Figure skater Tazusa Sakurano is on the fast track to the Olympics. As a top contender, her chances rest on a single competition in Canada. However, during her program, she falls and hits her head on the ice, knocking her unconscious. At the same time, Canadian stunt pilot Pete Pumps goes down in a fiery blaze.
After her devastating failure, Tazusa returns home to Japan, but she starts hearing a voice in her head. In reality, when Pete had arrived at the gates of heaven, he was denied access for his sins. Instead, he was told to wait 100 days and is now trapped in Tazusa's body! Unwilling to let this interrupt her life—even if her body is a bit crowded—Tazusa moves forward with skating, all while a pesky voice may just be able to help her achieve her dream.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Skadi
Being from a cold weather climate winter sports have always been a part of my life, and that includes figure skating. What little girl from my generation didn’t admire the grace and beauty of Katarina Witt and not want to emulate her? Ice skating anime is pretty rare and to my knowledge this is the only one I know of. It’s quite good and should appeal to almost anyone, even if you don’t know a double axel from a triple toe loop. Ginban Kaleidoscope revolves around a young Japanese skater, Tazusa Sakurano whose dream is to make it to the 2006 WinterGames in Torino. She is one of the top skaters in Japan but has the unfortunate tendency to fall in big events. After another disappointment while at an event in Canada in which she suffers a bad fall she suddenly finds herself possessed by the spirit of a Canadian teen who died in a plane crash, Pete Pumps. What follows is some hilarious comedy, sports drama, and a little romance.
Having an athletic background I think I can relate too many of the themes presented in this anime. Though it is obviously dramatized for the screen I think the figure skating portion of it is fairly realistic. The interaction between Tazusa and Pete is amusing considering to everyone else she is talking to herself. Some of it is the kind of things only Japan would think about, such as Tazusa holding in going to the bathroom because she didn’t want him to see her doing that. Everything from her changing her clothes and bathing blindfolded so that he couldn’t peep on her to her eating tomatos because he hated them was also amusing and in a way gave some realism to the situation they were in. The comedy all works and I found myself laughing all the way through it.
There are a few inconsistencies though. Mainly they revolve around Pete's possession of Tazusa. In the beginning we are told that he can only see what she sees and can’t manifest his spirit outside of her but this is contradicted many times later. Pete sees things that he shouldn’t be able to be seen, and Tazusa will speak at him as if he was standing next to her. Now I know why they did it, to have her not speak to anyone and not have a physical form for Pete for the audience to see might have been a bit odd but the story could have been written better to account for this. It’s a minor annoyance but significant considering how important this was to the plot.
Tazusa and Pete are the only real important characters in the story. The entire show is seen pretty much through her perspective. Little development or screen time is given to any of her classmates, family, or even skating rivals. Most of them just come across as background scenery. None of them really feel like villains as the main antagonist in the story is really Tazusa against her own fears. Anyone who has competed in athletics knows that, especially at higher levels of competition, everyone has talent and everyone’s talent is usually pretty close to one another it is the mental toughness that often makes the difference. Tazusa's doubts about herself and her ability and her fears are very important to the story and make her feel very real. I thought she was a very interesting character and was the main reason I liked this show so much.
Pete is also a good character but ultimately not as interesting as Tazusa. This is mainly because the story really shows no interest in developing him at all as a character. We learn almost nothing about him. He was a pilot, he lived in Japan a lot, and he hates tomatoes. That’s about it. Never does Tazusa even try to find out about his personal life, his family and friends, or even what he looked like. I thought this was a bit farfetched as if I had some guy possessing me I think I would probably want to learn something about him.
I wouldn’t call the art amazing but it is very good. The settings are very nice and the characters are appealing. I really liked Tazusa's skating costumes and the sports action was well done. There were a few inconsistencies such as characters talking in profile out of the sides of their mouths. The music was good, the OP/EN songs as well as the incidental score and the songs played during the skating events. I thought Tazusa's and Pete’s voice actors turned in a solid performance.
Those of you who like sports drama and comedy should really enjoy Ginban Kaleidoscope. While it’s not an amazing series for the ages, it should be worth quite a few laughs and tears.
