Medalist — Inori's Gold-Medal Skate: How Japanese Fans Reacted — "The kid who cried about wanting to skate while catching earthworms just won gold"
メダリスト score17「下剋上」いのり優勝回、日本のファンの反応
“The kid who was crying that she wanted to skate while catching earthworms just won a gold medal… my tear ducts are absolutely destroyed.”
ミミズ捕まえながらスケートしたいって泣いてた子が金メダル取るなんて涙腺ぶっ壊れるって、、、
Medalist's Season 2 episode score17, "The Upset" (下剋上), aired in Japan and dropped on the official channel — the routine where Inori, a near-unknown with barely a year of figure skating behind her, steals gold at the Novice A finals. The episode's emotional gut-punch landed instantly, but the most-liked Japanese reactions did something English recaps rarely do: they broke down EXACTLY how she won. The recurring theme wasn't "she landed a harder jump" — it was Coach Tsukasa's strategy. Fans walked everyone through it: Inori doesn't have the high-difficulty jumps, so the plan was to max out her program-component score with flawless skating and stack points with a back-loaded combination, the now-famous 2A + Euler + 3S — where the single-rotation Euler exists only to switch her landing foot and unlock a third jump. Then someone clocked the real-world parallel: at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, men's champion Shaidrov won gold with 3A + Euler + 4S the very same week this episode aired, and the thread decided the universe was being poetic. From there it splits into manga evangelists insisting the chapter hits even harder on the page, ENGI getting overdue praise for the skating animation, and a quiet appreciation for the Yonezu song — before someone lands the kind of one-liner only a Medalist fan would.
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Japanese fan reactions (excerpted from 2160)
- @jigokukarano448👍 3,174
Even to an untrained eye she's clearly gotten better than in Season 1 — gave me goosebumps. Stare at her, Coach Tsukasa — at YOUR Inori.
1期より明らかに上手くなったのが素人目にもわかって鳥肌立ったわ ガン見しなよ司先生のいのりさんを
- @クリームクリーム-t8p👍 78
Welp, crying already.
もい泣いちゃった
- @阿部仁美-t7k👍 56
And this comment made me cry a second time.
このコメントで二度泣きました
- @すぱ-j8j👍 7,124
The anime didn't show this, but right before Inori's routine starts, the crowd actually trickles out of the arena. The thinking being: the rest are all first-timers, so no upset is happening. And THEN she skates this…
アニメでは描写されなかったけど、いのりちゃんの演技が始まる前に観客たちがぽつぽつと帰っちゃうんだよね。 残りは初出場の子たちだから番狂せは起きないだろうって。 からのこの演技ですよ…。
- @-Teresa👍 671
Yeah, after this she's earned the respectful "-san." It's Inori-san now.
もうこれいのり"さん"だな
- @RAY-nl5ny👍 950
I mean, of course everyone's stunned — a newcomer with barely a year of figure skating just ripped the win away from them.
そりゃフィギュアスケート歴1年ちょいのニューフェイスに優勝もぎ取られたらびっくりするよな
- @takoyaki829👍 1,867
Inori won because — like Sekoma explained last episode — she racked up a ton of execution bonuses (GOE). The plan wasn't to attempt harder jumps; it was to relentlessly push up her quality of execution and then spike the technical score at the end with her trusty Salchow. It was Coach Tsukasa's strategy win, plain and simple.
いのりちゃんが優勝できたのは前回セコマさんが説明していたように演技の「加点」が多くついたから。難しいジャンプに挑戦するのではなく、ひたすら完成度を上げ、最後に得意のサルコウで技術点も高くするという司先生の戦略勝ちだったわけです。
- @6stars946👍 1,488
From how it's framed, everyone gets the impression the final combination is what pulled off the huge upset — but on jump base value alone, Yunagi is actually still ahead, even counting her fall deduction. Tsukasa's plan had two prongs. One: squeeze the most possible points out of jumps for an Inori who doesn't have the high-difficulty ones. The other — and THIS is the real key — use the elite skating skill she inherited from her ice-dance-background coach to rack up huge bonuses. Beautiful skating raised the overall quality of her jumps, spins, and steps and pulled in big GOE. That's what let her overtake Yunagi on the final score.
