Oh, there he is.
I never would have thought that SK∞’s downfall would be that it got too silly. But that is the case, at least in part. In point of fact it was a sort of double-whammy, because it got too silly and too serious at the same time, and that’s not a good combination. This show has a certain authenticity to it that was very much on display in the first several episodes – it does a very good job portraying the experience of being a boy. There’s a great line from the FLCL manga that exemplifies this – “To be a boy is to be a fool. And to be a fool is pure bliss.” SK∞ gets that – and it was at its best when that’s really all it was.
I guess that’s why the best part of the episode was the “Sketchy” bit (Sketchy is apparently the Fennec Fox’s name), because that was silly in a good way. Very much in character both for the boys and the series. But there’s too much plot now, and frankly I just don’t think SK∞ is very good at plot. I mean, the whole premise of Reki skating against Adam in the first place is ludicrous to begin with. Shadow gets injured (purely for plot convenience, mind) and someone who wasn’t even in the tournament gets a free ride to the semi-finals? I know this is just an exhibition but that’s not how tournaments work. It’s a walkover, or at the bare minimum one of the quarterfinalists gets a lucky loser entry. Again, plot convenience.
So just to recap – Miya gets eliminated offscreen (it doesn’t even get acknowledged later except by inference) and Shadow gets eliminated without even getting to skate. Oh, and Tadashi eliminates himself because he’s decided Adam’s best chance of regaining his love for skating (which Tadashi has suddenly decided he needs to do) is to skate against his Eve. I suppose there is at least a certain symmetry there – the one who gave him a love of skating is best to kill that love, and Snow is the one to rekindle it. But it’s still pretty damn silly.
I don’t really want to see Adam redeemed, because he’s basically an asshole who deserves to have bad things happen to him and showing us a few Comiket childhood moments doesn’t change that. And I hate the fact that everyone else in the cast – Miya, Shadow, Joe, Cherry – have become almost totally irrelevant. Adam and Reki’s beef being full of the absurdest stunts is, well- silly. But silly in that context really isn’t as much of a problem for SK∞. It’s expected. I just don’t think the writing was up to the task of turning this into an actual plot-driven story, which really means it should never have made the attempted. And given that if I were betting I’d wager this gets another season, it doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence at the prospect.
Kim
March 29, 2021 at 1:02 amMiya didn’t get eliminated off screen. It was shown that Adam’s old friend/servant clearly beat him
animealex
March 29, 2021 at 1:48 amTo be completely honest, I’m now (!) mostly here for the LanReki stuff and at least on that front the series delivers (even though the series will toy around with that forever without outright confirming what’s blindly obvious).
Regarding your criticisms: I agree totally, though I would turn it around: This is a silly fun show at it’s core, who tries to be a serious drama at times, but isn’t able to handle that. It wants some stuff taken deadly serious and then magically invalidates it the next scene (like Reki’s injuries). For example, to get Reki to make such a 180 degree on his (totally right btw.) revulsion against skating with Adam because skating is fun, you would need some more time to get him there believably. And then he gets his stuff kicked in for the duration of the race, lost (by a hair) but is totally okay with that, because skating is fun? Why not make it total silly and take the whole BL-clichés for what they are and make it so, that Reki skates against Adam to keep his bestboyfriend out of Adam’s clutches? Then at least you have a more realistic reason for Reki to endure Adam’s continued assault. And don’t get me started on Tadashi’s bullshit, that Adam must be healed by Langa, another skating prodigy. Tadashi is as delusional as his master and at this point is nothing more than an enabler of Adam’s behavior, so I lost all the respect I had for him as a character. Adam getting redeemed: Yeah, f*** that too! /end of rant.
Still, some fun and silly stuff remained, which cheered me up:
-Adam did really write his perceived teenage rival on the affection/attention from another teenager an invitation with the words: “Dear the third wheel…” Okay, that got me. How petty, creepy and delusional can you be?
-When the other party members pleaded with Ainosuke-sama to become their figure head, one of them said (according to the translation I watched): “We need someone to pipe us to the core!” I had to rewind that for a few times and needed a minute or two to compose myself.
-Who knew Fennec foxes and skates could be so adorable, yet deadly?
-“Oh, you’re the guy from the Love hotel…”
-“Where’s Carla?” Over there in Shadow’s hospital room, so he can watch the S-race and get in trouble with the night nurse. (as someone who has worked in a hospital for some years: Don’t do that!)
-Adam tried his new and improved technique: Serious assault with a weapon and deadly intent during the rain on a 17 year old. It was not very effective. In fact, it resulted in epic fail.
-The fact, that the writers came up with a half-way believably way Reki could nearly beat Adam: Using Reki’s knowledge about skating applied to environmental factors, while also utilizing Adam’s hubris made me smile.
