SK∞ Episode 11 Discussion

btamamura said:


Agreed. Reki's smart. He's not like Joe, he can't use brute muscle to kick off against rocks and propel. He's not like Cherry who uses an AI to help calculate when it comes to turns. He's not like Miya who's a young prodigy with the physical skills. He's not like Langa who has snowboarding background that gives him a bit of an advantage. He's not like Shadow or Adam who play dirty.

But, that's just it. He's not them. He's Kyan Reki. He knows how to design and customise boards to help give someone an advantage. He would know to keep an eye on the weather reports and be prepared for if it was supposed to rain during a beef, fixing his board accordingly. I mean, he gave Langa's board the same length as a snowboard, the toe clips and the rotating trucks which helped him grow from a beginner who struggled to stay on a skateboard for more than a few seconds to an absolute legend in a short span of time.

Reki also had the advantage of having friends who knew what's what. He was able to learn moves that his friends had used by watching them or by remembering not to flinch like Joe taught him when he and Cherry were teaching him and Langa about how the Love Hug works.

Everything he had been through had built up to this moment, even his time where he doubted himself and lost self-confidence. He grew through that too and was able to face everything without any doubt, knowing doubting himself at such a time would be dangerous...it already happened the first time he went against Adam and found himself feeling overwhelmed.

He's the sort to use his brain to plan for any and all circumstances and then find a way to put them to an advantage.

AozoraAi said:
Agreed I don't understand why proly are complaining about Reki's arc and him moaning for 4 episodes. Like can we get over it? I mean what are these guys suggesting to have happened? He's all cool? He has no feelings? Please bring better suggestions than the same complain about Reki's 4 episodes. I thought this was the best route they could do for him. With what was given in the story, he's the protagonist ffs what else do y'all want him to do?

Ventus_S said:


Exactly.
I actually don't mind the powerup IF ep7~10 Reki struggle arc doesn't exist.
They could have make Reki a talented from get go to justify ep11.

But instead we wasted 4 episodes to build up Reki's struggle as a "normal person".
And ep10 he finally learned that he shouldn't try to compare himself with others, and doesn't need to be a prodigy to have fun with skateboard. I mean there's a reason he drop out of S for good, because that is just a toxic place with abusive people.

But then ep11 just show us Reki is one of the talented all along, and get famous in S now. So why waste 4 episodes on the moaning then?

I was thinking the theme of the previous 4 episodes is so good, and this episode totally ruins it. It just goes back to the generic protagonist must win with power of friendship trope.

DrabinWhite said:


Exactly! I see all the Reki Lovers are popping up out of the woodwork and going "Waah, too sad for you, our boy is still Best Boy!" But...then what the actual F were episodes 7-10 about? If he really is Standard Shounen Best Boy, then he should have realised he was falling behind around ep 6, trained, entered the tournament fair-and-square while challenging Langa to meet him in the finals, and worked his bloody way up the ranks and showcased his skills in the semi-final against Adam (whether he won or lost in the end).

Instead, he gave up on skateboarding, moped around and wasted all that screentime making me wanna rip my hair out in annoyance, and then just up and improved enough to challenge Adam and match Langa's level in a couple of weeks, gained the power of cheers, friendship, and protagonist favouritism, got shoehorned into the semifinal not through his own ability, but because of some random ass-pull attack on Shadow, and nearly won!?

Are you kidding me, people? This is crap storytelling. Either they make him a standard shounen boy who works his way up through training and a bit of talent, or they go a unique route and drive home the point that being The Best and being Popular are not everything. I would have been okay with either route. But SK8 didn't wanna choose just one route. Nope, it wanted to have its cake and eat it too. And, well, it worked! Because your average anime-viewer knows F-all about good storytelling and character development, this steaming trainwreck of conflicting characterisation and mixed messages actually has a rating of 8.03 on MAL. (And said rating actually started to go up the more and more nonsensical and haphazard the "plot" became. Smh.)

Eira_99 said:
This was great, once again the show continues to provide both great skate competition and animation and also solid emotional drama. The drama had been heavy for awhile there but seeing Reki happy again and trying his best to skate, while also not being upset by the close loss is perfect to heal the soul after all the sadness in the last few episodes.

Looking forward to the conclusion, although I almost feel like it would of been better if Reki had beat him. A final Langa vs. Reki match would of been really nice to get the focus on almost a full episode while a ruined ADAM returns to his real life and gets all that mess sorted out, maybe I'm being too harsh of ADAM but the show did a good job of making me hate him, I don't want him to also get a happy ending.

Danae said:


Still laughing at how ''Full Swing Kiss'' is treated as a skating technique when t's basically assault LMAO

TitanInsane said:


THIS. Finally, a skating technique that can be reasonably emulated by amateur skaters in relatively little time.

dontcarethankss said:
I do feel bad for Adam sometimes, but seeing him almost lose was so satisfying