I'm not fluent in Japanese and the analysis below is based on my opinion and may be biased, so if there's any mistakes, please do let me know. I'm just a nerd for character names and their meanings so I'm making this for the Sk8 cast. XD

With that out of the way, let's start off with none other than:

Kyan Reki 喜屋武 暦

Ki 喜 - joy, delight, rejoice

Ya 屋 - house, roof, shop, dealer, seller

N 武 - warrior, military, chivalry, martial (the kanji itself is more commonly read as ‘bu’ or ‘take’ (TA-KEH) in other contexts)

Kyan 喜屋武 - an Okinawan surname with origins in Old Ryukyuan language, referring to the tip of a cape or headland, particularly the southernmost tip of Okinawa (Reki is implied to be of indigenous Ryukyuan descent)

Reki 暦 - calendar, almanac

Analysis: Reki’s name in kanji (暦) uses the 日 radical, which has the meaning of “sun, day”. The sun theme fits in with his energetic personality, his constellation sign being Leo, his birthday (August 8) being in the summer, and his red hair and amber eyes. And it symbolises the way that Reki was Langa’s sun that pulled him out of depression by introducing him to skateboarding. (The 日 radical/kanji can also be seen in Reki’s siblings such as Koyomi 月日, Nanaka 七日 and Chihiro 千日.) 

暦 also contains two 木 parts (meaning ‘wood’), which fits that one of Reki’s skills is woodworking when making skateboards. Double 木 parts can combine to form the kanji 林 meaning “forest”. (There’s also the 厂 part which is called the ‘cliff’ radical and it could be a nod to S taking place on a mountain/high place?)

A calendar lists the days in the year, and an almanac is a record of astronomical, agricultural or meteorological events, so it makes perfect sense for someone who is a nerd for all things skateboarding and also the narrator of the story. Since calendars and almanacs are important records used by the people, Reki’s name carries a connotation of “fate” or “destiny”, like meeting Langa for example. It also shows Reki’s intelligence, like the time he defeated Adam using the rain to his advantage. It is worth noting that 暦 is very similar to the kanji 歴 (also pronounced ‘reki’), which means “history”. 

Reki’s surname, Kyan, when taken in a literal sense, translates to “joyous house warrior”. A house symbolically is where someone is most comfortable and at home with, and for Reki, skateboarding is undeniably his ‘house’ and passion. Reki sells skateboards as a part-time job, fitting into the meaning of “seller/dealer” for 屋. When taken as a whole, it’s indicative of his ideals that skateboarding should only be done for fun, and he is protective of those ideals and wouldn’t let someone like Adam contort or taint that meaning for him and others.

***

Hasegawa Langa 馳河 ランガ

Hase 馳 - gallop, run

Gawa 河 - river, stream

Hasegawa 馳河 - galloping river

Langa ランガ - the katakana/hiragana has no meaning, but the name is confirmed to be taken from ‘valanga’, which means “avalanche” in Italian

Analysis: Langa is a force of nature to be reckoned with. His name depicting natural phenomena like a fast, coursing river and an avalanche reinforces this as his sheer talent and his experience as a snowboarder made him quickly become gifted at skateboarding and gain the attention of Adam at S, even noted once by Kojiro to be “even more of a monster than Adam”. 

His S alias is ‘Snow’, he has blue hair and blue eyes, his birthday February 8 is in the winter, and his constellation sign is Aquarius (Latin for “Water-Bearer”). Despite the water-sounding name, Aquarius is actually associated with the element of air, which signifies the need for freedom, as expressed by Langa’s fast progress with skateboarding and him reaching for higher heights to chase that heart-pumping feeling in his heart. (FYI, the opposite sign of Aquarius is Leo, Reki’s constellation sign.) All of this is in line with the nature theme in Langa’s name, particularly water and snow. 

This water/snow theme is evident in Langa’s calm personality, who seemed cold on the outside but slowly warmed up to Reki once he got to know him more, like snow melting under the sun. He’s also good at hiding his deep passion inside, burying it under layers of snow, then only letting out his competitive nature at S like a sudden snowfall in Okinawa. However, this also applies to Langa’s feelings and care for Reki, and after their falling-out, he lost his only outlet and reason for skating, burying back into the piling snow of his depression until he saw Reki and finally made up with him, melting the snow in his heart. In the end, Langa is the epitome of the saying, “still water runs deep”.

