Characters / Sk8 the Infinity: Main Characters

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The two main duo of Sk8 the Infinity. Due to wiki policy, trope names are unmarked and may spoil.

Reki Kyan (REKI)

Reki Kyan (REKI)

Voiced by: Tasuku Hatanaka (Japanese), Matt Shipman (English)

Reki is a passionate skater and skateboard creator that lives and breathes S. Despite that, he knows his limits and is quite rational when it comes down to it. He trains Langa in the sport of skateboarding after seeing his potential during his first race.

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• The Ace: Although it's not acknowledged by others aside from Langa until late in the series, Reki. He designs, configures, and creates skateboards with his own tools and hands, something that needs both math skills and artistic talent, keeps track of the latest info for it, has very-well-honed analysis skills, and once he finally gets over his block regarding skateboarding, he rocks it, utilizing his own expertise and instincts while doing so.
• Always Someone Better: Combined with Can't Catch Up, this is how he feels about Langa in episodes 7-9 and most of 10 and one of the reasons behind their fallout. He feels like he's overshadowed by him in terms of talent and recognition, that he is only remembered as a "nobody" compared to Langa, and that he'll be left behind and unable to regain equal footing so that they could continue to skate together.
• Ambiguously Bi: Unlike Langa, it's not direct, but goes by subtext. He's shown to be interested in a girl in episode 6, blushing heavily around her. In episode 10, once they finally make up, he gets flustered and blushes very heavily after Langa pays him a series of sincere compliments.
  • Lampshaded in a SK8: Chill Out comic, as after Reki fails to get the attention of the girl in it, Langa's shown reminiscing their first meeting and musing, "Was he hitting on me...?"
• Anger Born of Worry: He gets frustrated with Langa not only for advancing faster than he ever could, but also because he knows how dangerous Adam is as he takes a keen interest in Langa. He had a friend in the past who ended up quitting skating after sustaining a heavy injury and doesn't want to see the same happen to Langa.
• Animal Motifs: Miya refers to him as a "dog" and in the spin-off manga, Reki is likened to a dog in Langa's head.
• Anime Hair: Has spiky, bright red hair that makes him very easy to point out in crowds.
• Awesomeness by Analysis:
  • He can analyze people's skating techniques in a heartbeat, allowing him to customize and ticker their boards to fit their style.
  • Episode 11 is the first occasion where he uses this ability for himself, when he's suddenly summoned to face Adam in the place of Shadow in their semi-final beef, Reki notices the weather is shifting and replaces the wheels of his skateboard with deeper grooved ones, more akin to car tires, that allow his to have better traction in the rain and mud; this works phenomenally in his favor. He's also the only other character to pull off Adam's Love Hug technique.
• Big Brother Instinct: Toward Miya. He defends Miya from Adam when the latter tries tearing down the younger boy's self-esteem.
• Big Damn Reunion: In episode 10 after he and Langa have been separated for at least a month, Reki realizes what he really wants and seeks out Langa. It's in this moment the two awkwardly try to patch up their misunderstandings and coming to realize they want to skate with each other. They end their discussion with their handshake and laughing with one another.
• Blatant Lies: He claims he's not afraid of ghosts, but the entire beach episode proves that he can't stand supernatural things.
• Boisterous Weakling: Reki is the case of the rare main character who falls into this. Because he cannot deal with his skills being insulted, he has a habit of challenging people above his paygrade. He winds up losing every single race or challenge and this eventually does a massive number on his self-esteem.
• Book Dumb: Tries to explain Japanese history to Langa, only to be corrected by Miya, a first-year middle schooler.
• Break the Cutie: His already low self-esteem goes through a slow spiral after his one-sided match with Adam, and Reki finally snaps when his Hidden Badass friend Langa, who he respects and admires but feels inferior to, asks him if he doesn't find it thrilling to compete against someone like Adam, who purposefully heavily injured him.
• Broken Smile: Throughout episode 7. Toward Langa, around the time he finally admits he hasn't found pushing himself in skateboarding fun or exciting and fears Adam.
• Can't Catch Up: In episode 6, Reki becomes disheartened when he sees that Langa has adapted to skateboarding quickly and confides to Joe that he feels like he's being left behind. This comes to a head in episode 7, where he breaks off his friendship with Langa after the latter wants to race against Adam, stating that geniuses should skate together and leave him behind.
• Cannot Spit It Out: There's at least one instance in which Reki's inability to express something seems to contribute to the breaking of his and Langa's friendship.
• Cannot Talk to Women: Explicitly blushes and flusters when he tries asking a girl out in episode 6, only to fail. Interestingly, he actually has flustered movements when he first meets Langa, and reciprocates a subtle blush.
• Catchphrase: Langa, almost as much as often as the other calls for him.
  • How he always goes on about how he loves to skate just because it's fun which ends up being something that helps Langa snap out of the "zone" in his final beef against Adam.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Reki is shown to have aspects of this. Immediately after befriending his rival Miya, he challenges the most dangerous skater at S for his abusive language towards the middle schooler. However, this trope is unfortunately deconstructed.
