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Medalist Anime Season 2 Announces 4 More Cast Members
posted on by Anita Tai
The staff for the second television anime season based on Tsurumaikada's Olympic ice-skating manga Medalist announced four new cast members on Monday.
Natsuki Hanae plays Kakeru Uobuchi, a temporary coach who specializes in teaching jumps.
Konomi Inagaki plays Miku Ahiru, a first-year middle school student and member of Tonanmachi Lake Figure Skating Club (FSC) in Niigata. She has won the gold medal at the Hokkaido-Tohoku division tournament and was nicknamed the "golden egg" for her abilities.
Shōya Ishige plays Kōhei Kamogawa, the head coach at Tonanmachi Lake FSC in Niigata. He is a former ice dancer and was a member of the same club as Tsukasa.
Yūki Ono plays Juna Shiratori, the choreographer at Tonanmachi Lake FSC. He is a figure skater and former clubmate of Tsukasa and Kōhei. He is famous for appearing in commercials.
The second season debuted on January 24 on the "NUMAnimation" programming block on TV Asahi and 23 other affiliates channels at 25:30 (effectively, January 25 at 1:30 a.m.). The anime also premiered on CS TV Asahi Channel 1 and BS Asahi on January 25.
The new cast members for the second season include:
- Natsuko Abe as Yūna Yagi
- Mao Itou as Rinna Sarukawa
- Maria Naganawa as Roba Manaka
- Minami Tanaka as Yotsuha Ushikawa
- Hikaru Tōno as Kurumi Risu
- Takako Tanaka as Sakina Anaguma
- Yūko Natsuyoshi as Sana Niwatori
- Hibiku Yamamura as Iruka Okazaki
- Kotomi Aihara as Riina Kojō
- Ai Kayano as Marika Kurione
The second season features returning cast and staff. The first season's 3DCG environment supervisor Hazuki Nakamura is the art director for the new season, replacing Yōko Nakao. Kentaro Kashiwagi, the first season's 3DCG composite supervisor, is the second season's compositing director of photography, replacing Shin'ichi Komeya. Girl group HANA performs the opening theme song "Cold Night," and Conton Candy performs the ending theme song "Rookies."
Japanese figure skater Rika Hongo is taking part in the anime's motion capture filming alongside the first season's Akiko Suzuki.
The first season premiered in Japan on the "NUMAnimation" programming block on TV Asahi and 23 affiliated channels in January 2025. Disney+ streamed the anime.
Former Olympic skater Akiko Suzuki (returning for the second season) choreographed the skating routines in the first season of the anime, in collaboration with retired figure skater Yuhana Yokoi and active competitive figure skater Hinano Isobe.
Kodansha USA Publishing licensed the manga, and it describes the story:
Tsukasa, whose dreams were crushed. Inori, left to fend for herself. These two share a dream...and their tenacity may be the only thing that sees them through. Their destination? The ice...on the world's stage!
Tsurumaikada launched the manga in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine in May 2020. Kodansha published the 14th compiled book volume on January 22.
The manga won in the Best General Manga category of the 68th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2023. The manga won Best General Manga at Kodansha's 48th annual Manga Awards in May 2024.
Sources: E-mail correspondence, Medalist anime's X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
