SK8 the Infinity (Japanese: SK∞ エスケーエイト, Hepburn: Esu Kē Eito, stylized as SK∞ the Infinity) is a Japanese original anime television series produced and animated by Bones that aired from January to April 2021 on ABC and TV Asahi's Animazing!!! programming block. A comedy mangaspin-off began serialization on the Young Ace Up manga website in January 2021. A manga adaptation of the television series began serialization on the BookLive! e-book store in March 2021. An original video animation (OVA) will be released in Japan in March 2025. A second season has been announced.
Plot
In Okinawa, a group of hardcore skaters participate in a secret, no-holds-barred competition after midnight known as "S", racing each other on skateboards down a winding road carved out of an abandoned mine and occasionally forming rivalries, also known as "beefs", with each other. Reki, a high school sophomore and hardcore skater, takes new transfer student Langa to S one night, and ends up pulling him into the world of skateboarding.
A cheerful and energetic high school sophomore who loves skateboarding and is addicted to the "S" races. He works at a local skate shop part-time as a mechanic and creates his own custom decks. He quickly becomes best friends with Langa and introduces him to skateboarding and S.
A half-Japanese student who transferred to Okinawa from Canada, with his mother, and ended up transferring into Reki's class. Growing up as a snowboarder, Langa quickly learns to transfer his skills into skateboarding when he jumps into his first "S" run. Always in a daze, he shows a stubborn side at times.
A cheeky first year junior high school student who has the ability to perform difficult tricks without difficulty and is looking to represent Japan in the Olympics. Loves cats and video games.
An "S" racer who wears a cape and heavy metal style makeup, and is a self-proclaimed "dynamite flower". He carries fireworks with him and isn't ashamed to use dirty tactics to win. Outside of S, he is a timid and kind-hearted florist in town.
A high-tech "S" racer with pink hair who is a famous artificial intelligence (AI) calligrapher by day. Assisted by his AI partner Carla, he is a calculating and theoretical skater. He is a childhood friend of Nanjo's and often bickers with him.
Kojiro Nanjo (南城 虎次郎, Nanjō Kojirō) / Joe (ジョー, Jō)
Sakurayashiki's rival in "S" who is the owner and chef of an Italian restaurant by day. He has a cheerful and lustful personality, and his skating style is as dynamic as his body. He and Sakurayashiki have been friends since childhood.
Ainosuke Shindo (神道 愛之介, Shindō Ainosuke) / Adam (愛抱夢, Adamu)
The founder of "S" and a legendary skater. His true identity is still a mystery. Underneath his glittering mask, he hides the face of a popular young politician.
In an interview with Wakanim, Studio No Border founder Thomas Romain said that after meeting with Bones about Carole and Tuesday, him and the other crew at his studio ran into Suzuki, a producer on the show.[7] She asked the studio if they were interested in designing skateboards for an original show, of which they ended up agreeing to do.[7] The skateboards were specifically designed so that they could work if built in real life.[7] Juliette Mercier, who had previous experience designing skateboards, ended up doing most of the designs. After some small changes, they were approved.[7] When it came to the decals, they were purposely stylized to be unique to each character in order to symbolize their personalities. Ayumi Kakei did the designs for Reki and Langa's skateboards, with a "pop" style. French comic book artist Loic Locatelli did the decals for Shadow and Joe, while Thomas Romain did Adam's himself.[7] In total, five different artists from the studio worked on the series, which was a first for them.[7]
The skaterboarders' moves were also inspired by real people, with one example being Miya's style, which has striking similarities to Rodney Mullen's style.[8]
Bones also ran a weekly blog for the series, where they shared various concepts sketches by Hiroko Utsumi alongside each episode's release.[9]
Media
Anime
On September 13, 2020, it was reported that Hiroko Utsumi and Bones were working on an anime television series project. Further details were not revealed until the following week.[10] On September 20, 2020, the series was officially announced. Utsumi directed the series, while Ichirō Ōkouchi oversaw the series' scripts, Michinori Chiba designed the characters and served as chief animation director,[2] and Ryō Takahashi composed the series' music. The series aired from January 10 to April 4, 2021 on ABC and TV Asahi's Animazing!!! programming block.[11][2] The opening theme song is "Paradise" performed by Rude-α, while the ending theme song is "Infinity" (インフィニティ, Infiniti) performed by Yuuri.[12] The series ran for 12 episodes.[13]
On July 4, 2021, a new anime project for the series was announced.[14] On August 14, 2022, the project was revealed to be a second season and an original video animation (OVA). The main staff from the previous season are reprising their roles.[15] The OVA, titled SK8 the Infinity Extra Part, will consist of four episodes and will be released in Japan on March 19, 2025, following an early theatrical screening on January 24 of the same year for a limited time.[16]
Reki Kyan partakes in S, an underground skateboard race, against Shadow, but loses, injures his left arm, and gets his skateboard set on fire as a result. The next day, Langa Hasegawa, is introduced in his class as a new transfer student from Canada. After encountering each other after school, Langa applies for a job at Dope Sketch, where he and Reki are given orders to deliver a skateboard to a client for his next race at S. Reki later discovers he had taken the wrong skateboard, and, as punishment, is ordered to race in place of his client against Shadow. Langa volunteers, and to everyone's surprise, he wins using his experience in snowboarding.
