MatchaBlossom

MatchaBlossom is the slash ship between Kojiro "Joe" Nanjo and Kaoru "Cherry Blossom" Sakurayashiki from the SK8 the Infinity fandom.

Canon
Joe and Cherry have been childhood friends since going to kindergarten together. It's unknown how they exactly met, but the producers think they have always had a quarreling relationship. They attended the same high school as well, and have since skated together. In the present, Cherry tends to walk a lot into Joe's restaurant without his explicit permission.

Their first interaction in the show happens in Episode 2. Cherry is having a business meal with a man called Mr. Tamashiro in Joe's restaurant. After Joe brings them their meals, Mr. Tamashiro excuses himself for a moment to take an incoming phone call. Joe quietly asks if Cherry watched Langa skating, but Cherry tells him he's currently working. Joe says that he can talk to Cherry whenever he wants and eats a tomato off his plate. Cherry takes the food away from him and they start to argue, stepping on each other's feet and pulling at each other. Due to the noise, Mr. Tamashiro turns around, but Cherry and Joe act swiftly and pretend nothing had happened.

Later in the episode, they appear again at 'S' in their personas of 'Joe' and 'Cherry Blossom'. Cherry's ability of calculated skating is demonstrated, but Joe questions where the fun is in that. He performs an "Invert", a one arm handstand while the opposing hand grabs the skateboard, and tells Cherry skating is all about a feeling. When Joe corners him soon after, Cherry's AI skateboard states it's highly inefficient. After Joe tells the machine to stay quiet, they start to argue once again and try to push each other off their skateboards.

In Episode 4 they are at Joe's restaurant again, talking alone after hours. Cherry states he will challenge Adam to a beef. Since Joe wants to do the same, Cherry accuses him of copying and tells him to stand back. They agree on a challenge to decide who will get to race Adam first and Cherry declares calligraphy as the challenge subject. Joe is angered since he chose his profession and says he was like that during their school excursions, too.

In Episode 5, Reki asks for some advice from Cherry since Langa wants to win against Adam, so he invites Reki and his friends to Joe's restaurant. Kojiro asks angrily why they were using his place without permission, but gets no response. Ignoring Joe, Cherry shows Reki and his other friends how Adam's "Love Hug" worked, giving a demonstration to them on his skateboard. As he explains the move, he does a 180° spin on his skateboard, "Carla", and ends up inches away from Joe's face. Cherry looks up, acknowledging their height difference; and points out evenly that he is "too close" to Joe, which annoys Kojiro.

In Episode 6, Miya tries to get Joe's attention away from the ladies, pointing towards his "Mom" who will supposedly kill him if he doesn't come back soon. Joe is amazed and astonished by legs he thinks are those of a woman, but after peering closer, they turn out to be Cherry Blossom's. In the recap Episode 9.5, Miya and Shadow explain that while at the beach, Joe picked up Cherry and threw him into the water at some point. They mention that Cherry was really angered by that and later used a paintbrush to skillfully write insults on Joe's aloha shirt.

As payback for barging into Joe's restaurant, he orders five more meals in Cherry's private suite, and allows the others to dig in despite a very exasperated Cherry. In the same episode, the two are the first on arriving at the thermal waters together after taking a shortcut to go there. Not long after they had settled in, they exchanged spiteful but joking conversation, only stopping to shout in fear when both were attacked by the "mud creatures".

In Episode 7, both are present at S. Upon their arrival, they bump into one another and try to shove each other out of the way. After Joe evades a leg sweep from him, Cherry has Carla drive into Joe's ankle which causes him to fall. Cherry tries to walk away, but Joe grabs his ankle and makes him fall to the ground as well. They continue to argue before they join the others watching Langa at a practice spot. Later Cherry is outside of a worn out drive-in, dwelling in old memories. Having guessed that Cherry would be there, Joe arrives soon and asks if he wants to join the tournament Adam has announced. Cherry asks him back and Joe states he has to sock it to Adam, confirming he will also participate. This scene is continued before the opening plays in Episode 9. Joe remembers how him and Cherry nailed some tricks at this drive-in for the first time, a short flashback of them as teenagers playing where they skate and give each other a fist bump.

