Japanese), Stephanie Wittels (English)

Emily's friend and part of the track team, Yayoi Nakayama (中山 弥生, Nakayama Yayoi?), used to look down on Ikki and his team, but now is a big fan. Nakayama has the ability to communicate with Ikki's crow and to tell the exact time, down to a second - a trait that is shared among prospective tuners of Tool Toul To. She has also shown some feelings for Ikki.

Nobunaga

Nobunaga (, Nobunaga?) acted as a temporary substitute during Kogarasumaru's rise to B class to enter the Gram Scale. A fan of Kogarasumaru and Ikki since it's Parts War with Team Behemoth, and is also a freshman at Ikki's school. Acted as a temporary member of Kogarasumaru despite never riding AT's before and only buying a pair right before his first Parts War, he only participated in one Parts War (which he lost) and only acted as a place holder on the team while Ikki and Agito were still recovering in the hospital.

The Noyamano Family/Sleeping Forest (眠りの森)

Team Status: A Class

Sleeping Forest was created by Takeuchi Sora in order to collect the eight Kings and prepare for the appearance of the Sky King; unfortunately, they were betrayed by Kilik who defeated the Kings and stole the Wind Regalia from Sora. Right now the current Sleeping Forest team is led by Ringo, the Thorn Queen, and it is rumored that it still is composed of eight Kings. However, Ringo's leader status is mainly due to her unique ability to fight unhindered inside the Tower where the air pressure becomes abnormally high. The person who is actually commanding team is Kilik, who destroyed the original Sleeping Forest and rebuilt the new one in his own 'image'. Kilik's goal is to prevent anyone from obtaining the Sky Regalia. They truly are a force to be reckoned with as illustrated by the poem that describes them:

“ All the trees entwine their arms and stretch towards the sky...Gathering the leaves, it devours the light...The darkness of the forest deepens...The hunter does not see the beasts that are hiding in the dark places revealing their fangs...Tonight, the hunter will be hunted...This is the Sleeping Forest..."

Current Team Members

Ringo Noyamano

* Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)

Ringo Noyamano (野山野 林檎, Noyamano Ringo?) looks like your everyday junior high school girl. However, she is actually the successor of the legendary Storm Riders team, Sleeping Forest . She is also the current Thorn King(Queen) of the eight 'Kings' in the AT world. Ringo is in love with Ikki but does not dare to tell him. She helps Kogarasumaru in times of trouble under the guise of Crossiant Mask (Croissiant Kamen). Ringo is a King Class AT user, wielding the techniques of Sonia Road; meaning that she has superhuman agility at the price of suffering every blow she deals to her opponent.

She is determined to show Ikki the "fear" of flying through the air because she doesn't want to see him suffer the same fate the last 'Wind King' did. To this end she was willing to bar his way, even going so far as to brutally attack him using her 'Thorn Regalia'. She completely out-classes Ikki due to her superior experience (specifically, that each of her moves wastes and requires much less energy than Ikki's do) during the race and in the earlier stages of the battle. However, Kururu Sumeragi saves the latter with a mid-air installation of the Bagram prototype cores. Ikki then becomes more than a match for Ringo. The fight then ends in a draw when Ringo surprisingly collapses a few feet from the finish line. She is then carried back home. After that battle Ikki leaves the Noyamano residence, but not before Ringo finally reveals her feelings for Ikki and kisses him goodbye. Later in the Tower of Tropheum, Killik reveals the true purpose of Ringo as leader of Sleeping Forest. Due to the final battle for the Sky King takes place where not only the air is incredibly dense, and the atmosphere is giving off the feeling of crushing you, Ringo is completely immune to it. Thus making her the perfect warrior to protect the Sky Regalia.

Ringo is often depicted to be a warrior in an armor, with a shield and blade, and a pair of wings made out of blades. At this point in her introduction, she is usually in the middle of a forest with dead bodies sprawled around her. Her introduction stays the same throughout the manga: "The Fruit of the Forbidden Forest Which Lures One into a Deep Slumber... Crazy Apple." (A play on her name since "Ringo" means Apple in Japanese.)

Ringo (along with Mikan and Ume) are not biological sisters of Rika. It was revealed in Chapter 154 by Kilik. A year or so after the creation of the original Sleeping Forest, it was revealed by Kilik that three unknown "gravity children" are staying with Rika, implying that the research for Air Treck is still going on somewhere else. In chapter 174, Ringo is seen watching Kogarasumaru training for their B-Class match against White Wolf clan, then she sees Hako talking to a mysterious girl that was seen with the Sora brothers on chapter 163.

