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| Welcome back Medalist! Seriously, what a beautiful intro, especially for all the competitors. Just from the opening minutes, they came back in style with an ambition. The theme songs are great too. Looks like a buildup for the upcoming tournament. I love how Inori is reintroduced in this first episode. She is so graceful with confidence even in front of her rivals. Excited for the season. Lot of new and returning faces here. The animation still looks like great with lots of energy. |
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| Remember episode one of last season? The one where Inori was too anxious to even speak to Tsukasa, or even her own mom? Fast-forward to episode one of this season and she’s walking in like an absolute CHAD in front of the other Novice A kids. For a second I almost mistook her for Tsukasa, your really nailing it so far Inori lol. Kinda sad her bestie couldn’t make it though, off in Russia doing her usual stuff like... trying to become a wizard lol Anyways, this was mostly setup for the tournament that’ll basically lead into the Olympics and all that. Nice little moment with Tsukasa and Meiko’s husband at the end too. But yeah, warm-up time now. OP and ED are the same as last season, both absolute bangers. Can't really ever go wrong with Conton Candy and HANA. Not as good as Kenshi's OP though, ofc. |
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| The final show of the Winter season (after quite the long wait), mangaka Tsurumaikada's Medalist is back for another Winter showing, not just for the rather short sequel, but also leading towards its movie sequel once the season is over! Hana's OP is expressive, as is ENGI's 3DCG that always remains easy to impress. Going into Volume 5 of the manga, Tsukasa and Inori have surpassed their first major hurdle with the Level 6 Badge Test, and the latter sure is going straight for gold. But it's clear that there're a lot more to fight for, like with Jun and Hikaru, of how they've come this far onto the skating race, and the increasing amount of competitors and their rather peculiar personalities that both excite and frighten Inori on her way, going into the Chubu Block tournament. The tournament: 15 skaters with only 5 slots for the All-Japan Novice Championship, with 1 assured spot given to Hikaru, Inori has to fight to be part of the 4 remaining spots. And while Tsukasa still lingers contending with his skating partner's death, that her coach comes up to him and helps reassure him, the tournament is another step along that way. Cotton Candy's ED sounds fun, certainly alongside last season's Shuumatsu Touring's OP. One season's worth of a tournament, this will be quite the excitement to come this season! |
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| Why tf isn’t it on Hulu yet? Update: apparently Hulu have delayed the sub and sub till tomorrow for whatever reason, so nyaa it is. Greatest sports animanga ever is back on my screen, feels surreal. So happy my daughter Inori is back and can’t wait to see more of her journey!! Hana ate that OP up omg. One of my fave jpop groups making their anisong debut and it’s so good. I’ve been invested in them since they debuted last year and they haven’t missed yet, I especially love the synchronized skating dancing bit at the end symbolising Inori no longer being alone! Speaking of skating, the opening 3DCGI sequence with Inori narrating is just the studio reminding you they’re still best in class at this CGI stuff. Incredible. Also peep how you see Tsukasa yearning for Jun in the same way Inori yearns for Hikaru. How teacher and student both gay af for their rivals lol. 5 mins in and Inori already yearning for Hikaru.. just confess already atp. It girl looks so good!!! I’m hearing she’s not really gonna be in this season tho, what do you mean I have to wait till the movie next year smh?? It was cool seeing her backstory meeting Jun, but anime logic is hilarious because what do you mean she had bright sparkly eyes so you knew she’d be the best skater in the world lol Laughed so hard at how awkward Inori was today introducing herself to everyone. Tsukasa has really rubbed off on her it’s so cute. “You’re gonna have an Aneurysm” 😭 she’s so extra. The field is set tho and I can’t wait to see how this chubu block tournament goes. You’ve got a nice mix of inori’s contemporary rivals in her age range and a goal to strive towards in people like Iruka and Kojoh! |
Marinate10165 hours ago
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| It's good to have this back with another season. I know there's a movie coming soon too, but 9 episodes for a new season is kind of a shame innit. Regardless, the actual return episode was nice. Inori going up to an Olympic participant in Rinna and asking her how to make it and claiming to win a gold in the future is bold to say the least. You can just feel that despite her nervousness, she's a lot better than she was at the very beginning of the show. Most of this episode was set-up, which is fine since there's not too many episodes this season so can dive into action with the upcoming tournament. Visually, pretty consistent I would say and on-par with the first season, looks good. Not much to complain about, it was a very solid premiere and return back to the series. Like the opening song too, very much a vibe. I hate idol stuff most of the time but seeing that kind of vibe with ice skating scenes in that OP was different to say the least. The ED theme is nice as well. I probably like this round of songs a bit better than the previous season's to be honest. |
