[DeepL Translation - needs review] The first volume of this volume introduces: Snow Kitahara, who faces a lonely battle on the ice in the 2014 Sochi Women's Figure Skating SP, and the heartbreaking thoughts of the men who watch over her... A figure skating romance by Satoru Makimura, depicting the years the three met when they were 10 and walked together!
(Translator: DeepL)
Contains: some abusive coaching/sports management, shown in a negative light
I'm writing this having read the first four volumes. This manga follows a talented young figure skater on her journey to the Olympics, starting when she is ten. It's a realistic depiction of the sport - the author clearly knows a lot about it - and also a generally healthy depiction as well, though not even the main 'bad guy' in the first part is portrayed as 100% evil. I'm enjoying watching the characters and their relationships develop, and I especially like Yuki's relationship with her mother. Her mother struggles with being surrounded by hardcore 'skating parents' and dealing with being the parent of a kid being picked as a rising star at a young age, but she's supportive no matter how Yuki does; Yuki adores her mom and depends on her a lot for support, yet as she grows up, like many adolescents, she begins to hold things back.
The art is quite nice. The figure skating scenes often have a dynamic quality that does a good job of conveying the movement, and some of the sound effects are really fun, like ones filled with hand-drawn hearts or seigaha.
Language-wise: There is only very occasional furigana on words, but each character's name is given furigana the first time it comes up in every volume, which is helpful. I did get a little tripped up by a couple of sentences that combined grammar in what seems to be a somewhat unusual way, but generally, the dialogue is straightforward. While there is some handwritten dialogue, I found the author's handwriting easy to read. There are lots of sport-related words used and also some food-related vocab.