#sk8 meta

[danceofthephilos]

Who founded S, and when?

In episode 4 of SK8's dub, Reki refers to Joe and Cherry as "founders" of S, and this has led to a pretty widespread conception in the English-speaking fandom that the two of them were... well, S's founders alongside Adam, that it started when the three of them were in school, that they're still involved in it on a managerial level, or even claims that they founded it first and Adam stole it after the fact.

But what is actually being said here?

It's the word "初期メンバー" that was translated as "founders" in the dub, and while it can mean "founding members", in a sense, there is no implication in the word 初期 of actively being involved in creating something, simply that they were the earliest members (it means "in the initial stage.")

Even more telling is Reki's use of みんな - he's talking about a larger group than two people here. He's not setting Joe and Cherry apart as "founders", he's counting everyone who skated at S at the beginning as "初期メンバー" and namedropping the two characters from that era whose names we know and who are going to be significant to the story. (This reference to "everyone" establishing that there's a larger group going unnamed is also cut from the dub; instead Reki says "Cherry, Joe... man, I bet they'd love to go off about that guy.")

Conversely, looking at how Adam is described...

...it's pretty straightforward.

He's also described in his profile on the official website (and consistently in other official sources that use these character profiles) as 創設者, which does mean founder, explicitly referring to "the person who first established something."

Cherry and Joe, meanwhile, are both referred to as Sの実力者のうちの1人, or "one of the big names at S." They're certainly both respected, influential people within the community - recognition they've earned, not something they're set apart for in any "official" capacity. They've never been described in an official source as 創設者, or in any other way that would indicate they were involved in S's creation rather than simply being two powerful people in the community as it exists now.

There are a few other details that tie into establishing this - mainly disproving the notion that Adam stole something already existing. In episode 5, as they're fleeing from the police, Tadashi says this...

...indicating that Crazy Rock was part of a regular police patrol route before Adam was able to use his money/influence to have it removed, something that Cherry and Joe (particularly years ago, when Cherry wouldn't have had the money he's earning now) would not have had the power to do.

And in episode 12, when discussing the change in course, Joe says this:

Literally saying "it became banned", this is wording on Joe's part that would make no sense for a decision he was involved in. He's describing this as something that happened totally separate from him. Early enough that the funeral course was still being used, Joe (and presumably also Cherry) were not making calls about the management of S like this.

There's also a relevant quote from SK8's screenwriter, Ichiro Okouchi:

When considering Adam as a character, I thought he would need someone beside him. If Kikuchi wasn't there, Adam would become a character who would do nothing but talk to himself, and it would be difficult for Adam to manage S alone.

(spoon.2Di, volume 72)

Part of Tadashi's entire conceptualization as a character was because without him, Adam would be running S alone. Early enough in the development in the series that Tadashi hadn't properly been created yet, S was imagined as something solely belonging to Adam.

Adam is S's founder; Joe and Cherry were simply in the initial group of members, along with other people who haven't yet been named.

Additionally, from only a few pieces of dialog it's possible to narrow down when Adam started S - and it wasn't during the DK era. When Joe interrupts Reki in episode 4, he says this:

Earlier in the same episode, Cherry says this:

And the two of them have this exchange at the beginning of episode 9:

Adam, Joe and Cherry are all 26 years old (25 going on 26, in Cherry's case; he hasn't actually had his birthday by the end of season 1, but this is normal for how ages are listed for anime characters.) Seven years ago would have been the end of their last year of high school (Adam, as the oldest of the three of them, would have turned 19 just over a month after graduating high school.)

When Adam skated with Joe and Cherry was seven years ago, before he left for America, and he hasn't accepted any of their challenges since he returned to Japan. In Joe's words, this time skating together was "way before S started."

So, all together:

For some time in high school, Adam, Joe and Cherry all skated together as a group (sometimes with some other friends/gang members.) Seven years before SK8 season 1 takes place, Adam was sent away to America by his father, ending his friendship with Joe and Cherry. Some time after that (presumably upon his father's death,) he returned to Japan and founded S with Tadashi to assist him in managing it, using his influence to remove the abandoned mine from regular police patrols to protect it, and Joe and Cherry were among a larger initial group of skaters who competed at the time. Since then, he's never agreed to a beef with Joe or Cherry despite them challenging him many times, so neither of them have skated with him since S started.

TL;DR - Adam is the person who started S and he and Tadashi were always conceptualized as the only people running it, and the idea that Adam, Joe and Cherry founded it as a trio comes from a mistranslation in the dub.

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #sk8 meta #adam sk8 #ainosuke shindo #kaoru sakurayashiki #kojiro nanjo #dk trio

[specterthief]

Genesis 2:18

(english translation from the new international version, japanese translation from the japan bible society interconfessional version)

skateboard anime has driven me to comparing bible translations, and the realization that the dialog at the end of episode 11 (particularly tadashi's) appears to be referencing the bible verse first describing the creation of eve. sure, maybe a stretch, but this line comes only about 20 seconds before "let's fall together, because we're going to become adam and eve", and there's enough attention to detail to the biblical references in this show for adam's board in the finale to be missing a rib on one side.

tadashi's use of ふさわしい here is also tying back to an earlier piece of dialog in sk8 itself, a use by adam's aunts when the idea of ainosuke's arranged marriage first comes up:

this idea of adam being in need of a "suitable" partner, and the fundamental clash between his family's intentions for him to marry a woman and his own genuine desires as a gay man, form such a fundamental throughline to his story, and the way that this is part of his overarching biblical storyline really shows the care that was put into the writing - and that the show really is, as the producers describe it, "the story of adam searching for his eve."

