This anime is ridiculous and I love it! This review is not as serious as some of the other reviews that I've seen for this anime because in all honesty, for me this was a fun show about (very unrealistic) skateboarding tricks and I don't think I need to treat it like other plot heavy anime. That being said, I'll still talk about the story and why I personally enjoyed most of it.
Sk8 the Infinity is an anime about friendship (love), self doubt and boys skating. The story takes place in Okinawa and centers around Reki Kyan, a boy who loves skateboarding and the transfer student Langa Hasegawa who used to be a talented snowboarder. Upon meeting Reki, Langa falls in love with skateboarding (and with Reki probably). They meet other (possibly queer) skater-bois and a dude named Adam who turns out to be the antagonist of the show. For me, the antagonist was the weakest part of the story and I'll say it again; Sk8 does not have that much plot but nonetheless, it's fun and easy to watch because it's about ANIME GUYS SKATEBOARDING!
Don't get me wrong, I can see why people wouldn't be interested in this anime but I guess that's because this simply isn't for you. Sports anime tend to have different tones and this one is very light hearted and somewhat silly but in a good way. It's not that deep and that's okay.
The show is very character-centric and that's what I like most about it. I fell in love with the main characters and their dynamic. Generally speaking, the main cast was pretty cool and I liked watching the characters interact with one another.
As previously mentioned, I didn't think Adam was great as the main antagonist (though I liked his character) and sure, there was more potential for what could've happened as the story progressed but the anime's only 12 episodes long and as far as I'm concerned, all of them were fairly enjoyable.
The characters Miya and Shadow aren't outstanding but as supporting cast they work and I still felt somewhat fond of them. However, I see why people might think of them as disposable or unnecessary for the plot because to be fair, they kinda are. Cherry and Joe on the other hand were interesting and their interactions were entertaining. Basically, they deserve their very own side story!
Adam's backstory was interesting and could've explored further, I would love to learn even more about Langa's life in Canada and I think there's a lot of open questions concerning Langa and Reki's relationship that could be explored in the future but that might also be my internal wish for more queer-/ gay representation. Either way, the characters carry the anime and I think that's beautiful!
Since I don't know much about skateboarding I can't really say much about that but I still liked the idea and I liked how they also referred to snowboarding. The animation is (mostly) solid, the voice acting is great and there were a few scenes that were very powerful. (Like Langa's first jump in episode one, that was beautiful!)
This anime is an easy-going sports anime with strong characters and while the plot isn't as strong, it's enough to keep simple minded people like myself entertained. I sincerely hope that we'll actually get a season 2 and that it'll be just as much fun. Maybe, we'll get a closer look at the characters and their new found relationships.