-Oh, it looks like my second OTP (Adam X Jail) is coming into focus next episode.
-Unrelated to the episode: There’s a Cindereki drama CD which features a glass skateboard and Joe as the muscle fairy godmother…
A second season? Huh, is the show financially successful enough for that? Streaming numbers don’t look so hot and I’m not aware that there’s enough merchandise being sold. (I bought the OST btw.) I mean, I can see some fun ideas for a second season (but please keep the half-assed drama out of it).
Sorry for the long post. The fact remains that this show has some silly parts that I look forward to (which I wanted to point out) while it also enrages me to no end on some other aspects. All in all, I’m still on board.
Scampi
March 29, 2021 at 1:49 amAdam was fun at first but his drama really ruined the show. The episodes before Miya vs Langa showdown and the beach episode are my favourites, and his absence really stands out. I guess I should be at least thankful they held back on releasing Adam for that long, considering he’s the “plot” driver.
Snowball
March 29, 2021 at 4:38 amAdam is first and foremost an obnoxious character who deserves no pity. I was ecstatic to see him fall flat on his ass.
Kim
March 29, 2021 at 8:37 am“ The fact, that the writers came up with a half-way believably way Reki could nearly beat Adam: Using Reki’s knowledge about skating applied to environmental factors, while also utilizing Adam’s hubris made me smile.”
Yeah was Reki doing that well against Adam a bit far fetched? Absolutely! But at least it was based on his skills as a Skateboard designer and not him suddenly becoming skilled like Langa and the rest (I do wish they left the jump out of it though). And I suppose it happening to rain was quite convenient for Reki
And for all the melodrama in these last episodes I am glad Langa never was influenced by Adam. I think the fact that while Reki was jealous of Langa’s skill over his own. Langa’s admiration of Reki’s knowledge of skating came through. Of course I ship them too (this series screams for that sort of thing) but shipping aside I love the positive way their friendship and partnership is written despite a few bumps in the road.
animealex
March 29, 2021 at 3:02 pm“I do wish they left the jump out of it though.” Well, physics went out of the window a long time ago. I accepted that as part of the general silliness of the show, which doesn’t bother me that much. It’s only the inconsistency which angers me. I mean (for example) in episode four Reki was seriously injured after a love-hug from Adam and now, he got mangled far, far worse by him and comes out looking fine.
Also regarding LanReki’s relationship/friendship: Totally agree. It works with them either way (hence why I call them bestboyfriends). I’ve only seen some very few negative comments regarding them in the western side of the fandom, so their chemistry apparently works across the board. The only few people who don’t like them, are the usual suspects who are against any romantic m/m pairings. Why they bother to watch this show where (except Shadow and Miya) all main characters are at least a little bit suspect to bat for the other team (or swinging both ways), baffles me. I mean you can watch it for the skating action, but alas that went out of focus after introduction of the melodrama following episode seven.
Guardian Enzo
March 29, 2021 at 3:09 pmI see Joe as married to Kaoru and sleeping around with a bunch of women.
Indeed, if the idea of m/m romance puts you off, why are you watching this series in the first place? It clearly recognizes who a large chunk of its audience is, and nods to them non-stop.
elianthos80
March 30, 2021 at 12:58 am*sighs, smiles* it’s ironic how once I did follow your rec to watch this and started watching I figured your opinion and mine about it would follow an opposite trajectory.
And a reminder that this is not an anime about the meaning of being a boy (!!!!) – pardon me if I am snorting in my tea – , so if you approached this with that kind of goggles you’re setting up yourself for disappointment regardless?
Anywayyyyyyyy… I liked this episode for the most part? Because the writing was on the wall since the Adam and Eve were uttered and physics realism went out of the window FAST in favour of allegories and a ton of queercoding and corrida x Latin Dancing performances. Which if you can’t be bothered to look into then fine, but without that metaphorical key you definitely loose the roadmap and the logic they’re following. Add to that a few sprinkles of very vintage anime villians bloodlines. Nice job on being condescending with that childhood Comiket remark scenes bit anyway. Pat yourself on the back for that some more.
My main cons here are really that they could have tightened/condensed a few scenes and plot points a touch more in the past weeks because there’s not enough screentime left if one season was all they had in mind to finish. But still I liked this episode.
