

SK8 the Infinity
SK∞ エスケーエイト
High school student Reki Kyan is passionate about one thing: skateboarding. When night falls, he heads to "S," an illegal underground race inside a mine where skaters compete in highly dangerous situations. After a loss that results in his skateboard being destroyed and his arm being broken, Reki is now incapable of practicing at all. While working, Reki runs into his new classmate, Langa Hasegawa, a half-Canadian and half-Japanese boy with no skateboarding experience whatsoever. Langa is in desperate need of money. After they both visit "S" when tasked by Reki's boss, they get into trouble and are forced into a bet that requires Langa to skate in a race. However, the mysterious transfer student holds a trump card that Reki is unaware of, one which might help him win the race in the most unexpected way. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
High school student Reki Kyan is passionate about one thing: skateboarding. When night falls, he heads to "S," an illegal underground race inside a mine where skaters compete in highly dangerous situations. After a loss that results in his skateboard being destroyed and his arm being broken, Reki is now incapable of practicing at all. While working, Reki runs into his new classmate, Langa Hasegawa, a half-Canadian and half-Japanese boy with no skateboarding experience whatsoever. Langa is in desperate need of money. After they both visit "S" when tasked by Reki's boss, they get into trouble and are forced into a bet that requires Langa to skate in a race. However, the mysterious transfer student holds a trump card that Reki is unaware of, one which might help him win the race in the most unexpected way. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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lynx1215
April 17, 2022
this review contains minor spoilers! THINGS I LIKED: 1. the realism of the show. sk8 the infinity isn't exactly the most realistic anime there is. the skating of most of the characters are often something people in real life couldn't ever physically pull off, but i think the show really captured the emotions felt, and the relationships between each character. the characters actually felt like real people, with realistic insecurities and emotions, which i think played quite a big part in why i liked the show so much. (i would also like to say that despite a lot of scenes in sk8 weren't realistic, it doesn't mean that it'slike,, bad. shows or stories that is based off an activity we do irl doesn't mean it has the be realistic.) 2. the character designs. each character in sk8 are different and recognizable in their own way. like in real life, they all had their different personalities and strengths, and they all had their own interesting backstory. i think each character was written and designed really well, and we could see they each had complex personalities despite the show only having 12 episodes. 3. the music/intro. i don't have a lot to say here, but i really loved the intro. it was super catchy and had an upbeat and positive vibe, which the show itself portrayed. 4. the overall theme/message. i think sk8 does a good job of making the main message relevant. in my opinion the main message is not how "skating is infinite" or "skating is fun", but is how "anything can be fun if you're doing it with the right people/people you care about". we can see this when (SPOILERS) reki and langa don't feel the appeal of skating when they had their argument, and also when adam doesn't realize how skating is fun and just ends up hurting people. i like how they wrote the story in a way where this message is reflected in not only the main plot but also in the character's emotions. 5. other things i liked were... in conclusion, i loved the overall vibe of the story and also how they implemented a lot of funny scenes in the story without it feeling forced or just,, unfunny. i think the story flowed really well and there was a backstory or development for a lot (if not all) of the main characters. THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER: 1. adam. i don't really need to say more lol. i think how adam acted towards langa was super unnecessary and could have been written much, much better. it didn't exactly ruin my overall enjoyment of the show, but it definitely soured the show a little bit. adam had a super weird personality at times which i couldn't understand, and i definitely think there was a potential to write him to become a better (and less weird) antagonist, as he already had a sad/unfortunate backstory. 2. the lack of female characters + the relevancy of the existing ones. the show has a lot of complex and great character designs, but i wished there was actually a female character that could have played a bigger role. this fact didn't really bother me when i was watching the show the first time, but when i was looking back at it, i wished that there was more representation. kiriko, who was the inspector in sk8, wasn't exactly relevant in the plot. she was just,,, there, and i think that was kind of a waste (unless she becomes useful in the future if there's going to be a continuation of a story??). 3. the argument on whether the show is gay or not, and how that affected the show itself. there were definitely parts where the show seemed like it was hinting that some characters could be gay (?). not only were there scenes like this (especially in the dub), but the show was also directed by the same person who directed banana fish (which was gay). as much as i like my ships in the show, i lowkey feel like the show is taking the route that i like to call 'the yuri on ice route'. basically, it's where everything else good in the show, whether it be the plot, music, character development, is overshadowed by if the characters are gay or not. i do admit that i would like some pairings to become canon, but i'm just worried that the show would just become known as enjoyable because there are gay people. representation of the lgbtq+ is always welcomed, but just because something is gay/has a character in the lgbtq+, doesn't mean it's good. like, i don't want sk8 to be known as 'the anime that has gay characters!!! they also skate btw but that doesn't really matter because we're here for the ships!!', but rather as 'the cool skating anime. also some characters could be gay but that doesn't really affect the show.' or whatever. overall, though, i did really enjoy watching the show. ofc, there were some parts i thought that could have been improved (e.g, like, adam as a whole apart from his backstory,,,). sk8 was super fun, and i had a really great time watching the show! thanks for reading!
