Manga Review – Knight of the Ice

Knight of the Ice Volume 1

Knight of the Ice
銀盤騎士 (Ginban Kishi)
OGAWA Yayoi
Josei – Comedy, romance, sports
4 Volumes (ongoing) of 11 Volumes (complete)
Kodansha Comics

Summary:

Chitose is a magazine editor, but she’s also been drafted into another position: motivational speaker for her childhood friend who is now a pro figure skater. But Kokoro doesn’t need a typical pep talk; he wants Chitose to recite the catchphrase from a magical girl anime!

Review:

Knight of the Ice was different than I expected, but I’m liking it so much more than I thought I would.

It wasn’t long after I started this series until I was saying to myself, “Is this a sequel or something? Why am I feeling déjà vu here?” It seemed a bit familiar to me, but the bigger clue was the way some parts were presented. There were a lot of characters, particularly fellow figure skaters, thrown in with data and aside comments. In a 100% fresh new series, it would be poor (and odd) form to introduce so many characters with clearly defined strengths and personalities so early — and with just a text box in many cases. And yes, it turns out Knight of the Ice is a spin-off of an earlier Ogawa manga called Kiss & Never Cry. I’ve only read a bit of that series, and that was quite a while ago, but the second volume mentions a couple of characters are from that series. They both center on figure skaters, but I do remember that manga being from a young man’s point-of-view about a full-time female skater and how it covered some serious topics. Knight of the Ice is the opposite, from a young woman’s perspective about her male skating friend and appears to be rather light in a slice-of-life sort of way.

So moving past that fact, Knight of the Ice also gets a slight hit in that Kodansha’s official description doesn’t fully capture the premise. Chitose and Kokoro grew up as close friends, both speaking their home area’s dialect. They went on different paths, but they’ve recently reunited as adults just as Kokoro’s skating career hits the skids. A memory from their days of skating together at the local rink suddenly inspires Kokoro, and he nails his techniques. So now Chitose has to show up before Kokoro’s competitions and say the transformation/power up phrase from a kid’s anime in order for him to skate well. That’s not easy since she has a full-time job, and plus his manager, Moriyama, doesn’t want it leaking that Kokoro is an otaku for a magical girl series.

Knight of the Ice Sample 1

What was most misleading about the descriptions for this series was Kokoro himself. He’s actually much calmer than I expected, not some kind of superfreak who flips out as soon as the camera lights go away. Yes, Kokoro is obsessed with the show Magical Princess Lady Lala, decorating his room with merchandise and creating fanart. Even so, he’s not a boisterous fan who shouts at the TV or goes on and on about what happened in episode 12 — all ways otaku are often presented in manga. Here, drawing the characters or displaying merchandise all around his room is just what makes him happy. It’s also a psychological attachment, both to a time he could skating without pressure and when Chitose was always around. Even beyond his otaku side, it’s easy to like the titular character. Kokoro doesn’t speak much on his manager’s orders, afraid that his country accent will pop out and ruin his princely image. But we see him wanting to be more social, panicking when he thinks he didn’t thank a fellow skater properly but not knowing how to say so in a text. Again, Kokoro is not one of those celebs in manga who’s two-faced; he’s just naturally awkward and is also told to hide it. His awkwardness also spreads to his feelings about Chitose, as he’s worried about being just a little brother to her. Kokoro is so pure that others who have no intention of helping him end up giving Kokoro advice! Although some of that advice goes a little astray…

As Chitose spends more and more time at Kokoro’s competitions, her boss, Sawada, starts getting suspicious. While he teases Chitose about her short height, he finds himself internally panicking at the thought he may be attracted to his underling even though he has his own relationship issues. Meanwhile, Kokoro’s manager, Moriyama, takes no prisoners. What she wants, she will get. And while she may use her feminine wiles to persuade others or sets demands that others MUST follow, she also ain’t got time to worry about little things like flashing people as she kicks in doors. Her mission is to take Kokoro to the top, and she’s not going to let anything get in his way — even a rumored curse!

Kokoro and Chitose are also supported by others like Kokoro’s coworkers (including the coach, who speaks so softly that he usually can’t be heard… until his rival comes around), friends (like a very familiar sounding manga artist), and family (Kokoro’s twin sisters).

