Medalist

Episodes 12-13

This show has had one heck of a run so far, but we've finally come to the last episode. However, we already have an announcement for a second season. I'm glad to hear we're getting more since there's still plenty of ground to cover with Inori's rise to the top of the skating world, but even if we weren't getting more, the show has done enough with her and Tsukasa that it still feels like we got enough of a story. As such, these last two episodes feel like a victory lap more than anything else, and with everything it's done up to now, the show has more than earned a medal.

The first one is a bit on the slow side as it's largely focused on training. Its strongest section comes right at the beginning when Tsukasa decides to perform Rioh's routine for him. Having never seen Tsukasa on the ice outside of basic practice, Rioh has no idea what to expect here (although it's pretty funny seeing Inori trying to hype it up beforehand), so he's surprised when he sees just how good Tsukasa is. Not only does he notice that Tsukasa's skating is roughly on par with that of Jun's, but in terms of overall ability, he may even be better. With how much Tsukasa tends to look on his past with shame, it is surprisingly easy to forget he did make it to a national level as an ice dancer, and when Hitomi points out to Rioh how much skill and training that requires, he starts to see Tsukasa in a new light. Unfortunately, the moment here is partially let down by the quality of Tsukasa's performance, or more accurately, his 3DCG rig. While most of the animation here itself looks fine, his model looks notably clunkier than Inori's, and there are a couple of close up shots where it ends up looking pretty awkward. It gets the job done, and given how complex the sequence was, I can't blame the staff for going full 3DCG with this one, but it is the first time where that felt like a distraction, and it sucks it happened for such a pivotal moment in Tsukasa's character arc. On the bright side, it is at least worth it for what comes after, as the performance inspires Rioh to pursue a new training goal and treat Tsukasa like an actual coach. With how many tears of joy Tsukasa was crying over this, I half expected that Rioh had written down wanting to skate like he did, but that probably would have been too melodramatic even for this show, having him express his desire to nail the combo he's been struggling with works too, and watching him be so embarrassed about it helped to finally win me over on this angry little blond.

Sadly, the rest of the episode is a bit more by-the-numbers, as it mainly focuses on Inori and the others learning ballet from a friend of Tsukasa's named Shirone. Shirone is introduced by blowing out the tire on someone else's truck without sweating over it, and is generally about as obnoxious as that implies. Because of that, it's not too shocking to see Inori and Mittens struggling with their ballet training as Inori has trouble keeping up with the others, and Mittens hates ballet so much that she doesn't see the point of learning it. After seeing how poorly things are going, Tsukasa offers Shirone some advice so the kids can see how learning ballet will help them with their posture during jumps, and while it's nice to see things work out, it mainly just speaks to how good Tsukasa has gotten at teaching. There are some other good bits from this, like seeing Inori acting smug over how cool everyone thinks Tsukasa is now, or Mittens and Shirone bonding over her cat ear pigtails. While some of that is pretty funny, none of it is all that gripping compared to the show's usual standards.

Of course, given how high the show's usual standards are, even a weaker episode still has plenty going for it, and it closes out on a nice bit of reflection between Inori and Tsukasa. Now that Inori is almost ready for her Level Six badge test, and one step away from being on par with other skaters her age, she realizes that for as much as she used to hate her herself, she desired to break free of the parts of herself that she hated that helped her to get this far. In that respect, she realizes that she owes her past self a bit of gratitude for making her into who she is now, and Tsukasa starts to feel the same about himself as he sees how much his past as an ice dancer has helped him with coaching. None of this is particularly new territory when it comes to these two, but given how much they hated themselves at the start of the series, it's good to see they're both in a place where they can look back on their failures positively.

