Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Tea-O
Honestly, Skate-Leading Stars is fairly enjoyable at first glance. I discovered it during the Winter Olympics, when I was watching a lot of figure skating, so an anime focused on that sport immediately caught my attention. It manages to recreate that pleasant and elegant atmosphere typical of figure skating performances.
However, this is why I would only give it a 4/10 — and that’s already generous.
The main positive aspect lies in its originality. Anime about figure skating are quite rare, and some scenes occasionally feature nice animation and visually appealing artwork. Unfortunately, these remain the only truly strong points.
The biggest issue is that the anime is simply too short. Almost everything feels underdeveloped: character relationships are very basic, the storyline is highl…
Read at the sourceFrogfrog_
I really enjoyed watching it, the animation didn't get worse at any point despite not showing the skating scenes in their entirety, but it wasn't a bad thing, since it didn't just leave the skating animation raw (like in Yuri!!! On Ice, which is just the presentations, and that ended up making the animation kind of bad... But even so the anime is good). All the presentation scenes made me nervous, I was never sure when it was going to be a bad or good grade... There were a lot of sensations.
Original -
Gostei bastante de assistir, a animação não piorou em nenhum momento apesar de não mostrar as cenas da patinação por completo, mas não foi algo ruim, já que não deixava só a animação crua da patinação (tipo em Yuri!!! On Ice, que são só as apresentações, e isso acabou deixando meio ruim a…
Read at the sourcejaskayn
A figure skating sports anime, with the premise of “skate-leading.” It’s basically what artistic swimming is to competitive swimming (juuust slightly, ik that example is a bit wonky). The animation for this anime was actually very good, I found no real issues. Many scenes did give me chills, mainly Shinozaki revealing his more competitive side and the music for the final performances.
Those were my pros. As for the cons, there is a bit to cover. One of the most frustrating issues about this anime is none other than our main character, Maeshima, who is your typical cut-out angry red-head who fails to understand any form of logic and resorts to screaming his lungs out if anyone were to ever argue against his weird reasoning for literally any decision he makes while he’s on the ice (he basic…
Read at the sourceLilMonsterx
i love everything about this anime except for the fact that it was rushed. i wish it is a 24 episodes anime so they can show more like the routine, the practice, character development and a friendly match with other schools just like they did in haikyuu. it's a sport anime after all. if only this anime has 24 episodes, it wouldn't get that much bad reviews and then season 2 wouldn't get cancelled. it's sad because i enjoy this anime so much. i want to watch and know more about them.
i love the art style. the only reason i started watching this anime because a skate leading stars video show up on my tiktok fyp. when i saw maeshima, i knew i had to watch it. i don't have regret. even though the anime was rushed, it is very enjoyable.
Read at the sourcefakeharmonies
Would I recommend this show? Maybe. But only with the warning that after episode 1, it’s almost painfully boring and completely unenjoyable to watch until about episode 8. It’s a real shame, I was really rooting for it in a lot of ways (the exposition and explanation of the sport was done SUPER well and seamlessly, especially since it’s a fake sport), but they basically dropped the ball at episode 2.
The main character, Maeshima, is unbearable for most of the show. He starts off with an “I’m better than everyone” attitude, gets his ass handed to him several times, and doesn’t improve whatsoever, because the fact that he gets his ass handed to him doesn’t impact the plot AT ALL. The characters KEEP making deals and bets with him but there’s always some convoluted reasoning as to why it do…
Read at the sourcechloegc
I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about sports anime; I have seen a good number of them. And I can say with good conscience that Skate Leading Stars has to be one of the worst, if not the worst, sports anime out there. This was such a horrid ice sports anime it left me with more appreciation for Yuri!!! on Ice.
This show was absolutely terrible. Everything about it was horrible and screamed lazy. Something that honestly left me dumbfounded was the fact that, a majority of the time, the skating scenes were not even animated. Yes, an anime which focuses on the premise of a stunning team skating competition did not even take the time to animate skating scenes. The characters would go out on the ice, the music would start, the screen would fade to black, and then the show picks ba…
Read at the sourceschwakai
A friend and I decided to start watching this anime the other night, hoping it would be a little bit similar to Yuri on Ice (but not too similar, you know?). We had pretty high hopes because the art looked alright and the synopsis seemed interesting enough, but we were swiftly disappointed.
