OP: “Paradise” by Rude-α

SK∞ is a funny one for me.  I have no interest in skateboarding, really.  Director Utsumi Hiroko is best known for Free! and Banana Fish, neither of which did anything for me.  I’m not a fan of Code Geass, far and away the signature work of writer Okouchi Ichiro (who also penned Kakumeki Valvrave).  And I had to look up how to type the “∞” on my keyboard, because I had absolutely no idea how and I wasn’t going to copy-paste the damn thing over and over.

But you know, I really liked it anyway.

Bones is Bones, first of all.  They’re not bulletproof by any means but generally speaking, they’re as likely to be a positive indicator as any studio working in TV anime today.  Above and beyond that, even if a topic is not of particular interest to you, if the creators approach it with passion and verve, it can still be engaging (see karuta, kabuki, cart racing etc.).  I have no idea if either Okouchi or Utsumi are passionate or knowledgeable about skateboarding (her resume suggests Utsumi-sensei is passionate about bishounen, at the very least) but if they aren’t, they’re doing a more than adequate job of faking it.

Yes, abandon counts for a lot.  But there’s a lot of skill on display in SK∞ as well.  The OP and ED are both really clever (I especially liked the latter encyclopedically showing all the various wipeouts with their Japanese – and English – names), and even the eyecatches were fun.  Takahashi Ryou (who wrote the earworm Eizouken OP theme) does a great job with the music.  Bones doesn’t cut corners, generally, and while it’s relatively unusual for them to work with well-established directors from other studios (they aren’t quite as insular as Kyoto Animation, where Utsumi trained), it’s clear they have one with real talent to work with here.

The story?  It’s pretty silly, but that works with the mood.  Reki (Hatanaka Tasaku in a role he was born to play) is a skate-crazy Okinawa high schooler who works part time at a board shop (with Pikachu for some reason).  Langa (Kobayashi Chiaki) is a half-Canadian (though I’ve never heard of a Canadian with that name) who’s just returned to Japan to live with his Japanese mom.  Fire and ice, literally (it’s not subtle, but nothing about SK∞ is).  “S” is the illegal skateboarding race – in an abandoned mine, no loss – Reki is addicted to.  And Shadow (Miyake Kenta, hilariously) is his nemesis and the general boogeyman of the piece.

As I noted in the preview, it’s quite odd that there have been so few (or no) anime that focus on skateboarding, because it’s as popular in Japan as anywhere and with anime’s target demographic to boot.  If anime needed one, I think Sk∞ fills the bill more than admirably so far – it’s really fun and seems to take the boarding part pretty seriously.  The connection between snowboarding and skateboarding (Langa is a snowboarder and thus a fish out of water in Okinawa) is legit – many competitive boarders cross over, most famously Shaun White (but Tony Hawk is good on a snowboard too).  I can’t speak from experience as I can do neither, but from what people tell me it’s a very similar skill set.

My biggest concern here, really, is whether Okouchi-sensei can hold me with the writing over the long-term, but I suspect working with lighter material might be to his advantage.  I quite like all the characters so far, including the goofy shop manager.  Reki and Langa are engaging enough, and the outlandish characters are suitably outlandish.  While it’s not a terribly high bar, this is the premiere this season that’s most exceeded my expectations, and that makes it a strong candidate to stick around.

ED: “Infinity (インフィニティ)” by Yuuri (優里)