| So great to have this show back and seeing the ever adorable Inori again I can't wait to see her get even better and stronger. |
| As always Hikaru character feels written for another anime genre. At least for me. Like she could between training and competitions, be solving mysteries. From the new characters, I like the super eyelashes girl. Someone have their reflexes around stairs |
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| Kind of shame that one of the top anime of this season is only getting 9 episode. Not a fan of new OP either as for the episode it was nice set up for the tournament. It was nice to see Inori finally getting more confident too. |
| Damn Inori really just sapped all the luck from that poor second girl lmao Man, we've just started the season and Koichi's excitement to see Tsukasa's passion and dreams through Inori already has me feeling things. |
| Whatever it is, i just enjoy the show^.^ Welcome back! |
| Whoever subbed this did a terrible job. So excited to have this return but the subs are terribly done in a seemingly intentional way. |
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| Use APPS for subs, they are real subs not dubtitles. |
| was this ai translated? did someone just record a meme text? it felt localized to hell and back. |
| 馬鹿げた倫理 全部ガラクタで |
| This was a great first episode, has me hyped for the tournament. Also the opening song is a real banger. But wtf: only 9 episodes?! |
| If you haven't watched "Fantastic Children", don't talk about "best anime". Thank you. |
| I'm already loving this new season it was funny and everything I'm excited to see what come next... |
| if you hated this episode/chapter, just watch/read something else... 100k on IG (https://www.instagram.com/otakuweek?igsh=em5kY3Q4NTVtNXlh) Discord (https://discord.gg/vbZrk64uH7) for anime links / news / recom etc |
| not surprising that it still doesn't hold a candle to the manga art but the 9 episode count really surprised me. |
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Reply to ryzxgum
not surprising that it still doesn't hold a candle to the manga art but the 9 episode count really surprised me.
| @ryzxgum Could be worse, like that dance anime that got memefied last year. |
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Reply to IngridKnight910
@ryzxgum Could be worse, like that dance anime that got memefied last year.
| @IngridKnight910 yeah this looks better than that for sure but i still don't like this nearly as much as the manga. |
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kuroneko992 hours ago
| Medalist #13 THE GREATEST SPORTS ANIMANGA IS BACK. ENGI IS ON FIRE. GREAT COMPOSITION. EXCEPTIONAL DIRECTING. PERFECT PACE. GOOD STORYBOARD. ENGI IS ON TOP OF THEIR GAME. I dare say HANA's OP is on the same level as Kenshi Yonezu's OP in season 1. But visually, the storyboard for season 2's OP is better than season 1's, of course with the many new characters in season 2 helping a lot. As for Cotton Candy's ED, I at least prefer this ED over Sakamoto Days' ED. But when compared to Neguse's ED, I prefer season 1's ED over season 2's. HANA's OP has the potential to be in my top 3 favorite opening songs this season. Nice set-up episode for the tournament. Out of 15 Cinderellas, only 5 can sit in the All-Japan Novice Championship seats. Of course, the prodigy HIKARU KAMISAKI was immediately given a special seat for Hikaru-sama to enter the All-Japan Novice Championship. Hikaru's presence in this series makes her seem like she's in a completely different anime lol. The best Aura Farmer in the last decade, imo. her backstory introduction is one of the best introductions i've seen in anime, goosebumps. It's nice to see Inori and Tsukasa again. Inori's monologue at the beginning of the episode gave me goosebumps, especially the part about Hikaru. Iruka was finally introduced in the anime. Hopefully we'll see a lot of action from Iruka this season. Inori is in Group B, number 14, as she had hoped. The opponents I see as potentially above Inori are Yagi Yuuna and Roba Manaka. GO FOR THE GOLD. YUITSUKA INORI!!!!  |
| Peak fiction is back!!! i loved the first season so much and i was worried after it finished airing that they were struggling to find staff to work on a S2 or something like that. Makes me so happy to see a sequel so quickly plus a movie. The quality is really great in this episode too. Im surprised that its only 9 episodes though ;( |
| It’s great to be reminded how the character designs and expressions just lift this anime! OP kicks ass, and we’re straight in and moving at a good pace. Weird random thing that made me laugh was this door with light coming out under it just a foot from the end of the wall with a dim corridor on the other side. Why would it even be there? To save people from walking an extra meter? Nvm, just funny, show was still 5/5  |
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