AWTY 130 - Phantom of the Skatepark (Sk8 the Infinity)

You ask about feelings a lot, and it's weird.

Hello, and welcome to our weed there yet an exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm an anime expert, dee hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough. Your anime, Bob Burn Quest. I'm going to do 450. I'm doing a christ air.

Is that a skater?

I'm doing mc Twist.

I'm doing the mc twist. I got I got the special shoes that I can grind on shit with. They got, like, the hard bottoms. I forget what they're called. soaps. Yeah.

Well, we're here in Tony hawk land. Yes, of course, we got to honor the king.

I can't wait to sit in a nice, reliable chair because I've shattered my ankles from skateboarding for so long. I need to just sit down for a while.

But yeah. What a strange twist of rules. This week, I'm bringing a show that a friend that isn't one of you recommended. So shout out to my friend vy for recommending the skateboarding anime. Skate the infinity. And that's skate with sk eight.

That's how you know it's truly rebellious, like skaters.

I didn't know we were allowed to have other friends. You said I can only have you two.

Oh, well, you're not fair.

Yeah, we don't want you to get overwhelmed.

I feel like it's more of a public service if you're containing me to minimal few people.

You can't even see the sun or you'll have a breakdown.

That's fair. I haven't been outside in a week and a half.

I was joking. But hey, sometimes I'm just right.

A joke can be accurate still. Oh, yeah.

But yeah. So this is a fresh, hot, off the presses anime. Have either of you heard of this?

No.

No, it's fresh. I don't know anything about that.

I have one out in 98, so.

Oh, that's where the eight comes from. It's gate 98.

They're like, oh, boy, I wish someone could do a 900 some day.

And it wasn't 20 plus years ago. Anyway. I've seen clips of it online or, like, little screen grabs of it of people talking about it. But, yeah, I saw the title and I was like, I bet that's about skateboarding. It just moved on. I don't know much else about it.

Checks out.

Yeah, we've made it to the skateboarding anime.

It it's weird because I was always a skateboard adjacent kid. All my friends were the skateboard kids, like, the drudgey. burnout kind of skaters. And then I had no coordination to save my life. So I had one skateboard, and it had Super saiyan trunks on it, and I never wrote it.

Well, you had it for the aesthetic.

You had to fit in. Yeah, when I was, like, ten, of course, I was a Tony hot kid. That's where I learned oh, the sweet, dilcet tones of punk rock for the first time.

Oh, yeah.

I specifically have a memory, and I was Tony hawk's pro skater. Four turning to my dad and being like, hey, what music is this? Being like that's punk son.

Hell, yeah.

And then it imprinted on me forever. But, yeah, I had a little walmart skateboard, like a $20 thing with a cool dragon on the bottom. I went to a skate park with friends once, and that's about it. I tried getting back into it here in La. But I got too fat, so it was slow going.

I was a bike kid. I did play Tony hawk, pro skater, too. Maybe I used to play that a lot, but yeah, I was a bike kid. I did not skateboard.

I grew to be a bike kid in my teens, but when I was a real scamp, a real double digits kid, I was a skateboard.

It might surprise no one, but I was the scooter kid that tracks until I went down a scooter, hit a mud puddle, flipped over it, and nearly shattered my spine. So I stopped doing that.

Ought to do it.

This don't want to do this anymore. I got injured once, but, yeah, I'm excited to get into this. I do have a lot of nostalgia for skateboarding, like, culture and aesthetic, despite me never actually being involved with it, but it's always around it heavily.

TikTok has really shown me skateboarding TikTok. So it's like, hey, get into this again. I'm like, oh, boy, I shouldn't because I have no coordination. But if you want me to Internet, if you say some algorithm, you know me better than I do.

Oh, no.

But let's shred. Everyone get your knee pad terms. Pipe, Ollie. nolly.

I got a helmet on, and I'm ready to go.

Got to get my elpapass guy. I get my knee pads guy. I get the cushioning. Neck brace. Got to protect that neck. ooh, mouth guard. Don't want to break those teeth. We're old now. We shouldn't be doing this.

I want skateboard.

Get that itch.

Get that strategy in the corner of my eye. Oh, I want to do it.

Here. I am doing everything that I can because I'm a superman.

Oh, my goodness.

I still listen to that song. Fucking ska is good, guys.

Yes. We are making a stand. We are officially pro ska here.

Digging a SCA because of the music. I'm Scott. Because of skateboarding and digimon, I feel indifferent.

So, you guys, we'll take care of fun with this big old stand, and I will continue to feel indifferent towards Scott.

Yeah, we're out here on the front lines, and you're waiting for us in the van.

I drove you there.

You're deep.

I want to be anywhere else.

Not because we drank alcohol, but because we had too many sugary sodas, and now we're all hooked up at dance.

I skanked too hard and rolled my ankle.

I got heat exhaustion from wearing that hot dog suit and dancing on stage for too long.

Oh, my God.

We should get into this game all day, but anime. Yeah. So, yeah, we start out episode one. We got we got a fun little montage of all the people we're going to see later. And our main ricky is talking about, like, finding happiness and blah, blah, blah. But he's a skateboarding boy. He's out there doing some sick tricks. And he meets up with who we find out later is his boss go to the illegal skate race.

I kept calling this the Skate cult.

My first note is like, this is the warriors of Skating. Like the movie The Warriors, where it's just all the gangs in these New York, where it's just like, everyone has a theme. Everyone's got an aesthetic they just stick to. And they all meet up in this underground secret place that clearly isn't that secret. But I guess the cops just let it happen. It's wild. This is a crazy way to open a skateboarding anime. And I'm like, hey, fuck yeah. If we're doing it, let's go. Let's go big. Yeah.

