Skate The Infinity Analysis: Reflection of Destiny Miya & Ainosuke
Welcome to my quick character analysis comparing Miya and Ainosuke to each other. I may go back and make this a more detailed reflection with quotes, but for now you’re gonna have to take my hand and follow along.
This analysis will be comparing the similarities of Ainosuke and Miya together. If that’s not a topic you want to engage in, click off now.
Miya and Ainosuke about to race (above)
While there has been a lot of discussion about the inappropriate nature of Ainosuke’s relationship with Miya, I have not seen a lot of discussions about Miya and Ainosuke as similar characters and how they reflect each other, especially in a narrative context. I will go over these comparisons as well as tie it to how Miya acts as a reflection of who Ainosuke was when he was younger, and Ainosuke as a possible reflection as Miya’s future before the events of Sk8 the Infinity. In a narrative context Ainosuke serves to point out who Miya may have become and Miya serves to point out how Ainosuke may have been saved from turning into Adam.
At the surface Ainosuke and Miya are not similar to each other. They are different ages, come from different backgrounds, and while they both love skating they don’t have similar interests outside of that. On a deeper level they have shared history of neglect, social isolation, betrayal, and coping mechanism. Ainosuke’s history begins to repeat itself in Miya, while Miya is able to escape Ainosuke as a future.
Ainosuke comes from a rich and privileged background, but has been shown to experience childhood abuse and neglect from his Aunts and Father. From the physical and emotional abuse that Ainosuke goes with his Aunts and the emotional abuse and neglect he has from his father his childhood is absent from safe parents and adults in his life.
Child Ainosuke sitting in a chair with a disassociated look (above)
Miya’s family is never shown to be physically or mentally abusive, but at least from a western lens his parents are neglectful and emotionally absent. They seem to be unaware of his emotional distress, allow him to go on over night vacations with adult men they are not close with, and he is able to leave the house often at night to go to an illegal under ground skating ring. Miya’s parents may be technically safe, but his unwillingness to share what is going on in his life and what he is going through means that his parents are not people he felt safe enough to reach out to.
While not having adults who feel safe in their lives, Ainosuke and Miya are both socially isolated from a young age. Ainosuke as a the heir to a rich political family is hinted to not having any social ties to children his age in a genuine way outside of Tadashi. Who he is not suppose to be friends with. His dearest friend is not someone he can talk about openly or is suppose to acknowledge. While he is engaged in activities like horse riding, it’s not something he has an interest in. He does not gain friends outside of Tadashi until he is older and goes out skating at night. Even so the crew he is originally shown with doesn’t seem to have substantial meaning to him as Cherry and Joe quickly take over his night life. Despite having made connections he isn’t able to be fully himself around them. Ainosuke has to hide his face and his name from everyone around him, which develops a barrier from connection.
Teenage Ainosuke with original skater gang (above)
Miya has more opportunity to make friends while he is young, and skating brings him friends much sooner than Ainosuke is able to make them. He joins what looks like to be a school club and is quick to make friends as a mostly happy kid.
However his talent as a skate boarder marks him as an ‘other’ compared to the rest of his peers. Leaving them behind on a skill level causes them to pull away and begin socially isolating him. Here Miya learns that not only will people turn their back on him, but that they will also be cruel. This marks Miya’s experience with betrayal and his disconnect from people and those his own age.
Miya confronted with two former friends (above)
Ainosuke also experience’s a betrayal that disconnects him from people. While it is likely that Tadashi didn’t have a choice but to be silent while Ainosuke’s board was burned that doesn’t erase the fact that to Ainosuke his one friend, the person he felt the safest with not only could do nothing but had to step out of the situation and not offer him any support. For someone who was reliant on his safety coming from Tadashi that was a betrayal. In addition this can be viewed as skate boarding becoming a betrayal to him as well. In a sense skate boarding took away the safety of his friend. In trust in both things has been broken.
The time line for when Ainosuke begins to skate aggressively and take on challenges in search of his Eve is unclear in terms of if it happened before or after his father burned his board, but the betrayal would have defiantly made his behavior worse. As such Miya’s loose of friendship and betrayal has made him socially isolated. These things make people bitter and build up walls to protect themselves.
Miya and Ainosuke who as smaller children are shown to be adventurous, friendly, and quick to smile, become withdrawn, angry, and develop superiority complexes in order to survive.
