#So of course I had to make Yuri the polar opposite of that

[ziri-z3r0]

Yuri Ref

Reference for Yuri, a Hisuian Zorua that got whisked into the future via a mysterious portal. End's up becoming like a sibling to Ziri (And is essentially the polar opposite of him)

Posted using PostyBirb

[fodlaneverafter]

FEA character mini-analyses: black eagles as rebels

Today I feel like explaining why I cast characters the way I did in FEA (my ongoing 3H/EAH crossover fic)! If all goes well this'll be a four-part series--one each for the three houses and one last post for the house lords + Rhea. (I'm sorry Ashen Wolves fans... I'll talk about Yuri in the last post, but I don't think there's much I can say for the rest of his house.)

Now without further ado, let us begin!

Hubert as Faybelle Thorn: let's raise a cheer for everyone's favorite dark fairy!! (please don't this is cursed enough. haha get it? cursed, because he's--) As we all know the most important thing about Hubert von Vestra is his impeccable sense of style, and Faybelle's aesthetic is the only one that comes close. The only major difference between these two characters is that Faybelle is spiteful, while Hubert is simply ruthless. And I think it's enough to make him a Rebel, as the Dark Fairy's actions are nothing but petty. With his father's role being stolen by the Evil Queen, I thought this would add an interesting dimension to his loyalty to Edelgard (whereas Faybelle hates Raven for it). Also, Faybelle's pet is canonically a pomeranian puppy named Spindle, and I wanted to give Hubie a pomeranian puppy named Spindle.

Ferdinand as C.A. Cupid: I needed something to replace nobility as the virtue around which he centers his life, so naturally I decided on the most entertaining alternative--love. In this AU, destiny-bound "true love" serves as a good enough parallel to the corruption of Fódlan nobility. So while he may have some disagreements with Edelgard, he can't argue with her understanding of destiny. Giving him big ol' wings makes him even more annoying to her, which is exactly what I want. ... Okay, yes, I did make him Cupid just because it was the only way I could include "Ferdinand von Aegir Cupid" in this AU.

Bernadetta as Cerise Hood: yes, it does hurt me that Bernadetta's color palette clashes horribly with the RRH aesthetic, but what can a girl do they're the perfect match! Of course Bernie would be shy and reclusive if her father was the freaking Big Bad Wolf. And who wouldn't be anxious having to hide a secret like that in the woods, constantly surrounded by the vicious Wolf people? Of course I couldn't make her as extremely nervous as she was in 3H, but uh. I don't think anyone minds. (We are kicking Count Varley out of the picture by the way please forget he ever existed.)

Petra as Cedar Wood: the only princess besides Edelgard in 3H may be a mere commoner in this retelling, but real queens need no crowns. Cedar's desire to understand humans is the closest in-universe to Petra's desire to understand Fódlan (even if they're for different reasons). Furthermore, I find Petra's honesty works well with Cedar's curse--they're both so endearing for it.

Dorothea as Meeshell Mermaid: we shall forever mourn the lost potential of Meeshell, but Dorothea is a whole other story. Voice of an angel, check. Renowned beauty, check. Most importantly, her longing to be truly seen and loved, check. Let's not forget the Little Mermaid was treated as little more than a pretty plaything in the prince's court, never truly seen by the man she loved. Canon Dorothea fears exactly that. Her being a Rebel is just too perfect.

Linhardt as Briar Beauty: I don't think I need to explain myself here? But... the tricky part about him is that Linhardt would never in a million years be unsatisfied with his destiny. I had to lure him to the dark side with lots of enticing research opportunities on the true nature of destiny-bound curses and succession laws, because of what happened with his mom's story (Evil Queen stealing Dark Fairy's role and all). Anyway, I love imagining him with green crownglasses and the fact that his personality is the polar opposite of Briar's will never not be hilarious.

Caspar as... the son of the White Queen??: yeah so the White Queen doesn't have a kid in EAH; I just couldn't think of anything more suiting for Caspar, both in personality and appearance (a bonus, in my book!). Now technically most of the Wonderlandians are Golden Deer, but like... who cares. Also, it's adorable to picture Caspar having normal conversations with his mom, who is the princesses' advisor, and they're quite literally just shouting at each other. Even if they're on opposite sides of the destiny conflict, I feel like they'd have the sweetest relationship.

And that, my folksies, is that.

Confession: before starting this fic, the Black Eagles were my least favorite house. I didn't understand them at all, but now I am so glad I do. They got that Rebel heart, lads.

Next up: Blue Lions!

[yuri-ligious]

Pride Month Yuri Ships:

Day #25: Akko x Diana (Little Witch Academia)

First off, happy Yuri Day everyone! Apparently that’s a thing, and I’m pretty stoked about it! Also, Happy Birthday Akko! We all hope it’s a MAGICAL day. And there’s no way it’s a coincidence that her birthday lands on the same day as Yuri Day. It means she was destined to be with Diana.

I love these two so, so much (another top five quality ship right here). They are the perfect example of how two opposites can radiate such extreme chemistry, despite all odds. And even though they seem like polar opposites, they have some very important similarities that bring them together. They are both extremely dedicated to magic and worked extraordinarily hard to get where they are today. On the other hand, they also create an ideal balance between strict and responsible and carefree and reckless. Akko’s passion and resilience inspired Diana, and she was finally able to see how special Akko really is. The last few episodes where Diana and Akko actually have positive interactions and begin to form a deeper bond were my absolute favorites and what 100% pushed me on the shipping band wagon and solidified this ship forever. I quite enjoy the premise of seeming competitors, who mostly fight and bicker, ending up liking each other in the end once they discover the beauty that lies within. And watching how Akko slowing melted Diana’s icy heart and helped her realize that her traditional views may not always be correct/the most important (in addition to Diana inspiring Akko to work as hard as possible) was just so beautiful, and shows how perfect they are for each other. They make such a formidable team who can defeat anything gets in their way. Their attraction seemed very evident in the last couple of episodes, and I really wish I had the opportunity to watch their relationship grow. Oh and of course there’s that added bonus of a muggle being with a true-born witch.

“Yes, Akko. I’m a descendant of a prestigious family of witches and wizards with a history dating back to ancient times. Don’t compare me with someone like you, who came just because you fell for some tasteless magic show. There’s no way we can get along.” 

to

“I will not tolerate such a disrespectful tone towards my guest [Akko]”

[tundrainafrica]

Thanks @callantry for the tag! This gave me some opportunity to reflect on my preferences.

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt-comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high school romance or middle aged romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbors or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bend // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

Commentary for people who might be interested: 

All these preferences are rooted in the fact that I love slow burns. If I’m gonna ship something and create headcanons and domesticate them in my head, I’m gonna make sure at least in my head that they have the solid foundation of a relationship to actually last until they’re old grey and dead. 

A similar background, moral compass and view of the world are usually integral to making a good relationship work. If they don’t, they are at least placed in a situation where they further learn about each other and develop their personality as needed. I cannot fathom how it would be  possible to get a solid foundation of a relationship from an enemies to lovers background. I get the appeal of it but personally, I have never liked a relationship which went straight from that enemies to sex, there was always something in between which made it make sense. ShikaTema to a degree had an enemies to lovers development , but Shikamaru and Temari only fought in Part 1, right after the alliance, they literally had like five hundred episodes to build a solid relationship given the alliance and the fact that they were constantly working together on and off screen made the culmination satisfying. Levi and Hange are polar opposites but their morals are rooted in the same place,having worked in the survey corps together for so long and the recent events in the manga created a situation where they had to get close, which makes the relationship so much more believable and easily writable. 

For romance focused stories, I would say that Wall of Winnipeg and Me and Yuri on Ice executed the slow burns really well by developing the characters in a way that a relationship between the protagonists was bound to happen while putting them in a situation that encourages the relationships to naturally develop.  

About smut as a reader, of course I read my fair amount but I cannot for the life of me enjoy sex as just sex. Love is an integral part of any sex scene for me and thus, the best way to enjoy it for me is either through a one shot of a very well developed couple, as the culmination of 10 chapters of mutual pining or even an angsty “one last night” type of shit. Like if they’re gonna have sex, at least give them enough history that it becomes an act of mutual understanding and trust on top of the passion. 

