SK8 the Infinity

-Note: English is not my native language, I apologize for possible mistakes. The script for SK∞ has a casual tone that is easy to catch, with the inclusion of comedy overtones that, without being recursive, is effective. But undoubtedly one of the production's greatest strengths is the artistic rendering and technical effort on Bones' part. Because building a current fiction from the foundations of an urban culture alien to current times would not be easy if it weren't for the excellent work of photography, color, music and artistic direction in general, which give the set a great appeal and special magnetism. Special mention, of course, tothe special level of detail and display in terms of animation, with interesting camera exercises and kinesthesia in the races, offering excellent quality levels that have very little to envy to similar cut products. SK∞ is a sincere proposal that does not seek to be elusive, since it is very clear about what to offer and where to aim. His treatment of skate culture is as engaging as it is eccentric, and the dynamics between his characters make it incredibly easy and organic to want to follow their learning and see how far they are capable of going not necessarily to win, but to feel good about themselves. Hiroko Utsumi's work transmits passion and fun with a treatment that I wish was seen more often: that of humility, that of enjoying without the need to achieve great feats.

So, what’s the story? On 7 September 2013 Tokyo was selected as the host city of The XXXII Olympic Games. Japanese government wanted to promote upcoming event among youth through entertainment industry: music and TV, including anime. Popular anime characters were selected as ambassadors (Sailor Moon, Naruto, Luffy and others) and also new anime projects about different Olympic events were commissioned. Such as rugby (Number 24), artistic gymnastics (Taisou zamurai), volleyball (2:43), baseball (Tamayomi), soccer (Sayonara Watashi no Cramer), surfing (Wave!!), water polo (Re-Main), bouldering (Iwa Kakeru!) and others. Even parasport (Breakers) and male rhythmic gymnastics that will take part at the gymnastic exhibition duringthe final olympic day (Bakuten!!). “SK8: the infinity” from studio BONES is the part of that big program. This original anime is dedicated to the skateboarding that debuts as a new Olympic sport in Tokyo. Utsumi Hiroko was put at the helm since she was responsible for a successful series about other summer sport (Free!!). Seems like her original idea included a snowboarder who decided to take part in the illegal skateboard races that were organized by one crazy guy in search of his ideal Eve. There was a police investigation involved, sudden return of a girlfriend, serious money troubles and other typical tropes from you-know-where. But then Utsumi (or someone else from the stuff) thought that MC needs to go through some adjustment to his technique before he will crush everyone in the races. And that’s how Reki was born. As a supporting guy who can’t skate but whose role was to screw the wheels to the board and nothing more. In the end at the last minute stuff decided to redo everything from the scratch and make the “guy with the wheels” the MC instead. As a result dozens of plot points were cut or thrown out. The scenario was altered so many times so late in the game that they didn’t even had time to cut a girlfriend appearance from one of the first episodes. She never ever appeared again. As a result of this hot mess we have a story were the villain (former antihero) has more flashbacks and background than any of the leads. Our new MC has a zero background apart from “one time one totally irrelevant to the plot guy got hurt by irrelevant to the plot reason”. Reki’s journey went from the point A to … the point A (from the “even though I can’t skate but still…” to the “yeah, I can’t skate but still…”) with some stupid pity drama in between. Langa’s plot points were thrown out entirely. He has even less substance than Reki. Unnamed girl and mysterious money problems that’s all that left from the original draft and now it leads nowhere. Adam is obviously Utsumi’s favorite. Not only because he suffered the least damages from redoing the script, but because he’s the one whose character she actually bothered to explore. She even gave him a new “lover” since the old one was “taken away”. But Adam still looked stupid. That’s how this anime looks over all. Its script is ultimately foolish. Maybe if they had kept the original idea everything would have looked much more decent. Or maybe the original idea was a lot more disastrous, that’s why they went to such extremes to redo everything. Anyhow, decision was made and result was awful. First episodes were awesome production wise. Animation, music, everything was superb. But something (COVID, mess with the script or who knows what else) happened halfway through that resulted in the noticeable drop in quality. They even had to use a recap episode. Series that started with such a promise ended with a huge “What the Hell was that?!” “Taisou zamurai” is so much better than this. But since “samurai” has never tried to play a fujobaiting game it had zero chances to became popular. First 5 episodes ranking: 9/10. Episodes 6-10.5: -1/10. Episodes 11-12: 5/10. Overall ranking: 4/10.

