What's so Gr8 About Sk8 The Infinity

as a child i was not a skater the very prospect of hurling myself at a half pipe terrified me down to my fragile little bones still does yet when i imagined my turn of the century childhood as a place in time the first image that springs to mind is of sunny summer suburbs backing onto sprawling skateparks from the addictive arcade action of what's his face from twitter's pro skater to the anarchic mode of locomotion chosen by cartoon sitcom's most marketable bad boy to the weirdo's hobby of actually going outside the gentle grind of polyurethane on pavement was ever present in the soundtrack of the end of history i know that skating hasn't gone anywhere in fact it's bigger now than it ever was at long last officially joining the olympics in tokyo 2020 whenever that eventually happens but to me skateboards are always going to be as emblematic of the late 90s through early 2000s as pogs pokemon and beyblades are and because i spent most of my time in that time staring at beyblade and import cartoons and games like it air gear and jet set radio being of particular relevance today skate the infinity despite being somehow the first skateboarding anime ever made instills in me an indescribably powerful nostalgia at the same time though it strikes me as one of the most modern and forward-thinking anime of this moment a true technical achievement that could only have come from the mind of hiroko utsumi the pen of ichiro okochi and the combined staff talent of peak studio bones with help from a lot of their friends flexing for the production committee that they're on trying to get some of that free [ __ ] you money kyo and he's tapped into if you know what i'm saying there's gonna be statues of these boys for days i'm talking rem numbers because in the year of the himbo 2021 skate the infinity stands at the bleeding edge of himbotronics skate the infinity does at times make me as a specifically tall canadian human male feel like a piece of meat much like free minus the specific tall canadian part and hey fair play we get the inverse in most anime and i've been quite firm in my affirmations of adoration for gynax and gazongas i mean i love air gear i'm just not used to being on the receiving end of it is all but skate the infinity is kind of like high q so bones tinglingly awesome that i don't even notice it unless i think about it sorry if you didn't notice it and i made you think about it by the way like once you realize lange's got more moe in him than most of your kudu-ray wife is combined it's hard to separate that knowledge from your enjoyment of his enjoyment of his shonen anime level innate skateboarding awesomeness you just want to be hyped about that sick trick but then you see in his face how thrilled he is to have pulled it off and the adrenaline is tempered by a small proud dose of i raised that boy myself but yeah if you're just here for the hot blooded shown in action i'm really sorry about putting that thought in your head and for making you think about how kyoko and yachan are the actual protagonists of haikyuu if you need to pause the video for a second let your mind adjust i understand it had to be done though mucho coutensei has reminded me that we can't properly grapple with art unless we face it head on and acknowledge it for what it truly is and we certainly couldn't taxonomically classify skate the infinity the same way i scribed the true names of miyamura izumi crouching dweeb hidden himbo geelane d'doldia dwayne the cat girl johnson and shadow the hedgehog double vegeta mickey mouse without first accurately identifying the component vibrations that in chorus comprise the whole vibe that is skate the infinity as i will demonstrate in the next insert number minutes and a bit skate the infinity is an eclectically influenced psychedelically colorful shonen-tastically fun tribute to the king of action sports that feels exactly now like beyblade did then in summer 2002 at the same time skate the infinity is independently awesome by every modern standard in a truly timeless way it also seems like something that anyone who skateboards now or anyone in general would appreciate having around on a day too hot to go outside and thrash or too cold or any day really it's pretty much always a good time but on that note there is just no denying that this anime also exists to slake a hot and powerful thirst in as anyone who appreciates moe or ecchi can attest a manner that will only make those who partake thirstier in the end kinda like how soda dries your throat out in other words skate the infinity is swamp water slurpees the anime and i cannot recommend it highly enough roll sponsor this video is brought to you by expressvpn the best vpn on the web according to techradar cnet the verge and other expert outlets now in case you bailed into a coma back in 2006 and are using this video about the most awesome anime you could have imagined back then to get caught up a vpn is a tool that re-routes your web browsing traffic through a secure server elsewhere in the world expressvpn has 3 000 of the fastest servers in 94 different countries which allow you to access sites and services not available where you live for example you can watch anime tv shows and movies on the internet now like legally on dedicated websites as single big videos not broken up into 37 four-minute long parts it's called netflix yeah the same thing your weirdo friends used instead of blockbuster which uh i have bad news about and while netflix is great regional licensing restrictions mean that there's a lot that you simply can't watch on there but with expressvpn's easy to use one-click app and browser plug-in you can make netflix think you're in the uk or canada and start watching studio ghibli's entire library i use expressvpn all the time to get around content blocks and make my overall internet exploration more private and secure since it also encrypts my data hiding what i'm doing from websites hackers my internet service provider and anyone else who might be snooping around to see for yourself how expressvpn opens up the internet and find out how you can get three months of premium service free head to expressvpn.com basement today to fully appreciate how great skate the infinity really is we first need to comprehend just how difficult it is for an anime to even be what it's attempting to be because there's a reason that in almost 80 years of anime and as many years of skateboarding the twain have never before formally met well besides their one speed dating encounter in the malcolm in the middle op which is actually one of exactly two good shots in a bad 90s ova called dimension movement of nazca and there are plenty of other anime with skateboarder bad guys and background characters in them not to mention pro tags like detective conan death the kid and kill you uh it's not like nobody has ever put a skateboarder in an anime before but making an anime about