Thank you for reading all the way if you did, just a note, these are just my personal preferences and I am in no way, implying that anyone else’s preferences are inferior to mine.

tagging @scribusdomina , @astrajpg and @lizaloveslevihan

[jayda-starrjones]

My Top 10 Favourite Animes (So Far)

1. NANA

I've loved nana since I was 10, it was my first anime. I'll prolly love it forever, it makes me cry and I just feels so real and nostalgic idk the aesthetic of this anime is my most favourite thing in the world. It's about two 20 year old girls who are polar opposites but have the same name meeting on a train to tokyo; and their worlds end up colliding. With Nana Osaki, the punk singer in a band trying to make it big and Nana Komaru, the girly romantic, it ends up being a story of young adults trying to figure out their lives. It's emotional and real, with emotional and real characters.

I'm also a nana osaki kinnie

2. Devilman Crybaby

First of all: I LOVE ryo. His character depth is EXQUISITE. Second of all: I loved loved LOOOOVED the ending. It hurts but it's realistic and makes sense. It's complex... I enjoy complexity 😌✋ The plot is introduced as childhood friends trying to save the world from "devils," but I think it's REALLY a story about love and the complexity of it; how if you're greedy and narrow minded then you'll fuck up love for yourself. If you've seen the entire show then you know why.

I'm also in love with the shot of ryo pulling out his gun and shooting the devils at the sabbath party in episode 1

3. Ouran Highschool Host Club

The characters are S O endearing. Except for Renge, she annoys me 💀 but honestly this anime is just really fun to follow. It's a girl who joins the host club as a boy in order to pay off her debt to the boys from the host club, while also making great friends with them in the process. The characters have a good dynamic and they work well with each other, especially cause they're all quite different from each other. IDK MAN I JUST REALLY ENJOYED THIS ANIME OK

4. Danganronpa

Ok so tbhhh I don't really know if this one counts cause I love the games, not diggin the anime, but I think it's referred to as an anime so whatever lmfao. Again, the characters? Great, amazing, tasty. Like I'm being fed a full course meal with a bunch of different shit in it. Danganronpa is so diverse with it's characters, like some of them are kinda out there lmao. Yes, yes, I am also a Toko kinnie 😌✋ I enjoy the story of the main games and the antagonists are MMMM M W A H CHEFS KISS. The style of it is pretty cool too. It's about kids who wake up in a school only to find of they're being held hostage there unless they kill the others to be set free, if they can also escape the Phoenix Wright style court trial without being caught.

Side note: the games were supposed to be a LOT darker than they already are, like sickeningly dark, I almost wish they were what they were going to be just so i could see how they would have turned out.

5. Black Butler

I am enchanted by the dark plot. I started watching Black Butler when I was like 13 and fell in love with it's universe. It's dark, cold, fun and thrilling. Did I mention dark? It's about a boy who makes a deal with a demon just so he can survive the trauma that was sprung onto him. Ciel is crafted as a kid who hasn't been able to heal, and probably never will. The manga is better than the anime, a lot better; but the series is SO good. This is wack to think about for me but this anime actually got me through some hard times. Not in the most healthy way, but It helped me grow a THICK ass skin because I would relate to the feeling of loneliness and revel in the only other feeling I had in me; rage. I used to kin Ciel so hard bruh

6. Beastars

This anime gives me like a sorrowful depression afterward lmao like I can't put my finger on it but every time I've gone through it and binged it it's made me like sad, even tho it's not very sad?? I still love it tho. I love the idea of a wolf falling for a rabbit and having to fight his instincts just to be with her. Also, if you're an ARMY, legoshi has Namjoon's eyes. CAN'T EXPLAIN IT HE JUST DOES MK

7. Attack On Titan

K ya it's a popular anime everyone likes BUUUUUUT it has a nice big place in my heart so it's going on this list. The development between characters throughout the anime and manga is intense. I didn't expect where the story is to this day; I don't think anyone did lmao also? When I first started reading the manga it was cause I needed to finish where the anime left off cause I couldn't wait any longer lol THE MANGA?? GIVES ME LIKE CHILLS?? Idk the manga is scary to read sometimes lol again, I can't place it, but sometimes it's so gritty I can hear the screams in my head and feel the ambiance and death in the air. I like an angry ambitious story 🤷‍♀️

8. Yuri On Ice

GREAT love story. I also love yuri plisetsky a lot. The anime is really pretty and conveys a warm feeling. The pacing is really good as well. It moves pretty fast, considering it has like what, 12 episodes? I also loved the ending because like :') yurios debut dudes :') did u see the tears :'))))))

9. Death Note

Ok so I recently rewatched this anime for probably the 4th time with a friend and realized that the pacing isn't too bad but sometimes it feels slow. Nonetheless, I love it a lot. A killer and a detective working together to capture that same killer is fun to follow. It has a really nice aesthetic and I think it's clever with various things handled in the anime. It's very entertaining, I love playing it in the background while I'm painting. Also, I have a death note 🤪

10. Cowboy Bebop

This anime is different from most animes I get attached to, mostly because it loosely follows a plot but REALLY i think you could prolly tune into any episode and grasp what's going on. It's JUST space shananagins dude. Again, beautiful aesthetic. Cute characters. I love how cyborg man has a bonsai room like cmon that's such a cute character detail.

VERY Honourable Mentions

One Punch Man

K but one punch man is so funny wtf and it's very quirky and fun. Just the thought of a low budget superhero who isn't recognized as a superhero & can only kill bad guys with one punch & hates it is kinda funny idk man, mf does his deed of the day and then panics cause he needs to make it to the supermarket on time for the sale that's going on lmao

Soul Eater

Of course, great characters, great plot. Really good animation style. Funny with a dark aesthetic ♡

Your Lie In April

Okay hear me out. I haven't actually finished it yet. I just know that the characters have so much depth that I've been sucked in. I also don't think I've ever seen an anime THIS beautiful. Like really, this anime blows me away with how beautiful it is sometimes. It makes me rlly sad for some reason tho. Pretty music romance that'll remind you of your childhood mmmm

My Future Diary

mmmm taystey yandere

[recentanimenews]

J-Novel Club Licenses Slayers, Holmes of Kyoto, and More

  Light novel and manga distributor J-Novel Club were on hand today for Anime Expo Lite, the West Coast convention's answer to the current social distancing measures in place. During their industry panel, they rolled out an exciting slate of 13 light novel and manga titles, some of which are available to start right now on their website if you're a JNC member!

  Here's the full list of new titles:

  The Bloodline

publishing first on J-Novel Club

  After the fall of civilization, a hierarchical society was born where blood determines everything. The rich steal both the blood and lifespans of the poor, rejoicing in their now-eternal lives.

Nagi is a commoner fated to die, while Saya is royalty, gifted with eternal youth. When fate brings their unlikely paths together, their innocent love set the gears in motion to tear down the walls of a society built upon tremendous inequality and racial discrimination.

  Slayers

Beautiful and brilliant sorcerer girls just can't have nice things, huh? All I wanted to do was swipe a little bit of bandit treasure. Now suddenly I'm being chased around by icky trolls, nasty demons, mean mummies, and brooding golem bad boys. And for what? A tiny little artifact that can bring about the end of the world? Hah! I'll show them there's a reason you don't cross Lina Inverse…

  Start reading now

I Love Yuri and I Got Bodyswapped with a Fujoshi! (manga adaptation)

Meet Reiji Yoshida: a yuri otaku that loves yuri more than anything else in the world. All he wants is to enjoy his hobby in peace, but trouble ensues when he crosses paths with Mitsuru Hoshina, a fujoshi who is obsessed with boys’ love. Hijinks ensue, and a vengeful ghost residing in their school’s manga club swaps their bodies!

Polar opposites in both personalities and hobbies clash in this exciting first volume—follow the adventures of their comedic body swap experiences!

  Start reading now

My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me!

Awaking to absolute chaos and carnage while on a school trip, Yogiri Takatou discovers that everyone in his class has been transported to another world! He had somehow managed to sleep through the entire ordeal himself, missing out on the Gift — powers bestowed upon the others by a mysterious Sage who appeared to transport them. Even worse, he and another classmate were ruthlessly abandoned by their friends, left as bait to distract a nearby dragon.

  Although not terribly bothered by the thought of dying, he reluctantly decides to protect his lone companion. After all, a lowly Level 1000 monster doesn't stand a chance against his secret power to invoke Instant Death with a single thought! If he can stay awake long enough to bother using it, that is…

Start reading now

WATARU!!! The Hot-Blooded Fighting Teen & His Epic Adventures in a Fantasy World After Stopping a Truck with His Bare Hands!!

