The TV anime "Medalist" is based on Tsurumai Ikada's figure skating manga, which was also chosen as the top comic in the "Next Manga Awards 2022". The show began airing in January this year on TV Asahi's late-night anime slot "NUMAnimation". The show is a passionate drama about Inori Yuzuki, a girl who dreams of becoming a figure skater, and Michiji Akiura, a young man who failed as a skater, as they aim to become glorious medalists as a coach and athlete, and the beautiful and powerful figure skating performance scenes have been a hot topic. We spoke to Yamashita Shinpei, producer of KADOKAWA, who worked on the anime, about the behind-the-scenes of the production.
◇The appeal of the Reiwa era's sports drama "Medalist" and the high hurdles of adapting it into an anime
"Medalist" began serialization in the manga magazine "Afternoon" (Kodansha) in 2020. It focuses on athletes from childhood and depicts the harsh world of figure skating, where it is said that "if you don't start at age 5, it's too late to aim for the Olympics," from various perspectives such as athletes, coaches, and the athletes' families, and has been a hot topic since the beginning of serialization. Producer Yamashita was fascinated by the work, saying, "I read the original manga around 2021 when the second volume of the comic was released, and it was so interesting...I cried my eyes out."
"I felt that it was the sports spirit of the Reiwa era. The sports spirit of those of us from the Showa and Heisei generations has a certain spiritual element to it, and I sometimes wonder whether it's based on a sense of conviction. Of course, even in this day and age, children have many options, and I think they need to have strong feelings to forge ahead on that path with resolve. Medalist matches the "power of feelings" that has remained unchanged since ancient times with the latest technology and experience, and the relationships between athletes and coaches. It also depicts how to put strong feelings into techniques. Personally, no matter how passionate or dramatic a story is, it loses its appeal if it lacks realism, but I was drawn to the story of Medalist, which is well-founded and convincing, and in which hard work and strong feelings blossom."
After reading the original work, Producer Yamashita was keen to get started on making it into an anime, but was troubled by the high hurdle of depicting figure skating in animation.
"Popular figure skating anime up until now have been supported in large part by the technical skills of super animators. As a production company, this is definitely a project that will be a huge undertaking. We spoke to a number of production companies, and many of them said it would be difficult to complete the project without lowering the quality of the original work."
Among these, the name that was mentioned as a production company was ENGI, a subsidiary of KADOKAWA.
"ENGI is stronger in 3D than other animation production companies, and they had a vision of wanting to fuse 3D and 2D in the future. To begin with, figure skating is a sport in which the type of jump changes depending on the angle of the edge when taking off, and the outcome can be completely different depending on whether the weight transfer in the pre-skating movement is correct or not, so I thought it would probably be impossible to do with normal animation. Also, since animation is drawn by multiple people going through various processes, it is difficult if everyone does not know the rules of the sport. We discussed whether 3D would be better to express the precision of the sport. We brought them together and proposed the project, as we thought that the goal of fusing 3D and 2D would match the quality of the work."
◇ Cooperation with top-level athletes
The anime adaptation of "Medalist" was carried out in collaboration with Kodansha, the publisher. Furthermore, Producer Yamashita made adjustments while obtaining cooperation from the Sports Department of TV Asahi, one of the TV stations broadcasting figure skating, and the Japan Skating Federation.
"In fact, it was also important to think about what kind of people we would work with to create the anime. First, we went to do some research on skating rinks, and the editor of the original work introduced us to the "Kouwa Minato Sports & Culture" in Nagoya. I had heard that they had done 3D motion capture there in the past, and Akiko Suzuki, who runs the main rink there, has recently been focusing on choreography, so we were told that she might be able to help us out."
After being introduced by various parties, Suzuki, who has experience competing in the Olympics, was asked to choreograph the performance scenes for the anime. For the motion capture shoot, Suzuki introduced talented skaters Yuhana Yokoi and Hinano Isobe to provide demonstrations.
"It really felt like we were connected through a circle of introductions. It is quite a high hurdle to get an active skater to give it their all outside of their own competitions. However, Yokoi had just retired from competition at the time, so he was able to perform all of the jumps at a level close to that of an active skater. We had Yokoi skate the jumps with a high number of rotations, and Suzuki did the choreography. It took some time to lay the groundwork initially, but once we were connected, everyone was very cooperative and things progressed smoothly. I was really grateful."
◇ Acting scenes realized by combining 3D and 2D "The pressure of not being able to show anything wrong"
The figure skating scenes in "Medalist" are as powerful as they are realistic, but also make the most of the original's charms, such as the athletes' facial expressions and hand movements, to create a spectacular visual. The performances of the main character Inori in episode 4 and the genius girl Ookamisaki Hikaru in episode 5 became a big topic of conversation among fans. How were the performances unique to the anime created?
"Even though we say motion capture, a figure skating rink is so large that there is no motion capture equipment that can fit the entire thing, and even if there was, it would be enormously expensive. In reality, we pick up the movement of the body's joints at various points, and then we film the performer from all directions with an optical camera at the same time, and adjust the position of the performer afterwards. Fingertip movements and facial expressions are difficult to achieve with motion capture alone, so we refer to the filmed video and check and create them one by one. Motion capture is the base, but the 2D staff corrects the facial expressions frame by frame after the 3D staff has created them. It's really a fusion of 3D and 2D. Of course, there was a lot of trial and error along the way, and there were times when I wondered if it would ever be completed, but I think we were able to put it together well in the end."
As a "medalist" who has pursued the sport of figure skating since childhood, there is also pressure to "not show anything wrong."
"That's a pressure that all the staff feel, so we research it thoroughly and are particular about creating it in detail. That said, there are some parts where we have to lie in the anime. For example, the beginner performances are at a very elementary level, so after seeing the performances of Olympic athletes, the impact is lessened. However, in the original work, the beginner levels are portrayed as being very dynamic. How do we express that in the anime? In reality, the athlete may not have jumped that high, but in 3D the composition can be decided later, so the camera can get under the athlete and take an angled shot, and so on, so I think it might have been easier to lie in the anime in 3D."
The production of the anime also benefited greatly from the cooperation of the original author, Tsurumai Ikada.
"Since this is a highly specialized work, for example, 'At this time, I tried this jump, but next time it turned out like this...' the causal relationships are connected to the content of the competition, so I have the teacher oversee various processes. I'm sure I'm causing trouble for the teacher, who is busy with the manuscript, but as part of the anime staff, we are all having fun making it."
With the cooperation of the original author, top athletes, and various people in the figure skating industry, the production staff went through a lot of trial and error to create the performance scene of the "Medalist." We hope you will enjoy the culmination of their efforts to the fullest.
