Skadi

Being from a cold weather climate winter sports have always been a part of my life, and that includes figure skating. What little girl from my generation didn’t admire the grace and beauty of Katarina Witt and not want to emulate her? Ice skating anime is pretty rare and to my knowledge this is the only one I know of. It’s quite good and should appeal to almost anyone, even if you don’t know a double axel from a triple toe loop. Ginban Kaleidoscope revolves around a young Japanese skater, Tazusa Sakurano whose dream is to make it to the 2006 WinterGames in Torino. She is one of the top skaters in Japan but has the unfortunate tendency to fall in big events. After another disappointment while at an event in Canada in which she suffers a bad fall she suddenly finds herself possessed by the spirit of a Canadian teen who died in a plane crash, Pete Pumps. What follows is some hilarious comedy, sports drama, and a little romance. Having an athletic background I think I can relate too many of the themes presented in this anime. Though it is obviously dramatized for the screen I think the figure skating portion of it is fairly realistic. The interaction between Tazusa and Pete is amusing considering to everyone else she is talking to herself. Some of it is the kind of things only Japan would think about, such as Tazusa holding in going to the bathroom because she didn’t want him to see her doing that. Everything from her changing her clothes and bathing blindfolded so that he couldn’t peep on her to her eating tomatos because he hated them was also amusing and in a way gave some realism to the situation they were in. The comedy all works and I found myself laughing all the way through it. There are a few inconsistencies though. Mainly they revolve around Pete's possession of Tazusa. In the beginning we are told that he can only see what she sees and can’t manifest his spirit outside of her but this is contradicted many times later. Pete sees things that he shouldn’t be able to be seen, and Tazusa will speak at him as if he was standing next to her. Now I know why they did it, to have her not speak to anyone and not have a physical form for Pete for the audience to see might have been a bit odd but the story could have been written better to account for this. It’s a minor annoyance but significant considering how important this was to the plot. Tazusa and Pete are the only real important characters in the story. The entire show is seen pretty much through her perspective. Little development or screen time is given to any of her classmates, family, or even skating rivals. Most of them just come across as background scenery. None of them really feel like villains as the main antagonist in the story is really Tazusa against her own fears. Anyone who has competed in athletics knows that, especially at higher levels of competition, everyone has talent and everyone’s talent is usually pretty close to one another it is the mental toughness that often makes the difference. Tazusa's doubts about herself and her ability and her fears are very important to the story and make her feel very real. I thought she was a very interesting character and was the main reason I liked this show so much. Pete is also a good character but ultimately not as interesting as Tazusa. This is mainly because the story really shows no interest in developing him at all as a character. We learn almost nothing about him. He was a pilot, he lived in Japan a lot, and he hates tomatoes. That’s about it. Never does Tazusa even try to find out about his personal life, his family and friends, or even what he looked like. I thought this was a bit farfetched as if I had some guy possessing me I think I would probably want to learn something about him. I wouldn’t call the art amazing but it is very good. The settings are very nice and the characters are appealing. I really liked Tazusa's skating costumes and the sports action was well done. There were a few inconsistencies such as characters talking in profile out of the sides of their mouths. The music was good, the OP/EN songs as well as the incidental score and the songs played during the skating events. I thought Tazusa's and Pete’s voice actors turned in a solid performance. Those of you who like sports drama and comedy should really enjoy Ginban Kaleidoscope. While it’s not an amazing series for the ages, it should be worth quite a few laughs and tears.

Splitter

For every anime where a plucky amateur becomes the star of the competition, for every anime where love and peace makes the hero or heroine new friends, and for every anime where dreams come true, there is Ginban Kaleidoscope; a bittersweet tale about reaching for your dreams and finding that winning isn't everything. The strongest aspect of Ginban is easily story. Though the premise is hokey, the execution is flawless and handled exceptionally. Most tales of this nature often fail by lending themselves to comedy. Ironically, Ginban does that, but the jokes are just pointed enough that they sell. Not every joke, such as the runninggag of Mika thinking Tazusa is yelling at her when she's yelling at Pete, hits the mark, but the dialogue between Tazusa and Pete is full of zingers and visual gags that nearly always hit the mark. Still, while the comedy is suprisingly good, Ginban does a praise-worthy job at handling the gravitas of a romance between a living person and a dead one. By the end of the series, it's very clear Tazusa's feelings for Pete. The resolution of which is purely bittersweet but well-crafted. Likewise, so is the resolution to Tazusa's Olympic dreams which demonstrate how much Tazusa really won. The characterization of Tazusa is also amazing. Her development, attitude, and the whole of her parts when all is said and done is not only the antithesis of the stereotypical Junichi Sato heroine, but it highlights her individuality, her brazen independence, and her determination as something that can be admired as well. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the cast, but Ginban is so scattered and minimalistic with how it handles the supporting cast that it's better if you just focus on Tazusa and Pete, solely because this series very rarely focusing on anyone else. Unfortunately, the technical aspects are hardly of praise. The art is sub-par and many of the performances are filled with reused animation. Even in the big performance, it's mostly just a rehash of an earlier performance with nothing that signifies how grand the performance is actually supposed to be. To further the point, I'm pretty sure you could have a drinking game for every time they use the animation where Tazusa falls on her butt. The sound aspect is better, but not because of the BGM (which is rather bland) or the songs (which are also rather bland), but the performances, especially by lead Ayako Kawasumi in a role very uncharacteristic of her other performances. She completely sells Tazusa's entire attitude better than probably anyone else could. Hiroyuki Yoshino as Pete also does a capital job of filling the role of Pete. The Engrish was a bit hard to bear, but he was great when he stuck to Japanese. In short, Ginban was a very pleasant experience. It's technical aspects may not be up to par, but the storyline and how the character of Tazusa is handled and performaned are praise-worthy for their brash originality. Overall, I give Ginban Kaleidoscope an 8 out of 10.