They're not going to be like, oh, yeah, skateboarding is a fun hobby. They're like, no, this is anime. We're doing deaf sports.

Yeah. Skate kosher. All right.

Literally, skate or die. Skate or you die.

So there's this big underground secret race. We'll get more info, dump on it later. But people challenge each other to race down this old, like, mine track. So we see the skate bully who is all dressed up and basically just Gene Simmons cosplay just punk clown. And this is Shadow, the big tough guy. ricky and Shadow are racing. They're the challenge for the night. They're going down the track. reiki passes Shadow, but Shadow throws firecrackers at his board and breaks it. He crashes and breaks his arm.

And anything goes. And skateboards.

Yeah.

And he crashes. Shadow wins. And then we cut to a boy and his mom in a car being like, this town seems nice.

Where do we go?

Where did you get that info? Yeah, this is all pre credits. We get death defying sports and new kids in town already.

Check and check.

But this opening credit sequence, definitely a bop BOP and a half. So good. Just a killer bass line. Introducing it. Love it. Learned how to play it already. Definitely into it.

Sorry. I know you keep we just watched it, and I know he's the clown prince of the skate community. He is the joker. But every time you say Shadow, I'm just thinking of the hedgehog.

He would skate.

He was about to say, no, that Shadow is cooler either way. Flip a coin.

Pretty sure sonic was sponsored by soaps at one point. Yeah.

So reiki broke his arm. He's in school the next day and surprise, transfer student. What?

Chick chick.

And this is longa. He's a new kid from Canada. Not very talkative.

He's Canadian.

Just there. Yeah, just there to learn. So doesn't really talk to so later on, after school. They're at the skate shop. dope sketch. This is where reiki works. His boss. Voiced by zeno Robinson Shout out, shout out. blah, blah, blah. Talking about the new kid sounds weird. blah, blah, blah, whatever. Then we see langa applying for jobs. Applying for a job at, like, a local calligraphy studio. And this unimportant character who will not factor in at all, never see them.

They don't matter. Pink hair, whatever.

Extremely pretty. Super minor.

Yeah, you can't be important to the story. So he's like, oh, sorry, you're only 17. Have to be an adult. bye. So he leaves langa's bummed because he needs a job and just careening. Down the street, we see reiki lost his board. He's like, hey, buddy, stop it. So langa stops the board for him and is like, Weird. What is this wield board? So he seems interested. He doesn't talk. So reiki is like, oh, cool. Great. He's actually showing interest in something. So he shows them how it works. langa stands on it, but falls down immediately. And reiki is like, yeah, newbie, you don't know how to stand on a board of any kind, so don't worry about it. And shows them how it works. And ollie's over him. And we get a slow motion shot of langa falling in love.

The inspiration shot.

Hey, this was the real reason I picked this show. As gay as fuck.

It's pretty dang gay.

Reiki asks what he's doing out there, and he's like, oh, yeah, just tried applying for a job. And reiki is like, oh, cool. I work at a skate shop. And lange is like, I accept your position.

Give me your job.

What? So he decides he works at the skate shop, too, and the boss happens to come up on them and be like, oh, hey, great. I need to do a delivery. Do you have a driver's license? Yeah. Cool. reiki, you're a dumb child who doesn't have one, so he is a valuable asset. So welcome aboard.

Oh, weird. Small detail, but I was surprised that reiki actually recognized langa. He was like, hey, I'm from your class. Because the main character almost never does in anime. So I was like, oh, who are you? And it's like, you met him, like, five minutes ago. What? Like, why are you in half?

Wellnga, didn't recognize him.

Yeah, that's why I was kind of surprised. It was, like, flipped that the transfer student didn't recognize the main character. It was refreshing.

I get it because it's like, hey, you're the new student. You talk to no one. You didn't immediately recognize me. The kid sitting in the back of.

The class, the big red hair and red band.

The clear protagonist protagonist window seat.

God damn it, where's my respect?

But yeah. So they go back to the skate shop, and we get the info dump on this legendary secret mine course. So basically, there's a local abandoned mine that the skateboarders took over, turned it into a race track. It's a super secret thing because yeah, illegal trespassing, all that stuff. But also, every race, everyone bets something valuable. It could be money. It could be friendship. It could be connections. Whatever you want to put up for it, they'll race on it. So that night, he needs to go make a delivery. Someone ordered a skateboard for the race.

Oh, we also get a shot of, like, Wrecky teaching langa about, like, skateboarding. And he uses, like, a tech deck. And that just fucking threw me back to my childhood. A tiny hand skateboard of like, shit, what year is that? I haven't seen those in a hot minute.

Those got kids in trouble at my schools. How they just were using them all the fucking time.

Yeah.

Anyone who's super into tech deck can't put it down. They get the shakes if they don't do it every 10 seconds.

Kids these days got fucking fidget spinners. Back in our day, we had tech decks.

Tech decks.

See, I'm always surprised because I assume they go out of fashion and then come back. But it seems like they're just always they may be a little less popular than they have been in the past, but tech decks are always popular.

Skating is timeless, man.

They're always around. They are eternal. They are the alpha and omega.

I can't be out in the Walmart parking lot, so I got to do it in my classroom and annoy the fuck out of this teacher. So yeah, they got to do like a secret drug deal to get like the get him in. He needs the proper credentials. So they go do a hand off with some guy. So langa that night makes dinner for his mom, who gets home from work. And he's like, got a job. Got to go do a night delivery. bye.

Don't ask questions.

Don't worry about it. So they ride on a moped to the race. Love some good moped content. relatable. So they deliver the board to the buyer, but they open it up and oops. reiki accidentally packed up the wrong board. It was his old shitty one. What the fuck? I can't race on this piece of shit.

