by The TV anime ” Medalist ” is based on Tsurumai Ikada’s figure skating manga, which was also chosen as the top comic in the Next Manga Awards 2022. The series began airing in January this year on TV Asahi’s late-night anime slot “NUMAnimation.”
The passionate drama follows Yuzuki Inori, a girl who dreams of becoming a figure skater, and Akiura Michiji, a young man who failed as a skater, as they strive to become glorious medalists as a coach and athlete and have been garnering attention for beautiful and powerful figure skating performance scenes. We spoke to Yamashita Shinpei, producer at KADOKAWA, who worked on the anime, about the behind-the-scenes production.
The appeal of the Reiwa era’s sports drama “Medalist” and the high hurdles of adapting it into an anime
“Medalist” began serialization in the manga magazine “Afternoon” (Kodansha) in 2020. It has been a hot topic since the beginning of serialization, featuring athletes from childhood and depicting the harsh world of figure skating, where it is said that “if you don’t start at age 5, it’s too late to aim for the Olympics,” from various perspectives of athletes, coaches, and athletes’ families.
Producer Yamashita was fascinated by the work, saying, “I read the original manga around 2021 when the second volume of the comic was released, and it was so interesting…I cried my eyes out.”
“I felt that it was the sports spirit of the Reiwa era. The sports spirit of those of us from the Showa and Heisei generations has a specific spiritual element, and I wonder whether it’s based on a sense of conviction. Of course, even today, children have many options and must have strong feelings to forge ahead with resolve.
Medalist matches the “power of feelings” that has remained unchanged since ancient times with the latest technology and experience and the relationships between athletes and coaches. It also depicts how to put strong feelings into techniques. No matter how passionate or dramatic a story is, it loses its appeal if it lacks realism. Still, I was drawn to the story of Medalist, which is well-founded and convincing, and in which hard work and strong feelings blossom.”
