Medalist

Episode 11

It's time for a new training arc and the tensions are high thanks to all of last week's drama with Inori and Rioh. While you'd expect a training arc to hone in on Inori's growth, she took a backseat to focus more on Rioh and his new student-mentor relationship with Tsukasa. It's not the direction I would have expected, but it works, as the episode manages to squeeze a lot out of this new dynamic and uses it to dig a little deeper into their insecurities.

As the training camp kicks off, Inori and Rioh are still pretty hostile towards each other and Inori remains determined to master a double-triple combination before he can. They aren't the only ones at this training camp, though, and we're reunited with Mittens and Nacchi who remain as delightful as ever. In addition to giving this episode much-needed comic relief (especially in her and Hitomi's attempts to keep up with Tsukasa's hands-on training, since they're a lot more out of shape on the ice), she also assists with Inori's training and helps her in getting closer to mastering a double axel.

Meanwhile, Rioh realizes that he's hit a wall with his training and fears that he's reached his limit as a skater. When he runs into Tsukasa at the bath, and Tsukasa tries to give him his usual brand of encouragement, Rioh takes a stab at Tsukasa's pride by asking him how high of a badge level he received during his solo skating career. Tsukasa is forced to admit he only ever made it to the Prelim level. While he's been open enough to reveal that fact to Inori, it's a point of shame for him, especially since he knows he could have achieved more if he'd found someone willing to coach him earlier. As far as Rioh is concerned though, it's proof that Tsukasa isn't good enough to be his coach. Tsukasa plays off this insult and tries not to let it show in front of Rioh, but we see later that he's pretty peeved about it. As nice as Tsukasa is, it's really funny to see him raving about getting dissed by a literal child. Rather than giving in, though, this makes Tsukasa more determined to have Rioh accomplish something while he's studying under him, and he decides to double down on his barrage of positive reinforcement.

However, most of that ends up falling apart when we see the results of Inori's training with Nacchi. She finally manages to land a successful double axel, and since the jump isn't too far off from what's needed for a triple, she manages to nail one on her first attempt (which makes it funny when Nacchi worries about how much she's helped one of Mitten's rivals). While all that is great for Inori, it only further damages Rioh's ego, as he's yet to successfully pull off a triple himself. Then we see a bit more of his history with Hikaru and Jun. Rioh was the one to first help Hikaru learn how to skate when she came to live with him and her dad. In time though, she quickly surpassed Rioh and started learning under Jun. When Rioh asked Jun if he could teach him as well, Jun dismissed him entirely, and Rioh has been nursing a grudge ever since. Although he doesn't say so out loud, it's clear that he resents Jun for taking Hikaru away from him, and that's been a big part of his desire to outperform him.

That makes it all the better when Tsukasa attempts to console him afterward and successfully cuts into the heart of the matter. Although Rioh looks down on himself for not being talented compared to his pedigree, Tsukasa claims that's not the issue as he's been setting too high a bar for himself. Instead, Rioh's true problem is that he keeps unfairly comparing himself to Jun, and for as much as he claims to hate him, there's a part of him that admires Jun's talent. Hearing all this out loud does a number on Rioh, and it's hard not to get a good kick out of his reaction when he tries his best to deny it. For now, Tsukasa wants to prove to Rioh that he's got more going for him than he realizes and drags him into another training session so Rioh can see him perform a demonstration. As much as I love the relationship between Inori and Tsukasa, it's nice to see the show can get so much out of exploring other character dynamics, and the one between Tsukasa and Rioh has been a lot more compelling than I would have expected. Although it isn't clear what Tsukasa is aiming for with this demonstration, I'm interested in seeing just how much Rioh's assessment of Tsukasa will change once he sees him on the ice for himself.

Rating:

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Medalist is currently streaming on Hulu.

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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.