Still, Knight of the Ice is a sports manga, and Kokoro might not be struggling so much if he didn’t have fellow skaters just waiting to claim the spot as Japan’s #1 skater. We have the cute-but-verbally-savage one, the serious one, and the show-off with no sense of rhythm. But they don’t all hate each other, as I mentioned earlier when Kokoro wanted to send one a thank you text. In another example, the third volume, the rivals pretty much have to pin their hopes on Kokoro to make sure Japan has enough spots in the next competition. I’m sure their roles will rise and fall depending on what’s going on with the story, but of course they’re never too far away considering they’re all in the same field.

Knight of the Ice Sample 3

Speaking of careers, part of the conflict in the manga comes from Chitose caring deeply about hers. She is a big fan of nutrition, exercise, and other health- and fitness-related fields. You could almost say she’s an otaku on these matters, which stems from her sickly childhood. It’s why she doesn’t want to just walk away and work as a Kokoro groupie or whatever, and she soon wants to get credentials so she can support him in an official manner. While so many heroines just fall into a job or think they have no special interests/talents, it’s refreshing to see a heroine with a clear (albeit almost creepy at times) passion. Chitose is a bit of a workaholic, but even if she wasn’t assisting Kokoro, she still wouldn’t be totally happy since she hasn’t quite reached her ideal position yet. However, Chitose isn’t a hyper or confident person, even though she was (and is) compared to Kokoro. It’s also nice to see a female lead who’s not completely oblivious to the way Kokoro treats her or her own feelings.

Of course, a lot of people are primarily concerned about the romance. Chitose, as we soon learn, probably did like Kokoro or was on the verge of it turning into a crush when they were younger. But some comments from their classmates put a kibosh on that: the ordinary Chitose wasn’t seen as a fitting partner for the good-looking Kokoro. Those comments still sting, and that is the root of much of Chitose’s jealousy. Kokoro, meanwhile, has always had feelings for her, and he’s elated to have been reunited with Chitose as adults. Without going into detail, there is progress on the love story front, but it looks like there will be the usual misunderstandings. Especially due to a character like Moriyama, there are a quite a few references to a lack of “experience”, analyzing Chitose’s body, and other such jokes. Nothing too dirty, but that’s mainly where the OT rating comes from. The manga may increase its sexual content, but so far, it’s more comedic than romantic.

Knight of the Ice Sample 2

When I first saw images of Ogawa’s work, it reminded me of the artist of Sugar Sugar Rune and Happy Mania. I’m not a big fan of Anno’s big-eyed (and bug-eyed) style, although it has changed since then. But Ogawa’s art didn’t capture my interest then, obviously, Knight of the Ice is a much more recent work. Between the lack of familiarity with her style and the age, no, I wouldn’t have pegged Ogawa as the artist. And there’s really not much to complain about. I did have a hard time sometimes remembering who some of the characters are, but I know one of my two biggest offenders is from Kiss & Never Cry, so I can’t fully knock Knight of the Ice for this. Kokoro may look a bit too mopey at times, but it’s also balanced out by the incredible spitfire that is Moriyama.  Ogawa truly has studied up on figure skating, and we hear a lot (a LOT) about different techniques. Of course, in manga, we mostly see just spins, but the layouts for these competitions are still nice. The show Magical Princess Lady Lala is obviously referenced a lot, and we see the characters both as the TV show characters and as spirits talking to Kokoro and Chitose.

Translation:

Honorifics are used. The manga includes several pages of notes both about the translation and figure skating. They even point out references like Moriyama’s cosplay. Been quite a while since I’ve seen so many notes. Kokoro and Chitose’s accent is written as American country, heavy on words like “ain’t” and “yer”. The first volume includes a preview of You’re My Pet.

Final Comments:

Knight of the Ice is billed as a romcom, but it’s much more down-to-earth and sweet than that moniker might suggest. It’s not a laugh-a-minute riot nor is the comedy very light, but the series is buoyed by its likable leads and a relationship not rooted in tsundere tantrums.

Ogawa’s You’re My Pet is available digitally after originally being published physically by Tokyopop as Tramps Like Us.

Reader Rating


5/5 (2)

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