It's a wonderful day for Wataru Ito, high school student, master martial artist, honorable and humble teenager, and all-around awesome guy. During his daily run to school he happened to get hit by a large truck barreling around a corner.

Not that this is the kind of event that would be the end of the likes of Wataru, of course, but when a truck runs into you, you get sent to another world. That's just the way things are sometimes. Still, Wataru's not about to take this kind of thing lying down! The first thing he sets out to do is find who's the toughest hombre in this land and go up against the greatest challenges this new world has to offer!

Oh, and the greatest fighter in this place also happens to be the Demon Lord who is kidnapping people all across the kingdom in an attempt to wipe out humanity? Even better! Wataru's main interest is in facing a tough battle; saving the world in the process is just icing on the cake!

Start reading now

Record of Wortenia War (manga)

Ryoma Mikoshiba, an ordinary high-schooler adept at martial arts, one day finds himself summoned to another world. The ones who summoned him, the O’ltormea Empire, cite the fact that 'when those summoned kill another living being, they can absorb a fraction of their strength and make it their own' as their reason. But upon learning the empire uses those they summon to strengthen themselves by foul means, Ryoma is consumed by hatred and slays an important member of the O’ltormean court.

Attempting to escape the Empire's borders while keeping his identity a secret, he is accosted by two twin sisters— one golden-haired, the other silver-haired— in a meeting that sets the gears of fate in motion. The curtain rises on a record of the wars of a young supreme ruler in this other world fantasy!

  Start reading now

A Lily Blooms in Another World

a J-Novel Heart title

Miyako Florence isn’t sad when her fiancée breaks off their engagement after two years. It’s all according to plan! Whisked to the world of her favorite otome game, Miyako frees herself from a dull noble to pursue her true soulmate: the game’s villainess Fuuka Hamilton. Proud Fuuka only has eyes for their mutual ex-fiancée! Miyako confesses her love to Fuuka and proposes that they run away together.

Fuuka agrees on one condition: Miyako must make her say “I’m happy” in 14 days. With conniving nobles, strange diseases, and magical rituals pulling them apart, can Miyako win the villainess’s heart? A tentative bud blossoms in this twisting romance from the author of Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress!

Start reading now

Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me into a Top-Tier Party

  Note Athlon was really looking forward to becoming an adventurer with his best friend (and crush) Miya. That is, until he drew Mapping—a rare skill with practically no purpose. In other words, it’s trash. This kicks off a vicious spiral for Note, who plummets further and further into the depths of self-loathing despair when Miya leaves him. He now spends his days drinking away his earnings, wondering how things might have been different if only he’d pulled a better skill...

But little does he know his trash-tier skill is about to score him an invite to a top-tier adventuring party! Note’s now determined to find his way through life—and a dungeon!—in order to make something of himself.

  Start reading now

Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me into a Top-Tier Party (manga adaptation)

  Start reading now

The Sorcerer's Receptionist

a J-Novel Heart title

  In a world of everyday magic, Nanalie has always dreamed of becoming a receptionist at the prestigious Sorcerer's Guild. To achieve her goal, she needs to attend a magic school full of princes and the daughters of nobles. Determined to prove that a commoner can be the number one student, she must compete with Rockmann, the son of a duke. When she graduates, she lands her dream job and they go their separate ways.

Nanalie enjoys spending each day alongside her familiar Lala and her kind co-workers, but it seems that fate won’t let her escape her entanglement with Rockmann that easily...

  Start reading now

Black Summoner

Waking up in a strange new place with no memory of his past life, Kelvin learns that he’s bartered away those very memories in exchange for powerful new abilities during his recent transmigration. Heading out into a whole new world as a Summoner — with his first Follower being the very goddess who brought him over! — Kelvin begins his new life as an adventurer, and it isn’t long before he discovers his hidden disposition as a battle junkie.

From the Black Knight of the Ancient Castle of Evil Spirits to the demon within the Hidden Cave of the Sage, he revels in the fight against one formidable foe after another. Join this OP adventurer in an exhilarating and epic saga as he and his allies carve their way into the annals of history!

  Start reading now

Black Summoner (manga)

Start reading now

Holmes of Kyoto

a J-Novel Heart title

    Half a year after moving to Kyoto, high school girl Aoi Mashiro brings her late grandfather’s old scrolls to Kura, an antique store nestled in Kyoto’s Teramachi-Sanjo shopping arcade, for an appraisal. One thing leads to another, and she winds up working there part-time. The manager’s son, Kiyotaka Yagashira—nicknamed the “Holmes of Kyoto”—is uncannily perceptive, and together, they solve strange cases relating to the antiques brought to them by clients.

  Start reading now

    >> J-Novel Club Website

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

Yuya and Reiji for the meme!

This is going to be pretty long, so I’ll put my answers under the cut.

Yuya:

Why I like them/why I don’t like them: Of course, I love Yuya. There are so many reasons why I like him. He’s just so likable, relatable and sympathetic. He genuinely wants to make everyone around him happy even when he’s dealing with so much sadness and pain himself. I love that he wears his heart on his sleeve, which makes it easier to emphasize with him. Even though he deals with emotional issues like self-doubt and self-confidence throughout the series, I love that being emotional himself was never treated as a flaw exactly. Even near the end of the series, Yuya would still break out into tears, but he wasn’t looked down for it. That is so refreshing, especially for a lead male character.

He struggles through his emotional problems throughout the series, but he doesn’t give up on his goals in spite of those issues. That makes him inspiring in a way. Wanting to end the Dimensional War works so well with his goal of becoming a great Entertainment Duelist like his father, as well as the tone of the series in general. I love that he is able to reach out to people more with his dueling once he develops his own kind of dueling. Instead of trying to be someone he isn’t, being himself made Yuya closer to his goal, which was a nice touch considering his self-confidence issues. His development is fantastic and he is still my favorite character in the franchise.

What I like about their appearance: I think that the red, green and orange color scheme works really well for his design. Plus, I still love how fans see his hair as a tomato and a Christmas tree. It’s a cute fun little joke.

Do I prefer their dub names or their original name?: Yuya has the same name in both versions, but I do prefer how the Japanese version pronounces his last name. Maybe I was just too used it after watching the Japanese version for nearly two years before the dub even came out, but Sa-ka-KEY sounds like a much more natural way to say Sakaki to me than Sa-KA-key does.

OTP: I love his relationship with Yuzu. They’re such good and caring friends, which makes it easier to believe that they’d develop romantic feelings for each other. I especially appreciate that you can read their relationship as platonic or romantic, but either way, they clearly love each other.

NOTP: I’m not really a fan of any of the pairings between the Yuya counterparts, mainly because the idea of being romantically interested in someone who has the same face always sounded weird to me. I probably dislike his pairing with Yuri the most given how he treated Yuya in the series.

OT3: While I don’t like the pairings romantically, I think that the relationships between Yuya, Yuzu, Sora, as well as with Gongenzaka, are really good. They all have good friendships with each other.

Favorite card they use: I love so many of Yuya’s Performapals, but Discover Hippo and Silver Claw would be some of my favorites. They’re cute and perfect sized monsters for Yuya to ride on. Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon is also great and is a pretty cool ace monster. Smile World is really good too. It represents Yuya’s ideals on dueling, as well as perfectly captures his goals. He wants to make everyone, including his enemies, smile with his dueling.

Favorite moment they were in: There are a lot of great moments for Yuya, but one of my favorite ones were his last turn against Jack. Seeing Yuya being able to reach out to the whole City with his dueling was so heartwarming and wonderful. Whenever I think back to that moment, to that duel and to Jack holding Yuya’s arm up to celebrate his victory, I still get immensely happy. It’s one of those moments that remind me just how much I love both Yuya and Arc V itself.

Least favorite moment: I’m not sure if this counts, but it was probably when it was revealed that Zarc had taken over Yuya completely after Yuri was defeated. It was a good shocking twist for the match and it made sense, but I was also really sad that Yuya wasn’t able to fight off Zarc’s influence even after struggling so much.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them?: I love Yuya, but I’m also over twice his age, so I wouldn’t be into those first two options and I obviously wouldn’t want to kill him. I would want to give him a big hug and have a duel with him instead.