skateboarders is a wildly different and exponentially more challenging prospect part of the reason we never got a skateboarding anime back when malcolm in the middle was making us feel like there really ought to be one is that the necessary tech still had a lot of catching up to do it's pretty much a given that any skateboarding anime will need to lean heavily on 3d camera movement to properly convey an immersive sense of speed and momentum of course the same holds true for any action sports or racing related anime from initial d to yoapeta and there are ways of conveying that without 3d backgrounds that sakuga shot from malcolm in the middle is a great example but skating isn't just a sport it's also an entire sub-genre of documentary filmmaking with a long storied history and plenty of established visual conventions that are hard to emulate in animation for example the ground level fisheye tracking shot achieved by scooting along on your own board behind or beside the featured skater and dangling traditionally speaking a sony dcr vx1000 handycam from its handle is a staple of the sub genre and that specific style of camera work is a lot more imperfect reactive and organic than the predictably mechanical camera motion seen in other racing anime even using full 3d backgrounds which skate the infinity mostly doesn't do instead opting to go the initial d route of representing roadside trees bushes rocks and characters as flat cards on mode 7 style scrolling ground textures emulating the vx1000 viewpoint in a traditional 2d animation layout is a real feat but a fundamentally necessary one because much like a tarantino movie or monogatari episode the other kind of feet are the focal point of the action in skating every trick begins in the subtle dynamics of their weight on and friction against the board and the way a skater dances on his or her ride is the core of their skill and style which of course means that in addition to convincingly capturing that camera angle the animators of skate the infinity also needed to pay a great deal of attention to micro scale detail when it came to foot placement weight distribution and overall technique and that holds true even when the camera pulls back to show us more of the action from a production standpoint animated skateboarding is just technical challenges all the way down then again so was swimming and hiroko utsumi seems to relish those challenges i should note again here as i touch on technique and almost certainly say some wrong things that i am not a skater but merely a skateboard appreciator and tony hawk worshiper describing things i have casually observed in my own words rather than things i have physically experienced in the community's lingo i stress this for the same reason that skate the infinities op stresses its ability to nail that all-important highly technical low fisheye angle in its third shot authenticity is vital when it comes to skateboarding more so than almost any gatekeepy geek subculture i can think of that's something i've been acutely aware of ever since at 9 years old i was made to feel like an [ __ ] for enjoying how world industries fire and ice mascots looked on a t-shirt that i ended up throwing out regardless of how i or anyone else feels about it though that aspect of skating is what it is and any new piece of mass media professing its rad scatitude will inevitably be subject to intense scrutiny in its efforts to satisfy that subculture and at least from my poser's perspective it sure seems like skate the infinity nails everything it needs to nail it's not a 100 realistic representation of the sport in case the guy with the transforming robot skateboard named carla didn't clue you in it gets pretty [ __ ] anime with it pretty [ __ ] fast it is too real skateboarding what beyblade is to real competitive top bashing the core concept of late night no holds barred downhill races and a secret abandoned mine shaft leans as much on hashiriya drifting history and pro wrestling kayfabe as it does on real world skating culture although building a grassroots community and skating space around a disused industrial lot is very much in the skater spirit there's also a fair number of tricks in here that if you tried to do them you would die yet despite the many liberties taken this anime also takes pains to showcase the pains taken by every real skater in pursuit of their art these beautiful anime boys spend a lot of time eating pavement and dirt and not just because mr i'm the joker baby heel skater flings firecrackers at them on the downhill it takes a lot of time patience effort antiseptic and bandages to get good at skating and a lot of courage that i know i don't have to throw yourself into that after your first faceplant skate the infinity celebrates every step and bale of that journey in its first few episodes even if langa does shoot through it all unnaturally quickly with his snowboarding expertise and even after everyone's got a handle on how to shred the show still caps off every episode with a soothing laid-back bale reel of an ed that never stops being hilarious the other thing that ed captures and this is equally true of the show itself is the general vibe of chilling with your friends before or after wearing yourself ragged on the ramps as a canadian like langa i especially appreciate the show's inclusion of anw as a hangout spot something i didn't even know they had in japan even if it is the inferior american version of the restaurant that root beer is still sublime and it's pretty cool that they serve poutine i really appreciate how much langa appreciates that on that note the hangout atmosphere would obviously fall flat if the characters the shows asking us to hang out with weren't all so gosh darn lovable let's start with the side villains turned sidekicks shadow no relation to double vegeta mickey mouse is a chunibio kiss wannabe posturing like he's the toughest guy to ever careen down a mine shaft at unsafe speeds even though his skating skills are only so-so he makes up for that by pulling a lot of dick-dastardly-style dirty tricks on the track firmly cementing him as a low-effort wrestling heel though he has some depth revealed when we meet him at his day job hiromi higa is a meek sensitive big fella with a big crush on his boss and the shadow alter ego is his way of embodying the sort of cool manly man he thinks she'd fall for kind of exactly like black suit toby maguire it's cute in a deeply embarrassing way speaking of miyachin is a tween skating prodigy who spends every second he's not bound to his board glued to a swintendo niche and speaks about real life almost entirely in dragon quest metaphors he acts cool and aloof and has the skills to back it up but deep down he's just a huge dweeb who lost the few friends his age that he had to their own skateboard battered egos and who just needs someone to believe in and support him the series main villain who we'll get to shortly