In Episode 8, Joe and Cherry are talking inside of Joe's restaurant alone after hours when it is revealed that they have traveled together. They are arguing about whether the "hunches" Joe has are credible or not, and they bring up several different places: a social studies trip, restaurant in L.A., and a bar in Paris. The reason behind their trip to L.A. and Paris are unknown. When Joe is racing against Langa at the end of the episode, Cherry is watching them. While Miya and Shadow are in disbelief how Joe used the corner to accelerate, Cherry states that only Joe is able to accomplish that.

In Episode 9, Cherry criticizes Joe's skating and mumbles about how he could be even more efficient as the race continues. When they approach the finish line, Cherry whispers Joe's first name "Kojiro...". In return, Joe quietly says "Kaoru..." when Cherry gets chosen to race against Adam next. Joe hurries to catch Cherry before the beef starts and when he does, is visibly worried. He tries to say something, but can't bring himself to, so Cherry makes a remark that he should stand back and watch him win. They playfully bicker, but get interrupted by Adam. Joe is indeed watching him during the race, but remains concerned and quiet. He's the only one not to look away when Cherry gets badly wounded by Adam, his expression turning serious.

In the after credit scene Cherry visits Joe's restaurant after leaving the hospital prematurely. He soon passes out after brief conversation with Joe about Langa and Adam's skating. While unconscious Joe makes a remark to Cherry that he is sure that Adam is unhappy because he's alone, and follows up by saying that at least they're not alone. When saying this, Joe is looking down on a sleeping Cherry with a fond expression, as he whispers softly "Right...Kaoru?".

In Episode 10, it was confirmed that Joe was the first to rush to Cherry's side after he was severely injured by Adam, yelling "Kaoru!" while Cherry laid unconscious on the ground. When Adam explains how boring it was to skate with Cherry, Joe becomes aggressive and is about to insult him, but Shadow suddenly pulls up behind them. Joe quickly picks up Cherry in bridal style and brings him to the car so they can get to a hospital.

Cherry and Joe do the preview voice over for Episode 11. Cherry says he's the only one who can beat Adam, but Joe tells him that he'll lose his standing if he loses again. They start to bicker and Joe teases him by revealing that although Cherry acts like he enjoys Japanese food, he actually likes Italian food. Cherry tries to stop him from exposing that fact, but says "One Carbonara, please!" at the very end.

In Episode 11, Cherry is still in his wheelchair when returning to S. Him and Joe are both there to support Reki and watch his race against Adam. Since Cherry uses a manual wheelchair instead of his custom one from Episode 9 this time, he demands Joe to push him to the finish line to wait for Reki there. Even though Joe tells him not to be so arrogant, he easily gives in and is already pushing Cherry while telling him that. Later, when Adam slips in the rain and falls face first to the ground, Cherry starts to laugh passionately. Joe is taken aback at first and simply looks at him, but also starts to laugh loudly alongside him. They both continue to cheer for Reki and greet him when he makes it to the finish line.

In Episode 12, they watch Langa's race against Adam as well and during the end credits they can both be seen attending a congratulations party for him. In a small scene playing during the credits as well Joe is on a date with two women. They convince Joe to go to one of Cherry's events to get an autograph. Joe gets one as well which reads: "To Little Kojiro: Dimwit". This infuriates Joe, causing him to rip apart the paper and grab Cherry by the chest, putting them face to face while Cherry is dragged over the table. Cherry is annoyed by this and starts to draw on Joe's face with his brush.

Commercial Skits

 * In one of the SK8 commercials, they both appear together in a scene. Joe is shown trying to prank Cherry by adding hot and spicy sauce on the spaghetti which Joe himself prepared and served to Cherry. However, his malicious plans succeeded yet failed at the same time, as Cherry easily consumed it and spat fire from his mouth. Coincidentally facing Joe at the moment, his face was burnt in an instant. Cherry is seen calmly cleaning his mouth afterward.
 * In another commercial skit, Cherry's skateboard transforms mid-jump and gets mechanical wings. Cherry flies off into the distance, Joe on the ground watching and happily waving while the others are left speechless.

