Kadokawa has released a teaser trailer and visual for the Medalist (メダリスト) animated film and confirmed that it will premiere on February 19th, 2027. The film is based on Tsurumaikada’s Medalist sports manga and anime adaptation, and it will tell a story set after the end of the anime’s second season.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FacTE-pO9dI]
The manga’s TV anime adaptation debuted its first season on January 4th, 2025, and the second season premiered on January 24th, 2026. Yamamoto Yasutaka (Noblesse) directed both anime seasons at ENGI studio.
Tsurumaikada started the award-winning manga in May 2020 in Kodansha’s Afternoon magazine, and Kodansha published the manga’s first tankoubon volume in September 2020 and the 15th volume in July 2026. The Medalist manga won the Best General Manga award in the Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2023 and the Best General Manga award in Kodansha’s 48th Annual Manga Awards in May 2024.
The manga is released in digitally English by Kodansha USA Publishing, and it released the 14th volume in May 2026. Kodansha USA Publishing describes the manga story below:
“Inori is a little girl who dreams of becoming a figure skater. Yet, the obstacles to this dream feel insurmountable: Inori’s already “too old” (she’s 11); she’s always had trouble at school; and, worst of all, her older sister’s skating dreams ended in failure, so her mother is dead set against putting her other daughter through a similar experience. Still, the rink is the only place Inori can be herself, and she’s out on the ice when a fateful meeting takes place. Tsukasa, a frustrated coach on the edge of giving up competitive skating himself, will join Inori to form an unstoppable duo powered by hard work, transcendent joy, and an unshakeable belief that they can prove everyone wrong.”