Splitter
For every anime where a plucky amateur becomes the star of the competition, for every anime where love and peace makes the hero or heroine new friends, and for every anime where dreams come true, there is Ginban Kaleidoscope; a bittersweet tale about reaching for your dreams and finding that winning isn't everything. The strongest aspect of Ginban is easily story. Though the premise is hokey, the execution is flawless and handled exceptionally. Most tales of this nature often fail by lending themselves to comedy. Ironically, Ginban does that, but the jokes are just pointed enough that they sell. Not every joke, such as the runninggag of Mika thinking Tazusa is yelling at her when she's yelling at Pete, hits the mark, but the dialogue between Tazusa and Pete is full of zingers and visual gags that nearly always hit the mark.
Still, while the comedy is suprisingly good, Ginban does a praise-worthy job at handling the gravitas of a romance between a living person and a dead one. By the end of the series, it's very clear Tazusa's feelings for Pete. The resolution of which is purely bittersweet but well-crafted. Likewise, so is the resolution to Tazusa's Olympic dreams which demonstrate how much Tazusa really won.
The characterization of Tazusa is also amazing. Her development, attitude, and the whole of her parts when all is said and done is not only the antithesis of the stereotypical Junichi Sato heroine, but it highlights her individuality, her brazen independence, and her determination as something that can be admired as well. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the cast, but Ginban is so scattered and minimalistic with how it handles the supporting cast that it's better if you just focus on Tazusa and Pete, solely because this series very rarely focusing on anyone else.
Unfortunately, the technical aspects are hardly of praise. The art is sub-par and many of the performances are filled with reused animation. Even in the big performance, it's mostly just a rehash of an earlier performance with nothing that signifies how grand the performance is actually supposed to be. To further the point, I'm pretty sure you could have a drinking game for every time they use the animation where Tazusa falls on her butt.
The sound aspect is better, but not because of the BGM (which is rather bland) or the songs (which are also rather bland), but the performances, especially by lead Ayako Kawasumi in a role very uncharacteristic of her other performances. She completely sells Tazusa's entire attitude better than probably anyone else could. Hiroyuki Yoshino as Pete also does a capital job of filling the role of Pete. The Engrish was a bit hard to bear, but he was great when he stuck to Japanese.
In short, Ginban was a very pleasant experience. It's technical aspects may not be up to par, but the storyline and how the character of Tazusa is handled and performaned are praise-worthy for their brash originality.
Overall, I give Ginban Kaleidoscope an 8 out of 10.
underMebius
The Story isn't really much interesting, because I didn't even know that she should win the Turino Cup olympics, It kinda revolve around the 100 Days till later in the story, I give it 8/10 The Art is pretty much, well it's very good, but then...In some episodes, Tazusa's Arms are longer than it should be before! So I'll give it 7/10 The Sound, is actually, OUTSTANDING! The opening and the ending theme song is really what gave Ginban Kaleidoscope, its name. The opening song is Focused on the Ginban (literally meaning: Figure Skating) part, we see in the opening theme: 'Dual', Tazusa and Pete Skating, whilein the ending theme: 'Energy' we just see a Kaleidoscope well, make Ginban Kaledioscope Complete, xD so 10/10
The Characters was alright, though some of the character wasn't really focused at all, Some of Tazusa's Competitors was just focused later on the story, because the Anime pretty much focused on Tazusa and Pete. So 8/10
The Enjoyment is, I really don't know what to put it in here, I enjoyed the Anime very very much, which makes me mad if I just missed one episode, xD so I'll give it 9/10
Overall, I'll give it a...9/10 ^^;
jet2r0cks
For a sports anime, it wasn’t that bad. I’m not really a fan of sports-themed anime, but Ginban Kaleidoscope had another aspect to it that I liked. Comedy. Comedy is probably Ginban Kaleidoscope strongest asset. Every episode had something you can laugh about. Some gags were repetitive, such as Tazusa’s inability to restrain herself from talking to Pete in public. It’s either people think she’s crazy (cause she looks like she’s talking to herself) or when she says something mean to Pete, people around her think that they’re talking to them and in turn they get hurt (Specially Tazusa’s coach and her friend Mika). Tazusa’stomato binges are also something to laugh about.
