Review: Sk8 the Infinity

Skating is fun and you would definitely not die trying any of these tricks.

Sk8 the Infinity was one of the biggest surprises of the season. I only gave it a try because it sounded stupid and I thought it might be worth a laugh. I mean, really, secret underground skateboard races? But then I watched it and went, hey, this is actually pretty good!

At its best, Sk8 was a joy to watch. Which is fitting, since it’s all about how much fun it is to skate. The two lead characters, Reki and Langa, had great chemistry together, and I liked how pretty much the whole cast turned into a big group of friends (even the ones that started out as rivals). There was a lot of good comedy as well -it was probably the funniest show I watched this season. I also liked how over the top the races were. They pull out the most ridiculous moves, which is great because I’m sure a regular skate race would’ve been pretty boring. In general, it just did a great job at showing how everyone enjoyed what they were doing, which was the underlying theme of the whole show.

The one thing that put a damper on all this was Reki’s arc in the second half. I get what it was going for. Reki’s a good skater, but he’s nowhere near the top. The friend he taught everything quickly surpassed him and is now in a realm of his own. It makes sense that he would feel inadequate or even envious. But it just got dragged out for way too long, so we got episode after episode of Reki sulking. It really didn’t fit the overall mood of the series. Especially since it also involved Reki pointing out that what Langa and Adam were doing was crazy and dangerous. And yeah, it is! The S races are absurd and half of their stunts would probably lead to horrible injuries. But you’re supposed to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the spectacle. Having a character call them out like that breaks that suspension, and it didn’t even matter in the end.

It was doubly weird because I assumed Reki was the main character. I’m not sure whether he was ever supposed to be, but he certainly came across that way. But he effectively ends up as a support character for Langa. He did get some closure in the second last episode, and there’s nothing wrong with the message that fun is more important than winning, but it’s still strange when that message comes in the middle of a tournament arc, one that the ostensible protagonist skipped out on.

On the whole, Sk8 was still pretty good and well worth watching. The low points are a bit of a chore, but it didn’t ruin the experience.

Rating: Fine+