Thursday, December 27, 2007

Ginban Kaleidoscope



It is about Tazusa Sakurano, a 16-year-old Japanese Olympic figure skating candidate. During a qualifying round in Montreal, Canada, she falls in the middle of a Triple Lutz and loses consciousness. At the same time, Pete Pumps, a 16-year-old Canadian stunt pilot, dies mid-performance when his stunt plane crashes due to mechanical trouble. Unfortunately for Tazusa, Pete ends up involuntarily inhabiting her body for 100 days.

Characters

Tazusa Sakurano ( Sakurano Tazusa)
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese), Emily Woo Zeller (English)
A 16-year old Japanese figure skater known for her sharp tongue. She is on bad terms with the media and the public because of her attitude and string of bad luck in competitions.
Her goal is to compete in the Winter Olympics in Torino (Turin, Italy). At the beginning of the series is possessed by the ghost of Pete Pumps and while she initially hated him, she gradually grew to accept his constant presence in her life and grew even more to love him.
While possessed, she picked up the habit of eating tomatoes, because her possessor Pete hates tomatoes and using masochism, since Pete can share Tazusa's pain to keep him in line. She has an unlucky tendency to sleep. In the anime, she describes herself as a "$10 Billion Dollar Beauty."
Pete Pumps ( Piito Panpusu)
Voiced by: Yoshino Hiroyuki (Japanese), David Lee Mckinney (English)
A 16 year old Canadian stunt pilot who died when his stunt plane developed mechanical trouble and crashed in a fireball. As a ghost he needs to wait 100 days before he can go to Heaven (his date of ascension is February 23rd) and inadvertently ends up possessing Tazusa.
Pete likes Tazusa and tries to help her improve her public image and succeed in being selected for the Olympics. Though Tazusa at first doesn't agree with him and ignores him, he eventually wins her over and she starts to get to know him better, and it was him who gave her the "waitress on ice" performance. Pete kisses her in his ghost form and seems to love her in return.
Kyōko Shitō ( Shitō Kyōko)
Voiced by: Murai Kazusa
She is one of Tazusa's skating rivals. She is the preferred choice for the Japanese Olympic representative for Women's Figure Skating because she is closer to the Skating Federation's "ideal," and as such, she and Tazusa are quite competitive. She has a calm personality, and never likes to take risks.
Yūji Takashima ( Takashima Yūji)
Voiced by: Kosugi Jurota
He is Tazusa's Canadian coach. He is an all around nice guy, always seeing the good aspects in everyone. Tazusa and her younger sister live with him because of their parents' divorce. Near the end, he gets married (in one episode, Tazusa thought that he was in love with her).
Kazuya Nitta ( Nitta Kazuya)
Voiced by: Chiba Isshin
He is freelance reporter. He has a secret crush on Kyōko and tries to help Tazusa in her battles with the mass media.
Yōko Sakurano ( Sakurano Yōko)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō
She is Tazusa's level-headed younger sister. She is often seen waking Tazusa up for breakfast and in her competition to cheer her as well. In the novel series, she also figure skates.
Mika Honjō (Honjō Mika)
Voiced by: Marina Inoue
She is Tazusa's quiet best friend and the designer of all of her skating outfits. A running gag in the anime consists of Tazusa yelling at Pete who is invisible to other people only to have Mika mistake the target of Tazusa's tirade as herself. Mika's seiyū also sings the ending theme of the anime series.
Yukie Mishiro (Mishiro Yukie)
Voiced by: Hiroko Suzuki
She is an official from the Japan Skating Federation who claims that Tazusa has a "stone face." In return Tazusa calls her Queen Nasty or Sarcastic the Third. However, she does believe that Tazusa has special potential.
Dominique Miller ( Dominiku Mirā)
Voiced by: Maya Okamoto
She is an American figure skater and one of Tazusa's rivals. She is very antagonistic towards Tazusa. She is notable in the anime mainly because all of her lines were in (badly accented) English.
Ria Garnet Juitiev ( Ria Gānetto Juiteifu)
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto
She is a world-class, 14 year old Russian figure skater and the favorite to win gold in at the Winter Olympics. As such, she is Tazusa's strongest rival. She also used the same song as Tazusa in episode 6, prompting her to revise her short program and shift to free jazz.

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