manipulates him through that need until recce and langa formally induct him into their nakama squad shadow never gets such an induction the gang just uses him for his work car but he and miwa do get along pretty well on account of how they're both 12 on the inside those two represent the middle tier of s racing competition while at the upper echelons sit kojiro nanjo aka joe a muscle-bound italian chef whose skating style relies on raw instinct and strength and kauru sakurayashiki aka cherry blossom a pro calligrapher by day who combines his own calculating mind with the ai assistance of carla to mathematically perfect his runs the two can't stand each other arguing incessantly like only lifelong best friends can they each represent a different ideal of manliness and both provide guidance to our main characters in life and skating alike speaking of canadians don't get a lot of representation in anime and it's even rarer for them to feel like real canadians when they do the uh vancouverite cat girl from gj boo didn't really do it for me but langa hasegawa i immediately recognize as one of my countrymen he loves poutine he's polite to a fault just excessive enough in his sorry saying they did their homework here he's also great as his own person though quiet and reserved clearly a bit hesitant to make connections after losing his dad but affable as heck when he warms up and ice cold in focus on his sport of choice while still coming off as exuberantly passionate about skating and snowboarding wrecky kyon in contrast is full of fire an archetypal shonen protagonist eager to evangelize about the joys of skating to anyone who will listen which is exactly none of his classmates until langa shows up he's the perfect person to push the canadian exchange student out of his shell and drag him into the world of illegal underground skateboard wacky racing known as s and langa is in turn the perfect pal for him always happy to listen and always excited to impress his new friend when he masters a new trick of course that does end up grading on recce with time when it becomes clear that his friend is on a whole other level that he may never be able to reach no matter how hard he works at it but he'll never let that stop him from working hard at it even if he does need to mope for a minute or an entire month of the show's run time in which he's barely smiled but he'll pick himself back up that's just the kind of haiku hinata he is main villain adam founder and undefeated champion of s is the one who comes bull rushing in to bust up this happy couple figuratively and literally since he tends to put those he races in the hospital he singles out langa for his unparalleled air catching ability and quick learning as his eve the one skater who can dance with him as they push each other to reach new heights whether longa wants that or not adam is a great villain with a lot of power both on the track and off it in his double life as a corrupt politician but more importantly as you may have gathered from looking at him he's skateboarding matador dio played by dio's voice actor takehito kuyasu which means that he absolutely gobbles the [ __ ] out of the scenery in every second he's on screen it's positively delightful so much so that despite his whole aggressive won't take no for an answer yowie man thing representing an exceptionally harmful stereotype i cannot help but love him neither it seems can his faithful lifelong man-servant tadashi who got him started with his skating obsession as a kid to help him escape from the insane pressures of his rich politically power-hungry family and now seeks to save him from a self-destructive spiral of indulgence by skating super awesomely at him of course my prediction is that by series and he'll help adam happily return to something resembling his old self and they'll ride off to probably prison together leaving wanga and reki to patch things up and enjoy each other's company now you may have caught on by this point that i've only mentioned two girls so far and the only one with the name is literally an object it doesn't quite stop with carla and flower shop manager there is this one hot and tough cop lady in the mix plus longa's mom reki's mom and sister not to mention adam's evil aunts but all of them have about as much screen time as the robot skateboard or less and the show places a strong emphasis on male bonding initial d's downhill jammers don't need girlfriend spirit is strong in this one is what i'm saying despite the two skating senpai being presented as aggressively contrasting styles of ladies men and the ones seen in episode six where all the guys stand around on a boat staring at a girl and talking about how they'd definitely do a heterosexual kiss or two with her if they could there is no escaping the implications here just like free they are everywhere and i'm down with it because they're all endearingly stupid in the best possible way they've got every himbo vector covered from chuni loser himbo to beefcake chef himbo to himbo dio and langa and reki himbo no jutsu sasuke and naruto are especially adorable together they have great comedic chemistry they really bring out the best in each other and they fill important emotional voids in each other's lives so far in the series run this is all subtext albeit incredibly loud subtext same deal is free more or less so if you're hoping for any true yuri on ice style catharsis or representation probably don't set those hopes too high but as shipping fodder goes the writing here is franchise perpetuating dynamite and if that stuff makes you uncomfortable like i said everything surrounding it is shown in anime awesome enough to distract you and it's totally valid to interpret them as just being best friends best friends who like to hug each other shirtless and skateboard while staring into each other's eyes and who get super jealous when a better skater grabs their friend's attention just normal bro stuff you know you may have noticed that i segued into talking about the characters almost immediately after i started talking about skateboarding realism and i'll cop to it that is totally because i've only ever experienced the curves of a skatepark through thumb sticks and buttons but as someone who's spent way too long staring at tony hawk's american wasteland i can at least evaluate the aesthetic end of skate's vibe the sound design is pitch perfect just as i'd hoped from living legend masafumi mima as much attention is paid to the distinct oral texture of different wheels on various surfaces here as was paid to the unique engine noises of initial d or the inline wheel noises of paranoia agent and the extra anime sound effects have all the punch of a pokeball popping open i really don't think this show's sound mixing could have been put in better hands as for the show's musical accompaniment credited to princess principal op composer ryo takahashi along with orange ranges nalto meg of high and mighty