Medalist

Tsukasa Akeuraji always dreamed of becoming a competitive solo figure skater, but starting too late in life meant his ambitions never got off the ground. Now barely scraping by, he takes on an assistant coach job, resigned to a future far from the one he once imagined.

Before his first day, Tsukasa meets Inori Yuitsuka, a shy fifth grader sneaking into the rink to practice. Captivated by figure skating, but held back by her mother's overprotectiveness and her own self-doubt, Inori has never been encouraged to pursue her passion until she encounters Tsukasa. Beneath her personality lies great potential, waiting to be unlocked with the right guidance.

Moved by Inori's determination to change and reminded of his own struggles, Tsukasa offers to coach and help her chase the dream she has been too afraid to voice. While the road ahead is long and filled with unfamiliar challenges and rival skaters, Inori dedicates herself to the art and strives to one day reach the Olympics and become a medalist.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yuitsuka, Inori Main

Haruse, Natsumi Japanese

Akeuraji, Tsukasa Main

Ootsuka, Takeo Japanese

Kamisaki, Hikaru Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Sonidori, Riou Supporting

Koichi, Makoto Japanese

Yodaka, Jun Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Miketa, Ryouka Supporting

Kino, Hina Japanese

Sonidori, Shinichirou Supporting

Ban, Taito Japanese

Kago, You Supporting

Inoue, Honoka Japanese

Takamine, Hitomi Supporting

Katou, Emiri Japanese

Sekoma, Mamoru Supporting

Muraji, Manabu Japanese

Yamashita, Shinpei Producer

Miura, Takasumi Producer

Sawada, Airi Producer

Kanbe, Kouki Producer

Reviews

Apr 1, 2025

Chuy_diazz

Recommended

Medalist is something I didn't know I needed, but I'm grateful it was given to me.

Initially, I thought this would have a very heavy dramatic weight and I would have to suffer and cry with the characters. I did end up crying, but not because of the exaggerated drama, but because of the conviction and determination shown by each and every one of the characters in Medalist. The story focuses on children; they are the main focus of this story. When working with children, everything becomes more complicated because you have to make childhood problems seem truly worrisome. To do this, it focuses on issues ... we've all experienced: personal insecurity and the desire for change. These are two things that, as adults, we can resolve or continue to struggle with, but at the age of the children in this play, these are feelings that constantly haunt us. By presenting something we've all experienced, it's impossible not to empathize with, even if it's just one of the skaters. On the other hand, these aren't just children's problems; we also have adults with their own situations. From a coach who was denied the opportunity to fulfill his dream and now tries to motivate a girl with the same dream as him, but without resorting to trying to live vicariously through her. An overprotective mother who wants the best for her daughter but doesn't know how to achieve it. Everywhere you look in this story, you'll find a conversation, a scene, a gesture, a movement that you'll empathize with whether you want to or not.

In the sports section, even if you know nothing about ice skating, everything you see will seem beautiful. I had no confidence in how ENGI had used CGI in previous works, but here they decided to take it seriously. Every choreography, every jump, every spin feels extremely fluid and delicate. This is something you don't appreciate until you see it a second time, because the first time you saw it, you were most likely enthralled by the routines. One very positive thing is that Medalist doesn't resort to the image of the arrogant, overbearing, or rude rival. It manages to generate and create rivalries between the children on the rink, but a genuine friendship off it. The anime tries to explain everything very well before starting a routine, and I can tell you, it's not necessary to have understood anything, because you'll still enjoy every move performed to the rhythm of the music.

Figure skating never disappoints, and Medalist only reinforces that belief of mine.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 30, 2025

Cynthesia

Mixed Feelings

Wasted potential. Medalist is a show that holds so much potential but ends up fumbling the execution of pivotal moments resulting in an experience that leaves me conflicted. All of the pieces are there. Great characters, an engaging plot, interesting subject matter and drama , if only it were handled with slightly more care it could have been one of the greats.

Medalist features the best rags to riches story that you can imagine. Inori starts from below zero. Her entire life has been defined by belittlement, rejection, and failure. She's outcast from not only society but her own family and completely rejects any meaning ... in her life. That is, until she meets Tsukasa, who is so enamored with her skating ability that he vows to bring her to the top despite what she's been told her entire life. Tsukasa and Inori's relationship is the crux of this anime's appeal. They have such incredible chemistry and love for each other that you can't help but smile whenever they put each other on the highest of pedestals. The value of a positive role model cannot be overstated, Tsukasa is a man who brings out 200% in anyone he sets his sights on. Not through overwork or strict training regimens, but rather through unrelenting torrents of praise and suggestion. And just as he brings out the best in Inori, she brings out the best in him. Through watching her progress, Tsukasa realizes that he isn't the failure that he's deemed himself to be. Their relationship is truly something special and a joy to watch unfold on the screen.

