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.
