Archive of Our Own ^beta

I: Welcome!

EM: It’s another episode of Ambiguous Robot and Earnest Hero Watching Anime, the podcast all about anime, fandom, and what shows are worth spending your short hours on this earth watching, and the drama they create along the way.

I: I’m your co-host Innamorati.

EM: And I’m your other co-host Emerald Melody.

I: Today we’re talking about Sk8 Infinity: Winter Break, the prequel series to SK8 The Infinity. And no, don’t ask us why it’s called that. This is just the anime nonsense that we are here for.

EM: As a very quick summary of the series, it’s the story of Langa’s as a snowboarder and the period leading up to his dad’s death, and him moving to Okinawa with his mom.

I: So right off, it’s a show that kind of pulled in two directions. On the one hand, it’s the wacky fun of the original SK8, and on the other... facing the tragic impeding reality of losing a parent. This isn’t the only instance of two-direction-pulling in the series either. But we’ll get to that later.

EM: Just in case this is the very first episode of this podcast you’ve ever heard – first of all, welcome – please remember that we are terrible at remembering character names.

I: Speak for yourself, I for one, am only passably poor at remembering character names.

EM: I’m jealous [delivery can be sarcastic or sincere – it works either way]. Anyway, for that reason, we generally refer to characters by their trope, instead of their actual name.

I: Except Langa – who transcends trope.

EM: Indeed. Let’s list off the characters quickly or it’ll get too distracting to explain them later. Especially if we’re in the middle of talking about something else.

I: Let’s start off with The Bully – gotta have that antagonist with the heel-face turn. He’s the rich kid who’s dad owns the mountain and ski hill, but is revealed to have strong moral fibre and “doesn’t want to win if it’s not for the right reasons”.

EM: There’s the Love Interest. She’s head over heels for Langa, but he doesn’t notice – Langa is only interested in snowboarding.

I: A little side note on the Love Interest.... remember when I mentioned this show is pulled in two directions? She’s a perfect example. Her dad is Langa’s snowboard coach, so she has an excuse to always hang around, and it’s not surprising that she’s a great snowboarder too – but never quite in the same league as the boys OF COURSE [just dripping sarcasm]. She’s “clumsy” and “quirky” and her meet cute with Langa is spilling a plate of poutine on him. So she’s presented initially as this really stereotypical anime love interest character, and them wham! We find out her career ambition is to live on an isolated hut at the top of the mountain measuring atmospheric conditions.

EM: We’ve got a few more ladies – which maybe they were compensating for the complete lack of ladies in SK8, but I’m not complaining. We’ve got the Too Cool Girl. She’s not just cool, she’s too cool. One of Langa’s snowboard senpai.

I: And our other senpai is High Femme Snowboarding Queen. Which isn’t a trope I’ve seen often, I’ll admit. This is probably the first time. But I would like to submit High Femme Snowboarding Queen into the official anime trope database.

EM: Adding it to the wiki now.

I: Too Cool Girl and High Femme Snowboarding Queen are a couple, naturally.

EM: They’re literally the “Joe & Cherry” of the prequel. But I will say, I respect that they don’t map onto Joe and Cherry one-to-one.

I: Right? Joe is very cool, but not toooooo cool. It’s a different vibe. I would say that Cherry is closer to “too cool”, but I would also say that Cherry is more “high femme”. Joe is not femme.

EM: Joe is “high bro?”

I: Yes! No! We’re off track, there’s a few more characters to mention. There’s the Coach, who you already mentioned. He’s love interest’s dad. Those are literally his only two characteristics.

EM: There’s the Kid Sibling. I won’t lie, we got distracted for 5 minutes when this character was introduced and didn’t catch exactly who’s sibling they are. We didn’t got back because figured context clues would sort it out. But they NEVER. DID.

I: For example, this kid immediately calls every other character onii-san or onee-san.

EM: The confusion was baffling after two episodes, and just hilarious after twelve.

I: We can assume that Langa’s not the big bro, but only because SK8 exists.

EM: And there’s Langa’s parents of course. They’re more not really that involved in the snowboarding plot. We do see Langa snowboard with his Dad in the first episode, but mostly their plot is the, y’know, sad hospital plot.

I: One more bit of housekeeping before we jump into the show proper, I just want to quickly clarify some terminology. We’ll be using “snowboarding” to refer to just snowboarding, but using “skiing” more generically. Like you can snowboard on a “ski” hill, but a “snowboard” hill isn’t really a thing. If it was a thing, it would mean just snowboarding.

EM: So if someone is a “skier” does that mean they ski or snowboard?

I: In that context, it would be specifically skiing.