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #fandom: sk8 the infinity #meta #mine #sk8 meta #ainosuke shindo #adam sk8

[cherryblossomsandhydrangeas]

On Cherry Blossom’s Skating Style

One thing I’ve noticed in this fandom is that many people assume that Cherry’s skating style is lesser- or easier- than many of the other skaters at “S” and that he can’t do anything without Carla. Some people also take Adam’s “boring” remark as a statement of fact rather than something meant to cause further pain to someone who was already down.

There hasn’t been a set group of people doing this, it’s pretty much all over the fandom; even fans of the character get into this mindset. And, frankly, I want to say:

Carla’s calculations don’t mean shit if Cherry doesn’t hit that angle.

Yes, Carla tells Kaoru what angle a curve is going to be and how far away it is/time to it, however, it is up to him and his skills as a skater to be able to hit that angle, and he has to hit it perfectly for her calculations to have been of any use.

Carla’s calculations as a whole are only useful for that one match as well. We’ve been shown in episode one that the “S” track is constantly changing. Multiple trees fall and a rock slide happens during Langa’s race against Shadow, and whatever scans and calculations Carla would have made on one pass down the track would be completely useless for a second run.

Carla does not skate for Cherry- if she did then there would be no need for her to calculate angles- Kaoru is the one in control and he is the one putting in most of the work. Note:

Cherry is the one who has to keep his balance and footing when his skateboard is transforming from short form to long form and vice versa.

Cherry is the one who skated a curve with his eyes closed while also dodging Adam’s Love Hug- which could have gone wrong in a multitude of ways, i.e. Cherry’s hair getting caught under his board, Adam shifting his position and running over Cherry, Adam grabbing onto Cherry’s pony tail and dragging him along the track, etc.

-

Carla’s use while skating (or observing) are also overstated by fandom. Cherry does not use Carla to determine if someone’s body tilt is off or if they should change their footing; he does that all with his own mind. Remember, this is the same character that:

Knew that Langa was a snowboarder after seeing him put his foot on a skateboard for the first time outside his studio.

Wasn’t in the least bit surprised that Langa had been snowboarding since he was 2yrs old, and comments on his improvements in skateboarding in such a short time period.

Determined that Joe’s body tilt was off and that he was losing time to Langa during their beef down to the milliseconds.

Predicted Adam’s move-set during Reki’s first beef with Adam.

Immediately recognized that Reki wasn’t doing his best during the start of his second race against Adam.

We have to remember that Carla is Cherry’s assistant. While she is very important to him (and that’s another post I’ll make later), she is not the one who is in control and never will be.

-

On two (final) notes:

One, remember that it was Cherry that Reki went to to ask for help in Langa’s first beef against Adam. Remember that during that beef that Langa flashes back to Cherry’s advice to help him during the first half. And remember that during Langa’s second beef with Adam, Langa uses Cherry’s move to dodge Adam’s Love Hug Full Swing Kiss Combo.

-

Two, there’s a reason why some of the S Gallery were considering Adam v. Cherry to “already be the finale”, and that’s because Cherry is a formidable opponent.

Think about how difficult it must be to face up against the “perfect skater”- and how enticing the thought of maybe beating him must be. Any little mistake you could possibly make would put you behind big time. He has the ability to change the shape of his board to go faster down the track and his skill in maneuverability was thought to the factor that would win in his beef against Adam had they actually made it to the factory as Adam’s speed wouldn’t have helped him inside the dilapidated building.

#im gonna make another post on cherry's relationship with carla as a whole but i just had to post this #sk8 cherry blossom #sk8 the infinity #sk8 #sk8 reki #sk8 langa #sk8 meta #sk8 adam

[cum-villain]

SK8 the Infinity's ending left a significant amount of people unsatisfied. One of the primary complaints was that Reki, the protagonist, never defeated ADAM, the antagonist. However, Reki's arc was never about winning. In fact, the show has never endorsed winning being the goal.

In most sports anime, there's a typical progression: Protag wants to be the best in a sport, and is often an underdog with great potential -> protag goes through Difficulties and trains -> protag eventually becomes the best and wins. But in SK8, winning was never the goal. It was merely a side effect of having fun.

Langa snowboarded with his dad because it was fun, he gained those skills because it was fun. Langa began skateboarding because it was like snowboarding, it was like being with his dad, and for the first time since his dad's death he found something that was fun. He spent a lot of time training because it was fun. He won against ADAM not because his goal was merely to beat ADAM, but because racing against ADAM was fun, and learning how to beat him was fun.

ADAM is an antagonist not necessarily because he's strong, but because he puts winning over having fun. He once had fun with skating, but his childhood conditioning, the pressure to be perfect in everything, eventually won out, and he stopped having fun because he focused on being the best. But, he's unsatisfied with being the best. He wants to skate with someone, he wants the thrill of high speeds while holding someone's hand, he wants to have fun skating with a friend. He needed to learn that skating isn't just about an adrenaline high, a spare moment of escape; it's about doing something fun.

And that is why Reki, the protagonist, didn't win. He didn't need to. He just needed to learn the core message of the show: Being good isn't the point, having fun is. Reki is good, but he isn't an elite skater, and for a time that gives him doubts. But he learns that fun is what matters, not skill level, and laughs after he loses to ADAM because he had fun, even if he didn't succeed.

Small side note: This also contributes to the show's queercoding. Being a perfect person isn't the goal, being a happy person is. Do what makes you happy, not just what's "correct". See the double meaning there? It's no mistake that ADAM, the successfully rich young politician, the skating master, is the antagonist who redeems himself, and is arguably the most queercoded character in the show.

