SK∞
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]
Synopsis
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]
Characters
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Supporting
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Trailer
Recommendations
Reviews(20)
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!
