| Itsuki "Ikki" Minami |
| Air Gear character |
 |
| Voiced by |
Kenta Kamakari (Japanese)
Chris Patton (English) |
| Profile |
| 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 Noyamano Rika, 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.[1] Kuu plays a minor, but humourous 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)[2] Ikki always said that he was chasing rainbows, but never actually reaching them,[3] 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.[4] 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 crow. 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).[5] 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.[6]
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.[7] He then wakes up the next morning; he initially thought it was a dream, until finding a bag with AT's in them.[8] He then battles the Saders, inflitrating their turf; with Sleeping Forest's help, they manage to defeat the Saders.[9]
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 signning the contract, but Kururu's dad decided that his team was going to retire and destroyed the contract.
Signature Moves
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