作中の描写から最後のコンビネーションで大逆転したという印象が強いと思いますが、実はジャンプの基礎点だけでは転倒ミス減点含めてもまだ夕凪ちゃんが上回っています。 司先生がとった作戦は二本立てで、一つ目が高難度のジャンプ(３ルッツ、３フリップ)を持たないいのりさんがジャンプでできるだけ高得点を得るための作戦。（…）作戦のもう一つは実はこちらが肝でアイスダンス出身である司先生譲りの卓越したスケーティング技術で高い加点を得ること。（…）美しいスケーティングでジャンプ、スピン、ステップの全体の完成度を上げGOEでも高い加点を得たこと。 これによって最終得点で夕凪ちゃんを逆転することができたわけです。
- @nameless5183👍 165
Oh, bless the resident expert. That actually made it make sense.
おお、識者コメントありがたい。わかりやすい。
- @横井ビト子👍 962
I'd always vaguely wondered what the point of the Euler even is when it only does a single rotation — but ahh, I see, it lets you switch feet so it opens up the option for a third jump. TIL…
1回しか回らないオイラーって何しにあるんだろうってぼんやり思ってはいたんだけど、なるほど、足を替えることが出来て3つ目のジャンプの選択肢が増えるんだ 勉強になりました…
- @ともあんとも👍 1,164
The visual of the chain snapping on the Euler was so good. It's an anime so fair enough, but cutting ALL of Sekoma's commentary is genuinely sad 😭
オイラーの鎖がちぎれる演出はとても良かった アニメだからしゃーないけどセコマさんの解説全カットは悲しい😭
- @どこどこわっしょい👍 2,348
Shaidrov landing 3A-1Eu-4S in the men's singles at the Milano Olympics and taking gold — and that's the exact window the episode airs where Inori lands 2A-1Eu-3S and wins… I can't help feeling something fated about it.
ミラノオリンピックの男子シングルで3A-1Eu-4Sをきめたシャイドロフ選手が金メダルをとったタイミングで、いのりちゃんが2A-1Eu-3Sをきめて優勝した話が放映されるの…なんだか勝手に運命的なものを感じちゃう
- @水無月-b6d👍 135
Honestly Shaidrov is way too much of a real-life Inori.
シャイドロフ選手もリアルいのりさんすぎる。
- @日向01👍 31
The only difference is the rotation count — she's literally doing the same thing as the men's Olympic champion. Inori's insane.
回転数が違うだけでやってること男子金メダリストと一緒なのいのりさんすげぇ
- @心経👍 1,603
I was screaming "LAND IT! LAND IT! LAND IT! UAAASSHAAAAAA!!" and the cat next to me launched straight into the air.
降りろ！降りろ！降りろ！うあっしゃああああああああ！！って叫んじゃって隣で猫がぴょーんてなった
- @熊野プー-p8w👍 1,138
Maybe it's because I've read the manga, but her big sister's line — "Aren't you glad you started skating?" — broke me. You really, really are, kid…
原作読んでるからなのかもしれないけど、お姉ちゃんの「スケート始めて良かったね」っていうセリフで泣いてしまう。 ほんとに良かったね…
- @すいか-o1k👍 2,578
Being JUST barely on track to make Nationals and then getting overtaken at the very last second by some terrifying unknown skater — that must have stung so badly…
ギリ全日本行けそうだったのに最後の最後に無名のやばい選手来て追い越されたの相当辛かっただろうな…
- @パパイヤ野郎👍 1,085
Rinna in 5th, who makes Nationals, scored 70.04; Sakina in 6th, who doesn't, scored 69.98. A 0.06 gap deciding it is brutal.
5位の全日本行けるりんなちゃんが70.04で6位で全日本行けなかった咲希奈ちゃんが69.98で得点が僅差なのが辛い
- @totalcam5766👍 2,955
So this generation has Hikaru waiting up ahead of them AND Inori now closing in from behind…?
この世代の子って、前には光ちゃんがいて、後ろからいのりさんが追ってくるのかよ…
- @猫十夜👍 61
So basically… they're caught in a pincer attack.