changopongo
April 21, 2021
this is the only good anime. all other anime is bad. if you think other anime are good and you haven't seen this one? well you're wrong. and if you have seen this one and you still think there are other good anime? well you're wrong again. this anime isn't for little babies who sit around picking their nose crying over some garbage slice of life same ol' regurgitated stories. this anime for da boys. only watch this anime if you like to skate fast, eat ass . visuals? BANGING story ? AMAZINGcharacter? INSANE if you don't like this anime there is a good chance you are a stupid baby.
spyro115
April 11, 2021
EDITED 2023: I like Sk8 cause it gave a fun vibe, all the characters associated share especially the competitive part was extreme to where it made me want to try out skating myself, it's truly inspiring. The character relationships were also interesting, it even gave me nostalgia of 2012 where i felt like i would have watched this back in the summer at that time, good times too. This was the best sports based anime i've ever seen, the characters and story were amazing, it made me wish there was a sequel too. If only there were more sports anime that had the same kind ofvibe as Sk8. to me, i say Sk8 is one of the best animes of 2021.
Naramea
April 3, 2021
So, this is my first mal review ever and I'm not a native English speaker but I hope that doesn't affect the review. This review includes spoilers! First of all I have to say: I'm absolutely disappointed. This anime wasted it's whole potential. It starts of really nice, I liked Reki and Langa, even though they are a bit cliche but that wasn’t a big problem. Later some other characters were introduced, for example Cherry and Joe (who had a great dynamic together, gotta say). The anime first focuses a lot on Reki and Langa and skating in general. I myself have no clue about skateboarding so I don't knowwhether "S" is realistic or not but I was fine with it because it was kinda fun to watch the beefs. But then a certain someone showed up to ruin the mood. I don't know what the creators were thinking when they planned Adam but this guy ruined the whole anime in my opinion. He is a really, really bad copy of Hisoka from HxH and he is one of the cringiest characters I've ever seen. His blabbering about marrying Langa and finding his Eve was so hard to watch, I cringed every time he opened his mouth. Also his whole behaviour was just ridiculous (I mean, hitting someone with your damn skateboard has nothing to do with skating anymore). He is one of the most unnecessary and worst written antagonists I've ever came across (he is nearly as unnecessary as the red haired police officer, like, why was she even there?) And he RUINED the whole anime. Also something that was quite weird (and unrealistic) were the people watching the beefs. They give a shit about Cherry getting hit by Adam with his skateboard because he is to "boring" in Adams opinion (which is just a big WTF). Another character worth mentioning is Adam's... secretary (I guess? I already forgot his name lmao) because also WTf!? He’s getting treated like shit by Adam (he calls him dog and it didn't bother the secretary at all) and his only purpose is to bring a bit of "tension" into the tournament and a "sad backstory" for Adam (at which they fail miserably btw). What I kinda liked was the "arc" focusing on Reki after he realised he is nothing special in comparison to Langa. I know this feeling very well and therefore could empathize with him easily. It was also nice that he didn't overcome this feeling within one episode and actually needed some time. The last episode was just a cringefest and they didn't spare with cliches. Suddenly Langa makes Adam realise that skating is about fun and not only competing (who would have seen that coming?! Lmao) and they are all best buddies now. Aha. Overall the anime is full of unrealistic scenarios, bad written characters and a lacking plot (well, if you could call it plot...). I would have been totally fine watching Reki and Langa improve, competing with "normal" characters and Rekis down phase. That would have been enough... I wouldn't recommend this anime bcs you don’t really learn anything about skating and the character cast is… something. It had some nice moments but that’s it. Overall it made me incredibly angry lmao (thank you Adam). Yeah, that's it. Thanks for reading^^
Kraagesh
April 3, 2021
-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.
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