Miku Ahiru is an example of how, yes, talent is important, but your circumstances are important as well. What if she lived near a rink with a more active community? How far would she have gone and her talents taken her? It’s hard to say, but the term luck gets thrown in this volume. It would be ideal to leave a spectacular performance as her finale, but it’s clear she doesn’t want to quit. Which is why her final performance didn’t live up to what she could do. Though for Miku, as talented as she is, there could lie a different path for her. Like we see with Tsukasa just like Miku, he had talent that he never. Though for him, like Inori it was when he was first getting into the sport that was the issue. Like how Tsukasa found his path as a coach, it will be curious what route Miku goes.
Though unlike Miku, Inori chose to pursue her dreams. She leads an impressive start, getting two quads. Though for Inori to keep pushing for the triple lutz alongside that takes great dedication, to say the least. Sadly, the triple lutz comes a bit short. Though I do like that Inori doesn’t let that get to her. In fact, the step sequence really shows what she takes after Tsukasa. As it was mentioned earlier, how beautiful Tsukasa’s ice skating is! For Inori to embrace that really shows that she was to prove her coach is truly a great coach despite him not having the success that Jun had.
The older girls mentioned the idea of changing your routine. Iruka was the one who mentioned that they would. As Inori does just that in competition. That it is quite inspiring to see her motivation. As we know, Inori is Tsukasa’s first student. The point that gets missed is that the moment Tsukasa embraced being a coach is when he gave up on his dream. While yes, her dream is to rival and beat Hikaru, she wants to prove she can win as Tsukasa’s student. Even not mentioning the triple axel to him is definitely something she shouldn’t make a bit of. Still, you really have to admire her determination as she lands that and finishes her performance well.
Still, Inori didn’t finish in the top 3. Most shows how much when you make a mistake is when it hurts. An early mistake can be easily forgotten, but a mistake in the middle or near the end can leave an impression on the judges. Though this serves as more motivation for Inori, this clearly hurts.
To add to Hikaru’s conversation with Tsukasa does come across as a bit creepy in many ways. Talking to him as if he sacrificed enough and why he failed. His point about sacrifices doesn’t mean something good can happen. Hell, you can make sacrifices, and you only go downhill. The key to what Tsukasa is doing as he coaches Inori is being smart about it. Though what is actually unsettling is why a child is so casually mentioning sacrifices to an adult. Hikaru’s mind is definitely warped, but you can tell she really does care for Inori. Still much like Tsukasa, we know how great Inori’s work ethic is. It will be interesting to see how she continues as she starts the junior part of her career.