Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
- Anime Title: Sk♾️ the Infinity
- Episodes: 1 Season – 12 episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Aniplex of America
I keep saying that I don’t gravitate toward sports anime, yet here we are. And yes this is a sports anime – a skateboarding anime. And sure, there were some friendship storylines sprinkled in, but this anime mainly focuses on skateboarding. The story follows a group of skateboarders participating in a secret, underground, no-holds-barred competition called “S”. We first got introduced to Reki, a redhead adorable high school student with a passion for skateboarding. He took a transfer student, Langa to “S” one night that pulled him into the world of underground skateboarding.
Who pulled me in? Reki. I mean, his passion for the sport is contagious. I don’t know a lot about skateboarding but seeing him get excited about it, made me excited about it. His character development was very fleshed out. From seeing him this excited about the sport, then suffering some major self-confidence issues and questioning his self-worth. Amazing. The other characters were pretty developed as well and their character progression was pretty interesting to watch. I was simping for Kaoru (Cherry) from the moment he got introduced. Because he is just so gorgeous. I loved Adam as well. He is so unhinged and dramatic. His backstory was really heartbreaking to watch.
I loved the friendship between the characters. Especially the one between Reki and Langa. I feel like it progressed naturally. And the addition of Shadow and Miya to the group made the dynamic fun as well. And then we have the friendship between Kaoru (Cherry) and Kojiro (Joe). They have that banter down, you know, that banter between best of friends. Yeah, they have that dynamic. And this six-person group is just so chaotically silly. I wonder what would be the dynamic if you add Adam to the mix.
The animation of the skateboarding races was great. I wasn’t expecting much, but it was pretty well done. Of course, this is an anime and I am sure that some of these might be impossible to pull off in real life. But the animation was just so good and so fun to watch. My reaction when Langa flew for the first time. Wow. And that race between Langa and Adam was not bad either.
Overall, I loved this anime. Yes, I already rewatched this I think 3 times. And I am waiting for season two “patiently”. Because I need it. And the soundtrack is not bad either. This is one of the very few anime that I really do not have a palpable dislike for any of the characters. The dynamic between the characters was good. And it was so hard to not love all of them.
- Anime Title: Haikyu!!
- Episodes: Season 1 – 26 episodes; Season 2 – 25 episodes; Season 3 – 10 episodes; Season 4 – 25 episodes; 2 movies; 2 Land vs Air episodes; 3 OAD episodes
- Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
- Publisher: Toho
I am not a sports anime fan. All these years, I’ve only watched one sports anime, and that was Slam Dunk from back in the day. I watched it when I was still in the Philippines, and the reason why I watched this was because basketball was or still is big in my home country. Anyway, we’re not talking about that. I am just saying that I would normally not watch a sports anime. Haikyu!! was highly recommended to me by Chris. I just never got around to watching it until recently.
And oh boy, I was glad I finally watched this. This anime was that good even if you don’t normally gravitate to something like this. Not going to lie, this anime made me care about a sport. I am not a sports person. Period. But it did! I wanted to keep on watching and watching just to see where these characters would go, how much each player would improve in each episode, and how much the team would grow as a group.
Every episode in this anime was exciting. There was no downtime. Even what you would consider downtime was exciting. Every single episode has something going on in it. Just because in every episode, there was some kind of internal realization, some kind of character development, some kind of struggle. And it was a treat.
It was nice watching Hinata Shoyo improve every single time. It was nice watching Kageyama Tobio not just improve as a setter but actually be a team player. The anime could’ve stopped there and focused on these two characters alone. But no, they extended the character development to the whole Karasuno team. Sure, there might be a couple of characters that barely got any screen time, however, they were shown improving as volleyball players as well as actually integrating themselves into the team. It was actually great seeing them turn from individuals to a cohesive Karasuno team.
Again, the anime could’ve stopped there and just focused on the Karasuno team. But no. The anime showed the other teams. Sure others got more highlights compared to the others, but it was great seeing each team adapt to pressure. Especially the ones that went against Karasuno. As Karasuno was improving on the spot, so did the team they were up against. And it was exciting seeing each team one-up the other. Some members of the opposing team got their own character development in the series as well, which was great. It made me root for other players that were not from Karasuno.
This anime adaptation did so much and did it really well. The story was great. The character development was top-notch. The animation during the games was chef’s kiss. The soundtrack was good too. My boyfriend and I were pumped the whole time we were watching this. And that was all we could ask for a sports anime. And we cannot wait for the conclusion of this series.
The normal benchmark, if I liked an anime, is if I would ever watch it again. And I would definitely rewatch this anime again. I might do just that before the conclusion movies come out. This anime became one of my favorites hands down.