• Studios: Bones
• Source: Original
• Genres: Sports
• Synopsis: “Reki, a high school sophomore and skater, is addicted to “S,” a highly secret and dangerous downhill skateboarding race that takes place in an abandoned mine. The skaters are especially wild about the “beefs,” or heated battles that erupt in the races. Reki takes Langa, a transfer student returning to Japan after studying abroad, to the mine where the races are held. Langa, who has no skateboarding experience, finds himself pulled into the world of “S”…”

-Aniplex US

First Impression:

All you had to say was “Original anime by Bones” and I’m sold! Bones has quickly become one of my favorite animation studio of all time and with good reason! But a name that we should all know by now is Hiroko Utsumi who will be directing SK∞ (she is well known for her directing on Free! and Bananafish) so you can expect SK∞ to receive that “Hiroko Utsumi” premium quality in both art and character development. But that’s enough rambling from me let’s dive in!

The quality of the shows this season are so good! I mean look at the attention to detail in the perspectives, the boards, the lighting! Skating is a dynamic sport that involves articulation on one’s feet and complete control of the board at all times. It looks like the board will switch between CGI and 2D animation while the characters will constantly remain in 2D. I like the subtlety of the board art as it’s not very noticeable when it switches from one style to the other, which allows us, the audience, to stay immerse and in awe of the tricks that the skaters perform!

Reki

Opening Shot (Reki)

Opening Shot (Langa)

Langa

Reki and Langa are comfortable main duo, the energetic and hot headed skater and his cool and somewhat clumsy transfer student friend. Opposites that somehow compliment each other creating wonderful dynamic that’ll keep us entertained episode after episode! The character design are super slick and emphasizes each character personality (Reki’s flaring red hair and Langa’s cool and collected white hair) and I’m not just calling out our favorite duo! SK∞ has quite a colorful cast with an assortment of hair colors as well as more hardcore skaters like Shadow, who rocks full face make up as if he was a member of KISS! (Did anyone get that joke or am I getting too old?)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

While skating is the main theme of the SK∞, the competition are conducted in the form of underground races where anything goes! It’ll be interesting to see how this develops, I mean that can’t just have ALL the races here…can they? However they decide to do it I can’t wait to see the different style and moves each of the skaters have up their sleeve and how the animation will adapt to it!

Recommendation:

YES

Absolutely! Especially if you loved Free! and Bananafish then you’ll definitely fall in love with the characters in this show. The art and animation are good enough alone but I anticipate the story picking up soon, my gut tells me that it’ll be a worth while watch!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a

Ko-fi!

Or if you want to be on my Patrons page, you can become one on my

Patreon!