Since the beginning of January, the Wakanim platform offers in simulcast to follow SK8 the infinity, the new series of Bones studios (Space Dandy, My Hero Academia, Cowboy Bebop the movie …) centered on the world of skateboarding. A project that makes you salivate when you know all the creativity of this studio and its love for underground universes. After 5 episodes, it is already possible to draw a first very positive observation. 
History transports us to Okinawa. At night there are special races : duels in skateboarding. The most famous, "the S", sees the best practitioners compete along a spectacular and dangerous course. The greatest riders, Joe, Cherry Blossom, Shadow or Adam won it and became legends. Reki young high school student, designer of skateboards is a fan of these jousts. A spectator at first, he tried to face Shadow on the mythical descent, but was soundly beaten. It was then that barely recovered from his disappointment, a new student arrived at his high school: Langa, a Japanese-Canadian whose father had died. Between the two high school students quickly develops a strong friendship around skateboarding, a sport Langa has never practiced. But his background as a snowboarder allows him to progress very quickly to the point of taking up a challenge in the "S" race and winning it. His victory stirs up competition from other competitors who want to compete against him.
Skate and Furious
First observation after these first 5 episodes, the show is at the rendezvous. The studio lets go from the 1stepisode to deliver us hyper spectacular, fast, energetic races. And the rest of the episodes go even further: aerial techniques, acrobatic figures, trajectory defying gravity. Everything is gathered to immerse us in tense face-to-faces. The studio does not forget to offer us also quieter moments centered on technical work, learning artistic figures, mastering the board with its share of failures, falls. There is a real love for skateboarding whether for what it provides as a sensation or as an imaginary (fashion, music ..). The series then becomes a gateway for skate neophytes explaining the figures, the design of the material. In addition, the studio builds us a whole secret universe, that of clandestine races with its signs of recognition, its codes, its rituals. Only insiders can know where they are taking place. Once night comes, the island comes alive and becomes the epicenter of jousting to the glory of speed. To reinforce this atmosphere, the series multiplies visual and narrative nods to famous American films. We find, for example, the codes of the illegal races of the Fast and Furious series; or the famous rule of the Fight Club : it is forbidden to talk about the race "S", it is forbidden to reveal the identity of the participants.
When Musashi meets Tony Hawk
The great strength of this beginning of SK8 the infinity also consists in the construction of an original universe. The duels mix the imagination of the samurai with that of the skaters. Indeed, in the way of staging the training but also in the choreography of the races, the Bones studio takes up figures of style specific to the chambara, a popular sword film in Japan that mythologized the figure of the samurai and installed codes in the staging of duels, in the characterization of the characters.The character of Cherry Blossom perfectly embodies this borrowing. He is a skater-calligrapher, wise, thoughtful, dressed in a kimono, preferring reflection to brute force, unlike his rival and friend Joe. We see in him a clear reference to Musashi (famous samurai of the sixteenth and seventeenth century) which is also mentioned in episode 4. And at the same time, the series pays tribute to skate "culture" : street art, graffiti, colorful decoration, language, physical challenges, surpassing oneself. Several moments dwell on the almost hypnotic artistic beauty of the choreographies, on the symbiosis between the board and its pilot. The result is an assumed and successful miscegenation of two universes that everything seemed to oppose a priori.
Archetypes at the service of suspense and humour
The beginning of SK8 the infinity finally convinces us by the writing of its characters. The relationship works perfectly between Reki and Langa.Made of humour, cultural gapbetween a native and a mixed race and fraternal complicity, it creates a permanent tension at the time of the races. The other characters are also very well written even if we find archetypes of shonen: the intellectual against the sportsman, the brute with a tender heart, the brilliant but lonely child, the mysterious opponent. What is especially funny is the contrast between the characters that skaters have created and their realface in real life especially concerning Shadow. Last interesting point, more tragic elements feed the background of the characters: mourning, broken friendships, homosexuality … In five episodes, Sk8 the infinity lays the foundation for a terribly addictive anime. Technically high-flying, well scripted, this beginning is more than promising. Eagerly the sequel.
