The Book of Game and Anime Theories, Character Analysis, and Rambling

Miya's Bet (Sk8 The Infinity)

This post is just me discussing something I noticed when psychoanalyzing a scene from Sk8 the Infinity (as I do), so if you aren't into Sk8 or don't care feel free to ignore this, and if you haven't watched Sk8 I highly recommend it! It's a fun lil ride (no pun intended) containing dudes being dudes on skateboards and that's coming from someone who doesn't skateboard and doesn't usually like sports anime. Just another quick thing, I always watch anime in dub because I can't just watch things, I need to be doing something as well, and I can't understand Japanese (as much as I want to) so I always have it on dubbed in the background while I work or play a game or knit or something. I also don't own a whole lot of any manga, so this means my knowledge of the story and exact dialogue will always be limited to the dubbed translation. No sub vs. dub discourse, please. Anyways, spoilers for Sk8 (obviously), let's get into this.

As mentioned by Reki in an early episode, before a beef, skaters will lay out the 'stakes', so to speak. These are meant to act as a sort of 'prize' to collect at the end, or a wager to make things interesting. Right before Langa begins his beef with Miya, the latter lays out the conditions the two of them will skate under. The conditions are that if Miya wins, Reki will become his 'lapdog', and if Langa wins, Miya will become Langa's. This seemed to be a joke at first and was never mentioned after the race, but I thought about it and realized a deeper meaning to it.

Miya is portrayed to be a cocky, snarky thirteen-year-old boy with a natural talent for skateboarding, and when we learn of his backstory, we find out that he started skating for no other reason than to have innocent fun with his friends. He hadn't intended to become famous, but when he did start winning awards and such, he, like many kids presented with a big opportunity, rolled with it. This caused his friends to become jealous of his skill and the success and attention that came with it, so they abandoned him, causing Miya to become cold, rude, and distrustful of others as a front so that he wouldn't be left behind again, and diminishes his love for skating as well.

Knowing all of this, I reflected on the terms he laid out for Langa before the race.

What if that random, strangely worded joke was just a lonely thirteen-year-old's somewhat narcissistic, roundabout attempt to desperately seek out a connection that he'd longed for ever since he'd lost it years ago? Think about it.

While he's watching Reki and Langa have fun with each other while they prepare Langa for the beef, he gets upset. He acts as though it's frustration or even annoyance at the fact that these 'low-level slimes' think they have a chance at beating him, but it isn't.

It's jealousy.

A few shots after he notices the pair, we're treated to a flashback of the moment Miya's former friends abandoned him, and Miya is noticeably caught off-guard, trying to shake it off.

He acts tough, but he's still hurt by his former friends' abandonment.

So in order to stop it from happening again, he decides that he'll listen to them.

They were as straightforward as they could have been about their thoughts about him.

They thought he was a narcissistic, cocky jerk who only wanted them around to be his entourage, someone to carry his trophies while he does interviews and competes in tournaments.

So that's exactly what he became.

He dropped the 'act' and put up a high and mighty front to conceal the pain he'd been through. He wasn't going to let them win. They wouldn't see that they got to him.

He observes the pair, even taunting the two into trying to catch up with him.

While what he's doing on a surface level is showing off and mocking the two teens' abilities next to his own, he's observing what they can do. He's seen the two and their bond, and he wants in. He wants friends who are just as obsessed with skating as he used to be, friends who cheer each other on and love him for who he is, not just what he can do.

But he's afraid. He's afraid that he'll be left behind again, so he creates a way he can get what he wants, but not lower his guard.

If he wins the bet, he gets Reki to follow him around. He gets to be around someone who's about as passionate as you can get when it comes to skateboarding. And if Langa is as good a friend as Reki makes him out to be, he might just tag along.

If he loses, they're stuck with him and there's "nothing he can do about it". He acts as though it's an annoyance, but it's exactly what he wants. To be near them. He just can't bring himself to say "Is it okay if I stick around?"

His proposal, while oddly worded -especially considering it came from the boy in the kitty-cat hoodie- is Miya's desperate plea for connection.

But did Langa notice it?

He accepted it without a second thought, without thinking about just what exactly it meant. Reki was too caught up in the questionable usage of 'lapdog' in a sentence that was referring to him, and while it would be in character for Langa to accept the strange bet so nonchalantly, especially considering the fact that this was his first beef and he doesn't quite know how the conditions are supposed to work, but there could be more to it.

Back at Dope Sketch when Miya first challenged Langa, Reki had shown him a video of one of Miya's recent interviews to catch the other up on who exactly he was up against, during which Reki commented that despite his outward appearances, he didn't seem to be having fun skating.

So is it possible that the comment plus what little Langa's seen of Miya in person allowed him to piece together Miya's actual intentions?

Who knows, but I am certain when it comes to Miya's intentions. Once Miya either won or lost the race, he would gain friends with common interests and likeable personalities, and he could still act aloof as though he was only hanging out with them because "it was part of the bet and there was nothing he could do about it".

Luckily for Miya, both teens eventually saw through him, as all of the anger Reki showed him for his arrogance and his 'friends make you weak' act had vanished by the end of the race, being completely flipped as Reki cheerfully and wholeheartedly reassures that he and Langa are just 'his friends who love to skate' and that they would never leave him, especially for a reason as petty as jealousy.

There was no need to discuss the stakes again after the race, so instead they turned the conversation toward letting the boy know that he doesn't need to put up a front and pretend. They know he can't stand losing because he'd been conditioned against it as a competitive athlete, learning that he'll only earn the praise of the people closest to him so long as he does well, so they don't rub his loss in his face, Langa doesn't brag (not that he would anyways), and they don't bring up the bet. They just smile, Langa tells him that he had fun racing with him and invites him to do it again sometime, and Reki affectionately teases him, attempting to make him smile.

TL;DR - Miya's bet was his way of "trapping" Reki and Langa into being his friends without directly asking them because he was scared of letting his guard down around them.