***

CHINEN MIYA 知念 実也

Chi 知 - wisdom, to know, intelligence

Nen 念 - sense, idea, thought, feeling, wish, desire, attention

Chinen 知念 - to know feelings???, a common surname in Okinawa

Mi 実 - truth, fruit, nut, seed

Ya 也 - to be, also

Miya 実也 - truth to be (a unisex/gender-neutral name, but more commonly used for girls)

Analysis: According to this post, the name Miya was made to sound like a cat meowing, and true enough, Miya is a sly little kid who wears a cat-themed outfit and acts like a cat and has a way with animals, including cats, and his birthday February 22 is Japan’s National Cat Day. 

Nonetheless, the meaning behind his name seems to have a theme around “feelings” and “knowledge”. It fits in with Miya’s self-proclaimed special ability of talking to animals, which requires listening and understanding their moods and wants. But if we look a little deeper, Miya is actually a thoughtful person despite his cocky personality who was hurt by his old friends abandoning him and hence puts up a snarky, arrogant air as a defence mechanism for his loneliness. His constellation sign, Pisces (Latin for “fishes”, a cat’s and also Miya’s favourite food), is considered one of the most emotionally-attuned, empathetic and sensitive symbols. 

The “truth” meaning in his name 実 refers to when Reki’s acceptance of him as a friend opened his eyes and shattered his armour, reminding us that Miya’s just a normal kid and not some high-and-mighty national skating athlete who couldn’t lose to a ‘rookie’ like Langa. It also refers to Miya’s realisation that Adam had been using and grooming him into a potential Eve after Adam discarded him in favour of Langa and later proclaimed he “loves his skating partners”. The “fruit” meaning has the connotation of abundance and also enjoying the ‘fruits’ of your labour as it speaks to Miya treasuring Reki and Langa as friends, his work ethic as a national-level athlete and his growth from a childish boy to a young man. I think it’s worthy to note that his name sounds the same as ‘miya’ 宮 meaning “shrine” or “palace”, and a shrine is a sacred place that holds meaning and memory (for Miya it’s his newfound friends) that needs protection from others (just like how Reki defended Miya and stood up against Adam for him). 

All in all, I feel that his parents must be very thoughtful when choosing the kanji for his name.

***

HIGA HIROMI 比嘉 広海

Hi 比 - compare, match, ratio, proportion

Ga 嘉 - good, applaud, praise, esteem, auspicious

Higa 比嘉 - good comparison/applauding match, the most common surname in Okinawa

Hiro 広 - vast, wide, broad, spacious

Mi 海 - sea, ocean

Hiromi 広海 - vast sea (a unisex/gender-neutral name, but more commonly used for girls)

Analysis: Shadow’s, or rather Hiromi’s, name as a whole paints a picture of an intimidating and terrifying opponent, someone with a tall and wide stature known for his flashiness and violence. He was the one who set the bar for skating in S that Reki and eventually Langa needed to overcome in the first episode. This, of course, stands in contrast to his everyday job as a florist and his utterly different personality at work and in his daily life outside of S. 

Higa being the most common surname in Okinawa and the meaning of Hiromi being “vast sea” both point to his upbringing in Okinawa (an island that’s surrounded by ocean), but also they ground Shadow as the everyman, since he acts as the straight man of the group and the main caretaker of the kids. His constellation sign, Virgo (Latin for “virgin”), is associated with the element of earth and a nod to his shy, delicate, feminine side. 

His surname Higa is a little ironic given his bad luck in romance and his inability to confess his crush to his flower shop manager, but it also demonstrates his desire to become stronger and improve himself for the woman he loves and pines for in the shadows (pun-intended). His birthday, September 14, is in autumn, fitting for his orange-coloured hair, and is the blooming season for several flowers such as asters, morning glories, chrysanthemums, and many others. According to the wiki page on Hanakotoba, asters have the meaning of “remembrance”, and morning glories have the meaning of “willful promises”, both relevant to Hiromi’s feelings towards his manager. Maybe he might have a better chance if his birthday had happened exactly 7 months earlier on Valentine’s Day (February 14) instead, hahaha.

