Medalist features the best rags to riches story that you can imagine. Inori starts from below zero. Her entire life has been defined by belittlement, rejection, and failure. She's outcast from not only society but her own family and completely rejects any meaning in her life. That is, until she meets Tsukasa, who is so enamored with her skating ability that he vows to bring her to the top despite what she's been told her entire life. Tsukasa and Inori's relationship is the crux of this anime's appeal. They have such incredible chemistry and love for each other that you can't help but smile whenever they put each other on the highest of pedestals. The value of a positive role model cannot be overstated, Tsukasa is a man who brings out 200% in anyone he sets his sights on. Not through overwork or strict training regimens, but rather through unrelenting torrents of praise and suggestion. And just as he brings out the best in Inori, she brings out the best in him. Through watching her progress, Tsukasa realizes that he isn't the failure that he's deemed himself to be. Their relationship is truly something special and a joy to watch unfold on the screen.
They aren't the only characters in the show of course. For the most part they do fine. Rioh is the strongest, being introduced in the back half of the show and receiving the most development of any of them. Just like Tsukasa and Inori he's deemed a failure because of his inability to shape up to the best of the best. Of course this is entirely self proclaimed and watching Tsukasa work his magic on him, although to a lesser degree than Inori, is very charming and hammers in the importance of positive role models. Hikaru is the virtuoso endgame rival character. She's nice, doesn't really contribute overall but serves well as an end goal for Inori. Mittens is a decent early rival character, she gets better with time. Other characters definitely do exist but ultimately are sidelined to focus on Inori and Tsukasa's relationship which is a good choice as it's easily the strongest aspect. They mostly behave as you would expect children to do, with all of their issues essentially stemming from typical melodrama that you would expect from an immature mind. They serve their purposes well as rivals but don't go much beyond that after their performances.
Speaking about the performances, this is probably the most polarizing aspect of Medalist. I fall slightly in the middle camp although I lean more towards the "it doesn't look great" side, and this is where the majority of my disappointment with the show comes from. On one hand, it's understandable that they would choose to use CG for the figure skating portions. Not only is figure skating incredibly complicated but CG can allow for a much more fluid full body feel as it's generally much more naturally smoothed out. There's certainly good looking CG so it's not an inherently bad decision to use it. Unfortunately, Studio Engi didn't nail it. The models look pretty gross, especially when using their performance outfits. They really stick out on the ice and it creates this very mannequin-esque feel to their movements. Similarly the performances are not all that smooth. This is most apparent whenever they have to perform any kind of spin, which only becomes more prevalent as Inori's skill level increases. Rather than incorporate an entire 360 degree rotation they simply chopped together 4 90 degree rotations and loop it which makes for a very choppy looking experience. The general movement ends up looking fine but whenever they have to perform anything with any technicality it ends up falling short. This severely limits the potential impact of the performances which are the key highlight of the show. Climactic moments are equally hindered as they either rush into them or don't provide them enough time to build tension which also ruins their impact. This is easily the worst part of the show, and it happens to be the most important one.
Similarly, some dramatic moments outside of the rink are handled somewhat poorly. This is more of an issue in the first half of the show rather than the second. Inori and Tsukasa's backstory feels a little glossed over and their relationship develops at lightning speed as they try to get onto the rink as fast as possible. As Inori is someone with massive trust issues and negative self confidence this doesn't really make sense and I would have appreciated it if they went a little more in depth. This can be somewhat excused as they only have 13 episodes to work with and clearly don't want to sacrifice more than they already, clearly, have from Inori's development on the rink. With regards to Tsukasa's backstory it ends up being mostly reduced to a bullet point form and doesn't receive any major focus in the show. This ends up detracting a little from Tsukasa's overall character as it's not entirely convincing why he believes he's a failure but this isn't so much of a major disappointment as it is a source of mild dissatisfaction.
The pieces are there for Medalist, and maybe I'm being a bit too harsh. But when you present something with so much potential and then end up consistently missing the mark when it matters most it creates such a strong feeling of disappointment than if the difference of potential and execution were smaller. Medalist is certainly a fantastic drama, featuring a strong cast who all go through massive growth and a clear love for the sport that it's depicting. If only it were able to nail those pivotal moments.
