Skate-Leading ☆ Stars First Impressions

“If I lose… If I lose to you in this competition, I’ll quit figure skating! I swear! Don’t forget it!”

I was a little startled to see an episode had dropped for this Winter anime season two weeks ahead of schedule, but as a ploy by Funimation, this may prove to be a brilliant marketing decision. With a release which was scheduled right around the middle of Winter’s premiere week, Skate-Leading ☆ Stars probably wouldn’t have gotten a second glance from me, or even a first one for that matter, and timing isn’t the only factor stacked against this show. To put it bluntly, it’s been years since I’ve had a modestly positive view of J.C. Staff, so I really mean it when I say this show caught me by surprise. Skate-Leading ☆ Stars isn’t exactly a groundbreaking show as it does employ a few of the standard sports anime clichés when laying out its premise, but it does so deftly and with confidence. Dead parents, intense rivalries, and turning your back on one’s passion are all familiar plot beats to fans of the genre, but frankly, I’m a little surprised with how on-board I am for this one. I think it’s going on my watch list for the season.

Skate-Leading ☆ Stars (I went through the trouble of copying down that stupid star, so I may as well use it) centers on Maeshima Kensei, a talented figure skater who could never seem to match the skill of his apathetic rival, Shinozaki Reo. Shortly after the tragic death of his parents, who were both professional figure skaters, Kensei pledged to Reo before a competition that if he couldn’t beat Reo that day then he would retire from figure skating. Despite his commitment, Reo still beat Kensei for first place. Devastated by the loss, Kensei reached out to Reo for acknowledgement only for Reo to calmly inform him that Kensei would never be able to beat him. The story picks up again in the present day as Kensei is trying to live out a normal high school life, only to find himself drawn back into the world of skating when Reo announces that he will be transitioning to a team version of figure skating referred to as skate-leading. Admittedly this is the part of the premise I’m most confused by, as I can find no reference to it being a real thing. Still, the core of this premise is strong. Previous sports anime have tied their primary sport to their lead’s trauma to mixed results, but Kensei’s circumstances offer a strong dichotomy. On the one hand, his relationship with Reo is one of anger and humiliation, but he clearly has a connection to the sport. This first episode doesn’t delve into his connection between the sport and his parents, but there is clearly some strong emotional substance that can be drawn from that. All in all, this first episode sets up a multitude of strong dynamics and relationships that could very well prove rewarding as the show moves forward.

As I mentioned before, J.C. Staff are responsible for the production of Skate-Leading ☆ Stars… Are they attempting a rebranding? When I was pulling up information on the show just prior to watching this episode and saw that this was being produced by them, my exact reaction was, “Oh… J.C. Staff… Well, they released it early. I might as well put together a review.” That may sound harsh, but it’s been the better part of a decade since I was impressed by their production values. It’s easy to forget this is the company that gave us such titles as Nodame Cantabile, Honey & Clover, and Toradora!. I’ll stop beating around the bush. The production on this first episode is pretty good. I won’t go so far as to call it spectacular or anything, but given my limited expectations due to the studio, I don’t know that I can judge it fairly. I was impressed. There were still some visual shortcuts, but the were capably hidden and everything looked consistently crisp. The biggest nitpick for me would be with the character designs. I have nothing against a show drawing upon the implicit or overt yaoi fanbase, but I don’t love the tendency to make all of the characters almost a bit too visually distinct. You see this a lot in idol shows as well, and it undermines my immersion when I can practically hear the corporate mandate that all of the husbandos/waifus be visually distinctive. I guess this is my way of saying that I found the basic character designs to be too lacking in cohesion for my liking, though that may be an unpopular takeaway.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• For reference, the last time I finished a full season of a show produced by J.C. Staff was way back in 2015 when they adapted the first season of DanMachi. The last time I was impressed by their production values was probably closer to a decade ago when they were still adapting Bakuman and Nodame Cantabile.
• Skate-Leading ☆ Stars is one of those titles that was really thrown for a loop by the pandemic as it was slated to come out in the Summer. A manga was intended to be started a few months prior to the release of the season, but instead has been going on for over half a year now.
• For further reference, I haven’t watched everything that J.C. Staff has been putting out. I’ve sampled a decent amount, but it’s quite possible that Taboo Tattoo, Back Street Girls and Angels of Death were not representative of their average quality. Then again, I didn’t exactly hear nice things about Vatican Miracle Examiner or Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? either so I’m moderately confident in my assessment of the studio’s recent efforts.
• The OP is decent, but if any part of it were to stick in my memory, I think it would be the music and not the visuals. The credits themselves are simply presented in white text over black with no accompanying visuals. I’d assume this to be a stylistic choice, but it makes the segment feel more minimalist than the rest of the episode. I’m wondering if the other episodes will use this same opening.