Reiji:

Why I like them/why I don’t like him?: I like Reiji. I still remember thinking he was going to be another Kaiba clone based on his character information, but he turned out to be a much different and refreshing take on a main rival. He was still Yuya’s main rival, but they were more polar opposites. Yuya is more emotional and prone to act out of anger, while Reiji is more calm, collected and calculated. He rarely acts without having a plan in motion and only takes action himself when he deems necessary. That made their rivalry pretty different and refreshing, especially when Yuya wasn’t focused on defeating Reiji. Plus, I like how Yuya and Reiji slowly develop a nice friendship over the course of the series.

Being more morally gray also helped to make him more interesting. In retrospect, I do think I was a bit hard on him, mainly during season two. I never hated him or thought he was evil like a lot of fans did, but a combination of misreading his behavior/actions and being surrounded by a lot of negativity towards him made me upset at him for awhile. After getting away from that negative environment and looking back at what he did, I think too many people, myself included, read his calm demeanor as being too cold or a sign that he didn’t care about people around him. Even now when rewatching the series, I’ll often think to myself that Reiji didn’t deserve the hate he got and feel kind of bad about how his character was received.

What I like about their appearance: Reiji’s scarf is still so ridiculous that it turns around to become awesome again. I love it and the jokes about it make it even better. His plain blue shirt really works for his design too.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?: I prefer Reiji over Delcan. I’m just more used to Reiji and I think it fits him more than Delcan does. It isn’t one of the worst dub names, but it is pretty strange. It is a shame that they didn’t choose Reggie instead. Maybe they didn’t want to do that because of Shark’s dub name, but Reggie would have been a much more fitting choice than Delcan.

OTP: I don’t have too many pairings for Reiji, but I kind of liked the pairing between him and Serena. I thought that meeting three years prior to the start of the series gave them some potential for an interesting relationship. I kind of like his relationship with Yuya. I don’t see it as romantic, mainly due to how I can’t see Yuya developing romantic feelings for anyone besides Yuzu, but I like it as a platonic pairing if that makes any sense.

NOTP: I’m not sure if there is a Reiji pairing that bothers me that much. Maybe the closest would be his pairing with Shun, but even then, I’m more indifferent towards it than anything else.

OT3: I think I have a three character pairing involving Reiji that I like either.

Favorite card they use: Unlike most rivals, Reiji usually use different monsters as opposed to having a more traditional ace monster. I thought that the three new D/D/D monsters he used during his third duel with Yuya were pretty cool and intimidating. I also liked his use of Contract cards in general. He always had a plan in mind when using them, which fits with his personality quite nicely.

Favorite moment they were in: One of my favorite moments for Reiji was when he was struggling against Leo during his tag duel with Yuya. Reiji had spent years preparing to stop his father and the show had shown just how powerful he is multiple times. But he still couldn’t defeat his father, even with Yuya’s help. Leo even called him out on his poor strategy and Reiji was clearly shaken up over being put into a tight spot. Since Reiji is so calm and collected most of the time, seeing him actually struggling against another opponent and being more clearly emotional made the moment stand out.

It’s also why I was glad that they didn’t have Reiji lose to hype up another secondary villain before this point. If he had lost to Roger or Yuri before, it would have weakened the emotional impact of this moment since we would have already seen Reiji lose before. It helped to make Leo more threatening and the fact that Reiji couldn’t defeat him even after planning for this confrontation for years gave the moment some good emotional weight behind it. Plus, the tag duel had some nice moments for Yuya and Reiji’s friendship so that was nice.

Least favorite moment: I’d probably go with Reiji making sure that the LDS trio’s memories were altered. It did show Reiji’s morally gray mindset, which does help to make him more interesting, but I also think that was the starting point of people thinking that Reiji was secretly evil. Plus, it wasn’t the best way to effectively write the LDS trio out of the plot. People might have thought Reiji was really evil regardless of how they handled the LDS trio, but handling that in a different manner that still showed that Reiji is morally gray might have helped.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them?: Reiji is cool, but I’m still over ten years older than him, so I wouldn’t be interested in the first two options. I certainly wouldn’t want to kill Reiji. I like the idea of telling him to relax and have some fun after the events of the series since he would definitely need that.

Thank you for asking. ^_^

[abbywritestrash]

Dysmorphia

After their first sexual encounter, Yuri becomes more bold, in every sense of the word. It gives Yuri an instant boost of confidence knowing that Otabek finds him sexy (when Beka had told him he’d nearly come in his boxers just from pleasuring him, Yuri had completely lost his shit), and the way Otabek had cuddled up to him afterwards had been bliss. Otabek didn’t think of Yuri as anything less than him, a perfect equal, and Yuri had never felt happier. Otabek had changed how Yuri saw himself, if only for a brief while, and it has been enough to make Yuri want to cry from the utter perfection of it all.

But of course, as with all things, it didn’t last. The next few days after their first evening together had been blissful, but the dysmorphia was creeping back in, slowly but surely.

“Are you okay, Yura?” It had been such a simply, well meant question, but Yuri immediately snapped at it, his mind and head reeling in hatred for himself. Yuri had sat away from him on purpose that night, choosing the opposite couch from the one they usually shared, curled up together.

“No.” It was snappy and overly aggressive and Yuri immediately regretted it when he watched Otabek’s face fall. “I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling good.” Yuri tucked his knees under himself, his arms cupping around his own small frame under his baggy shirt. His binder felt extra tight today and was irritating his skin already because he’d usually taken it off at this point in the evening. Yuri shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Get up.”

Wait, what? Yuri was snapped out of his self-loathing by Otabek’s strong words, not forceful like an order, but definitely more than a request. Yuri remained firmly in his seat, his gaze almost challenging as Otabek walked towards him, a small smile laced on his lips. “What if I don’t want to?” Otabek took another step closer. So this is a challenge.

“Then I’ll make you.” It wasn’t a threat, nothing with Otabek ever was, but Yuri would be lying if it didn’t send a little chill through him. With one final glare, Yuri rose from his seat, taking the hand Otabek outstretched to him. Otabek walked them both through to Yuri’s bedroom, stopping in front of the only full-length mirror Yuri owned. Yuri immediately cast his eyes down.

“I don’t think I can-”

“Sh. Just look.” Otabek moved his way behind Yuri, immediately wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close. They were the same height now, but the difference in build was obvious. Yuri had muscle, of course he did, he was an athlete, but Otabek had the bulk, the distinctly male chest and shoulders that Yuri was missing. This isn’t helping at all.

But then, after leaving a soft kiss on the side of Yuri’s neck, Otabek moved until he was stood infront of him, partially blocking Yuri’s view of himself. Otabek pulled Yuri’s arms around him from behind and let his head fall back slightly on Yuri’s shoulder. “Don’t you think we look perfect together?” They did. The way Otabek had pulled Yuri’s arms around him drew his eyes instantly to them, outlined with muscle and obvious strength. Their skin tones were beautiful, Yuri illuminatingly pale, Otabek a soft tan, warm like caramel against his own snowy complexion. Even their eyes, warm brown meeting striking green, they were almost like polar opposites, and for once, while looking at them together, instead of judging them separately, they looked like they belonged as one whole.

Yuri found himself no longer comparing what he didn’t have to what Otabek did, but comparing how their different bodies complimented them as a couple. Yuri had the height, the sharp jawline, the prominent muscles protruding in his most overworked places. He was slim, yes, but strong, and he immediately found himself standing a little taller. Otabek may have had bulk, may have been so distinctively male, but Yuri was too. It wasn’t a competition over who looked more like a man.

They’re both men. Both incredible, strong, athletic men, and seeing Otabek looking back into his eyes in the mirror only confirmed that he felt that, too. Otabek looked perfect wrapped in his arms. Like two perfect boyfriends.

Yuri didn’t realise he was crying until he felt Otabek’s hands on his cheeks. “Did I do that wrong?” He asked softly, thumbs wiping beneath his eyes as he looked up at Yuri, a small worry-crease between his brows. Yuri shook his head, smiling softly through the tears. “I love you. I love you for all that you are, Yura.” Yuri let his own hands circle around Otabek’s waist, pulling them close together until their lips grazed.