Cindereki

 * Drama CD has Joe as the Fairy Godmother and Cherry as the oldest stepsister. While Cherry at first tries to flirt with Prince Langa, he ends up spending most of the CD flirting and bickering with Joe instead. Joe turns out to have been a neighbor and friend to Cindereki's family, and his attention at the time was, again, turned mostly to bickering with Cherry. Additionally, when Joe interrupts Cherry's attempt to seduce Prince Langa, Cherry complains about how Joe always gets in his way, implying that it was a common occurrence for Joe to sabotage Cherry's chances at marriage to other men.

SK8 Chill Out!

 * Chapter 4:
 * Joe tries to take away Carla from Cherry for once, but Cherry profoundly refuses.
 * Shadow and Miya talk about how quickly Joe and Cherry are in a fight with each other, even showing them arguing over Jenga, but Shadow states that just shows how close they are.
 * Chapter 6:
 * Joe dreams about floating sake in the hot spring while being with girls, but Carla states drinking alcohol in the bath is dangerous. He calls the machine "unromantic" which annoys Cherry.
 * Chapter 9:
 * Cherry spends an entire page criticizing Joe's skating and how he could be more efficient, even though it's evident he just wants Joe to be at his best.
 * Joe runs up to Cherry before his race with Adam, calling Cherry by his first name. He kicks Joe for that which leads to them fighting over multiple panels. Adam smokes in the meanwhile and internally thinks this is the reason why he didn't want a beef with Cherry.

Quotes
"Precious doesn't wanna get a tan, he's delicate."

- Kojiro about Cherry (Steamy Mystery Skating?!)

"He's charring his chestiscles for locals in heat. Such a thirsty gorilla."

- Kaoru about Joe (Steamy Mystery Skating?!)

Fanon
MatchaBlossom is the second most popular ship in the fandom after Renga, which tends to be shipped alongside them. On AO3, MatchaBlossom is the most written ship for both Kaoru and Kojiro. It is also the second most written ship in the Sk8 the Infinity (Anime) tag.

As people naturally tend to ship rivals in shows, MatchaBlossom quickly gained traction and attention in the fandom. Their opposing aesthetics, personalities and especially the fact that they still care about each other deeply sparked a lot of love for this ship.

A popular headcanon among MatchaBlossom fans is that Joe has been in love with Cherry since their teens, but Cherry developed a crush on Adam when they first met him, causing Joe to fool around with girls in the present because he still feels like his unrequited crush is going nowhere. Episode 9 especially sparked this theory. The flashbacks in that episode show Cherry being completely captivated by Adam, which lead many to believe he had feelings for him. In the present during that episode, Joe is shown to be concerned about Cherry skating with Adam, although he can't bring himself to voice his worries before the race. In the meanwhile Cherry is fully focused on winning against Adam. Some speculate that Joe clinking glasses with Cherry in the after credit scene while Cherry is asleep symbolizes that Joe will always be at Cherry's side despite the obstacles and possible feelings. Fans of this headcanon enjoy Joe's loyalty, comforting nature and him pining for Cherry.

Another headcanon is that when Cherry broke his arm, Joe was the one who always tied his ponytail for him because he couldn't do it himself.

Many also simply joke that Joe and Cherry have been secretly married or dating for the entirety of the show.

Their bickering nature and comfortable demeanor around each other is often interpreted as typical marriage behavior. Because they're likely the oldest and most mature of the main cast, they're also seen as the parents of the main group. They both frequently give advice to the others, teaching them and being moral support throughout the series. While this parental idea was mostly a joke when it first circulated, due to how close the characters become throughout the series many have come to love the group being a found family. Joe and Cherry being the dads was further fueled by multiple things. They often have dialogue that can resemble how parents speak to their kids, Miya is shown to hang in Joe's restaurant in his free time to play games and they're concerned but also supportive during Reki's race for example. Some even say they behave like a couple or parents that had a divorce.

After the finale aired many MatchaBlossom stans expressed their disappointment that Joe and Cherry didn't get more screentime and development, especially in comparison to Adam and Tadashi. A lot hope for a second season or other type of sequel to Sk8 so MatchaBlossom can get more content and backstory as most of their past together is still unknown.