Then he tells reiki. He's like, I can't race on this. So you're going to have to race on it for me. If I was that customer, I would not put like, hey, I can't do this illegal race now. So you're going to take my place. So if you lose, I lose. Like, I don't know if flabbergasted me that was his solution to this problem.

Yeah, I'd be like, I can't do it.

I just quit. Yeah.

This is clearly your board. I don't have one. Goodbye.

Yeah.

I am not obligated to do anything. What are you going to do? Sue me?

Skate cops? There's probably skateboard cops.

Absolutely. So Shadow is the challenger. So he's like, I see you get a shitty board. I guess it's an easy win. So the loser has to get something tattooed by the winner. And I'm going to insult your girlfriend in a tattoo. But reiki is like, okay, I got to go get a board. I got to figure something out. Oh, no, I'm doomed. We see langa has duct taped his feet to the board. And he's like, I could do this.

He steps up to the challenge for no reason. He doesn't have to.

Yeah, not involved at all. But he's like, yeah, I can do this. So he decides to race in the buyer's place. And since we see a legendary skateboarder come up and it's the interviewer from before, this is Cherry Blossom, the AI skater.

I was really confused by that title at first. Yeah.

I was like, oh, man, is he a robot?

I'm not yeah, but is he a hologram?

He he just has, like, a night rider skateboard. It just like is AI. That just talks to him got a.

Fucking Mr. feeney and his skateboard got king. Also, I'm technically checking off cherry blossoms on the bingo card because of him.

Yeah. No, I'll allow it. I see them in my mind's eye every time he's on the screen because he's beautiful.

He's beautiful.

But he's like, I invented this game. So rule is once you step on a board, you accept the challenge. So langa has to race. So the race starts. Shadow rockets out. langa's feet didn't think it through. He can't push off.

Yeah.

So he's just standing there. So he has to use his hands to push. And everyone watching is like, this kid's going to die. Going to just get murdered. But once he gets moving, he gains his confidence and his vision goes and he sees those Canadian snows. Because surprise, he's a snowboarder. whoa. We got a reverse Johnny tsunami's passion here. I thought that was going to be your opening. Don't mention it before. Don't step on it. In case.

Just in case. I had a feeling we'd get there eventually.

So, yeah. He rockets off. He catches up to Shadow. And we see a mysterious stranger is watching from the shadows. He's watching on monitors. He has cameras all over the racetrack. So many music. He's dancing. He's into it.

It was at this point I was like, this show is like, doubledigit. I'm like, yeah, it's going to just be fucking weird, man. This isn't just a normal world. This weird billionaire is watching this illegal skate group, and he's super horny for it. It's going to be a weird show.

But yeah. So they enter, like, the final stretch of the race. It's this old shitty, about to fall down warehouse. But shadows in the lead. But langa takes a shortcut and jumps on, like, some girders and jumps over Shadow. So Shadow tries to do what he did to reiki and throws out his firecrackers. But langa is able to jump over them beautifully. Do a flip and win the race. And reiki falls in love. There's a common theme. We'll find out that anyone who jumps over anyone else, the person down below is in love with the jumper.

It's a skating marriage proposal. We all know this.

But yeah. And that's how we end episode one.

Yeah, as soon as I saw these two pretty boys, I was like, oh, people are definitely going to ship these two. But then, yeah, at the end of this episode, when langa jumps over and the firecrackers are going off behind him, and reiki is like, and that's the first time it snowed in this city, I was like, oh, that boy is in love. That boy is in love.

So episode two starts off with reiki recapping the last episode.

Thank you, ricky.

And he goes up to langa after the race, and he's like, oh, my God, you were so good. And he's like, obsessing over him, and what the heck? Oh, it's the next day. It's another day. Now time has passed, and longa is strapping himself to the board again, and he's ready to go. And he's standing there, and he looks to reiki and he says, push me. Like as if it's obvious.

Daddy, make the swing go high.

I can't kick off. My feet are duct tape to the board.

Whoops. So there he goes. He's going downhill, but he has to stop because there's a street with cars going by, but he can't stop because his feet are taped to the board. So he ends up in the street, but luckily he doesn't get run over. yeehaw yeehaw. gideon and he was great at skating during the race, but this isn't really working out. He must have had, like, adrenaline or something. Blind confidence.

He didn't have to stop during the race. It was just downhill the whole time.

I actually watched episodes one and three subbed, so I watched this one dubbed, and there is no match in English for that slightly emotionless character because that's what longa is in the Japanese version. And it's just like, I don't know, there's something about it I can't get behind, like the way that they do these characters in English.

Yeah, I watched the reverse. I watched episode two subtitled. I can't pinpoint it, but I agree with you. There's kind of this trope of like a vacant, void character who's emotionless, and I don't know what it is. I think with the English, they always try to put lethargic cool, collected, maybe, or some emotion behind it.

I don't know what it is, but it's never successful. It'll always be an issue in doves, because it'll always be a character and anime. So longa asks to borrow reiki's board because even though he just had a rough time, he loved it. It was exhilarating. So reiki lets him borrow it, but reminds him that skateboarding is different than snowboarding. And longa is like, why don't you teach me? So sometime later. Once again, longa is getting ready to stand on the board. And reiki is like, do you want my hand? Do you want help? And he's like, no, I can do it.

No, hold hands. Do it.

So he gets he he puts both feet onto the board, but he falls. And reiki explains it's because he tensed up and, like, all of the weight went to his back foot. So he's got to stay relaxed and keep his weight balanced. We get some good skating advice in this show.

