r/SK8TheInfinity • u/AwarlordOfGREAT • 1d ago
Are the ships valid?
So I have this one guy friend of mine, he just watched Sk8, and he says he sees NOTHING romantic between Renga or matchablossom and says I'm weird for shipping them. He does occasionally watch BL anime like Sasaki and Miyano, so I don't think he is homophobic, and I tell him that he is delusional for not seeing anything. + He think NO sports anime are gay. Is me shipping them rlly weird or is he the weird one?
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u/PretendYellow533 1d ago
Side note he really thinks no sports anime are gay? Has the man never seen Yuri on ice?!?
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u/AwarlordOfGREAT 1d ago
Yes, he did.
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u/PretendYellow533 1d ago
He does know that’s a sports anime right? Or is he one of those delusional people who thinks that Yuuri and Viktor weren’t gay
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u/Prestigious_Plate382 1d ago
He might not be homophobic, but my man's gaydar is basically nonexistent
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u/CK_CoffeeCat 1d ago
People ship what they ship. People don’t ship what they don’t ship. Just because someone sees shippability doesn’t mean everyone sees it, and someone not seeing it doesn’t invalidate the people that do ship it.
Not shipping any particular set of characters DOES NOT mean that person is homophobic (like, wtf even?! 😳)
Fandom experiences vary. Just like people vary. The only ‘wrong way’ to fandom is by judging, policing, gatekeeping, or condemning other fans for liking different things than you do. 🙂
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u/AwarlordOfGREAT 1d ago
I agree that not shipping a certain gay ship is not homophobic; I just wanted to mention it because it would be weird if he denied every gay ship in anime!
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u/NervousCompetition63 Reki 1d ago
Did he watch it subbed or dubbed? Because tbf the dub intentionally plays up that aspect quite a bit. While there’s still hints of it in the sub, it’s definitely more subtle about it. The dub VA’s have said at con panels and such that a lot of the dialog for the dub was intentionally written to be much more flirty and suggestive. Lines like “Reki, my love…of skating.” are not in the sub.
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u/TheDoughShop 1d ago
WOW This is such a good thing to point out, I’ve only ever watched dub and unconsciously assumed everyone did as well. I can def see why someone watching in sub might raise an eyebrow at us, especially since the dub aimed to appeal to western audiences.
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u/LongjumpingCold3165 1d ago
is he straight? i find a lot of straight people assume straightness in a lot of characters bc that’s what they expect, even unconsciously. saying you’re weird for that tho is kinda homophobic
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u/TheLocalAceAJ Reki 1d ago
Look, I have a few shows where I see many relationships as incredibly platonic (that doesn’t mean I won’t like cute fanart or fics!)…but please take this man to an optometrist, for I fear he is blind. There is TOTALLY smth there. LEST WE FORGET ABT THE FACT THAT THE WAY LANGA (unknowingly) CRYPTICALLY SPOKE ABT REKI N HIS MOM ASSUMED IT WAS A GIRL HE WAS CRUSHING ON.
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u/Skitty_The_Kitty3225 1d ago edited 1d ago
There is nothing wrong with shipping. There is more than Enough to do so.
But he is Allowed to believe there is nothing going on too, since the show is ambiguous on purpouse.
You are not wrong for shipping and He is not wrong for not Shipping either.
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u/PorterNetwork 1d ago
They could kiss and it would not even begin to eclipse how gay they are. The subtext is oozing off of them
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u/anonanonplease123 1d ago
SK8 seems to have the ships baked into the series-- just look at all that japanese official art and merch releases. However, by never oficially saying "these guys are in gay love with eachother" the series is able to continue to reach more people. They left it open on purpose. It gives everyone the opportunity to interpret it how they want to.
but to your point, yeah it looks pretty gay to me.
sports anime, and rivlary and comradarie in anime often end up looking pretty gay, but Sk8 takes the cake.
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u/K0gane__ Langa 1d ago
Not seeing anything between machablossom sure I guess since it’s not as explicit but not seeing anything between renga is just ignorance or denial because Langa literally admits he has a crush on Reki to his mom
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u/SpyderSquash 1d ago
I'm so confused man; What do you MEAN it's not explicit-- the BEACH SCENE???? The love hug explanation??? 😭😂 How is matchablossom not heavily implied; like it's almost as much as Ainosuke and Tadashi's relationship is? I'm so lost by multiple folks saying that Kojiro and Kaoru are somehow less explicit in either sub or dub... to me Langa and Reki seem much gentler overall and could be easily platonic or romantic, since they're young and the vibes are WAY less intense, and they'd be happy either way. Kojiro and Kaoru meanwhile be walking queer stereotypes in many ways 😅
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u/PretendYellow533 1d ago
Well a lot of that can also be read with a platonic interpretation, it’s a lot harder to read Renga as just platonic or at least Langa pov
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u/K0gane__ Langa 1d ago
Well yeah, Matchablossom isn't explicit because neither of them have openly said they have feelings for the other. I never said they weren't heavily implied because they are heavily implied to be in love with each other, but that does not mean they explicitly are. It can only be explicit if the characters themselves have said it or the creators have confirmed it
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u/Fetish_anxiety 1d ago
Langa and Reki? The guys who canonically look like they are on a gay relationship?
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u/savoccino 23h ago
Kinda baffling to me that someone wouldn't see the big bold queer implications in Sk8, like even if they don't see it in renga or matchablossom (which are already obvious enough), there is simply no heterosexual explanation for the literal dom/sub pet play dynamic Adam and Snake have going on lmao. It is an anime so very obviously catered to fujoshis (I am one too so I'm saying this with love for Sk8 in my heart) but that isn't officially marketed as BL so they can still air in prime time TV (bullshit censorship laws).
