An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 4/?
Fandom: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Characters: Kyan Reki, Hasegawa Langa, Chinen Miya, Higa Hiromi | Shadow, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe, Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Kyan Reki's sister, Hasegawa Langa's Mother
Additional Tags: (background) Joecherry, Friends to Lovers, Boys In Love, physical affection, Fluff, Friendship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Getting Together, Pre-Relationship, Idiots in Love, Not Beta Read, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Teenage Dorks
Summary:
Kyan Reki has never thought the way he touches people would be such a big problem, so he decides to do something about it.
Hasegawa Langa is confused why his best friend suddenly stops touching him.
Everyone else is amused to no end and wants to see how long it will take for the two idiots to realize this skinship they share is only reserved for one another.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Characters: Kyan Reki, Hasegawa Langa, Hasegawa Nanako
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aged-Up Character(s), Meet-Cute, Coffee Shops, Barista Kyan Reki, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Eventual Relationships, Pre-Relationship, Friends to Lovers, First Meetings, One Shot
Summary:
There was another chocolate bar beside Langa's coffee.
“Um…you already gave me one?”
The red-haired barista blinked, then he smiled and winked at Langa, “another one for you.”
A coffee shop AU where Langa is a stressed university student in desperate need of caffeine, and Reki is the cheerful barista who keeps giving him extra pieces of chocolate.
Inspired by a real-life encounter I had experienced.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 8/8
Fandom: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Characters: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe, Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Carla (SK8 the Infinity), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Love at First Sight, Falling In Love, Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Travel, Time Skips, Idiots in Love, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, 5+1 Things, Mutual Pining, Self-Doubt, Friendship/Love, Not Beta Read
Summary:
Sakurayashiki Kaoru needed to escape. So he jumped on a plane and fled to a small town in Italy that was randomly chosen by his AI assistant Carla. He didn't know what he was doing or how long he was going to be staying. He certainly didn't expect to meet a man that's the complete opposite of him in so many different ways, and unknowingly fall in love.
Four seasons, five different countries. This is a story about friendship, insecurity, self-discovery and love. Five times Kaoru ran away from love, and one time love came back home to find him.
Seriously, upon seeing how angry fans are about the shitty plot and pathetic romance in NTTD, I feel like we need a huge campaign of rewriting both the Spectre and NTTD scripts to show the production company how much they have screwed up and how things could have been so much better if you have the right people with the right minds writing movie scripts. Not just fix-its, we need remakes.
It had came to my attention last night that one of the 00Q fics I had the permission to translate had been taken over by someone else without my knowledge.
I started translating that fanfic back in 2015 before Spectre was in theatre, but I stopped because I was so angry at the movie and lost my motivation for the fandom. On top of that, school and life got me too busy to do anything else. I was working non-stop for 4 years without a break, so naturally I had no choice but to set my fandom works aside, but I always had the intention of going back to my unfinished works. Then COVID happened and for a moment I thought I would have all the time in the world to write, but it was not easy for me to pick it back up because I had strayed away from the fandom for so long and I had gone back to anime. Nontheless, I never officially said anything about giving up the fic or wanted to look for someone to take over. Though some readers had assumed I have abandoned the fic, I have not.
Then last night, while I randomlly decided to go back to the fandom site I posted the fic on to see if people have started writing fixit fics after NTTD. And lo and behold, another person posted their continued translation of the fanfic in January this year. At first I thought I wasn’t seeing it right, but no, that person continued where I left off and they had uploaded two chapters. They did mention I had translated the previous parts, but no link was attached, nor did they ever attempted to contact me. They only said the original author of the fanfic had open permission for translations.
Now, I got my permission back in 2014 after sending the original author a message, of which they replied directly. In that case I had always believed I had the exclusive translation right to the fic. Similar situation happened to my other translation fic where someone asked me the rights to continue translate a work that was a multi-parts series, and I had happily approved their request. To say I was shocked and frustrated was an understatement. I consider all my works, be it translation or original writing, my dearest childern. It had felt like someone took my child away without me knowing, and I only found out about it when that person took my child to show off as their own. I know I’m only a translator, and the fic belongs to the original author, but I just felt that it would be common courtesy to at least inform me about their wish to take over.
I wonder what the protocol is for translators on AO3. There are rules for original creators, but I feel the rules for translators are very few, and the rules had always been focused between the original authors and the translators, not between translators. Now I’m in the dilemma of whether I should continue my translation and ignore the other person, or if I should just leave it and let them finish. They stopped posting in March, but I have no idea if they have finished the entire work or they are just taking a break.