I was just saying I do enjoy that it is like going into the technical stuff of skating, because this is something I could never get my hands on or figure out. So it is nice to actually hearing someone explain it in detail.

So now reiki is teaching him how to push off. And they're like, doing this at school. And then a teacher starts chasing them. And there are students watching from the windows, like, cheering them on. And they start to approach a wall, but longa doesn't know how to turn. And then he gets, like, this determined to look on his face. And you're like, he's gonna do it. But then he smacks into the wall.

We see, like, the teacher, like, carrying him off, like, his knocked out body.

And now we're at a restaurant with the cherry blossom guy. He's like, at a business meeting. And then a fucking Joe the cook arrives. And I can think of nothing else. God fucking damn.

My vision narrowed. Everything went dark.

He's immaculate. He is large. He's a little mean.

Like, he's a cook.

He's a cook. He's really good. I like him very much.

I don't know what his voice is. I don't know anything he said. My brain went depthy when I saw it. I was like, this is himbo prime. This is it. P himboism.

We found it.

So they're part of the skate cult, and Joe tries to talk to the cherry blossom guy about it, but he's like, no, we can't in public. And they start to have, like, a little fight. So they're in love, obviously. So we see Shadow looking at, like, tweets online comments, but it's like, come on, man. Don't look at the comments.

Don't do that to yourself.

But everyone's talking about him getting beat by a rookie. They're like, oh, he's old and washed up now. And then we see that he's working at a flower shop, which is immaculate. That this large man. This large punk clown.

Yeah, I don't know if he mentioned he's also a pretty big dude. Like, he's pretty beefy, very big.

And like, his boss is like, hey, can you help me with this arrangement? And he comes back out and he's like, absolutely I can.

Yeah, it's it's not like a reluctant like, his mom's a boss, and he's, like, forced to work it. He seems into the flowers.

He loves it.

Great, dynamic characters who would have thought.

It was like, at this point that I was like, oh, no, I love that. I love all of this. This is great. So everyone in this skate cult is talking about longa. And we see him having dinner with his mom. And she's like, in her mind, she's like, oh, my God, why is he hurt? Because he has, like, bandaids all over his face and stuff. And she's like, is he being bullied? I don't want to ask because I don't want to be too pushy. And he's like, well, what's up, mom? Like, you seem concerned. And she's like, oh, you're injured a lot. And he's like, yeah, I fell. And she's like, an excuse, they always say. But then he's like, yeah, my friend is teaching me how to skateboard. And she's like, friend skateboard.

You talked great public.

My son's cool. He boards.

So now there's more skate lessons. longa feels weird that his feet aren't adhered to the board. He is also lamenting that he can't get a job. He gets an email that he didn't even get an interview. So reiki is like, is it your interview skills? And he's like, no, I didn't even get an interview for this. And he's like, show me your resume. And it's because he can't write in Japanese very well, so it looks like a little kid wrote it. And reiki is like, I could fill it out for you. And he's like, no, it's okay. And then they're like, all right, well, let's beg the manager of the skate shop for a job. So they do that. And he's not the boss. He's reiki's boss, but he's not the owner of the shop. So he says he will talk to the owner to see what's available.

Also, he's got a fenick fox as a pet that's just.

An animal sidekick.

Yeah. I don't like it only because it's not just a pet. Like, it's like sentient, like two sentient.

Yeah.

And it's like a weird aspect of the show that doesn't quite fit.

Yeah.

Once I saw the show is just grounded enough to be like, oh, yeah, relatable. There's some high school kids. But then we have, like, skater punk clowns and the underground skate cult and slightly two sentient foxes. So there is this strange tone of like, how serious should I take the show?

Yeah, because when we open the show with him driving reiki to the skin, like the abandoned mine shaft to skate, and we see the fox there, like, the fox goes everywhere with him. I was like, ah, he's going to be a prominent character. He's got the animal sidekick. No, he's there. He's a decent character, but like, it's not the companion.

Also, the commercial bumpers are really good.

Yeah. Really silly.

They remind me of, like, warioware minigames.

Yeah, it's a good comparison. Yeah.

Just like the very sketch. Truly just little sketches.

They look yeah, little silly things.

They have, like, a white outline around the character. So I think they're supposed to look like stickers, like skateboard stickers. And we get one of a Shadow doing a magical girl transformation, which Grant checked that off on the bingo card. Magical girl shadow.

Yeah. So it's skate cult time. Shadow is waiting for langa to show up because he wants a rematch. And then Cherry and Joe roll up, and Cherry uses, like, a high tech board that analyzes the surroundings and tells him where to go. It's an alexa in a skateboard. And Joe is, of course, like a traditional skater. Like, oh, you're letting technology tell you what to do. Come on, man. You got to be free flowing.

Can't just feel it with your brain.

You skate with your heart.

Yeah.

And as appropriate.

That's kind of an important part.

That's a big one. Sometimes your hands when you're doing a crap. He's also got the open shirt, like, flowing behind, and it's like, my God, what a man.

Hot as hell. And then we see the guy, like, the security cams guy who watches the skate cult. He's disappointed that longa isn't there.

I just called him Evil Phoenix. Right.

Well, later on, I like, phantom of the Skate Park, but that's better. We don't know that yet. Yeah, well, we could call him that now because he does watch from a distance. longa is definitely his Christine, where he's like, where are you, beautiful skater skate.

My angel of snowboarding.