***

SAKURAYASHIKI KAORU 桜屋敷 薫

Sakura 桜 - cherry blossom, has the flower language of “impermanence” in Japan

Ya 屋 - house, roof, shop, dealer, seller

Shiki 敷 - spread, pave, sit, promulgate

Yashiki 屋敷 - mansion

Sakurayashiki 桜屋敷 - cherry blossom mansion

Kaoru 薫 - fragrance, a nice aroma (a unisex/gender-neutral name, used by both boys and girls)

Analysis: Getting the obvious out of the way, Cherry Blossom’s name alone tells us everything about his aesthetics as a character, from his pink-coloured long hair, his traditional sense of fashion, his job as a calligrapher, to his elegant and graceful appearance. As a distinctly unisex name, the name ‘Kaoru’ is used in popular culture to give a character an air of androgyny (based on wiki), which definitely fits Cherry. The definition of “mansion” for ‘Yashiki’ 屋敷 also tracks since Cherry is one of the richest and most well-off characters in the Sk8 cast outside of Adam. (Adam is the only one explicitly shown to live in a mansion.) It’s also worth noting that Kaoru and Reki contains the same kanji 屋 in their surnames, the two people who were arguably the most knowledgeable and attentive about skateboarding out of the main cast and built their own skateboards, Reki with his woodworking skills and Kaoru with his AI skateboard Carla. 

The kanji for Kaoru 薫 can be broken down into three parts: the top grass radical 艹, the middle part 重 (a kanji meaning “heavy, important, respect”) and the bottom fire part 灬. A lot of Japanese and Chinese speakers would mistake 灬 as water instead of fire (me included), but it's used on a lot of kanji that's related to cooking since it requires “heat”. This maybe stretching from me, but the fire part can be related to Kaoru’s constellation sign, Aries, and its association to the element of fire.

Despite his given name meaning “fragrance”, Kaoru’s personality outside of work is a lot less pleasant than what his name suggests. Like a typical Aries, he acts snarkier, prickler and more hot-headed as he butts heads with Kojiro and slaps anyone who calls him by the wrong name at the wrong place. His insistence on separating his public life and S identity is in line with the dichotomy that existed within Kaoru’s character – his cold expressions and fiery passion, his femininity and masculinity, his traditional job and the modern technology he used, his rebellious teenage past and conforming adult self, his guidance and manipulation of Langa which he openly admitted to, his hostility and concern towards Kojiro and his hope and anger towards Adam. Like a perfume aroma that hides someone’s original smell, is it his good side that’s covering up the nasty parts of himself, or is it his harsh exterior that’s hiding an actually good-hearted nature? 

Based on the wiki page on Hanakotoba, cherry blossoms have a meaning of kindness, gentleness and transience of life. They represent beauty, hope, renewal and new beginnings as their blossoming signifies the start of spring in Japan. (Kaoru’s birthday March 27 is Japan’s National Cherry Blossom Day.) More importantly, they symbolise impermanence, since they bloom and wither within the span of a few days, so cherry blossoms are considered an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life in Japanese culture. This actually fits Kaoru’s arc really well, as the event of Adam smacking Kaoru in the face with his skateboard shattered his hope of ever getting Adam back the way he used to be as teenagers, so he could let go of his grudge and be reborn as a new person, as seen with Kaoru letting himself laugh at Adam’s defeat in the rain and his subtle changing attitude towards Kojiro and others he cared about.

***

NANJO KOJIRO 南城 虎次郎

Nan 南 - south

Jo 城 - castle (also can be read as ‘shiro’ or ‘ki’/‘gi’)

Nanjo 南城 - southern castle, a city in Okinawa

Ko 虎 - tiger (also can be read as ‘taro’)

Ji 次 - next

Ro 郎 - son

Jiro 次郎 - next son, a common name ending for the second son/child in the family (could Kojiro have an older brother/sibling?)

Kojiro 虎次郎 - tiger next son

Analysis: Out of the main cast, Joe has one of the most masculine-sounding names. It gives the impression of a strong, muscular man who’s as strong as a tiger, so maybe that’s why a lot of women flock to him for a sense of protection. His surname Nanjo meaning “southern castle” designates him as the protector of the group, as he’s the oldest of the main-six cast and said to be the most responsible, but it’s best shown with him carrying Kaoru’s unconscious body to the hospital after his race with Adam. 

