Medalist - Ch. 50 - Proof of Earnestness

[MangaDex]

 

[lovemonger]

hello, medalheads!! wait, i feel like i've said this before today

score 50 was released together with score 49, so enjoy this double release! this was a shorter chapter, and the author's note mentioned that this (presumably, score 50) was supposed to be the beginning of the next chapter, but the author decided to make it its own separate score. again, i would like to thank an anonymous little bug and hamburg matcha parfait for their help in redrawing, and machi mizuha's biggest fan for proofreading. very appreciated from us!

please consider buying the official translation! whether it be physical or digital, it goes a long way to show support towards this manga and the people involved with it. also don't forget the anime is still airing!

a minor translation note: previously, way back in volume 8, hikaru skates to a song from the movie titled "La cage aux oiseaux". however in this score, it is stated that the movie is called "Ballet in the Miniature Garden", while the song is titled "La cage aux oiseaux". so if you think you misremembered, don't worry, you're not insane.

enjoy the chapter, and happy skating! GOD BLESS YOU!!

 

[ewjifowejfiowe]

When Hikaru fell and Iruka had the accident, I thought this was done only so Inori could win the competition. Thankfully the author didn't take this cheap path, it wouldn't be good for Inori to win only because of that. She wants to be on the same level or above the other competitors, winning here like that wouldn't mean anything.

Now I'm wondering if Hikaru will deliver or not. For her to win she will have to beat Dahlia. Can she do it?

 

[1idd0kun]

When Hikaru fell and Iruka had the accident, I thought this was done only so Inori could win the competition. Thankfully the author didn't take this cheap path, it wouldn't be good for Inori to win only because of that. She wants to be on the same level or above the other competitors, winning here like that wouldn't mean anything.

Now I'm wondering if Hikaru will deliver or not. For her to win she will have to beat Dahlia. Can she do it?

Inori losing is fine, but been completely trashed was unnecessary. imo. I think the author went overboard this time. This outcome is cheap too, since it basically means Inori got no emotional character growth all this time. She still gets psyched out and completely self-destroys when faced with any problems. This issue should have been fixed at this point.

Also, having Hikaru save Inori means Inori is not a proper rival. She's been reduced to a Hikaru follower like everyone else. I don't like this development. I feel it's a regression for Inori, characterization-wise.

 

[KureyOn]

what a chapter...

 

[Tds-PdV]

Makes me wonder (and kind of looking forward to) how Coach Tsukasa is going to help Inori. Or even how much he can actually help her….

 

[Mitsu13]

I am happy they are showing more of Hikaru's personality. Before, I was indifferent towards her, but now I also want to support her. I am sure she will deliver perfectly this time. I am more curious about how her relationship with Jun will develop going forward because she seems to stop following Jun blindly. A good character development. From Jun's perspective I am sure he won't care.

 

[LadyIrisValou]

thank you for the chapter!... seeing how the recent chapters have fared, i was expecting inori to be part of the top, if not, win the this one. now, i feel sad, and even anguished. i did at least feel joy of what hikaru mentioned, but at the same time, anxiety is now creeping over me...
as what i can understand from what hikaru said, and from her monologues,

Spoiler

she now going to perform in a way that will even impress others (especially normies, and inori, who currently is not in a good shape), but not in a way that is trying to satisfy the scoring system. in other words, hikaru is now going to perform not solely to win. and you know who is not going to be very happy about this...

 

[1idd0kun]

she now going to perform in a way that will even impress others (especially normies, and inori, who currently is not in a good shape), but not in a way that is trying to satisfy the scoring system. in other words, hikaru is now going to perform not solely to win. and you know who is not going to be very happy about this...

If she wins anyway, Jun doesn't mind. Jun only cares about the results. He has been super clear about this.
Hikari performing to help Inori with her performance doesn't put her in conflict with Jun and his ideals, unless she loses.

 

[doomrider7]

Inori losing is fine, but been completely trashed was unnecessary. imo. I think the author went overboard this time. This outcome is cheap too, since it basically means Inori got no emotional character growth all this time. She still gets psyched out and completely self-destroys when faced with any problems. This issue should have been fixed at this point.

Also, having Hikaru save Inori means Inori is not a proper rival. She's been reduced to a Hikaru follower like everyone else. I don't like this development. I feel it's a regression for Inori, characterization-wise.

Fucking THANK YOU. Been saying this shit since I read the greentexts on /a/.