#braincell posting #sk8 #sk8 the infinity #sk8 meta #sk8 the infinity meta #reki #reki kyan #langa #langa hasegawa #ainosuke shindo #adam sk8 #shindo ainosuke

[nevergeneralize]

“Nice try but I’m not adulting today”: the Millennials of Sk8

It’s really delightful to me that the grownups in Sk8 are recognizably millennials and I was really pleased by the way the show employs the visual hallmarks of my teen years to establish the flashbacks to the youth of the last generation. Feels like Officially becoming a Media Adult

Like obviously I am no longer the shonen target demo / main character being well out of my teens and that is not new, but I’ve been in a weird gap because Media Grownups have still seemingly been gen-Xers, aesthetically and values-wise (retro = the 80s, for seemingly forever), and that’s not me. But these Manic-Panic-haired Hot-Topic-shopping X-Games-watching sk8er bois absolutely are:

Kaoru was edgier in his youth than I would’ve dared in my own but I sure did have those bangs. Look at his eyeliner you could cut glass with those wings!!! He’s serving Avril Lavigne and I just know he’s got Death Cab or his local equivalent playing in his (wired, on-ear) headphones. This is ostensibly a school uniform but I wanted identical trendy skinny plaid pants so bad

Note the wallet chain and the aggressive side part which TikTok would have me believe is no longer cool?? This nice young man will go get a Godsmack shoulder tattoo at chef school and it will become part of his personal brand when he moves back to his hometown and decides to maintain a quirky high school hobby at great personal injury risk and what must be a disastrous sleep schedule situation. He’s somehow the best-adjusted man in all of shonen

And I know there’s not even a full generation between the two groups of main characters (as the show itself constantly jokes by way of Shadow’s objections to being called an old man) but they are separated by life-phase-dependent narrative trajectories: Reki and Langa and Miya are in coming of age (cough first love) stories, Kaoru is in a healing from old wounds story, Kojiro is a mentor figure (does he have character development or just a rockin bod?? Who’s to say) and Shadow is also mentor/supporter/team-mom. (Ainosuke is an important exception which I will discuss in a separate post; he’s in some ways belatedly coming of age.)

So the older group feels narratively/functionally like The Grownups but they are aesthetically My Peers. It’s kind of wild! “Feel old yet?” Yeah I do, finally, thanks! Congrats on graduating to anime adulthood my fellow millennials!

I’m sure there’s tons of other media where my generation is represented this way but this is the first one I’ve really noticed, maybe because it touches on a specific subculture that evokes my experience of youth, or maybe I don’t watch that many things set in the present anyway. Who knows. I think my particular delight in this experience also has to do with how Sk8 treats coolness and how the adults (at least The Founders) still get to have it. Maybe also the fact that the show’s characters get to be generationally differentiated but not at odds for that feels fresh to me; there are clearly marked aesthetic/narrative differences but they’re not hinging the conflict on the grownups being out of touch or the kids being immature. That feels a little bit utopian, actually, and opposed to a particular strain of discourse that paints Gen Z/The Youth as incomprehensible to the “olds” and separate from millennials, who should implicitly start to identify instead with more traditional values and attitudes, i.e. those of our parents. In fact I would argue that Sk8 actually models that identification with outdated parental values via Ainosuke and his family, and frames it as sad and toxic and villain-making, but we see a healthier alternative in the core squad, where Reki jokes about Shadow being an old man, and Joe and Cherry bemoan the kids joining vacation, but it’s lighthearted and we get to have fun joking about age/generational differences without it creating conflict! Found family/intergenerational dynamics without manufactured parent-child tension, except for fun at the beach! Neat! (Also the actual parent-child dynamics of Langa and his mom are pretty great)

So it’s cool to see my specific peer group’s aging represented without any suggestion that it should necessarily mean generational conflict or value-stagnation, or even uncoolness or the trope of inevitable adult boredom and the loss of youthful freedom and joy. We can have our own millennial culture AND separate adult narratives/problems AND solidarity with younger people AND empowered fully-realized maturing selves with fun hobbies! I can see myself in the Media Adults in a piece of media that’s got a pretty optimistic view of what adulthood means and I think that’s neat.

#sk8 the infinity #good luck with those student loans kaoru and kojiro #they’re just like me fr #meta #sk8 meta #which I did not expect to be writing lol #I’m joking about joe’s tattoo being a godsmack tattoo … or am i #i just thought of a whole bunch of stuff about skating as fandom what with tadashi and reki’s scene but #this post is long enough already #what have i wrought #i came here to bully joe and cherry for being stereotypes (out of aesthetic envy obvs) and now #here we are #hundreds of words of this #too many thoughts but head still empty #also thinking about miya and how gaining competency can be painful #this show has a lot going on for being a sports anime that disregards almost every fact about its sport and also physics

[confusedgoldenflower]

Cherry Blossom/Sakurayashiki Kaoru’s wage

I’ve made an attempt

39.6cm x 7.1cm x 26.2cm == 7,366.392 cubic cm attaché case

1mm == 0.1cm

77mm x 160mm x 0.1mm == 1,232 cubic mm == 123.2 cubic cm

7,366.392 cubic cm case / 123.2 cubic cm per bill == 59.79214285714286 bills per case. Round 59.790 bills

Case isn’t full, assuming closer to 3/4 == 14.95 bills.

The bills are 10,000 ¥ == 149,480.357 ¥ per case.

Assuming this is his *usual* fee… man IS Joe’s sugar daddy (even tho I see him as a flavor of ace lol).

Images for reference (first from first minute-ish of Ep1).



