Skate-Leading Stars

I had high hopes for show. From trailer it felt like it will be there some rivals fight and now I´m disappointed. Not even that there is almost no that white hair boy which is kind of rival for MC but in that few episodes I watched, there were only things about his team. I know ... its not big mistake to focus on relationships in the team beetwen the characters but I don´t think so that half of episodes (or meaby more because its still ongoing) should be about that. The last thing which annoys me is that anime shows how MC want to do something but ALWAYS do that bad. Like ok he just come but to that sport but ... he should be that bad, right? Its really annoying if they say that some random kids is better on ice than MC even so in past he was really awsome (I mean that thing in episode 4 i think ...). It isn´t bad if someone is better than MC but when when is everybody better I thing that almost everybody would give up on that or would be little sad about that. I tryingm trying to say that I feel like MC doesn´t make any progress and if it yes I don see it. Anime main plot is that MC and his team should fight beetwen white hair boy´s team right? But if its going to be right now I doubt they would let MC go on ice in that competition - or if I would be captain I wount let him

- Sorry for my grammer its my first Review and my main language isn´t english (I´m still learnig ). And I´m using so much THAT because in my language its more than one word and I don´t know how to express it in other words in english.
 
Episode 8:
Yes, let's have Maeshima work himself close to being tired, and then expect his team mates to be fine with it. Even though it happens right before a competition, that's just super smart. They did fine, but Maeshima's team mates need to stop bowing down to him, and treating him like a God. That's not team chemistry, that's stupidity, even if Maeshima has the excuse to become less rusty.
Just another reason why this anime will be forgettable once its over.
 
ep 8
fuck maeshima. what an asshole

one moment i did enjoy in this episode was reo's kind of scary grinning. it's like, oh man maybe this char will have more to him and be interesting

the one mystery that keeps me going is the hayato + reo relationship but it feels like they'll never expand on it... Come oN!
 
Claptrap said:
ep 8
fuck maeshima. what an asshole

one moment i did enjoy in this episode was reo's kind of scary grinning. it's like, oh man maybe this char will have more to him and be interesting

the one mystery that keeps me going is the hayato + reo relationship but it feels like they'll never expand on it... Come oN!
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I think the anime's already forgotten about the white-haired rival at this point. We're already more than halfway through the series and the most we're getting from him is "ice cold prodigy." That's it. Meanwhile, the protagonist is the exact opposite, only he's more the workhorse counterpart who has to put in a little more work than the rival.

Literally all of the side characters are way more interesting than the leads at this point. If I'm being honest, I'm really only sticking around for the rest of the guys on the team - that captain/vice captain friendship gets to me in particular, like most captain/vice captain friendships in sports anime - but I'm especially curious about

their first year ace who just left them once the main character came into the picture.
 
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Jonouchi, as always, remains the lone bright spot in this sea of generic tropes and shitty main character-type behavior.

Episode 9:

This is the most skating animation we've ever seen in this stupid godforsaken show and it's all done for the idol skate team. A grown man could cry at this, he really, really could.
 
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This probably wasn't the best choice for my "introduction into sports animes", huh. Damn, the main characters are annoying and seem to only run on one single shallow motivation each.

Was it explained why pretty boy Ochizuki doesn't skate? I might have missed that. Cause he's my fave, and he doesn't even do anything. :(
 
ZanKraken said:
This probably wasn't the best choice for my "introduction into sports animes", huh. Damn, the main characters are annoying and seem to only run on one single shallow motivation each.

Was it explained why pretty boy Ochizuki doesn't skate? I might have missed that. Cause he's my fave, and he doesn't even do anything. :(
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I'm sorry this is not a good intro into sports anime :( I hope you watch more sports anime in the future though, because its a genre with a lot of different kinds of fun and drama





Man, 11th episode airs today.... after that there's only one more. If we even get more on motivations/the half-siblings it's too little too late. Motivation is really important for enjoying characters and understanding where they're coming from and we've really missed out on 'dramatic' backstory when it would've been most impactful and useful to us as viewers.
 
Episode 11:
So they finally showed the rest of the teams' matches. The amount of time(sitting through episodes) it took to get to the well animated skate scenes was ridiculous. I don't know why they took that long to release the history on Shinozaki and Sasugai, cause it would have been more helpful to the story. Either way, the studio kind of fucked up. Feels like a relief to know there's only one episode left.
 
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We finally get an episode that's 65% animation to match the hype of the opening song, but at what cost. I'd for sure hate to be a side character in this universe.

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Give me a break, man, the guy just told you he didn't know how to stop being boring, what the fuck do you mean he's a genius who still wants to learn things?
 
ep12
Really, they didn't even show their points in the end? What was all that buildup for, instead you get to see them basically not care that they won at all. That's such a weird resolution. If they wanted to go that route they could have just gone the whole way and not implied the result at all to leave us guessing, not give us this.
 
Blah. So the main school wins out of sheer determination and gets that gold simply for nailing those super difficult routines. Either team skating is the nicest sport in the world or it’s so new, nobody really knows what to make of it yet. Gotta love how out of nowhere that rival/MC relationship felt too – so last minute, you’ll almost forget they had a beef in the first place.