• Cool Teacher: A rare version, where both characters are adolescent peers. Langa candidly acknowledges that Reki was his teacher and a great one in episode 10, and Reki looks happy at the acknowledgment.
• Crush Blush: There's a point in the series where he has this for a girl he's explicitly pointed out to find attractive, and there are several points toward Langa in which he blushes subtly or not-so-subtly (see Luminescent Blush) that could count, including during their Meet Cute.
• Cuddle Bug: Physical affection seems to be his thing, particularly with Langa.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Only mentioned once so far, but Reki had a friend he shared a similar friendship with as he does with Langa, but he was severely injured while skating. This fuels Reki's fear of seeing Langa get hurt by getting involved with skating against Adam.
• Determinator: His valor actually tends to hold up well outside skateboarding, such as the time when he risks his neck to save Langa from the cops on a motorbike. He doesn't give up after several losses and at first, stays pretty determined to hone his skateboarding skills too, but is veered off course. However, after getting his love of skateboarding back and getting through his fear of Adam, he basically skates on this, never backing down even after his instincts inform him of the moment Adam is about to murder (or at least seriously wreck) him.
• Diabolus ex Machina: In his rematch with Adam, his skateboard breaks down mere moments before he crosses the finish line, costing him the match. This is heavily downplayed, however, since he not only survived a match with an opponent that physically maimed his opponents and was aiming for him specifically, his showing was incredibly impressive in itself and not only earned him the respect of the audience watching his match but reignited his passion for skating. Losing probably didn't even matter to him at that point.
• Did Not Think This Through: While he has good intentions, he sometimes doesn't think about his actions all the way through. Such as going up against skate-legend Adam without considering the consequences if he were to lose, which like others before him, turned out to be a trip to the hospital. Also when he's first teaching Langa how to skate he forgets to teach him the other necessary basics like, how to turn or stop.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Reki pulls it together enough in episode 11 to skate and leap off a cliff, soaring high in the air like Langa does in episode 1, justified by his obvious and constant practice of every move he admired or was recommended throughout the series (and the power of anime).
• The Engineer: One of his biggest strengths is not his skill in skating, but rather, his technical and creative mindset when creating boards for people. He often uses benign products from around the city to get ideas, which translates to his board spectacularly.
• Expressive Accessory: His headband has a cartoony face on it that will sometimes mirror his emotions.
• Family Theme Naming: He and his sisters' names all have to do with the sun; Koyomi (月日), Chihiro (千日), and Nanaka (七日) all have the kanji for "sun" (日) in their names, while the kanji for his own name (暦) also uses it as a radical.
• Failure Hero: He never manages to stand up against Adam for Miya, though Miya himself didn't care about that as much as Reki's friendship.
• Fiery Redhead: While he's not that quick-tempered, he doesn't back down and challenges those he disagrees with without hesitation.
• First Friend: He ends up becoming this to Langa, as the latter never had that many friends in Canada.
• Floral Motifs: Hibiscus, which means "new love" or "delicate beauty", in hanakotoba (flower language). Hibiscus bushes grow outside the Kyan residence, with the camera zooming in on them when Reki asks Langa not to skate with Adam. During the beach trip, Reki's trunks are also shown to have hibiscus printed on them.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When Oka asks if Reki can really work with his arm bandaged up, he brushes it off and replies that he's fine. Oka then points out that whenever he says he's fine, he really isn't. This later comes into play as Reki starts feeling like Langa is leaving him behind as he becomes a pro and celebrity at S while he's only known as "the guy who's with Snow" and the two then have a falling out. Whenever Langa asked him beforehand if he was okay, Reki would slap on a smile and pretend nothing was wrong.
  • His complex over his skills is also hinted at in the same conversation with Reki saying it was all his fault he lost since he sucked. So once Miya and Shadow start to point out how he wasn't that skilled along with Langa rapidly surpassing him, Reki starts to spiral down harder and even breaks off his friendship with Langa.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He's essentially the one who helps Langa continue to skateboard in his now-signature style; if Reki hadn't adapted Langa's skateboard towards it, Langa would've likely had to adjust his methods further, and taken a much longer time to figure skateboarding for himself out.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Reki's storyline explores this but ultimately subverts it, mainly through his regaining confidence, focusing on having fun with his passion, and in doing so, figuring out how to work his talents into his passion. It's noted that he's not necessarily the same as Langa and his other friends, and this is what works for him.
• Has a Type: He seems to be attracted to pretty and elegant looks, as at least two people he's shown directly blushing around have such looks.
• The Heart: Brings warmth and humor to the cast. Has a habit of stressing over Langa's troubles and more impulsive decisions, typically for his sake, and has no qualms saying it.
• Heroic BSoD: After his fight against Adam, he shows a number of PTSD symptoms, including turbulently waking up from a dream in which Langa is endangered.
• Heroic Second Wind: During his match with Adam, Reki is completely demoralized after it's made clear how horribly outclassed he is. Then he recalls Langa's words before the match, and finds the Heroic Resolve to finally pull off the trick he'd prepared. Unfortunately for him, it is immediately subverted.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He loves skating and "S", but his repeated failures have clearly taken their toll on his self-esteem, and he clearly tells Manager Oka his losses are his own fault because he "sucks."
