10 best anime to watch if you like Air Gear

Air Gear is an action-packed anime that follows Minami Itsuki, a student who discovers a new extreme sport called "Air Trecks" - motorized, super-fast roller skates. As he forms his own team and competes in intense battles and races, the series delivers incredible stunts and high-octane excitement.

If you love the adrenaline rush of Air Gear, here are 10 other anime to check out. From sports battles to supernatural powers, these shows capture a similar feeling of speed, competition, and aerial stunt work.

Initial D, Redline, and 8 anime for fans of Air Gear

1) Initial D

Initial D (Image via Gallop, Studio Comet)

Initial D centers on the world of illegal street racing amongst teenage car enthusiasts. Protagonist Takumi Fujiwara is a high school student who becomes a rising star behind the wheel due to his years of driving experience, gaining fame for his incredible drifting techniques.

Like Air Gear, Initial D spotlights an underground extreme sport with teen participants. It has a gritty, rebellious vibe and showcases gravity-defying driving that will satisfy any adrenaline junkie. The Eurobeat soundtrack and mountain pass racing locales also create excitement.

2) Redline

For sheer breakneck speed and death-defying racing scenes, Redline is a prime choice. This movie focuses on "Redline" - an infamous and deadly cross-galaxy grand prix unfolding every five years. Hotshot racer JP enters to try to take first place, competing against bizarre alien competitors at speeds up to 400km/h.

The hand-drawn animation in Redline is absolutely breathtaking. Moreover, its hyperkinetic race sequences make Air Gear's stunts look tame by comparison, earning its reputation as one of the fastest anime ever made.

3) Megalo Box

Megalo Box (Image via TMS Entertainment, 3xCube)

A gritty cyberpunk boxing anime, Megalo Box sees "Gearless" Joe, an underground fighter from the slums, dream of competing in the world's top Megalonia tournament. To enter, he competes as "Gearless Joe" - fighting without the mechanical exoskeletons that enhance strength and speed.

Joe echoes Air Gear protagonists like Itsuki, who rise from nothing to take on the elite in their extreme sport. It's an underdog story of beating the odds through raw talent. The Megalo Box bouts are also intensely hard-hitting, with athletes pushing past human limits thanks to mechanical augmentation.

4) Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings (Image via Production I.G)

For more gravity-defying martial arts mixed with special abilities, check out Sengoku Basara. Set during Japan's sengoku period, it re-imagines historical military leaders as hot-blooded heroes with insane combat skills and weapons.

Characters like Date Masamune can slice through armies single-handedly, perform superhuman leaps through the air, and wield multiple swords with incredible skill.

These over-the-top fight scenes match Air Gear for high-octane action, with a touch of magic or steampunk sci-fi enhancing the weapons and abilities. The samurai cast also brings ambitious rivalries that drive the plot, similar to the teams in Air Gear.

5) Baccano!

Baccano! offers 1930s America as a gangster-filled backdrop, weaving an intricate tale about immortals, gang wars, and a train hijacking gone wrong. Its gritty violence and stunt work create dynamic, high-speed action, which is often seen from the perspective of runaway thugs fleeing across rooftops or between speeding train cars.

While set in a very different time and place to Air Gear, Baccano! delivers the same frenetic fight choreography, panicked chases, and death-defying leaps as characters try to outrun each other. The scattered nonlinear storytelling also leaves viewers piecing events together, adding to the adrenaline.

6) Future Diary

At first glance a survival game/psychological thriller, Future Diary unleashes insane freerunning chase scenes once the action kicks in. After obtaining a "Future Diary" that predicts the future, protagonist Yukiteru uses it to escape others with similar diaries who are trying to kill him and become a god.

Yukiteru must think fast and outmaneuver lethal foes across urban terrain, leading to parkour-inspired sequences as he desperately flees. It mirrors the breakneck pace and aerial stunt work that Air Gear excels at - just with more murderous intent behind it.

7) Gurren Lagann

Giant robots and intergalactic warfare take center stage in this beloved mecha anime, but Gurren Lagann also brings outrageous mid-air combat. When the characters aren't outfighting galaxy-sized enemies in spaceship-shaped mechs, they take fights to the skies with acrobatics and physics-defying moves that match Air Gear's intensity.

Protagonist Simon barrels through aerial battles, using drills and screwdrivers as makeshift weapons, while ace pilot Viral uses his samurai-style skills to engage in the air. Their fight choreography has the same impact as an intense Air Gear "Parts War" contest.

8) God Eater

In a world where the monstrous Aragami continually threaten mankind's survival, an organization called Fenrir uses "God Eaters," elite warriors that wield biomechanical weapons called "God Arcs," to fight them.

Protagonist Lenka Utsugi joins their ranks, engaging in both ground and aerial combat against larger-than-life Aragami.

Lenka and fellow God Eaters utilize acrobatic maneuvers and aerial mobility to take down enemies bigger than themselves. Between double jumps, air dashes, diving attacks, and more, God Eater captures that thrill of flight but with heroic monster-slaying mixed in.

9) Baki

Most sports anime usually focus on building camaraderie and winning through hard work. However, the series Baki lives for brutal, no-holds-barred fights with as much violence as possible. Primarily set in Tokyo's underground martial arts scene, wanna-be fighter Baki Hanma trains intensely to tackle dangerous opponents in life-or-death brawls.

Baki matches Air Gear's intensity with its own brand of bloody, extreme battles where the combatants unleash devastating abilities. Though firmly earthbound, Baki and his rivals fight at such a furious, superhuman level that it evokes that same adrenaline rush as Air Gear's distinctive aerial stunts.

10) Btooom!

For an added dose of extreme survival competition with aerial stunts, check out Btooom!. Jobless protagonist Ryouta Sakamoto suddenly finds himself trapped on a deserted island, forced to fight other castaways by using "BIM" bombs as weapons.

These explosive devices are used by the participants, each with different types of BIM bombs at their disposal. Like Air Gear's parts war contests, Btooom! focuses on a lethal tournament, counting down participants forced to outwit and overpower each other.

Ryouta relies extensively on mid-air acrobatics when lobbing his bombs, echoing the athletic maneuvering that defines Air Gear’s intense stunt work. It’s a lethal, aerially-mobile fight for survival.

Conclusion

While Air Gear stands out for its high-flying "Air Treck" stunts, several other action and sports anime capture a similar feeling of adrenaline, speed, and aerial motion. From the turbocharged sci-fi race Redline to parkour-inspired chases in Future Diary, these breakneck titles will satisfy any Air Gear fan.

So if fans ever run out of episodes, check out the selections above for more gravity-defying excitement, underdog triumphs, and intense athletic competitions pushed to their extremes. These high-octane shows are guaranteed to fuel that thrill-seeking itch.