Medalist 13

メダリスト [Medalist] #13

by Tsurumaikada

Inori is in the Junior class, and Hikaru's a Novice-and the only competition they'll be able to face each other this year is the All-Japan Junior Championships. Having lost to Hikaru back at the All-Japan Novices, Inori's tackling this event with an unwavering determination to win…while Hikaru, fully aware of Inori's relentless pursuit, trains under Olympic gold winner Riley Fox to reach even greater heights. But then, on the day of the All-Japan Juniors, Iruka-a trusted veteran skater to Inori-sustains a freak injury during practice. Doing her best to hide her distress, Inori heads into the rink…

Genres: Manga

208 pages, Paperback

Expected publication August 18, 2026

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the many things I appreciate about this manga is that it never forgets where Inori is starting from. She can proclaim herself to be Hikaru’s rival all she likes, but beyond her using it as motivation she has to back it up.

And she is coming to skating much later than the others, no matter how prodigious her talents might be. Which is my subtle way of saying that you should buckle up because this volume is going down a bumpy road.

What looks like a moment of triumph, worthy of the classic achievements of the most over the top sports manga, quickly turns to ash when reality decides to assert itself and the whole event turns into a crushing debacle for Inori.

It’s a story about loss and how difficult it is to deal with at any age, but especially that age. Tsukasa’s reaction is heart wrenching and just shows his dedication and despair in the moment.

Naturally, Inori puts on a brave face, as she thinks she should. But the one person who can break through that is Hikaru herself, who finally sorts through her feelings over Inori’s drive. It kiboshes my ‘dark Inori’ arc concept for something more believable, which admittedly works better for something this grounded.

Which leaves Hikaru to whole cloth inspire her would-be rival to get back in the saddle. If this was a video game, there is no question who the final boss would be and it’s not even close.

Hikaru’s performance here is absolutely insane, both in complexity and its depiction on the part of the mangaka. You can feel the power of the crowd coming through the page as Hikaru holds absolutely nothing back and proves to Inori that this is worth striving for. It’s absolutely stunning.

There’s a lot going on this volume, but things are very much centred on the characters that need exploring with the greatest urgency. Specifically, this really drills down on Inori and her reaction to losing and her feeling of letting down Tsukasa.

But Tsukasa has his own lessons to impart and the two of them have a real heart-to-heart where we learn a lot more about Tsukasa’s skating past and what really drives him as a coach.

It’s very touching and the way the two aren’t communicating well this volume is believable. Being able to deal with winning is a no-brainer, but being able to deal with losing, especially at this level, is hard. This is a lesson Inori is having to learn all over again.

And the shadow over all this is the skater who got injured last time. That story goes into all sorts of problems that this causes, not just the obvious ones. It’s very complicated and I loved the way it was addressed.

That’s just some of the great work in this volume. There’s a lot to dig into, more than I can cover without another half dozen paragraphs, and all backed by the usual strengths. It has lots of well-portrayed skating and tons of interesting character beats to work with. Rarely does the series let me down.

5 stars - and it didn’t this time either. By having such fallible characters, who realistically cannot win every time, you make for a far more compelling story. This remains one of the great sports manga and a personal favourite.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Was ein super, wenn auch harter Band. Auch wenn Inori versucht hat, ihren Schock nicht zu zeigen, hat er sich in ihrer Leistung widergespiegelt. Dadurch ist es zu einem Ergebnis gekommen, mit das belastet. Ihre und Hikarus Beziehung finde ich super spannend, denn obwohl sie Rivalinnen sind, bauen sie sich gegenseitig auf und feuern sich aus der Ferne an. Hikarus Lauf war Klasse und sie geht nun ihren eigenen Weg. Inori hatte mit der Niederlage zu kämpfen, aber sie und Tsukasa konnten daraus einiges lernen und blicken somit positiv in die Zukunft. Auch Irukas Lage sieht nicht gut aus, aber wie Inori versucht sie mit Resilienz voranzukommen. Als nächstes steht nun also der Junioren GP an, den ich gar nicht abwarten kann.

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason Goodreads thinks this won't be published until April 26. It is most definitely out in Japan and the licensed English translation is also available. (Got mine from Bookwalker, which is where I buy all my manga.)

[Lisa musa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solidified itself for one of the best new gen sports manga. This is magnificent. Plot, movement and everything

[鯊 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75. 沒辦法建頁面所以先直接紀錄：續集第14(2026/1/22)集我看了。