Sorry about being away so long, but I needed a break from doing mostly everything – and a long holiday weekend celebrating the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King and the people who believed in his dreams and made them real, was a perfect fit for my much-needed R&R.

So, well-rested and relaxed I come back to the topic of Yuri. I haven’t mentioned Air Master in a very long time. The manga and anime both have Yuri in the form of Mina and her overt love and desire for our heroine, streetfighter Maki. I suppose some people could argue that Maki doesn’t return the feeling, but I really would have to disagree – there are several scenes in the manga, especially, which convince me that she does. She’s just a doofus and not the kind of person to even admit it to herself. I trust Mina to wear that down eventually.

In any case, the anime ended some time ago, and while it was licensed, will not be released here in the US past Volume 3. Geneon is not shipping Volume 4…although I am not sure they have officially announced that. I know through back channels.

It may surprise some of you to know that long after the anime finished, the “Fukamichi Ranking” arc of the manga is not *yet* complete. In fact, Maki, who lost her battle with the ranking number one fighter, Byoubou, has been all but absent from the manga for the last several volumes. Sometimes we would see her nearly unconscious body in the distance. Last volume she moaned. In this one, she manages to ask Miori to massage her limbs so she can try to move again. In the meantime, we are focusing on one of the most agonizingly dull fights ever – five of the fighters trying to take down Byoubou. Of them, only Kai is marginally interesting to me.

I guess I’m not the only person who complained that the manga is called Air Master and why are we watching five fighters who are not Maki endlessly?, because in Volume 26, we are given an omake story with not only Maki, but her four goofball school friends. In a game of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” not too many of them have a clue what they could actually become. Maki is at a complete loss beyond her immediate occupation. But Mina joyfully proclaims that she wants to be Maki’s wife, complete with fantasy image of blushing Maki in tux and Mina in bridal dress. Michiru and Yuu both proclaim that impossible and they move on.

There you go – the longest time we’ve spent with Maki in oh, about three/four volumes has a nice little Yuri moment inside Mina’s head. :-)

Ratings:
Art – 3 (I think it’s getting worse, if that’s possible)
Story – 2
Characters – Omake only? 8, Rest of volume 4)
Yuri – (Omake only 8, rest 0)
Service – 8

Overall – 5

I’m totally ready for Byobou to go away now….