#sk8 #sk8 meta #kaoru sakurayashiki #kaoru sk8 #Kaoru’s earnings #cherry’s earnings

[literallyanyname]

So I've seen a lot of people group Banana Fish and SK8 The Infinity together and I both do and don't see the similarities. Sk8 has much, much lighter, happier vibes. (Also, it's weird to watch Sk8 after BF when Sk8 treats some relatively minor issues like life or death and BF's issues are ACTUALLY life and death.) Sk8 also has a more rounded, developed side cast. BFish really only gives solid character development to Ash, Eiji, and Shorter (in that order). However, both shows come off as very realistic.

Also, I don't get the same feeling from Ash and Eiji as I do from Reki and Langa. Asheiji share a really raw emotional intimacy. They're in a series of horrible situations, and they cling to each other to cope with that. Also, it seems like there's a LOT more romantic subtext. They share a room (and it is implied that they later share a bed), regularly make declarations of love to each other without actually saying it, and then there's the really obvious nod to the audience with the love charm Eiji's sister gave him.

Reki and Langa honestly come off as just bros doing bro stuff. It's just a very close friendship to me. (But also they're both in safer, healthier situations). They don't need to cling to each other. Also, Sk8 actually treats them like teenage kids, and BFish does not.

#banana fish #sk8 the infinity #ash lynx #eiji okumura #reki kyan #hasegawa langa #I promise I know how to write an essay I just didn't feel like doing all the proper formatting and stuff #Banana fish meta #sk8 meta

[thebibi]

I really love Adam's logo because it fits his personality so well!

Look at all those roses! And the little phrase in the "A" that says "Will you be my Eve?" I also love the detail that Adam is on a bed of blue roses. Blue roses in Hanakotoba mean the impossible, it's a mysterious and unnatural color.

But behind the name, there's a huge pink heart with pink or red roses. Pink means affection and sincerity and red means passionate love. It's really interesting, it's like Adam is still hiding his true self in order to be a wonderful spectacle at S. (And of course, there's a lot that can be said about how Tadashi's signature is so tiny you need arrows to see it, partly because he wrote it that way and also because Adam is just that vibrant).

#sk8 #shindo ainosuke #kikuichi tadashi #sk8 adam #sk8 meta #thebibi post #thebibi on sk8boiz #also love how cherry blocked adam with his logo lolol

[rubywolf0201]

In all honesty, all of the complaints about Bucchigiri's characters remind me far too much of the complaints towards SK8's characters as it was airing. So much bile hurled towards ADAM being a p*do and violent abuser who should've been arrested, even as the series revealed how much he was abused physically and mentally by his family and how much better the series would be without him. Just like what I'm seeing with Arajin here.

It felt like there was an inability or refusal to actually engage with the character stories and running themes, and instead a need to quickly condemn actions done by these characters.

I hoenestly can’t say much about Adam since I have yet to watch SK8 (I’ll get into it soon) and my opinions aren’t the best but I’ll keep this in mind while forming it once I get into the show itself.

But you are right how there’s certain people who just refuse to analyse what BUCCHIGIRI?! has offered so far, not to mention a lot of it is just what they have watched on a surface level.

But however, opinions are opinions. If they think it’s bad or they drop it, then it’s on them. For me, I’ll make fan content and analysis of BUCCHIGIRI?!

#rubi’s ask #bucchigiri?! #sk8 the infinity #meta #that’s the tea sis #again these are all just my opinions #all of them aren’t supposed to be taken highly

[allthefujoshiunite]

Have you watched Buddy Daddies? If you have do you like it?

Random ask....Do you think anime like Free, Sk8, Jeweler Richard and Yuri on Ice are queerbaiting or at least have semi canon couples? I mean I love those anime series and my fav otps are from those series, but what do you think?

P.s Love your latest meta, it really made my day and when I read them, I also found answers to my internal questions my self...Thanks for sharing them...( I'm not the anon who asked that)...

💐🌷🥰🤩

Hello! Today's great coincidence that made me chuckle into my morning tea was getting asked about my opinion on queerbaiting by two different people, 1-hour apart 🤣 Thanks a lot, both of you! I'll put my two cents down about queerbaiting discourse in anime and I know it's silly to mention but just to be sure, these are all opinions, and my opinions only. 

Before I start rambling about gays, no I haven't seen Buddy Daddies yet. I've been very excited about it ever since I've seen the PV but as you may know, I decided to review every first episode of the Winter 2023 season so I'm pretty much swamped... I'm saving Buddy Daddies to savor it! If you wait a bit, you'll be reading my first impressions of it soon. 

So. Okay. Queerbait. First of all, definitions because for the love of BL gods, people have been throwing words around without knowing what they mean. 

According to this interesting book that's been sitting on my TBR pile, Queerbating and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities, the definition of queerbaiting is as follows: 

Queerbaiting describes an industry tactic where “those officially associated with a media text court viewers interested in LGBT narratives... without the text ever definitely confirming the nonheterosexuality of the relevant characters.” For this reason, the term is seen as exploitative, and when fans use it to describe a series, its marketing, or the actions of producers, they are engaging in a “form of queer activism.”

There are other terms coined by the scholars such as "covert courting" (i.e. targeting gay consumers using subtle elements not intended to be picked up by heterosexual audiences) etc. but in my opinion, these terms are built upon the presupposition that there is a queer audience to bait into consuming your media. And I'm not sure whether there's a group of audience that is acknowledged as queer in the minds of producers and/or creators in Japan. 