The characters were OK. Pete was likable, but I’m not sure about Tazusa. She is a bit high-maintenance. I don’t get where all her pride comes from because almost everyone hates her. The two characters were OK, but like most characters in typical romantic comedy shojo anime, they don’t have a lot of depth.
The voice acting was so-so. I guess I have to note the engrish. It was a good effort, especially for Dominique Miller’s seiyuu, Maya Okamoto. Smug and cocky sounded like Smag and Cacky. The surprising is, the extra voices had better English pronunciation/accents.
Animation was sub par. The drawing wavers almost every episode and it’s very noticeable. Takashima’s face changes every time he makes an appearance. There’s nothing special with the colors either and the colors are inconsistent as well.
I actually like the music. Both themes were very poppy, catchy and contemporary. Definitely fit for a shojo anime fanatic’s taste. I like the inserts and BGM too. Most of them were inspired by classic music. In fact, most of them ARE classic music.
It’s not bad, but it’s not that good either. I like the story, but I wish the other aspects were better too. I’m still glad I watched it – it’s still worth it after all.
iETHAN
*Goddamn it. It has been a year since I watched this anime for the first time, and I still can't get over it... So I had to watch it all over again to re-live such a beautiful story that didn't let me sleep the night I finished it, and even now, I still I can't get over it...!! This is one of those animes that make you wish you were a multi-millionaire so you could sponsor animes you really love! I wish a could sponsor this one for a second season... :( *Put shortly: watch the first episode, and you will instantly fall in-love with thisanime. I guarantee it! Just be warned: it doesn't matter who you are, what gender you are, this anime will make you cry a lot and you will have a hard time falling asleep that night, and you will wish you were a multi-millionaire so you could sponsor it for a 2nd season. Ask anyone who's watched this anime... they will all tell you they cried a lot...... I warned you, OK?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Are you wondering why Ginban Kaleidoscope has only a cumulative rating of 7.63/10.0 ? Well, it is because the anime ONLY ONLY covers the first 2 of the 9 total volumes of the story-line!!! Everyone rates this anime 8 or lower because the anime is not the complete story, so these people do NOT know what happens later in the manga! (I do know what happens! so that's why I rated it high.) (Thought I'd share this important information/facts before starting the review.)
My Review is short: Ginban Kaleidoscope was such a beautiful story. I totally fell in-love with it. Everything, the comedy, the main two protagonists' relationship, the story-line, the drawing style, everything, and especially the relationship between the two main protagonists! This was a beautiful story that just hooked me in in the 1st episode, and will also hook Y-O-U in, right from the very first episode! The story was very enjoyable and each episode just made me go to the next within seconds because it really catches your attention amazingly fast! It is impossible not to love the two main characters. They're the perfect couple! The story was very very unique, very interesting, and most important of all, very ENJOYABLE.
CONCLUSION: Ginban Kaleidoscope is such a beautiful story that is worth re-watching all over again a few months after you finish watching it the first time. This story is a MUST-WATCH and you will definitely enjoy it! I totally recommend it to EVERYONE reading this review!!! Just remember though, the story continues in the novel/manga so that is why people rate it no higher than 8/10, because the anime has an incomplete story-line. This anime is only for those of you that like romance/love animes! :P
I strongly suggest you download the episdoes and not watch them online since the video quality online is low... I have a fast internet connection so it took me less than a minute to download each episode. I recommend you download the first 2 episodes of this anime, and watch them, and then decide, am I already in-love with this series? or not? Here's the link:
http://www.muffindomain.com/index.php
Sources:
http://lightnovel.org/2007/12/26/review-ginban-kaleidoscope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginban_Kaleidoscope
*Thank you for reading my short review.
Lord_Lee2
This anime scores good points all round from my perspective. The story is good and the characters are pretty well connected with each other. The chosen sport of skating is very well done by the animation studio and they have got the correct "feel" for the sport, it feels elegant and smooth as if the viewer was actually on ice him/her self which gave the series a slight edge to other sports anime. The characters support each other well in this series and brings out the struggle the main characters feel to achieve the best they can on the rink with the added pressure of being amedia scape-goat and the burden of being an Olympic representative.
It is really the sound that gave this series a 9 out of 10, the music fitted perfectly with the series, especially the jazz parts, and gave it an elegant feel which added to the sports action.