• Hidden Depths: Reki can draw realistically since the sketchbook Langa was holding when going through designs for his skateboard was Reki's. It's likely he just prefers the more cartoony style of his drawings.
• Hot-Blooded: While he doesn't necessarily run on hotbloodedness, as he can be rather easygoing and reacts cautiously when he's aware of any danger, he's quick to respond to anyone who dares to mess with him or the people he loves..
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Despite being well liked in school, he doesn't have that many close friends, with his last friend giving up skateboarding altogether after he sustained heavy injuries. Reki desperately wants someone he can share his passion with. Luckily, Langa comes along. In the manga Sk8 Chill Out, he's so intense in his attempts to make a friend out of Langa that he practically showers the other with all of the skateboarding knowledge he has.
• It Runs in the Family: He likely gets his cheerful attitude from his mom.
• Jack of All Trades: Reki. He designs, configures, and creates his own skateboards, and has skateboarding skills, and when he finally gets through his skateboarding block, he kills it, leaving Adam in the dust.
• Leitmotif: "Seize the Moment" usually plays for Reki, like when he gets pumped up during a race. Especially during his second beef against Adam where he decides to jump a cliff because it was something Langa would do. And he succeeds.
• Loser Protagonist: Despite being well-liked for a while beforehand, he's treated as such by a good many people in S after Langa rises in prominence, though friends like Langa and Miya disagree.
  • He finally proves himself and changes the opinions of the members of S on him when he nearly defeats Adam in Episode 11, where even though Adam won the race, everyone was cheering Reki's name.
• Luminescent Blush: He blushes very heavily after Langa tells him a series of genuine compliments.
• Made of Iron: He can take quite a fall and beating throughout the entire series and still manages to get back up. In his second rematch with Adam he gets thrown, spun, dragged around, scraped against the wall, punched and falls at the end of the race when his board breaks, but still manages to laugh about it afterward.
• Motor Mouth: Once he gets talking there's very little that can make him shut up, especially if it's about skateboarding.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Reki is the rare protagonist who falls into this camp. Coinciding with his complex over not being able to keep up with Snow, he's notably the only main character without a signature nickname until he boasts "It's REKI!" at the end of the series. In episode 7, Shadow and Miwa rather insensitively joke that Reki is known in S as "the guy who hangs around/the groupie of" Snow rather than as an actual peer and skater in his own right.
• Nice Guy: Reki notices right away that Langa is spaced out and disconnected, and is eager to befriend him when they run into each other in the street. Likewise, despite Miya's disrespectful attitude, Reki steps in to defend him from Adam.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: He wears a hoodie under his school uniform.
• Not Afraid to Die: He seems instinctively aware of the moment his opponent, Adam, attempts to kill him, but this doesn't shake him as he dodges just in time, with his Determinator tendencies reaching their full heights. Yes, this is a skateboarding anime.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Reki gets unnaturally quiet, this is usually a sign that something is off. His sister and mother noticed his strange attitude after he and Langa fought. When the eldest sister Koyomi calls him dumb, he dazedly replies with "thank you", leaving even his grandmother stunned. You can also tell Reki is out of it when he's not wearing his headband.
• Overly Long Name: Not his own name, but his creations. Such as Langa's board which he initially named, "Reki Royal Straight Prince-Maru".
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Episode 4 highlights part of his trouble early on—Langa is still in 'top form', having been snowboarding for 15 years, while Miya is very specifically aiming for championship-level competitions, tailoring his diet and training around it, and the adults all have their own specific niche and workouts. Reki loves to skateboard, but he's not trying to be a pro, and seems to have some hang-ups regarding the past, too.
• Performance Anxiety: Reki seems more prone to anxiety over skateboarding than the rest of the cast. It's rooted possibly in part to what happened to his friend, currently exacerbated by his reaction to his match with Adam, as well as accumulated losses against known pros.
• The Pollyanna: Almost always bright and cheerful, and quick to bounce back from his troubles. Mixed with Stepford Smiler, as he seems to have low self-esteem and insists he's fine even when it's obvious he isn't. In episode 11, he's finally focused on enjoying the thrills skateboarding has to offer even after Adam tries killing him, yelling after having collapsed at the very end that "Skating is super fun after all!"
• Post-Victory Collapse: Deconstructed. In his rematch against Adam, Reki doesn't win, but everyone treats him like he did, and after he collapses he starts laughing happily over having gotten his love for skateboarding back.
• Primary-Color Champion: Has bright red hair, a blue headband, and amber eyes, and is also often seen wearing a yellow hoodie.
• The Promise: He has Langa promise him to be a little less reckless when he skates and eventually has him promise to not go up against Adam for fear he would get hurt. Langa doesn't end up holding his end of the promise.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Completely inverted in his rematch against Adam in Episode 11. While he does lose, he comes out almost completely unscathed, avoided all of Adam's attempts to break him physically and mentally, and refound his passion for skating. Adam, on the other hand, ended up beaten down and humiliated.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red oni to Langa's blue oni.
