Medalist - Ch. 50 - Proof of Earnestness

[1idd0kun]

She does, to some yet unknown extent.

Recall that the Leg Break Sit Spin was not originally part of her first program. She added it in after watching Tsukasa do it once and practicing the heck out of it in secret.

Heck, her rapid growth in two years where she's pulling off quads is evidence of it.

You said it yourself, Inori practiced the leg break spin a lot. Hawk eyes is a skill that allows you to master a technique without much training. It consists in having a special awareness of your own body and your surroundings. It allows you to pick up your own mistake right away so you can correct them on your own. This is the reason Tsukasa can copy some techniques after only seeing them once, without training at all.

Inori doesn't have this skill. That was confirmed by Tsukasa himself.

 

[Cotillion]

These are things Inori already went through though. She had disappointments and setbacks before. Why going back to that and make things even worse now? It ricks of stagnation.

her other "failures" she just didn't live up to her own high expectations and was down because of that, she still performed really well and wowed the crowd. This is the first time she actually performed badly in a tournament. It's also important to note that she just choked here, which can happen and is not the same as regressing. she's a better skater now than she was during the previous all japan.

It feels like every time Inori makes a step forwards, she follows with two steps back. We're going nowhere like that. Isn't it about time to see Inori really start taking off as a skater? And let's not even talk about her growth as a person. That stagnated too, and it's pathetic when even characters like Rioh have shown more character growh then Inori.

I'll be honest I don't see where you're coming from here.. We saw Inori go from a beginner at 11 years old to making the Japan jr national team at 13, that's an INSANE amount of step forwards in just two years, in the real world progression like that would seem like a fairy tale and even in the manga they keep pointing out how fast she's growing. Hell there were people who claimed she was almost like a mary sue because of this

You don't know that.

I went back and checked and it's explicitly stated in the manga

She does have the bad habit of hiding stuff from Tsukasa and putting up a front. But does bombing her All Japan performance help her fix that? No, it doesn't.

There are several different directions they could have gone to show it, this is just one of them. Anyway the next few chapters will tell us more

 

[Scruffy]

I think the whole thing of your self worth being tied to what you are good at is something very hard to break. Even Jun seems to have suffered from this as near the start of the manga we hear that he did not cope very well once he removed himself from the skating world, and that is the reason he became Hikaru’s coach!

I mean, Inori is such a cool kid!! She’s kind and has an amazing focus. She has friends now, but these friends are all from her skating circle.

Still think that Jun should never be allowed around kids though as some of the things he says can destroy someones self confidence!

 

[XikangLavender]

You said Inori would not give up her goal of being number one and getting the gold medal, but here you say Inori should stop caring about winning. I don't think you can achieve one without the other though. Hikaru has the luxury to say "I don't care about being number one" because she already is. But Inori doesn't have that luxury. If she wants to be number one, if she wants the Olympic gold, she has to beat Hikaru. No amount of mental trickery will change the fact.

I do agree she has to stop tying her self-worth to her performance as a skater. But if the solution to that problem the author came up with is to get rid of Inori's desire to win, then I will probably drop the manga. Because I don't think you can get to be number one without the desire to win. Hikaru can do it because she's a peerless prodigy. She doesn't even have to train as much as everyone else because she has the hawk eye skill that allows her to master techniques much faster than normal people But Inori doesn't have those cheats. She's a normal person, and she has come this far driven by her desire to win. There are people who do skating or others sports just because they like it and they don't care about winning. That's fine. But that means they will never become number one. You need that burning desire driving you to victory in order to become number one, imo.

More than eliminating her desire to be the best, something that can't happen since it's deeply rooted in Inori and the core motif of the manga, what I mean is that Inori truly needs to shift her train of thought. There is a difference between saying, “I have to win in order to justify my presence on the ice” and “I have to justify my presence on the ice in order to win” I know it might sound ridiculous, but I believe this distinction is crucial.

When winning is the action rather than the effect, Inori becomes far more vulnerable to the extreme pressure she puts on herself. But that doesn't mean abandoning her burning desire to win, just changing the order in which she pursues it. It might seem like this shift in mindset is just a convenient excuse for a power-up, but the manga has repeatedly shown that the solution to most mental blocks is simpler than it appears. Rioh was able to master his combo jump only after realizing he had been unconsciously comparing himself to Jun. Similarly, Inori relearned the Triple Lutz simply by listening to Hitomi’s advice instead of Tsukasa’s.

 

[1idd0kun]

More than eliminating her desire to be the best, something that can't happen since it's deeply rooted in Inori and the core motif of the manga, what I mean is that Inori truly needs to shift her train of thought. There is a difference between saying, “I have to win in order to justify my presence on the ice” and “I have to justify my presence on the ice in order to win” I know it might sound ridiculous, but I believe this distinction is crucial.

