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Macross F Designer Risa Ebata Draws Skating Gold Medalist Alysa Liu

Crunchyroll released an illustration of Olympic gold medal figure skater Alysa Liu by Macross Frontier character designer Risa Ebata on Thursday. Crunchyroll captioned the art piece, “[Alysa Liu] is a main character no matter where she goes. To celebrate Alysa's passion for anime, MACROSS character designer and illustrator Risa Ebata created this anime-inspired art!”

Liu caught the eyes of anime fans around the world during her gold-medal-winning performances at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Throughout this past season, fans spotted the American figures skater with a Pochita plush tissue case from the popular anime Chainsaw Man numerous times. Liu even posted an Instagram story with the plush just before the Olympic opening ceremony on February 6, and a fan in Japan later reported gifting the plush to Liu.

Liu boasts an impressive figure skating record since she won silver at the Junior Grand Prix Final and gold at the U.S. Championships in the 2019-2020 season. She subsequently won bronze at the 2020 World Junior Championships and gold at the U.S. Championships. During the 2021-2022 season she took home bronze at the World Championships. Liu struggled late in the 2021-2022 season, placing fourth at the 2021 NHK Trophy. She was forced to withdraw from the 2022 U.S. Championships after testing positive for COVID-19, and placed sixth at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Liu retired from competitive figure skating in April 2022, but then announced in March 2024 she would return to the sport. She won silver at the 2025 and 2026 U.S. Championships, and gold at the 2025 World Championships and 2025-26 Grand Prix Final. Liu has also won gold as part of Team USA at the 2025 World Team Trophy, before scoring a team gold and an individual gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Sources: Crunchyroll's Instagram account