2
"Awesome for the First Time!" Transliteration: "Hajimete no Saikō!" (Japanese: はじめてのサイコー！)
Takahiro Hasui
Hiroko Utsumi
January 17, 2021 (2021-01-17)
As Langa and Shadow's beef goes viral, Reki teaches him how to skateboard properly. The two learn each other's motivations for skateboarding as Langa practices, and Reki designs a custom skateboard with foot straps to accommodate for Langa's snowboarding experience. After two weeks of practice, Langa manages to perform an ollie. Meanwhile, having learned about Langa, Miya challenges him to a beef.
Langa accepts Miya's challenge to race at S. While Reki helps Langa practice, he replaces his skateboard's foot straps with toe clips and the pivots with swivels. During the race, Miya wagers Reki as the reward, but Langa wins using the swivel to grind down a broken stair rail. Realizing that Miya is lonely, especially after he was ostracized by his peers, Reki offers to be his friend. Adam, however, suddenly appears, taking a strong interest in Langa while denouncing Miya. Reki orders Adam to apologize to Miya, challenging him to a beef as means to do so.
4
"Adam, the Matador of Love" Transliteration: "Ai no Matadōru, Adamu" (Japanese: 愛のマタドール、愛抱夢)
Takahiro Hasui
Takahiro Hasui
January 31, 2021 (2021-01-31)
Adam accepts Reki's challenge on the condition Langa races if he wins. Reki and Langa learn from Joe that Adam is the founder of S. Despite Miya, Joe, and Langa's advice to withdraw the challenge, Reki decides to pursue it anyway. During the race, Adam gives Reki a head start and pulls him into a dangerous dance. As Reki loses hope, Langa inspires him to perform a railslide, a trick he learned from Miya, on one of the turns. After passing Reki, Adam performs his love hug, where he turns around and skates uphill towards Reki, causing the latter to panic, fall off his skateboard, and lose.
5
"Passionate Dancing Night!" Transliteration: "Jōnetsu no Danshingu Naito!" (Japanese: 情熱のダンシングNight！)
Tetsuya Miyanishi
Takuya Igarashi
February 7, 2021 (2021-02-07)
Reki's arm is broken, and while Langa prepares for his beef, Cherry and Joe explain Adam's love hug. Reki determines Adam is too dangerous to race and begs Langa not to compete, but Langa insists on doing so. During the beef, Langa outsmarts Adam by pulling him close during their dance to increase their spin and performs an aerial to dodge his love hug. Impressed, Adam entrances Langa to follow his lead. Their race abruptly ends when the police raid the area under orders from Kiriko Kamata. Reki helps Langa flee, after which he makes him promise not to race Adam again.
Reki, Langa, Miya, and Shadow travel to Miyako-jima for the hot springs, along with Cherry and Joe. During their time, Reki begins feeling discouraged when he sees how quickly Langa is improving and confides his insecurities to Joe. In the evening, the six go on a skateboard race to the hot springs amidst warnings of hauntings taking place. When, Langa returns to help a frightened Reki, the two discover that Shadow and Miya have been attacked by the spirits. The spirits then ambush Reki and Langa, as well as Cherry and Joe, who won the race to the hot springs. The next morning, the six wonder who attacked them, unaware that the Paantu festival had been taking place on the previous evening. Meanwhile, Adam decides to hold a tournament for S.
Reki begins to feel inferior towards Langa and avoids him. Meanwhile, Adam colludes with Takano, a politician, while announcing a tournament that evening. However, Kiriko uncovers the bribe and arrests Takano, while Adam orders his secretary, Tadashi, to take the blame for him instead. While practicing, Reki becomes more discouraged about his own skateboarding after failing to jump as high as Langa. At night, when Langa informs Reki about the tournament and his desire to compete against Adam, Reki becomes angry and ends their friendship.