And then we see some delightful little boy looking at his phone, and he finds out that longa is a skateboarder. And he says, I can work with dad. And then there's more skate lessons. Wow. They're discussing the difference between a skating ollie and a snowboarding ollie. And longa is like, how long is it going to take to learn this? Like, how long does it take you? And reiki says, it took him three months. And longa is like, can I just skip it? And reiki is like, I mean, you can, but it's foundational to skating. Once you learn how to ollie, you can do everything else. So he asks longa how long he's been snowboarding. He says, 15 years. So it's going to take him some time to shake off the snowboarding habits. And then they go to reiki's house, and they're in his room, and he has a little sister that comes in and just stares at longa.

He's so beautiful.

And then his mom comes in, and I love his mom so good. She's a redhead, and she's got a green cardigan, and she's like, a little chubby. And she's just like, you didn't tell me you have a friend.

I'm going to get cake.

Never made a friend.

Yeah, no, mom don't get cake. It's like, I'm shut up. I'm getting cake. You got friends over. And it's like, good, mom.

Yeah. And then we see the little girl has a twin, so he's got twin little sisters. So yes. They're hanging out. And Reiki shows him a board in a catalog that has footholds, and he says that he can make one for longer, and they, like, talk about the specifics of the board they can make it totally custom for him. And they go out to reiki's garage workshop and they talk about different types of boards and wheels, and they watch videos together. And I love that bonus. They're having a good time. Longa is falling in love with skateboarding, and he's falling in love with his friend, the dream.

I also just love this dynamic of, like, reiki is kind of technically the main character, but he's the worst skater and the board builder. So our main character isn't like, you're rooting for this guy who's already amazing and good. It's like, no, we have someone who's used to skateboarding who's not the best, but he can build stuff. And we have someone who's a snowboarder who's not the best, but he's learning. So it's like, okay, I can relate to these people. No one is immediately amazing at this.

Yeah, that's gay boy skating, but not at the Olympic level that we're used to.

So Longa is especially in love with the fact that skateboarding can be anywhere when snowboarding has so many factors that have to be just right. But skating is infinite. The thing that's kind of the show. So there's a montage, more learning, more perfecting his board, more watching videos. My heart is warm right now, thinking of it. But while this was happening, it was specifically the part where they're both looking at their phones, like, watching videos separately and sharing some French fries that I was just like, oh, fuck this. I was like, oh, no. Because I haven't felt that way for an anime in a while. So I was just like, oh, my God.

Might I recommend laid back camp season two?

This is episode two, and I have the heart warm feel. I really like the first three episodes of Laid Back Camp, but this is different. So we see Longa, we're out of the montage. Longa falls down, and he starts bleeding, and he's, like, really squeamish about it. And Reiki is like, well, don't you get injured when he's snowboard? And he's like, yeah, but we don't bleed.

We just bruise padding.

Yeah. So Reiki puts on a bandaid for him, and he's like, yeah, don't worry about it. It's like a rite of passage for skateboarders. So he asks Longa why he and his mom moved back to okinawa, and he's like, oh, my dad passed away, so my mom wanted to be in her hometown, so I came with her so I could help her make some money.

Dead parent club check.

Yeah. So ricky is like, oh, I'm sorry. Are you bored here? Because there's no snow, and also there's, like, nothing really to do here.

Are you skateboard here?

I was about to say snowboard here.

And Longest says he didn't really snowboard after his dad died anyway. So skateboarding has been really nice. And he hops on his board and he pushes off and he does an ollie yay, but then he falls. But that's okay because he did the move.

He technically landed. It still counts.

Still counts, yeah. And Reiki is really proud of him. And he holds up his hand for like, a high five, but Longa isn't really sure what to do. They do like, a little handshake, and then they're talking to the manager at the shop. Like, Reiki is like, yeah, he did his first dolly wham. And then the delightful child from earlier comes in and he's like, hey, pretty boy, I'm here to challenge you to a beef. Because he hasn't felt challenged in a long time, this prodigy child. So he wants to duel longer, basically. And that's episode two.

It's time to skateboard. So then we get episode three. And I'll just say with the opening, it is very good. They also have all the characters name in the opening every time. And my God, has that helped me 1000%. It's so much easier seeing it every episode. So it starts off, we got longer accepting the challenge in the scape shop, and they're saying, like, we'll have to determine what our wager is, because you always have to place a bet when you skate at S. And I like a lot about this show. I hate that. It's just called ass. That's just dumb to me. Yeah, well, so we see a few people in a truck with their skateboards going to the mine shaft course during the day. We hear like, Reiki and Longa talking like, oh, man, why they got this place locked up? Why don't they just have it open so everyone can come in and practice whenever? Well, we are trespassing, and this is an illegal underground death skateboard race. So like, all right, fair. And then we see that they're also there practicing, getting ready for the race, trying to, you know, figure out the course and get langa better at it. And sure enough, that's when mia. mia.

Mia.

Mia. I wrote down pronunciations. mia ends up skating right past them. Find out this boy is a two fur. He's both the gamer boy and the cat boy. Because in his casual clothes, he's got a hoodie, and the hood has ears on it. He's got long sleeve gloves, I guess what you call it, like the striped gloves, like the emo gloves. And then he's got like a tail, like, I guess that's like tied to his pants or something.

I'm going to tell you something, catboy and gamer boy, that's just a scene, kid.

That's fair. Yeah, that's true. In terms of anime, it just felt both tropes, but yes, I guess it just seems so we can get him flying past them, and it's like, I guess the losers are here to practice. You'll need it. He skates by just being a real poppy jerk.

Just being a delightful little boy.

