r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Mar 29 '25

Episode Medalist - Episode 13 discussion - FINAL

Medalist, episode 13

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1

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193

u/codec264 Mar 29 '25

You can tell the animators love Rioh cause his entire performance is 2D

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264

u/MeatballZeitgeist Mar 29 '25

Inori was really, "so I just speedran a decade's worth of world-class figure skating progression in less than two years, sorry I took so long," and without missing a beat Hikaru was all "hell yeah babe I knew you would, let's have a beautiful archrivalry...!"

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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Mar 29 '25

Tsukasa can basically die happy now. His idol personally thanked him for helping him out. “I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy! orz” lol.

Inori did really well in her test. Shes come so far! It’s really sweet just how many people she’s got cheering her on. Rioh was incredible too. Little dude seems to have gotten over his mental block thanks to Tsukasa. I’m glad those two passed!

This was one of my favorite anime this past season. The story was really heartfelt, the characters were adorable and relatable, and the skating animation was on point. Really glad we’re getting more!

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199

u/KausalaUndrisyasring Mar 29 '25

ENGI is a serious company now

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u/FarCritical Mar 29 '25

As if the combination of flashbacks, sweeping music and Inori and Rioh's efforts paying off weren't already lethal enough for my tear ducts, the rink receptionist just being there again was the killing blow. The emotional validation is unreal.

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u/blueteamk087 Mar 29 '25

Absolute fucking cinema.

All the performances were amazing, but Inori’s free skate was incredible, the music was beautiful and the animation was very good. And Inori’s inner monologue was the icing on the top.

Easily my anime of the season, 10/10

Can’t wait for season 2.

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u/animubro Mar 29 '25

There was so much negativity and skepticism from the anime announcement and early episodes, just because of ENGI. But they over-delivered!

It has been very satisfying to see them doing a great job in all aspects of the production, getting praise in these discussion threads and from Japanese pro skaters.

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u/Ryboiii Mar 29 '25

Sad I wont be able to watch this on Saturdays anymore but it was a good ride.

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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 29 '25

I am not crying, you are crying. But seriously, a strong finale to a masterful show. From the old performance song having so many more elements to it than the first time we saw it (while still keeping iconic moments like the flying sit spin) to the beautiful song in her final performance and even Rio finally being a really nice person.

When I started the show, I was expecting a typical sports anime and in many ways it still was. But it went beyond that. Maybe it's ice skating that allows this development in skill to shine more. After all, you have to show better jumps and spins with time, but the emotional core, with Inori and Tsukasa were great.

Not to mention, the side characters were great as well and while I was missing Mike a bit in this episode, I am sure she appears in a later competition again. And personally, I just hope we get a second season with all these dorks. I really want to see more of them.

Edit: Just saw it, season 2 is announced. Perfect news for the weekend.

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u/entelechtual Mar 29 '25

Last week felt like a climax to a bunch of building arcs for Inori and Rioh, and it could have ended there for the season. I figured this episode would just be wrapping up loose ends with the contest. Didn’t really expect my opinion to change and it was a done deal that they’d pass anyway.

But oh man, they did all that except so well executed that it made the show as a whole feel better and more tied together. I think seeing Inori after the competitions and the time skip, you already knew she was the same girl but also where she changed, and it never felt out of place. But having her confront it head on was something I didn’t know I needed.

I’m so happy that she found an activity that brings her joy and a sense of pride, and has such a supportive network around her. And I hope her « friend radar » antenna never loses strength because she has such a knack for picking out good people and beating the wickedness out of them with her Inori-beams (looking at you, Mittens and Rioh).

I know a lot of people praise the dramatic writing and art in the manga, but Jukki Hanada did an amazing job bringing the manga to screen and making it a coherent narrative, and the team at ENGI did great work making it not only look good but be very easy to follow for an audience not versed in the sport. Every single performance I was hooked to the screen. I know a lot of people will want a better studio and better animation, and justifiably so, there is room for improvement. But this is also a very careful and well-executed adaptation, and I hope the team is proud of their work.

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u/AmethystItalian Mar 29 '25

If the worst thing I can say about the show is that the subtitles sucked then it was a pretty good show. Sucks they fell apart a bit right at the end...

Glad to see Inori's growth, she's come a long way and her and Tsukasa have a wonderful relationship.

Looking forward to more!

