Drama Digest
Kensei Maeshima, figure skating child prodigy, quits it suddenly when his one-sided nemesis, Reo Shinozaki, does not recognize his skill. Kensei then joins the Inodai High School and guides other sports teams while refraining from joining any. Things change when news breaks that Reo will pursue team-based skate-leading instead of continuing with singles figure skating. Reo also announces that he will be entering St. Clavis Gakuin High School, the very one who had beaten opponents left and right to become the winner of the Grand Prix the previous year. Kensei is talked into quitting singles figure skating by Hayato Sasugai and joins the skate-leading club in his school. He instantaneously feels unwelcome because the team generally disapproves of Kensei’s brash demeanour. Kensei is a real piece of work and lacks the skating skills needed to be the team’s “Lead”, so the backlash against him is pretty justified. The team will have to work together to overcome all the challenges in harmony, qualify for the Grand Prix finals and take on St. Clavis Gakuin as their final opponent there.
The Feel-Good Part
This anime features a decent character design. The animation is not overly exceptional when it comes to the entire anime, but the few moments where we get to see the skating routines are visual treats. The OP is catchy and stays on your mind long after hearing it, and the ED is not too bad either. The episodes also manage to build up anticipation and excitement in the later episodes, as we wonder about how the show will conclude.
The Disappointing Factor
The characters in Skate Leading Stars are all very one-dimensional, and there is almost little to no character development, even when it comes to the protagonists. Maeshima is an obnoxious protagonist and very hard to like. Shinozaki is too detached from a character even to seem human. The anime also refuses to focus on a character properly. Maeshima could have had proper character development if the show even focused on him for a significant amount of time but they blew off that opportunity. Another ridiculously bizarre thing about this is that despite being a show about skating, it focuses minimally on the sport. The skating routines are so few you are left squinting to catch a glimpse of one. It almost feels like the creative team did not research anything about skating and treated it like a mythical sport that no one knows much about. The direction is not too good either, and a lot of the show would have been way more bearable if the direction was not as messy.
In-Depth Analysis
The problem with this anime is its overall mediocrity. It fails to be exceptional in any aspect. The characters seem underdeveloped, even the protagonists, there is minimal research into the content of the show, the animation almost feels lazy sometimes, and the actual focus of the show, skating, gets the least screen-time. The dialogues seem bland, and it becomes tough to keep watching till the end, no matter how much anticipation builds up. The rivalry that the show is built around seems artificial as well because the bone of contention between them just feels too childish to even empathize with the characters.
Star Power
Although Skate Leading Stars boasts of some big industry names like Gorou Taniguchi and Yana Toboso, the show is an overall disappointment.
Overall Opinion
For a sports anime, there is minimal sports present here. A Yuri On Ice!!! rewatch will be much more worth your time.