• Respected by the Respected: While Langa has gotten much recognition and admiration in S within a few months, it's largely because of Reki and his versatile skills that Langa begins skateboarding, and in a big way, it's Reki who he really wants to skate with and impress.
• Satellite Character: Played for Drama. In-Universe, by the time Langa is a known name in S for his prodigal skills, Reki is by comparison seen as nothing but "that guy who hangs around Snow", which frustrates him.
• Say My Name: Whenever Langa is racing, Reki usually screams his name as he cheers him on. In Episode 9, Reki belts out a loud "Langa" in an attempt to motivate him to not give up in his race against Joe.
  • In Episode 11, everyone at S chants his name after he survives against, shows up, and nearly beats Adam in a beef, and finally earns their respect.
  • In Episode 12, he runs to the finish line as Langa and Adam are coming up and screams Langa's name. Langa ends up winning against Adam by a small margin and happily tackles Reki with a hug once he sees him at the end.
• Secret Handshake: He and Langa bump fists with each other and after episode 10 they've added in an infinity symbol.
• Self-Deprecation: At the start of the series, Reki will occasionally talk about how much he sucks in terms of skills and realizes how far behind he is compared to the other S skaters. It starts getting worse around episode 7 where he can't help but compare himself to Langa and hates that he can't keep up with him. This ends with Reki severing his friendship with Langa and falling down a depressive spiral for the next few episodes.
• Significant Birthdate: Reki is born on August 8, or 8/8, a nod to the title of the series.
• The Smart Guy: Reki's one who pays attention to Langa's skateboarding techniques to craft a skateboard fit uniquely for him, is able to analyze techniques by others' to their precise detail, and in his rematch against Adam, he strategizes based on weather conditions and takes all his analysis of friends and foes alike to leave a tripped-up Adam scrambling.
• Spanner in the Works: Had Reki not gotten the wrong skateboard that night, Langa likely wouldn't have decided to try skateboarding at that moment and soon become a revered figure in S, as well as gaining back his love for something similar to snowboarding since his father's death.
• Supporting Protagonist: He's the main viewpoint character, but the show's development is focused on Langa, and the beef and conflict Adam has is with Langa, not Reki. Reki himself is aware that he's quickly becoming just the dude who hangs out with Langa, which frustrates him, and while he takes steps to shake off his perceived irrelevance, the core of the plot and climax is ultimately still between Langa and Adam.
• Talented, but Trained: Reki exemplifies this trope—he's skilled at gadgeteering and analysis. Throughout the series, he shows he's able to quickly pick up on certain skating maneuvers from others, too, but is very clumsy with them, and never quite gets to the point of using them efficiently. This is all until his rematch with Adam, in which he displays everything he has in his bag, so to speak, spectacularly.
• Tears of Joy: After a talk with Tadashi, Reki unintentionally remembers what it is he loves about skateboarding, crying these sort of tears.
• Took a Level in Badass: Basically what happens in his rematch with Adam in Episode 11. Not only does he do much better this time, he almost wins and probably would have if his board didn't break right before the finish line. He also comes out almost completely unscathed, having either countered or avoided Adam's attempts to physically hurt him during the match. Not only does he regain his passion for skateboarding, but he also managed to earn the respect of the other skaters in "S" for being the closest person to beating Adam.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Subverted for Reki, as when he attempts to get his Heroic Second Wind during his early match against Adam, he's cut off and never recovers from it.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Amongst most of the cast, Reki is the one who changes outfits the most in a given episode. He apparently makes his own clothes and has hoodies in multiple colors. The staff said that this was so the audience could tell the passage of time when Reki was teaching Langa how to skate.
• The Unreveal: There are several instances within the original Japanese where Reki trails off on something regarding Langa.
  Reki: Don't you know just how much I...
• What Would X Do?: When in a desperate corner, Reki gathers the courage to try out a whole new, extremely risky stunt after asking himself what Langa would do.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has a fear of ghosts, which is exacerbated during their hot springs trip.
• The Worf Effect: In the first four episodes, Reki has only raced twice and lost both times, both instances only to demonstrate how powerful his opponents are.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Challenges Adam without hesitation, as anyone would expect The Hero to do, despite Adam being an undefeated Living Legend, and works tirelessly to improve before their match. Instead of managing to pull an unexpected victory, Reki is played with, crushed, and sent straight to the hospital.

Langa Hasegawa (SNOW)

Langa Hasegawa (SNOW)

Voiced by: Chiaki Kobayashi (Japanese), Howard Wang (English)

A half-Canadian transfer student who recently moved to Okinawa with his mother, Langa unexpectedly gets into the world of S when he's forced to skate for one of Reki's clients. Despite not knowing anything about the sport, he shows an innate talent that immediately piques the interest of many skaters.

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• The Ace: Despite being a novice, Langa's skill with aerial tricks, unique approach to obstacles, and many years of honing snowboarding talent allows him to compete, and even surpass, far more experienced skaters. He hasn't lost yet.
• Afraid of Blood: Played with. Since he would only get broken bones or bruises when he snowboards, it's likely he wasn't used to drawing blood when he falls. In episode 2 when he sees that the cuts on his hands drew blood after bailing he quickly freaks out and passes out to Reki's shock.