EM: Got it. Hopefully it won’t get confusing, but I think we’ll be fine.

I: If it’s not fine... I mean, do let us know, but also it’ll be too late to change it by then.

EM: I believe in you!

I: In me?

EM: Well, yes, always, but also in our listener to figure it out.

I: I don’t think we need to summarize the plot episode by episode, but also I don’t think we need to summarize the plot kind of at all? It’s a sport’s anime! You know what you’re getting into.

EM: Friendship! Homoerotic rivalry! Teamwork! Olympics!

I: The plot is Langa wants to join the Canadian Olympic team. Which – wow! He’d be young. He’s what? Nine grade right now? I know there are Olympic athletes that young, but still.

EM: If you’ve seen SK8 I think you can guess that he didn’t snowboard for the Canadian Olympic team, or they should have mentioned that, so the question isn’t so much “does he make the team” but “why doesn’t he make the team.”

I: A ~mystery~. Oh and meanwhile in the background his dad is dying. Hmmmm. However could these coincide?

EM: Oh, we’ll get to the ending, but not we’re not ready to spoil it quite yet.

I: I want to mention the series villain – in that there isn’t one. There’s the Bully character, but there isn’t really a villain to the snowboarding plot. Except maybe the mountain? Again, not just a repeat of SK8, which had Adam as the villain.

EM: It’s a bit like Haikyuu. Everyone is just doing their best, even if they’re directly competing in the races or competitions. But that’s not the same as being a villain - even when some characters are jerks, those jerks are just as likely to be on your team as the other one.

I: Okay, can we talk about the beach episode.

EM: Oh yes please!

I: Okay let’s set the stage for our listeners who haven’t seen the show. Here’s High Femme Snowboarding Queen, in her bikini and sunglasses, she’s putting on sunscreen, and it’s all very strongly suggesting that she’s at the beach. We see her put on sunglasses, but importantly, never get an actual shot of her feet.

EM: And then she opens the door to step outside, the sun flares off the camera, and WHAM. She’s at the top of the ski hill, snowboarding down in her swimsuit.

I: To be fair, spring skiing in inner BC isn’t far off from this.

EM: How far is “not far”?

I: It’s... far. But also... not?

EM: Somehow I understood that. So, bikinis on the hill is unrealistic, naturally. But by how much?

I: No jacket? Yes. Shorts? Sure, probably, if you’re “that guy”. Bikini? Bit of a reach.

EM: This is anime, we’re here for the reach. We don’t want realistic.

I: We get to see all our characters snowboard in beach gear, but most are covered up – board shorts and a hoodie type of thing.

EM: Board shorts are for all kinds of ‘boarding!

I: I have a few more episodes or scenes noted that I want to highlight.

EM: Yeah, same.

I: So, in episode 3 there’s a fake out car rash with Langa’s parents. And at this point, we the audience are like “oh crap, is this how Langa’s dad dies? They’re doing it already??” But nobody is actually hurt.

EM: What I thought was cool, was it wasn’t just shock/fake out for those of us who watched SK8 and know that Langa’s dad won’t make it through the season – it’s also foreshadowing for any viewers who haven’t seen SK8. Like how casual and familiar Langa and his family is with the hospital. Being on first name basis with the nurses and the doctor.

I: What did you think of the love interest resolution?

EM: We got a better resolution than most shonen or sports shows with the love sick girl and clueless boy trope.

I: She and Langa have genuinely touching scene, which resolves with a fully platonic goodbye between them.

EM: There is explicitly no torch carrying when Langa moves away, and I mean that as an absolute compliment. Let love interest live on her mountain top shack measuring the electromagnetic waves of northern lights. That sounds like a “happily ever after” to me. Especially since we’ve already been told that’s her exact ambition. Love it!

I: Speaking of romantic scenes, I liked the flashback to the meet cute of Langa’s parents. Langa’s dad is a snowboard instructor to a beginner class – but of adult students, including Langa’s mom. She catches the font edge of her snowboard on the downhill slope and just face plants.

EM: As someone who took exactly one snowboard lesson as an adult myself. This scene was deeply relatable. Biographical you might say – except for the marrying my instructor part.

I: Yeah, I think it would have come up in conversation at least once before in that case.

EM: Changing gears somewhat, can I have a mini rant here? A part of the show to highlight, but not in a good way this time.

I: What’s a rant called when it’s positive? A gush? I think our platform is just a train of gushes and mini rants loosely held together.

EM: Well this one is definitely a rant. There’s an episode in the second half of the season when Bully, who’s partially through his redemption arc at this point, has a snowboard tumble where he injures his tail bone. It’s so bad that the have to put him on stretcher on his stomach.