Joe is typically seen as bisexual as he often flirts with women and is seen kissing them in canon while Cherry is usually interpreted as gay since he has shown no interest in women and only displayed possible romantic feelings towards Adam in the past.

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Trivia

 * "MatchaBlossom" is a reference to their hair colours: Matcha Tea which is green for 'Joe', and Blossom which is pink for 'Cherry Blossom'.
 * Green is the opposite of pink on the colour spectrum, meaning their hair colours are each other's inverted.
 * Ichirō Ōkouchi, the screenwriter of SK8, said the following about Joe and Cherry in the Animedia magazine from March 2021: "They may fight a lot but they would never say anything that would actually hurt the other. It's like... play-flighting. For all their fighting, Cherry still comes to Joe's restaurant all the time."
 * Hiroko Utsumi, the director, explained in April's Animedia that Cherry struggles with being alone and secretly likes being spoiled. Since Joe has always been really loyal to Cherry and frequently does things for him, people think this makes them even more of a great match.
 * Hiroko Utsumi also came up with Joe and Cherry's quarreling relationship.
 * Almost all staff participated in coming up with the ridiculous insults Joe and Cherry throw at each other and phrases like "muscle-brained gorilla" became insider jokes within the production team.
 * There were marriage certificates released in Animage where the characters would answer questions with a short description of what the character would be like in a relationship. People pointed out multiple things that speak for MatchaBlossom on these certificates:
 * Cherry is described to be childish sometimes and that one needs to be patient with him while Joe's description says that he is someone with a lot of patience.
 * Cherry is said to be rich due to his profession while Joe is said to not have a lot of money.
 * Cherry's description also states that arguments will deepen the relationship with him. Joe is the only one he's seen having frequent quarrels with.
 * In an interview with the producers, they stated that Cherry and Joe were created as a set but became complete opposites that are somehow still pulled towards each other and inseperable.
 * Their English voice actors both ship MatchaBlossom, often mentioning and teasing it on their social media.
 * Jonah Scott, Joe's voice actor, is a bisexual man and headcanons Joe as bisexual, while Daman Mills, Cherry's voice actor, is a gay man and headcanons Cherry as such.
 * Both have the tea and cherry blossom emoji in their Twitter display names, a common thing for matchablossom shippers to do.
 * Jonah Scott has made a YouTube video reading out multiple MatchaBlossom posts, as well as a video where he points at MatchaBlossom pictures and says "This thing right here? This? My favourite thing."
 * The English dub is often deemed to have even more romantic tension between them as a few dialouges were changed in both words and tone.
 * One example would be the "Love Hug" scene where Cherry demonstrates the move. While in the Japanese version Cherry says "So close" and Joe replies with "You know..." in a mostly annoyed tone, in the English version Cherry says "Hello." rather provocatively when coming close to Joe, who whispers "You're too close".
 * Joe sarcastically calls Cherry "cute", "pinky" and "precious" in the English dub.
 * Cherry calls Joe "sweetie" in Episode 8 of the English dub.
 * When Cherry asks Joe to push him because he's in the manual wheelchair in episode 11, Joe calls him a princess.
 * Episode 9's after credit scene in Joe's restaurant is especially beloved by fans. In an interview it was stated that Cherry has anxiety and often has Carla play lullabies, but Cherry easily falls asleep in Joe's restaurant in that scene. Fans see this as Joe's presence and the restaurant being comforting and soothing to Cherry.
 * Takayuki Yamamoto, a staff member working on storyboard and direction, commented on Episode 9 with: "[...], but I hope that people also focus on the relationship of the adults. Adults are difficult, because they have a hard time being honest with each other. [...]". This comment is usually connected to Joe and Cherry's relationship since it played a role in the episode and fit their dynamic.
 * In sample images of merchandise depicting them in painter clothes, Joe has a pink splash of paint on his cheek while Cherry has a green splash of paint on his cheek.
 * There were many fanfictions and artworks depicting Joe to be the one to carry Cherry to the hospital before Episode 10 came out, causing great joy among fans when this concept was actually revealed to be canon.
 * Because there was no footage of Joe picking up Cherry and throwing him into the water and it was simply explained over animation of previous episodes, many artworks and comics depicting this scene were made after the recap episode came out.