Skate-Leading Stars

Alternate Title

スケートリーディング☆スターズ

Synopsis

“You’ll never be able to beat me”
These words from his rival Reo Shinozaki made Kensei Maeshima quit figure skating. A few years later, Maeshima is now a high school student who uses his athletic abilities to help out in various club activities without devoting himself to anything. One day, he sees a press conference in which his rival Reo announces that he is switching from singles to skate-leading. He then meets a boy named Hayato Sasugi who knows of his previous skating experience and invites him to join the world of the team-based competition skating known as skate-leading.

Background

Skate-Leading Stars is an original anime series created by Goro Taniguchi and produced by J.C.STAFF. It was announced by J.C.STAFF in December 2019 and features Goro Taniguchi as chief director and Toshinori Fukushima as director with Noboru Kimura handling series composition and screenplay, Yoko Ito credited as character designer and chief animation director, Yasuhiro Okumura as art director, and Ryo Takahashi handling the music. The opening theme song is "Chase the Core" by Takao Sakuma, and the ending theme song is “Jump” by Shugo Nakamura. The anime was originally set to begin broadcasting in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It premiered on Jan. 10, 2021 on Tokyo MX and is being streamed in North America through Funimation.

Characters

Ionodai High School

Kensei Maeshima (Voiced by: Yuma Uchida)
Kensei is a first-year student who quit skating when he was a novice after a comment made by his rival, Reo, whom he failed to beat and was heartbroken over. He is an intuitive genius.

Hayato Sasugai (Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa)
Hayato is a first-year student who believes in Kensei’s talent and invites him to join the world of skate-leading. He is a brainiac who is good at data collection and analysis.

Tomoyuki Kubota (Voiced by: Gen Sato)
Tomoyuki is a first-year student who is mild-mannered and broad-minded. He supports the team as a balancer.

Izumi Himekawa (Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara)
Izumi is a first-year student and a lone wolf who dislikes getting along with others and hates to lose. He has talent on par with Kensei and Reo.

Akimitsu Mochizuki (Voiced by: Reiou Tsuchida)
Akimitsu is a second-year student and Yukimitsu’s younger brother. He is a realist with a childish temperament.

Sota Jonouchi (Voiced by: Shoya Chiba)
Sota is a popular second-year student who loves to show off and begins skating.

Shotaro Terauchi (Voiced by: Satoshi Hino)
Shotaro is a third-year student and the captain of Ionodai High’s skate-leading club. He honors the harmony of the team and has the deep trust of those around him.

Itsuki Kiriyama (Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno)
Itsuki is a third-year student and the vice-captain of Ionodai High’s skate-leading club. He is strict with himself and others.

Yukimitsu Mochizuki (Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae)
Yukimitsu is a third-year student and the handsome manager of Ionodai High’s skate-leading club.

St Cavis Gakuen High School

Reo Shinozaki (Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya)
Reo is a first-year student with innate talent and overwhelming beauty and charisma. He was a child prodigy skater. In high school, he switches from singles to skate-leading.

Toranosuke Kurayoshi (Voiced by: Kaito Takeda)
Toranosuke is a first-year student with a bright, cheerful, and caring personality. One of his roles is to interpret the tight-lipped Shinozaki’s intentions.

Taiga Himuro (Voiced by: Yuki Ono)
Taiga is a third-year student and the captain of St Cavis’ skate-leading club who is the previous year’s champion. He was teammates with Shotaro and the others during middle school.

Yuma Michinaga (Voiced by: Atsushi Tamaru)

Tatsuya Yamashita (Voiced by: Junya Enoki)

Yokohama Super Global High School

Noa Kuonji (Voiced by: Soma Saito)
Noa is a first-year student and the second-ranked prince who fought Reo for the top spot.

Chutei University Kamimaezu High School

Hajime Ishikawa (Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima)
Hajime is a third-year student and the ace of Chutei’s skate-leading club along with his twin brother, Susumu. He is coached by his dad.

Susumu Ishikawa (Voiced by: Kenji Nojima)
Susumu is a third-year student and the ace of Chutei’s skate-leading club along with his twin brother, Hajime. He is coached by his dad.

Yasuharu Suzuki

Kento Umpo (Voiced by: Ryota Suzuki)

Masami Kito (Voiced by: Yutaka Hirose)

Other Characters

Skatelino
Skatelino is the mascot character for skate-leading matches.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "Chase the Core" by Takao Sakuma
• Ending Theme Song: “Jump” by Shugo Nakamura

International Streaming

Funimation

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Goro Taniguchi, NAMCO BANDAI Arts, J.C.STAFF
• Original Character Design: Yana Toboso
• Chief Director: Goro Taniguchi
• Director: Toshinori Fukushima
• Series Composition/Screenplay: Noboru Kimura
• Character Design/Chief Animation Director: Yoko Ito
• Key Animator: Yusi Takagi
• Costume Design: Osare Company
• Art Director: Yasuhiro Okumura (Studio Recess)
• Color Design: Mayumi Tanahashi
• Director of Photography: Yuki Hirose
• Editing: Michi Takigawa (REAL-T)
• Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa
• Choreography/Performance Director: TETSU (Bugs Under Groove)
• Co-choreography: Hirokazu Kobayashi (Prince Ice World)
• Music: Ryo Takahashi
• Animation Production: J.C.STAFF