Medalist by Tsurumaikada * * * *
Medalist follows eleven year old Inori Yuitsuka, who desperately wants to become a figure skater. There are two fairly major problems with this. The first is that her older sister used to skate and eventually gave it up, so their mother does not want Inori to go through the same thing. From her perspective, skating took up a huge part of her older daughter's childhood without ultimately leading anywhere, and she does not want to watch that happen again. The second problem is even more daunting. At eleven, Inori is already considered extremely old to be starting competitive figure skating in Japan. Children who are seriously pursuing the sport can start at around five, so she is trying to enter a world in which everyone her age already has years of training behind them. Which is frankly bonkers, although it is also one of those things you hear about in sports like gymnastics.
The tragedy of her mother's opposition is that skating is the one thing Inori truly loves. She struggles badly academically and has been bullied at school, and those experiences have left her with very little confidence in herself. She has essentially internalized the idea that she is someone who is not good at anything. But put her on the ice and suddenly she is passionate, determined, attentive, and willing to work incredibly hard.
Then she meets Tsukasa Akeuraji at a skating rink, and it turns out that he understands her situation better than almost anyone could. Tsukasa also fell in love with figure skating far too late by competitive standards. He was fourteen when he decided he wanted to skate, but his family did not have the money to support serious training, and skating clubs would not take him because of his age. He largely taught himself until he was finally able to pursue the sport seriously at twenty. He eventually competed nationally in ice dance before retiring from competition, and by the beginning of the manga he is considering becoming a coach.
When Tsukasa meets Inori, he recognizes something of himself in her. More importantly, he actually listens to her. He sees how desperately she wants this, takes her onto the ice, gives her instructions, and discovers that she can follow them extremely well. She may lack formal training, but she has genuine talent. Tsukasa becomes convinced that she deserves the chance to see what she can do.
Her mother is still hesitant, and I actually liked that the story gives her understandable reasons for being hesitant rather than simply making her the parent who stands in the way of the protagonist's dream. She has already watched one daughter devote years of her childhood to skating and then walk away from it. She thinks she is protecting Inori from disappointment. The problem is that in trying to protect her, she initially cannot see how much Inori needs something she can believe in herself about. Eventually she agrees to let Inori try, and that is where the real journey begins.
What I particularly enjoyed about the Medalist is that Inori and Tsukasa are both developing at the same time. This is not simply the story of a gifted child being guided by a completely confident, all knowing mentor. Inori has to learn to believe that she might actually be good at something, while Tsukasa has to learn to believe that he might actually be good at coaching. Both of them have spent years being told, either directly or indirectly, that they missed their chance. Their relationship works because each of them sees potential in the other that the other person cannot yet fully see in themselves.
I could connect particularly strongly with Inori because her lack of confidence feels so deeply ingrained. She does not simply need to learn how to skate. She needs to change the way she sees herself. After struggling at school and being bullied, she has already categorized herself as someone who cannot do things well. Skating gives her evidence that this is not true. Watching that confidence gradually emerge was probably my favorite part of the story.
The artwork itself is fairly conventional manga artwork. I would not say the visual style is particularly unique, and this is one area where I actually think the anime has a major advantage over the manga. Figure skating is movement. A drawing can show a position beautifully, but animation can show the approach, the jump, the rotation, the landing, and the flow across the ice. It can turn something that is being explained on the page into something you can actually watch happen.
I only read the first volume of the manga, but I also watched the first season of the anime, and I absolutely loved it. It made me realize how little I actually knew about figure skating despite enjoying watching it. Before this, I mostly watched competitions thinking, “Oh, pretty,” without really knowing what separated one jump or turn from another. The Medalist actually explains what the skaters are doing, how particular movements work, and why certain techniques are difficult. It even brings some physics into the explanations, including things like rotational motion and the forces involved in skating and jumping. I love that kind of detail because it makes the sport more interesting rather than interrupting the story.
That educational aspect also makes the anime particularly satisfying. You are not merely told that Inori is learning something. You can see the movement being demonstrated, understand what she is trying to change, and then watch her attempt it herself. When a performance finally comes together, you understand more of what went into it. For a story about a visual, movement based sport, animation simply has tools that a static page does not.
At the same time, the manga goes beyond what has currently been adapted, so the two formats can complement each other nicely. I would actually recommend starting with the anime if you are interested in the story, especially if you know very little about figure skating. Being able to see the techniques while they are explained adds a lot. Then, once you reach the end of the animated material, you can move on to the manga if you want to continue Inori and Tsukasa's journey.
I gave the Medalist four stars. I went into it because I needed a book about a Winter Olympic sport and wanted something about figure skating that was not secretly just a romance. Instead, I found a story about two people who both started too late, were given plenty of reasons to give up, and decide to try anyway. It is about skating, but it is also about what happens when someone finally takes your dream seriously.
Sometimes believing you can do something begins with finding one person who believes you might be right.
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