The humour isn't bad either although sometimes repetitive and I especially like the part where the voice actors try to speak English (probably not part of the official humour but never mind).
All in all, a good egg of an anime. :P
EtaHeunDeon
If you asked me to describe Ginban Kaleidoscope in one word, I'd say, "Fantastic and unique," because one word really isn't enough to describe GK. It sets itself apart with a deep and complex story and setting, and while the unusual relationship between the two main characters lends itself more easily to comedy than romance, it ultimately makes the romance that much more meaningful. The story focuses on Sakurano Tazusa, a top female ice skater from Japan, and Pete Pumps, the ghost of a Canadian stunt pilot who involuntarily ends up possessing her after crashing his plane during an exhibition. Hilarity ensues as Tazusa unsuccessfully attemptsto rid herself of the uninvited guest who shares her body and her five senses and whom only she can hear, trying everything from occult rituals to physical discomfort to eating tomatoes, his least favorite food (nope, Pete's there to stay until he ascends to heaven in 100 days). Meanwhile, she must struggle against a highly-biased media, a vastly more popular rival, and a string of recent poor performances to earn the honor of representing Japan in the Winter Olympics.
What makes GK so outstanding is that it combines two story elements that would have been good on their own and improves both. You could make Tazusa an ordinary high school girl possessed by the ghost of a Canadian stunt pilot and still have a good, comedy-oriented rom-com ... but her interactions with Pete wouldn't be as clever or funny. You could make Pete a living stunt pilot in a relationship with a world-class ice skater and still have a good, drama-oriented rom-com ... but he would make Tazusa less of a loner (and good luck inventing a non-cliche reason for Pete to leave after 100 days).
Tazusa has got to be one of my favorite characters of all time. She's cute, she's witty, she stands up for herself, and she can't seem to stop yelling at Pete out loud when other people are around. Even though I know nothing about ice skating, I still found myself identifying with her very strongly as she fought her way through an unfair situation, conquered her faults, found her own skating style and attitude, and transformed from arrogant and self-centered to mature and independent.
Pete's character development was much more subtle since the audience wasn't allowed to hear his thoughts most of the time. He starts out as just a happy-go-lucky poltergeist, but eventually he develops real feelings for Tazusa and devotes himself to helping her succeed. While I'm a little disappointed that he didn't get as much attention as Tazusa, I think that ultimately the writers made the best choice in terms of pacing to not devote too much time to him or any of the supporting characters. It wouldn't really make sense if Tazusa had time to track down his relatives in Canada or something while training for the Olympics in Japan.
I love the sound throughout this series. The OP really captures the essence of the show, and I also love the voices and sound effects, especially Pete's gargled screams when Tazusa is torturing him by eating tomatoes. The classical and jazzy rhythms that play during the skating are a nice touch, as well.
My only complaint about this anime would be the art. While it definitely has its moments, especially when it comes to mixing styles for comic effect, there are far too many stills and repeated sequences during the skating performances that lower its impact. Everywhere except the skating, the art is worth a 9 or a 10, and there aren't too many skating performances to begin with, but they just skimped so much on one of the most pivotal plot points! If it weren't for that, I'd give this anime a 10.
All in all, GK is a fantastic and unique anime that you should definitely check out. It's got great characters, great story, great sound, and great art (most of the time, at least). I enjoyed every episode, and the ending moved me almost to tears. If you enjoy rom-coms even slightly, you will enjoy watching this anime.
Ceray
Ginban Kaleidoscope is a sports anime series about Tazusa Sakurano, a sixteen year old Japanese figure skater with an attitude problem and Pete Pumps, a Canadian stunt pilot of the same age. Since they're both from other sides of the earth, how are these two related? They share the same body, that's how. Well, not exactly. Concidentally, at the beginning Tazusa and Pete have a competition in the same place, at the same time, and, at the same time they both mess up. While Tazusa's mistake was minor, Pete's cost him his life. However, due to unknown circumstances, Pete is unable to go to heavenand falls back to earth landing in Tazusa's body, trapt there for one hundred days...
Story
I'm not really one for sports anime, but the fact that Ginban Kaleidoscope is a romance, or something of a romance pulled me in. The plot focuses on Tazusa, who is trying to get an Olympic spot in the 2006 Winter Olymics in Torino. However, due to her past failures and an apparent knack for being picked on by the media, this journey of hers isn't easy, especially with a ghost posessing her.
