The final beef was quite a doozy alright, but man did it end in the most cheesy way possible.
I have to say, they did a great job with how Adam transitioned from being excited for his ‘wedding’ to preparing for a funeral, or as he put it: Their Departure. I had suspicions he was thinking along the lines of the sorts last week when he told Langa they will ‘fall together‘, and it was certainly eerie to watch. Adam being the eccentrically dramatic man he is decided to sport a new board and outfit as a Reaper. To top things off, he selected the final stage to be the first course that was used when “S” organization first launched. Eventually it was banned due to how hazardous it was, but of course Adam decided to choose that circuit as the stage for the Grand Finale. Although it was claimed the change had been made because the Old Factory had to be shut down after sustaining damage from the storm, I think Adam would have selected this stage anyways. The dark and gloomy circuit perfectly fits the chaotic state of his mind.
Admittedly I was a bit nervous for Langa, but I had faith he would be able to get through relatively unscathed. But rather than the course, I was more concerned about Adam’s violent shenanigans– which sure enough, he attempted to do on a number of occasions. Now that was without a doubt the most stressful part to watch.
While it was thrilling to watch, there were moments of frustration when you kind of wanted to shake Langa for being sucked into the zone. Luckily Reki added a special charm touch to Langa’s new board, and in the heights of danger he was able to snap out of it and make a recovery landing after remembering what he should be focusing on: Fun.
But that was also when it started to get a bit too cheesy for my taste. I also couldn’t help laugh at how often we heard Reki scream, “LANGAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” I should have counted for humor’s sake. (Though I don’t think he did it that often, but it was still funny nonetheless!) But I did find the way Langa threw himself onto Reki when he reached the finish line extremely adorable. (Do I ship it? Yeah, I think I do. It’s kind of hard not to with how adorable these two dorks are.)
As for Adam, this race forced him to take off that mask he liked to hide behind all the time. Skating has always been his sanctuary, a place where he can be free to forget about his life, no concerns for orders, no expectations, he can forget everything. However in the midst of that, as he progressively became more skilled he forgot what it meant to have fun, and his frustration and insecurity rooted from the the fear of the consequences of failure came back to haunt him. After-all, he has been conditioned into believing in order to be loved or acknowledged, he must win at all cost.
Thanks to his race with Langa, who refused to give up on the fight on reminding him he should be having fun, it looks like he finally got his head out of the sand— to some extent. He finally letting go of looking for his “Eve”, though it looks like he is still infatuated with Langa as ever, as seen in while rolling the credits. Whether he is truly a changed man is left up to debate (the guy desperately needs therapy), but I suppose one sign that he is changing his ways is that he decided not to throw Tadashi under the bus. So take that as you will. I can’t say the way he said Tadashi will continue to be his dog and how happy the guy was about it to be particularly charming in any shape or form though. I rolled my eyes at that one. But whatever floats your boat man.
Final Thoughts
SK8 the Infinity started off on an epic note, and has been an absolute blast to watch from start to finish. The thrilling adventures of skateboarding with touch of an exaggerated adventure and unexpectedly violent confrontations really took us on for a hell of a ride.
There are a lot of amazing things going for the show, BONES lived up to my expectations when it came to the animations, and honestly when they chose to gloss over certain matches, I was mostly disappointed because I wanted to see more of their magic. I really liked the way they combined Langa’s snowboarding history with skating, making it all the more thrilling to watch the two worlds mesh together. Almost every episodes I thought to myself, “Oh man now I want to see BONES make a snowboarding series too.”
Apart from the epic and sometimes terrifying beefs, the highlight of the series for me was Reki and Langa’s and their friendship. Langa’s lovable clumsy side balanced with Reki’s more grounded passion made them extremely charming characters in their own right. But of the two, Reki was definitely the most relatable character. While he was passionate about the sport, for the longest time he was also a ‘nobody’ who didn’t stand out because he lacked the special talents that the others had. It took him time to figure out none of that mattered so as long as he continued to have fun. But at the same time, he was also able to show-off what makes him special of the lot, and that is his creative craftsmanship. It was very rewarding to see that skill pan out when he took into factors of the terrain’s conditions in order to help himself gain an edge against a powerful opponent like Adam.
Meanwhile Langa was the opposite. He is the type of character most probably have a harder time relating to due to him being a prodigy who had some tips and tricks up his sleeve thanks to his experience with snowboarding. However he was incredibly endearing, and his pure-hearted passion for skating was contagious to say the least. You could also say his character was a perfect combination of a silly cinnamonroll, with a badass skater side once passion takes over. Although he can be blinded by that passion, he is a soft boy at heart who cares deeply for his friends.
My favourite part about them though was how they progressed their relationship. They faced setbacks with a rift forming between them. For a conflict where one person feels like they are being left behind in the dust, and can’t fit into the crowd of amazing talent isn’t something that can be resolved in one episode. So it was fantastic to see the writers choose to make them take their time, and let both Reki and Langa learn from their experience apart, as well as getting the chance to reflect on themselves to realize what was the most important to them.
Honestly without them, this show wouldn’t be the same.
That said, I am sure I am not the only one who wished we had the chance to see the two do their Fantasy Race at the end. It’s something that kind of been overshadowed, but also overdue given their friendship. I think it would’ve been fun to see the two go at it as it wouldn’t be so much about who gets to the finish line first, but how the get there, haha! I wish we had one more episode to focus on that. That also could have been a nice way to wrap things up.
But if there was one thing I wished they had expanded on, it would be on the other characters like Mika, Tadashi and even Shadow. It was admittedly a bummer to see them gloss over their races. While I understand why they did that, it’s still disappointing. The results were already predetermined and nothing was going to change, but it would have been a lot more fun to see some more matches, such as Tadashi competing after having only seen him really skate once in the entire tournament. I said it before, but I really wanted to see Tadashi VS Adam too. I think that could have been a really interesting and volatile match-up. But I suppose it would be more interesting to see how the two would skate together now after Adam finally remembered what it means to skate for fun again.