What they want to tap into according to yours truly, however, is FujoMoney. No, it's not a new currency, although now I kind of wish it was. There's an interesting video on it that delves deeper into the topic but in short, they are after the buying and creating potential of shippers. Creating fan content is, in itself, a grey area legally but it's overlooked because the franchise profits from it immensely. A similar practice, if you're or have been into K-pop at some point, is the fansites. Normally, they shouldn't be allowed to make merchandise off of the artists and gain profit from it. However, they attend concerts out of their own pockets, take these photographs using their own cameras, and contribute greatly to the group or the individual artist's popularity. Tl;dr: it's free real estate for the companies. 

So I guess the term we're looking for is fujobait, rather than queerbait. What the higher-ups want to attract are shippers who are buyers and/or fancreators. Look at any sports anime and you'll see. There have been multiple times when I got into a series because I've seen a shippy fanart or a video edit of a character. And to be honest, if I was more fortunate economically, they'd be making that kind of monetary profit through merch off of me as well. xD

While queerbait and fujobait might seem like they mean the same thing, they eventually are not because the former capitalizes on real-life stigmatized identity while the latter relies on a consumer's practice of queering the content at hand. I'm personally not as interested in putting the label of "right" or "wrong" on these terms, so I'll leave it at this for now. 

Moving on to the series you mentioned, they can't all be put into the same box, but can be divided into two groups where Free and Sk8 rely more on fanservice and the intricacies of the relationships are left to the shippers' imaginations while Jeweler Richard and Yuuri!!! on ICE are entirely different. Especially, Yuuri!!! on ICE because there's no room left for discussion or different readings that Yuuri and Victor are a couple. They literally get married, and the only reason some people still to this day question whether they are canon or not is because of eurocentrism/racism. I come across reels of real-life women taking a ring out and putting it on the ring finger of another woman with people cheering in the background and no one is asking to see their marriage registration in the comments. On the contrary, they congratulate them! The exact same scene is there in animated form, so why do we even question its validity? 

In the case of Jeweler Richard, sadly light novels aren't my thing. I have only seen the anime and have read the first volume of the manga. However, I've read an extensive blog post on the light novels comparing them to the anime adaptation. From the blog post, their relationship is evident even though to an anime-only it might come off as implied. I personally didn't think it was implied even in the anime, but if anyone else did, we have our answers in the source material. 

All of this then begs the question: does having things spelled out on screen matter? If yes, to what extent it matters? I mentioned in the previous meta post that the consumers of Asian media are already lucky when it comes to the existence and variety of such content. I'm personally someone who's in favor of having media to consume at hand instead of waiting for the Perfect Representation. I don't even want representation, because what is representation anyway for a non-monolithic community with a deep, rich history? I want portrayal, and while having things openly said is cathartic and something I want to have, I won't discredit the works I enjoy and find meaning in just for the sake of it. Especially content that come from countries with heavy censorship or a high possibility of GP backlash.

Plus, while I'm not in any Chinese BL or BL-adjacent work fandoms, I watched dramas here or there and have a lot of mutuals who are actively in the fandoms of certain series, so through osmosis, I learn a couple of things as well. I've seen people talking about the cultural significance of certain choices in these works that someone who's not well-versed in the codes of the Chinese culture won't be able to pick up, i.e. characters wearing red can be an insinuation on marriage because red is a color worn in weddings. Or there's no way I would pick up that Chinese BL dramas are dubbed over just so they can pass censorship. Would it be better if China were to be supportive of LGBTQA+? 100%. Should people there push for the content they'd like to see or portrayals that they see themselves in? Without a doubt. Should it mean that they should get nothing until they get exactly what they want? A hard no. There must be still works that portray such relationships even if they are implied because I see this attempt as getting a foot in the door. 

To sum everything up: what I want is to enjoy what I read/watch and share it with others while trying to keep a critical eye on as much as I can. My background is in STEM and I'm not formally educated in humanities anyway. What I try to do is to read and discuss questions I have in mind, and writing helps me order and expand my thoughts. I find value in trying to keep an open mind instead of gatekeeping and micro-analyzing every little thing, or at least, I try not to let them take the fun out of it. To quote the great Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts:

I am not interested in hermeneutics, or erotics, or metaphorics, of my anus. I am interested in ass-fucking.

Easily one of the best books I've read in 2022. Pure brilliance.

#queerbaiting #bl meta #boys love #yuuri on ice #jeweler richard #free iwatobi swim club #sk8 infinity #queer portrayal #allthefujoshiunite answers

[danceofthephilos]

Theory: Did Tadashi call the police on S?

The first beef between Langa and Adam gets famously interrupted by a police raid. It's the only time the police interfere with S specifically in the whole series and the plot thread is not followed up on, leaving this raid as a bit of an oddity.

What I'm proposing here is nothing but a theory - I consider it possible that this is intentional subtext woven into the show, but I would not be able to confirm it one way or another.

My proposition is that Tadashi called the police at this juncture, and that this is completely in line with how he expresses his concern for Adam throughout the whole series. Let's dive in!

Almost immediately preceding the police raid is this reaction shot of Tadashi looking stunned by Adam standing motionlessly under the flickering streetlight. It's when Adam decides that Langa not only could be but definitely is his Eve - even from a distance, observing through the live feed from the drones, Tadashi can tell that Adam is deeply affected by this.

When the episode aired and we didn't yet know a lot about Tadashi, I thought that this shot's inclusion was doubtlessly meant to imply that he is the one who put a stop to the race. With Kiriko's further involvement and the slow reveals about Tadashi's devotion to Adam, this could seem like it was a red herring. But... was it?

Let's dissect this bit by bit!

As I said before, this is the only time in the series that the police messes with S. But not only that! It is also the only time that S has been on the police's radar in recent memory of the characters:

So: why now? Why at this exact point in time? Is that really just some insane coincidence? Is it Kiriko? (It's not, we'll get to that.)