Sure, delightful. Anyway, maya's get flashbacks of someone telling them heroes don't associate with sly because he says it a thousand times in this episode. sly is his go to insult and he flies past them and Reiki is like, hey, fuck you, kid. And go skating after him to catch up. And then once they start skating, they start playing like horse on skateboards. Like they maya starts doing tricks and reiki's copying them from behind. maya's like, oh, think you're a big boy and does like a crazy trick. And Reiki just eats shit on it right away. He's like, damn that twelve year old. And then longer goes flying past him because he's getting a lot of speed. Now he's catching up to Maya and we see other time allocate Rachel eats shit doing a casper. It's like I'm getting flashbacks to playing Tony hawk and just seeing these tricks pop up. And then me also eating shit and losing a high score. And then, yeah, we see. Long Ago goes to catch up to race against mia. Even in the practice, Maya, I'm already losing it.

It's mia.

Cowboy. His name is Cowboy. And they're going down on a real sharp turn on the track. And Longa's foothold snap off like the straps around his feet break because he's putting too much weight on it. When he's taking the turn, he's not slowing down enough. And Catboy says like, hey, make sure you get this shit fixed up because I want to win against you based on your skill and not because of gear breaking or technical error. I want to prove I'm better than you. Basically, it's like, damn. Okay, kid. So then back at the shop, ricky switches him up, gives us some toe clips instead of the straps, so that way he's able to actually slip his foot in and out easier in case he ever has to switch feet. And meanwhile, Cat boys at an indoor skate park. And it looks just like a gymnasium, but there's like skate stuff in there, skate ramps, and he's doing like an interview with some journalists and stuff. And they're talking to him, and all the other kids are kind of grudging him, like he's filling a hot shot, taking up all our time, taking up space in the skate park. Just do an interview. Everyone resents them. And we see the phantom walking around upstairs like the catwalk talking with a maintenance owner of the building, like, oh, we'll have to repair that. We'll have to get that fixed up. He's clearly got money or some power within the skate business as well as the community, but he's just like so fucking evil. Like, he's so evil looking.

There's something about this fella that I just he's so fun. He's funny because what a weird. Like we said, like Johnny tsunami, Disney Channel esque. Is he a villain?

We don't really absolutely a villain. He's got red on it.

At this point, he hasn't really done anything. He just seems like he's obsessed with langa watching this weird skate cult that.

I'm sure he rules or whatever he's god of.

Yeah.

Just remember Brink, the Disney Channel original movie. Brink?

I didn't watch it, but I know it exists.

It's up there. It's got similar vibes. Anyway, so he's walking around talking about it and then back down with the interviews with Cowboy. He's like, hey, how about we get a few shots? You practice him for the pictures to put in with the interview. He's like, yeah, sure. I'll do some tricks for you. And then everyone has to clear out so Cowboy can practice. And two disgruntled skaters. Fuck cat boy. You know what? We're going to mess with him. And we see him. While Cowboys practicing, the two disgruntled skaters shoot their skateboards on the ground at Cowboy to try and mess up his trick. And Cowboy just kicks off his skateboard and it lands on one of theirs and lands the trick perfectly. And just like, bitch.

Thanks, guys.

Think you're better than me? I'm seen I'm the best there is. And meanwhile, Reiki and langa are still practicing on their own. We see them skating around, and we see them going through, like a parking garage. And langa is talking about how on skateboard, he loses speed when he's, like, taking the turn. Because with snowboards, he can just, you know, glide on the snow and keep going. With the skateboard. You actually have to slow down. Or like, we've seen the straps on his feet break or the trucks, like on the skateboard snap off because they're not meant to go at that angle. And then all of a sudden, security's there. Get out of here, you kids. We have fired narrative. Wells sort of chase them out. And when they're running from the security, guy ends up chasing Long instead. And as Reiki is leaving, he's like, all right, I'll meet you back at the shop. He trips over the base like the bottom part of a spinning chair for like a computer that's got the wheels that rotate like 300 and 6947 degrees. I don't know math. They spin around.

He's spinning out code.

The wheels just spin around in a full circle. And Reiki trips with them. And he's like, ah, stupid garbage. Hey, wait a minute and get an idea. And so we see Longa get back into the shop. And took him a little longer because he actually had the security. I'm running after him. He's like, oh god, why do you have to chase after me? What are you doing, Reiki? And he's like, I got a new board for you. I'm going to soup this baby up. And you're going to be going in no time. And then they start watching watching catboy videos and seeing how good he is. And ricky mentions he doesn't seem like he's having fun. He's lost the joy of skating. He doesn't love the board. And then we cut to we see Catboy at school and just some dude in a fucking suit. We don't even see, like, it's all in shadow or a silhouette. And he just basically bumps into the cowboy and it's like, remember, you're the hero, and heroes don't associate with slide. It's like, who the fuck is this guy? We find out it's not his parents. And I was like, what is this dude in his life forcing him to do this? And while he's at school, we see him walking around and bumps into a few other kids. And one of them recognizes him. And a girl comes up and says like, oh, hey, didn't you used to hang out with Catboy? He's like, no, I don't know who that is. When Catboy goes home, he sees his parents and they're like, oh, yeah, the interviewers are asking, like, some early photos of you skateboarding, like as a little kid. So we were trying to pick out a photo. What about this one here? You're with your skating friend and you're so happy together. And Catboy takes and crumbles it up. He's like, no, I'll pick the pictures. So clearly got baggage even though he's fucking twelve. And then we cut to the phantom canceling his plans for the weekend because he's got a party to attend to.

I have to watch my news skate.

