War face.
I started watching Medalist entirely because of the strength of its trailers. I knew basically nothing about figure skating and didn’t have much of an opinion about it as a sport. All I knew was that the series was going to be about a lot of shrimpy kids, and I nearly always have negative opinions about shrimpy anime kids. Nevertheless, the trailer managed to communicate the anime’s potential in ways that proved to be accurate. Medalist is an excellent anime.
The integration between 2D and 3DCG elements isn’t entirely seamless, but it is really good.
I still don’t know very much about figure skating. I don’t know the difference between the various types of jumps, how they’re performed, and what makes one more difficult than another, and definitely wouldn’t be to identify them at full speed, but none of that is critical to enjoying Medalist itself. So what does make the anime so good? I suppose if I were to boil it down to something succinct, I’d have to credit its earnestness.
I’m also glad Rioh stopped being a little shit.
It’s rewarding to watch determined characters improve over the course of a season. It’s not just a matter of training towards physical improvement, but also overcoming mental barriers and preconceptions. The skaters in Medalist are young, so the time provided by a single cours is unfortunately only enough to cover the beginning of their journeys. Learning there will be a second season is a relief. It’s probably unrealistic to hope the series gets an extended run of the sort like, say, Major received, but I would be thrilled if it did.
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