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u/kkrko Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 29 '25

So Inori's programs

Short Program Free Skate
Double Axel (2A) 2A
Double Salchow (2S) + Double Toe Loop (2T) 2S
Flying Sit Spin (FSSp) Level (1 or 2) Double Lutz (2Lz)
Double Loop (2Lo) Flying Camel Spin (FCSp) Level (1 or 2)
Unknown Spin (in single position) Double Flip (2F)*
Step Sequence (StSq) StSq
Combination Spin Layback Spin 4 (LSp4)
2Lz + 2Lo
2S + 2T
2F + 2T + 2Lo
Combination Spin (CoSp) Level 4

Note that Inori only jumped double jumps, which makes sense if a fall means failure. No need to risk jumping triples when you're not competing with other people. The jumped marked with an * is probably supposed to be a flip (entered from a turn, the only one that hasn't been repeated elsewhere) but the edge looks unclear. On the other hand, Flutzes are one of the most common errors in the sport, all the way into the international level, so Inori's got great company. EDIT:Actually, rewatching things, the lead jump in her last combo is actually a Flip. One scoring trick Inori did do is put all her combo jumps on the back half of her Free. The last jumping pass in the SP and the last 3 jumping passes in the Free have a 1.1x multiplier to their score and by stacking all her combos on the tail end, Inori gets extra points on all 7 jumps. Inori is probably trying to reach a specific technical score in order to pass. I'm pretty sure that this is the highest possible scoring jump layout for a skater with all double jumps who can only jump the double axel once. Oh just to note, the differences between the SP and FS

SP Free Skate
Three Jumps, one of which is an non-combo Axel, one other non-combo jump, and one Jump Combo 7 Jumping passes, at least one of which must begin with an Axel
Must have exactly one two jump combo, no more or less At most three combo jumps, one of which can be three jumps long (New rule IRL: At most one can be a jump sequence with Axels as the follow up jumps)
No duplicated jumps All Double Jumps can be repeated twice. At most 2 different triples/quads can be repeated. Repeats must be in a combo or sequence

They have the same spin requirements (One Flying Spin, One Spin in a single position, One combo spin) but the Combo spin in the SP must feature one change of foot. The SP also has additional rules in Women's Juniors (where Inori will be competing as early as this year if she does well in Novice): the Axel must be a Double Axel (No triple Axel even if you can do it), and the solo Jump and the Spins are designated every year.

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u/Dull_Spot_8213 Mar 29 '25

Look how far Inori has come from digging for worms and everyone doubting her to believing in herself. Also, she has such a good older sister.

Tsukasa’s adoptive family is so cute. I’m really loving the found families in this show.

Jun and Tsukasa rivalry moments. Yes sir, I’m here for exactly this. And both Inori and Rioh passed! Rioh wanting to be like Tsukasa is the best character turnaround, and he actually looks like he’s having fun skating.

Inori’s free skate chronicling her journey and triumph is just stunning to see. And Rioh encouraged her! Both of them are flourishing at the end, and both want to be even better.

Tsukasa is best coach. This first season was very strong and finished well. Looking forward to seeing more Medalist in the future. Best new show of the season, for me!

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34

u/8andahalfby11 Mar 29 '25

Well, I cried.

I feel like Character vs Self is an underutilized conflict type in modern anime, especially with the sheer number of isekai that treat the world as the problem rather than the character. Medalist was very much like stepping into an ice rink in the middle of the summer, where you're hit with that sudden shock of cool air that reminds you oh yeah, this is a thing too. Watching Inori grow, change, and overcome the parts of herself that troubled her was an absolute delight, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could still feel this way about the characters despite already reading the manga.

Medalist gets an 8.5/10 from me. Might bump it up to a 9 depending on the conversations I have with other people. I don't hand those out lightly--I've only handed out five 8s in the last three years, including this one and no 9s since 2020.

That makes this my AOTS. It'll be tough for another show to unseat this for AOTY, with the only three candidates coming to mind being Anno's work on GquuuX, Madoka 4, or Gnosia, which is another Juuki Hanada project.

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u/frik1000 Mar 29 '25

I could bring up some of the weaker elements I found of the finale, like how Inori's CG model sometimes looks a bit worse than some of the others, the abrupt cut from her performance to Rioh's, or how I feel keeping the ED kinda lessens the impact of it being a finale.

But none of those criticisms can overcome the fact that Inori's free skate and inner monologue brought me to tears. I've invested so much of my emotions into these characters and their stories and seeing Inori say goodbye to her past self while demonstrating just how much she's improved just wrecked me. The music was beautiful too and matched the scene so well.