 

[thecronosone]

I am glad that the accidents of Hikaru and Iruka are just to stall the big competition, not to give her a free win, Inori is not there yet even though she's a genius, and while she had a lot of losses during her competitions she never really held a low position, not even starting she was always making the podium or very close, this big loss is what is going to shape Inori's career, and with Hikaru's performance I hope we can get more hyped by their competition and hopefully Inori can start learning the "hawk eyes"

 

[Ryuseishun]

(deleted text)

 

[ewjifowejfiowe]

Inori losing is fine, but been completely trashed was unnecessary. imo. I think the author went overboard this time. This outcome is cheap too, since it basically means Inori got no emotional character growth all this time. She still gets psyched out and completely self-destroys when faced with any problems. This issue should have been fixed at this point.

Also, having Hikaru save Inori means Inori is not a proper rival. She's been reduced to a Hikaru follower like everyone else. I don't like this development. I feel it's a regression for Inori, characterization-wise.

Can you explain why "this issue should have been fixed at this point."? I'm not claiming that you are wrong, but to me it makes sense that Inori would get shaken when seeing one of the best, if not the best skater she knows, having an injury like that. Even more considering the developments and the previous arc, where Iruka became her role model.

There was all that stuff with Inori's sister injury, her mother not wanting her to compete because of that, Tsukasa getting hurt at that time and so on. So to me it makes sense that to Inori, injury carries a trauma. If random girl B got injured instead of Iruka, probably nothing would happen.

Sure, she got a bit older since then, but that doesn't not necessarily fixes it.

I think the author might be moving the rivalry to more of a friendship thing, but as Inori points out, she is actually not a proper rival to Hikaru. Since the start she has been going after her, but she never competed on the same level, always behind. The thing is that Inori's determination is sky high, she is really going for it and fast, she breaks barriers and surpasses expectations, making Hikaru very hopeful about her, considering Inori to be someone who can reach her level, but she is simply not there yet. The way Inori sees Hikaru is different from how Hikaru sees Inori.

I fully understand that it might just be me missing somethings. Can someone please clarify?

My logic here is:
Inori is not fully over her trauma of injury->the GOAT Iruka got injured->Inori got shaken, she can understands logically that that's one thing and her performance is another, but not emotionally->she then proceeds to do a single flip, why? Because she didn't commit. Why? Because she's scared->got even more tense, as she absolutely needs to ace the next jump->this adds to her nerves and she fails even harder->then it is a complete trainwreck->Next she feels terrible about it, as she points out, she's disappointed with herself, it hurts too much exactly because she failed her own expectations->starts believing that she cannot keep up with Hikaru->Hikaku goes "no no no no, if you let it go and give up, then no one else will ever reach me, I'll be alone at the top. Don't give up, keep going".->as we can see by her expression next, she doesn't seem over it.->Hikaru will attempt a performance that brings back Inori's determination, as it has always been. Inori always knew she was behind Hikaru, that she was chasing up, even so she kept trying her best. What Hikaru want is that once again, with her skating, she will show to Inori what she should aim for, so she can overcome the disappointment and keep trying hard.

 

[doomrider7]

Makes me wonder (and kind of looking forward to) how Coach Tsukasa is going to help Inori. Or even how much he can actually help her….

I had a convo about this on /a/ weeks ago about coaches and training and came to the conclusion that outside of a general or sports psychologist or mental health and wellness therapist, there's really not much if anything he or anyone can do about this.

 

[LadyIrisValou]

i thought the manga is already transparent with what is being conveyed. as from what i can see from how inori is acting, it seems logical for someone like her to be that way (especially for someone, who, even young, is already acting quite matured). i am even happy over the fact that she has matured enough of not crying in front of others, and aware of the reasons for it. anyway, i think i understand what the chapter is about, and hope that my compression is not failing on me. .

 

[trixg315]

Mere speculation but what happened to Iruka probably mentally affected Inori more than she let on.

She may have looked fine on the outside or even convinced herself that she's fine. But we all know that sometimes something distracts us that make us lose focus when we need to. It can be a negative thought or anxiety creeping up on us during the worst possible time.

 

[doomrider7]

Can you explain why "this issue should have been fixed at this point."? I'm not claiming that you are wrong, but to me it makes sense that Inori would get shaken when seeing one of the best, if not the best skater she knows, having an injury like that. Even more considering the developments and the previous arc, where Iruka became her role model.