It's noteworthy that the S system shuts down immediately. As the police usually doesn't bother with S, this is not routine. It's a very swift response to something that is completely unusual if not unprecedented. It could be that Tadashi just has very quick response skills, but... It's undeniable that shutting everything off on time would be far easier for him to accomplish if he knew this would happen.

This is further supported by the way Tadashi just casually rolls up to pick up Adam, not stressed in the slightest by the unusual threat to their little operation (and Tadashi does stress about anything that could threaten Adam's reputation, we see it often.)

Adam also immediately points out the strangeness of this event, while we as the viewer are treated to a foreground shot of Tadashi's impassive, unconcerned face.

It is then Tadashi who looks into the matter. It is his word we have to trust if we want to blame the police raid on Kiriko. But... should we?

We know Kiriko as incredibly persistent in her pursuit of Adam. Would she really discover that Ainosuke Shindo walled off a whole area from police patrol, and then quietly accept it as that same area is removed from patrol once again? That should be raising huge red flags for her!

If Kiriko had a hunch of Ainosuke Shindo doing something illegal at the abandoned mine out of town, that should be her absolute first priority to investigate! It's her best bet at getting him to court!

But Kiriko herself never once mentions the abandoned mine, altered police patrol routes, or anything of the likes. To her, this is about perjury. She's only ever seen following the perjury and collusion trail; never once does she discuss anything adjacent to S. Even presuming that she's merely suspicious about the abandoned mine in general, without any reason to connect it to Ainosuke Shindo, the person whom Adam is in contact with to assure S's continued protection is the chief of police.

Kiriko is working with Chief Matsumura throughout the rest of the season, and until he intervenes to prevent her investigating the Shindo estate and sends her back to Tokyo in the finale, there's no indication that she distrusts him, nor anyone within the Naha police, at all. If Tadashi's account of events is correct, Kiriko grew suspicious of illegal activities at the abandoned mine, thought it had been removed from the patrol route by someone higher in the chain of command, and had it raided... only for her to think nothing of it when it was removed from the patrols again, and continue to completely trust the person who would have authority over these decisions without so much as following up with him about what happened.

If Kiriko is meant to be the culprit behind the raid, this is a huge plot hole. She should, by all means, have become a threat to S itself.

However! The only person who ever implicates her in this is Tadashi. If Tadashi was the one who called the police, Kiriko would have been an incredibly convenient scapegoat for him.

So then... isn't Tadashi a loyal dog? Why would he go against his master like this, so early in the show? Let me explain!

First off, it's important to remember that at the start of the show, Adam hasn't been attending S in years. People there treat him as a legend and many have never seen him. Recently, Adam has been focused on furthering his career and only consumed S passively via videos - no skater interested him enough to go out personally.

Tadashi supports this. Over and over we see him concerned for Adam's career and reputation. He believes that a 'normal' successful life is what is genuinely best for the man.

For years now, Tadashi has blamed skateboarding (and himself) for everything wrong with Adam's life. He believes that he led Adam astray and he is desperate to fix his 'mistake'.

Tadashi is not an outsider to the value system of the Shindo clan. As the child of a generations-long servant family, he grew up on the estate as well. He too spent his whole life internalizing the 'life lessons' taught by the Shindo adults. As Aiichiro's secretary, he might have spent more time with Adam's father than Adam himself ever did. Tadashi definitely listened to his views over and over and over.

And because of that, what Tadashi regrets about Aiichiro burning Adam's board is not that he didn't stop it or that he didn't stand up for Adam... It's that he taught Adam skateboarding in the first place and thus led to him 'needing to be punished'.

As such, it's no surprise that he opposes Adam's initial return to S. He wants to 'make up' for his 'mistake' by leading Adam into a normal life. Participation in S is to the direct detriment of that.

Tadashi feels no disdain for Adam, of course. On the contrary, he feels endless love and affection. He genuinely wants what's best for him. Well, what he thinks is best for him...

Which means that Tadashi is a product of the Shindo clan through-and-through.

And all of that wraps us back around to where we started:

After years of Adam doing well in Tadashi's eyes (no hospitalizations, yay!), this happens. Adam is affected in a way he's never been before - he's had objects of affection in the past, but none of them made him stop dead in his tracks like this.

Tadashi knows Adam. And he knows Adam is about to be obsessed.

So he panics and tries to rip Adam and Langa apart as soon as humanly possible. He wants to nip this obsession in the bud so Adam won't be distracted from work. So Adam will be able to live the perfect life that everyone wants for him.

It's even possible that Tadashi didn't stop at calling the police.

At the start of the tournament, we encounter a group of masked skaters who are hellbent on getting Langa out of the race. The way they talk about Joe here is dismissive. When they say to let him have the win they use the form くれてやれ which is rather rude and dismissive - they're not doing this for Joe's sake, they just don't care if he wins. It's Langa they're after.

Now, it's possible that they just want to take an arrogant rookie down a peg. That seems like something thugs would do. But there is one person who has a vested interest in Langa falling short of Adam's expectations and not making it to the finale - that person is Tadashi.

The assault on Langa in this race is a similar oddity as the police raid - it's never addressed before or after it happens, standing isolated as a momentary obstacle that doesn't contribute to the overall plot of SK8. Being 'out of place' ties these two incidents together - and thus may tie them to Tadashi.

It might not be coincidence that Tadashi enters the tournament as Snake only after the assault team fails to take out Langa.

Entering the tournament shows that Tadashi is not afraid to go behind Adam's back if he thinks it serves Adam's best interests. But becoming 'Snake' means alerting Adam of his betrayals - to me, that seems like a drastic final measure after the sneakier ones failed.