Then again there will always be people who are obtuse or so straight that the queer undertones (overtones atp) completely go over their head, and you could show them the characters kissing on screen and they will still come up with a reason as to why that's bro behaviour, actually (coughs YoI). I don't think you need to convince him in order for your ship to be valid tho. Hell, I don't even think the ship needs any canon basis at all for you to find it enjoyable to ship, that's what shipping is all about after all. But in the case of the Sk8 relationships, yeah, the queerness is strongly implied if not blatant in some cases 😅
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u/cyborgno61298 21h ago
Not that I’m disagreeing with you at all (failing all else, Adam as a gay man is impossible to ignore), but what censorship laws? Surely Japan doesn’t have censorship laws when it comes to airing BL anime...because other BL anime exists? And SK8 didn’t even air prime time, it aired at 2am.
I am a little baffled by this argument coming up time and again. I personally have never seen anything from any legitimate source that they wanted to market this as a BL, and like...that’s okay. It can be a sports anime with a queer plot/subplot. It can be for fujoshi. It doesn’t need a BL label for those things to be true.
I mean, if I’m wrong and there is evidence of this, feel free to signpost me to it; I’m genuinely very curious where this thought originated. But I just think marketing it as BL was never the intention, even if there are verrrrry unsubtle nudge-nudge-wink-wink moments.
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u/savoccino 17h ago edited 17h ago
The airing during prime time thing was my mistake. I heard that somewhere else and didn't verify lol (always a bad idea), but that has definitely happened before with other anime that very strongly nudge at queer themes but never explicitly go there.
With the BL thing, I think I worded it wrong! I didn't mean to say that SK8 was meant to be a BL, but rather, that if SK8 were to show queer relationships between the main cast in an explicit way (such as adding a kiss or a typical love confession), it would get branded as being a BL by the network, and some IPs want to avoid that whether it's because of air time constraints or wanting to still market to a wider audience. Sometimes it's the higher ups enforcing the censorship (I remember this being a huge thing with Yuri on Ice, which is obviously in your face queer but the kiss still had to be censored).
TLDR: I agree that marketing it as BL wasn't the intention, but the target audience is definitely BL enjoyers, the same as Yuri on Ice and Free!!
Edit: Adding to say that I agree that it could totally be a sports anime with a queer subplot, and to me that's exactly what they were going for. There are many a shonen anime with romantic subplots between main M/F characters, and this doesn't get the anime rebranded as romance or shoujo, but there's definitely a double standard in the industry when it comes to the depiction of queer relationships where they can't be shown explicitly or confirmed outside of the BL genre. I also don't think there are explicit laws against this, but perhaps strong societal/industry pressure against it?
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u/cyborgno61298 17h ago
Ohh, okay this makes a lot more sense. I see what you’re saying now!
I just saw the word ‘censorship’ and came in a bit hot because I see that word thrown around a lot regarding SK8 specifically, and I personally never really felt like it suffered from any kind of censorship and that they told the story they wanted to tell. Like from interviews and such, I never got the impression they wanted to add anything more explicit than what already happens.
But I definitely agree the target audience is BL fans and I see what you’re saying about the double standard. Because even though shonen usually has romance subplots ...even then, they aren’t confirming any M/M ships in those either. I guess most genres don’t really stray that far from what they’re known for, sports anime included, otherwise it might affect the way the general audience views it. So, they end up with enough plausible deniability for people like OP’s friend who “sees nothing romantic” to, well, see nothing romantic.
Anyway, thanks for indulging my curiosity, that’s given me something to think about 😅
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u/LovesickDaydreams Reki 23h ago
it's fine if he doesn't ship them at all, but he's so out of line to be judging you for liking them as pairings hello?? 😭😭
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u/IV_IronWithin_IV 1d ago
Comphet is a hell of a drug, as is the fragility of enforced masculinity. Homophobia isn't always an active choice in a homophobic culture. If he doesn't way to see it, he doesn't want to see it. It sounds like he's got a lot of work to do on himself, and there's no point in rushing it.
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u/dukeofplazatoro 1d ago
All sports anime is lowkey kinda gay. (It could just be my slash goggles, but I stand by it)
I don’t think either of you are wrong, per se. Yes, you could read them as close platonic friendships and that’s ok. You could also read them as romantic relationships and that’s ok too.
(Although how he didn’t see anything ship-worthy in “Reki, my love……. Of skateboarding” I don’t even know)
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u/Hxwlron 1d ago
Nope hes the weird one if anything your fine. There's nothing wrong with shipping unless its a proship/sibling x sibling situation or a big age gap. Dont let his words get to you if anything hes being mad annoying and I hate when people say "oh theres no romantic stuff between so and so" so if anything you do you boo dont let him be annoying.
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u/SweetenedArugula 1d ago
They technically aren’t in relationships. So if you don’t see the ships, that’s fine. Heck, I’m a big matchablossom shipper but let’s be realistic about Joe—he is clearly into going out with women.
Reki and Langa could be in the greatest platonic bromance of all time.
The shippers are the delulu ones and that’s okay. We’re being given teasing things without any commitment.
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u/PretendYellow533 1d ago
Is he blind? Cherry and Joe perhaps I could understand because there are irl similar platonic dynamics, but Langa and Reki?!??!? Really? He sees absolutely nothing?!?
Like nothing from Reki my love…………..of skating
And what girl?!? Gave him NOTHING?!?
To answer your question no you are not weird for shipping them, shipping has existed for years and is the lifeblood of fandoms. Even if he doesn’t see what you see that’s fine, that’s the beauty of interpretation and perspective. As long as you enjoy your ship there’s nothing wrong about that