There was all that stuff with Inori's sister injury, her mother not wanting her to compete because of that, Tsukasa getting hurt at that time and so on. So to me it makes sense that to Inori, injury carries a trauma. If random girl B got injured instead of Iruka, probably nothing would happen.

Sure, she got a bit older since then, but that doesn't not necessarily fixes it.

I think the author might be moving the rivalry to more of a friendship thing, but as Inori points out, she is actually not a proper rival to Hikaru. Since the start she has been going after her, but she never competed on the same level, always behind. The thing is that Inori's determination is sky high, she is really going for it and fast, she breaks barriers and surpasses expectations, making Hikaru very hopeful about her, considering Inori to be someone who can reach her level, but she is simply not there yet. The way Inori sees Hikaru is different from how Hikaru sees Inori.

I fully understand that it might just be me missing somethings. Can someone please clarify?

Basically Inori's mental character development got MASSIVELY caved in and regressed as far back as...holy shit, what chapter 2 where getting yelled on by Rioh shook her really badvand she was breaking down hearing the moms talk about her? Getting the yips and being upset are things, but this was just well beyond that when they should've been things that were taken care of or very much seemed to be getting taken care of over the course of the last year both in universe(the last big competition) and out universe(that was literally 12 to 14 chapters ago). It also doesn't help that it's to give Hikaru what frankly feels like the WRONG kind of development or at least not one that she needs as much as other types.

There's more, but that's a start.

 

[lasercats]

I don't remember when was the last time I felt so many emotions so strongly reading manga, I don't know if I ever did either.
Inori building up a winning succeeding streak, finding another older skaters support both as an athlete and older sister, seeing her potentially end her career, only to go after her and destroy what she'd been building so far. Anyone remotely invested in their craft would fucking lose it, much less an obsessed preteen kid. Absolutely insane chapters, I jsut really want to see Iruka being fine. That girl deserves the world.

 

[1idd0kun]

Can you explain why "this issue should have been fixed at this point."? I'm not claiming that you are wrong, but to me it makes sense that Inori would get shaken when seeing one of the best, if not the best skater she knows, having an injury like that. Even more considering the developments and the previous arc, where Iruka became her role model.

There was all that stuff with Inori's sister injury, her mother not wanting her to compete because of that, Tsukasa getting hurt at that time and so on. So to me it makes sense that to Inori, injury carries a trauma. If random girl B got injured instead of Iruka, probably nothing would happen.

Inori has been competing for years at this point. She shouldn't have such a mental fragility anymore. All the competitions she took part of, all her effort, all her interaction with other skaters trying their best... all this should have made her mentally stronger. Yet, it didn't. She hasn't progressed at all. That makes no sense to me. You can't go through all that without becoming at least somewhat stronger (mentally-speaking).

I think the author might be moving the rivalry to more of a friendship thing, but as Inori points out, she is actually not a proper rival to Hikaru. Since the start she has been going after her, but she never competed on the same level, always behind. The thing is that Inori's determination is sky high, she is really going for it and fast, she breaks barriers and surpasses expectations, making Hikaru very hopeful about her, considering Inori to be someone who can reach her level, but she is simply not there yet. The way Inori sees Hikaru is different from how Hikaru sees Inori.

You're missing something important here. What drives Inori to advance as fast as she does is her competitive spirit, it's the fact she saw herself as HIkaru's rival despite having no basis for it. If the author moves on from rivals to friendship, Inori will lose what's driving her to push herself so hard, and she will never catch up to Hikaru without this driving her forwards.

 

[doomrider7]

Inori has been competing for years at this point. She shouldn't have such a mental fragility anymore. All the competitions she took part of, all her effort, all her interaction with other skaters trying their best... all this should have made her mentally stronger. Yet, it didn't. She hasn't progressed at all. That makes no sense to me. You can't go through all that without becoming at least somewhat stronger (mentally-speaking).



You're missing something important here. What drives Inori to advance as fast as she does is her competitive spirit, it's the fact she saw herself as HIkaru's rival despite having no basis for it. If the author moves on from rivals to friendship, Inori will lose what's driving her to push herself so hard, and she will never catch up to Hikaru without this driving her forwards.

Another thing that bugged is Inori's apology for at worst, just kind of standoffish at the camp they went to. It felt kind of gross since it was like she was apologizing for deigning to be ambitious and competitive and viewing herself as Hikaru's rival. Like she was sorry that she stepped out of line and thought she was at that level.