“I want to strongly believe I can do it. I hate how much I know about the no-good side of me. I want to be more like the girl Coach Tsukasa believes in. I want to be someone I can believe in!”

Sometime last year, I was overhearing talk from manga bloggers/reviewers about a certain under-the-radar Kodansha title that deserves more attention. I later found out that it was licensed in the U.S. and also won several awards in Japan. This manga is about a sport that I’m not knowledgeable about (but has gained a lot of attention due to a anime series I’m sure people know called Yuri!!! on Ice!!), figure skating. This past week, I got to read the 1st 4 volumes of Tsurumaikada’s critically-acclaimed Medalist and finally saw what I was missing.

I don’t know a damn thing about figure skating, but I sure as hell know a great manga when I see it. And Medalist is just that.

Medalist focuses on the journey to become a competitive figure skater in Japan through the eyes of a child and her coach. The main character in question, Inori Yuitsuka, is a 5th grader who’s noted to be bad at everything in life so far except ice skating. However, she skates in secret as she has little access to skating rinks and she’s also considered to be “too old” to start competitive training. It isn’t until she meets her future coach, Tsukasa Akeuraji, that her life changes. Tsukasa had aspiring dreams to become a pro figure skater, but wasn’t able to due to starting at a later age. He becomes depressed over life due to not achieving anything significant in his figure skating career. When Tsukasa meets Inori, he realizes that she’s the same as him and decides to help her realize her dreams of becoming a pro figure skating medalist no matter what.

The art in this series is incredible. The figure skating scenes are well-done, but what really shines are the character interactions. Inori won the Magademy 2023 award for best female character and I can see why she won. She’s a kid who’s trying her damn best to challenge her insecurities via her passion for ice skating. I can’t help but be moved when Inori says something important to get her point across.

Tsukasa is a relatable character to those who feel lost at their hobby. As someone who feels like they started “late” for a competitive interest where it’s best to start young, I get where Tsukasa is coming from. This applies to my now-daily interest in Japanese mahjong. I’m well-past the general demographic (18-34) for the game in the U.S. as I started playing at the age of 38. There’s obviously certain barriers (mostly life responsibility-related), but I recently experienced the joy of helping a beginner get through a game in-person. I think, like Tsukasa, I want to at least help the next generation of mahjong players get started and find their paths to become better players.

Inori and Tsukasa’s relationship is amazing and well-written. Every great athlete needs a coach to bring out the best in them. However, if the coach/athlete relationship is based on how much an athlete wins, it will not go well. This becomes complicated when it comes to coaching children. With the exception of Inori being a 5th grader, Medalist focuses on aspiring 3rd grade figure skaters who are, for the most part, level-headed. But they all have personality quirks that can get in the way of achieving greatness. This manga does a great job in illustrating the coach/athlete dynamic when it comes to very young children. It’s something I don’t see in most media.

One of my favorite moments is in Volume 2 where Inori boldly tells her mother that she will get 1st place in a preliminary showing at a major cup and attempt techniques that appear to be hard for her. Inori’s mother didn’t really approve of Tsukasa getting her daughter into the world of pro figure skating at the start. But once she saw Inori look like an absolute gem in the making on the rink, she laments that she never thought of Inori’s feelings out of a fear of being hurt inside. I don’t know about any of you, but in my experience, my mother told me not to push myself so hard because of my mental limitations. She has told me not to try super-challenging jobs due to my depression. I think maybe she was trying to make sure she didn’t get hurt by my struggles and look like a bad parent to others. Part of it was also my own fault since I looked at the labeling I was prescribed a bit too seriously. 

So yeah, seeing Inori’s mother know that Inori can actually do something meaningful with her life got me emotional. I do feel that some parents are really overprotective over their children and what they should be doing in life. I don’t blame them because failure over things that aren’t the norm will always be scary. Plus, not every dream will come true. Yet I know what every child wants from their parent is to believe in their ability to become whatever it is they want to be/do and that they’ll have their support no matter what. I wish more parents opened their eyes enough to see that.

I could go on and on about Medalist, but I’ll stop here. This is a fantastic series to read for anyone interested in relating to ambitious children and being there for them in realistic ways. Medalist is a bold story that details what it takes to create a winning environment for children, parents, and the communities around them.