Mikan Noyamano

* Voiced by: Seika Hosokawa (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)

Mikan Noyamano (野山野 蜜柑, Noyamano Mikan?) is the second eldest of the Noyamano sisters. A tomboyish girl with short messy hair, she's the disciplinarian of the group and is the one who usually punishes Ikki for his misdeeds. She also seems to enjoy teasing Ringo about her 'marital problems' with Ikki (especially later on when Akito/Agito moves in with them). She has a soft spot for retro games, something which Simca uses to initially gain her favor. Later on however, she confronts Simca on the issue of who's side Simca is really on. Like Ringo and the rest of the Sleeping Forest team, she was revealed to be a Gravity Child.

Shiraume Noyamano

* Voiced by: Yukika Hanioka (Japanese), Hillary Haag (English)

Shiraume Noyamano (野山野 白梅, Noyamano Shiraume?), known as Ume to her family, the youngest of the sisters. Her hobby is the creation of puppets (which creeps out Ringo and Ikki to no end), and she's always seen carrying one with her. Other than that she's also quite handy with machines despite her age. She's the one who introduces Kogarasumaru to Kei Machida, the pro emblem designer who designs their team logo. She is supposedly the weakest member of Sleeping Forest in terms of AT fighting skills. She is also sometimes sarcastic. Her latest appearance involves her revealing herself as a Gravity Child. She is able to successfully attack Ikki, something she could never achieve in normal gravity (although only in a rather comical fashion), due to both his underestimating her and his inability to adjust to the gravity-less area they were in.

Gabishi (蛾媚刺, Gabishi?) is the current Horn King and is a rider for Sleeping forest that has a penchant for removing the faces of his victims using his AT's "Hatch-Venom." He has a similar technique to the Fang King's "Wind Fangs", but instead of directing the force in a wave he kicks it forward, pushing the heat resulting from his sudden stop into an "Air Cannon". Defeated Nue, Genesis's Thunder King (though Nue claims it was because he wasn't "in-tune" with his regalia), and Sano Yasuyoshi. Gabishi would have taken Sano Yasuyoshi's face, too, if not for Adachi Emily and for Nue's quick recovery. Finally defeated after Nue used his "Get Together, Maximum Atmosphere." Often depicted by a man-like grasshopper with rather large cannons for arms.

Though captured by Genesis, where he was given various amounts and kinds of torture, he was released with Om after her loss. Rather than being killed, Killik spared them from death. He is shown in the Tropheum with the rest of Sleeping Forest.

Om (王蟲, Ōmu?) is the current Water King. At first sight, she was confused for a deformed dwarf. Om has the unique ability to saturate air into water with her AT's using her Lather Road. She uses this ability to pull off an attack called 'Bubblegum Crisis' (possibly a reference to the anime of the same name), which she uses to cripple Simca and force her to use a wheelchair. Om was defeated by Benkei in a Class C "air" battle when Benkei discovered the major weakness of Om's regalia. It can only attack from the rear which why Om constantly had her butt facing Beneki and co. Om, apparently, also has a big sweet tooth; she often sucks on multiple lollipops at the same time. Interestingly her design seem based off of Chun-Li from the Street Fighter Alpha series.

Though she tried to commit suicide during the battle with Benkei, she was saved by an "awakened" Kazu who was able to catch after activating the Flame Road in order to reach her. She was later taken by Genesis, though it appears she wasn't tortured at all, only returned to Killik.

Kilik (キリク, Kiriku?) is the former Gem King of the first Sleeping Forest and currently one of the main antagonists, though he is sided against the other two as well. He used to be good friends with Takeuchi Sora and had a crush on Noyamano Rika. He is one of the gravity children of the first Sleeping Forest, along with Sora and his twin sister Simca. Due to different ideals, he injured his team mates and crippled Sora, going as far as to sacrifice his own Regalia in order to strip Sora from his, so he could rebuild a new Sleeping Forest that holds the same ideals as him. Although he is revealed to be a very competitive fighter, said to be the strongest of the original 8 Kings fo Sleeping Forest and proving able to overpower Sora at that time, he seems to take a back seat on fighting, rather to manipulate others to put himself at the forefront. He had Ikki brought to the Tropheum in order to gauge his strength as Wind King. By using a hundred point deduction system, he was both impressed and depressed by Ikki's actions.

