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This review is edited at the end after 12 episodes because I don't have much to add.

Wow I was not prepared for how much I would like this anime.

There are a few nostalgic things I could compare it to;
Movies: Johnny Kapahala back on board, Brink, Lords of Dogtown (vaguely), Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift (very vaguely).

The core of this Anime is the weight of a love for a sport vs. the desire to be the best at that sport and this sport isn't just plain ol skateboarding, it's highly aesthetic wwe style down a dangerous track skateboarding that challenges the ... concept of the sport all together.

But within that trope I don't find the plot to be the most important aspect because there's also a core of friendship vs. individualism which delves into building a really cool group of friends. To me, they were grasping at the hearts of people who grew up around skate culture or any punk like sub culture to evoke memories of that quirky group of friends that came alongside it.

This anime is campy and character based. Love the characters, love the anime.

Reki and Langa pretty cool. They compliment each other very well and prove to be extremely passionate and likable, especially Reki, he's definitely the heart of this show. Their passion and drive is addictive because they made me want to join them because their bond is more like family, a family that they choose.

The development doesn't shy away from challenges. It doesn't stay easygoing at all times. But there's a sort of good indication in a ride or die group of friends that they show here that inspires hope. I really like movies and shows that do stuff like that which is why this rang so positive with me - along with how relatable it is.

The soundtrack is really good. I've heard Indie, Ska, Pop Punk, and more. It'll be good if I can find a good source to dig up all these songs, especially the pop punk song towards the end of episode 4.

The art is also really good. I appreciate the aesthetic of skater stickers and there's so many little details that throw me back to the year 2003 at the height of spencers, hot topic popularity for a certain few groups of subculture that could identify with this anime. They definitely modernize and anime modify these styles so maybe i'm reaching to identify it but I swear it vibes so similar.

This is a feel good anime and I'm really enjoying it. I can't wait to see how this plays out!

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Edit after episode 12

This is such a good anime. Everything I said before is how I feel now. I really loved the entire progress of this show.

The only thing I want to add is that I hope people who watch it give Langa a little love too. Reki is definitely my favorite but I like Langa almost just as much as him. If Reki is your favorite, try not to let your like for him overshadow how cool Langa is because it might ruin the show for you.

The good:

The characters are really likable. Holo especially feels self aware, real. She was intelligent, with flaws, and quirks that made her multi dimensional - as did Lawrence - but I especially liked Holo. The side characters that don't turn out to be villains are also really enjoyable.

To expand on Holo, I really like the way her dynamic with Lawrence grew. They showed real character development between them individually and together and that was nice to watch.

I also like the way they showed religion. They never call it anything besides pagan vs the church but I really like the way they dealt with ... these subjects. It drew on interesting concepts throughout history and the tragedies that occurred historically in the west when Catholicism was coming into power. Though they never called it Catholicism.

The mythology expressed in this story is really interesting in general.

The art and music were also good.

With what I've said, one would think that I really enjoyed this. I really wanted to enjoy this story. I've wanted to watch it since it came out but never got around to it until now. I'm usually not one to care about plots if the characters are well written, however...

The Bad:

Towards the end of the first season I got so bored with the repetitive and lazy plot that I just wanted it to be over. They would bring up situations and topics right before they became relevant as if they were an afterthought. It was like - oh, we have to cue the watcher into this happening soon so lets have the characters talk about it.

Also yes it was very repetitive and dry. It was easy to predict what would happen because the mess probably happened before. I found myself just wanting to finish it so I would know the ending and it wasn't very satisfying.

For every new town, it felt like they were in a children's adventure tv show where the characters would face a problem, and then conflict would climax with a twist and then it would resolve with them only learning enough to develop as people but not enough to avoid the situation again. It was frustrating and anxiety inducing to have to watch such a badly developed plot.

It's really a shame because this could have been a wonderful story.

Story 4
Art 7
Sound 6
Character 9
Enjoyment 1
Overall 5