Absolutely a delight! Love the pacing and the art. I can't wait to see where the story goes, I see great potential.

I'm really digging this trend in sports media to focus on the pressure to start young and invest your entire life into a sport for success. I also like that our mains not only fall outside of that culture but also aren't typical of the sport. I am a pretty unfeminine femme but I loved watching figure skating when I was a kid. I suspect, had I grown up somewhere near a rink, I would have been Inori digging up worms to pay for ice time.

This was so so so sweet. I didn't expect to love this one as much as I did. I definitely recommend this to people who love sports mangas, but I also think anyone can enjoy the story and characters!

<i> arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

DNF

I like the premise of this one but ultimately, it just wasn’t the manga for me. I love sports and figure skating so I thought I’d really like this but the story just has a lot of negativity throughout and it was sapping my enjoyment.

Don’t let this deter you from picking it up though! It might not be the read for me but it could be perfect for you.

I really like figure skating so when I saw this on netgalley, I couldn´t help myself, and I don´t regret reading this manga.
This manga kind of starts of with a depressing note. Tsukasa keeps on beating himself down, bevause he wasn´t able to achieve his dreams and Inori has no confidence, which is completely understandable since everybody in her life keeps on beating har down with their words. But through reading this first volume, you see the confidence that their hard work and perseverance gives them.
Because that is what this manga teaches you, when you work hard, then you´ll be able to achieve things you didn´t believe was possible.

I gave to say that Inori is so adorable, I adore her smile and her crying face is honestly so cute! Tsukasa is honestly the best coach ever! I love how supportive he is of Inori!

The art is really well done! Great art, with a great story! I´m looking forward to reading more!

'Medalist, Vol. 1' by Tsurumaikada is a sports manga about competitive figure skating.

Tsukasa is a good skater, but at the end of his competitive years. That leads to coaching. One day while hanging out at the ice rink, he sees young Inori, who bribes her way in to skate by paying the rink owner with worms for his bird collection. Inori has started late in her drive to compete, but Tsukasa sees some incredible raw talent. He has to convince Inori she is good because her self-esteem is the target of everyone around her, but with her coach's help, Inori takes her first strides to competition.

I'm a particular fan of sports manga and this one, in particular, was especially good. I liked learning more about the sport and what the badge system is comprised of. The characters are appealing on different levels and the art shines.

I received a review copy of this manga from Kodansha and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

5/5 Absolutely amazing!!!

I loved this manga so much! I was so sad when I finished this volume and I can not wait to get my hands on a physical copy one day. This manga is now one of my new favorites and it reminds me so much of Spy x Family which I absolutely love! I love our main characters and their relationship its so sweet and they're so adorable. This manga is about overcoming ones odds and obviously ice skating or to be more specific figure skating. I'll be honest I am not a sports fan but figure skating is so beautiful and this manga was able to capture it so well! This volume started out with a lot of reading and the action was confusing at times but boy it improved and grabbed my attention to the max! I recommend this to any and everyone who likes manga, especially if you like sports/dance and enjoyed spy x family.

Disclaimer I received early online access to this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Medalist is an adorable manga but more than that, it actually has solid technical notes and best of all the most expressive assortment of faces I've seen in manga in a while. It covers both realistic and idealistic portrayals of figure skating (learning and coaching) as a sport and as a career. I think there's also an undiagnosed learning disorder lurking in the wings. I look forward to seeing seeing how our young skater develops and learning more about the coach in the next volume. I should probably note in case anyone gets grossed out, but there are earthworms in the beginning of the story. (I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.)

Comparing <i>Medalist</i> with any other ice skating manga out in English is like apples to oranges. This is, first and foremost, a sports manga about competitive figure skating, with the dynamic art to back it up. But it's also a story about learning to believe in yourself against all odds - unlike, for example, the boys of <i>Haikyu</i>, Inori doesn't fully believe that she can win or that she's worth it. Mostly that's because all of the adults she interacts with prior to meeting Tsukasa, her coach, are horrible people who not only don't understand her implied learning differences (I'd guess dyslexia and a rote memory disorder), but tell her that she's not smart/good enough because of them. Even her own mother doesn't believe that she has a future in figure skating, although her objections could be framed as simply not wanting her to pin her hopes on an impossible dream.

And maybe it will turn out to be impossible. But Tsukasa doesn't think so, and more importantly, he's willing to work with Inori until she sees it too. She has <i>talent</i> if only people would look past her anxiety and learning differences to see it. She's the kind of heroine we desperately want to see succeed, not just because she's good despite what the world is telling her, but because her triumph will rub it in the world's collective face - and more importantly, show her that she's worth believing in.

All the stars.
This manga is off to such a promising start.
Tsukasa age 26 is a retired ice dancer whose dreams were to be a singles skater. He keeps being turned down for ice shows but he is always auditioning. In the meantime he is offered a job as an assistant coach for the kids in his local skating club. Feeling a bit dejected about his past losses he feels he doesn't have the credentials to coach even though he has skated at the highest levels in Japan. This is where we meet Inori Yuitsuka age 11 who has only ever wanted to skate, but her mother has been reluctant to let her since her sister didn't get that far in the sport. Seeing her determination and love of skating has Tsukasa inspired and willing to become her coach.
Together they are aces. It’s full of encouragement, hard work, and joy.
In this volume we see their journey to earn her preliminary badge test, meet some child skate prodigies, and learn the basics of skating in a way that is easy to understand. Every character you meet is trying their best in their own way. It’s heartwarming to see Tsukasa becoming the best coach he can be for Inori and her trying her best to be a beautiful dancer like him and closing the gap between her and her competitors.
I hope we get to see this journey go all the way to the Olympics. I can’t recommend this enough. It’s beautiful.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first sports based manga I have read and I loved it. The combination of the humor with the character development and the woven in information on the art of ice dancing/figure skating is perfect. I can't wait to read the next volume and see what happens in the prelims.