Unfortunately, mid-test Takeuchi Sora called them, revealing himself as fully capable of A-T again. A discussion was brought forward when Kilik questioned him about the "New Wind King Development Program" Genesis was running with Ikki as the subject. Sora laughed it off saying that a wind as good as this, referring to the Regalia, was way too good for a kid like him, referring to Ikki. It was then that Kilik questioned him after stating that the regalia Kururu had built was superior to Sora's one and that Ikki was becoming too powerful. At that, Sora stood silent, continuing to ignore Ikki's cries for explanation. He reappears during the match between Kogarasumaru and White Wolf Clan talking to Hangedman, He explain the fact that Ikki is starting to "awake" his true riding and that his team has alot of potential, but they don't know it.

Former Team Members

Sora Takeuchi (武内 空, Takeuchi Sora?) is a fictional character in the manga Air Gear

Profile
Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese)
Vic Mignogna (English)

Age: Unknown
Known relatives: Nike/Sora (twin brother)

Rider Stats
Team: Sleeping Forest
Status: Wind King (Former Leader of the Sleeping Forest)
Road: Wing Road

Character Outline

Sora is seen as an easy-going friendly person, but this attitude changes later on to a more serious person. He is seen mainly in a wheelchair. In the original series, he speaks with a kansai-ben dialect. He is old friends with Rika and the rest of Sleeping Forest. Much like Ikki, he can be very perverted and earns beatings from Rika for it. He has three dogs, Stone, Cold, and Stunner, in reference to former professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin's signature move, the Stone Cold Stunner.

History

Six years prior to the Air Gear storyline, he was betrayed by his teammate Kilik and lost the core to the Wind Regalia as well the use of his legs. But despite the loss of the use of his legs, he still possesses the same free spirit that seems to run in the Wind Kings. Despite not being able to use Air Trek anymore, he is still pretty capable being able to be keep up with even experienced AT riders with his wheelchair that has AT wheels in it. During his time as leader of Sleeping Forest, he was romantically involved with Rika, but they broke up after Kilik's betrayal. Lately however, it seems that they are getting closer to each other once again.

Synopsis

Rika first goes to see Sora when she wants to talk about Ikki's involvements in Air Trecks. While Sora is pleased with the idea, Rika is against it, saying that what happened to Sora shouldn't happen to Ikki also. Sora then participates in a bet set by Ikki that if Rika loses, she'll leave Ikki alone. During this, Sora's skills are shown are off, mostly his speed and reaction. Upon Ikki winning, Sora then decides to help train Ikki.In the middle of the fight Sora and Ikki talk about Rika's butt.

True Motives

Later in the story, the Wind Regalia, Bagram, was stolen by an unknown and very powerful rider. As the situation unfolds, the identity of the rider was revealed to be Genesis' greatest Rider and Sora's twin brother, Nike. It turns out that Nike had been working for his brother Sora all along, and that Sora was the one who sent Nike to steal Bagram for him. The two confront Spitfire, with Sora objecting to his intentions of making Kazu the next Flame King. A battle soon erupts between Spitfire and Nike, with Kazu's life on the line. During the course of the battle, Sora, who miraculously is now able to walk again, reveals the mystery behind the feat; AT-tuned biomechatronics legs. Equipped with Bagram, Sora shows his prowess by blasting a neighboring helicopter clean out of the sky and onto Spitfire. Thanks to Aeon Clock, Spitfire survived the explosion, and the battle with Nike continued with Spitfire and Aeon Clock taking the upper hand with their "Burning Blood" tag-team and use of the Apollo Road, a unique "Road" to Aeon Clock's time stopping powers and the Flame Road.

Fighting Spitfire

Sora would then step in to assist his brother, and the astounding teamwork of the Takeuchi Brothers quickly overwhelm the Burning Blood duo, spurring Kazu to join in for a 3-on-2 assault. But while Aeon Clock provided a distraction, Spitfire whisked Kazu to safety and swapped ATs, leaving him with the Flame Regalia. Spitfire returned to the battlefield and told Sora that he was merely a Flame Seedling, meant to ignite another's flame. It is soon after that, that Aeon Clock was no longer able to stop them with the Apollo Road and they were pierced by hundreds of rock fragments, a move caused by the power of both the Jade Road and the Wind Road via Sora and Nike, and die from their wounds.