• Ambiguously Gay: Whenever Reki talks about girls or girls are brought up, he never seems to have a reaction above his usual stoic expression. Then in Episode 8, Langa asks for his mother’s advice regarding his falling out with Reki. She proceeds to give him more love advice, flat-out asking if he ‘likes’ the person he’s referring to, which causes Langa to fluster before saying yes hesitantly. When his mother calls the person he’s talking about a “her,” confirming her question was with romantic connotations, instead of denying any romantic feelings, Langa merely goes, ”her?” confusing his mother. In the final episode, he pretty much refers to Reki as his "happiness".
• Ambiguous Innocence: Langa is so fixated on skateboarding that sometimes it's the only thing he notices.
  • Langa enjoys his rivalry with Adam as it pushes him to reach a higher potential. He is unperturbed by Adam's cruel and predatory behavior upon their first meeting and is far more focused on the rumors surrounding his skills than his actions. Despite knowing Reki dislikes Adam and was heavily injured thanks to him, Langa is still oblivious to how much Reki is bothered that he thinks of him highly. In episode 7, Langa admits he wants to enter Adam's tournament for a chance to race him again, unaware how much his choice would hurt Reki as he had previously promised not to do so earlier.
  • In episode 6, when he and Reki are being chased by the Paantu, he is amazed at how well one of them can ride a skateboard instead of fearing for his life.
• Amusing Injuries: Despite all of the hard bails that he takes early on when he's first learning to skate, it should be said that the way he goes through them is incredibly amusing as the bandages across his body and face start to wrack up.
• Apologizes a Lot: Since Langa is fairly polite, he tends to apologize a lot. Expect to hear a lot of "Sorry" said in the Canadian accent for the English dub.
  Reki: (asking about Langa's life in Canada) Any pet phrases?
  Langa: "Sorry".
• Beginner's Luck: Langa beats Shadow in his very first race, despite having never skateboarded before and duct-taping his feet to the board. However, this is justified as Langa has 15 years of experience snowboarding, so he was able to transfer some of his techniques to skateboarding. Then when Langa learns to skateboard normally, he frequently falls on his ass, showing that he is not immediately perfect at the sport. He gets better rather quickly though.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Despite rarely saying much, he is very protective of those he cares for. One of the reasons he wanted to skate against Adam was likely due to the fact that he sent Reki to the hospital.
• Big Damn Reunion: In episode 10 after he and Reki have been separated for at least a month, Reki seeks out Langa at the skating park to make up. It's at this moment the two awkwardly try to patch up their misunderstandings and come to realize they want to skate with each other. They end their discussion with their handshake and laugh with one another.
• Big Eater: A number of scenes imply this.
  • He's shown drinking full cartons of milk during school lunch. Additionally, during Reki's explanation about S, Langa is more interested in Reki's lunch than S.
  • In episode 4, Langa's shown with ten burgers during the A&W scene, with a waitress later bringing him an order of super poutine. Earlier in the same episode, Langa has a full bowl of ramen while Reki is finished with his, implying that Langa ordered seconds.
  • His idea of a good pickup line, shown in episode 6, is, "Are you hungry?"
  • In the epilogue of the final episode, he can be seen happily munching on a huge hamburger.
  • In the spin-off manga "Sk8 The Infinity: Chill Out" he apparently tried to make some money by participating in food challenges. This ended up backfiring on him.
  Langa: I was searching for a job so I thought I'd do some big eater challenges. But I cleared it so many times they banned me...
• Blocking Stops All Damage: Subverted for Langa when his skateboard smashes against a mook's pipe during his race with Joe, leading to him almost lose his race, and in particular, breaking the skateboard Reki crafted for him in half.
• Blue Means Cold: The "S" community starts to call him "Snow" because of his bright blue hair, blue board, and sick snowboarding tricks. He wears mostly blue and white as well.
• But Not Too Foreign: Langa is half-Japanese and half-Canadian. While he's fluent in Japanese, he's spent most of his life in Canada and is out of touch with Japanese culture as a result.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Langa seems to have this problem around Reki pretty frequently. When his mom is giving him advice and tells him to be open about his emotions with this person, he blushes and quietly says that it was embarrassing.
• Christianity is Catholic: It's implied that he has a Christian upbringing. He performs the Sign of the Cross before using the toilets in episode 6.
• The Comically Serious: Langa is expressionless by default, which makes for some laughs during any Funny Background Event when he's only half-heartedly paying attention to any conversation at the forefront. It's played up the most during the first two episodes where he's just getting into skating but his expression never-changing above a confused frown.
• The Conscience: Langa is basically placed in this role by Tadashi for Ainosuke in the last episode, despite being a teenager and having watched Adam attempt to possibly kill a friend and everything. Regardless of this, he seems to succeed in the end.
• Combat Parkour: Langa's shown to make the most use of this, having to fight off the likes of Faceless Goons and Adam, and usually does that by slamming his skateboard against something and flipping into the air at precise times.
• Combat Pragmatist: For most of his races, he makes use of the terrain around him to propel him into the air or give him a boost of speed whether that be a tree or a steel beam. The one time he uses his board for combat is when he jumps in the air to shield himself from some mooks trying to strike him.
