summation
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Medalist follows an 11-year-old boy's journey to become an Olympic figure skater through a fateful encounter with a former ice dancer.
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The anime adaptation of the manga has received a positive response and explores the emotional and psychological aspects of high-level competition.
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Yuri fans!!! on ICE will appreciate the student-mentor dynamic and the medalists' focus on their journey from the first steps of ice skating.
The 2025 winter anime season has finally begun. Many shows have premiered their first episodes, including Medalist, the award-winning, fan-favorite sports anime about ice skating that became incredibly popular in 2016. glass!!! on ice It could be used to fill the void left after the MAPPA production ended with hopes for the film completely dashed.
while medalist It has a completely different approach to its characters and premise, and if it hits the emotional mark well and continues as quickly as it started, it could be one of the best anime titles of winter 2025. Let's take a closer look. medalist And what makes this series a shot for gold and highly recommended, especially to those who: glass!!! on ice Pan.
relevant
All new sports anime released in 2025 (so far)
Sports animation will be a big part of 2025 and will cover golf, bowling, racing and even dancing.
What is it medalist for?
A young girl's dream of becoming a figure skater is one step closer to reality.
story medalist It tells the story of Inori Yuitsuka, an 11-year-old fifth grader who dreams of becoming a world-class figure skater. Despite having never received formal training, Inori secretly skated at a local ice rink to avoid the critical gaze of peers and adults who thought she was “too old” to begin full-scale training. Moreover, Inori is faced with having to convince her mother to allow her to devote her life to figure skating after her older sister's career ended in failure.
One day, Inori has a fateful meeting at a local ice rink with Tsukasa Akeuraji, a 26-year-old former ice dancer who discovered her childhood in Inori. A child with competitive ice skating ambitions has been told he started “too late”. Tsukasa decides to become Inori's coach and try to make her dream of becoming an Olympic gold medalist come true.
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Medalist (Winter 2025) |
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genre |
sports, drama |
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production studio |
Engie |
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supervision |
Yasutaka Yamamoto |
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episode |
12 |
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cast |
role |
japanese virginia |
english virginia |
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Inori Yuitsuka |
Natsumi Haruse |
madeline road |
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Akeraji Tsukasa |
Takeo Otsuka |
Jonathan Ha |
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Nozomi Yuitsuka |
Koshimizu Army |
Erica Schroeder |
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Takamine Hitomi |
Hitomi Takamine – Emiri Kato |
Alejandra Reynoso |
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Where to Watch |
Hulu |
Disney+ |
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medalist The manga is an adaptation of the manga of the same name created by Tsurumaikada, which has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since May 2020 and has been collected into 11 volumes as of August 2024. Kodansha USA licensed the manga for distribution in North America. medalist It received a very positive response after serialization, including winning the Next Manga Award in the print category in 2022, the 68th Shogakukan Manga Award in the overall category in 2023, and the 48th Kodansha Manga Award in the overall category in 2024. Adapted by studio ENGI (Uzaki-chan wants to play!) is a subsidiary of Kadokawa Co., Ltd. Yasutaka Yamamoto (CEO) Aharen is indecipherable.) is in charge of directing, and the series composition is by Juki Hanada (screenplay, Love, middle school students, and other delusions!), music: Yuki Hayashi (My Hero Academia) and character design by Chinatsu Kameyama (Chief Animation Director, Management of a Beginner Alchemist).
On ice, it is difficult for even the best athletes in the world to land every move successfully. There are so many factors to consider. But if you do a trick that other skaters can never do; When you can dance so beautifully and freely in a way that makes people forget you're on ice at all… that's true magic. This is what it means to be a world-class figure skater.
Why Yuri!!! on ICE fans need to see this
It's Not Just Ice Skating
The clear connection point is glass!!! on ice and medalist In fact, they are about the same sport, ice skating, and aim to compete at the highest level, if not at a very high level, but as far as the show is concerned, they are completely different. At first glance, it might not make sense to recommend this work to fans. glass!!! on iceThe reason I enjoyed that show was because it featured a particularly exciting romantic dynamic between the apparently impossible central pair. medalistBut what links these titles is an exploration of the psychological and emotional aspects of high-level competition in a sport with as high a barrier to entry as ice skating.
Yuri Katsuki and Inori Yuitsuka are psychologically vulnerable at the beginning of the series. This is because temperament and low self-esteem due to various personal circumstances combine to create the primary “hostile” force in each individual's journey within ice skating.
In Yuri's case, the fear of excellence influenced not only his performance in competition, but also failure and lack of self-confidence, but in Inori's case, low self-esteem was partly due to his lack of distinction in other areas. She is having trouble at school and making friends, and she knows that her mother is against seeing another daughter suffer because of her dedication to ice skating. Both characters grow when they have someone who truly believes in their abilities, which will be especially exciting for fans. glass!!! on ice We're seeing the student-mentor dynamic between Inori and her coach Tsukasa. Tsukasa is responsible for his development as an ice skater in his desire to be the kind of encouraging presence he needed as a child.
This aspect medalist Similar to glass!!! In ICE Viktor Nikiforov took on Yuri Katsuki's training as a means to continue his own growth as a professional. The medalist boasts an interesting approach to ice skating. glass!!! on iceWe see Inori coming full circle as he learns the fundamentals of the sport, giving the series a much more satisfying payoff.
medalist