When winning is the action rather than the effect, Inori becomes far more vulnerable to the extreme pressure she puts on herself. But that doesn't mean abandoning her burning desire to win, just changing the order in which she pursues it. It might seem like this shift in mindset is just a convenient excuse for a power-up, but the manga has repeatedly shown that the solution to most mental blocks is simpler than it appears. Rioh was able to master his combo jump only after realizing he had been unconsciously comparing himself to Jun. Similarly, Inori relearned the Triple Lutz simply by listening to Hitomi’s advice instead of Tsukasa’s.

Inori's problem is her low self-esteem though. Removing her drive to win doesn't tackle the problem. It might help to minimize the symptoms. I mean, if she doesn't care about losing she won't react so badly when she does lose. I get that. But this doesn't fix the real problem. It doesn't help her build her self confidence.

 

[1idd0kun]

her other "failures" she just didn't live up to her own high expectations and was down because of that, she still performed really well and wowed the crowd. This is the first time she actually performed badly in a tournament. It's also important to note that she just choked here, which can happen and is not the same as regressing. she's a better skater now than she was during the previous all japan.

It's a bit unclear exacly what happened but it's not the first time she chokes over someone getting hurt. It also happened when Tsukasa got hurt before the novice all japan. Back then she got better before the competition, but the root of the problem is the same. It's an emotional problem Inori has been carrying for a while, and there has been no improvements on that front.

I'll be honest I don't see where you're coming from here.. We saw Inori go from a beginner at 11 years old to making the Japan jr national team at 13, that's an INSANE amount of step forwards in just two years, in the real world progression like that would seem like a fairy tale and even in the manga they keep pointing out how fast she's growing. Hell there were people who claimed she was almost like a mary sue because of this

She improved a lot as a skater in her first two years. I already said that in a previous post. She hasn't improvement much after that. And more importantly, she hasn't grown much as a person at all. She still has the same emotional hangups she had since the beginning.

 

[mobazz]

Not true. She still has a chance. The 2nd and 3rd from the All Japan have no greater a shot at a position on the Junior Worlds team than the Junior GP finalists, as well as athletes who fulfill several other classes of criteria (in practice it's all mostly the same 3~4 people).
Read the actual rules: https://scramble-talk.com/worldjrchampionsips2025-148266
Of course, failing this hard makes her less attractive in the eyes of the committee that will be picking the representatives, but if she wins the GP...

Hello, I have to say that the selection to Junior Worlds will be made right after
All Japan Junior, not after GP final (one month later). The reason for not choosing her to Worlds is that her performance is very unstable (drop to 4th place, up to 1st, and unqualify are very big gape). Even if Japan (in this story) is dying to have a medal, they won't send someone who has the performance very unstable as Inori because it will affect their slots to Worlds next year.

 

[doomrider7]

An interesting comment discussing Inori and her trauma and reactions to falls and injuries.

The nuance might different but I think the root problem is the same in both cases. I think this is probably a trauma that Inori has been carrying since her sister got hurt. Inori claims she can't remember that but I think it's more like she's repressing her memory. If she's indeed repressing her memory, it means this memory is really traumatic for Inori, and that would explain why she totally self-destroys every time someone she cares about gets hurt.

It would also explain why she seemed fine after Iruka got injured. She even said so to herself, so I don't think she was faking it. And yet, she still self-destructed all the same. It's because the trauma is her subconscious.

That said, what I take issue on is that the author didn't make Inori bomb her performance because she finally wanted to address Inori's trauma. She did so just to give Hikaru a paid off to her arc. Hikaru gets to be the light of hope by cheering Inori up. It's a huge development for Hikaru, but Inori gets the short end of the stick here. She's made to bomb her performance and doesn't get any benefit from it. Her trauma doesn't get explored here. Hikaru is the only one who benefits.

 

[SeasonLeaves]

Man Inori crying really made my bad day an icing on the cake (reference to Score 3). I know above comments talk about Inori from her mental perspective. But imo I felt this is also play on the non-absolute nature of the ice that is. Iruka's accident and Hikaru's fall seems like a preparation of that. Now I am quite sceptical of whether Hikaru manage to pull this "independent" moves after all that happens before...

 

[eoeocho]

The war did not stop

 

[LadyIrisValou]

neat. finally reached, and obtained the position for bearing the 110th comment (111th overall message). .

This truly is the sports manga of all time because we have armchair analysts all over this discussion thread like it's the middle of an NFL season.

A rare case when the discussion of the chapter is more dramatic and hot than the chapter itself.