There would always be days like this, both of them knew that, but with such a strong bond between them, Yuri knew that he’d always get through it. He’d always be perfect in Otabek’s eyes, even if he wasn’t in his own, and Otabek would always be perfect to him. For him. They complimented each other, not only in looks, but in mentality, too, and you can bet that the next time Otabek needs him, Yuri will be there in a heartbeat.

[murasaki-murasame]

Yuri on Ice Rewatch: Episode 1

I’ve been planning to do this for a while now, and since the one-year anniversary has come around, I figured now would be a convenient time to start this rewatch. I know I might be a day early on this, but I don’t think I’d have time tomorrow to do this, so I’d rather do it now and get it up a day early than get it up a day late.

We’ll see how this turns out, but I at least want to use this rewatch to discuss my own personal history with this show, how it affected me while it was coming out, what the fandom was like at the time, etc. So this will probably be less of a review or anything like that, and more of a trip down memory lane for me as I revisit this show. Basically this is just my way of getting out all my feelings on this show, so keep that in mind.

I only decided yesterday to start this now as part of the anniversary rather than doing it sometime next year before the movie comes out, so this first post might be a little messy and unorganized, but I should get the hang of it soon enough.

My plan at the moment is to rewatch one episode a week, on each of their respective anniversary dates, for the next few months. If I can manage that. After that, I might try and do a cohesive review of the show as a whole, and I might do a post about my speculation regarding the movie. We’ll see.

I’ll put the rest under a cut since everything after this point ended up being like 3.6k words long and I think I spent like three hours on it.

Before I properly sit down and rewatch episode one, I want to talk for a bit about my history with the show before it aired, what my expectations were, etc.

I’ve more or less been with this show from the very start. I remember seeing the initial teaser image of the logo, and all of the proper trailers as they came out. I didn’t really think much about the teaser image when it came out, since I’m not really a huge fan of sports anime in general, I didn’t really have an interest in figure skating in particular, and I didn’t know much of anything about Sayo Yamamoto as a director. I’m pretty sure that after the teaser image came out, I started hearing vague whispers about how amazing Yamamoto was, and how great her shows were, so I decided pretty early on that I was probably going to watch it, even though I didn’t have much to go on.

Right from the start we all pretty much assumed that the show was going to be about female figure skaters. Partly because I’m pretty sure the logo was pink the first time we sure it, partly because Yamamoto was most well-known for doing shows about women, and partly because it had the word ‘yuri’ in the title. It was pretty obvious that that wasn’t actually what it meant, but damn if it didn’t stop people from making jokes about it. Though I guess it didn’t help that we also had Yuri Kuma Arashi from a few years before that did indeed use that exact meaning of the word in it’s title.

Then a few months or so later the trailers started coming out, and we got a better idea of what the show was actually about. And let me just say that the ‘yaoi on ice’ jokes stopped being funny the exact moment the first one was made. And they were definitely made immediately after the first trailer came out, way before the show even started.

At the time, the idea of it being about male figure skaters made me pretty immediately cautious, since sports anime has a pretty bad track record of shallow queerbaiting, and I didn’t really expect this show to be the one that finally delivered. It didn’t help that some of the scenes used in the trailers, like the lip-touching in episode three, didn’t quite come across well out of context.

I also want to take the time to mention that the season right before Yuri on Ice started, we had Battery: The Animation, which was basically like the polar opposite of YoI in terms of being a sports anime with a gay protagonist. It was just . . . not great. At all. It went a long way toward reaffirming my doubts about if the sports genre could ever do this sort of thing well, which made me even MORE apprehensive about YoI. I still have a bit of a grudge against it to this day, but it at least serves as a very convenient way for me to point out how ludicrous it is for anyone to act like any sports anime with a gay protagonist would be popular and successful, because that show sure as heck wasn’t. I should also point out that in the same season we had the Danganronpa 3 anime, and even though this is kinda sort of a spoiler, it had a pretty . . . depressing and not great depiction of a gay male character, so that was like a one-two punch of me getting pessimistic about the chances of ever getting good and happy gay rep out of the anime industry.

Either way, even in spite of that, the animation quality and the music from the trailers alone were enough to win me over and make me want to give it a try, even if I was bracing myself for disappointment.

Also, even though I don’t think I ended up watching it until way later, I highly recommend that any Yuri on Ice fans check out Endless Night, which was Sayo Yamamoto’s Animator Expo short film from a year or two ago. You can really tell how she was regaining her enthusiasm as a director by going all in on her love for figure skating. In hindsight it’s pretty interesting to consider that she probably did Endless Night when she had already begun working on Yuri on Ice as a concept and shopping it around. For the record, she also went on to do the opening sequence of Persona 5, which is another example of her putting her love of figure skating into her work.

Anyway I should probably actually sit down and watch the episode itself before I spend an hour on this whole beginning section alone. I think I’ll keep making these beginning sections for each post before I sit down and watch the episode itself, but they’ll hopefully be less lengthy than this one.

---

OK let me just say first of all that I spent pretty much the entire episode choking up, and I was basically on the verge of tears during the entire ED sequence. I knew that rewatching this would be an emotional experience for me.

It’s kinda difficult to even put into words how much Yuri on Ice means to me as an individual, especially since I’d like to stick mostly to talking about this first episode alone. But I’ll at least say that it is undeniably the most personally meaningful piece of media I’ve ever encountered. It means the world to me. Before it aired, I had pretty much become resigned to the idea that, at least within the anime industry, the best representation I was going to get was some variation of the Bury Your Gays trope. I’ll probably get more into this later down the line, but I don’t think I even consciously realized exactly how much I needed something like this, since even outside of anime I’d never really experienced a story like this. And even when I started watching it, the full effect and realization of how meaningful it was to me was a gradual process that kept building up and up as the show continued to surpass my expectations, more or less culminating in episode ten.

Which is part of why I like the opening monologue of this episode on multiple levels. It obviously refers specifically to Yuri’s sense of unending surprise toward Viktor as a person [which obviously gains more and more context and weight as the show goes on], but it also matches the way that the show itself was an unending series of surprises for us as the audience. We had no idea what to expect from it, and it kept getting better and better.

It’s probably not even worth noting at this point that this rewatch series is going to mostly be focused on the romantic sub-plot in the show, because that’s the part I love the most. Obviously I love the entire show and all of it’s facets, but still. I guess my main point here is more that I won’t be talking that much about the sports aspect specifically, for the most part, since I have less of an interest in sports in general, and I’m not particularly well-versed in how figure skating works so I’d feel hesitant to talk about it much. I have immense respect and love for all of the people in the fandom who ARE actually into figure skating, though, either as fans or as athletes. Their insight into the show has been an invaluable resource for me. I might not be much of a sports fan in general, but having a greater understanding of how it works, by listening to what other people have been saying since the show started, has definitely added to my overall appreciation for the show as a whole.

Also, somewhat ironically, this is one of the episodes with the least to talk about romance-wise since Yuri and Viktor have like thirty seconds of shared screen-time in it, so I’m probably going to spend most of this post talking about other stuff. Mostly.

To start with, I love the animation and art across the show as a whole, but I think we can all agree that episode one is the peak in terms of animation quality. Not that the other episodes are badly animated in any real way, just that this episode really hits it out the park with some stunning sequences. There’s some wonderful bits of character animation in this episode, like Minako’s ballet move when she meets Yuri at the airport, or the cut of Hiroko running up to meet Yuri at the inn’s entrance, or Yuko being all bouncy and energetic. Not to mention really well-done close-up shots like the bathroom scene with Yuri and Yurio. I really like the heavily shaded and sharp style used in that scene. 

But of course, the real stand-out piece of animation in this episode was definitely the joint Stammi Vicino performance, which is still one of my favourite scenes in the show. It’s incredibly well done. It’s a bit sad that none of the skating animation after this episode quite matches it, aside from maybe Welcome to the Madness, but I’m pretty sure that this sequence in this episode took several months to animate on it’s own, so I can’t exactly blame them for not keeping this level of quality once we started getting like five or six performances an episode.

One of the things that I remember surprising me the most about the show at first was how dynamic, energetic, fast-paced, and feel-good it was. With how relatively somber and slow the trailers were, and with the vague whispers I’d heard of Sayo Yamamoto being a cult classic director, I kinda got it into my head that the show would have a more . . . low-key atmosphere and sense of pacing than it actually did. I’m not sure how to describe it. In general I tend to think of obscure cult classic directors as the kinds of people who make things that are slow, psychological, moody, probably depressing, etc etc. So I was not at all expecting something as vibrant and fun and full of personality as what we got in this. I still think that the relentlessly feel-good vibe of the show is a huge reason why it struck so well with people. It doesn’t really get mentioned a lot, but it can be a surprisingly difficult concept to describe, at least in a way more detailed than just saying ‘fun things are fun’.