Hey ya'll, did you know that skating is fun? Skating is REALLY fun. You can do it with your friends! You can do it anywhere! It's really so fun! Seriously! It's like the MOST FUN THING! You know what's REALLY FUN about skating?! When you hop off your board and smack people in the head with it! Or, you throw firecrackers in people faces! Or, you join up in groups and attack people with steel batons for no apparent reason at all!FUN TIMES! You've really got to understand how important it is to know that SKATING IS FUN! Did you know it can save your life?! If you're free-falling off of a cliff, all you have to do is remember that SKATING IS FUN, and you won't die! You can just skate down a sheer cliff leading to jagged rocks 2,000 feet below! You'll be fine! And don't forget the power of fun in skating can save any broken relationship! Do you have a friend who's a hater because you're so much better than him at skating? Simply remember SKATING IS FUN and he'll stop being salty! You don't even have to talk about it! Have you lost your ever-loving mind simply because a powerless servant didn't stand up for your skating hobby as a kid? And now you try to literally MURDER people in skating competitions? Never fear! Your mind can be saved with the power of skating! Simply get the underage boy you're pedo-ing over to beat you in a race and remind you that SKATING IS FUN, and you'll be okay! SKATING. IS. FUN. Got it?! Seriously...this anime is one of the most cringe animes I've seen in a while. Honestly, it didn't seem like it would turn out this way at the start. It seemed like it was just going to be your typical racing type anime, but with skateboards. You had your common MC duo of the wild-haired, boisterous guy (Reki) paired with the quiet, uber-skilled savant (Langa). You had what looked like would be an interesting cast of supporting characters. And it looked like it was just going to be a straight comedy with solid humor. The animation was quality. The Soundtrack was even good. Everything looked set up for an enjoyable anime. With a little luck, it might be as good of a sports anime as Haikyuu or Kuroko's Basketball. Well, those lofty hopes die pretty quickly, but it still looked like SK8 would settle in as a pretty good comedy... and then ADAM enters the picture. The main villain who looks like he was lifted right out of a Gundam anime from the mid-90s. SPOILERS AHEAD: ADAM is a pedophile who becomes obsessed with Langa because of his skill. This grown man is so obsessed with the teen boy that Hisoka actually stopped stalking Gon and Killua for a minute to make a cameo to call Chris Hansen on him. (He did not). ADAM wants Langa to be his "Eve", because he's hard up for a decent opponent and he believes Langa can be that for him. In order to build Langa up to those expectations, the anime basically turns at this point from a comedy to a homoerotic dramedy, that was pretty much focused on gassing up Langa for being good at the expense of his boyfrie--erghm---"buddy", Reki. Seriously, episode after episode, it's just "Oh, Langa is so great. But, that redheaded guy with him is just the most trashiest of all the trash." (Which didn't even make sense because he could hang with some of the best skaters in the anime. But, whatever, plot's not gonna push itself.) At any rate, Reki can't handle being the Krillin to Langa's Goku, so he turns into a hater, stops talking to him and quits skating. So, now we have to watch the guy who was supposed to carry this anime's comedy aspect, mope and skulk around because he's just a Krillin. And it made him totally unlikable, because nobody likes "friends" who can't celebrate your success. He's just a hater. Fortunately, he remembered SKATING IS FUN after getting jumped in an alley and all of his insecurities just went away and he stopped being a salty hater. So, now that, that needless drama ended we can get back into the comedy and action--and nope--because now we have to deal with ADAM's psychological problems. What made this guy turn into a flamboyant kiddy-diddling matador? What makes him get off of his board mid-skate and just bash people in the face with his skateboard at 60MPH? Which is attempted murder? (Side Note: Why was this guy even lauded as some kind of a skating legend when his "special moves" consisted of "turning around mid race and standing in your way" and "Hitting you in the face with a skateboard?). What soul-breaking betrayal could've have turned a happy young lad into James Charles? Well to find that out, we have to be bombarded with flashbacks that this dude lost his marbles because his friend, a mere house servant, said he had "no opinion", when ADAM's father, (the head of the entire family) asked him if he wanted to buck up because he burned his own son's skateboard. What was he supposed to say? "Yeah, guy who can ruin my entire family, let me, a child, step in here and tell you how to raise your kid."