After decimating Aeon Clock and Spitfire, Sora approaches the corpses and takes the remains of Spitfire's hand into his own. His brother asks him not to, in order to keep from being contaminated by Spitfire's remains, an act showing that Nike has no respect for the fallen King. Sora commands him to shut up. He then explains that while they were being processed as children, this point revealing a crucial point in the Gravity Children development program, that all the children not meeting expectations were to be terminated. Sora, Nike-Sora, Spitfire, as well as the other Kings of the original Sleeping Forest, minus Rika (who is not a Gravity Child), Kilik, (who was considered the best of all the children) and Ine, (whose father led the Gravity Children Program and is not a Gravity Child herself) were on the list. The only reason they were saved was because Kilik pleaded on their behalf.

Thinking back on Spitfire's last words, Sora takes off his hat and sniffs it. Remarking that it smells burnt, he thinks about how Spitfire's flames were only able to burn his hat. Using the smell as an excuse, Sora tosses his prized cap off the building in memory of his fallen friend, commenting that he would plant his seed to ignite the world's destruction.

Skills and Abilities

Sora has special AT wheels built into his wheelchair that allow him to move as fast and react as standard Stormriders. However, this is proven just a cover-up, when later he reveals he had AT-tuned biomechatronics legs. A-Class King level user also carrying the Wind Regalia, his skill with the Regalia, even when its untuned to him even though gravity children don't need tuning, shows his power over the wind and expertise with Bagram that clearly surpass Ikki's. The reason Sora even had Nike steal Bagram in the first place was because he was scared that even Ikki would surpass him if he had the Bagram. When confronted about his choice, Sora claims that he had been using Ikki to draw attention away from him while he recovered form Kilik's attack. But after finding out that Kururu's Bagram had the ability to exceed any other in the past by far, he dismissed Ikki's place as the next Wind King and had Nike steal the improved Bagram. Its through Sora that another form of the Wind Regalia is shown. This one seems more fit for complete destruction and devastation than pure unstoppable speed, as seen via Ikki's use.

Rika Noyamano

Voiced by: Naoko Matsui (Japanese), Christine Auten (English)

Rika Noyamano (野山野 梨花, Noyamano Rika?) is the eldest of the Noyamano sisters, was given responsibility of taking care of Ikki when she was only eight. She acts like the typical older sister and takes care of the family. To support the family, she works as Destler Bartlett, a female pro-wrestler and for most of the early part of the story, during the time when Ikki discovers AT, she's out on a national tour with her wrestling promotion. Later on it is revealed that she used to be Sleeping Forest's Thorn Queen and follower of the Thorn Road (also called the "Sonia Road"). This road utilizes her hip joints as the base of her moves (which are composed of a wide array of kicks that mimic the motions of a thorn whip), however the disadvantage of this road is that this takes quite a toll on her body making her tire easily. Some time ago, she decided to quit AT for good due to the accident that left her boyfriend Sora (then leader of Sleeping Forest) unable to use his legs. She's very much aware of Ikki's talent and fears that Ikki may suffer the same fate as Sora so she tries her best to make him quit AT to the point of challenging him. In the end however, Ikki beats her and she decides instead to help with his training.

Genesis(創世神)

Team Status: A-Class

Apparently founded and led by Simca of the Swallow (but in reality by Nike), it is a conglomeration of numerous teams that have united under one banner, resulting in what is known to be the largest, and most powerful Storm Rider team in history. It is presently led by the Takeuchi brothers, although Itsuki "Ikki" Minami was earlier offered its leadership.

The Headquarters of Genesis (called "Big Bird") is an abandoned football field, with half the spectators stands and roof resembling wings.

Simca

* Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)

Simca (シムカ, Shimuka?), also known as Simca the Swallow (燕シムカ Tsubame no Shimuka), or the "Migratory Bird". When first introduced in the manga, she works at a store called Mamurasaki Sports. Although part time, she quits later on to dedicate time to her team. This fact is not mentioned in the anime. Simca's intent is to gather all the Kings, and their Regalia, for the purpose of conquering the Trophaeum tower, and acquiring the Sky Regalia. She's taken great interest in Ikki, whom she believes is destined to one day become the legendary Sky King, and who has practically idolized her since watching her ride AT through his neighborhood. Despite protests, she convinces Ikki to take Genesis under his leadership after Kogarasumaru's triumph over Behemoth, and her interactions with Ikki eventually draws the ire of the new Sleeping Forest team, led by Ringo. She also appears to have a somewhat, though not potentially serious, romantic interest in Ikki,and is not afraid to strip of her clothes in front of him, and offer to scrub his back in the bath,let him sleep with his face in her bosom and also let him fondle her breasts. Though Ikki has no objections, and appears to have a small crush on Simca, it is Ringo who always stops Simca from getting out of hand. These actions are not so persistent, and after the defeat of Behemoth, her character takes a dramatic change.

