That started out quite well, but went downhill fast. With a slight recovery at the end. Which, I guess, is how a competitive skate program might go so maybe sort of fitting. I never thought I would be in a position to consider dropping Medalist after three episodes, but if I look at things realistically I can’t deny that reality. And it would be a huge disappointment to say the least, especially given how mediocre this season looks on the whole.
Again, it’s ironic that the skating animation and choreography is absolutely fine, and with ENGI involved everybody assumed that would be the Achilles’ heel with Medalist. I actually think it’s quite good – and I think the sound of the blades on the ice is my favorite part both of the skating scenes here and actual figure skating. And I like Tsukasa, even if there’s a risk that he’s coming off as a bit too perfect. But there’s not a lot else that’s working for me at this point.
The new character and her coach – oy. I admit I was on the fast forward button pretty hard in the middle of the episode. At least Kino Hina sounds more like an actual child than Haruse Natsumi, but Mittens is absolutely fingernails on the blackboard (even more than the last “Mittens” to be in the spotlight, in 2012). I hated both of them instantly and nothing that happened for the rest of the episode made a dent in that. If Mittens is destined to be Inori’s fated rival we’re in serious trouble here.
I don’t like the distorted faces and the chibi intercuts. I don’t like the hackneyed BGM. I’m meh about Inori a lot of the time. I like it when she and Tsukasa are talking about her training, and when they’re actually doing it. That’s fun to watch, and feels way more genuine than anything else that’s going on. But so far there’s too much annoying extraneous stuff for those sequences to stand out. I’m not done here – there’s too much invested in Medalist in a season like this to give up this quickly. But if next week leaves me feeling the same way, it’s probably not going to matter.
BluBlu
January 19, 2025 at 5:36 pmWait. Another agreement after Orb current arc? What is happening to our disagreements Enzo? Jokes aside, as written on Orb 17, I had postponed my comment on this one too. Medalist is a manga which is in my category “Manga I would adore to love and buy but I am struggling with”. It is released in France too and every 3-4 months, a voice in my mind says “ah BTW, Medalist is available in France, won’t you buy it?”
And then at the very same moment, while trying to remember why I am not buying it yet, I remember how I am always struggling with the characters when I reread it a bit online.
This series actually illustrates very well how I believe that our appreciation of characters is the thing that matter the most in a series judgment (Yeah. I came to the conclusion that all the stuffs such as scenario, depth, art, twistland blabla are secondary things that we tell to mask/justify that we just love the characters. For me at least, this 90% of what matters. But I digress).
So, in my case, I struggle with the trying too hard with the girls of this series (when trying comedy, cuteness, suffering, etc. even art. Yeah.). I will not repeat what you wrote for episode 2 as it is a perfect summary of my feelings with this series. And while I can easily compensate it when only the main character is bothering me (Ippon again! was an example at least for me), with the Medalist entire cast, I cannot. And God knows that I would really want to like and buy the series (maybe if it ends up being a short one as I love the competition part. But outside of the competition…I cannot).
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2025 at 7:26 pmWhat can I say, except that I’m pretty much in agreement. I think there are some issues with the writing here and those don’t just go away. As such I don’t have much confidence where this one is concerned.
Allen
January 20, 2025 at 12:13 amWhile I wouldn’t call this a “bad adaptation” I would suggest if you ever decide to drop the anime in the future, to give it a second chance on it’s original manga form. The manga is an excelent work of art in ways the anime hasn’t really translated yet. The art is fantastic. The pace is a bit better (for example in this episode they heavily rushed the whole “Inori befriends Mittens then they break up” part) and gives a bit more insight on Tsukasa’s side of things through the events so far which adds to his character besides being the all-out-supportive coach. The chibi funny faces are just small panels through the pages which makes them less stand out compared to the “in your face” approach the anime is doing.
I would say next episode should be more exciting. And would probably be the decisive factor on whatever this adaptation can truly reach the manga specifically in the skating competition parts.
Guardian Enzo
January 20, 2025 at 6:48 amIt’s certainly a make or break episode for me. This week was pretty grisly.
I believe the manga is better, as many as I’ve heard it from. But realistically I’m just not going to have time anywhere in the near future. Too many ahead of it in the queue.
catterbu
January 20, 2025 at 7:13 amThis has been an interesting one for me. I have basically echoed all of your feelings, Enzo, and yet I find myself looking forward to it quite a bit each week. I think part of it is that Kmanga has the first several chapters to read for free, so I have watched the anime episode, then read the chapter. I will say that I dislike the chibi faces and Mittens in both forms nearly equally. However, I do think that not having to hear Mittens makes a different and the really great art maybe makes the chibi faces more tolerable?
Regardless, I did want to add that Mittens reads to me much less like a fated rival as a point of contrast character. Kamisaki Hikaru reads to me more like the fated rival. My hope is that Mittens loses, then transforms enough that the character is less of an ass.
On an unrelated note, I am about 1/3 of the way through Touch right now and, if you ever decided to do a historical series, I would be very interested in your thoughts on it. While Cross Game is much like the perfected form of this kind of baseball+romance story, I can tell whyTouch was such a big deal at the time.
Guardian Enzo
January 20, 2025 at 7:40 amI’ve commented on Touch numerous times over the years (and I certainly think it’s ripe for a reboot in anime form). I consider it and Cross Game the twin masterpieces of Adachi’s career, but very different from each other and reflective of the age of the author at the time they were written.