Since it's a twelve episode series, Ginban Kaleidoscope doesn't have nor make the time for little unimportant side-stories and is right to the point. This can be a good or bad thing since it doesn't really leave room for character exploration, but it also doesn't make you yell, "Get on with it already!" Ginban also likes to use two main conflicts and alternate between the two, those conflicts being, Tazusa's dealing with the media and Tazusa's success and failures as a figure skater. After a while, that kind of method can get bland, but luckily, the series is short.
Though the story is more or less pretty straight forward the end can leave something with an unsatisfied feeling, but maybe that's just me.
Characters
As I mentioned before, the main characters of this series are Tazusa and Pete. They seem to be polar opposites, but as they say, opposites attract, right? Ha, but the two share one characteristic in common, and that's determination. Tazusa, according to another character, has a "clay/stone mask," I find this hard to believe since most of the time Tazusa is yelling at someone, usually Pete. She's loud, short-tempered, and quite childish, but I guess that's what's likable about her. But, I think, personally, there wasn't anything about her that made her truly memorable as a character.
Pete, in contrast to his host, is a bit more contemplative, and well, most things that Tazusa isn't, especially optimistic, despite the fact that he's dead. I liked Pete because he was sort of funny, in the silly kind of way. Or it could've been because of all the Engrish he randomly spews. As a pair, I think Tazusa and Pete are a good duo, while not as good as other anime duos, they're pretty good.
The other characters in the series, well, the reoccuring ones, are all right, there isn't anything particularly special about them... Well, one of them looks a little like Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but that's it really.
Art, Sound, and Some Other Stuff
The sound was good, I think, everyone's voice was well suited to their character and the acting was more or less convincing. Also, one thing about Ginban, it uses a few English phrases, and, while normally, Engrish sounds a bit weird, it wasn't as bad as some I've heard.
To be completely honest, I neverwatched all of the opening or ending songs, so I can't make a comment about them, however the former was a bit pop sounding.
Animation was okay.... Sometimes the color was weird, and there was a bit of reused animation... Also, during the last episode there was a bit of a continuity problem in which they weren't sure for a second about what was in Tazusa's hair.
Overall
Overall, Ginban Kaleidoscope was a pretty good series. It's not one that I would recommend since, there are some things in it that are confusing, and it wasn't really addictive when watching. But it is different than other things I've seen since it's a pretty upbeat series with a sad ending (depending on your preference with the characters). It had it's funny moments, and I think that's what I enjoyed most about it, and maybe that's how it'll be for you.
HeavenAvery
Recently I've been really desperate to watch an anime; because it's been a long time since i watched one. I look here and there just to find the right anime i could really enjoy. These few days I've been watching 'Ginban Kaleidoscope' and i was satisfied. I watched these for 2 day because it only got 12 episodes but honestly i really hoped there was more. The story was about romance, comedy but more on sports. The reason why i like these anime because it teaches moral lessons; about having a fighting spirit, having our own principle in life, having good sportsmanship, and learningto live life to the fullest. And what inspires me most on the story was when the protagonist realizes that popularity nor award is not that matters but by reaching your goal in life.
Flawfinder
(Author's Note: This is an old review that I would have written differently now, but I might as well post it on here just because) One thing you’ll learn upon leaving high school is that everything that happened during that time is utterly meaningless in the adult world. And unless you’re one of those heathens who married his highschool sweetheart without divorcing her in two years time, your first love is one of those things. Pretty soon, you’ll realize that it was nothing special other than being another small experience in your youth, move on, and then date that college chick that’s as smart as sheis fun to be around.
A similar thing happened to me when I got started on my anime hobby. Back when I thought they were all the length of American sitcoms that went on longer than a roadtrip from Texas to Brazil and I treated those anime like we were having a fling, I found a peculiar little series on Youtube that I was surprised to find was only 12 episodes long: Ginban Kaleidoscope. For those of you who have never heard of the series, it’s this anime directed by that dude who did the first 100 or so episodes of Gintama, School Rumble, and such centered on this ice-skating chick who gets possessed by this Canadian pilot that died in a plane accident. For some reason, he can only ascend to heaven after 100 days, so he has to share the girl’s experiences until then – including seeing herself when she goes to the toilet and experiencing what she eats (and he hates tomatoes), so she puts up with him until then. As you probably expect, they fall for each other, help each other out, and basically act like a retarded version of Hikaru no Go.