? Apparently, this "deep betrayal" and some raps on the wrist with a ruler by his aunts turned him into a guy who consistently keeps trying to throw people off of cliffs. (Don't rap children's wrists with rulers, people. They will start dressing up in grave clothes and wanting teen boys to be the "Eve" to their "Adam".) At any rate, between the flashbacks of ADAM being destroyed emotionally by the most tame betrayal since my wife ate the last of my ice cream, and ADAM skating with Cherry and Joe, we get a continued story of cringey pedophilia. ADAM begins to literally stalk Langa with drones and is upset that Langa and Reki are reunited. Because ADAM wants to have Langa/Eve all to himself, he targets Reki for a race in the shortest, most predictable, tournament in anime sports history and Reki nearly beats him. (I will give credit where credit is due: the race between Reki and ADAM was pretty good, and was the only race where you didn't know who would win before it began.) ADAM gets all in a huff because he nearly lost to this "terrible" skater, (who, again, nearly beats all the best skaters and only loses because his board breaks or someone throws firecrackers at him) and ADAM then goes from being a matador pedo to being an undertaker/evangelion pilot pedo, and races Langa in the finals. And they race on 2,000 feet tall cliffs and go in the zone, and there's rainbows and white noise and flashbacks of dead dads and Langa falls and should die but SKATING IS FUN, so he doesn't and wins and whatever and I'm wondering why I spent time watching this instead of continuing Wonder Egg Priority. But even with all of this, I have still not properly conveyed the worst part of the anime. And that is, without a doubt, the dialogue. The dialogue is just so incredibly cringe in the later parts of the anime. I swear Langa should've just stayed quiet. Every other sentence out of his mouth towards Reki would've been proceeded by "How could you say something so embarrassing with a straight face?" in any other anime. If he wasn't spitting the most embarrassing lines to his "friend", it was how he felt empty without Reki around while wistfully grabbing at his heart. (Langa's heart hurts, girls. Buy his merch, ok?) And it wasn't just confined to Langa and Reki, either. All the characters were just talking nonsense towards the end. "I know what your true nature is now, let's bring this to a finale.", "Adam is skating all alone. That can't be fun.", "SKATING IS SO MUCH FUN!!", "You'll be my dog for the rest of our lives.", "I'll take skateboarding from you...to save you.", "I thought I got rid of these insignificant feelings long ago!". You can't get rid of the feeling that SKATING IS FUN, Adam. "SKATING IS FUN" is a universal law. Man, it was just one bad line after another after another. The dialogue was just atrocious. This anime doesn't even come close to the 8.05 rating it has as of the writing of this review. Even if it lived up to its potential, at best it would be a 7. But, it hardly does that and I would only give it a 3. 1 point for the funny first couple of episodes. 1 point for the Reki/ADAM race. Other than that, it's a weak anime, with a weak story and awful dialogue. I should also deduct a point for that stupid female cop angle. That served no purpose at all. Why was it even a part of the story? It had no bearing on anything in the end. Down to 2. I really don't understand why some of these animes are scoring so highly lately...

Yes, it's studio Bones...and yes, it's Hiroko Utsumi, director of Free! and Banana Fish. But I believe that this is more than just another passion project of an original sports anime. It's one that's done with lots of respect towards the skateboarding community, more than just being one that's an easy inspiration to Tony Hawk: Pro Skater. Are you ready to SK∞ to Infinity and Beyond? In the history of anime, sports shows are regular to showcasing what kinds of sports are actually all about, but in rarer cases do we actually get some specific ones, from Welcome to the Ballroom's in-line skating to Yowamushi Pedal'sbicycle racing. Whereas in SK∞ the Infinity, skateboarding (or it's more correct term of street skateboarding), is a discipline which focuses on flatground tricks, grinds, slides and aerials within urban environments and public spaces. Street skateboarders meet, skate and hang out, in and around urban areas referred to as "spots", which are commonly streets, plazas or industrial areas, or as shown in the anime, the secret place called "S". It's there that like-minded skaters settle for no-holds-barred competition purposes. It's interesting that Bones has contracted an animation studio known as Studio No Border for the skateboarding designs, and all of this comes from acclaimed French artist Thomas Romain and his small team of multimedia creatives. Having first worked with Shinichiro Watanabe for both spaceship design in Space Dandy and world design on Carole & Tuesday, and working with other studios to produce background design, world art concepts, comics, board games, video games, and animation projects at that time. So it is from that one fateful meeting of just a regular meeting at studio Bones where Thomas Romain and his friends met up with producers who were working on the SK∞ anime, albeit with some reluctance of acceptance since his small team of has had quite the crunch from numerous projects. It's there that they help make the skateboard designs that are strictly peculiar to each and every character in the anime, and knowing director Hiroko Utsumi's extreme sense of attention to detail, Thomas Romain and his small creatives got to work on relentlessly illustrating and negotating with Utsumi from the