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(3.67/5)February 1, 2025
September 19, 2024
This story is mainly about figure skating. The main character is a middle schooler who is part of her school's skating club and the story revolves around her practicing for the junior figure skating competition. You'll see some N2 and N3 grammar here and there. But besides the figure skating vocab, it's not bad. In terms of content, I really enjoyed reading the story. It also touched upon the negative aspects of the internet once the camera lenses are directed towards kids and how it impacts not only the main characters, but also the side characters in the story. There’s also some hints of romance.
November 25, 2025
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Kasumi, a young figure skater loses her father who was also her coach, loses her ability to jump, and then worst of all, loses her chance to skate... or so she thinks, until she is given a generous scholarship that lets her keep skating - but she can't find the courage to tell her mother.
To be honest, I found Kasumi kind of annoying part way through the story; for much of the story, she is always thinking about the things she isn't saying, whether it's to her bullies or to her friends. Since this is a children's story, it's not really explored with any depth, and instead she comes across as very passive in those scenes. However, I thought Kasumi's grief after her father's death and how it affects her relationship with figure skating was portrayed well. The skating aspect of the story is treated quite realistically - for example, she does jumps that are appropriate for a talented child her age - and I liked that when she begins getting her jumps back, it's not entirely a one-time instant fix. The scene with the "Giselle" of the title is quite sweet, and the kid's-logic of her trying to hide her skating from her mom was a fun idea for the plot.
I found the ending a bit disappointing, although I also wasn't surprised since again, it is a children's book; the character's mother verbally abuses her earlier in the story but suddenly turns sweet at the end when she sees Kasumi skating well. Of course, abusive parents can have their kinder moments, and I haven't read the next book so I have no idea how her character is handled in the rest of the series, but it did make me wary that the author was going for a 'it was just tough love' kind of approach.
Language: Some n2 and n3 grammar points, but the vocabulary tends to be quite repetitive. Full furigana and reduced kanji (e.g. 大丈夫 is written in kana). If you're already a figure skating fan, the terminology is the same in Japanese.