Tigers in Japanese and broader East Asian culture often represent strength, courage, confidence and protection against evil, all traits that Kojiro embodied. Tigers are frequently paired with dragons, representing the balance between terrestrial physical power (tiger) and celestial spiritual power (dragon), like yin and yang. However, the tiger stands for yin due to its association with earth and its reverence as the ‘king of beasts’, while the dragon stands for yang as it’s a mythical creature that dominates the heavens above. For oversimplification’s sake, yin stands for dark, passive, female, and negative forces whereas yang stands for light, active, male, and positive forces. In order to be in balance, yin has a little yang/white inside it and yang has a little yin/black inside it, circling each other. 

For Kojiro, being the tiger and therefore yin, it sheds new light on the meaning and purpose of his masculine traits. The ‘yin’ part of his character is exemplified in his laid-back, going-with-the flow personality, his deep care towards others, as well as his soft side towards Kaoru particularly. The downside, however, is that he could be overtly reckless when skating and lack initiative at key moments (see “I’m not adulting today” line from the beach episode), which could be explained away with his upbringing as a middle child. Nevertheless, his selfless nature shines through as his constellation sign, Cancer, is widely considered to be the “mother of the zodiac” which values home, family and emotional security the most. This was shown through Kojiro cooking meals for everyone and giving advice to Reki and Langa and helping them through their fallout. His birthday, July 7, falls on Tanabata, a festival which originated from the Chinese Qixi legend of two crossed lovers separated by the Milky Way finally reuniting once a year for a single day. Regardless of what might happen between Joe and Cherry, Kojiro’s love for Kaoru will always be present and persist on.

***

SHINDO AINOSUKE 神道 愛之介

Shin 神 - god, deity, spirit, psyche

Do 道 - path, way, road, street

Shindo 神道 - path of god

Ai 愛 - love, affection

No 之 - of, this

Suke 介 - mediate, concern oneself with

Ainosuke 愛之介 - concern oneself with love

Analysis: Ainosuke’s name is full of themes of love and religion as one would expect, speaking to his obsessive personality and single-minded pursuit to reach his own idea of love through skating. His constellation sign Taurus (Latin for “bull”), is ruled by the planet Venus (named after the Roman goddess of love) and a nod to him being the Matador of Love. He is obviously named after his father Aiichiro 愛一郎, which directly translates to “love first son”. They share the first kanji “Ai” 愛, and by naming him that way, Ainosuke was already expected to follow in his father’s footsteps ever since he was born, to “mediate” and lift up his father’s reputation as his only son. (I guess it’s a relief that his birthday falls on May 1, which is International Labour Day.)

His S name, Adam, is written in kanji as 愛抱夢 which translates to “love”, “hug”, “dream”, a nod to his signature move, the Love Hug. But more importantly, it refers to the biblical first man in Christianity, who’s created by God in His perfect image before Adam sinned and was banished from the Garden of Eden. 

His surname in kanji 神道 could also be read as ‘Shinto’, as in the Shinto religion from Japan, adding onto the religious theme of his name. His surname’s meaning, “path of god”, puts into perspective Adam’s search for his Eve, “as God intended” so that Adam wouldn’t be alone (skating in this case), and everyone’s worship and reverence of him as the best skater at S and the youngest Diet member in Japan. (Here's a post that extrapolates further the origins of the Shindo surname and possible connection to chrysanthemums and Tadashi.)

Now, the original sin of Adam (the first human) was eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God forbid him to do. If Ainosuke is Adam before he sinned, it means that he was unable to differentiate between right and wrong and therefore unaware that he was hurting plenty of other skaters in order to find his Eve. But if he’s Adam after he sinned, then he would have to become aware of what he’s done and stop denying his own actions and his deep-seated emptiness and lack of love. It shows that this whole “Adam and Eve” narrative is a fantasy Ainosuke has built for himself in order to feel godlike, to always feel at the top, always above others and above his own emotions. 

That’s why Tadashi’s appearance in S, by going by the name ‘Snake’, is forcing Ainosuke to acknowledge his deeds and that Tadashi is equal or even better than him at skating. (There’s also the hidden meaning that Eve was never meant to be Adam’s equal but always subservient to him, but I’ll leave you this post that excellently explains the whole thing.)

