I have to admit I’m still pretty agnostic on Medalist after two episodes. The production itself is fine, at least as far as the skating is concerned. And ironically that of course was my big worry going in. But some elements of the writing definitely aren’t clicking with me yet. And there are some visual elements I’m not crazy about, like all the distorted faces with Inori, though I assume that’s lifted directly from the manga. That’s a sight gag that gets old very quickly and shows which overuse it always pay a price.
Let me say first that Haruse Natsumi is still totally not working for me as Inori. I know she was cast because the mangaka is a fan and that’s fine, it’s her series, but jimmy crack corn and I don’t care. Umino Chica loves SHAFT, that doesn’t make it a prudent production decision. I can’t say this isn’t an issue at all because every time she speaks it grates on me, but it’s the sort of thing you learn to live with. The rest of the cast seems basically fine so it’s just one of those annoyances some shows throw at you.
A bigger issue is that so far at least, Medalist is really coloring between the lines. The formula here is a good one and probably enough to keep me invested if it’s executed well, but everything so far is very predictable. You can’t always assume predictable after two episodes means predictable period, of course. And I do like the formula – sports anime is one of my favorite genres for a reason. The MacGuffin here is an athlete trying to succeed in a sport where they’re theoretically starting way too late, and while we’ve seen that before at least it hasn’t been done to death.
This week’s theme is a badge test. It’s kind of a level check for skater kids, and part of the required progression for recognition as a competitor. I do question why Inori’s mom seemed unfamiliar with this given what we know about her older daughter, but whatever on that. Inori is a beginner so her badge is “prelim”. Basically she needs to be able to push off and skate on one foot forwards and backwards, crosses, that sort of thing. It’s the kind of stuff most serious kids are doing at five or six but that’s all the more reason why Inori doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for the next one a few months down the road.
Inori is kind of meh for me so far – she’s quite conventional as a lead and veers dangerously close to moeblob territory. But I do sympathize with her, especially with that MILK she has to deal with. Mom really is the human buzzkill, but Inori has to plow ahead. She also has to deal with snot-nosed peers like Sonidori Rio (Koichi Makoto) looking down on her. Fortunately there’s also Kamisaki Hikaru (Ichinose Kana), a national contender, Rio’s friend, and much kinder. The two of them have a scary man in black coach who chain-smokes, glares, and breaks his phone a lot.
Well… All three of them are about as boilerplate as it gets. Hikaru especially is far too perfect to be interesting in any way at this point. But on the plus side, I do like the developing bond between Tsukasa and Inori. That scene where he talked her in off the ledge with the finger trick was legitimately cute (not cutesy) and winning. But then we got another dramatic speech moment at the end (the Miburo Effect) which kind of deflated that balloon. So really, who knows at this point. I want to like Medalist, I can say that for sure, so two frankly middling (Mehdalist?) eps aren’t going to be enough to scare me off, but that doesn’t mean impatience isn’t starting to assert itself.
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