You can tell they splurged all of the animation budget on Episode 11, since the main school didn't even get the full routine it deserved. So much dead space and close-ups of the MC and his teammates just randomly twirling and pirouetting in the background. I'd be sad if I cared more for anybody here.

2.5/5
 
I think it's so frustrating that the finale feels like 'it didn't have enough time' to expand the MC/Rival/Bro shit when it wastes so much time not touching on it.

Honestly since the series doesn't really utilize the full cast very well, it would've been better for it to zoom in on central characters and handle their drama more. Just feels like a waste all around.
 
I like the anime enough to finish it but yes, I was disappointed at some parts like not being able to see the full performance of Ionodai (main school) which I've been really looking forward to. Instead, I end up appreciating the performances of the other schools because we just can't see the full performance of Ionodai because of a lot of cut scenes from other people commenting or even flashbacks sigh...

The last episode also didn't give us any proper winning scene unlike other sports anime where you'd feel happy with the winning team and even maybe cry tears of joy with them.

I do have a favorite character, Himekawa, and at some point, I'm actually hoping for his school to win instead. His character background and personality was most satisfying to me. I kind of wished he was the main character instead. In the earlier episodes, I wished he had gone back to Ionodai, but in the later episodes, I believe it was a good choice for him to be in a different school. He definitely shines brighter there. Spoiler: Even if his school didn't win, he did end up chosen for the National team so this is probably the happiest moment I got in the last episode.
 
12 and overall thoughts:
This attempt at trying to flesh out the rivalry between Shinozaki and Maeshima at the end felt very cheap and last minute to me. I understand that J.C. Staff didn't have a lot of episodes to work with, but that doesn't stop other sport anime from doing well. There's just not enough focus on the main characters, and I think they could have narrowed it down to a few characters. That would have helped the story a lot. Plus I didn't feel any emotion with the characters, where I felt like I couldn't care about any of the characters or their goals.

This anime may not feel as insulting as other sport anime, but it was still a boring slog to get through. And I definitely don't see myself investing in another season if it does happen. As far as I'm concerned, I can't really say I want to rewatch it. There's nothing in it that makes me want to rewatch it. 2/5.
 
Franconator said:
I have to be the only one here who isn't completely annoyed with this show lol. I do agree it's pretty forgettable and generic, but to be fair to the show, it isn't really trying to be anything more than that. I haven't gotten bored with it yet at least, so there's that.



I think everybody's already lost interest in their rivalry at this point, to be honest. Which is fine. With all of those targets on Ice Boy's back, you'd be forgiven for forgetting he has beef with the main character.

It's funny. It's not really those two I have a problem with here, it's more the guy who keeps hanging around the MC and threatening to put him on a leash or whatever other kinky thing. I understand if the show feels it has a BL quota to meet or something, but they could have really tried to work harder to make the manager guy more likeable than he actually is. Or even less insufferable, at the very least.
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I think the show do have potential if it wasn't as rushed as it is, I think the characters have unlikable traits and such but in a sense, I can see that being realistic as well. It isn't always easy to change, the show should have focused on them changing throughout time and such a bit more than they do. I hope if they get a second season, it will be at a slower pace and try to develop the characters more than they are now.

They are introducing new rivals which is understandable since you can't start from a long break and expect gold (at least usually) so I like them showing how people got better throughout time while he was gone and that there's more than just the champ guy (the one with white hair, the main rival lmao)

I'm also only at episode 6, so of course my opinion could change, I think the anime has potential but was too rushed to be able to use it well.

The main rival can be forgettable but for me he still lingers in the back of my mind purely out of him being outwardly dislikable, which I actually finds interesting that it can work out like that, with so little known about him, it can help making the other rivals interesting as well, since they need to be "overcome" first too.
 
Mallowchu said:
I think the show do have potential if it wasn't as rushed as it is, I think the characters have unlikable traits and such but in a sense, I can see that being realistic as well. It isn't always easy to change, the show should have focused on them changing throughout time and such a bit more than they do. I hope if they get a second season, it will be at a slower pace and try to develop the characters more than they are now.

They are introducing new rivals which is understandable since you can't start from a long break and expect gold (at least usually) so I like them showing how people got better throughout time while he was gone and that there's more than just the champ guy (the one with white hair, the main rival lmao)

I'm also only at episode 6, so of course my opinion could change, I think the anime has potential but was too rushed to be able to use it well.

The main rival can be forgettable but for me he still lingers in the back of my mind purely out of him being outwardly dislikable, which I actually finds interesting that it can work out like that, with so little known about him, it can help making the other rivals interesting as well, since they need to be "overcome" first too.
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Oof. It's been so long since I saw this so I don't remember if they even had other rivals besides stoic ice boy. But if you're halfway through, then I can already tell you that it's only going to look more rushed from there. Especially when you get to the last tournament episodes.

It probably says a lot about my feelings for this show that I only really remember the character I didn't like which was the manager smartass with the glasses. So I'm not sure if we mean the same guy if we're talking unlikable.

But you're right, the main rival was forgettable because all his development came right at you in the very last parts of the series. It's fine if that was all there was to his personality, but that's only if the show really did intend to use him as a springboard for other characters to develop. That's not the case here, since he was shown to suddenly be this other real character - but because you already didn't like the main rival from the get-go, there was very little reason for you to care by the time the show ended.
 
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