I also want to give a shout-out to the background art of the show, which is fantastic across the board for the entire show. I’m never really good at articulating my praise for stuff like this, but still. I think the show would have looked a lot different, and a lot worse, if it had more generic background art. Especially in terms of colour palette and shading and whatnot.

To this day, I still deeply appreciate the fact that this is a story about adult athletes who are high up in their respective field, and are struggling with adult problems. It helps to set it apart so much from most sports anime out there. Of course, even this sort of concept could be handled badly by a lesser production team, but you get what I mean. It’s a breath of fresh air. And, along the same lines, I also love that it’s clearly aimed at a more adult audience than a lot of other anime in general. It’s easy to not really think about it, because we kinda associate things ‘aimed at an adult audience’ with things that have lots of nudity or violence, but I think the idea still applies here. And even if it’s not handled quite the same as what we’d think of as ‘depictions of adult sexuality in television’, there’s still a whole lot of sexiness going on in this show.

Just to lay it out there, I honestly think that Yuri is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time, if not my absolute favourite. I have so many strong feelings about him. He’s absolutely wonderful. His entire character arc and personal journey is one of the most inspirational things I’ve seen in my life. And for a lot of reasons I just see a lot of myself in him, even though we’re very different people.

I don’t know where else to say this, so I guess I’ll just say here that it was his development and journey that inspired me to get into drawing, which I’d been putting off for years because I didn’t think I’d be good at it or enjoy it enough. I haven’t exactly done the best job at keeping up with it as a hobby, but over the last ten months or so I’ve nearly completed one sketchbook, so that’s something! I’ve only posted one drawing of mine thus far, but I plan to post more as time goes on. Probably mostly stuff to do with my OCs. I definitely want to do some proper Yuri on Ice fan art though in the future and post it here, and I’m still kinda sad I didn’t get any done by today, but I’ve been too busy lately to work on it, and I didn’t want to rush something out just to meet a certain important date. I’ll try and post some by the time I’ve done this rewatch, though.

Of course, that’s not the only thing this show has helped me with, on a personal level. I’ll probably get more into this over the rest of the rewatch, especially at the end, but this show really has become an emotional support for me. It’s helped me through a lot of dark places. I don’t know where I’d be without it.

One thing I want to get into is how incredibly different this episode feels in hindsight, now that I know what happens later. I’ve already rewatched it once, so it’s not a big surprise or anything, but still. The scenes with Viktor in particular feel very different when you know who he is as a person. When you know that he’s just a lonely, dissatisfied dude who wants to feel love and passion. The Stammi Vicino scene in particular is even more depressing and emotional when you understand that it’s basically a cry for help.

The fandom hypes up the episode ten twist and how it recontextualizes the entire show, and it really, REALLY does. It makes everything feel way different when you understand that Yuri was the one who asked Viktor to be his coach, and that he was the one who first enthralled Viktor by giving him a glimpse at a possible path to revitalizing his love of skating, and finding true, genuine love along the way. Of course Yuri was already enthralled by Viktor as an idolized god figure of sorts before that, but you get what I mean. The banquet was basically the first time they properly met as individuals. But I won’t go too deeply into the banquet scene just yet. I’ll save that for the episode ten post.

[Also I should probably admit that I still can’t quite remember if the banquet happens before or after the ‘commemorative photo’ scene. I know I should have the exact timeline of events there memorized, but it’s kinda foggy]

It’s also sorta interesting to look at Yurio’s whole attitude in hindsight, knowing that he always secretly admired Yuri and was angry at him because he knew he had so much potential and strength within him. But honestly, just to be blunt, I still don’t really care that much about Yurio’s character in general so this part is kinda vastly overshadowed by, uh, everything else, lol. I don’t really dislike Yurio or anything, I just think that he’s the least compelling or interesting of the major characters.

Before I get into shifting focus toward what the general audience reaction to this episode was, I should probably comment on the OP and ED a bit, since I haven’t yet. Personally I adore both of them. They’re wonderful. I still think that History Maker is one of the more iconic and memorable anime OP songs out there, and it never ceases to make me emotional. I still wish that the actual art and animation for the OP was more . . . interesting, though. The animation style is really good, but it suffers from a lot of noticeable recycling of animation, and the backgrounds are pretty flat and empty, although I still like the splashes of colour done at the start. I’m not entirely sure how I’d suggest improving the OP visually aside from doing it completely differently, though. But there are other Sayo Yamamoto OPs I prefer visually to this one. Like the more recent Kakegurui OP. I don’t really know if that OP’s style would have fit Yuri on Ice, but still. Even with my slight gripes about the visuals, I really can’t overstate how much I adore the song itself.

The ED is also really nice. It gets kinda overshadowed by the OP, but it’s still good on it’s own. The Instagram style is really effective and feels fresh and modern. The song itself is rather good, but not quite as memorable as History Maker. The real strong point of the ED is definitely the visual side of things. Other than the aforementioned Instagram style, I really love the images used. The assorted pictures of all the various skaters are nice, and help set up their characters pretty well, but the best part is definitely the fun, domestic scenes between Yuri and Viktor that are interspersed throughout the ED. They’re absolutely fantastic, and they’re the main reason why I have a desperate need for an entire OVA purely consisting of those sorts of scenes. I’m still internally screaming over how the scenes of them playing at the beach and them playing under the fountain were meant to be actual scenes, but were cut for time. I’d love to see what those scenes would have been like. Even the glimpses we got are wonderful, especially with how they help paint a broad picture of how happy and fun their daily lives were together, and how close they got over the course of the show. Especially after episode four or so. It just kills me in the best way possible, to think that stuff like them playing at the beach and being casually touchy-feely and just being happy and joyful was probably a completely normal daily thing for them. Not to mention the other little moments we see, like that one shot of Yuri smiling with his eyes closed while Viktor’s sitting behind him, combing his hair. It’s such a perfectly domestic and casually intimate little moment. It melts my heart every time I look at it. The more I think back on the entire show in hindsight, the more it rings true that Yuri really is the only one who gets to see Viktor’s hidden cute side. Considering that we see basically the entire show from Yuri’s POV, it’s easy to forget that basically everything about how Viktor acts around him is very different to how he is with other people.

Also I just wanna quickly say that the show’s soundtrack is fantastic. Both the background music and the skating songs. Though the skating songs are a bit more punchy and memorable. Just hearing Stammi Vicino still makes me tear up a bit.

Anyway, now I should probably touch a bit on the wider audience reaction to this episode. I won’t really have a lot to say on this end of things for this entire rewatch, since it’s kinda difficult to dig up the stuff people were saying a year ago, but still.

The most convenient links I can find to reactions are the Anime News Network Preview Guide post about the first episode, and the Reddit discussion thread for episode one.

The main point I want to make with this is that everyone pretty much immediately loved the show, and most people pretty much agreed that it was the best premiere of the Fall 2016 season. Which I agree with. It’s probably one of the best first episodes I’ve seen out of all the anime I’ve watched.

Though it’s also sorta amusing in hindsight to see people’s reactions to the homoeroticism and whatnot, and everyone’s apprehensions about how it’ll go in the long run. That is, just ‘cause at this point we know where it goes, and that it fully commits to itself. I don’t think anyone watching episode one expected that we’d end the show referring to Yuri and Viktor as fiances/husbands with no trace of irony or wishful thinking.

Anyway I should cut this short because it’s like 2am and my brain is gonna melt soon if I keep writing so yeah let’s just stop for now.

As I said before, I’m gonna try and get one episode/post done per week, so I’ll try and get my Episode 2 post out around this same time next week. I expect that most of the rest of these posts will be a whole lot shorter than this one, though, since there’s so much stuff I wanted to say right off the bat that I probably won’t need to go over again later. Some of these posts might actually be pretty short, depending on how much I can find to say about some of the more skating-dense episodes. We’ll see. I’ll try and at least stick to this schedule.

