Ginban Kaleidoscope 1

I was looking for something to fill in the gaping hole left by Kaleido Star, and this odd candidate was the only thing remotely close. As it turns out, Ginban is nothing like KS (although its protagonist does occasionally look like May) – but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

We’re introduced to Tazusa Sakurano, the slightly snobbish and bratty “billion dollar girl”, an ace figure skater in the running to represent Japan in the Olympics. In contrast to Sora’s genki, ganbatte spirit, Tazusa is a bit moody, and is prone to angry super-deformed style outbursts – largely due to the immense pressure and expectations that are placed upon her by the media. We pick up with her competing in an international figure skating meet held in Canada, where she needs to catch the eye of a potential sponsor. While she performs her routine, a stunt pilot somewhere else in Canada is executing equally complex and daring maneuvers. Towards the end though, they both simultaneously screw up their critical moment, and Tazusa is knocked unconscious. The pilot isn’t so lucky though, and dies in a plane crash.

Tazusa wakes up in the hospital, and we tag along as she faces her jeering rivals, the paparazzi, and the very disappointed figure skating director for Japan. Just when it seems like it can’t get any worse, she starts hearing voices in her head. Turns out the Canadian pilot’s ghost somehow came to reside in her body, and feels everything she feels. Tazusa spends the rest of the episode trying several hilarious ways of getting rid of him, with no success.

Well, first things first. The character design in this show is rather uninspired and generic-looking. The only way I can describe it is that resembles a cheaply made game-to-anime conversion from the early 90′s. The amount of detail is pretty low in general, as seen in this incredibly nondescript building. The animation itself seems decent enough, though there are plenty of still-frames and the like. Hopefully no recycled skating footage will be used. Music thus far has been rather bland; I don’t remember any of it in particular. The opening smacked of poor production values as well, featuring black silhouettes of some animation from the episode presented on a psychedelic background. Did I mention that it was also incredibly short? I’m guessing this is one of those “makeshift” openings, like the ones Gonzo did for Speed Grapher, Trinity Blood, etc.

In spite of the lackluster presentation, I found myself enjoying the episode. Tazusa’s antics were quite amusing, and her efforts to rid herself of that pesky Canadian reminded me of the hiccups episode in Azumanga Daioh, taken to the extreme. I almost felt sorry for the ghost; having his host slam her face into the wall repeatedly, pass out in a steaming hot spa, and down an entire bottle of hot sauce must be unpleasant. He did come in handy though when the American skater started talking smack to Tazusa in her unintelligible gaijin language!

Ginban Kaleidoscope teeters on the edge of not making the blog list, but I’ll give it a couple more episodes before I decide. Who knows, it might turn out to be the next Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. They both have craptastic art, for sure.

Related posts:

1. Ginban Kaleidoscope 3
2. Ginban Kaleidoscope 2
3. Full Metal Alchemist 21

This post was written by...

Ender – who has written 219 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.

One of the original founders, and the first to attempt a coups d'état.