The tragedy of it all is that even though Tadashi is deciding over Adam's head, going behind his back, and generally repeating his family's abusive mantra at him over and over.... Even though Tadashi does all these things, he genuinely loves Adam. Everything he does is for Adam's sake. Unlike the aunts or Aiichiro, he does not see Adam as a representative of his own power. He just loves him, but he expresses his love in the only way he's ever learned to do it:

By forcing him to fit the mold.

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #tadashi kikuchi #sk8 meta

[specterthief]

it's no fun doing it alone

#sk8 #sk8 the infinity #langa hasegawa #ainosuke shindo #adam sk8 #shitpost #mine #fandom: sk8 the infinity #one of these days i'm going to write the big pretentious sk8 utena meta and get dragged in front of the yuri hague

[givereadersahug]

Comfort Characters

There was a post on Reddit asking about your comfort characters and I thought I'll share my response here.

I don't actually have one comfort character, but I do routinely think about the following three constantly throughout my day and into the night.

First up is Kaoru from SK8 the Infinity. A new one on this list. He's such a tsundere. Rarely show emotions, but yet he *feels* so much for his friends and will do anything for them. He's an adult I aspire to be --- competent, got his stuff together (career-wise), has devoted friends that are there for him and he is there for them. And yet he's not all put together. He has trust issues, given his past with Adam, but he doesn't let that hold him back. When I need a pick me up, I just think about him and Kojiro and what they are doing. He's definitely a wholesome character to me, like receiving a warm hug.

Another one is Severus Snape from Harry Potter. He is such a complex character and I can spend a day thinking about his motivations, his childhood, his part in the battle against Voldemort. How he balanced working for Albus & Hogwarts, being a spy inside Voldemort's inner circle, and helping Harry out --- all in his own complex, messy ways. He's such a morally gray character, who has so many sides to him, and he *changes* from childhood to adulthood to the teacher Harry met in first year and to the very end of his life. A truly full dimensional character, I think, and representative of how not everyone is what they seemed to be and how people have the capacity to change. He legit taught me to be more accepting and welcoming and that everyone deserves a chance.

And finally, MCU Loki. My true love. The one I truly give my heart to wholeheartedly and without question. I constantly think about him --- his relationship to Thor, his family, his place on Asgard, the loss and the confusion he must have felt after finding out he was adopted, after his mother's death, and even after Odin's death. He has a tough exterior, he's a trickster, pretends to be above everything that relates to his brother and Asgard and yet he *died* for him, and for his people. I'm mostly speaking about Loki pre-Endgame. I haven't seen anything that has Loki in it post-Endgame, so I'm not entirely too sure about his character arc in his show or what he's up to in his other appearances. That's a different Loki to me, on a whole different path, and well. I'm still stuck on his death in Infinity War. 😅 Loki had done things in his past that are not entirely kosher, but yet his love for his brother, his family, and even Asgard is *there* just right underneath. You just need to chip a little to get under his exterior -- devotion to the T that he literally died for them.

So, yeah. 😅 I spend too much time thinking about them. It cuts down on the banality of life as I wait for the next thing to happen. 😂

If anyone wants to talk about their comfort characters, tag me! I'm curious to see what yours are.

#random text post #meta #reddit #sk8 kaoru #sk8 the infinity #snape #harry potter #loki #marvel #fandom

[theheightofdishonor]

Do you think haikyuu is queer coded? There's the aspect of shipping is just out of canon which it is but to say interpretations can't mean anything feels odd at times. I see you analyse a lot wanted to know your general stance on this even if outside haikyuu

Hm, there's a lot of questions here so imma start with the fact that shipping and queer coding aren't necessarily related. As far as shipping is concerned, canon is but a sandbox from which we can make anything we like. Some people like canon/heavily supported by canon ships like Reki/Langa from Sk8, others like ships that just have a basis in canon/follow common shipping tropes like iwaoi and kuroken which are classic childhood friends to lovers, and then you have those like me who will ship any two random characters together based on little to no interaction or any canon basis simply because they're interesting. All of this is to say is that it's easy to twist canon to fit your needs and if you want a queer reading of hq because you yourself are queer or because you really like rivals to lovers and want to read kurodai as gay (me, I'm talking about me) than that's fine!

Of course I'm a bit of a lit nerd so I'm pretty big on the fact that while you're free to consume everything in a shippy way, you should also be able to see a text for what it is. Comprehensive reading is important! Like, if you're reading Romeo and Juliet and your only takeaway is Benvolio and Tybalt would make a cute couple, I'm sorry but you're doing it wrong.

Haikyuu isn't primarily a queer story the way that the little mermaid or fight club or orlando are filled with queer themes and subtexts. Furudate's pretty explicit about the fact that hq is about volleyball and connection. However, yeah, I think there's a bit of queer coding in it, like Noya's first name being picked intentionally to compliment Asahi's or how kagehina are written to be perfect complimentary pairs. Like, I'm pretty vocal about the fact that while I don't ship kghn, I think they're a very queerly written pairing.

