SK8 The Infinity — First impressions from an anime newbie…
SK8 the infinity is a brand new ‘sports/action anime’ brought to us by Studio Bones, the creators of other popular shows such as Boku No Hero Academia and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
At the time of writing this blog post the show is currently live, up to episode 8. Season 1 will conclude with 12 episodes, meaning that we are firmly through the bulk of introduction and setting the scene.
SK8 follows the story of Reki Kyan, an outgoing and passionate teenage boy with a love for skateboarding. He gets involved with an underground skating race called ‘S’.
‘S’ introduces us to a plethora of diverse skaters each with their own styles and backstories.
Reki’s day to day life becomes quickly transformed when student and snowboarding enthusiast Langa Hasegawa transfers into his class from Canada. He begins to teach Langa how to skate and they quickly become best friends due to their perfect pairing of personalities.
For many anime fans, I feel it can be crucial for an opening sequence to provide hype and a hook that not only gives you an insight into what to expect from the incoming story, but the animation, characters and general feel of the show.
The opening sequence for SK8 instantly captures the vibe of the show and swept me away. We are hit straight off the bat with an upbeat, catchy opening song from the incredibly talented Japanese rapper, Rude-α. I find it impossible not to dance and feel hyped up the moment I hear it, and it sets such an exciting and energised tone for the episode to come.
The way the additional characters are presented, you can tell that the studio took great pride in their designs and made the absolute most out of them, rather than just focusing on the main two characters.
The brief snippets of story that you can infer just from following the opening animation, at times paints a more serious story than how the song feels. The moment where Reki and Langa are stood back to back, and Langa disappears moments before Reki falls into a hole, it creates a lot of anticipation and suspense, it makes you keen to watch so you can find out.
“What does this mean?” “Where did he go?” “Who took him and why?”
So is this just another cliche sports anime, filled with pretty characters and endless fan service?
Personally, I love that the characters are beautiful, the art style boasts everything that Studio Bones has to offer. The vibrancy of the opening animation alone is consistent throughout the show, and brings a feel-good and carefree vibe. This is something that is totally synonymous with the concept of skating, being outdoors and having summertime fun and really hits the mark.
For those that are more story-driven and value beautiful animation, I very much urge you to give this show a try. Prior to watching SK8, the extent of my experience with sports anime goes as far as Haikyuu! so I wasn’t entirely sure what more to expect from the genre, but have been very impressed. I really don’t think you need to be an avid skater, or have any prior knowledge of the sport to fit the target audience of this show.
It goes without saying that how realistic the skating is, should be taken with a pinch of salt. However, I don’t think this detracts from the impact of the shows’ concept. Personally, I get easily distracted if the story is unable to capture my attention and the characters don’t resonate with me in some way, but havent had this issue with SK8.
It has a great balance of playful and enchanting characters, as mentioned earlier each having their own skate styles and personalities. Despite the show being easy going and innocent to start, it is palpable that there is always a meaningful direction that the storyline is working towards.
To summarise, I think that the story is developing at a great pace, and the characters have quickly built substance over the last 8 episodes to a point where the story provokes a great array of emotional responses from me personally. I feel completely invested in the side characters just as much as the main characters, and as the second half of the season develops into a more serious arc I feel the intensity and the hook even more than before.
Every single week it leaves me feeling bitter whenever we get that visual cut to those palm trees! I’m constantly demanding to know more, and being utterly impatient for the next episode!
I watch the new episodes with around 10–20 others in the SK8 The Infinity discord server, each week upon release. The server is free and open to all fans of the show and can be joined here. The live reactions and responses I have witnessed are a huge testimony to the fact that this anime has captured the hearts of viewers very quickly, and you should definitely not miss out!