***

KIKUCHI TADASHI 菊池 忠

Kiku 菊 - chrysanthemum, has the flower language of “broken love” in Japan

Chi 池 - pond, pool

Kikuchi 菊池 - chrysanthemum pool

Tadashi 忠 - loyal, devoted, fidelity, faithfulness

Analysis: Tadashi is one of two characters in the main cast who explicitly has a flower in their name (the other being Kaoru). Chrysanthemums have a wide variety of meanings depending on the colour, but yellow chrysanthemums in particular is special because it’s a symbol of the Emperor of Japan in addition to being used as lapel pins by two other professions: Diet members and lawyers. (Ref post here.) In pre-modern times, the Emperor is considered to be the head of the Shinto religion and a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, therefore making him divine. With all of that in mind, and Tadashi 忠 meaning “loyal, devoted”, everything points to Tadashi’s position and servitude to Shindo Ainosuke (as Ainosuke is a Diet member, his surname literally means “path of god” and he is the ruler of S). 

Other than its symbolic use in Japanese politics, yellow chrysanthemums have the meaning of “broken love” or “neglected love” in Hanakotoba. It refers to his broken past with Ainosuke that resulted in Tadashi feeling guilty for teaching his master skateboarding and turning Ainosuke into the person he is now, causing Ainosuke to neglect him emotionally and hence Tadashi needing to take up the name “Snake” in order to take skating away from Adam. Interestingly, the kanji for Tadashi 忠 has the top part 中 (“inside, middle, centre”) very close to piercing through the bottom part 心 (“heart”). But like a dog, he would always stay loyal to his master and never leave Ainosuke’s side. His birthday, November 22, is Good Spouses Day, which celebrates married couples in Japan, as shown with Tadashi’s faithfulness to Adam. (Apparently, November 22 is also Thanks Pets Day in Japan, I got this info from this post on Sk8 birthdays; all 8 of the main cast’s birthdays have some connection/relation to the number 8 as a nod to the series title.)

As November 22 is known as a “cusp” date, it can be regarded as either the final day of Scorpio or the first day of Sagittarius. Tadashi’s English fan wiki says his sign is Sagittarius, but some sources (here and here) say he’s a Scorpio. Either way, with Scorpio being Latin for, well, “scorpion” and Sagittarius being Latin for “archer”, it could point to Tadashi as the one who “poisoned” and “hurt” Ainosuke, indicative of the power he holds in his and Adam’s master-servant dynamic.

***

Anyway, that's all from me. The bottom image is how I feel rambling and explaining my own thoughts. @kudouusagi's blog has been such a great and helpful resource when I make this analysis so please do check out their Sk8 masterposts, I highly recommend it. The English fan wikis were also useful but there are some mistakes/inconsistencies I've found. The rest were searched through the internet and important details have their links attached. Hope you still enjoy my assessment of these characters. They have been my hyperfixation for a long while now :D

Alternative Titles: The Parallels Between Renga And Tadai; Tadashi Is God Theory

*deep inhale* TADASHI IS ARGUABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER IN SK8 THE INFINITY. GIVE THIS MAN THE RESPECT HE DESERVES!! and he is metaphorically both God and Satan but i digress.

disclaimer: (hello! i wrote this last year when I was deep in my hyperfixations, but I left it in my drafts because I wasn’t analytical enough to write this the way my brain saw it. collecting dust. and it had been eating me not to share this so I’m posting it in all its flaws and inarticulation!) this is not a coherent, well-written essay, nor would i even call it an essay. it's more of the ramblings of a fan undergoing sk8 withdrawals. you have been warned.

Okay, let me explain.

When focusing on the main plot of Sk8, only 4 characters really matter or contribute to it: Reki, Langa, Tadashi, and Adam. And when you analyze each character and their relationships (Renga and Tadai), you realize just how much in common the two pairings have with each other. Particularly between Reki and Tadashi, and Langa and Adam.

Another thing that needs to be established before I continue is the constant allusions to the Bible, wherein the series (particularly Adam/Ainosuke) compares the four to the main people in Genesis 2:

-> Ainosuke = Adam

-> Langa = Eve

-> Tadashi = Snake

-> While not explicitly mentioned exactly, it can theorized that Reki = The Fruit of Wisdom

If you've watched the show, the allusions seem pretty cut and dry; Adam wants to forever be in the Garden of Eden (The Zone) with his Eve, who he declares was Langa. (certified loverboy? certified pdf.)

BUT after constant Sk8 brainrot, I'm here to explain why it works so well, and why Tadashi is more than just the Snake.