The war did not stop

somehow, the comment section became competitive as the story, with most of it are coming from the same athlete. additionally, if you look closely to the recent records of the said athlete's, you will understand that this not an ordinary athlete, but a genius!...


...joke aside, i believe that hikaru's performance will be a prayer. inori (whose name means prayer) would then carry the said prayer, further fueling her. additionally, when hikaru said “i'll skate for you”, it can be interpreted as hikaru praying for inori, thus the performance being a prayer. well at least, riley gave her blessing for her to perform it. .

 

[Azauqyar]

...joke aside, i believe that hikaru's performance will be a prayer. inori (whose name means prayer) would then carry the said prayer, further fueling her. additionally, when hikaru said “i'll skate for you”, it can be interpreted as hikaru praying for inori, thus the performance being a prayer. well at least, riley gave her blessing for her to perform it. .

It could be a recall from their first meeting that Hikaru beautiful jumps is the one that ignited inori's competitive spirit

 

[testro]

Hello, I have to say that the selection to Junior Worlds will be made right after
All Japan Junior, not after GP final (one month later). The reason for not choosing her to Worlds is that her performance is very unstable (drop to 4th place, up to 1st, and unqualify are very big gape). Even if Japan (in this story) is dying to have a medal, they won't send someone who has the performance very unstable as Inori because it will affect their slots to Worlds next year.

Who exactly is more consistent than Inori? Only Iruka has better international results than her among the Junior skaters. No other Japanese skater managed to take 1st or 2nd apparently. If she isn't picked straight up as a representative, she's going to be picked as an alternate. And with Iruka injured, an alternate might be good enough

 

[mobazz]

Who exactly is more consistent than Inori? Only Iruka has better international results than her among the Junior skaters. No other Japanese skater managed to take 1st or 2nd apparently. If she isn't picked straight up as a representative, she's going to be picked as an alternate. And with Iruka injured, an alternate might be good enough

Firstly, I don't want to indicate who is more consistent than Inori in this Junior field (but I think Dalia is a good choice) because until now, the author doesn't introduce many skaters of Japan in Junior field. I'd like to say: the priorities that Japan Team is having right now in international competitions(in this story), is the evidence that Japan has other skaters with good consistency than Inori. The priorities here are:

1. Japan has priority to have 2 entries in seven events: this is the highest priority for a country to get when entering grand prix series (you can see both Inori and Iruka compete in one event, this is 2 entries). To get that priority, Japan team has to have many skaters get medals, or finish at high standings in Junior field for many years. This kind of skaters in Japan can't disapear suddently or all of them go up to Senior field when Inori goes up to Junior field, isn't it?

2. The number of entry that Japan can get when entering Junior Worlds: the author doesn't say that how many slots of Japan is having right now, so your assumption to have 3 slots (and alternatives) into Worlds can't be confirmed. If it's correct that Japan secures 3 slots to Junior Worlds, it means that in Junior Worlds last year, the combined placement of top 2 skaters of Japan team is less than 13 (EX: 1 skater top 1, 1 skater top 8 => combined placement is 9 => secure 3 slots). Thinking that Japan team doesn't have anyone better than Inori is quite unreasonable.

By the way, Inori can be sent to Grand Prix Series (or even Worlds in the future) is the achievement of other older skaters of Japan team. If we don't have them, the only way Inori can compete in those big tournament is getting no.1 at All Japan. This is the current regulation in figure skating.

 

[doofbuildboat]

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.

what kind of mentality is this? Even the likes of Ronaldo and Messi chokes at international competition. Even Faker chokes at a world's final games. We have seen so many great athletes with decades of experience crashing out and being frustrated. Heck there are compilations on youtube of great tennis players breaking their racket. You think some 13 years old would somehow be immune to this? This is the viewpoint of someone who doesn't watch sport any sport at all.

 

[doomrider7]

what kind of mentality is this? Even the likes of Ronaldo and Messi chokes at international competition. Even Faker chokes at a world's final games. We have seen so many great athletes with decades of experience crashing out and being frustrated. Heck there are compilations on youtube of great tennis players breaking their racket. You think some 13 years old would somehow be immune to this? This is the viewpoint of someone who doesn't watch sport any sport at all.

You're missing the point in that Ronaldo and Messi STILL bounce back and go out and be Ronaldo and Messi. Inori isn't even remotely CLOSE to even being on the same universe there yet due to what seem to be mental blocks that so far the series has only hinted at, but shown little interest in following up on at all. She HAS the support system to weather these kinds of issues so that they shouldn't have as severe an impact, but isn't shown taking advantage of them.