Like, you calling him the phantom really just makes worse because I'm like, he's either Phoenix, right, or like, Gurring logging. He's just some fucking skating executive. It's so weird. And it's time to s. It's time for the big. And reiki's late, and everyone's like, what the fuck? He's longa doesn't even have a board. What the fuck is he doing? And Reiki runs in. He's like, sorry, I had to do a few adjustments. Here's your new board. And I love that we saw a scene of Longa designing siberian wolves on the bottom of the board to be really cool and menacing. And ricky's face is, like, really goofy. Like Adventure Time as heavy. I was like, I love it. That's prime skateboarding. So, yeah, ricky shows up last minute with his board, and Catboy says, the bet is if he wins. Standard competition bet. If one of them wins, the other one has to be their servant, which is weird. That's never not weird to me.

Keeping with the animal theme, the actual word was be their pet.

Yeah.

Like, interesting.

Yeah. So Catboy says if he wins, Longa has to be his lap dog. And then if Longa wins, he'll be Longa's pet dog or Cat. And he specifically says Cat because he's a cat boy. And I was just like, God. I was just like, God damn it. Did you really have to put that line in there?

I already got my first sona picked out. Don't make me change it.

Yeah, fucking gloves the ears and the tail like, relax, you're twelve.

It's my whole thing.

It's my identity. So that while they're setting up their bed, they're at the top of the hill, we see Cherry and Joe skating in, talking about who will win and if they should do beds. And I love that both of them have their own group of fangirls behind them. And Cherry has a bunch of girls who are in their school uniforms that are very clean. And they have little cherry blossoms on their hat and glasses and stuff. And then Joe just has a bunch of like they look like club girls or something, or like late night race girls or something. I'm just like I love that even their fangirls have their own aesthetic and are matching. It like true groupies. I'm like, I just love these two characters. I'm sure they become more prominent later. I love that they really are just sideline characters. At this point, though. They're just two very eccentric, minor characters. And Cherry notes how weird it is the board Long is using, how it's got the trucks that are spinning or can move on their own. And then the race starts and we see Shadow. After the two guys go skating down the hill, shadow flies up in like a pink car, which is, I guess, his delivery van for the flowers. He's like, he thinks, you're going to lose me that easily. I'm going to fall behind you, lang, and find out how you beat me. Find out what makes you tick. And Rick, he just climbs in. He's like, all right, get going, champ. He's like, what?

No.

What? No. Get out of my car.

No, my car.

He's like, move an old man. He's like, I'm 24. I was like, I wish I was the clown prince of punk rock, skating at 24, in shape. So the race starts and the race is pretty standard until Longa pulls off the backside rodeo, which is the trick they talked about before, where he was able to ramp off just a weird rock and do a flip in the air and get more speed in front of Catboy and take the lead. And meanwhile, Reiki is in the car talking about all the changes he made to his board, to Shadow. And Shadow does not care. He's like, cool, that's great. Get out of my car. But he's talking about how the rotating trucks aren't going to stress them and snap them like they did last time. And then the Cat boy gets flashbacks of his friends leaving him because he's the prodigy. He's the hero. And they're just slime. And the hero can't associate with slime. He's too good for them now. So they all leave. And then we see Cowboy slowing down to take the turn. And Longa speeds up and Cowboy just takes a turn and like, takes it. Normally, Longa fucking rebounds off a goddamn tree branch.

Yeah, I didn't understand the physics of.

This, I was like, that would not work.

Okay?

It's not like the top ropes and like, wrestling where you can just bounce off it because it's elastic. It was a fucking tree. And he just springboards off of it and gets further ahead again. So Catboy gets pissed and he flips the board on its side. So he's standing on top of the board and he's able to hug the turns tighter by doing that. So he's able to use it as, like a shortcut and get past Longa. And then they're back down in the old factory, which is the end of the race. But this time, langa can't use his board like he did last time. I don't remember why, but I remember him saying he can't. So instead of taking the weird shoot he did before, he hops on top of the railing on the walkway they're on. And everyone's freaking out because they're like, that railing is fucking garbage. You're going to fall off there and snap your neck. And right as he says that, he gets to a gap in the railing where it broke off. And Long just shifts his weight from his back foot to his front foot. And the whole board just spins while keeping his feet attached. And he's able to just, like, kind of walk over the gap like he would with a snowboard. And everyone's blown away. What a miraculous he's got a lot of skill and just a weirdly specific customized board that I'm pretty sure would be illegal in any official capacity. But this is Death Race, and he's able to keep grinding on the rails and ends up getting down there and just by a little bit, he ends up winning. So he beats Catboy, even though he just learned how to do an all yesterday. And ricky flies out and jumps all over Longa and cheering, you did great, but my board did better. And he's like, yeah, proud of his creation. And then Reiki tells Cavoy he lost because they escape for fun, not glory. They don't care if they win. They just are passionate about the board, man. And and then we get cowboys having flashbacks of his friends saying he's too successful for them now and he's he's too famous for his own good and how they abandon. And then ricky flicks him in the forehead and he's like, hey, not everyone's obsessed with winning. Like, we're still going to be your friends even if we lose and you win. And it's like, he said they're friends. And ilana asks, he's like, hey, can we skate again sometime soon? And it's like, you still want to.

Hang out with me now?

Right on queue. catholics are getting emotional, starts tearing up and turns away so they won't see him cry. And then suddenly he shows up just this fucking over the top entrance of.

Like the fact that his name is or he goes by Adam.

Yeah.

It's like, oh, are you the original piece of shit. I love this garbage, man.

And he's like, just in, like, a matador outfit. It is so good.

The outfit is actually so reminiscent of, like, again, phantom motif. When the phantom in masquerade, when he shows up to the party, this is exactly like what he wears, just like, this flamboyant shit to be like, I'm still here, you asshole.

Think of the most flamboyant skating outfit you can imagine. More. Just more whatever you're thinking. More.

Think of an average matador outfit.

