Medalist

Episode 8

I said last time that I didn't particularly mind the cliffhanger with Inori's missing skates, since I felt like the show could always use some extra tension to go alongside her latest competition. That said, I wasn't expecting it to take up quite so much of the episode, as the bulk of it is dedicated to solving an otherwise mundane mistake. However, in the process of doing so, we get an idea of how much better Inori has gotten at keeping cool under pressure and the adults around her as well.

After realizing she's lost her suitcase, Inori retraces her steps and remembers that she left it on the bullet train. It doesn't take long for her to start freaking out about it, and when she brings up the situation to her mom and Tsukasa, she starts to wonder if they blame her for screwing things up. Thankfully, while the two of them are certainly nervous about the situation, Inori's mom is quick to reassure her that it was just a simple accident and nothing to blame herself over. It's nothing too dramatic, but given how much of Inori's confidence issues stemmed from her mom not having enough faith in her, it's nice to see that she's gotten better about trying to make sure Inori stays positive. In turn, this keeps Inori from slipping too deep into anxiety while Tsukasa rushes off to retrieve her suitcase from the station (and I'm once again reminded of how much ground Japanese bullet trains cover because I can't imagine leaving something ten stops away on an American train), and puts her focus into practicing her routine.

When Tsukasa returns with her skates, he sees how well she's managed to hold herself together, and comments on how she's gotten more independent. It's another reminder to him of how much he's struggling to keep up with Inori's growth. It makes for an interesting contrast with Yudai, who tells Tsukasa about how he's been struggling to handle Ema's growth, as she's continued to push herself despite her body experiencing growing pains. While he knows it's a problem, Yudai recognizes that he's contributed to it by allowing her to pick up on his anxiety about not wanting to see her fall behind her peers. It's a good reminder that it can be important for adults to be careful about how they react to things around kids and that they can often be more receptive than we sometimes give them credit for. In that respect, it's good that Tsukasa and Inori's mom didn't freak out around Inori, and we can see how much that has helped her maintain her confidence.

Unfortunately, there isn't much else to talk about from this episode as the rest is largely dedicated to seeing Inori's rivals in the ice. In the middle of Inori's crisis with her missing skates, Seira manages to place herself at the top of the Level One division and leaves the other girls scrambling to catch up. I got a good kick out of Seira's friend, Miihi, bragging to herself about how much more she loves the sport only to barely lag behind Seira's score, but beyond that, I was mostly just happy to get a few more hand-drawn skating sequences. Although none of the other girls manage to catch up to Seira, they do score close enough together for Inori to start second-guessing if she can pull off a win. While Tsukasa reassures her she can break Seira's score so long as she does her current routine without any slip-ups. Things may not be that simple, as Inori tumbles the second she prepares to get out on the ice. Even just a couple of episodes ago, it would have been pretty unthinkable for Inori to recover from something like that, but she pulls herself together pretty quickly and tries not to let it get to her. While we will have to wait till next week to see how her performance works out, I think our girl will get through this just fine considering how confident she's become.

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.