English Dub Review: Skate-Leading Stars “Break”

Overview(Possible Spoilers):

This episode picks up right where the last one ended. Maeshima is denied entry to the skate-leading club, as Kiriyama (Keith Silverstein) rips into him for being selfish. Maeshima can’t believe that he’s not being allowed to join the club. We get a montage of him training around and sometimes with the club to show how devoted he is. Eventually, he gets admitted as a provisional member.

Maeshima is given a key to the rink to be the one to get it ready for practice and lock up when they are done. He skips school the next day and spent the whole night and day practicing. Kiriyama was not pleased with this and attempted to kick him off the team. However, captain Terauchi (Ian Sinclair) has a different idea. They will compete and if Maeshima wins he will become a full member and have his training amped up. Sasugai is late getting to the rink and we just get to see the aftermath of the match. Sasugai proposes a skate-leading match with his very enrollment in the school on the line.

Our Take:

This episode was a bit better, but honestly just a bit. Next week is the third episode and I feel like if I wasn’t reviewing this it would be a casualty of the three-episode rule. Still, no idea how skate-leading works, and since it’s in the title I think that’s kind of a big deal. There were a few more positives this week and we have some voice acting to praise as well.

I feel like I’m hearing Ian Sinclair everywhere now, in my review of the season premiere of Fruits Basket I praised him pretty handily. Since he is one of the few to stand out here I guess I’ll be doing the same. He lowers his voice a bit more here and is definitely more serious than a lot of his other roles. I am getting more impressed with him, he is definitely rising in my ranks of voice actors. Keith Silverstein also puts in a good performance. Very solid, exactly what I expect out of a role of his.

Sasugai is becoming my favorite character, his motivations might be pretty basic but I’m a sucker for the smart characters in a sports anime. I always find it refreshing when someone uses their intelligence to their advantage when sports is usually a “survival of the fittest” type of environment. He gives the skaters his team is going up against pointers and they notice immediate improvement upon implementing his ideas. I really appreciate tropes like that, hopefully, some of the other characters start having some more interesting moments of their own.

I really think the skate-leading needs to be more front and center. Could you imagine if the first two episodes of Haikyu!! didn’t have volleyball? Yes, there has been skating in it but it’s all been normal singles skating. The hook for this is it’s a unique sport that we don’t have so it should be shown.

With the completion for both Sasugai and Maeshima’s future slated for next week, I might finally get my wish. I’m rooting for this show I really am despite how negative I sound. I love sports anime but it feels like this is failing even the most basic things most sports anime have. I don’t feel a connection to any of the characters aside from Sasugai and our main character is kind of a jerk. I know a lot of sports anime protagonists start that way but there’s usually some charm. I am just not feeling that so far, hopefully, next week changes my mind.