If you’re planning to watch this anime…uh…don’t. It’s not very funny, it adds nothing new to the coming-of-age sports genre, and it’s more of a product of its time than John Hughes’ films. As you probably surmised, I didn’t like this anime, even back then. The only real reason I committed to it was because I was more romantically inclined at the time and wanted to see these characters get together despite one of them being a ghost (who never spoke any Canadian). So I officially entered an “I watch you and you entertain me” relationship with the show, only to get frustrated with these stupid romantic comedy hijinks that felt like it was playing me for a fool without showing any real commitment to its promise. There were eventually some moments where I had fun, but around the end, I realized the show and I wanted different things and we parted ways amicably after we were finished with each other.
Looking back on that show as of today, I wonder what it was my high school self ever really saw in it. But regardless of what I feel now, I cannot deny that it was an important moment of my life due to being the first anime I ever finished from beginning to end. Even if the experience wasn’t great and there was no real love to justify that old “it’s better to have love and lost than have never loved at all” spiel, it was still an experience that helped shape future events in regards to my hobby. Okay, I went back to my long-running comfort food that will never grow old and betray me for a while, but eventually I realized how full of bullshit they were too (apart from Ranma, who forgave me for cheating on her and we entered a long-term relationship that was way more successful, but more on that another time) and sought out more of these series that were less than 100-episodes long. I think you can guess what happened from then on.
My first real girlfriend in terms of anime didn’t pan out. But hey, I survived didn’t I?
iPeppermintOz
Ginban Kaleidoscope is a light-hearted with some serious undertones anime that has a long enough length to make it end on a higher note. Story - 8 Since the synopsis tells you the story I won't bother typing it all out...However, I will say that what I do like about the story is that there are some twists and turns. There is competition, rightfully so, but it isn't overdramatic. That stuck out as it is superior to most teenage anime in this regard. I will say some of the drama with Pete is pointless...but it can pass ;P Art - 7 I can't be too tough at the timeof this release. The animation-particularly in the eyes, is still pretty and bright. It is colorful, and the animations for the skating competitions is always really fluid. That is impressive in itself.
Sound - 6
Nothing really stuck out to me about the music here. There are probably some nice instrumentals here and there, there was at least something, but nothing that is awe-droppingly amazing...
Character - 8
I'm rather impressed with character development in this story. The main characters have some development...though the relationship between the main two can start to grate you a little bit because the girl is a little dramatic...haha. But it is still pretty good for a short series!
Enjoyment - 7
I had fun watching it, and laughed a couple of times! If you have some time to spare it wouldn't hurt to check it out!
Overall: 7.9
I tried averaging, not sure how accurate any of it is. xD. Like I said, check it out if you have time to spare, but it isn't something to lose sleep over seeing. If you are into competitive sports shows with some nice plot twists and character development, go for it! Hope this helped!
xkawaii_s2
i thought, for a sports anime, that it was pretty good. the ending was kind of loose and it could have been better (but i haven't relly seen an ending i like yet). personally, i LOVE ice skating so that's probably what attracted me to this anime, plus the front cover looked cute. i like how the guy relates ice skating to the flying plane thing (can't remember what it's called) and i would have cried at the end, if i wasn't at my friend's house =] overall, it's a pretty good anime, and i do recommend it to people who want to watch ashorter anime and comedy type thing
PixelB
Ginban Kaleidoscope is a bittersweet romantic coming of age story about Tazusa, an arrogant figure skater looking to go be Japan's sole Olympic representative. This show manages to do things that shows with much better budget, animation, and cast of characters fails to deliver, and that's character development. Pete Pumps, a ghost possessing Tazusa seems to just be some setup for a comedy, especially when you consider that Pete shares all the senses that Tazusa does. You'd think that most of the show would be the comedic moments of the manzai between Tazusa and Pete, as well as the occasional ecchi scenes where Pete--havingTazusa's senses--seesher naked.