They aren't the only characters in the show of course. For the most part they do fine. Rioh is the strongest, being introduced in the back half of the show and receiving the most development of any of them. Just like Tsukasa and Inori he's deemed a failure because of his inability to shape up to the best of the best. Of course this is entirely self proclaimed and watching Tsukasa work his magic on him, although to a lesser degree than Inori, is very charming and hammers in the importance of positive role models. Hikaru is the virtuoso endgame rival character. She's nice, doesn't really contribute overall but serves well as an end goal for Inori. Mittens is a decent early rival character, she gets better with time. Other characters definitely do exist but ultimately are sidelined to focus on Inori and Tsukasa's relationship which is a good choice as it's easily the strongest aspect. They mostly behave as you would expect children to do, with all of their issues essentially stemming from typical melodrama that you would expect from an immature mind. They serve their purposes well as rivals but don't go much beyond that after their performances.

Speaking about the performances, this is probably the most polarizing aspect of Medalist. I fall slightly in the middle camp although I lean more towards the "it doesn't look great" side, and this is where the majority of my disappointment with the show comes from. On one hand, it's understandable that they would choose to use CG for the figure skating portions. Not only is figure skating incredibly complicated but CG can allow for a much more fluid full body feel as it's generally much more naturally smoothed out. There's certainly good looking CG so it's not an inherently bad decision to use it. Unfortunately, Studio Engi didn't nail it. The models look pretty gross, especially when using their performance outfits. They really stick out on the ice and it creates this very mannequin-esque feel to their movements. Similarly the performances are not all that smooth. This is most apparent whenever they have to perform any kind of spin, which only becomes more prevalent as Inori's skill level increases. Rather than incorporate an entire 360 degree rotation they simply chopped together 4 90 degree rotations and loop it which makes for a very choppy looking experience. The general movement ends up looking fine but whenever they have to perform anything with any technicality it ends up falling short. This severely limits the potential impact of the performances which are the key highlight of the show. Climactic moments are equally hindered as they either rush into them or don't provide them enough time to build tension which also ruins their impact. This is easily the worst part of the show, and it happens to be the most important one.

Similarly, some dramatic moments outside of the rink are handled somewhat poorly. This is more of an issue in the first half of the show rather than the second. Inori and Tsukasa's backstory feels a little glossed over and their relationship develops at lightning speed as they try to get onto the rink as fast as possible. As Inori is someone with massive trust issues and negative self confidence this doesn't really make sense and I would have appreciated it if they went a little more in depth. This can be somewhat excused as they only have 13 episodes to work with and clearly don't want to sacrifice more than they already, clearly, have from Inori's development on the rink. With regards to Tsukasa's backstory it ends up being mostly reduced to a bullet point form and doesn't receive any major focus in the show. This ends up detracting a little from Tsukasa's overall character as it's not entirely convincing why he believes he's a failure but this isn't so much of a major disappointment as it is a source of mild dissatisfaction.

The pieces are there for Medalist, and maybe I'm being a bit too harsh. But when you present something with so much potential and then end up consistently missing the mark when it matters most it creates such a strong feeling of disappointment than if the difference of potential and execution were smaller. Medalist is certainly a fantastic drama, featuring a strong cast who all go through massive growth and a clear love for the sport that it's depicting. If only it were able to nail those pivotal moments.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 28, 2025

DigiCat

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (3/13 eps)

This had all the potential to become a great anime, full of depth, as we embark on Inori's journey to become a figure skater thru both highs and lows, on one side her love for ice skating and a diamond in the rough talent that gain both encouragement and respect from a very supportive coach, on the other her mound of anxiety and low self-esteem likely the cause of the toxic relationship with her mother

Now did this anime utilize that potential to create a compelling and heartfelt story?

...

Not. In. The. Slightest.

What we get instead is the overly melodramatic showcase of Inori's broken mind as her ... mother puts her down, dismisses and badmouths the sport she so much loves, literally (excuse my language) shits on her dreams every chance she gets. The poor coach Tsukasa is left in an exhausting neverending battle trying to compensate the absolutely vile mind poison this woman is spewing towards her own daughter with words of encouragement and the teaching of healthy coping mechanisms

The constant bombardment of belittling from this woman comes off as if we the audience is being berated along side Inori rather than a critique on her behaviour

As for the skating part, what is supposed to be the main focus of the show... it is (at least in these first episodes) nearly inexistent.
With the majority of skating scenes consisting of close-ups and stills, and opting for full CGI for the few full body skating sequences, a decision i find detrimental and hope for those who are enjoying the show it does not persist thruout the whole series, as in these scenes the skaters come off as robotic and expressionless

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Hikaru is this anime's Gojo Satoru Plopop - Mar 9	10 replies	by bucciest »» 3 hours ago
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