SK8 the Infinity is definitely one of the must watch titles that Winter 2021 Season had to offer. I am very happy to see the sports genre increasingly improve their variety and they managed to take skating boarding and add a touch of craziness to make it all the more epic. Definitely give this show a shot! It has a perfect combination of a chaos, fun, and unexpected emotional punches, making SK8 the Infinity my favourite show of the Winter Season!
Final Verdict: 9/10
Highly Recommended to Watch!
Word is that Sk8’S 1st Bluray sold over 7000 copies in Japan during its 1st week.
If future volumes can maintain the sales figures, then the financial viability for a Sk8 S2 is guaranteed. Provided there’s also will and availability from the production staff and committee, an S2 could hopefully expand upon other characters and plotlines which didn’t make the cut for S1.
Btw, there’s also a manga spinoff for Sk8.
– A chibi manga version.
– And a Cindereki radio drama, where the cast enact Cinderella (with Joe as the buff fairy godbrother).
Hm that would certainly be interesting. I felt like Langa’s and Reki’s arc wrapped up nicely, so it would be nice to see them choose to focus on a the other characters that didn’t get the shine to properly shine instead. Or maybe they’ll introduce a new set or protagonists altogether. I’m not sure which would be better though. Nevertheless, I’m really happy to see it be so successful for its first bluray! It’s such a fantastic series!
And thanks for sharing the bonus goods!
I throughly enjoy the whole show, although the sudden shift from “man look at these cool skaters to Shounen Battle of hitting opponents by skateboards (!?) still makes me puzzled (lmao). The highlight is definitely the animation and Reki and Langa’s chemistry, and how the show doesn’t make it too dramatic (like Free did, considering the same director is behind them).
Feel like most of the cast is handled pretty nicely, although they don’t get certain conclusions for their own arcs. Only Adam manages to has his own arc concluded, and while he is a pretty nice villain for this show, his consistent blabbering about love, wedding, Eve stuffs make me “ugh” lots of time.
I wish there would be more skateboard facts for the series just like how the first half did, but the later half completely went to Inazuma-Eleven zone (lol).
I still don’t know what’s the point for the politic subplot (lol). If it’s just there to show how Adam changed at the end, then it feels like this man political career is ruined anw (lmao)
You know what’s funny though, it did feel a bit like Free! at the end! Some of the emotional expressions reminded me of that too, such as when Tadashi yelled out!
Adam infatuation with “Eve” was so creepy, it made me go “ugh” many times too. He was a terrifying villain in his own right.
Yeah the politics subplot felt a bit shoehorned in there after it didn’t really go anywhere. I thought for sure it’d cause some kind of interruption with the final beef, but instead it was used as a prop of a sorts to show that Adam deciding to change who he values more. Following his aunts order and sacrifice Tadashi by making him take the fall, or choose to protect the one guy who is still standing beside him.
Sk8 always feel like Free here and there, especially the way the camera focusing on eyes and reflection. The way the series put more emphasis on friendship and fun (instead of competitiveness in sport genre) is exactly like Free too haha.
Also, I have no idea who was the censored man at the end, who was saying there is no need to investigate Adam further, maybe I missed some details in the previous eps? The whole 3 last minutes of politics subplot makes me go what (lol). I feel like there is a lots of potential to develop Adam and Tadashi (if we ever get season 2), because the ending “you are always my dog” isn’t something I would love to label them with, haha…
I try to guess why Adam uses the theme Funeral at the end and call it their departure, and I guess maybe the writer is taking the idea of resurrection in Christianity (and the way Adam’s skateboard is in the coffin shape and then becomes the cross may also symbolizes for the resurrection). Death is like a necessary purification. Adam wants Langa to go with him to the higher realm, died as humans and if Langa can resurrect, then it’s proved that Langa can be Eve (a higher existence).
I think you’re probably right about the Resurrection theme they were going for. It makes a lot of sense when you put it that way.
I understand why you said that you would like to see a Beef between “old” ADAM and SNAKE (Tadashi), but I personally think that the beef would be boring. SNAKE and ADAM basically have the same skate-style so there wouldn’t really be a challenge.
I can also understand why the writers cut some beefs, because like you said the outcome were clear. And secondly the beefs could get weird and boring to watch.
I mean, I myself skate and some things just irritated me. Like the Passionate Kiss or the Turbo Boost, where ADAM would throw his board 10 meters in front of him. ( I’m overdoing it lmao, but you get I mean). Those things are just so unrealistic, and I mean I get it, it’s an anime but don’t overdo it haha.
Overall was the show great, good storytelling, Greater friendships. And I was expecting some weird, impossible skate-moves but the Passionate Kiss really took me off guard AHAHA.
PS. Really love your blogg xx.
Your writing is just so easy to follow and you analyze the show good. You really got me into blogging ahahha.
Thank you! :3 It makes me happy to hear that!
While they share their skate-style, one way they could differentiate it is focusing on how they break that similarity by implementing some creative strategies that is strictly unique to them. Then it might make it a bit more interesting. That said, so as long as the outcome was already predetermined to have Adam win, then yeah it would be boring. So they would probably need to add extra twist to make it more exciting to make it worth a while.
XD I don’t skate, but I totally get what you mean. The over-exaggeration of the techniques would sometimes break the immersion. Not to mention the extent of the injuries, especially for Reki’s case! It’s hard to strike a balance of when you have multiple characters being sent to a hospital for a certain injury, while making a special exception for another.