#sk8 ADAM

[albetown]

more sk8 textposts, I can't stop

[icarus-mp3]

[send-up-my-heart-to-you]

there are like zero straight people in sk8 n it still makes me laugh

[sebdoesthings]

Sorry but this post was made for them

[ryanthel0ser]

I just finished Sk8 the Infinity

first off "queer subtext" my ass, it is front and center you can't NOT see it.

second, oh my god the theme of love and having a passion for something is done in a way that scratches my brain in the best way. The three main relationships, Reki and Langa, Joe and Cherry, Tadashi and Adam, whether you think they are gay or not they totally are all highlight this dynamic of loving skating versus getting lost in the competition.

Reki and Langa are the clearest example of this. Reki loves skating, he may not be the best at it but he truly loves it. He understands the tricks and the skills, he knows it so well that he can make boards specifically to suit nuanced skills like Reki's because he loves it. He has the passion and the spirit for it which is the central thing he learns during his character arc in the show. But even outside his arc, Reki embodies the spirit of skating, that love of skating. That's what makes his race with Adam so important and that's present in why Langa feels the way he does when he's skating with Reki other than being gay. Langa falls in love with skating and Reki but then he starts to get lost in the competition of it all. Once he races with Adam (who is the antithesis of Reki's skating spirit), his love for skating is poisoned by Adam's "love" of skating. He starts focusing on skills, getting better, reaching Adam's level, he starts losing the spirit of skating. He loses Reki. Once Langa realizes what he's missing, he begins seeking it out again, looking for Reki. But Reki hasn't come back yet, the fun of skating is dead still until Reki has his own realization. Something that is brought back in part by the two other "Reki's" of these relationships: Joe and Tadashi.

Joe and Cherry's is the one that is in the background the most, but it's clear they're meant to parallel Reki and Langa's relationship. While the dynamic is not as extreme and the other two relationships it is still present. Joe loves skating, even if he wasn't the best at skating he'd still be doing it. That is made clear in his conversation with Reki when he gets him to come see Langa at the tournament. He understands that. His race against Adam isn't about proving his skill, he wants to beat Adam because he hates what Adam has become and what Adam is embodying. He wants to punch him in the face. Cherry however does want to prove his skill to Adam. He wants to beat Adam because he's better than him. In a sense, Adam's "love" tainted his enjoyment of skating too. Hence the AI board, the board giving him everything down to the millisecond, to the decimal so he could get the best time possible. I honestly believe part of Joe's worry during Cherry and Adam's race is because he knows Cherry is going to get lost in trying to surpass Adam and forget the fun of skating. Then Cherry gets slammed in the face quite literally by this, he's forced to face what's being going on through this injury. We don't see the resolution of this since it's regulated to the background, but it's still clear these two are meant to parallel Reki and Langa's dynamic towards skating. Also there's the whole thing where Adam is like Cherry's ex and Joe wants to fight the ex that hurt Cherry yadda yadda yes I ship Matchablossom what's new.

Tadashi and Adam are the most extreme of this dynamic going in a negative direction. Adam as I stated is the antithesis to the spirit of skating. He's completely forgotten what it meant to skate and is now tainting every other skater around him with this "love" he has. He's so lost in this darkness that it's seeping into the other skaters like Langa. All that matters is being the best, to crush everyone else below his level so he's completely alone. He's ruining skating for everyone else. Tadashi is the spirit of skating for him. Tadashi is the one that introduced him to skating and led him to fall in love with it as a comfort and an escape from the horrible environment he was being raised in. Skating with Tadashi was his escape. Tadashi was a comfort. But then Adam is found out by his father and Tadashi makes a mistake, but not the one he believes for most of the show. Instead of leading Adam back to the fun of skating, he lets Adam trample it. Rid of it. Put it completely in the background because he blames himself for what happened to Adam that day. And Adam doesn't rid of Tadashi because skating is still a comfort to him, though twisted and abused. He refuses to let it go. To let him go. Tadashi then tries to completely take away skating from Adam and then tries to get Reki to abandon it too. However, Tadashi's broken spirit only fuels Reki's back to life. Then, as he watches the race, Tadashi realizes where he went wrong with Adam. What the true love for skating was, not what Adam thinks it is.

This spirit of skating versus Adam is why Reki's race, Tadashi's presence in the tournament, and why Langa's race are so central. Tadashi including himself in the tournament is Adam being forced to see the dead spirit of skating that he's forgetting and it pisses him off. Reki's race is him directly being pitted against the living embodiment of that spirit of skating and while he does win the race, he still gets his ass beat. He's not stronger than it. Then his race with Langa is where he finally returns to it. Langa is like Adam, but he's fully back to the spirit of skating. He's had his character arc and now Langa helps Adam return to it as someone who experienced to a certain level what Adam is experiencing. Then Langa wins the race and the spirit of skating, the true love of skating, defeats Adam's "love." And Adam leaves the race changed, he remembers the real love of skating, he returns from that darkness he was in. The Adam of their childhood begins to return to Tadashi.