It is later revealed that Simca, under Makigami Ine's wing, was one of the founding members of Tool Toul To when the original Sleeping Forest was still around; and apparently held an exceptional amount of talent as a Tuner. She witnessed the aftermath of Takeuchi Sora, the original Wind King and candidate for the Sky King title, being betrayed by Kilik, the former Gem King, and her twin brother. She is currently bound to a wheelchair due to injuries sustained from Om's "Bubblegum Crisis" attack. But that is proven to be only temporary, as revealed by Ringo, just long enough to keep Simca out of harm's way. In the extras of Air Gear Volume 3, the author shows that Simca had a much different character design which consisted of a tank top, long arm gloves and pants and different shaped goggles, before her final image.

Spitfire

* Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese), Jay Hickman (English)

Spitfire (スピット・ファイア, Supitto Faia?) is the Flame King, and one of the last two members of the original Sleeping Forest still holding their titles. He is first seen in the series overlooking Ikki and Buccha's hurdle race through the school (After being told about Ikki by Simca). He claimed that Ikki, being only an 'F' class rider, would only have a 1% chance of defeating Buccha, and was surprised by the result. In the anime, he is introduced in the first episode after watching the leader of the Skullsaders challenge Ikki to a battle. He is in control of three teams with 41, 68, and 86 members, and is a highly sought hair stylist in everyday life. His speed creates the illusion of flames due to the heat caused by the friction of his wheels on the ground. In recent chapters, he engaged Sora in a AT battle. During the fight, Sano joins in and saves Spitfire and the two challenge Nike. It is revealed that Spitfire is also able to stop time, similar to how Sano is able to, claiming that while Nike is the strongest of Genesis, he cannot break the flames of time. The fight drags on, and Spitfire comes to a conclusion that they cannot win. By his request, Sano then gives Spitfire enough time to grab Kazu and flee, forcefully giving Kazu the Flame Regalia. Shortly after returning to the battle, the two - Sano and Spitfire - are killed by Sora and Nike. Before his death, Spifire had foreseen this outcome and left a video explaining true intentions of Genesis and how, after watching the fight between Kogarasumaru and Behemoth, he, Spitfire, had been reminded that what he really wanted to do was fly freely in the sky. Spitfire had also predicted that Ikki would "lose his wings" due to Sora's betrayal and part of the reason for the video was to bring Ikki back to the AT world, at the end of the message Spitfire showed mild concern that his plan might not work.

Despite his death, Spitfire still helps out Kogarasumaru via the video he left to help train them for the Gram Scale tournament.

In the English dub, he has a cockney accent.

Nue

* Voiced by: Miyu Irino (Japanese), Kyle Jones (English)

Nue (鵺, Nue?) is the Thunder King, and head of the team "Black Crow", which is made up of twenty children. Nue's Regalia is unique in that it's the only full body Regalia of the AT world. Apart from his neck and head, his whole body is encased in the Regalia. Nue specializes in manipulating electricity and magnetism, allowing him to create hallucinations and/or powerful electric attacks with his wire system built into the Thunder Regalia. The Thunder Regalia was heavily damaged in an earlier battle with Gabishi but thanks to a rather quick re-tuning, Nue was able to arrive in time to save Kazu and co. from Gabishi. Nue is later present to hear Spitfire's final words. He then reveals that he, along with all the members of Black Crow are second generation Gravity Children. Although he disagrees with the Takeuchi brothers' methods, he tells Ikki that Black Crow will remain part of Genesis, because Sora has promised to change the world so as to enable the Gravity Children to live a normal life.

Yasuyoshi Sano

* Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata

Yasuyoshi Sano (左 安良, Sano Yasuyoshi?), known as 'Aeon Clock', through his incredible speed, intelligence, and techniques gained through his time following Flame Road, he makes use of tricks that give the impression of him manipulating time. Upon the disbanding of Behemoth, Sano was recruited into Genesis by Simca. He serves as Simca's adviser, counselor, and occasional chauffeur. His primary role in Genesis is the protection of Ikki and his team, Kogarasumaru.