#i let this sit in my head for hours but im still not sure im satisfied wuth how i answered it #asks #haikyuu!! #haikyu #im essence all interpretations are valid #sometimes some are more valid than others #sk8 is like very queer likr slaps you in the face with how queer it with the found family trope and shit like langa finding out that #skating isnt ehat makes his heart beat faster reki is #the pet play going on with adam and tadashi #like its vvv queer stuff #and if you refuse to accept that theres queer content there then youre not fully understanding the show #hq is not that #but still had some pretty queer bits #further blurred by the fact that it's a sports anime/manga with a primarily male cast so fandom eas gonna end up reading it queer anyway #meta

[nevergeneralize]

Skating uphill: Sk8 on recapturing youth

So I posted about Sk8's treatment of Millennial culture and this made me consider how much I love that the show isn’t particularly starry-eyed about youth in the usual shonen/teen-drama way, doesn’t treat high school as The Best Years of Your Life. Kojiro and Kaoru are, I think, having a great time doing grownup stuff. They seem pretty fulfilled with their jobs and they have fun personalities/interests/hobbies that aren’t consumed by their adult obligations. They have fond memories of skating together in school but don’t seem to want to go back; they still get to do the cool part, they go to S! It doesn’t feel like a “recapturing youth” thing for them, they just… still really like to skate. (Kaoru's answer to Ainosuke changing into an aggressive skater is, tellingly, "evolve again!" suggesting he should move forward beyond this phase, rather than try to go back to the kind of skater/friend he was before)

Ainosuke’s adulthood, on the other hand, is kind of a boring over-obligated drag that’s sucking the life out of him but his school years were also thus, based on what we see. And, despite his life being subsumed by the very Boring Adult desires and values of the last generation in the form of family pressure, arguably he’s not even properly grown up until the end of his arc; he’s both over-identified with his elders and in kind of a suspended adolescence still taking orders from his aunts and having his weird yearning for skating with teens. He’s outwardly taking on adult characteristics/achievements/values but secretly searches for a constructed idea of a regressive Peter-Pan-style paradise of youthful freedom. His metaphor about finding his Eve and Eden is explicitly about finding an impossible return to innocence! (Adam did you pay attention to any of the media from which you might have gotten this concept?) Even his signature move, the Love Hug, is about impossibly turning backwards and against decline, literally embracing the youth that’s behind him. For Adam, forward means downhill. (Sorry/you're welcome this serious analysis is also just a string of puns?)

So he’s starry-eyed about this regressive concept of returning to youthful innocence as paradise for sure, but his arc shows him you can’t go backward like that. First his Love Hug doesn’t work, then he ultimately recognizes that he already had an actual unconditional friend in Tadashi, already learned the lesson that skating is fun, and that he still has friends/skating/fun/freedom in the present, already has everything he needs if he can just embrace what’s already available to him. (Hopefully he also learns maybe it would be a good idea to stop being so creepy and using his second special move, Cause Grievous Bodily Harm? Unclear). The narrative pretty much says “grow up, Adam, it’s actually more fun that way.” All the adults in Sk8 get to keep everything that Adam’s (and much of coming-of-age media’s) deeply sad Best Years of My Life/Paradise Lost/Peter Pan narrative would frame as irretrievable: adulthood isn’t losing innocence or freedom or fun or coolness, it’s gaining perspective and power and capability and respect etc. Yeah you have adult responsibilities now, Ainosuke, but you have adult agency now, too! "Evolve again!"

#sk8 the infinity #sk8 meta #adam sk8

[epickiya722]

🐯 FAVE YUJI ITADORI POSTS 👊

Okay, here are some of my favorite posts I have had on my blog(s) so far (I did the same with Miruko)! Meta, headcanons, fics by me, pictures, etc. I created this list to make it easier for me to refer back to a post I need, but also for others to navigate if they're interested.

💖

Why I Find Him Likeable

The Underrated But Adored MC

They Stay Putting Him in Orange

When He Smiles, When He Doesn't

Fighting is Not a Game to Him

No Domain Expansion Needed

Should Have Stuck to Jumping, My Ass

Quite Adept

Yuji's Selfishness

Leave it in the Past

A SPECIAL Breakdown

The Claws are His Thing

His Crazy Pupils

Could It Be Sukuna's Technique?

Could It Be Sukuna's Technique? (Part 2)

Could It Be Hate?

Sukuna, Yuji's Biggest Hater... or is He?

Sukuna Hates His Own Face

3 Times a Charm! IN THE FACE!

The Generational Outfit

Hair Color Headcanon

Hair Color Picker

Hair Color is Rose Gold

The Time I Brought Up Yu-Gi-Oh

Pink Haired Buddies

They're Family Now

The SK8 Version of Yuji

The BNHA Version of Yuji

Tiger & Rabbit (Part 1)

Tiger & Rabbit (Part 2)

Tiger & Rabbit (Part 3)

ItaFushi & Their Parents

Spot the Difference! (Brothers Together Edition)

Fire 🔥 & Ice ❄

Yuji & Sukuna Twinning (Part 1)

Yuji & Sukuna Twinning (Part 2)

Yuji & Sukuna Twinning (Part 3)

Yuji & Sukuna Twinning (Part 4)

Yuji & Sukuna Twinning (Part 5)

Okay, Maybe They Are Twins...

Reincarnation *Shrugs*

Yuji & Suguru (Part 1)

Yuji & Suguru (Part 2)

Yuji & Suguru (Part 3)

Oh, We Got a Bloodbender!

Tattoos & Hairdos (Part 1)

Tattoos & Hairdos (Part 2)

Kenjaku, What Are You Planning?

Like His Mom, For Real

HE IS LIKE HIS MOM, FOR REAL

A Complicated Family Tree

The Pink Sky and Cherry Blossoms [FIC]

You Are My Special [FIC]

The Craving That Paints Your Lips Red [FIC]

The Glow That Pierced His Soul [FIC]

When You Had Enough [FIC]

When You Have a Crisis [FIC]

Maybe Someday We'll Meet Again [FIC]

The Star's Rebirth AU [FIC SERIES]

💖

#just kiya's thoughts #kiya writes #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #itadori yuji #yuji itadori #yuuji itadori #itadori yuuji #itadori jjk #yuuji jjk #yuji jjk #that's my tiger cub! #💖🐯👊