つまり、ハサミ討ちの形になるな…
- @tashitashi96👍 584
A wolf at the front gate, an earthworm at the back gate, lol.
前門の狼、後門のミミズw
- @to_ra👍 2,534
Her prepping with a salad and then going for a parfait instead of the meat is killing me lol.
サラダで整えてからの肉じゃなくてパフェ食ってるの草
- @野中根人👍 140
I was sitting there like "why not just start on the meat, your blood sugar's fine" — and then, plot twist: parfait.
いきなり肉でも血糖値上がらないのになぜ？と思ってたらまさかのパフェ。
- @3y24👍 676
This show absolutely got a budget bump in Season 2 — the sheer volume AND quality of the skating scenes is insane. I don't see many people praising the staff, but making something like this is genuinely, genuinely incredible. And from ENGI of all studios, no less.
このアニメ、絶対2期になって予算引き上げてるよな、スケートシーンの量も完成度もエグ過ぎる。 制作陣褒めてる人あんまり見かけへんけど、こんなん作るのって本当に本当に本当に凄いよ。しかもあのENGIが。
- @kyuki-o9n👍 10
I'm honestly so happy to see ENGI grow this much…
ENGIがここまで成長してうれしいよ・・・
- @BombBomb144👍 4,954
In the anime you're going "this kid's amazing!" from early in the routine, but in the manga it builds — mid-performance you slowly go "wait… is this kid actually insane?" — and that's so good. Please, please read the manga for this chapter.
アニメだと演技の初めの方から｢この子すげぇ！｣ってなってるけど原作だと演技の途中で段々｢あれ？この子ヤバくね？｣ってなるのアツいからまじでこの回は漫画見て欲しい
- @miki04813👍 393
I'd only watched the anime. I was so desperate for the result I went looking for spoilers… then got too lazy searching and just bought the digital volume. Loved it. Now I get why the manga readers keep recommending it.
アニメしか見てなかった。 結果が気になってネタバレ見てたけど… 探すのめんどくさくなってデジタル版買った！めちゃ面白かった。 原作勢がマンガ勧めるのわかる気がしたよ。
- @岸波-s1c👍 528
For anyone about to start the Medalist manga: this episode's chapter is in Volume 6.
これからメダリスト原作を読み始める人へ 今回の話はメダリスト6巻に収録されてます。
- @takamatu4796👍 2,401
"Just you wait — surely everyone will come to see how dazzling you are." (the Yonezu lyric)
今に見なよ きっと君の眩しさに誰もが気づくだろう
- @ソリーマーチ隆史👍 189
Yonezu is a fan of the manga and personally brought that song to them for the anime — and it shows. It fits the scene perfectly. A masterpiece of a track.
あの曲は米津が原作ファンで、アニメ化の時に、自ら使ってくれって持ち込んだ曲なだけあってめちゃくちゃ合ってた神曲。
- @rio.n5896👍 109
It transcends Tsukasa's POV — this is leaking pure "Yonezu standing in the back, arms crossed, watching proudly" energy.
司視点を超えて米津の後方腕組みおじさん視点が漏れ出てますね
- @おきろっ👍 456
I genuinely love Coach Kawasemi as a person, so Tsukasa saying "I don't want Coach Kawasemi to be misunderstood" made me SOOO happy.
鴗鳥コーチのことまじで人として好きだから司先生が「鴗鳥先生が誤解されて欲しくない」って言ってくれるのまーーーじで嬉しい
- @賞金首-c4n👍 887
The best thing about the Medalist official channel is they put the episode up right after it airs on TV AND clip out each skater's routine for you. Truly grateful.
メダリスト公式の素晴らしいところは地上波放送後に配信してくれるし選手たちの滑走シーンをピックアップしてくれるところ マジ感謝
- @やま-f9w👍 267
Sure, the manga gets you hyped reading it — but the anime really values the flow, structuring it so you watch the whole program without ever breaking the momentum. It's the best!!
確かに原作は読んでて盛り上がれるけど、アニメは流れを大事にして、プログラムの流れを止めずに見れる構成になってて最高です！！
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