• Curtains Match the Window: He has light blue hair and eyes.
• Crush Blush: His reaction when asked by his mom if he likes the person he broke a promise with is to gasp, blush and avert his gaze, basically cinching this toward Reki in all but explicit confirmation. He has a few other subtle (or a bit not-so-subtle) blushes around Reki that seem like they could fall under it as well, such as the time Reki calls him and his battle against Miya "even more awesome" than Reki's skateboard creation, and even his gawking one during their Meet Cute.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Since he's been snowboarding ever since he was two, he finds out that his old habits die hard. When still learning skateboarding he tried to stop his skateboard like a snowboard, only to send him flying face first into the street. This is especially apparent when Reki makes a custom foot clip for Langa since he doesn't feel comfortable not having his feet connected to his board. He keeps it on for most of the story until the finale.
• Deadpan Snarker: Extremely deadpan, though his snarkiness is downplayed compared to most examples.
• Declaration of Protection: In episode 6, Langa "pretends" to state this in a joke skit between him and Reki. By later episodes it's heavily implied that part of what drives him is protecting those he loves, and in episode 11, he protects Reki by placing his body before his when Adam goes to harm him.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Langa and Adam both take an interest in one another and are always keen to race one another. Adam is the undefeated champion of S, and Langa is a newbie quickly rising in the ranks. Their first beef stops midway due to cop interference, leaving no concrete victor. In the final episode Langa manages to beat Adam in their final beef.
• Deuteragonist: Despite being less evident in the trailers and promotional material than Reki, Langa absolutely steals the spotlight in the first episode and goes on to be the driving force of the story.
• Did Not Think This Through: He tends to do whatever in the moment without thinking of the consequences. Such as having Reki push him down a hill without knowing how to stop properly on a skateboard, causing him to roll into the middle of a street and nearly get hit by an incoming truck.
• Disappeared Dad: Langa's father, Oliver, died prior to him moving to Okinawa. His father's death greatly affected his passion for snowboarding.
• Distressed Dude: Falls into this trope near the end of the Cindereki drama CD. As he's about to skate with Cindereki back to the snow country, Adam appears out of nowhere and kidnaps him. The opening of the actual show also foreshadows something like this, with Reki running to save him as screens with projections of Langa disappear and are replaced by ADAM's grin. While nothing really comes out of it, Langa remains Adam's primary target for the entirety of the show and by the end of episode 11, Adam's new goal is to have Langa fall together with him as his Eve.
• Elemental Motifs: He's heavily associated with snow and ice, enough so that it looks like it's snowing in the tropics when he flies through the air. The S community even dubs his S name "SNOW", and talks about how his hair and eyes seem like snow in some forums.
• Empty Eyes: His memories after his father died left his eyes looking like this whenever he snowboarded, unable to feel happy about a sport he once shared with his father. This happens again when he has his final race against Adam and gets into the "zone", where he's unable to feel anything or remember why he's skating at all. It takes falling and seeing Reki's board with the word "FUN" written over it for him to snap out of it.
• Establishing Character Moment: After spending most of the first episode spaced out, Langa suddenly comes alive while plunging downhill, leading up to his absolutely fearless jump off a ramp over a storm of firecrackers.
• Failure Montage: Most of episode 2 shows Langa learning the basics of skateboarding and trying to master an ollie. It also shows plenty of scenes focusing on the fact that he falls over and bails hard.
• Fan of the Underdog: A lot of Langa's early enthusiasm for skateboarding comes from his admiration of Reki and his skills, even though Reki himself isn't aware of his own talents and doesn't actually get much respect among frequenters of S.
• Fish out of Water: From moving to Okinawa and learning to skate. While he quickly adjusts to the latter, he still has trouble understanding Japanese culture, such as the pronunciation of words and manners.
• Foreshadowing: In the first episode before he goes off to help Reki deliver a client's board at S, he looks at a picture of his family. It shows Langa, his father, and his mother posing in the snow with a snowboard next to his father and child Langa holding a snowboard of his own. When he decides to give skating a try, he tapes his feet to the board like a snowboard and treats skateboarding like it's snowboarding.
• Friendless Background: It's implied that he didn't have that many friends even back in Canada as he always asked his father to be the one to snowboard with him. Once he moves to Japan Reki becomes his First Friend.
• Genius Ditz: Langa is incredibly athletic but Reki and even his own mom describe him to be pretty spacey. In most scenes when he's not paying attention to the conversation at hand, he's staring off into space.
• The Glomp: In episode 12, after beating Adam in their beef, Langa makes a beeline to Reki and leaps off his board to hug him, both falling to the ground in a heap.
• Go Through Me: In episode 11, Langa protects Reki by getting in front of him before Adam can do him harm, to Reki's surprised expression.
• Grin of Audacity: When Adam is "dancing" with him and expects Langa to be terrified just as Reki was. However Langa instead sports an incredibly twisted grin on his face, indicating he's not terrified, but he's actually enjoying the thrill of it all to Adam's shock.
