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Another one bites the dust - one of the most devastating SJ axes this reviewer has ever personally experienced.

Two on Ice is an ice skating manga, and the artist's style perfectly captures the dazzling motion of pair skating which isn't easy to do with static images. The art style takes pretty major influence from shoujo, specifically during the skating sequences and it's exactly the right choice.

The big problem I have with this one, as mentioned above, is that the axe swung too early for some of the most exciting things this manga had to offer. The primary antagonist has a rich, complex backstory and a ... startlingly honest and human response to his past trauma. The relationship between the main characters has romantic undertones initially, but they read more like very close friends near the end, which is refreshing, but it felt like there was going to be more buildup to the trust they have in each other as partners by the end, and it's a shame we don't get to see how the story line wraps up. In the few chapters before the conclusion, it definitely felt like we were building toward a major arc.

I still really love what this story represented in terms of both theming and art, it just felt like it was very ambitious and was cancelled too soon to fully deliver on all that it promised along the way.

This anime gave me an identity crisis. I call myself a shoujosei fan but didn't like Nana? Scandalous.

*Note: Since both the main girls are named Nana, I will use the primary narrator's nickname Hachiko when referring to her for clarity's sake.

The first half of this was pretty interesting - it definitely felt like we were building up to a very touching GL story when watching Hachiko's various failures in dating men. There are allusions to it as well in her internal narrations ("Nana, if you and I were lovers, I wonder if things would have been different...") but overall, we spend most of our ... time watching Hachiko making the same mistakes over and over and getting increasingly frustrated with each new toxic man she falls in with and builds her entire identity around. I get this is probably supposed to allow for her to have an arc, but when I'm almost 30 episodes in and she still doesn't seem to have learned much, you have a pacing issue that just can't be reconciled. It's possible this problem is unique to the anime, as I understand it didn't complete the entire story told in the manga - I wouldn't know and I'm not sure I want to find out.

Nana as a character is a bit more complex and interesting with a clearer development arc. The way she tries to balance her tough persona with allowing herself to be loved and show tenderness was really compelling. However, this took a backseat to everything Hachiko thinks/feels about of a quarter of the way in. A more balanced view of both characters throughout the series would have been nice.

The animation style is pretty painfully 2000s - weird, long, disproportionate bodies for everyone, weirdly round eyes - the One Piece fan in me doesn't mind, but if that's something you personally care about, well, consider that a heads up.

If you don't usually like romances or are looking for one to get you into the genre, I would highly recommend starting somewhere else, as this is a lot to swallow.

The first OP, rose, is a banger though, and one of the few I never skip no matter how long of a binge session I've been on.

This was so cool, I wish circuses were real.

All kidding aside, I came in with high hopes - you can't be a shoujo fan and NOT watch the anime CrunchyRoll says was directed by Junichi Sato. So I expected it to be, at least, good...and it was so much better. Seriously - they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

For those of you that are into shoujo but not boy-meets-girl type stuff, this one's for you. I think this could most accurately be described as a shoujo sports anime. The pacing here is incredible - the writer has a great sense of how ... to create the perfect amount of tension. Sora will usually pick up a big win at the start of the episode - but it will always be chased by some new, crueler failure. Sometimes we're forced to sit with that failure for multiple episodes...which makes it so satisfying when she finally overcomes it. They do a good job of putting the viewer in Sora's shoes - some obstacles really look impossible to clear, so when that finally happens, it's really inspiring.

Sora in and of herself is an extremely interesting protagonist - she's determined, confident, and stubborn to a fault. She has a one-track mind to her ultimate goal, no matter what jumps into her path. She's fiercely independent - sometimes to her detriment, as she can be so focused on getting results that she forgets to speak up and ask for help.

The rest of the cast is very colorful as well, and actively help carry the story. Sora's friends have rich motivations of their own that brought them to Kaleido Stage that have nothing to do with being "the best". One friend wants to incorporate acrobatics with the comedy her father taught her to love as a little girl. The other begins as an acrobat but learns she has a flair for writing and directing. There's not a single character in the primary supporting cast that feels disposable or forgettable. It was a delight to get to watch this group of friends help each other grow toward their goals.

If you're an artist of any kind, I especially recommend this show. It just feels true to the trajectory of how these things happen - to get briefly real, I've been struggling with some self-doubt as an writer lately. I've been putting off work on writing the next episode of my audio play (hence, why I was watching this to begin with) and was thinking I might not be cut out for it at all. But then I watched this and it reminded me that not so long ago, my big challenge was finishing the script for the second episode, or getting the voice actors' lines for the first. Every challenged looked big and bad until the next big bad challenge pops up. The bigger they are to more exciting the view when you jump over them is what I'm saying I took away from this, I guess.

((Also lost it when Anna said "Rosetta went to bedda :3"))