Tadai and Renga: The Similarities

Tadashi and Reki both had no other company but their respective partners in their skating lives: Tadashi being the child of a servant and Reki losing his only skate partner years prior. In fact, they're the reason why their partners became the great skaters they are in the present; they taught them everything they knew and thus formed such a close bond with them. They're kind of like their mentors/teachers.

Adam and Langa truly connected with their partners at a time in their lives when they were most vulnerable and traumatized: Adam being pressured into carrying the family legacy while also suffering abuse from his guardians, and Langa losing his father, the closest person he had at the time, and needing to move to Japan after living in Canada his whole life. They got the support they needed through Tadashi and Reki's company and skateboarding with them, that was when they were at their happiest.

So, with these things in mind, how did Tadai fall apart while Renga thrived? What did Renga have that Tadai didn't?

Tadai and Renga: The Contrasts

The loss of Tadai's relationship wasn't their fault but rather the external factors they were forced to live in. There is an apparent power imbalance, what with Tadashi being inferior to Adam being only a servant. That along with the societal pressure held on Adam and his lack of any kind of support system other than Tadashi, whose status up until that point as an equal was taken away by his father and replaced with something more professional, or conventionally more appropriate.

Contrastingly, Reki and Langa weren't alone. They may be each other's main source of happiness and support, but they weren't the only people they had. They had friends and family that supported them during their fallout or at the very least cared about them (Kokomi tried to cheer her brother up, Nanako gave her son relationship advice, Joe encouraged the two of them to communicate, etc.). And another thing, they were equals from the start. Neither Reki nor Langa had superiority over the other in terms of social status. You could argue that Langa was technically superior due to his skating skills, but he didn't think of himself as better than Reki, there was no external factor that forced them to be apart, it was more of Reki's mentality.

Thematically (symbolically?) speaking, another way to view this is that Tadai is a more mature, older version of Renga, a relationship that has been struck with the burdens of reality and adulthood and therefore wilted away, meanwhile Renga still thrives in its youthful naiive state. (as said by a plethora of queer analyses on sk8)

They're foils of each other, sure, but they were both cut from the same cloth.

Interestingly enough though, because they're foils, both relationships managed to get mended in the end through their differences.

(we're almost there, i promise)

How It All Connects / The Garden Of Eden

The Love Hotel scene in episode 10 when Tadashi was advising Reki to quit skateboarding presents us with a juxtaposition between two conflicting ideas: The Love and Hatred For Skateboarding.

After Adam's father burned his skateboard and made him focus on his political career, Tadai's view on skateboarding now revolved around how skillful one is in it and how that translates to their self-worth how much respect they deserve, a selfish and destructive mindset that ultimately made Tadashi want to compete against his superior to take skateboarding away from him.

We can see this mindset taking over Renga as well; Reki's inferiority complex to Langa was one of the main causes of the break of their friendship, thinking he wasn't good enough to skate with everyone else and that being validated even more by Adam's insults and Langa's skill.

But while Reki and Tadashi may have similarities in the way they viewed skateboarding at the time, Reki has a support system and positive influences in his life (Oka, Joe, etc.) while Tadashi doesn't. And so when he was confronted by Tadashi, Reki was basically being confronted by himself and his own negative emotions, and because of that, he was able to self-reflect and get reminded by the contrasts between them both why he started skating in the first place. TL;DR, Tadashi influenced Reki.

Metaphorically speaking, Tadashi created the Fruit of Wisdom through Reki, which ironically contains the inverted version of his beliefs in skateboarding. Does that make sense?

Then, Reki uses this knowledge to make amends with Langa, thereby reminding him why he began skating too.

Eve took a bite of the Fruit of Wisdom, which was curated by the Snake.

Now, this analogy makes even more sense during episode 11 in Reki's beef with Adam.

-> only langa is able to get through to adam and remind him what tadashi taught him years ago because they are equals, unlike tadashi who is socially inferior to adam because he is his servant (dog), and reki who is nowhere near the skill level as adam. and symbolically, eve was the one who convinced adam to eat the fruit of wisdom too, which makes sense because they are both equals, the only humans in god's garden of eden.

SO! in the end, langa reminds adam the joy in skating, joy that isnt tethered to any form of superiority or power, but joy that was taught to him a long time ago when that sort of thing was never even considered, a joy taught to him by tadashi. adam, reki, and langa's arcs were either directly or indirectly created and resolved by tadashi, it all traces back to him, which is why he is the single most important character in the main plot of sk8 the infinity.

