Medalist Volume 2 Review
Tsukasa – recently retired ice dancer (aged twenty-six) – has begun to coach eleven-year-old Inori who is passionate about figure skating. Inori looks much younger than her age – which is late to start training in earnest – but her determination and fiery energy should be more than enough to help her make up for lost time. Except she’s Tsukasa’s first student and, as a relatively late beginner, she needs extra support if she’s going to aim for the top: the Olympic Games! So, she’s entered her first competition: the Meikoh Cup. Suddenly she finds herself competing with many young skaters of similar age but far greater experience. She and Tsukasa will have to develop a routine that will highlight her strengths, knowing that other young competitors have more complicated jumps in their repertoires. And then there’s also the hurdle of overcoming her mother’s over-protective attitude.
Overcoming nerves on the ice in competition is a challenge but Inori is determined to give her best performance ever. But it’s after watching the older girls’ competition and being bowled over by Hikaru Kamisaki’s dazzling routine that she dashes off to find the talented young skater who encouraged and inspired her before and encounters someone she hadn’t expected…
Even if you’re not a fan of ice-skating, Medalist has all the components of a great sports series: young protagonists with promise and grit, determined to make their way in their chosen sport, while overcoming considerable difficulties that would probably put off most of us. Then there’s the relationships between the aspiring skaters and their trainers. Medalist is just as much about Tsukasa, Inori’s teacher, as it is about her struggles and ambitions. And in Volume 2, we get to meet another two trainers and their young protégées. In each case the trainer/teacher is a retired male skater in their late twenties and their students are young girls. All the way through the manga the sense of time running out is always present: Tsukasa started ice dance late (at twenty) and knows this was a disadvantage in achieving his dreams of becoming a medalist. Chapter 7 is of particular interest as on the surface it could look a little dull: Tsukasa asks another coach Yudai Jakuzure how to teach jumping. But it’s a fascinating and insightful read. The advice exchanged here could apply to teaching (and learning) any skill, whether it’s sport or a musical instrument.
When it comes to portraying the moves a skater has to perfect when performing a jump or similar manoeuvre, mangaka Tsurumaikada gives expertly drawn and useful illustrations, step by step, turn by turn. However, all the technical details won’t catch the readers’ interest unless they’re invested in the characters in and out of the rink and what happens to them. Happily, Tsurumaikada has created a fascinating and relatable couple of main protagonists. New-to-coaching Tsukasa is still filled with self-doubt as well as fired by the desire to help his young student do the best she possibly can. It’s impossible not to sympathise with his predicament – especially when he encounters Jun Yodaka, his skating inspiration and Olympic gold medalist, who retired early at the age of twenty. Then there’s Inori/Nori who’s had to fight her mother’s smothering insistence that she doesn’t want another daughter to spend so much time, effort and emotion on ice-skating, only to give up in disappointment. Inori is not her older sister Mika (who has cheerfully given up on skating) and her mother’s projection of her own fears and anxieties onto her youngest daughter make life difficult for Inori. But Inori is tough, in spite of her late start, as well as highly self-motivated and resourceful. It’s impossible not to root for her to nail that final jump in her programme at the Meikoh Cup.
The pivotal moment in these chapters occurs when, chasing after Inori, Tsukasa encounters his idol, Jun Yodaka. It turns out that he’s Hikaru Kamisaki’s coach. What’s worse, Yodaka remembers Tsukasa from watching his final ice dance competition in which he and his partner failed to win. Neither does he expect Yodaka to be so confrontational when Inori asks him to thank Hikaru for encouraging her before and to tell her she still wants to compete against her someday. “You could try your whole life and never be Hikaru,” Yodaka tells her coldly. “You actually want me to relay that nonsense to her? There’s far too much you just don’t know.” In that moment, Tsukasa forgets all his previous feelings of awe and respect and says,” I think you should take that back.” Yodaka isn’t done, though. “If this girl beats Hikaru,” he says, “that’s essentially the same as you beating me.”
The second volume of Medalist from Kodansha is ably translated by Kevin Gifford with lettering by Darren Smith. The trade paperback edition really does justice to the mangaka’s vibrant and dynamic artwork with four colour pages at the beginning. At the end there are six 4-koma light-hearted strips and the final two pages are the mangaka having fun with fake advertisements featuring the cast. The bonus chapter ‘Beast of the Snowfield’ tells how Yodaka first encountered Hikaru. Volume 3 of the print edition is due out in July 2024; the series is up to #10 in Japan and digital readers can read up to #9 in Kodansha’s digital edition.
As Inori meets more young contestants, some friendly and supportive (others far less so) and becomes even more determined to pursue her goal, the tension mounts in this second volume. How far can Inori go, with Tsukasa’s guidance? It’s fascinating to watch her grow in ability and self-confidence.
Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