This manga is amazing, it is such a favourite now. I really loved it. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this manga because I hadn’t seen it anywhere before but it definitely needs to be more known.
We have passion, ice-skating, friendship, humour and happiness. I laughed so much while reading this manga, sometimes, just because of the drawings. The thing is, I also did ice-skate when I was younger (around 14yo) so I can kind of relate but I would be more a side character because I was afraid of falling and hurting myself, unlike Inori. What I also like about this manga is that it shows how are this world is in Japan and how much pression is put on kids at a very young age.
I recommend this manga to everyone and especially fans of sport manga.
5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A cute and so much inspiring story about trusting yourself and to keep believing in your dreamswhatever the obstacle that might stand in your way. Also, it's about the impact of the parents' words on their children's mental health, happiness and dreams.
About the illustrations, I'm kind of in between liking it and not. For me, it was kind of too much when it came to the characters' way of expressing their feelings like crying or excitement, it was over done, also, there were a lot of bubbles for my taste .

It is the beginning of a beautiful story that I'm sure will grow to be a great one, as usual for Kondansha comics, the books that they choose to publish are always amazing.

I really liked this and for the first time in ages I got to the end and wanted the next volume because I *need* to know what happens. Between the blurb and cover I wasn’t sure what to expect, I had a brief worry that Tsukasa and Inori competing together because sometimes artstyles are skewed maybe Inori was meant to be older but thankfully not.

Inori dreams of skating, her mother isn’t thrilled about this because Inori doesn’t have the greatest aptitude for school and everyday chores. Tsukasa used to be a professional skater but started late, he’s struggling with career skating job and is offered a coaching opportunity. There is a serendipitous meeting between him and Inori prior to his and when she shows up at the skating club, he sees himself reflected in her.

The first volume of Medalist follows Inori as she begins learning skating professionally and trying to close the gap between her and the other students who started 4-5 years before her. Her drive and Tsukasa’s for her to achieve skating excellence is the backbone of the story.

This manga was super inspirational and I thought it was super sweet.

Tsukasa had risen in the ranks of Japanese Figure Skating, but has been unemployable in the field mostly due to his age. Having a late start, starting skating at age 14 instead of 5, Tsukasa had been turned away by several coaches just because they didn't want to waste their time trying to play catch-up, until he met his coach who decided to give him a chance.

Tsukasa knows how hard getting into professional skating can be, and when he meets 11 year old Inori who wants nothing more than to skate professionally, he knows she'll have a hard time finding an in. Reaching out to Ms. Takamine, a coach at a local skate school, he suggests to Inori that she and her mother visit Takamine and talk about following her dream of skating.

Medalist is an ice skating series about 26-year-old, Tsukasa, an unemployed and retired ice skater. And 11-year-old Inori, a girl who has a passion for ice skating despite her mother's blatant disapproval. Tsukasa becomes a coach for children and convinces Inori's mother to let her join the figure skating club. From the beginning, Inori is a very talented ice skater but because of her age, she is far beyond some of the other students. Also, Inori has very low self-esteem and it is constantly expressed through her emotions. I cried multiple times reading this volume because Inori found a place where she belongs. Tsukasa also makes a great trainer, it's clear how much he wants Inori to succeed and build confidence in herself. We are also introduced to a cast of characters who make for some interesting rivals and friends for Inori. I never wanted the volume to end!

The Medalist holds a lot of promise and is something you won't want to miss. The story is really engaging and readers will be cheering on Inori.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for allowing me to read an ARC of the Medalist volume 1 in exchange for an honest review!

WOW. The story of the two comings together to accomplish their dream was magnificent. Tsukasa is a young man with shattered dreams, who meets Inori, a girl no one believed had the skills and heart to compete. In the face of adversity, the two work together on the rink to create beautiful magic on ice, displaying to all of those who didn't believe in them they could accomplish their dreams. The adverse dilemmas these two undergo are a display that anyone can overcome obstacles as long as they believe in themselves and their partner.

The journey of Tsukasa and Inori was so beautiful to watch and I was turning the pages with butterflies in my stomach, wanting more. If you are a fan of "Yuri on Ice", you will LOVE the journey of Tsukasa and Inori.

I enjoyed this manga a lot!

This manga follows a 26 year old skater (Tsukasa) trying to figure out exactly what he wants to do, and the 11 year old new skater (Inori) that he eventually decides to coach! I love the relationship between the main two characters - it was so wholesome! I really like the drive that Inori has, and I also like how the manga depicts how she struggles with school and with pressure. She gets anxious and freezes up, but she also tries so hard and has such a passion for skating. I can't wait to see where else these two characters' journeys go in future volumes - I will definitely be continuing with this series!

Some of the art and facial expressions felt a little over-exaggerated at times, but that's just a personal preference and that didn't seem to bother many other reviewers so I think most people wouldn't mind that aspect.

Even though I've only ice skated a few times, reading this made me want to stop everything and go to an ice rink!

Take the young-adult-and-kid friendship of Mob Psycho 100, add it to the sport of Yuri!!! on Ice, and you would get something like Medalist, in the best possible way. A mid-twenties adult who got into ice skating too late to really succeed at it becomes inspired to coach a young girl who is also starting late, but might just have the talent and passion to make it all the way. The story is wholesome, the artwork hilarious, and in the end all I wanted to do was read the next volume to see where it would go next. Highly recommended.

ARC Copy...highly recommended for figure skating enthusiasts and so far very promising start to this j-drama series. I so far liked the dynamics between the pro0skating coach and his very young but promising student so far.