Miya is self-assured, but he also gets upset and defensive when someone challenges his view points. He is quick to yell and belittle people when he is angry or feeling vulnerable. In challenging Langa to a beef and Reki stepping in he calls them Slimes and constantly degrades Reki’s skill. Ainosuke’s anger manifests in violence, and harsh words, from how he can paralyze people with cutting remarks to beating others up with his board on the S course.
Ainosuke angry at Tadashi after the qualifiers in the tournament (above)
Ainosuke sees himself as Adam from the Christian Bible stuck in a world that no other person can reach because of his skill, while Miya is the hero of the story and everyone else is a slime because the distinctions between their skills. (Slimes traditionally in video games are monsters with weak attacks and health, that may group together to be stronger). They are both untouchable to everyone who can not beat them.
Through this they also dehumanize the people around them to make the rejection they fear to be less painful. Ainosuke refers to Tadashi as a dog and a puppy, and refuses to acknowledge Reki as a person with a name and instead refers to him as the red head. Even with Langa Ainosuke does not view him as a real person, but instead as the mythical and perfect Eve he had been searching for. While this may be a kinder thing to call someone it does not connect Langa to being another human. Miya dehumanizes people by calling them Slime and takes joy but assigning the older skate boarders roles, like ‘old man’ and ‘mommy and daddy’. While these are not inherently cruel they function to cause distance. For his prize for beating Langa in a beef Miya wants Reki to become a dog or cat for him, an obedient pet.
These coping mechanism and self isolation as well as anger work to try and protect Miya and Ainosuke from the reject they feel from others by way of giving them some kind of control.
Their desire to connect to people is reflected in how they push others away as well. Both only want connection they can control. Ainosuke is searching for his Eve and Miya wanting to make a pet out of someone. Both positions they assign and would give them theoretical control over the other.
This makes Langa’s role in both their lives very important. Miya and Ainosuke are by nature very competitive and want a challenge in skating. Langa not only offers this, but forces them both to view someone as an equal, and because of who Langa is not a superior.
Langa beefs against both Ainosuke and Miya and comes out as a winner, but since his main goal isn’t being the best or looking for some kind of standing, he flips their expectations and becomes a safe place to experience loss and human connection.
Miya experiences this loss early in the season which gives him time to connect with Reki and Langa opening himself up to people and finding safety and connection in the young teenagers, but also the adults Kojiro and Kaoru. They are all protective and emotionally supportive. Miya throughout the show watches Reki and Langa go through their struggles and finds that it’s possible to be the best and not end up socially isolated and that people don’t always abandon those who are better than them. Sk8 becomes a supportive and welcoming environment that leads Miya to be emotionally more open and caring to those around him which lessens his anger and allows him to give our praise while beginning to remove his walls.
Miya on the verge of tears (above)
Ainosuke on the other hand does not get saved when he is young. Instead he is taken from the environment he is used to and further isolated from Tadashi when he is forced to move to America. Coming home as a young man with pressure and in a position of power makes him more cruel and unconnected to other people. He learned that the only way to be safe was to be crueler and better than everyone else around him. Langa refuses to be controlled by him and while he strives to be the best he won’t do anything to get to that point. It breaks Ainosuke’s assumptions about people and opens him back up to ideals connection and friendship.
Ainosuke coming to the realization that he is not alone at the last beef (above)
Despite being changed by Langa he is still damaged and a dangerous man in power. He opens himself back up Tadashi, but they are still not equals and he is still engaging in shady political behavior. Ainosuke if he chooses to heal will have a long and difficult process to go through.
The show does not spend much time with Ainosuke as a child, but instead offers a reflection of how he felt through Miya. With their similar life experiences and coping mechanism Miya mirrors a young Ainosuke and what he went through. Intervention in Miya’s life changes the narrative of who Ainosuke will become. It proves that the future is not set in stone. Ainosuke who went through similar things that Miya did shows a future path that Miya may have went towards if he hadn’t met Langa and Reki.
It could be argued that Miya’s negative traits were developed as a result of Ainsouke’s mentorship, but in a narrative context that isn’t shown to be case. Instead their shared stories and the eventual deviation instead falls in line with the show’s messages of the importance of connection, hope, love, and positive change.
Miya and Ainosuke’s similarities highlights the importance of friendship and connection and how that can change someone’s life path.
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