8
"The Fated Tournament!" Transliteration: "Shukumei no Tōnamento!" (Japanese: 宿命のトーナメント！)
Takahiro Hasui
Takahiro Hasui
February 28, 2021 (2021-02-28)
As Langa, Shadow, Miya, Cherry, and Joe qualify for the tournament, Tadashi also enters under the name "Snake" against Adam's will, on the condition that Adam quits skateboarding if he wins. Meanwhile, Reki remains cold to Langa, and both of them receive advice from their families on their personal struggles. Under the advice of Joe, Reki goes undercover at the next S to watch the tournament. Shadow wins in his beef, while Langa is selected to race against Joe in the next one.
9
"We Were Special Back Then" Transliteration: "Ano Toki, Oretachi wa Tokubetsu Datta" (Japanese: あの時、俺たちは特別だった)
Takayuki Yamamoto
Takayuki Yamamoto
March 7, 2021 (2021-03-07)
During their beef, Joe gains a lead over Langa. Langa nearly loses interest in the race, but he wins with Reki's encouragement, despite breaking his board in the process. However, Reki realizes he prefers skating with his friends over supporting them and leaves S before Langa can find him. Cherry is selected as Adam's opponent in the next beef, and despite gaining an advantage, Adam strikes Cherry's face with his skateboard near the end of the race, knocking him out and winning.
9.5
"Crazy Rock JAM" Transliteration: "Kureijī Rokku Jamu" (Japanese: クレイジーロックJAM)
Nobutaka Yoda
Nobutaka Yoda
March 14, 2021 (2021-03-14)
Miya and Shadow recap the events of the previous nine episodes using Carla as a projector.
10
"DAP Not Needing Words" Transliteration: "Kotoba no Iranai Dappu" (Japanese: 言葉のいらないDAP)
Masatoyo Takada, Takayuki Yamamoto
Akemi Hayashi
March 21, 2021 (2021-03-21)
Tadashi wins his race against Miya. Reki takes the next day off from work and school, and after he gets beaten up during a confrontation with his past skating group, Oka informs him that Shadow has been attacked and hospitalized. Reki visits but leaves upon noticing Langa is there, and Tadashi's car runs into him on his way out. Through confronting Tadashi, Reki remembers the fun in skating and goes over to the skate park to apologize to Langa. The two make up, while Adam has Reki take Shadow's spot.
11
"King vs Nobody" Transliteration: "Kingu VS Zako" (Japanese: キング ＶＳ ザコ)
Takahiro Hasui, Daisuke Chiba, Takanori Yano
Takahiro Hasui
March 28, 2021 (2021-03-28)
Reki is determined to skate against Adam despite Tadashi's attempts to dissuade him. During the beef, Adam assaults Reki. As they approach a turn, Reki becomes inspired by Langa to perform an aerial down a cliff. When it starts to rain, Reki takes advantage of rain-resistant wheels he put on his skateboard, while Adam loses footing. As they approach the end of the track, Reki loses after one of the wheels come off, but the enjoyment of skating excites him and the crowd cheers for him instead. Realizing Langa may be the key to helping Adam remember the joy in skating, Tadashi forfeits his match and allows Adam and Langa to race.
12
"Our Infinity!" Transliteration: "Oretachi no Mugendai!" (Japanese: 俺たちの無限大！)
Adam and Langa's beef begins on S's original and more dangerous track. Through Adam's coercion, Langa enters a mental zone where he is unable to focus on anything other than skating. When he falls, he notices that Reki had written "fun" on his board, which helps him remember the fun in skating. Through this, Langa helps Adam realize the fun in skating, and he wins the race. Afterwards, the group celebrates Langa's victory, while Adam is pardoned from arrest after giving information about his accomplice to the police. As part of Reki and Langa's promise earlier, the two race at S.
Manga
A comedy mangaspin-off by Toriyasu, titled SK8 Chill Out!, began serialization on Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace Up manga website on January 11, 2021.[22][23] A manga adaptation of the television series by Kazuto Kōjima released on the BookLive! e-book store under their Nino imprint starting on March 5, 2021.[24][25]
Stage plays
Two stage play adaptations were announced on July 4, 2021.[14]SK8 Part 1 ran from December 2–12, 2021. SK8 Part 2 was scheduled to take place from January 15–24, 2022, but the shows were canceled after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.[26]