Now if these leads to an arc where Inori actually starts to talk about these issues and maybe sees a therapist then that would be absolutely awesome since the mental health and wellness angle of sports is rarely of ever shown(Ted Lasso is literally the only example I can think of and maybe March Comes Like a Lion).

This STILL runs into the nasty issue of the whole experience being used to prop Hikaru which leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

 

[testro]

Firstly, I don't want to indicate who is more consistent than Inori in this Junior field (but I think Dalia is a good choice) because until now, the author doesn't introduce many skaters of Japan in Junior field. I'd like to say: the priorities that Japan Team is having right now in international competitions(in this story), is the evidence that Japan has other skaters with good consistency than Inori. The priorities here are:

1. Japan has priority to have 2 entries in seven events: this is the highest priority for a country to get when entering grand prix series (you can see both Inori and Iruka compete in one event, this is 2 entries). To get that priority, Japan team has to have many skaters get medals, or finish at high standings in Junior field for many years. This kind of skaters in Japan can't disapear suddently or all of them go up to Senior field when Inori goes up to Junior field, isn't it?

2. The number of entry that Japan can get when entering Junior Worlds: the author doesn't say that how many slots of Japan is having right now, so your assumption to have 3 slots (and alternatives) into Worlds can't be confirmed. If it's correct that Japan secures 3 slots to Junior Worlds, it means that in Junior Worlds last year, the combined placement of top 2 skaters of Japan team is less than 13 (EX: 1 skater top 1, 1 skater top 8 => combined placement is 9 => secure 3 slots). Thinking that Japan team doesn't have anyone better than Inori is quite unreasonable.

By the way, Inori can be sent to Grand Prix Series (or even Worlds in the future) is the achievement of other older skaters of Japan team. If we don't have them, the only way Inori can compete in those big tournament is getting no.1 at All Japan. This is the current regulation in figure skating.

Actually, I just checked and it might just be possible that Japan might have less than 3 slots. I thought Iruka won Juniors Worlds last year but it the JGP she actually won. If she did place high in Junior Worlds then the only way Japan wouldn't have 3 slots is if the other skaters totally bombed... which would mean they aren't consistent in the first place.

As for the other skilled Junior skaters... where were they in the JGP then? They can have a Silver and Bronze at best (as any better they would've qualified over Inori or the Italian) and their combined score must be lower than the Italian's to lose the tiebreaker. But the Italian's scores can't be that high given that she doesn't have any golds. Meanwhile, Inori's gold was over an American who took gold in another event.
Inori was picked as a designated skater B. That alone means Japan thinks she's in the top 10 Juniors at least. She's the only one among them (aside from Iruka) who managed to win an international tournament this year. Simply put it seems that this batch of Juniors seems to have shit the bed aside from Inori and Iruka. You'll even note that the Designated skater B featured in volume 5 actually aged into senior as Inori entered Juniors, so it seems that this batch of Juniors is sparse.

 

[doofbuildboat]

You're missing the point in that Ronaldo and Messi STILL bounce back and go out and be Ronaldo and Messi. Inori isn't even remotely CLOSE to even being on the same universe there yet due to what seem to be mental blocks that so far the series has only hinted at, but shown little interest in following up on at all. She HAS the support system to weather these kinds of issues so that they shouldn't have as severe an impact, but isn't shown taking advantage of them.

Now if these leads to an arc where Inori actually starts to talk about these issues and maybe sees a therapist then that would be absolutely awesome since the mental health and wellness angle of sports is rarely of ever shown(Ted Lasso is literally the only example I can think of and maybe March Comes Like a Lion).

This STILL runs into the nasty issue of the whole experience being used to prop Hikaru which leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

????? And how long did it take for them to bounce back???? It's been what? An few hours at most after her failure? what the hell are you talking about.

 

[ShaiHH]

We're like 50 chapters in the story and about 2 years. Getting over a normal loss can take time, if this is actually a trauma it can take years to get to the bottom of it.
This is also really the only complete collaps we've seen from Inori so far, all previous issues she rebounded pretty quickly from and she coasted from good result to great result in competitions. There had to be a roadblock at some point.

 

[trixg315]

You're missing the point in that Ronaldo and Messi STILL bounce back and go out and be Ronaldo and Messi. Inori isn't even remotely CLOSE to even being on the same universe there yet due to what seem to be mental blocks that so far the series has only hinted at, but shown little interest in following up on at all. She HAS the support system to weather these kinds of issues so that they shouldn't have as severe an impact, but isn't shown taking advantage of them.

Bro, I'm gonna say this as someone who did competitive sport from grade school to college. It doesn't matter how big of a support system you have or how long you did the sport, if you're in a slump, you're gonna slump.

Please lower your expectations for someone who just started skating two years ago and who's in the middle of puberty undergoing several body and hormonal changes.