• Heritage Disconnect: Langa can speak Japanese fluently, but due to his Canadian upbringing, his writing and reading leave much to be desired. He also doesn't know keigo very well and is often prompted by Reki's way of talking to speak politely.
• Hidden Badass: Doesn't seem like much more than a Naïve Newcomer at first, until the race with Shadow reveals him to be nothing short of a spectacular former snowboarder capable of stunning aerial tricks.
• Hot-Blooded: Downplayed. Despite his cool, usually stoic personality and apparent reservations, he still reacts very, very easily to challenges, and much like Reki can be protective of the people he loves and cares about, though he might be less aware about it.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Has bright turquoise eyes that look pale, icy blue under the harsh yellow lighting of "S".
• The Illegible: His handwriting for Japanese characters leaves much to be desired, but it's justified since he hasn't studied that much Japanese, at least in terms of writing. It's likely because of his handwriting that Cherry even politely turned him away from applying to a calligraphy job.
• Implausible Boarding Skills: Reki admits Langa's probably the only one that could make his Cool Board work.
• Inappropriate Hunger: He sometimes announces that he is hungry at the wrong times and Reki points out once that no one is similar to him in his obsession with food.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: He has light blue eyes and his attitude comes off as incredibly air-headed and innocent. He somehow didn't know much about skating until Reki came along, and excitedly rushes towards the beach once he sees the ocean and doesn't know what a love hotel is.
• Innocently Insensitive: He doesn't realize how Reki is hiding his feelings of being left behind by the others since he's just "that guy who's with Snow" and Adam messing with him after their first race concluded. Even as he tries to talk to Reki about S and how far he's qualified just to hear Reki go back to his usual self. Langa doesn't seem to understand why this would upset Reki even more until he talks it out with a few of the adults.
• Instant Expert: Played with. Due to his experience in snowboarding ever since he was two, he picks up skating really quickly and a lot of the moves he ends up incorporating are also used in snowboarding. However, he does wipe out and mess up when he's still learning, and he does have to put in time and effort to get better. As time goes on, he's able to pick up other people's skills quickly, such as Adam's rail slide which he only saw once.
• It Was a Gift: Once his board breaks after racing against Joe, Langa is distraught and refuses to buy a new one as he claims, "It has to be this one". Joe then realizes the reason Langa is so attached to the board is that Reki made it for him.
• Leitmotif: "Dimensions of the Wind" by ASH DA HERO. It plays exclusively during Langa's races, usually during intense moments where he's about to pull off incredible stunts or turn a disadvantageous situation into an advantageous one.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water: Despite being a complete newcomer and an awkward start, Langa takes to "S" with ease, to the point that he enchants the entire community.
• Logical Weakness: At the start, he can't stop properly with his feet since they're taped to his board, and he's also unable to perform some tricks that require him to jump off of his board. Downplayed, however, since he's so used to snowboarding, he just incorporates those skills into skateboarding.
• Luminescent Blush: After he realizes what drives his skateboarding, he has a soft blush as he laughs, indicating he's experiencing the same happiness he did as a child after a long time of feeling depressed.
• Made of Iron: At the start when he's still learning to skate, he takes quite a few heavy bails but always manages to get back up afterward.
• Memento MacGuffin: Several episodes after a breakdown of his and Reki's friendship, he's heartbroken when the skateboard Reki gave him breaks, telling Joe "it has to be this one" when Joe suggests getting a new one. Joe smiles and tells him to go find Reki, afterward. In the last two episodes, Reki helps salvage what parts he can, and seeing the board with "FUN" written on it is what saves Langa from certain death.
• Moment Killer: Inverted. Instead of Manager Oka, who pops up right after and possibly acts as a kind of wingman, he totally kills the moment for Reki when the latter is telling him he's willing to help pick out a skateboard for him....and blushing as he's about to finish the sentence.
• Momma's Boy: He clearly cares for his mother as he tries to cook for her when she comes home from work and attempted to find a job so he could help support her.
• Moose and Maple Syrup: Downplayed; Langa is half-Canadian and spent most of his childhood in Canada, but he doesn't display many Canadian stereotypes other than apologizing a lot, poutine being one of his favorite foods and being into snowboarding. In the dub, his voice actor pronounces "sorry" in a Canadian accent and peppers in the typical Canadian "eh" from time to time.
• Newcomer Saves the Day: In the first episode, by taping himself to a skateboard and taking on Shadow without batting an eye.
• New Transfer Student: Mixed with Foreign Exchange Student. He's new to Japan and transfers into Reki's school, but still half-Japanese.
• No Social Skills: Communication is not Langa's strong point, as Reki and even his own mother have pointed out. When introducing himself to the class, Langa only briefly mentions his name and where he is from, when the class had expected him to say more.
• Not So Stoic: While his usual stoic attitude rarely phases, when it does it's usually when he's skating with Reki and the others.
• Obsessed with Food: Any other scene when he's just relaxing, he's eating food or thinking about food, with Reki even lampshading it by saying that no one else but him thinks about food that much. In the manga spin-off, he even attempted to do multiple food challenges to get money, but soon got banned because he finished so many in such a short time. He even thinks a good pickup line is asking the other if they were hungry.