Every single character is uninteresting and one-dimensional, nobody is really motivated by anything other than "to win" (which we don't even really see for most characters), and even the main character's end goal is unoriginal and boring. His 'rival' doesn't even acknowledge him as such when they were kids, but this main character decided to latch onto that dream... then quit skating. THEN get back into it? It doesn't make any sense.
On top of that, the pacing is horrendous. It seems like the whole…
Read at the sourceanimeshitha
Honestly, I expected more.
Shinozaki was honestly the most boring character ever, and honestly, I'm doubting if he even HAD a personality.
The rivalry felt so damn forced. I mean, I get it, most sports anime start with rivalries that seem petty to us but we understand that it's important for the characters and we root for them. It was near impossible for me to do that here.
There's a fine line between hyping up the rival team to be good competition, and hyping them so much that they are they are seen as OBJECTIVELY better than the protagonists. Honestly, the show's rivalry set up was so all over the place that I seriously thought that Ionodai won due to plot armor only.
Honestly, the best character was Sasugai. He was funny, cunning and at least the feelings he had towards Shinozaki…
Read at the sourceLeachieGekuu
This show was a very mixed bag. There were some enjoyable parts, and I wouldn't say the plot or the animation was bad, it just got a lot of things very very wrong. The story revolves around Maeshima Kensei who is used to skate professionally before his parents died. His rival Shinozaki Reo is a skating prodigy who got bored with singles and is moving to the made-up sport of skate leading. His brother Hayato scouts Maeshima for skate leading to beat Shinozaki. This plot is actually pretty interesting in concept and isn't necessarily implemented poorly either. The main problem lies in the characters. Like 90% are assholes for absolutely no reason. They're not even likable assholes they're more like the 'I want them to get humiliated' assholes. I understand making Shinozaki's team unlikable b…
Read at the sourcesyl__via
i like the concept of the anime since i have not watch any anime that have the same team skating theme. however, i feel that the execution of the anime sucks, it wasn't very well-planned and well thought of.
the characters background wasn't well explained, so i don't really understand the characters fully. additionally, the theme of the anime was about team skating however their competition skating performance keep getting cut off. like the teams can be skating halfway, then it turn to film people's reaction etc, so you are are not able to watch their full performance therefore unable to get why they are awarded certain points. overall, the anime just feels very slipshod and choppy.
Read at the sourceanimebaby_00
Oooooo boy...where do I start?
Honestly, I was actually very excited about this anime. As a huge Yuri on Ice fan, the trailer of this show immediately had me aching for some more boys on ice. I thought it would quench my thirst after 4 years without any full length content involving Yuri on Ice and I am sad to say that this didn't make the cut. At all.
We have the basic beginning where a boy is aching to take down a former rival, quits before he gets the chance to, and starts up again once the flame was reignited. Thing is, this basic storyline can be aced, but it can also be missed. For me, it was a miss.
Another issue I had with this show was that it was VERY rushed. They tried to fit in so much within 12 episodes and it just didn't work well. We got introduced to Skate Leading, nev…
Read at the sourceCurryxSake
First impression-wise, this show wasn't so bad but not great either. After finishing however, I take back what I said. This show is a waste of time.
The story was generic and emotionally meaningless. It's one thing to be cliché--even clichés can be entertaining, but it's another thing to mess up those clichés and using a bare-bones plot. Whether it be its plot, characters, or its made-up sport, the anime fails to give me any reason to be emotionally invested. Until now, I do not see what makes Skate Leading so special as a sport. Why would figure skaters with already okay careers decide to shift there is beyond me. Story was barebones and some of the story beats were either unbearable or ridiculous. Scenes that were meant to be funny turned out annoying and scenes that were meant to be se…
Read at the sourceJineko
As I write this, I sit in the skate leading stars x capcom cafe.. alone. Which had 50% off on food and double the coasters/benefits. First time i've heard of this happening to a collab cafe, basically because this anime flopped so hard. It won't take long for goods to be in bargain bins. It's surprising that this got its own cafe and a whole bunch of merchandise. Who in their right mind thought this was gonna be a hit?! The story's bland. Most of the time i have nooo idea wth is going on cause it's supposed to be a sports anime.. only this time it's a made up sport?! I have no idea what to make of this. And they even released a manga to boot. Where do they get their confidence? From zero character development? Or their plot that's all over the place. Big oof. Would've been a better idea to…
Read at the sourceGrumpyLevi
The main problem with this anime was that it had the opportunity to be good but turned out as an average and forgettable one. To emphasize good things about this anime: the animation and character design are pretty good and the main theme (skate-leading) has untapped chances to be interesting. It has some exciting characters for the first sight (Shinozaki and Sasugai and from an aspect Maeshima too) BUT as I said for the first sight. We don't get deep or any kind of character development (except Shinozaki in last ep.) and this is devastating because they have an inherent potential to be good and versatile characters.