[whisperofthewaves]

[it’s about Yuri on Ice and it’s kina long hence the cut. I’m sorry mobile users]

I have a very strong suspicion that the fact that some people can’t accept that Yuri and Victor are canon, because they don’t communicate it verbally to one another and are never shown kissing, is mostly based on the western (and I mean mostly american) tendency to verbalize everything very clearly in fear of being misunderstood (the disclaimers on posts I see everywhere are baffling sometimes. I have family born in the usa and the amount of verbal expression of their feelings on a daily basis is terrifying to us raised in poland) with no room for interpretation, while japanese (and I may risk saying asian/eastern in general perhaps) modus operandi is exactly the opposite. The fact that the author was as much surprised by the western fans’ doubts while the japanese ones had none aligns with my opinion (of course there’s also the case of meanings lost in translation which definitely happened).

Idk I had no problems with decoding the hints about their relationship, although there were moments that I was noticing the vagueness where I had expected more straightforward approach. I believe those expectations on my part stem from being accustomed to western ways of storytelling. I also have to say that arguments like “but there is lots of other anime where the gay couple kisses and holds hands and even have sex and everything is clear, so YOI could’ve been like that too to show they’re actually in a relationship” are completely not convincing to me, because as someone has written, this show is not YAOI (I sincerely cannot believe some people say that. Did you ever see a yaoi? it’s like the polar opposite). it’s not even shounen-ai. it’s not a show about two men/boys falling in love, it’s a mainstream show labelled as sports and comedy. The love and their relationship, which undeniably is the core theme and Yuri’s base for character development, happens somewhat in between the lines. And that’s what makes it such a good romance. I think it’s beautiful and way more powerful than having it out in the open.

[bishoujomichiko]

YOI Mafia AU: Ch. 3

Chapter 1|Chapter 2

Warning: MILD VIOLENCE AND GORE

•••

Minami yawned and stretched, it had been way too long of a journey getting to Liuzhou. They had to take a train out to Moscow to the airport, to get on a flight to Beijing. There, they had to take a series of trains and taxi’s, fighting through congested traffic just to get to their destination. He was beat. Yuri was even more irritable than Minami could have thought possible. Liuzhou was a large city in China’s Guangxi region. It’s was a fairly violent place, from what Minami researched. That, and the air was so polluted Minami thought he was going to be sick from all the fumes. He had seen some images on google of wildlife and sanctuaries that looked like they didn’t belong in Liuzhou; but, of course, they weren’t there for sight seeing. ”Walk fucking faster, you piece of shit.” Yuri was shouldering through the crowd, earning angry shouts from the abused passersby. “I want to get to this little hovel of a fucking hotel as soon as possible, before I end up killing one of these motherfuckers!” Yuri had bumped into a man so hard it caused a ripple effect. They continued walking as the poor guys who were pushed began fighting. Minami shuffled next to Yuri. “Hey, relax! You’re gonna pop a blood vessel one day, ya know?” Minami laughed until an elbow smacked into his ribs. ”Don’t fucking touch me! I’ll blow your brains out the next time it happens!” Minami sighed. This was going to be one long mission. He knew why the boss had paired them together, but he really did not want to go with this guy. Their personalities were the polar opposite, and he really wasn’t good at dealing with Yuri’s type. But, orders were orders, and Minami would never in his life go against Mr. Katsuki. Because he loved him. Not in the romantic way, though if he did, it wouldn’t be long lasting; Viktor would have a hit on him faster than he could blink. Minami respected Mr. Katsuki, he thought he was an amazing man. To be of Japanese race, and able to takeover the Russian Mafia? He’d be damned if anyone tried to downplay Mr. Katsuki’s strength. Minami admired the hell out of his boss, he would do anything for him. Anything. Like having Minami interrogate some of the mafia’s own. He hoped one day Mr. Katsuki might have reason for Minami to use his skills on Plisetsky. Now that, was something Minami was currently hoping for. Minami watched as the hot headed Yuri Plisetsky stomped in front of him. It was really agitating he had the same name as the boss. But what was kind of funny, was that Yuri had a similar personality to his older brother. His brother was nowhere near as much of a complete asshole, but there was still some similarity. Minami thought fondly of his family. Images of his mother and father and brother flashing through his mind. Minami came from a family of doctors, both his mother and father had owned a private practice, while his older brother was studying medicine. Minami’s family had ran into some money troubles, patients were seeking out city doctors; and against his better judgment, Minami’s older brother went to some less than savory people looking for some cash. What ended up happening was an age old story: His brother wasn’t able to make ends meet to pay them back, and so the gang had to use some force. Except, they didn’t just use some force. Minami remembers the afternoon like it had happened yesterday. He had just came home from school and walked through the front door. He shouted “Tadaima!” But he was answered with silence. It was weird, because on Fridays his mother and father had the afternoons off, and his older brother had the entire day off work. Minami felt fear seep through his body, he forgot to even take off his shoes when he went running farther into the house. It took him about seven large steps, he remembered, because they matched the loud pulsing in his ears. It took him seven steps into the living room to see what they had done. His mother was naked, her arms and legs angled in a strange way, with some crusted white substance on her inner thighs, her breasts, her stomach, and her face. She had a hole in her chest. His father was slumped against the wall, brain matter splattered and smeared on the wall as well, making a trail down to where he sat. His brother lay next to his mother; he was missing a hand, and Minami found it stuffed within his mouth. He had a gaping hole where his left eye should have been. Minami remembered the smell, too. It was metallic, the air of the house was suffocating with that metallic scent. There was so much blood that it seeped all the way into the kitchen entryway, and Minami even noticed that his shoes were now dipped in red. The last thing he remembered he was vomiting all over himself, and his jeans were soaked in his own piss. It was about a year and a half until Minami found the whereabouts of the people who murdered his family. Ironically, he found them on his seventeenth birthday. The best gift he could have ever been given. A group of them were drinking in a strip club, but the one Minami wanted had walked outside with a girl hooked under his arm. So, Minami waited. He patiently followed the drunken man and the the prostitute until they sunk into an alley. Minami even waited until they were finished. After ten minutes the man came out, zipping and buckling his pants, and Minami was ready. Thankfully, the man came out alone; Minami took the metal bat that accompanied him and slung it at the man’s head. Just enough force to knock him out. He didn’t want to kill the man. No, not yet. Thankfully, everyone who he passed on his way back to his small apartment had thought he was just helping out a drunk friend. Minami had already prepared his apartment, covering his entire floor with plastic wrap. He muffled the man’s mouth with a strip of cloth, and waited. Minami was so very patient with people. He thought it was very important to take your time with others. It was important to be kind, after all. So he very patiently, and very kindly, waited for the man to wake up. When he did, he struggled against the chair, trying to rip his hands and feet out of the ropes. There was fear in his eyes. Minami watched, and drank it all in. He was the one who ordered those men to brutally murder his family. Minami had already taken care of the men who did the actual killing. In fact, Minami kept little keepsakes to remember them. Nails and teeth were locked in a box beneath one of the floorboards Minami had rutted out. He wondered what he would take from this man. The man that ordered to take all that was precious away from Minami. ”My name is Minami Kenjirou, it’s nice to meet you!” He bowed slightly. ”You’re here because you killed my family. And now I’m going to kill you.” He laughed lightly. But first, you’re going to feel every bit of pain that I feel. Every ounce of it.” Minami went to his little rolling table that had his parents surgical tools neatly placed on top of it. Minami picked up a scalpel. ”Let’s see, what do you enjoy the most? Seeing, tasting, or feeling?” Minami stepped closer to the man, who had just wet himself, urine dripping onto the plastic covered floor. Minami started laughing until tears pricked his eyes. ”Man, this is really a disgusting sight! If only you could see yourself!” Minami snapped his fingers and then clapped. ”I know! Let’s start with your eyes, huh?”