It's later that Sano receives a call from his father, questioning him on the progress on his current project to capture the Sky regalia. Sano reveals that he has no intention of doing that, though only to himself. He then arrives in the nick of time to save Spitfire from the burning wreckage caused by Sora's Bagrahm. Nike then starts a battle between himself and the two Flame Road wielders. By combining their two Flame Roads, they create a powerful "Dual Road", the Apollo Road. Even with their incredible abilities, and total domination, Nike continues to rise uninjured. Revealing that his Jade Road is causing no harm to come to him, They are forced to take a short retreat back a few dozen feet, while trying to figure out a strategy to get past the Jade Road's ability. During this time, Nike launches a helicopter blade with his incredible strength. But it is intercepted by Mimasaka Ryō, who is killed by it, but not before revealing the weakness of the Jade Road to Sano.

Sora then criticizes her, causing Sano extreme anger. It seems that both Sano and Mimasaka were close, possibly romantically involved. Sano strikes Sora with an incredible strength caused by his anger, knocking Sora back, his hat falling off. It's then that Sora enters the fray, using his new legs as well as the stolen Bagrahm. Kazu, deciding to join in, does his best to assist the two Flame Road users. But they are ultimately forced back by Sora's incredible power after utilizing Bagrahm in a newly shown form.

He then acts as cover for Spitfire to take Kazu out of the battle and leave the Flame Regalia with him. Sano thinks to himself that the future Flame King has been able to escape from harm. Shortly afterwards, Spitfire returns and asks Sano to forgive him for getting him involved. Sano brushes it off, and the two have a heart to heart before Sano is unable to keep the combined power of Sora and Nike at bay. They are both pierced and killed by hundreds of rocks. However, it was revealed in chapter 182 that he is still alive, but it is currently unknown how he managed to survive.

Yoshitsune

* Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono

Yoshitsune (ヨシツネ, Yoshitsune?), a brilliant strategist and occasional pervert, he holds the title of Rumble King, and is the leader of the Kansai Storm Rider syndicate "Trident". He challenged Ikki with the "Devil's Thirty Thirty", a stunt that normally involves jumping over the bodies of thirty-three of one's teammates; in Ikki's case, he has to leap over Ringo who was lying at the end of the track. The power of his Regalia is demonstrated during Ikki's first jump when Agito attempted to assist his team leader by accelerating Ikki with a "Fang." Yoshitsune's Ram Jet Theory based Regalia intercepted and completely nullified the fang. Ultimately, Ikki successfully tackled the challenge, and Trident agreed to collaborate with Genesis. Yoshitsune now serves Simca and Genesis as an enforcer and tactician. After Sleeping Forest's Gabishi was captured, while trying to harm Kazu, Yoshitsune was in charge of his interrogation and torture. After Sora's betrayal and Spifire's death, Yoshitsune showed sadness for his comrade but neverthless decided that Trident would stay with Genesis, not because of loyalty to Sora, but because it would be more beneficial for the stormriders of West Japan, represented by Trident, and his own desire to fight against Koragasumaru. According to Benkei, the only time he acts as a real leader is when he take off his glasses.

Benkei

* Voiced by: Wakana Yamazaki

Despite the masculinity of her name, Benkei (ベンケイ, Benkei?) is Yoshitsune's beautiful and skilled second-in-command. After the merge with Genesis, Benkei became the Kogarasumaru's trainer (and unofficial team member) during Ikki's hospitalization period. Her preferred weapon of choice is the Panther's Corsa (豹頭の錫杖). After the Takeuchi Brothers' betrayal, she decided that, as a member of Trident, she would stay by her leader.

Nike (ニケ, Nike?) is the current Gem King, and the most powerful of Genesis' four Kings. He lives in America, and leads two teams comprised of 74, and 18 members. It has been recently revealed that "Nike" is just an alias, and that he is the younger identical twin brother of Sora Takeuchi, whom he also shares his name with (the difference being the Kanji for their first names, where Sora's would translate to "Sky", while Nike's would be "Space"). He stole the Wind Regalia core, recently rebuilt by Sumeragi Kururu for Ikki, and kidnapped Hako along with it. He appears to be mentally unstable, and has a deep hatred for the one who took everything away from his brother, the former Gem King, Kilik. Recently, it has been revealed that after the destruction of the old Sleeping Forest, it was Nike, not Simca, who founded Team Genesis to replace it. So Nike has always been the true leader of Genesis, with Simca merely acting as a figurehead.

oh great is the man espically for making tenhgo tenge