The plot is pretty average, competing with the eternal rival and the end game is really predictable as well. But it's a team sports so it could be much more complex but no, i…
Read at the sourcedevildice
No. This is not Yuri!!! On Ice.
I have seen so many comparisons and expectations online about SLS contrasting it with YOI. Believe me, it has its own merits that it managed to present its own identity as ice skating sports anime. From the premise, it's a group sports, thus, it heightens more spirit and soul as sports genre.
There is an immense difference in the plot narrative, however, you can sense the quick phasing of the competition to the extent that it needed to compromise most of the skating performances. For a 12-episode anime, it lacked so much in sports action. Hence, in compensation, it focused on another domain which is characterization.
Since it is group sports, the names and faces to be remembered doubled. Nonetheless, most of the characters are written good. You can at l…
Read at the sourceminnnieee
As someone who enjoyed Yuri on Ice and figure skating, I was extremely excited by this anime. Though Skate-Leading Stars was able to feed that craving, it wasn't the BEST. It's a nice show to burn some time, and the story and plot is very simple and cliché, nothing too different or extraordinary (except for the fact Skate-Leading isn't even a real sport but that's fine it was a nicely made up). Personally, I was still very entertained with the characters and it really highlights the big performance moments when it needs to. Overall, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but if you enjoy these types of sports anime that don't really have a revolutionary plot, its a nice one to watch.
Read at the sourceSteblob
Its bad that the reason why I watched this was because its about ice skating and I loved Yuri!!! On Ice, but my expectations REALLY LOW
Even when I binged episodes 1-3, I was already intrigued with the story. I was willing to know the characters. In fact, I got attached to them too. I already get excited every time a new episode comes out which made me realize how much I enjoy this underrated anime.
My only complaint is the fact that it's only 12 episodes long. Like any 12 episode anime, some of the plots were rushed and the character development.
I honestly want more of this anime, if there's a season 2 I'll probably blow up ;-;
Read at the sourceSakoori
After watching the rest of the series, I still stand by my original review. I don't even know what the point of this show is. As someone who shamelessly loves watching terrible sports anime for the sake of pretty boys/fujo bait, this show somehow managed to offer me none of that.
The main issues with Skate Leading Stars stem from the fact that the "sport" it's centered around isn't real. Skate Leading doesn't exist in real life. The writers tried to create some hybrid form of team figure skating with elements from single Men's Free Skate/Short Program, but you quickly find out that the writers didn't bother to expand on it afterwards. You get some sad excuse of an explanation at the very beginning of the series and then you never see/hear about it ever again. I'm not saying that the "spor…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Well well, what a disappointment of a show indeed to no one's surprise. I have rephrased this many times in my reviews over the last few years, and it is that: Even if you have high-profile people working on shows, it's not indicative of any results unless we the viewers can see whether the talent or inspiration has been carried over from past shows with their name carved as a household name.
And yet still, even with legendary director Gorou Taniguchi on board, Skate-Leading☆Stars still feels like a ham-fisted show with an unique setting already grounded by the likes of Yuri on Ice!! (creating the male derivative to the females' CGDCT of "Handsome Bishounens Doing Handsome Troupes"), but the script and storywriting itself is written by someone who's had the idea of creating a story that's…
Read at the sourceNexTheUndertaker
While watching this anime , I checked many reviews and many of them were from people that only watched 4 episodes , which i find dumb because you only watched 33% of the anime..
Anyways , this anime is overall good , its the basic story of a childhood "war" between the main character and a support/main character, the art is good and the characters were differentiated , the sound was fair tho it was many times repeated the same song, mostly on the first few episodes.
The anime had everything to be better if it wasn't rushed and didnt end the way it did , and of course if it had more episodes.
I feel like this winter it came out alot of good animes with alot of potential , tho I liked this anime , I don't think there's that big of a fandom willing to watch the next season.
Read at the source