Gay skateboarding anime
When I was a fresh-out-of-the-closet young teen, I used to be all in on that queer shit™ that is anime trading on queerbaiting – as I only just realised I was gay at the time, those were a perfect justify for me to stare longingly at pretty anime boys doing pretty anime boy things. However, as I continued to cluelessly consume the works in this medium, I began to perceive increasingly dissatisfied with all their banter and erotic tension that never amounted to anything, and realised I was wasting my day with them. At some point in my journey of self-discovery, nominally attractive 2D men stopped being special to me, and once that was out of the equation, what I was left with – painfully slow and full of vapid tropes stories about people getting over themselves – miserably failed to spark enthusiasm in me. I learned that pretty boys weren’t the be-all and end-all of everything and that something more substantial was required to satisfy my needs there, so I moved on to the next logical step – porn. And for a while – many years, in fact – I stopped watching anime altogether, and it was only this year that I reluctantly started looking into it again – first with the Shaman King retelli
Will Sk8 the Infinity Become a Gay Romance?
SK8 the Infinity is the first original series by director Hiroko Utsumi. While she's been working as an animator since the mid-2000s on shows like Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Utsumi gained a reputation over the last decade for directing Free! and Banana Fish. Over the course of its runtime, Free! exhibited plenty of homoeroticism but no canonical romance between its athletic leads, whereas Banana Fish featured multiple canon queer characters.
Even after the full release of its first season, whether SK8 the Infinity will fall into Free!'s queerbaiting patterns or Banana Fish's canon queerness remains uncertain. As of right now, it's more aligned with Free! in terms of heavily teasing multiple intimate pairings and failing to pursue through on any of them. However, the blatant subtext and themes in SK8 the Infinity, along with the confirmed Season 2 and OVA on the horizon, suggest that the series still has the potential to go the route of Banana Fish by explicitly confirming gay characters or relationships.
Updated on Sept. 6, 2024 by Lauren Y "S" is a risky, top secret, no-holds-barred downhill skateboarding race down an abandoned mine. When avid skateboarder Reki takes Langa to the mountain where "S" is held, Langa, who's never been on a skateboard in his experience, finds himself sucked into the nature of "S", and…?! Roy Fire Emblem and his lgbtq+ lover battle homoerotic vampire Phoenix Wright in a skateboarding competition Finally an anime that can respond the question: what if skateboarding was gay me once again getting emotionally invested in a ship of red and blue bitches swift act surprised I adore how they enable just actual crimes in skating. Favor one guy will just beat the shit out of another and everyone will say "What a technique... i possess 99 problems and adam dying would solve ALL OF THEM Heavily queer-coded sports anime is my favourite TV genre if i see another palm tree approach right after an emotional episode i'm going to put my laptop on fire the way langa looks at reki and viceversa, you can tell me they are soulmates docking one star for the lack of women. like, Grave lack of women. Reki Kyan is a high school student with a passion for skateboarding. He builds his retain skateboards, works part-time at a skate shop, and participates in an underground skating community called “S.” When Langa Hasegawa, a student from Canada, transfers into his class, Reki is more than content to introduce him to the thrills of the sport in SK8 the Infinity. Despite being a accomplish newbie, Langa takes to skateboarding quickly and begins making a name for himself in S as “Snow.” He catches the eye of ADAM, the resident top skater who is known for his brutal showmanship. As Langa’s talent and renown in S grows, Reki begins to feel like he’s being left behind. Reki and Langa’s friendship can be read as just guys being dudes or potentially as something more, if the viewer is so inclined. To me, the ambiguity never feels fancy queerbaiting. Either as a platonic friendship or burgeoning crush, theiSynopsis
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SK8 the Infinity is a sports anime directed by Hiroko Utsumi, who was the original director for Free! In the grand tradition of sports anime featuring close male friendships, Sk8 the Infinity has a tight plot and condensed action.