Chalk it up to ‘the writing is on the wall’ – or rather on their skating boards. Reki is all about gears and wrenches and mechanical wings and bright pop of colour. Adam is about torment and hearts and roses – where his childhood Eden happened – and chrysanthemums – Tadashi’s surname. And red bleeding/blooming even inside his politician persona”s car – and masquerades and all or nothing eternal love and high contrast palettes. And their names: Adam is ‘Love Hug Dream’, Koyasu even introduced himself in the series’ VA weekly talks by joking about it . And their effing color schemes. The storyboards. Everything?????? – but I liked this episode because it was consistent with the one reading key you are not considering, that is… the subtext is more important than the text here (you might remember the ‘end’ of the Kurenai anime some time ago? Subtextually sound, literally not so much. It happens. ). Skating is a metaphor more than a sport per se. And if you were following along this track then things have been happening *as expected because all the clues and the buildup and the symbolism and the parallels were there*: this was bound to become the Reki Rising episode, and he races, and he’s the moral winner. And because of the parallel/symbolism the writing have been insisting on since the beginning this was also the one episode where Adam – the once soaring in the sunlight kid as long as Tadashi and shared skateboarding were there to balance out his blood relatives darkness – was going to spiralling down and crashing, hitting rock bottom. He has been playing matador but he’s the bull – again see his skateboard design and decoration- , and the more his public facade and family pressure increases their load the more the bull rages until he not only explodes but also starts imploding. -.
Reki regained his own light last week and now the rain rather than underline his misery is an ally, the heaven’s blessing. He soars by his spirit and his own engineering skills to find a solution and has mad fun doing so. He’s not afraid. Adam can’t hurt him *in any ways that matter* anymore, even his clothes and his oh-so-very-sunshine-yellow top survive the race ordeal basically intact. Adam is cornered as a politician, cornered as Shindo heir under the Aunts’ thumbs and family obligations, his one skating outlet has an expiration date one way or the other. Tadashi is by his side but so far still too under the weight oh internalized inferiority and misguided guilt&devotion, to the point they’re together yet alone. This week at least it all came crashing down. The bull is under siege from all sides, and they’ll soon get him. No escape left, and no more skating escapades either. Adam the clay man is literally undone by the rain and returns to eat mud with the onlooker mocking him – likely foreshadowing the other downfall /fall from (fake) grace waiting for him at home by Kiriko’s police hand – . He’s a pitiful broken wreck of a man and no alter ego can compensate that – the politician is puppet of the family, the god of S pedestal crumbled this week after punching a kid to boot and still loosing to his spirit – , in fact it only compounded his issues of repressed hurt and rage being project on others and his delusion to escape reality for an impossible fantasy.
And to add to that what about a touch Char Aznable masked glowing eyes right at the end? Just in case the antihero flavour was not strong enough, or the mix of zany off the wall and serious yet ridiculous was not part of this series DNA from its inception 😛 .
Also on the visual gags side I love me some infinity eggs in the frying pan but two far apart sausages + the infinit DAP vs the training pool being shaped like an 8 – ohohoh more infinity… but confined? Reki ‘wins’ because his infinity skating is about embracing limitless possibilities and is filled with love/friendship. Ohohoh. And no abusive family environment to grow up into – .
This was just a chunk of the tip of the iceberg of this zany messy but methedical in his messiness nominally sport anime that’s also not about being a boyyyyyyyyy, but oy I’m not going to do all the work for you anyway 😛 Peace out! 😀
Marmot
April 2, 2021 at 1:50 pmI’ve been reading Random Curiosity for how many years and I just found out you had your own blog, Enzo? For shame!
I just caught up on Sk8. I’ve been enjoying the fun and camp, but this episode was more cringe than fun for me. The overdramatic beatings, people pointing and laughing at ADAM the second he slips up, and the rain wheels all had me going “ehhh”. The emotional beats just failed to land. And the ONE skateboarding course has overstayed its welcome too imo. There were so many places they could have gone after the hot spring episode but I feel like they’ve been retreading the same ground instead, plot-wise and location-wise.
Guardian Enzo
April 2, 2021 at 2:34 pmWell you know, in my defense the link to LiA has been in my RC bio from day one!
Whatever you think of SK∞ get used to it, because I’m going to be very surprised if there isn’t another season or at least a movie. Hopefully it can recapture some of the charm of the first half.
Color2413
April 3, 2021 at 6:39 amMy main problem with this show from the beginning has been the ADAM character, who is a stereotypical “sexually-aggressive queen” of almost cosmic offensiveness, even by the (ahem)..relaxed…standards typically found in anime.
I am also puzzled by the costumes and makeup. In the universe I live in, this stuff was cutting edge ca. 1970 (with David Bowie’s Ziggy character) and still cool ca. 1972 (the peak of the glam era). By 1975, with the advent of KISS mass-marketing a similar look to straight teenage boys with a wink and sneer, it had already descended into self-parody. What I can’t figure out is whether this show pays homage to a style now a half-century in the past or if BONES really thought there was anything cutting-edge about this look in 2021.
On the other hand, I’m totally down with LanReki, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought, “hey guys, when’s the wedding?”