Preview

Tazusa is a professional Figurine Ice-skater aiming for Torino 2006 Olympics. Before that, she must be selected to represent Japan by the Japanese Committee. During a preliminary presentation at no less than Torino itself, Tazusa skates at the same time as, somewhere else in Canada, Pete - an artistic acrobat aviator - makes his best presentation ever. However, fate is not on their side. As Tazusa miss a jump and falls on the ice, Pete's airplane malfunctions and crashes to the ground - with no survivor.

Saddened at her miss but with still chances of being selected, Tazusa flies back to Japan - only to find out that now a strange ghost shares her body - his name is Pete.

Pacing

Art. This is the word that best describes this title. Almost all episodes show Tazusa training or presenting in fabulous ice-skating arena presentations, always with a fitting soundtrack and top-notch animation. Although the plot focus is Tazusa battle to surpass her hardships and manage to get a position at the Olympics, the real focus is in the extremely exquisite relationship between her and Pete. Although Pete cannot "possess" Tazusa in the sense of controlling her body, he can feel, hear and see the same as Tazusa, and can communicate to her with thoughts (though he cannot read her mind, so she must speak out-loud with him - expect comic sequences for that).

If in the beginning Tazusa is arrogant and stubborn and tries at all costs to expel Pete from her body, she eventually gives up as she finds out that God himself sent Pete to "possess" her for exact 100 days. With time, however, Tazusa starts to get curious as why fate made them get together, and how Pete seams to be so helpful with acrobatics and artistry knowledge to the extent of being quite helpful with hints, comments and encouragement.

A lot of humor, romance and drama await the viewer in this fantastic title that shows a platonic impossible love between two persons connected by something that not even they know, and that will end with a pre-established time and date.

Conclusion

Altough at start it seams shallow, Ginban Kaleidoscope is an artistic show at its best. All the choreographies, dressing and animation from Tazusa presentations are fabulous and one might feel like watching the real thing, with the bonus of being able to watch the daily life of Tazusa's personal and social struggles - hated by the media (you will have to watch to know why) - trying to reach her dreams.

Several other aspects add a lot to the beauty of this title: with an unpredictable but realistic ending, Ginban Kaleidoscope does not tries to manage the impossible, quite on the contrary, it makes us emotional while showing a solid realistic plot and character actions. Although eventually the reason God put Pete with Tazusa (according to him on the first episode, as a punishment for his 'sin' ... which sin?), in the end the viewer has no choice but to care and share the characters emotions.

To put it simple, a MUST SEE title for any romance or drama fan.