That positive energy largely carries over into the finale as Inori gets ready for the morning of her final badge test. She's plagued by dreams about her past self, and worries if she's changed since then. Mika reassures her that she's been a hard worker from the very beginning, and that regardless of whether or not she's changed, it's something that she should take pride in. This frees up most of Inori's worries as she heads out for her test, and along the way, she has another run-in with Hikaru, who is excited that the two are so close to being able to compete with each other. Meanwhile, Tsukasa is also a little nervous about the test, but upon seeing Jun and recalling what he said about saying Inori defeating Hikaru would be the same as defeating him, Tsukasa holds onto his belief that the two of them can pull it off, and it's a good show of how he's grown in self-confidence since their last encounter.

Beyond that, there isn't too much tension to this last episode, but there doesn't need to be. With how far Inori has come since the start of the show, there's little doubt of her passing this test with flying colors, and if anything, she's more surprised by how well she's doing than the audience. Rioh, on the other hand, is still suffering from some of his self-doubt, but after seeing Tsukasa perform, he's decided he wants to be more like him, and that goal helps to push him through his test. It's nothing too major compared to his development over the previous episode. Still, it's nice to see him doing well, and the repetition here is worth it for the quality of animation we get out of his performance, as it's some of the nicest looking 2D-skating we've gotten out of the show so far and a good visual showcase to help close out the show.

The sequence was so nice that I was worried about how well the show would be able to follow that up with Inori's final performance. It turned out they were saving the best for last as Inori's turn on the ice was a real show-stopper. While a lot of the 3DCG animation used with Inori's previous routines has been solid, this is hands down the best it's ever looked in terms of how expressive the model is and how detailed the choreography is. Given that ENGI hasn't had the best reputation with their productions, I'm shocked at how much I've been impressed with some of the 2D skating animation in this show, much less the 3DCG animation, and I can only hope the same level of quality is maintained for season 2. Aside from that, it was also nice to get a moment between Inori and her mother before the performance, as she thanked her for allowing her to continue to skate. With how tense things were between them at the start of the show, it's great to see how much support Inoiri's mother has since started throwing behind her, and it makes for a good bookend to the season. That moment also gives Inori the confidence to propel herself through her final performance. It didn't quite make me cry, but it was hard not to get emotional at seeing Inori thanking her past self for not giving up throughout the entire sequence. The whole scene hit hard enough that even if we weren't getting more of the series, I would have been pretty content with this, and being able to feel that way speaks to just how effectively the show has made Inori's growth as a person into the heart and soul of this story.

As such, it's a bit hard not to get frustrated with Inori when she ends up slipping back into a ball of anxiety afterward and starts worrying about passing, but I guess it's a good reminder that she still has plenty of room to grow when it comes to her confidence. Surprisingly, it's Rioh who assures her that there's no way she couldn't have passed after that performance, and the fact that even he couldn't deny how good it was does speak to how well she did and how much his opinion of her has improved. With that, Inori and Rioh both end up making it into the Novice division. If I have any complaints about the episode, it's that the episode pauses here with little fanfare beyond a brief tease of Inori's future opponents. With how much emotion and melodrama was already sprinkled throughout this episode, I'm otherwise pretty satisfied with the offerings in that department, and since we already know we're getting another season, I suppose there's nothing wrong with the show simply stopping for the moment, than needing to close out on something dramatic.

While I had a feeling I'd probably enjoy this show based on the previews, I wasn't prepared for just how hard I fell for it. Although it didn't do a whole lot to shake up the usual sports manga formula on the surface, it more than compensated with the strength of its character writing and the ways it recontextualizes failure. Inori and Tsukasa made for a great pair of leads, and I was impressed with how much the show was able to squeeze out of their anxieties and their long road to overcoming them. It's a shame that this show was left buried by Disney and Hulu, and it's hard not to imagine it would have found a much bigger audience on a platform that could be bothered to properly promote it. It would be nice to see it get more of a push between now and season 2. Even if it doesn't get the spotlight it deserves, I'm just glad Medalist stuck the landing, and while I didn't know what to expect from it going in, I came away from it with a new sports anime favorite, and one that is more than worth a watch

Rating:

---

Medalist is currently streaming on Hulu.

---

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.