Surprisingly, the show manages to develop a bond between Pete and Tazusa. Figure skating is still an important motif, especially paired with how Pete similarly was a budding talent in airplane acrobatics, where both have similar types of performances, judging, and theme. The airplane and figure skating themes intermix just as much as Tazusa and Pete bond over their time together. This is especially so when Tazusa's in constant anxiety over her performances or is in slumps because she fell down in too many long programs.
There are still lighthearted comedy scenes, and they're pretty good at that. I actually would have wished for there to be more robust slice of life scenes, but unfortunately, while there are a decent chunk of slice of life scenes, the characters are lacking. While Pete, Tazusa, and also her coach are good characters, the rest of the cast basically do not exist, both in serious competitive settings as well as comedic ones. Tazusa's little sister, her classmate, and even her rival characters basically don't get too much screen time at all.
Despite the multitude of flaws that this show has, the relationship between Tazusa and Pete is good enough to ignore a lot of the flaws. Again, Tazusa uses her figure skating to showcase her feelings for Pete, and Tazusa skates in order to "fly in the air with Pete." While Tazusa of old would have cared about getting the Olympic medal, she now cares more about her performance with Pete. It's warming. The show could have easily given Tazusa an olympic medal for her brilliant performances, but there's something poetic about her getting just out of reach of reaching that point, because Tazusa's performance wasn't done with the intention of scoring well, but merely her final hurrah for Pete.
This show was adapted from a long 9 volume light novel run, so I'm guessing the awkward lack of characters, weird pacing, and sudden change in plot focus arises from the anime trying to cram 9 volumes of content into 12 episodes, which is impossible. Still, the anime did an adequate job. Yes, the animation is a slideshow, but I would stil recommend watching it.
The_Walker
If you are looking for a decent Winter themed anime to go along with the PyeongChang event, congratulations! You found one. Ginban Kaleidoscope was a rewatch for me. Once when it was airing and now many years later as a full marathon. The simplest way to describe it is as one of those shows that is definitely good enough to watch, but just wasn't quite good enough to enter the hall of anime fame. Thus as the years go by, Kaleidoscope fades into obscurity. A shame really, because in terms of actual story line this was one of the best shows of its season. Forone, the plot is fairly unique. You didn't really get a competent look at figure skating very much back then. And one coupled with an interesting and bittersweet romance no less. The character development is also very well done, with the changes in Tazusa throughout the series being a highlight as she evolves from spoiled brat to amazingly likeable. The comedy is also decent, with a running gag centering on the fact that the only person who can see or hear Peter is her. So when she talks to him this results in those around Tazusa mistaking her entirely.
The main drawback of Kaleidoscope is that it wasn't given high production values to go along with it. The animation is barely par for the time, and the sound/music quality is completely forgettable. There are also many times during the figure skating scenes that feature clear keyframe copying and recycling to cut corners. So from purely an animation perspective, Tazusa and Peters adventures unfortunately come across as a poor mans 'Yuri on Ice'. However, if you can look past the fact that this shows budget didn't do it justice Ginban Kaleidoscope is one of the best written shows of 2005.
rockman_blues
This is one refreshing one...It was the first one i watched based on rink skaters so the idea was quite appealing to me. The sports culture is aptly portrayed in this one most of the time. The story is touching..comical scenes are downright funny especially the sequence at the end of the second episode. The music is average but the show doesnt really need to depend on it. This is a cute one...do watch it..warms you up really.
DinosaurJoe
After the first few episodes of this anime, I couldn't help but be incredibly annoyed at Tazusa. She was incredibly irritating, and the way she dealt with having a ghost possess her was so ridiculously stupid I couldn't help but think "God, why is she doing such a thing?" Here's what she did that pissed me off. Constantly talking out loud to Pete while in a public place. No one would ever do this. One reason being the fear of being treated like a schizophrenic, and two, because it's really, reeaally dumb. At one point she gets him to help her out with a test, and shejust keeps talking and talking and talking to him. She also consistently yells at him to shut up, while talking to her friends and coworkers.
Honestly, the fact that a ghost is possessing her isn't even the most unrealistic part of this story. The most unrealistic part is how she deals with it.
It was alright though, but Tazusa just made me leave the series feeling quite irate. Things got okay near the end, but oh my god she's so dumb.
