Medalist Chapter 50 Discussion

Ryuseishun said:
Loved this chapter but I personally didn’t like how Inori emotionally regressed here. I understand not letting her win, but not even making the cut? That’s fucking overkill 😔

I complietely agree. Inori seems to have been sacrificed on the altar of Hikaru's character development, without getting the same. They need to fire that new second coach because his presence seems to turn skaters into Jobbers.

There's also something that just doesn't "work" with her crash out for me - we're not being shown how good Inori is, only told, so it doesn't feel earned. The last tournament we saw her win was 30 chapters ago; they skipped her Grand Prix so entirely there's going to be people not realising she did so until it's raised again for the next tournament. We're being told she's special, but all we're is a speciality to flub an open goal because Hikaru's growth requires her to... not be on her level? 'She's not Jun Kodaka'? There are billion ways to do that without turning your actual protagonist into a side-character jobber for the rivals "growth".

This isn't like the Japan novices arc, which felt like an earned loss. This feels like Ash losing the Kalos League because the writers thought letting him win a League would be a bad idea (whicj you can feel in every fiber of later seasons that they realised that was stupid and hated because he never flubs that bad again).

She didn't lose because she was outskated by Iruka or Hikaru. She crashed out because she isn't allowed to beat Iruka or Hikaru narratively until the end of the series. She cannot be allowed any victory that implies she isn't the underdog against them.

It's bad narrative writing, even if the character writing is still solid.

The nuance might different but I think the root problem is the same in both cases. I think this is probably a trauma that Inori has been carrying since her sister got hurt. Inori claims she can't remember that but I think it's more like she's repressing her memory. If she's indeed repressing her memory, it means this memory is really traumatic for Inori, and that would explain why she totally self-destroys every time someone she cares about gets hurt.

It would also explain why she seemed fine after Iruka got injured. She even said so to herself, so I don't think she was faking it. And yet, she still self-destructed all the same. It's because the trauma is her subconscious.

That said, what I take issue on is that the author didn't make Inori bomb her performance because she finally wanted to address Inori's trauma. She did so just to give Hikaru a paid off to her arc. Hikaru gets to be the light of hope by cheering Inori up. It's a huge development for Hikaru, but Inori gets the short end of the stick here. She's made to bomb her performance and doesn't get any benefit from it. Her trauma doesn't get explored here. Hikaru is the only one who benefits.