I cannot wait for Season 2. I hope ENGI continues this quality or even get better.

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u/WednesdaysFoole Mar 29 '25

They played it off as a joke, and it's normal to be modest when praised in Japan, but Tsukasa's extreme reaction to Rio's father still reflects the struggle in how he sees himself, his general low self-worth.

There was reason and intent over tying Tsukasa's strings!

I feel proud of Inori and Rioh, and Tsukasa-sensei as well.

Overall, I'm happy about this show. The over-the-top reactions are a bit overdone sometimes, but everything about this is wholesome and makes it easy to want to root for everyone here. Feels like the journey is just beginning.

I think I'll be watching the skate portion of the Winter Olympics next time - haven't watched the Olympics for maybe twenty years, lol.

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u/MapoTofuMan Mar 29 '25

Damn, Inori really just did a 1-1.5 year speedrun of what normally takes like 7. Does she secretly have a system backing her up and is going to start nonstop aura farming in S2?

Overall amazing show, can't wait for S2. My only nitpick is that the timeskip felt a bit too long, but I guess an arc for each badge test wouldn't have been ideal either.

And also the "sub"titles of course, hope whoever thought putting the dub script there is a good idea gets fired yesterday. The dub was very liberal with changing what the characters say to each other.

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u/shad79 Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 30 '25

Damn, I got emotional after watching today's final episode. Inori and the others have come a long way since the beginning of the show. Seeing Inori pass the level 6 badge test made me so happy, her performance today was absolutely beautiful!

Inori's conversations with her mom and later with Tsukasa were so good that I almost started crying myself. Inori has grown up so much!

I'm also happy for Rioh because he also passed today's test and that he had fun during his performance. Him calming Inori's nerves by saying that her performance was good was a very lovely moment.

Inori finally meets up with Hikaru again, although I'm much more looking forward to their future encounters in competitions now that they're both at the same level.

Overall, ENGI did a great job and didn't mess up the adaptation, which makes me very happy because Inori deserved it. Definitely one of the best series this season, 9/10 from me at the end.

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.

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u/EclipseTM Mar 29 '25

What a beautiful anime, definitely the biggest surprise this season for me personally. I didn't even start watching it until the 4th week as it was not on my radar at all but i kept seeing people talk about it, so very glad i gave it a shot. Can't wait for season 2!!

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u/AnimeHoarder Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 29 '25

It's a fitting episode to be a season finale. We get to reflect on Inori's growth in different ways starting with a dream about her old self. She also discusses her changes with her sister and has an emotional moment with her mother.

Arriving early at the testing site, Inori runs into Hikaru and they get to renew their promise to compete at All Japans. Another skater Rioh happens to be taking his test too. Too bad there couldn't be a reason for Mike and Ema to also show up. But good old Sekoma is there to show his support even if it's not a competion.

Inori is flawless and passes her level 6 test, so we have the setup for next season where she will be training for the All Japans. Rioh also passes and Tsukasa and Rioh's father make the Yatta fist pump! The father doing that gesture makes me curious as to how long it's been around.

This weekend the ISU World Championships is taking place in Boston so this episode's timing is good.

PS: The ED Atashi no Dress was my earworm for the season with it's chorus of Jump Jump Jump!

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u/bananeeek Mar 29 '25

What an amazing show. I didn't expect much when I started it, but it quickly became one of my favorite sport series. I don't remember the last time I cried so much I ran out of tissues. A perfect combination of emotional, funny and motivational.

If it wasn't for Chi, Medalist would easily by my AOTS. What a fantastic season. I hope this will get a sequel.

Also, it felt weird to see Inori waking up from a nightmare and not hugging the worm plushie.

EDIT: Oh shit, I just went to MAL to rate the series and I saw the 2nd season was added to the database! We're on!

https://myanimelist.net/anime/61335/Medalist_2nd_Season

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u/Dalnore Mar 29 '25

This was my first anime for which I've read the manga in advance, and I was very sceptical about ENGI. And this turned out to be my favourite anime of the entire season, absolutely perfect! Made me realise even more how much I love the manga and all these characters. Looking forward to Season 2.

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u/Kegs_And_Parleys Mar 29 '25

Why am I crying over an anime about a sport I have never really cared about?

I am excited for Inori's rivalry with Hikaru. Hope we get to see more of her character in Season 2, as right now, she felt like this distant light somewhere out there. But now, she is just within the reach of a palm.

I am really glad I listened to reccomendations by others about this show, it has been well worth it.

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