Sorry for the long post, but I really need to let it out and figure out what I should do in this situation. Any insight would be appreciated.
Before we start: obviously the following will contain heavy movie spoilers, so exit before it is too late.
I will be taking a few key points from the movie and comment on them one by one, with references to the previous Bond movies. Mind you, I have only watched Daniel Craig’s Bond films, so all my thoughts are based on how I feel about him as Bond and how I feel about his previous movies. Also, I’m a hard core 00Q shipper, naturally I’m biased regarding Bond’s relationship/interactions with Q, and I will be focusing on a few points about the two of them. I will try my best to be neutral, but no promises.
I agree with a lot of things you said, especially at the end. NTTD was an absolute goldmine of meta information for 00q shippers to take and use in their own way, and at the end of the day, once you get over the canon story it’s relatively easy to fix for fanon. A lot of people have already got full headcanon families for Q, events that happened between them at various points. Some people resurrect Alec Trevelyan who isn’t even in the DC Bond films and add him back in to give Bond a friend, or a former male lover, or a current male lover. I’ve seen full family trees yanking together London Spy and the Craig!Bond universe and BBC Sherlock and it works but man, we are already so far from canon that tweaking the end won’t matter.
Personally after watching Spectre my fanfix was to have him not drive off with Swann, or if he did, for it to fail quickly and him come back with bis tail between his legs.
I also agree that having Mathilde for him to die for made the sacrifice worth it for Bond’s character. I think in NTTD we see what I have interpreted as the surfacing of his very badly hidden and very strong desire for a family of his own (mouthing “family?” broke me more than the end tbh).
The last three films have all been on one continuous family-themed arc, I think. Skyfall, where his “found family” of M is threatened because of Silva, who had done the same thing and idolised her into a mother figure, and it clashes with the very reason he needed to cling to M so tightly in the first place - his parents dying.
Spectre, where we learn about Hannes Oberhauser taking him in, for all intents and purposes becoming a second father, and then losing him at the hands of his jealous, vindictive adoptive brother.
(Note: I absolutely love the Oberhauser storyline from Spectre and I think it’s incredibly interesting and underexplored both by the films and the fandom but that is for another post lmao)
NTTD, where he finally has that family he’s been looking for and hoping for all along but never thought he could have - but too late. I loved the inclusion of Mathilde for this reason and while I don’t dislike the chemistry between Madeleine and James, I think the child added so much more to it. James would literally have done anything to make sure she was safe - I’m not sure he would have died for just Madeleine. He wasn’t willing to at the beginning of the film.
Re: Vesper, I actually disagree with you there. While I thought it was weird for Swann to bring him there before telling him anything, I’m pretty sure the secret she was so keen to tell him was that she was pregnant. She clutched her stomach when he shoved her on the train, so she clearly knew at that point. I can understand why she might want him to demonstrably prove he is over her when historically Vesper had been his entire focus for so long, and if they’ve talked about her (which they seem to have done) Madeleine would know how much he’s buried her in his head. Maybe it’s out of respect - she doesn’t want him to just try and forget her, as if she never happened. She wants him to properly confront the fact that she’s dead and buried and finally let her go. From the note he burns “forgive me” we know he’s still harbouring enough guilt to warrant the trip, imo.
I also didn’t feel like they were necessarily being put against each other. To me it felt like an acknowledgement, a reminder of all that he’s loved and lost to get to this point where he can love again. James in front of her tomb felt very vulnerable and open and real, like he was finally ready to let himself let go, and I think it was good that we saw that to avoid anyone trying to claim “oh but he didn’t really love Swann because of Vesper”.
Finally on this point, in the scene with Blofeld I gathered that Bond was angrier that he tricked him into thinking that Madeleine had betrayed him than he was about him blowing up Vesper, although clearly both are worth being angry about.
I don’t know if I have a favourite scene in this film. There were so many fantastic moments for different reasons. Jamaica/Cuba and both the forest sequences were personal favourites from a pure action point of view (I loved seeing Bond set traps and get revenge for Felix). Obviously the ending - him slooooowly opening the doors, climbing out onto the roof even though he’s clearly in a lot of pain, Mathilde’s teddy strapped to his hip. The irony of dying to missiles he ordered to be launched by the royal navy (ouch, Commander Bond).