More. So he just comes skating in, talking hot shit, and he says, looks like Maya is running on empty, and you're struggling to keep your edge and kind of just talking shit to the small child. And when he skates in, he's like, longa is brilliant, but he has room to improve. I could help you improve. And he leans down and puts his hands around Longa's legs, and he's just, like, hovering and wiggling his fingers up and down, and he's like, Can I touch you?

Can I touch you, bryce?

Dude, we don't know who you are. You can't be this horny this fast. And right before langa has a chance to respond to his creepy question, reiki says, like, hey, don't talk shit to my catboy. He's like, you got to take that back. adam's like, what will you do if I don't? He's like, I'll make you. ricky picks up his board, and it's like he's challenging him. I mean, he lost a shadow. I don't know why he thinks he can take this guy, but okay, shadow had bombs. He still wasn't winning by that much. But that's the end of episode three. Oh, boy.

What a hoot.

This is how gay and traumatic I was not expecting from a skating.

Yes, it's very theatrical.

It is.

It is so interesting that it's just, like this normal dynamic of two high school boys becoming friends and then falling in love, maybe. But then also this underground skate cult theater. Truth.

Skate circus.

They got a class. It really is. If you haven't seen, like, I think it's the movie The Warriors watch The Warriors, because it's just this the warriors is this dramatic and over the top and just, like, so ostentatious, and it's like, this is great. This is what made the warriors great. This what makes this great. Fuck you.

Do we know what we're about?

Yeah, I know what I like. It's gay boy skating. So are we there yet? Probably not, right? It's like, meh.

Excuse me. Thank you for joining me at this press conference. I have an announcement I would like to make.

We're stopping the podcast. We're quitting. We're free.

I would like to officially state that the first anime I've been caught up with, escape the infinity. I watched all five episodes.

Wow.

I mean, technically there are nine because Japanese, but wow.

Like, we're dubbed and ready for me. And the very legal side I was watching, but I am caught up with what was available to me.

How exciting.

And there's no furries.

Well, there's a furry not in a first suit.

Okay.

Furry hoodie.

That's right. Okay.

Yeah. I really love this. It did not give me the same intense love that I felt when I watched erie on Ice, but it did.

Definitely I was like, oh, yeah, those vibes are there.

This has got so much of the things that I love.

It wasn't your favorite meal, but it's the same restaurant that meets your favorite meal. This tastes good, though. I like these similar beasts.

Yeah.

Oh, man. I figured I would have enjoyed this, but yeah, I was surprised by how absolutely hard they go with this, and I was like, oh, hell yeah. Let's get ridiculous. Because you can only be so serious about skateboarding before you're. Just absurd.

Yeah. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was an absolute thrill.

Absolutely fun. Cool concept. bonkers, theatrical execution. Kept it entertaining throughout. And everyone's gay. Everyone's gay as everyone else. We get to it later on. You mentioned Adam being created. He races langa, and langa does jump over him, and Adam, being the one underneath, falls in love, and he literally says, I found my Eve. So, yes, everyone is.

Holy shit. That is so good.

So good.

I'm kind of sad you told me that. I wish I experienced it fresh, but, God, that's so fucking good.

I will give you no more details because he has other signature moves that he is gay. I will let you discover those on your own. Wow.

I don't know why I'm so taken with him. He's so good. Oh, my God.

We've talked about who we all sent for. We know you have a taste for shitty, shitty men. This fits in line.

Yes. But it's usually, like, smug, shitty men.

He's, like, pretty slug.

Joe.

Well, it's like the Joe vibe. Like, not like this, like, theatrical asshole. This is a different kind of thing. Like, I'm not simping for this man. I want to understand him.

I need to know more.

Oh, my God.

Does he do a Christ air and call it the Adam air? Is he that self absorbed, the original sin?

Oh, my God. God, I hope.

Oh, and they just make owl skating. Oh, God. Yeah. I want this. Like, this is theatrical as hell. I want it more. If we're going far, let's go further.

Just anytime he's there, it's like, thank God that this is happening to me.

Are they going to do, like, a stage play? But it's like spiderman Turn Off the Dark, where it's like the crazy theater, like, oh, my God. Where they're flying around the stage on skateboards. Just make it so.

I hope so. I need to lay down.

I got to go finish this. I got to catch up. Yeah.

Everyone go finish this. listener, go watch the show. It's very good. Thank you, vy, for recommending this.

Thank you. They clearly know your taste better than we do after 130 episodes.

Yeah, the shows that they recommended to me have been this and Given, so they don't know what I'm about.

It was also the Given movies out for anyone that doesn't know and wanted to watch.

But, yeah, that's our show for this week. What will we potentially fall in love with next week?

Optimistically? I mean, I don't know if that'll be as good as this. We're watching a show that I find the plot very compelling of. We're going to watch the first three episodes of talentless Nana. Don't worry. No relation to other Nana.

I saw that on the list when I got scared.

Oh, no. The sequel series.

It's a third girl named Nana. She's just very boring.

If there's a third Nana out there that you want us to watch, you can send that recommendation to us. Our email is arwibariat@gmail.com or you can reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram at arwibariat on both. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan and listen to my fiction podcast echoed location.

You can find me on Instagram at honey, period D on Twitter at honey d eight and Honey D art. And you can find me on twitch at honey D. And Honey is spelled.

H-U-N-N-I-E. You drew a kirby mothman for.

Me and it was very I drew a kirby mothman.

We found a r muse. We found r e and it's kirby mothman. You can find me on Twitter at abts. Brendan. It stands for Almost Better Than Silence, which is my video game podcast.

Thank you to camille ruley for artwork, and thank you to Louis zong for theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

I hope Adam does a musical. numb Bird.

He's got him right about himself.

Thank you.