• Only in It for the Money: Subverted. The initial reason he has to take on Dope Sketch was that he wanted a job to help support his mom. After a while, it's clear he's mainly staying because he's grown to love skating and being around Reki.
• Pass the Popcorn: In episode 4, while Miya and Shadow are squabbling, Langa is shown enjoying his burger and poutine.
• Prince Charming: Reki claims the girls at their school call Langa this, which he doesn't believe. Played straight in Cindereki where he's the Prince Charming to Cindereki's Cinderella.
• The Promise: He promises Reki not to be as reckless when he skates, and especially to not go up against Adam. He doesn't hold up to his promise, which is part of the reason for his falling out with Reki.
• The Quiet One: In his first appearances at school, he doesn't talk much and gives the bare minimum effort required for conversations. He opens up later on because of Reki but still prefers to let his actions speak louder.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue oni to Reki's red oni.
• Secret Handshake: He and Reki bump fists with each other and after episode 10 they added in an infinity symbol.
• Signature Move: The Backside-Rodeo is a move he uses quite often, most of the time to give himself an aerial boost that helps him get ahead in a race. Reki has even described it as Langa flying with snow falling around him.
• Significant Birthdate: Langa is born on February 8. February is in mid-winter, which goes with his ice theme, and the 8, like Reki's birthdate, is a nod to the title of the series.
• Skewed Priorities: After his and Reki's Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure, instead of being worried about passing the qualifiers, he's more concerned about why Reki isn't texting him back. In the finale, he has two choices. Avoid Adam falling out of the sky, or keep eating his burger? He chooses his burger.
• Sleepyhead: If he's not eating or staring off into space, Langa seems to be able to nap about anywhere.
• Spanner in the Works: Had Langa not decided to be impulsive at that moment and offer to skate in Reki's place against Shadow, Langa wouldn't have ever gotten into skating and regained his love for something since his father's death.
• The Stoic: Rarely ever expresses emotion besides vague curiosity. However, he starts showing subtle emotions like worry and sadness from time to time.
• Stronger Than They Look: He seems fairly slim, but before his beef with Miya, he can easily hold his ground when Reki jumps on him with his full weight without so much as budging.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He's a good mixture of both of his parents. While he shares his mother's facial features, he does have his father's eyes.
• Stumbled Into the Plot: After he's rejected as an applicant for a job at Kaoru's shop for being a minor, Langa picks up the skateboard that comes rolling straight at him, then after Reki demonstrates his prowess with it, he seems enamored, and the rest is...SK8 The Infinity.
• Talking to the Dead: While he never really voices his words aloud, he does occasionally talk to his father's portrait, mainly to reassure him he's doing okay and how much he's grown to love skating.
• Technician vs. Performer: Langa has a lot of natural talent while Reki knows more about skateboards. During his second race against Adam he uses his knowledge of wheels and weather predictions to almost win.
• Terms of Endangerment: Adam will refer to him as either "Snow" or "Eve". In the dub, he calls him "Snowball", "Snowbun", "Angel" or "Little Langa."
• Thrill Seeker: Unexpectedly, Langa seems to be quite the adrenaline junkie. During his beef with Adam, while spinning madly around a turn at ridiculously fast speeds, he sports an extremely unnerving Grin of Audacity.
  • This is flipped on its head when episode 9 reveals that Langa performs at his best with the Power of Love, and as his close friendship with Reki comes crashing down on him, he begins to lose his stride.
  • Played for laughs in the spin-off manga where Reki talks about how Shadow's cheap tricks are dangerous while Langa happily smiles saying that it was the best part of the race, to Reki's shock.
• Trademark Favorite Food: In episode 4, he orders a large serving of poutine at A&W. In episode 5, he asks Joe if he can serve him poutine. He also seems to have an affinity for burgers.
• Tragic Ice Character: An icy young man who recently lost his father and his former passion for snowboarding, and is left adrift in a foreign country and a tropical environment that contrasts with his wintery motifs.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In the manga "Sk8 The Infinity: Chill Out" it shows Langa's perspective in the first episode where he actually sees Reki flying out of S because of Shadow's bombs. When his mom asks what's wrong he replies with a dull "Nothing".
• What Is This Feeling?: As Langa starts to enjoy skating even more, he describes it as his heart beating incredibly fast as he gets excited. However, as Reki starts to pull away from him after their Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure, he starts wondering why his heart isn't beating the way it used to and why he doesn't seem to be enjoying skating anymore. Once he sees Reki shouting at him from the sidelines, he then realizes this feeling is him enjoying skating because Reki is there. Then when the two later reconcile Langa pretty much tells Reki that his heart only starts getting excited when he's beside him skating.
• When She Smiles: He doesn't smile much at the start. The only times when he really brightens up is when he's skating or when he's with Reki.
• Worthy Opponent: Sees Adam as this, as he pushes Langa to not only perfect his skating skills, but also the limits of his abilities.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Part of why he succeeds in skateboarding isn't merely his evasion ability or air flips, but his ability to think on his 'feet,' with a flexible mind that seems to plan for what's ahead and instinctively react at the same time.