My obscure fave was the Blofeld scene. I might make a separate post on it idk. I loved his introduction - slow and tense, the music was great. It mirrored Silva’s introduction in Skyfall, the slow walk through the servers. I don’t remember if there’s a similar thing in Spectre but I don’t think so? Since we see him in Italy at the beginning. But I love how much fear and dread is created despite Blofeld being in a box and chained to his seat. There’s so much menace there, so much danger he could do with his words.
WOW this is such a great review!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
I got to say I just really don’t like Madeleine’s character. I know the Bond series is pretty much based on cliches, but after Skyfall I was hoping for more modern evolvements for the characters and storylines. I felt like her entire existence was for Bond to have an excuse to 1. run away from MI6 and 2. have someone he needed to constantly save? The Spectre ending, like you have mentioned, had many great fixits created by fans, and a lot of them really made sense. I particularly liked the one where Bond just drove her off to somewhere safe and came back to his job. They parted ways like friends and honestly, I would have liked her better if that was true. Being on friendly terms is enough for Bond to go help her if she was threatened once again simply because of her connections to the villains, thus making the storyline in NTTD still possible to unfold. In this case, for Queen and Country is also enough of a reason for him to sacrifice himself in the end. But I guess no great hero could do without a love interest, because people just LOVE to see LOVE.
Also, I didn’t consider the possibility of her being already pregnant in Italy. Somehow I just assumed she found out about it after he had left, which was why she didn’t want him to know. That still won’t change how I feel about her.
There are many great scenes in this film, and I also find it hard to pick a favourite. I would love to see your post about Blofeld though, that would be an interesting discussion.
I have only watched the film once on opening night. I’m not sure if I would watch it again in theatre (due to health and safety concerns). I will definitely revisit once it is out online, and I might end up having a compelely different understanding and interpretation of the film by then. I guess we shall see? First impressions are not always accurate.
Before we start: obviously the following will contain heavy movie spoilers, so exit before it is too late.
I will be taking a few key points from the movie and comment on them one by one, with references to the previous Bond movies. Mind you, I have only watched Daniel Craig’s Bond films, so all my thoughts are based on how I feel about him as Bond and how I feel about his previous movies. Also, I’m a hard core 00Q shipper, naturally I’m biased regarding Bond’s relationship/interactions with Q, and I will be focusing on a few points about the two of them. I will try my best to be neutral, but no promises.
Ready?
1. About Vesper
First, I was a little surprised they had put Vesper in the opening titles, but I guess she would always be a part of DC’s Bond identity, and it is only fair to include her in his final film.
However, it was just redundant at this point to continue dragging her into everything Bond did, while trying to establish that no, Madeleine is the “true love”, not her. They had been painting Vesper as the “true love” for years until Spectre (cuz obviously they were out of ideas), which just made Bond’s sudden change of love interest very awkward and insincere. Not to mention the villain had to blow up her family grave? Now that’s just rude.
2. Vesper vs. Madeleine
Like the first point, I have been sick and tired of the films comparing Vesper with Madeleine. In this film, Madeleine wanted Bond to visit Vesper’s grave and finally let her go, which was just ridiculous. I guess they were trying to make Madeleine seem understanding and supportive, but honestly it looked more condescending to me. Vesper was a long-lost memory that Bond had obviously hid under all the baggage he had been carrying all his life. He knew she was in the past, and he had already moved on with his life and career. Madeleine never told Bond anything about herself, and yet she had the reason to demand Bond to make a clean cut with his previous love. She kept getting Bond into life-or-death situations while never actually did anything helpful herself. She is like the ultimate example of a damsel in distress, which is my least favourite kind of character of all time. And yes, I totally blame the writers for this unsuccessful character design.
3. Madeleine’s daughter
And…. Of course they had to go THERE.
Well, ever since pictures of that little girl were leaked back in 2019, we all speculated that Bond had a daughter, so it wasn’t a big surprise to me when she showed up. It was cliché to the highest level, but considering how NTTD was so focused on parent-child relationships, it kind of made sense that Bond would have a daughter. They wanted to show Bond as someone who’s also human and vulnerable, and they wanted Bond to exit like a man, so it made sense for him to sacrifice himself for his family. I think I would be angry and find it unacceptable if he sacrificed himself only for Madeleine.