color and two side one brain and video game veteran raito it hits all the right notes blending pop punk and alt rock hip hop and just about every other sound you'd expect to hear in a tony hawk game in a way that feels broadly applicable while still capturing the very specific ambiance of okinawan summer i have no complaints about the soundtrack save for the super personal nitpick that i would have loved to hear just one tokyo ska paradise orchestra song in there maybe some man with a mission or fear and loathing in las vegas this show is just begging for some needle drops is what i'm saying but the original stuff that is in there is amazing so too is skate the infinity's art direction just as skating has strong and complicated ties to an eclectic range of music scenes it has a distinct visual vibe about it deeply steeped in graphic art and graffiti culture something the op makes a nod to right after it's done nodding at the vx-1000 it's not hard to spot those visual elements in the show's world from tagged up back alley brickwork off the sun-soaked streets of okinawa to meticulously detailed pristine skate shop interiors to the grungy abandoned mine shaft of s itself every place we visit fits that vibe neatly and of course it's especially evident looking at the signature skate decks of the main cast each character customizes their board to suit their skating style with several varieties of cruiser street and longboard represented plus of course carla all very cool but not as cool as what's under the boards gorgeous graphic art repping the personalities of their riders little gamer gremlin mia has a bunch of little gamer gremlins under his board wannabe villain shadow has a gnarly ride befitting an edgelord clown adam the matador of love rides a heart tattooed bull themed longboard that is just perfectly extra i absolutely adore the yeti under langa's special swivel wheeled longboard too and the scarred up mishmash of graphics and decals on recce's patchwork ride perfectly reflects his colorful personality and diy work ethic all of these boards and their associated art were designed by studio no boarder helmed by designer illustrator thomas romain who you might also know as the world designer of carol and tuesday spaceship designer of space dandy art director of symfogear and creator of code lyoko and basquash in other words an absolute legend and i can say the same for both ayumi kake the artist who illustrated reki langa and mia's boards and loic locatelli who did the decals for shadow and joe all of these decks feel real enough to fly out of the screen at any second minus the robot one of course but it's probably the character designs themselves that are the most impressive part of the show's whole look they all wear loud colorfully busy clothing both in their casual attire and their skateboard wrestler getups with absurd anime embellishments that wouldn't look out of place on a skateboard deck themselves actually if that's not in the merch plans already someone on this production committee has hecked up quite severely hiroko utsumi's signature lighting flourishes mean that the on-screen images aren't always flat and poppy enough to completely fit that all the time but you could definitely pause this show at a lot of moments to grab a new deck design in exactly the same way that other anime serve as wallpaper generators this is especially true of the show's style shifts which cover a lot of artistic ground including glorious renaissance paintings but one of the most common in the show's super deformed comedic asides is this clean thick lined look often accompanied by crayon-style backgrounds that gives the characters the appearance of living decals with the talent behind it this show of course looks even better in motion than it does in screencaps with personality oozing out of every frame of character acting and the racing and trick animations are nothing short of breathtaking in their physicality and the stylish special effect flourishes that surround them visually speaking this show is just a triumph on every conceivable level all the more impressive considering that it suffered severe production hang-ups on account of you know the thing up until last week's apparently much needed break of a recap episode you'd hardly know that at all to look at it skate the infinity constantly and consistently exudes the aura of a true passion project made by skilled artists who want to break new ground and challenge themselves to do something no other anime has done before well mostly if there's one place where skate doesn't innovate like not even a little bit it's in the story department anyone who's watched sports anime greats like ping pong initial d or baby steps or just a sports anime before has already seen every big trick this show will ever pull the rookie with a natural knack for designated sports game born from tangentially related past experience the buddy rival who helps him learn the ropes but then gets salty when surpassed in skill the absurdly over aggressive early bad guys turned comedy relief companions a metaphorical motif of humans taking flight when they push against their limits and enter the zone i'll admit the adam ava and snake references are a novel touch subtle way of paying homage to the only other skateboarding anime metal gear solid 2 but that's all skin on the bones of plot and the masterful antagonist singling out a young talent who stands to challenge his long-held sporting dominance has been done many times before like a true pro skater though the skill and personality with which skate the infinity executes these tricks and strings them together into a captivatingly cohesive performance is what sets it apart and makes each one feel fresh and exciting though really we should expect no less from ichiro okochi the screenwriter behind princess principal devilman crybaby and code geass which i think i'm coming around on actually i really need to rewatch that under his expert guidance skates big hype set pieces always manage to satisfy the skating beefs that connect them all have significant enough narrative stakes and while i don't think this show is about to move me on anywhere near the same level as ping pong the characters and their conflicts with themselves and each other ring true enough to compel my continued viewership in other words if you're looking for exactly the kind of good time you've come to expect from a good sports anime skate the infinity all caps delivers it doesn't rewrite the sports anime playbook but it doesn't need to because it's delivering an aesthetic experience no one's ever had before with masterful direction and respectful authenticity skate the infinity's taste is a medley of familiar if colorful flavors but the way they're mixed together is remarkably refreshing it is swamp water slurpees the anime and i cannot recommend it highly enough i'm jeff though professional [ __ ] bag signing out from my mother's basement you

