The closing
of the second season on television was not a farewell, but the
impetus to make the most ambitious leap of the franchise. To the surprise of
fans who followed the evolution of its protagonists week by week, Kadokawa officially
confirmed that the acclaimed ice skating anime, Medalist, will
continue its story on the big screen with its first sequel film.
The new
cinematic installment will pick up exactly where the TV series ended,
taking Inori Yuitsuka and his trainer Tsukasa Akeuraji to
face off on the track of the highly anticipated Japan Rookie Championship. In
the first promotional trailer presented alongside a new visual, you can see the
tension of the competition, the ferocity of rivals such as the talented Hikaru
Kamisaki with her trainer Jun Yotaka, and the unbreakable
bond between Inori and Tsukasa symbolized by their classic fist bump. The film
has its release date set for February 19 in theaters in Japan, with ticket pre-sales
scheduled to start in early September 2026.
The feature
film will keep the same creative team that made anime one of the most colorful
installments about sports. The animation will continue under the label of
the ENGI studio, with the direction of Yasutaka
Yamamoto, scripts structured by Jukki Hanada, character designs
by Chinatsu Kameyama and the soundtrack composed by Yuki
Hayashi. In addition, the production will continue to feature the
collaboration of real-life professional skaters, highlighting the choreography
of the ex-Olympian Akiko Suzuki alongside Yuhana Yokoi and Hinano
Isobe, as well as the motion capture work of Rika Hongo to
ensure hyper-realistic skating sequences.
About
Medalist
Based on
the acclaimed original manga written and illustrated by Tsurumaikada, Medalist began
publication in May 2020 and has established itself as a true gem of
the sports genre, winning prestigious awards such as the Shogakukan Manga Award
in 2023 and the Kodansha Manga Award in 2024. The story follows Tsukasa
Akeuraji, a former skater who saw his competitive dream cut short by starting
too late, and Inori Yuitsuka, a girl ignored by her environment who wants to
skate at all costs. Together they form an alliance driven by sheer
determination, seeking to climb from scratch to the top of figure skating
globally.
With the
intensity of the closing of the second season and the quality of the real
choreographies on screen