4. Bond’s ending
Truth to be told, out of the many ways NTTD could have ended, Bond dying was my #1 choice. I found it to be the only reasonable and acceptable way for DC to exit as Bond. I couldn’t imagine them pulling another drove away into the sunset and lived happily ever after bullshit they had already done in Spectre. Nonetheless, it was cliché, and for a second I thought I was watching a smash of Ironman/Batman/Mission Impossible/Captain America. You can’t tell me that last phone call with Madeleine didn’t remind you of the one Captain America had with Peggy before his plane crashed into ice. I admit I shed a tear or two when he disappeared into the explosions, but I can’t deny I didn’t let out a hold of breath thinking thank God this is finally over.
Needless to say, Daniel Craig did a wonderful job in this one, and it was much better than Spectre. However, Skyfall will remain #1 in my heart forever, followed by Casino Royale. At least he exited with dignity and a legend to be passed on.
5. Bond’s successor
Honestly, I didn’t feel much for the female 007. She was great, but she was overshadowed by Bond (obviously), and she didn’t get to show us her potential. Regardless of whether she would be the one taking over the role or not, I personally think the production company might take a few years off the franchise so we can process and let go of DC until we are ready to welcome a new one. At least I hope they do, because I sure as hell am not ready to see someone else replace him yet.
6. References to previous films
They brought in Felix as a tribute to the beginning of DC’s Bond journey, which was expected, and I liked the idea. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was having Bond watch his dear friend die and descent into deep water like how he had to watch Vesper die. That’s just mean.
A kudo goes to the opening titles, where they put spades on the clock hands as a reference to Casino Royale. That opening was so beautifully done I almost cried.
The following will be focused on Bond and Q, coming from a shipper’s POV
1. Bond’s return
I loved how Bond just automatically assumed Q would be on his side whenever he needed him, and Q in return, just dropped his dinner date and took on whatever job Bond needed help with.
Regardless of what kind of relationship they have, I’m grateful that out of the few people Bond had ever trusted in his life, Q had always been one of them. He trusted Q almost unconditionally since day one, and he trusted Q to understand him about his last request. There was a time when I was so angry at how Bond just waltzed in and demanded the car in Spectre and left Q like he was nothing more than an acquaintance, but that was mostly the writers’ fault. I’m glad they had put the two back on a somewhat balanced and cooperative relationship, instead of keeping Q looking like a lost puppy chasing after someone that would never love him back.
2. Q’s character development
I guess the three Bond films Q had been in showcased the three stages of his character development.
In Skyfall, he was the young and obnoxious genius who had just taken over the Q branch. Bond was probably the first agent he was taking care of as the Quartermaster, and he was much older and experienced than him. He wanted to impress his agent, but he made a mistake and let the villain get away. As an indirect result, lady M was dead, and that probably put a lot of emotional pressure on him. He thought maybe Bond was disappointed in him as his Quartermaster.
In Spectre, Q was nervous when Bond was in the same room, and he tried his best to keep his façade. He was eager to make amends and he wanted Bond to trust him again, so he jumped on the plane for him and almost got himself into trouble. He did everything Bond wanted, and yet he had to watch him drive off with that woman with a smirk on the face, as if he meant nothing to him. The last smile on Q’s face was so broken it gave me PTSD for years.
In NTTD, Bond had been gone for five years. A lot of things can change in five years, and Q finally grew out of the “childish crush” he probably had for Bond. He had matured and moved on with his life. He thought Bond was off somewhere beautiful, enjoying a peaceful life with his true love. He’s happy for him, really, because in their line of work not everyone could live to have that happy ending. Of course, Bond just had to come knocking when he was having a dinner date, and he walked in with a big smile on his face as if nothing had changed. At this point, Q had learnt to feel indifferent towards Bond, so he helped him as part of his job to keep the world safe. This time, he thought he would just be the colleague he ever was to him. He would do his job and go on with his life as if Bond was never back. He remained professional throughout the mission, but he couldn’t help but begin to panic when he realized Bond was not leaving the island. He called him James, voice trembling, trying to think if there is anything he could do to help, but there wasn’t. When Bond asked him to put Madeleine on the line, Q probably already knew he was not coming back. He listened to his final words with everyone else because that’s what he was, a colleague. At least he was there with him as his quartermaster until the last moment, and that was enough for him.
3. Final words as a 00Q shipper
A fellow long term 00Q shipper friend watched the premiere in London back in September, and to say she was devastated was an understatement. She was so depressed and heartbroken that I was seriously worried about her emotional wellbeing. I was stressed myself because of her reaction and I was afraid I might have a mental breakdown in the theatre when I finally got to watch it. However, I felt fine. The ending was as expected, and the few precious moments of Q and Bond interacting with each other were very in character. I’m grateful Q was there when Bond died, instead of having him just getting a memo after the fact.