This main conflict in the show that's present in these three relationships is presented so brilliantly and it's what makes Sk8 the Infinity not just another sports anime with some possible queer subtext or baiting. It reminds me of Yuri on Ice and how the relationship to ice skating is reflected in Yuri and Victor's relationship, a show that I absolutely adore (and yes I wept profusely over it when the announcement came out). I desperately hope that Sk8 the Infinity does not receive the same fate because this show has something great that I want to see continued, it's almost a spiritual successor to Yuri on Ice to me.

Now I need the studio to let them lean into the very very very gay tones of these relationships like Yuri on Ice because holy shit all three of them have it. I thought Reki and Langa were going to kiss in the back of that van, Cherry and Joe kept acting like a couple and the english dub only emphasized that, and then that last scene with Adam and Tadashi hello????

[virginwithasthma]

A SK8 OVA has been announced ✨😭😭

It's being released on March 19✨😭😭

[thisdarkhomeofghosts]

BABY WAKE THE FUCK UP!!

WE ARE BACK! WE ARE BACK!!!!🏳️‍🌈🛹

[idiosinkrasies]

I can and have gone off for hours about how much I love sk8

[ryuichirou]

made for each other

[fandomcentralsstuff]

My Hear-me-outs from anime

(but it actually is a 'hear me out' lol- they are red flags but red is my favourite colour ANYWAYS)

[malfunctioningemi]

Hi im emi and i think way too much about sk8 the infinity part 261

COLOUR THEORY TIME i just had like, a brain blast in realisation.

Reki is yellow coded, langa is blue. Usually people would ASSUME reki is the "red" character of the show because of his hair, but i think that just helps to show off his passionate and firey personality. His colour is yellow because he is energetic, friendly and most often optimistic (especially when it comes to helping people learn how to skate or make friends)

Langa is blue coded, usually used for quiet, cold and mysterious characters, or those with lots of sadness (think inside out). BUT because he is pastel blue, his sadness is lighter because of people like reki lifting him out if it. He is still young and has time to grow.

Because they are yellow and blue coded, its different from what is the usual trope of red and blue which are most often rivals or opposites. BUT because theyre yellow and blue, theyre actually perfectly made to compliment each other. I like to see it as reki being the sun to langas moon.

Now. You know who IS red coded? Adam. He is passionate and all about love and anger, the two emotions most connected to red. Because he is red, it links into his whole idea of thinking he "belongs" with langa, but he is already fulfilled by being with reki.

Then we see adams colours slowly change from red to that dark blue we see him wearing in the finale. He comes to realise that he was chasing after langa because he thought they were the same (blue = sad and hurt. Adam being a deeper blue means his emotions and sadness runs deeper aka because he has had YEARS longer to sit with his feelings and trauma) but it takes langa, a fellow blue, being happy and excited and wanting to skate with REKI not him, to show him that he doesnt have to put on this red boisterous persona. If we look at Adam through the years, he's never really had a red-coded personality. It's always an act. How he thinks people wANT him to act.

He's a blue, just like his hair and the suit he wears.

Now. Joe and cherry.

Cherry being pink is so INTERESTING TO ME. Its seen as graceful and youthful, but is also just a toned down version of red. Cherry CAN be graceful and composed, but is also full of so much anger and emotion (especially towards adam) and the fact the two are similar in colour makes me so invested. I also think Cherry has a complex colour pallet- being not only pink, but also wearing deep blues and whites. He is elegant and complex.

THEN JOE. oh joe. My deep green giant. He is down to earth (haha get it) and is always trusting his gut with everything, AND IDK IF YOU HAVE NOTICED THIS BUT HE NEVER GIVES BAD ADVICE!! Green is usually associated with grounded and level-headed characters, but green is also the colour of jealousy. Joe doesn't seem like the jealous type, but he has this strange loneliness to him. All he has is his restaurant and Cherry. He never seems to be able to fully grasp what he wants, so finds his fufillment in other places.

Now onto the fact that pink and green ARE opposites and so are cherry and joe. Where cherry is quiet and reserved, joe is loud and energetic. Their lifestyles and jobs couldn't really be more different. They argue and bicker and always seem to know what perfectly annoys the other most.

BUT!! Pink and green (while being opposites) ARE ALSO COMPLIMENTARY!!!! they work well together beCAUSE theyre so different. And being together just seems to work out somehow.

ANYWAYS. Yeah. Sun and moon coded renga are very special to me :)

[cjs-51703]

Joe: We're like a big, happy family! And I'm the Dad, Kaoru is the Mom--

Cherry: How am I the Mom? What gender roles are we pushing here?

Miya: I know you're going to say I'm the son, but I'm not! I'm the Gay Emo Cousin.

Reki: I'll be the son! The hot shot whose only dream is... to be a hero!

Tadashi: I feel like I'd be the Fresh Out of Jail Uncle.

Adam: And I'm the Sassy Aunt who talks shit about everyone.

[icarus-mp3]

[local-ethernet]

file in: SK8 moments that hit different on rewatch

[renareyart]

Had a health scare over the past few months but through it all I still managed to make a comic where Ainosuke and Tadashi kiss!

Just finishing it up! More pages to come soon!

[alexankeegk]

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