This is going to be a short and sweet post because there aren’t many ice skating manga to choose from. I’m a dancer, so the only sports manga I’m really into is artistic and expressive sports like ice skating. I’ve decided to create a list of my favorite ones so you can enjoy them too! For many of the following links, I can’t find the full English translation of the manga and maybe that because it has not yet been released, but if you find links to all the chapters I would really appreciate it if you would share them with me :). I will update my list of recommendations as I come across more manga within this genre that I enjoy.
1.Kiss & Never Cry
Photo: MyAnimeList
Synopsis: “Michiru is a happy child who loves to skate. During her childhood, she meets Leon, a cute innocent boy. They begin to ice dance together. But as she has a conflict with her mom, she plans to run away with Leon. Leon, considering the danger, declines Michiru. Hurt by this, Michiru runs away by herself. Finding out that Michiru has run away, Leon and others search for her, finding her in the skating rink. But the person who was standing in the rink no longer had the smile that old Michiru used to!?”-MyAnimeList
Status: Completed
Why I like it: This is by far my favorite ice skating romance manga. Many people say to stay away from it because it’s about rape, but it doesn’t really discuss the rape straight forward and it’s more about the emotional healing afterward. The plot has a love triangle and is one of the best ever depicted in a manga I’ve come across to this date. In most Shoujo manga and many Josei manga, the author puts in the second male lead as a way to create jealousy and encourage the main couple to be together. In this manga, the female lead invests real, emotional time into each male lead and becomes attached to them in different ways that help her deal with her emotional issues. I’m a fan that sometimes gets second lead male syndrome really bad, so it drives me crazy when the manga author decides to favor one male over the other. While this manga does tend to push one more than the other, the balance is far more equal when compared with others. What I also liked is one of the main male characters is a dancer instead of being an ice skater which changes up this genre’s cliche of the ice skating couple who falls in love. This manga is very good and I think the reader can easily make an emotional connection with it. If you’re a love triangle manga fan, please check out Kiss & Never Cry, I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Read it here
2. Ice Forest
Photo: MyAnimeList
Synopsis: “Mangafox: Yukino, a single skater who had to quit because of a lesion, goes to say her farewell to the ice rink where she used to practice and is now being demolished. Ikki Kouga, a former skater and head of the group in charge of the demolition notices her skills and makes a proposition to her: to pair up with Gilbert Roman, a half Japanese half Canadian skater who ranked 6th in the Junior World Championships, for ice dance.” -MyAnimeList
Status: Completed
Why I like it: I absolutely love mangas where both main characters don’t like each other in the beginning, I feel like they are so much more interesting than the love at first sight cliche. Yukino and Roman don’t like each other but quickly have to become close friends in order to skate compatible as a couple. As they become closer, their feelings begin to change from friendship into romance and are pushed together by side characters who have romantic interests in both of them. I really enjoyed seeing them build their friendship even though they disliked like each other in the beginning. To be honest, I love ice skating manga where the male and female figure skating partners fall in love and become a couple in real life, so for that reason, I believe this one is the best depicted in this genre. Like Kiss & Never Cry, this is one of my favorites.
Read it here
3. Ginban Kaleidoscope
Photo: MyAnimeList
Synopsis: “With $10 billion worth of beauty (or so she says), Sakurano Tazusa is a contestant for the selection of the Japanese representative at the winter Olympics’ figure skating competition. However, her ability is questionable in the eyes of the media and public, as she constantly falls during critical moments in her competitions. During a particular fall, at the same time, a Canadian teen by the name of Pete Pumps perishes as an accident occurs during an air stunt. Before being allowed to pass on into the after life, Pete possess’ Tazusa supposedly for a hundred days, living on in her body. Despite the discontent and anger Tazusa faced having her body and privacy invaded by this Canadian ghost, she moves her focus onto improving herself in hopes to be selected for the Olympics. Based on the novel by Kaibara Rei.” -MyAnimeList
Status: Completed
Why I like it: So this is another manga/light novel that I haven’t read, but would like to recommend based on the anime show. This is a beautiful romance plot with an ice skater falling in love with the ghost of a young man who has possessed her body. Sakurano is a tsundere in the beginning but gradually warms up to Pete over time as he uses his pilot knowledge to help her better her jumping and skating skills. The whole time you are rooting for them to be together but know there’s the underlying obstacle of Pete being deceased so there is a low chance of that actually happening. I loved that the author didn’t make Pete an ice skater like Sakurano but still put him in a position where he could relate to her and inspire her ice skating. This was a unique anime and if you really enjoyed it, I think it’s worth your time check out the manga/light novel after watching it to find out how it ends. If you’re a fan of supernatural manga, you should check out Ginban Kaliedoscope.
4. Ginban Kishi
Photo: MyAnimeList
Synopsis: “Chitose is an office lady who works seriously. Her childhood friend, Kokoro, is a celebrity. He is a champion figure skater. But behind his success there are two peculiar characters: a witch and a knight. And when Chitose discover Kokoro’s secret, the wheel of fate starts to move…” -MyAnimeList
Status: Completed
Why I like it: Most of the ice skating romance manga have the female lead as the ice skater. Well in Ginban Kishi, the gender roles are reversed and the male lead is actually the ice skater. I really appreciated the change and also liked that the girl he is in love with is not an ice skater but a regular girl who works in an office. This change in plot also made it interesting because Kokoro doesn’t have romance rivals on the ice, but instead in the office his love interest works in. I also love that the male character is shy and has to work up the courage to confess to his childhood friend Chitose. It’s cute how she really inspires his skating and how he doesn’t do so well in competitions when she’s not there, almost like he is missing his other half. It’s also interesting that the male character doesn’t have the type of personality that fits the cliché profile of a male ice skater because he is seen as weirder than some of the other male ice skaters. Over the chapters you come to understand they both have feelings for one another and you are really rooting for them to come clean and be together.
Read it here
5. Koori no Kiss de Toroketai
Photo: MyAnimeList
Synopsis: “Sugimura Nozomi made a pact with her childhood friend Hyoudo Rei who both have a passion for ice-skating that when they grow up,they will both pair up to get into the olympics.But then Rei moves away. Years later, Nozomi transferred to a school famous for its students’ emphasis on ice skating.There she unexpectantly meets up with Rei only to find him indifferent to ice skating. But Nozomi will not give up on her dream even if Rei has and she’s determined to make it to the school ice-skating club and bring Rei with her as her partner.” -MyAnimeList
Status: Completed
Why I like it: This manga is only a couple of chapters long but it’s pretty cute so I decided to include it in my list of recommendations. Most of the manga is Nozomi trying to convince Rei that he is good enough to be her partner when he’s trying to push her away and encourage her to find someone else to pair up with. Their romance develops over the chapters and they finally come together at the end. Since this manga is short there is not a lot of depth to it so I recommend reading it when you want a light and fun read.
Read it here
6. So this is embarrassing, but I recently read a one shot that I really want to include on this list but I can’t remember the name of it and I don’t know how I discovered it. I’m going to continue searching for it because I really enjoyed it, but it’s one of those odd mangas that is not categorized in the ice skating genre so it’s kind of a challenge to find again. If anybody has any idea what it’s called, please let me know. And no, it is not the one-shot ice skating manga Shoujo Jump. I hope I can find it soon and can update this post 🙂 Sorry for the inconvenience!