As a 00Q shipper, I know that Bond dying would put a lot of people in tears. However, it is inevitable because Daniel Craig can’t be Bond forever, and they would never make 00Q canon. I have learnt to separate the films from our fandom, because the Q and Bond we felt in love with were actually the ones we have imagined them to be. Everyone’s version is different, and I personally feel the 00Q ship we have come to love is not based on the original films, they are created by our fandom. In the world of fandom, anything is possible. I consider the films to be the sources of information/video contents/prompts that we can utilize. They are like ingredients, and we are the chef making the dishes. Q got much more screen time in NTTD, which meant more contents for us to use. I’m confident the wonderful and talented people of our fandom will make magic happen and continue to keep our ship sailing.
What are your thoughts on the movie if you have already watched it? Please share with me!! I’d love to discuss everything about the movie or about 00Q with you!
Regardless of what I think of the movie or how I feel about the ending….
Hey, at least they gave us so much more new official content/dialogues/prompts for our fanfics/fanvids/fanarts, amirite folks?
This is why fandoms exist. We can make anything happen and make them so much better because we have so many amazing talented people, especially in 00Q.
Look at the bright side, we got to see them one last time, and that’s good enough for me. Cheers mates!
( detailed movie afterthoughts will be posted shortly, stay tuned if you have already watched it and you are interested in sharing your thoughts)
Watching SK8 was the best thing that’s happened to me this year. I can’t wait for the new anime project!!! Hope to see more of you and Langa skating happily infinitely 🥳
Not sure if anyone has done this or where the original picture is from. I saw this from other tags and I immediately thought of the Joe vs. Langa race LOL 😂
Happy Birthday to our amazing chef/fastest six pack skater/awesome mentor/best friend Nanjo Kojiro aka Joe!!!!
I made matcha and strawberry flavoured panna cotta as a tribute to my favourite ship matchablossom. It was so fun to make and super delicious, hope Joe would approve my Italian dessert making skills LOL
So happy that we will be seeing more of the sk8 family. I’m very happy and proud to be part of this amazing fandom. Let’s create more awesome contents and make our favourite characters proud~ 👏👏👏
So, they just dropped that Sk8 would have a new animation project and two parts of live stage play coming at us.
Here is my first reaction about the news: honestly I’m not really surprised. First of all, for an anime to do so well both in Japan and across the globe, it would be stupid to pass off an opportunity like this. Also, Cherry’s Japanese CV said at the last Q&A that he thinks this show deserves to have more, which had gave me the impression that he knew more things were possible. Furthermore, the sk8 love masquerade event had a 10 minute live interview with AOF 2021 right before the event. I watched the interview and judging from their looks, I kind of expected them to drop a big bomb today during the actual event.
However, they didn’t specifically said it would be a second season, which led me to believe the new project might either be a movie/OVA or something related to the original story, but not a continuation. To be honest, I feel the anime ending was rushed, but it ended where it should be. I’m not saying I don’t want to see more of Reki and Langa, but I just have a feeling that the new project might not focus on them anymore. I’m hoping for a prequel about Joe and Cherry back in high school that would dive deeper into their characters and the beginning of S. Maybe some baby Reki and young Shadow as well?
Needless to say, I’m more than thrilled that we get to see more of this amazing show. Yes it had its flaws, but the characters were great and they deserve more screen time. I just hope they are not making us wait for too long. Here is to all the awesome staff that makes magic happen for us! Woohoo 🙌
So I’m in this weird phase of wanting everything cherry blossom related in my life and I saw this bag of chips, of course I had to get it, along with a bottle of green tea and Okinawa brown sugar bun cuz I’m crazy like that. Honestly the chips tasted..... very interesting. It’s cherry blossom and sake flavoured, so I guess I could say it’s just like Cherry Blossom himself, unexpected and full of character, a little sour and a little spicy, keeps you wondering what you are getting yourself into XD 😂😂😂😂
Happy finale!!! I know everyone has mixed feelings about ep.12, but I had enjoyed it until the last second. I’m grateful for all the joy and tears I have experienced for the past 3 months, and I’m glad I got to witness the wonderful ship of Matchablossom. I made a matcha cupcake with strawberry cream last week for Cherry’s birthday, and carbonara for today’s finale. I wish to continue my journey in this fandom, and hope to see some of you guys in the next one 😘
