Brief Synopsis
Released: Jan 10, 2021 to Apr 4, 2021
Episode Count: 12
Rating: PG-13 (MyAnimeList) / TV-14 (Crunchyroll)
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
Sk8 is a show about two things - skateboarding and friendship. It follows Reke, a Japanese high school skating enthusiast and mechanic, and Langa, a Canadian/Japanese transfer student who just moved to Japan with his mom after his dad passed away. The show follows their (and a whole cast of interesting, crazy characters) journey to conquer S, the underground skating league that is the place to be if you are a skater.
Chest Thoughts
When I found this anime I was very excited. I definitely grew up seeing skateboarding as such a cool sport/hobby/rebellious lifestyle. I remember being at my grandma's house and my cousin's visiting with their boards. He popped an Ollie and my 10-year-old brain was blown away. Unfortunately, that skill was never something I pursued or honed (unless Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 counts...which it does.) I still have a classic board from back then (which I have dusted off and am still able to Ollie on, so that's a win) and I have a longboard I really like cruising on but nothing serious. I say all that to say - this show made me want to skate! They do such a good job pumping the show with the energy of the love of skating. It just looks so cool and fun! From the get-go, you're thrust into high-paced racing and skaters showing their style in classic anime fashion, it's fantastic.
Now if that was all it was it would have landed high for me. The visuals? - fantastic, the music? - very fun, the characters? - almost all of them are fun to watch. It's ticking a lot of boxes.
It also is really goofy in that great anime way. They really enjoy themselves in this show and there are laughs for days with their antics. It really hit that feel-good lighthearted show note super well.
However...(that's never good right)
It's not perfect. I have been waffling so much on a rating for this on my page of myanimelist and I finally landed at a 7/10 (classified as "Good"), which is still a decent rating! But it's not the 8 I wanted it to be. While the overall plot of fighting for a passion you love and for friendship is a good one, it suffers in my opinion from some unnecessary side plots that I am still confused as to their purpose beyond minor inner-character reveals.
It also, in a 12 episode season, had 1 episode of filler! The episode was for sure fun to watch, and you could argue for building up group dynamics, but ultimately it takes the characters out of the main plot on a side adventure and has no real impact on the plot of the show. 12 episodes is a little too short to waste screen time for me.
My last is more an unfortunate fact and doesn't affect how I would rate the show. It's a Funimation exclusive, which is totally fine and doesn't speak at all to quality. It's more unfortunate if you subscribe somewhere else and don't want to shell out more money for no-ads. So just be aware you can watch it free with ads, or pay for a month (or use your free trial if you haven't yet.)
Update: As of 3/1/2022 Funimation and Crunchyroll have merged so this last one is null at this point, although it could still be said for only being on Crunchyroll. That's just not a negative for me since that's my preferred anime streaming service.
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