I: If you haven’t seen the show and you’re wondering how they get stretchers halfway up a mountain, they pull them on a sled behind a snowmobile. They’ve got snowmobile paths that criss-cross horizontally the hill so they don’t have to drive straight up or straight down anywhere really steep.

EM: I appreciate you’re interruption for clarity – but.... his tail bone! A broken tail bone is the actual worst. I’ve never broken my tail bone, but I did bruise it once. Just a bruise! And I couldn’t sit in a chair for days. I still find long car rides agony. Oh, and that tail bone bruise was six years ago.

I: I know where this is going. I mean, I already got this rant when we were watching the show together.

EM: Bully is back in the ski lodge the next episode. Sitting! In a chair! Like it’s no big deal. It’s a Big Deal!!!

I: I guess he didn’t really injure his tail bone?

EM: They don’t say that directly, but it’s the only explanation that I will accept. Because that does happen – a painful landing doesn’t automatically mean injury. Okay, mini rant over. What about you, any rants big or small?

I: We do like to rant about first aid here. Now, I’ll say there was no incidents of CPR, which means they didn’t mess it up. I don’t know much specifically about the first aid procedure for a tail bone injury - so I don’t know if being laid on your stomach is the accepted procedure, so I’ll allow it here.

I: It it time to scale?

EM: Sure, let’s scale.

I: If this is your first time listening to our podcast, we like to rank shows according to our preferred genres. The Emerald Melody scale is weighted shonen and measures action and excitement. The Innamorati scale is weighted shojo and measures feeeeelings. You should go first.

EM: I’m ranking the show out of five Sparkly Emeralds. The animation quality is on par with SK8, so that’s one Sparkly Emerald score right there. Poor animation means poor action, because action needs that dynamism of good animation.

They don’t have snowboard sequences in every episode, but it’s clear they put effort into them. My overall score is three Sparkly Emeralds to Snow Name. That’s not an insult, it just means they had other priorities than all action, all adrenaline, all the time. While I can’t personally relate – I do respect it.

I: The Innamorati scale measures of out five Loud Lovers. I’m gonna straight up say – I rank it a strong four. That last episode!

In typical anime bullshit fashion – that’s not an insult by the way – Langa’s at the top of the mountain, it’s his final try out for the Canadian Olympic team, and he gets a call on his cell from his mom. Yes, they let you bring your cellphone to Olympic try outs I guess. And his dad is going. He’s on the way out. And Langa has to decide... go through with the Olympic try out route, or take a different way down the mountain which will conveniently take him right to his dad’s hospital. One way leads to his dream, and what he’s been working towards this entire series, and the other way not only abandons that dream, but it’s through dangerous back trails. We already know that Langa doesn’t join any Olympic team, so it’s an obvious guess that he goes to his dad instead, but it’s so well done. The pacing and the expressions, the score and everything that it just hits hard. That was a five Loud Lovers episode by itself, but the series as a whole gets a four.

EM: Almost time for closing thoughts. I’ve got something I want to add here quickly, if I may.

I: Is this that twitter thing?

EM: That’s right. I mentioned it before we started recording. Don’t worry, listener, you didn’t miss it. I mean, you did miss it – but through no fault of your own. Anyway. When we decided this was our next episode I did a quick twitter search to gauge fan reactions and I came across a unicorn viewer. Someone who was watching Snow Name without ever having seen SK8. They didn’t seem to realise it was a prequel at all.

I: I’d say that on the whole the show is newcomer friendly. But the ending.

EM: The ending!

I: The rest of us could see it was coming at least.

EM: They seemed genuinely torn up by the ending. They did get plenty of replies pointing them to SK8.

I: It is comforting to know that Langa gets a boyfriend and a new passion. That his story doesn’t end with sacrificing your dream to say goodbye to your dying father. See, I’m sad just describing it.

EM: Boyfriend and new passion.

I: Right. Boyfriend and new passion. Winter Break is the beginning of Langa’s story, not the end.

EM: That’s deep, bro.

I: Okay, closing thoughts. Do you recommend Winter Break to anyone listening?

EM: I’d recommend it for anyone who enjoyed SK8. But I’d also recommend watching SK8 again after you finish Winter Break. We kinda just finished explaining why.

I: Is there an ad read this week?

EM: Hm, not after last time.

I: We didn’t break any terms of service.

EM: That’s the only reason we’re still allowed to air at all.

I: Well I’ll never apologize for consumer transparency.

EM: That’s our show folks, short and sweet! Let us know how you enjoyed Winter Break, and if you’ve ever broken your tail bone.

I: Do they really carry you on a stretcher on your stomach? We gotta know!

EM: Bye!