designs down to the technicals. And that's a hella work that's done to make this show stand out. For context, Studio No Border designed nine skateboards, and some other designs lke the “S” sticker and the decals, which are the illustrations underneath the skateboard. Here is the list of employees that worked on SK∞: - Juliette Mercier (skateboard design for Reki, Langa, MIYA, SHADOW, Cherry Blossom, JOE, ADAM) - Stanislas Brunet (skateboard design and decal for Kikuchi, skateboard rough for Cherry blossom) - Ayumi Kakei (decals for Reki, Langa, MIYA, sticker of the “S”) - Thomas Romain (decal for ADAM) - Loïc Locatelli (decals for JOE and SHADOW) It's all of these details that tend to miss the public eye, and I really have to commend director Hiroko Utsumi and Studio No Border for creating such a lush show that has skateboarding fans rave in joy of how it mimics the true representation of the sport. Anyways, since this is the typical "newbie comes into town and learns a new sport" trope, I won't bore too much on its setting, but this is a lil' bit special: Reki Kyan, being an avid lover of skateboarding, working part-time as a mechanic and creating his own custom boards, meets Langa Hasegawa, a half-Japanese, half-Canadian transfer student who grew up as a snowboarder. In typical fashion, both street skateboarding and snowboarding skills can be interchanged as long as the skills required are fit to do so, and Langa immediately gets the hang of skateboarding after the enthusiastic Reki gives him an invitation to the secret "S" skateboarding races and having to race one of its regulars unequivocally, further cementing his position from being the half-assed rookie to a fully-fledged skater. Being a character drama story, this is where Utsumi places very heavy emphasis onto characterization, and for the most part, has excelled well just like her last series on Banana Fish: - Both Reki and Langa "Snow" Hasegawa are "brothers for life", from their first initial coincidential meet-up to where they're now: skaters for life, treading through every success and failure, nook and cranny, blood, sweat and tears of relentless training. Whether happy or sad, elated or depressed, these two gay guys definitely have the affinity and not the hots for each other. The double-parallel life of the "S" skaters: - Hiromi "Shadow" Higa, kind florist-cum-dirty tactics skater; - Miya Chinen, junior skater champion whose skills are inspired by pro skater Rodney Mullen's style; - The double "childhood friend" of Kaoru "Cherry Blossom" Sakurayashiki, calligrapher-cum-AI skater and Kojiro "Joe" Nanjo, chef-cum-childhood rival with Kaoru. These two goofballs are like mature adults that can go head-to-head in the most immature and childish fashion. - The double Master-Assistant of Ainosuke "Adam" Shindo, politician-cum-legendary "S" skater and assistant Tadashi "Snake" Kikuchi. Even though the wealthy Shindo Family of aunts are of corrupt sound and mind, Ainosuke is but a victim to upholding the family's honours, by hook or by crook. Assistant Tadashi who've been staying by his side since childhood, teaches the lonely Ainosuke the art of skateboarding, not knowing that it'll prove fatal as time passes with Ainosuke associating pain with love, a twist of psyche. Adam's Kanji name is also interesting: stylized as 愛抱夢 (but spoken in Katakana), his prominent attack is the "Love Hug", and for those of you who know your languages well, it's a direct translation of that. Even down to the symbolisms of the skater status, Adam is labelled as the "Matador of Love", donning a matador costume and mask. Word is that he's looking for his "Eve", someone to match his unequivocal skating skill levels, and Langa is the supposedly new rookie that he has his eye on. Take a step back on that to realize that this is just like the Bible's representation in the Book of Genesis: Adam (Ainosuke), Eve (Langa) and the Serpent (Tadashi), the "Fall of Adam" becoming synonymous with the fall of humanity (skating) that brings forth dissent of their attitudes. It's these symbolisms which add up to the testament of how Hiroko Utsumi is THAT meticulous, and can greatly ramp up the experience of SK∞ as a whole. I mean, come on, it's studio Bones, you know that you're gonna get some good visuals and animation, that is hardly a surprise at all. The best parts are not just the skating action itself, but what most people will easily miss are the presentation of the visuals for both the OP and ED, and that they're also directed by Utsumi herself. It's rare that songs like Rude-α's "Paradise" and Yuuri's "Infinity" are given the proper treatment of syncing both songs with the animation, beat by beat and coupled with amazing visuals for the OP and funny skateboarding fails for the ED. Just lovin' those pumping beats and chill lo-fi songs. This is an exemplary example of a show that even with unintended production hell (like Wonder Egg Priority), has maintained with stride and careful planning to deliver the ultimate experience of a passion project, and I can definitely feel the call-backs to said directed shows helmed by one of the most prominent female directors of the modern anime age. A job well done, and a massive thank you to both Hiroko Utsumi and Bones for making this fine show. SK∞ the Infinity: Skating is Infinite.