Channel: Mother's Basement

Views: 308,430

Keywords: Mother's Basement, Anime, Anime Analysis, sk8 the infinity, SK∞, studio bones, hiroko utsumi, free, skateboarding anime, tony hawk, tony hawk's pro skater, sk8 the infinity op, malcolm in the middle anime, malcolm in the middle intro, sports anime, initial d, ping pong, haikyuu, winter 2021 anime, winter 2021 anime in a nutshell, ones to watch, sk8 anime intro, sk8 anime battle arena, skateboard anime, Skate culture, vx1000, sk8 the infinity OP, what's so great, what's so gr8

Id: MvW8LO9yseg

Length: 30min 51sec (1851 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 24 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Penguinman077]

Skoo

[u/iREALLYwannaeat_cake]

Really glad that Mother's Basement is promoting Sk8, it's great and it deserves it.

{Though not really a fan of how he misleadingly categorises Sk8 is "fujobait" like Free instead of genuine representation like Yuri on Ice though, it may seem like the former to a lot of people but it's definitely the latter if you are able to tell that skating is very much an intentional allegory for being gay.)

[u/FeelsGoodMan243]

Glad to see more people covering this underrated gem

[u/_Newbie_909]

Not one of the best but really enjoyable for me.

[u/TekEmperor451]

its good that he is promoting sk8 but the video itself is of kinda bad quality,i click off it in2-3 minutes cause it seemed awkward.