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 attempts to 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.
