Ice-skating anime Medalist confirms Winter 2025 premiere date with new PV

Modified Nov 08, 2024 11:30 GMT

Ice-skating anime Medalist confirms Winter 2025 premiere date with new PV (Image via ENGI)

On November 8, 2024, Medalist, an ice-skating anime, unveiled its third promotional trailer and announced that it would be released on January 5, 2025. A key visual was also revealed, and the production team announced that real-life ice skaters, including an Olyphic skater, would be part of the choreographers of the anime adaptation.

Medalist is based on a manga series written and illustrated by Tsurumaikada. The manga series has 10 volumes in publication (in Japanese). It has also received an English publication by Kodansha USA, with five volumes available in physical form and 10 in digital.

Ice-skating anime Medalist is set to be released on January 5, 2025

The promotional trailer showcased the journey of Inori Yutsuka and her coach, Tsukasa Akeuraji, as they soared their way through the ice skating world. The trailer also had scenes from the anime series where Inori Yutsuka was skating magnificently. The PV trailer ended with unveiling the anime's release date (January 5, 2025).

The anime is set to air on TV Asahi and some other affiliated channels on January 5. The release date for the Japanese TV channel BS Asahi is January 6, 2025. The production team also unveiled professional ice skaters' involvement as choreographers in Medalist.

The ice skaters taking part in this anime adaptation include Akiko Suzuki (2010 and 2014 Olypis skater), Yuhana Yokoi (the two-time Japanese Junior national medalist, who is currently retired), and Hinano Isobe (currently active ice skater). The PV trailer also reviewed the anime's ending song, Atashi no Dress, performed by the Japanese band Neguse.

The latest key visual featuring Yudai Jakuzure and Ema Yamato (Image via ENGI)

The voice casting for the anime series includes Natsumi Haruse portraying Inori Yutsuka, Takeo Ootsuka (Aqua from Oshi no Ko) voicing Tsukasa Akeuraji, Kana Ichinose (Yuzuriha from Dr. Stone) playing Hikaru Kamisaki, Takahiro Miyake (Gengar from Pocket Monsters) as Yudai Jakuzure and Kotori Koiwai (Elaine from Seven Deadly Sins) playing Ema Yamato.

The major staff members affiliated with the anime series include Yasutaka Yamato (director of Nekopara) as the director, Yuuki Hayashi (music composer of My Hero Academia) as the music composer, and Chinatsu Kameyama (character designer of In Another World With My Smartphone season 2) as the character designer.

Medalist synopsis

Tsukasa and Inori, as seen in the anime trailers (Image via ENGI)

Medalist, a drama-sports anime animated by Studio ENGI, follows the story of Tsukasa Akeuraji, who had his dream of performing as a solo ice skater crushed as he started too late. One day, he met Inori Yutsuka, a fifth-grader who loved ice skating, but her higher-ups gave up on her.

Hoping to fulfill the dreams of this little soul, Tsukasa becomes Inori's coach and helps her succeed in the ice skating world through the instructions he gained while staying in this world. Will Inori fulfill her dream, or will she share the same fate as her coach?

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Edited by Shreya Das