is a series of light novel

Light novel

A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...

s written by Rei Kaibara and illustrated by Hiro Suzuhira. The manga adaptation is authored by Jun Hasegawa. There was an anime adaptation of the first arc of the novels, aired weekly on TV Tokyo

TV Tokyo

is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...

 from October 8, 2005 to December 24, 2005.

The series won the 2nd Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award

Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award

The is an annual award given by Shueisha's Super Dash Bunko imprint for the best new light novel of the year. The award was first presented in 2001. Submissions are accepted until October 25 each year, and announced on April 25 of the following year....

 Grand Prize.

Plot

The story revolves around Tazusa Sakurano, a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 figure skating

Figure skating

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 candidate, and Pete Pumps, a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 stunt pilot. During a qualifying round in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada, Tazusa falls in the middle of a Triple Lutz

Lutz jump

The Lutz is a figure skating jump, named after Alois Lutz, an Austrian skater who performed it in 1913. It is a toepick-assisted jump with an entrance from a back outside edge and landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot.- Lutz technique:...

 and loses consciousness. At the same time, Pete 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

A Japanese figure skater known for her sharp tongue. She is on bad terms with the media and the public because of her cold attitude and string of bad luck in competitions. Her goal is to compete in the Winter Olympics in Torino (Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

). At the beginning of the series, she 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 fall asleep when she gets bored, but can never sleep the night before a competition. In the anime, she describes herself as "The 10 Billion Dollar Beauty."

Initially Tazusa is potrayed as a bratty, cold girl. She doesn't have many friends and lives with her coach and sister. However after spending time with Pete, she slowly changes and opens her heart. Especially in school where Pete helps her through her exams. She also starts to express herself more during the skating routines which enable her to represent Japan in the Olympics. At the same time she also experiences falling in love with Pete and she finally realizes what's important to her. She even showed Pete her ways of love for him but in the end Tazusa was not able to say "I love you" but it surely was obvious that Tazusa and Pete are in love with one another.

A 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 23) 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. He even gets jealous of the reporter Kazuya Nitta, as Tazusa seems to have a crush on him. 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 he designs her "waitress on ice" performance.

Sometimes, as a way to punish him for annoying her or for any other reason, she will eat tomatoes which he has a strong hatred for. It is the only way she can torture him without having any physical or mental pain inflicted upon her as well (aside from the digestive problems that come when she eats too many, and the embarrassment resulting from this).

At the first stage of performing at the Olympics Pete kisses Tazusa then during their last performance, Pete kisses her in his ghost form and seems to love her in return. He bids her an emotional farewell as he finally departs.

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.

He is Tazusa's 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. In the beginning of the series, he had believed that the reason why Tazusa was hitting and torturing herself (although it was to hit and torture Pete) was due to stress of having Japan's representative figure skater in the Olympics being chosen soon. He also believes that whenever she is insulting Pete, it is him who is the target of her nasty remarks and also considers this as part of her stress. Near the end, he gets married (in one episode, Tazusa thought that he was in love with her).

He is a freelance reporter. He has a secret crush on Kyōko and tries to help Tazusa in her battles with the mass media. He is a calm and collected figure who believes in and supports Tazusa.

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.

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 voice actor also sings the ending theme of the anime series.

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, which is why she pushes her so hard. In the final episode she recognizes the changes in Tazusa's personality as she breaks her "stone face" in her final routine. She hints that there's more to come from Tazusa, she has only begun.

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.

She is a world-class 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. She is a very quiet but dedicated figure skater worthy of her title.

Light novel

The series was written by Rei Kaihara and illustrated by Hiro Suzuhira. The series was published by Shueisha

Shueisha

is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...

 under the Super Dash Bunko imprint. The series won the Grand Prize in the 2nd Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award

Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award

The is an annual award given by Shueisha's Super Dash Bunko imprint for the best new light novel of the year. The award was first presented in 2001. Submissions are accepted until October 25 each year, and announced on April 25 of the following year....

.

There was a total of 9 volumes published.



Ginban Kaleidoscope Short Program: Road to dream (ISBN 4-08-630132-6)

• Release date: June 25, 2003

Ginban Kaleidoscope Free Program: Winner takes all? (ISBN 4-08-630133-4)

• Release date: June 25, 2003

Ginban Kaleidoscope Pair Program: So shy too-too princess (ISBN 4-08-630167-9)

• Release date: January 23, 2004

Ginban Kaleidoscope Little Program: Big sister but sister (ISBN 4-08-630224-1)

• Release date: February 25, 2004

Ginban Kaleidoscope Rookie Program: Candy candy all my rules (ISBN 4-08-630255-1)

• Release date: September 22, 2005

Ginban Kaleidoscope Double Program: A long, wrong time ago (ISBN 4-08-630267-5)

• Release date: November 25, 2005

Ginban Kaleidoscope Lyrical Program: Be in love with your miracle (ISBN 4-08-630302-7)

• Release date: June 23, 2006

Ginban Kaleidoscope Cosmic Program: Big time again! (ISBN 4-08-630326-4)

• Release date: November 25, 2006

Ginban Kaleidoscope Cinderella Program: Say it ain't so (ISBN 4-08-630331-0)

• Release date: November 25, 2006

Manga

The manga adaptation was serialized in Margaret

Margaret (magazine)

is a biweekly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shueisha, primarily for girls from 11 to 15 years old, although some stories are read by adult women. It was first released as a weekly magazine in 1963. In 2009, the circulation was 154,584...

 since the 18th issue of 2005 and ended at the 10th issue of 2006 and is authored by Jun Hasegawa. The manga has 2 volumes.

Anime

There was an anime adaptation of the series that was directed by Shinji Takamatsu with the series composition done by Akatsuki Yamatoya and animated by Karaku.

There was 12 episodes and was released into 6 separate DVD volumes with each volume containing 2 episodes., All the DVD volumes have both limited and normal edition. The covers for all the limited edition were drawn by series illustrator, Hiro Suzuhira.

Music

The anime adaptation uses one opening theme titled as "Dual" by Yellow Generation

Yellow Generation

Yellow Generation was a female J-pop trio signed under Sony Music Japan's DefSTAR Record label from 2002-2006. The group was best known for the singles Kitakaze to Taiyō , and , which was the second ending theme for the anime Fullmetal Alchemist.The trio was made up of the members Yuki , Yūko ,...

 with ending theme by Marina Inoue

Marina Inoue

is a voice actress and singer. She is signed onto Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex division. As for voice acting career, she's employed by Sigma Seven...

, titled "energy" as well as an insert song titled "way" also by Marina Inoue. The music composition for the series was done by Kōichirō Kameyama. An original soundtrack was released and there was a total of 20 tracks with 18 tracks of background music

Background music

Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...

and 2 TV-sized tracks of the opening and ending theme.

External links

• Ginban Kaleidoscope at Super Dash Bunko
• Official TV Tokyo website for Ginban Kaleidoscope
• Aniplex's site for the anime series
• Interview with Rei Kaihara