Medalist

Episodes 1-2

While time and negligence from MAPPA's leadership have eroded much of its legacy, there was once a point where Yuri!!! on Ice was one of the best-selling anime of all time. It helped draw more interest in the world of professional figure skating. Between that massive success and how many new sports manga are made regularly, it's shocking that Medalist is somehow only the second figure skating anime to have come out between then and now (the other being the short-lived Skate-Leading Stars, which tried too hard to imitate Yuri!!! on Ice, and subsequently faded into the ether). While they might share the same sport, Medalist is a different beast from Yuri!!! on Ice. Whereas that show used figure skating as a vehicle for exploring career stagnation and queer romance, Medalist seems to be leaning much closer towards the more familiar shonen sports battle formula of something like Haikyu!! or Hajime no Ippo. While that might seem like an unfavorable comparison, that formula tends to be what draws me to a lot of sports anime, and so far, Medalist feels like a pretty winning version of it.

The key to that largely lies in the strength of the show's two protagonists, Inori and Tsukasa. Inori is a quiet fifth-grader who wants to become a professional figure skater. After her sister tries and fails to make her way in the sport, her mother refuses to let Inori suffer the same fate and forbids her from skating. On top of that, Inori is close to aging out of having any chance of becoming a pro, and her deep lack of self-confidence has kept her from even attempting to change her mother's mind. Tsukasa, on the other hand, is a former pro who similarly got his start at a late age, and failed to make a name for himself as he shifts between part-time gigs until his old partner offers him a job as a coach. When this causes him to cross paths with Inori, he sees himself in her and vows to her mother that he'll help her do whatever it takes to become a figure skater. Both make for a pretty great pair of underdogs. Even just within these first two episodes, it's great to see how much Inori is gaining more confidence in both skating and herself, as she demonstrates that she might have more talent for the sport than the people around her have given her credit for. I'm a bit more drawn to Tsukasa. His struggles with failing to make much headway in his career feel a lot more relatable as an adult, and it's easy to see why he sympathizes so much with Inori. He doesn't want her to grow up facing the same problems. I'm interested in seeing if their dynamic helps him come to terms with his past failures, and I hope we'll get to see more about his past as we get further into the show.

However, while Inori does make some progress over these first couple of episodes, we see that simply starting figure skating is the least of the hurdles she faces. Her first figure skating test leads to her running another girl/future rival named Hikaru who is already known for being one of the best skaters of their generation. While the two become friends, the experience drives home just how much of a gap there is between Inori and other skaters her age, and makes her even more desperate to catch up with the rest of them. We also see that while Inori's mom might have given her permission to skate, she still doesn't see it as anything more than something for Inori to do in her spare time, whereas Inori is serious about wanting to become the best skater in her world, and wants to devote the rest of her life to the sport. While I have no doubts that we'll see her start to overcome these problems, both seem daunting enough to provide plenty of tension for future episodes, and I'm looking forward to seeing just how our scrappy little underdog makes her way to the top.

I'm also pretty impressed with the look of the show so far. There were concerns about the production, as ENGI hasn't had a very reliable reputation as a studio, but everything here looks pretty stellar. The vibrant colors and wacky facial expressions do a lot to help the show stand out visually. While the skating animation isn't as fluid as some of the best stuff in Yuri!!! on Ice, it still looks impressive. It does a good job of switching between natural movements and more spectacular-looking shots whenever characters perform spins or jumps. While some of that is aided by 3DCG, it's pretty well integrated to the point where I barely even noticed it. If the show can maintain that for the big skating competitions, I'm sure it'll more than do right by its source material. I've also enjoyed the simuldub so far. Madeline Dorroh's performance as Inori has done a lot to help endear me to the character. She does a great job of getting across Inori's struggles with her confidence, and how deeply that's affected her relationships with her mother and her classmates. I had some solid expectations for this show, but it came out of the gate putting its best ice skates forward, and if the level of presentation from these first two episodes can hold up for the rest of the season, I'm willing to put my stakes in it taking home the gold for this season.

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.