One word, four letters: ADAM. Actually, let’s go with “Adam” from now on, as the show has started caps-locking a bunch of other skater pseudonyms as well, and I can’t be bothered to replicate them every time. Adam is this series’ breakout character without question, possessing a villainous, flamboyant energy that only Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter could dream of matching. I’ve written previously about how these traits could pose a problem for SK8 without proper context, and while this episode did send his crazy levels soaring to unforeseen heights, it also planted an important seed regarding his past – he used to be partners with Cherry and Joe. I was highly impressed with this reveal, not only for the casual way it was incorporated into the script, but also because it promised to build two side characters into something more than window dressing, then show us their former teammate’s heel turn. For a show that made its final boss so visible so early, what could be more promising than that?
We still don’t know much about Ainosuke Shindo, the man behind the mask, but if he used to hang with two dudes who get plenty of face time with Reki and Langa, then the backstory is coming – it’s just a question of when. It doesn’t even need to be soon, since the cops busting up his race with Langa means that we won’t see him in Adam mode for a while. The introduction of law enforcement did feel highly convenient here, since it delayed the series’ ultimate conflict for another time, but there was one hint that it was coming… sort of. During an early scene where Shindo told a fellow government worker that he was going on a date that weekend, we got a closeup of a redheaded woman who seemed to be spying on him. In hindsight, the implication was that she’s a cop, and the police know enough about Shindo to understand what his “dates” look like. Will this have any impact on the story apart from pushing back Adam and Langa’s fateful duel? That depends on what the show does with the redhead in the future – perhaps she’ll ally herself with our heroes to take down Adam through extralegal means?
If her strategy is anything close to that, she’s going to need a decade’s worth of luck to pull it off. Langa may be a prodigy, as evidenced by his angelic vault over Adam’s Love Hug attack (complete with choral vocals and metaphorical wings), but did you see how quickly Adam closed the gap afterwards? He had enough time to perform a tapdancing routine in the middle of the course before closing the distance with ease. In case you’re reading this without having seen the episode for some reason, I should clarify that my man literally got off his board mid-race and tap-danced with joy, accompanied by Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, at having discovered the “Eve” to his Adam. That’s to say nothing of all the Latin-inflected dance scenes where he rammed his board together with Langa’s and forced him into a bizarre tango as they hurtled down a deathly race track. I laughed a lot while watching SK8 this week, but I do wonder if Cherry feels responsible for Adam’s present state – his choice of phrase during an early calligraphy scene (“repent and make efforts”) seemed to indicate remorse, which I imagine is tied to their shared past.
Whatever went on between Cherry and Adam in the past, it may not be the only breakup that the series has in store for us. There was some solid work put into the Reki/Langa friendship this week, but not in the formative sense a la episode 2; after that final beach scene, I think the boys are headed for rocky territory. The injuries that Reki sustained after challenging Adam amounted to just one broken arm, but the psychological damage went far deeper – having experienced Adam’s madness up close, he pleads with Langa not to challenge Adam at multiple points in this episode. The scene outside of Reki’s house just before the eyecatch establishes that it’s his connection to Langa that he’s afraid of losing, since he gives his blessing only after Langa promises not to quit skating, even if he gets hurt. There’s some interesting nuance there – the boys accept injury as part of the sport, because to reject any part of the sport would be to reject what brought them together. They appeared to be on the same page at this point.
After Langa actually raced Adam, however, the experience thrilled him, rather than filling him with the terror that Reki felt. Those opposite reactions speak to why these guys love skating, I feel. For Reki, skating helps him to connect to others, a view that’s supported by the references to his old skater friend who quit after a terrible injury – when their hobby ceased to be a shared one, they grew apart. On the other hand, Langa skates because it allows him to connect to himself (including the part that he lost when his snowboarder dad passed away). Deep down, Langa is a thrill-seeker, which explains the mysterious “pull” that he felt during his match with Adam, a fellow daredevil. During the beach scene I mentioned above, Langa promised to stay away from Adam in the future, but that promise will be almost certainly be broken after he fails to recreate that pull on his own. He’ll be challenging Mr. Mask again before this show is over, a decision that’s sure to threaten his relationship with Reki. SK8 will obviously deliver a tired “friendship wins” message in the end, but at least the building blocks are solid so far.
Ok, random funtime idea here, but what if we don’t get a “Friendship wins” message? I know we won’t get it but I would kind of be hyped for a more cyclical “Langa is just like how Adam was before he changed” and then the story ends with Langa becoming the “new” Adam in some weird sort of repeated history thing.
We won’t get it, but I would be down for it.
Interesting idea. Adam does wear a mask, so Langa could slip into the role if he were dedicated enough (hair dye, learning to skate without toe grips, etc). First the show would have to demonstrate the need for Adam to exist apart from Shindo – this isn’t a Batman situation where somebody has to wear the suit to keep a city from crumbling. I don’t know how they’d accomplish something like that, but it would certainly be fun to watch!
Oh I didnt mean literally become Adam, I meant more fill his role. As in people would talk about “Snow” the same way they do Adam as he gets caught up in his thrill seeking and finding good people to skate against.
Yeah, certainly not a Batman situation where everything thinks its the same person.
Man, this show sounds super cheesy.