The most obvious example is one that everyone remembers, and is really just a gag for laughs; the constant eating. Having a large plate of 10 burgers and still being hungry after, the victory banquet in which his closing shot before Adam lands is chomping on a burger, the joke about him constantly asking Reki about bento, the multiple references to poutine. He's obsessed with food, and eats a lot of it. Which is perfectly normal, hes a 17 year old boy, and an athlete on top of it, of course he'll be eating a lot. But this isn't the only way in which consumption matters.

See, he's consistently slotted into the role of "Eve". Various analysts can disagree whether he actually is Eve, or whether Adam was mistaken and Eve is actually Tadashi, or whether Eve is truly nonexistent. But for the purposes of this, we're going to focus on the fact that the show references him as being Eve for a large portion of the runtime. "Eve" is the bringer of original sin, the corrupting force of "Adam". But what makes her so sinful? What makes her corrupting? Consumption. Eve eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, consuming what is forbidden, is what makes her Eve. The very role he's put into is one of consumption, of luring others into consuming.

In this metaphor, consumption of the forbidden fruit is analogous to skateboarding. Skateboarding is consuming the forbidden fruit. The more you skate, the more you improve, the more you win, you more you keep eating that fruit. Entering the zone, then, is swallowing the final bite, finishing your meal and letting it all be consumed. But of course, Langa doesn't stay in the zone. Why? Because he wants to continue consuming, to continue to skateboard and continue to eat. If he's finished the final bite, then there's nothing else to consume. And so, he flees the zone.

First off, please put down the pitchforks, I love him dearly and know it’s an ✨anime✨ but for an anime set in a *more realistic* way, there’s no comprehensible reason he could have survived @d*m’s “Full Swing Kiss.” (That piece of shit should also understand how simple cause and effect works regarding injury, but I digress. He gives me indigestion and a migraine.)

How he was hit:

60mph—I’m generously assuming given Reki stating they can go that fast “at least down to the mountain,” and these two were out for speed.

~60mph spun around and hit, full rotation, with the broad side of a horned skateboard. He’s hit so hard that Carla goes flying off to who fucking knows where (I’m impressed she was alright tbh). Any rational person would assume he’s hitting the track hard.

My, non-medical-professional, opinion:

Broken clavicle (most commonly broken and stupid-easy to break)

Wicked case of whiplash

Broken nose

Broken jaw

Skull fracture(s)

Concussion-zzzzz

Bruised bones

Bruised organs (liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, probably heart and others)

Possible ruptured bowel (intestines)

Other broken bones

Some sort of TBI (besides concussion)

Shock

Dislocations

Spinal cord injury

Internal lacerations/probable internal decapitation (all that force went right into his head and neck)

Maybe broken pelvis

PTS-fucking-D

Whilst being a cute MatchaBlossom moment, Joe should NOT. HAVE. TOUCHED him. It doesn’t take much to fuck up especially the neck injuries by moving the patient. Huge no-no! The paramedics should have come, assessed him, stuck him with a neck brace and hauled him to the OR… but that woulda made a bigger conflict with the plot 🙄

Kaoru having gotten away with an apparent broken (dominant) arm (his occupation/special interests/passions!!!😭😭😭) and opposite leg with undisclosed but seemingly *uncritical* head injury is… laughably little. And not in a “haha funny” way.

“Using mathematical formulas and physics experiments, researchers learned that 43 mph is the fastest speed at which you have a fighting chance to survive a head-on collision.”

I respect wanting to keep characters in and functional, however… this event, in my mind, really should have been revisited and revised.

The Opening is about Langa's feelings for Reki

The Ending is about Reki's feelings for Langa

I think for all of Reki’s insecurities, he’s very in touch with his emotions and especially living in a house with 4 other girls this is something you need to have. I think it’s safe to say Reki’s had feelings for Langa way before the concept ever occured to Langa himself.

And another thing:

In the preview from Episode One, we know Langa asks Reki about his feelings on the norm but Reki finds it weird and doesn’t answer. I don’t think this means Reki doesn’t understand or think about his feelings past ‘love skateboarding’, I think he’s so in tune with how he feels any amount of vulnerability might be too much for him to handle.