After Minami had chopped the man’s already mutilated body into pieces and stuffed them in a bag, he had borrowed his neighbor’s car, who was on vacation, and drove out to an overpass that hovered over a river. The same one where he got rid of all the other bodies. He had to be quick, because eventually someone would drive on it, hopefully anyone but the police. The body bag was heavy, and took Minami almost ten minutes just to get it to the railing, when he heard footsteps. He whirled around to see a man only about a head or so taller, walking towards him. No Minami turned to run to the car, but bumped into something hard. He was immediately swiveled around with his arms pinned to his back. He struggled, and kicked, but the hold on his arms only got tighter, sending pain traveling up to his shoulders. ”Oh my, what’s a young man like you doing out here so late at night? I wonder what could be in that bag.” The voice had a sing-songy lilt to it. The first man unzipped the body bag, looked inside, and then zipped it back up. He coughed. “Are you Minami Kenjirou?” ”No-” his arms were pulled tight again, he let out a small yelp. “I wanted to extend my gratitude to you. The men who killed your family were a rogue faction of the Mafia. You got to them before us.” The man kicked the bag lightly. “Seems like you really enjoyed yourself, too.” The man gave a nod, and Minami was released from the vice like grip. “You're…you’re gonna kill me, aren’t you?” Minami thought he was going to begin to tremble, but this strange calm pervaded his entire body. Death seemed like a sweet reprieve. He didn’t think he’d see his family in the afterlife, though. Not after the things he had done. But still, there was nothing for him here. He was ready. ”No. I just told you, I want to extend my gratitude.” The man offered his hand to Minami. Not a very Japanese gesture coming from a Japanese man. “My name is Katsuki Yuuri. I am the current leader of the Russian Mafia. I came here on business, of which you seemed to already have taken care of.” Minami’s head was given a rub; he had completely forgot about the man standing beside him. The man that had held him was far too tall, and had sleek silver hair. “Great job, kid! My name is Viktor, by the way. Not that I’m of any importance compared to him.” He pouted, nodding at Yuuri. “B-but…how are you…M-Mr. Katsuki…how are you the head of a Russian Mafia? Are you half Russian or something?” Yuuri smiled and put a finger up to his mouth. “That’s classified information.” Yuuri bent over and picked the body bag up with ease, tossing it over the edge. Minami ran to the railing, and watched it plop into the water. Sending ripples through out. It was like an extreme weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he felt light and light-headed; the tears began to fall. Minami’s hand was grabbed by Yuuri, a pen scribbling in his palm. “If you ever find yourself in trouble, give me a call. Or, if you decide that you can’t return to the life you lived before, there will be a position waiting for you in Russia. I would like you to wait a couple years before you decide on the latter, though. Try your best to live happily, because the path you’re on does not provide that.” Katsuki Yuuri and Viktor Nikiforov began to walk away from Minami; he watched their backs until they were out of sight. Minami looked at the sky and saw a faint light begin to bleed in the darkness. Morning would arrive soon.

Minami felt a slap on the back of his head. ”I’m fucking talking to you, moron!” Yuri crossed his arms. “You’re paying for the fucking room, since you left your damn drink tab for me to collect the other day. So pay it.” Yuri turned and went straight to the elevators before Minami could protest. He sighed. A ten dollar drink didn’t exactly match up for a hotel room. But he obliged. Before Minami even got done checking in, Yuri was back and rushing up to the clerk. “Why the fuck is there only one fucking bed in that fucking room?” The poor clerk tried to explain in the best English he could that they were sold out of doubles, single bedrooms were all that was left. Which made Yuri go ballistic, grabbing the terrified Chinese man by his collar. “You are being ridiculous! Stop! I’ll get extra blankets and I’ll sleep on the floor, Jesus Christ.” Minami pried Yuri’s hands off the clerk’s collar, and recieved a shove. “Of course you’re going to sleep on the fucking floor, bitch. What, you thought I was going to let you sleep in my bed?” Yuri scoffed, and retreated back the way he came. Minami apologized thoroughly and made up a story how Yuri was suffering from an extremely itchy and uncomfortable STD that made him irritable, trying his best not to burst out laughing. He gave the man a large tip and made his way up to the room. Yuri was already sprawled out on the bed, clicking away at his phone. Thankfully there was a couch chair in the corner, so Minami wouldn’t have to sleep on the dirty floor, after all. “We’ll rest tonight. Tomorrow we start looking for the informant, got it? And if you snore, I’m going to kick your ass out into the fucking hallway.” Minami smirked, put a fist to his chest and bowed. “Yes, my lady. I shall comply.” Minami laughed and rushed into the bathroom, Yuri trailing behind. Yuri was cursing him and trying to kick in the door. ”Hey! If you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask!” At that, Yuri kept cursing, but was no longer trying to break in. Minami laughed for five full minutes. When Minami finished showering and changing into a pair of sweats and a t shirt, he was surprised to find Yuri still awake, and on a laptop. “Bathroom’s all yours, my friend.” Minami was looking for the extra sheets he was supposed to get for the chair, when he realized he had forgotten to call down to the front desk. “Shut the fuck up. That Thai prick just sent all the extra info.” Not thinking, Minami hopped in the bed, sitting in close to look at the laptop. “What the fuck are you doing? Move the fuck over!” Yuri tried to push him off, but Minami had grown tired of the blonde’s miserliness. “I need to look at the information, too. Can you please stop being so freakin’ difficult? I’m not going to pounce on you or something. You’re definitely not my type.” Minami laughed, Yuri scowled. Minami twisted the computer in Yuri’s lap a little bit towards him. He could just feel the agitation oozing out of Yuri. ”Cao Bin, Huh? 24. Frequents delivery from a pizza shop downtown. Has a sprained ankle…most of this information is not very useful, Phichit…” Minami was talking to himself. “…I can’t do much with pizza and a limp.” Yuri scoffed, “That’s why you shouldn’t be here in the fucking first place. You just sit back and use that fucking mouth of yours when it’s needed. Otherwise keep it shut and stay the fuck out of my way.” Minami was going to say a raunchy joke, but decided to keep it to himself. “Well, if that’s all that the infamous hacker Phichit Chulanont can find, then this guy is definitely good at hiding.” Minami scratched his head. “Guess the first thing we should do-” “The first thing you should do is get the fuck off my bed. I’m going to sleep.” Yuri shut the laptop, and put it on the nightstand, shutting the lamp on the table off. Minami made his way over to the small, cramped chair and tried to adjust himself. It was going to be a long night, he could tell. “Tomorrow, we’re going to that fucking pizza shop.” Yuri turned over, his back to Minami. Duh Minami finally shifted into a decent sleeping position in the uncomfortable chair. It had been only a couple minutes of blissful silence, before Yuri started to snore.

[hellobazilpatel-blog]

Five Famous Travellers From Around the Globe!

When I travel, I often end up wondering who are exactly my ancestors, people from whom I have got the genes of wanderlust and the curiosity to explore the myriad of cultures. Of course, because a soul like me cannot stand still, a person like me is a bird who craves to see every nook and corner of the world. Because when I am on a mission to learn about new people and explore new places, I feel a wicked kind of adrenaline burst that energizes my soul. Travel is more like the secret-of-my-life, the fuel-to-my body sort of thing. Because man when I travel, the world is a wonderful place but wait *takes a breath*   Let’s take a pause here, for I just realized that I could go on and on about how travel makes me feel without really getting to the point. So basically, I dug deep into my forefathers who traveled like me, we are the flying birds, and you can say without journeying about here and there, we can be compared to flightless birds who have lost the basic essence of flight that is intrinsic to their nature.   So here is a look at the most famous travelers around the world, who globetrotted even when they did not have the leisure of airplanes. Because, well, you guessed that right, the disease called travel-allure infected their souls (Allure ‘cause I couldn’t find the opposite match for phobia)   Christopher Columbus

  You probably just knew that this guy was going to top the list because let's admit we all have grown up knowing about his love for exploring new places and traveling till he drew his last breath. Wait; well that’s an exaggeration. Columbus traveled until got ill, which is also a major thing, considering travel was way risky at that time. This guy was literally ruthless when it came to voyaging, I mean man the dude did not even stop despite the hardships he faced due to it.   The dude got temporarily blind, had bleeding eyes, and was victimized by insomnia, arthritis, malnutrition, plus flu. But did he give up? Not at all! All hail Columbus for this wanderlust.   By the way, his efforts did yield a sweet fruit. Of course, he did not discover America, but he did lead the way for the European explorers to get to the jumbo continent.   Ibn Battuta  

The guy who prolly never imagined that he would have a humongous mall to his name in the UAE but jokes apart, this guy covered 120,000 km in his life, journeying to regions that make up a total of 44 countries today from the region mapped today from Italy to Indonesia, Timbuktu to Shanghai.   If you are already not impressed, then you would be the moment you learn of his travel troubles. The legend got mugged, held hostage, hid in a swamp for straight seven days without food and was attacked by pirates (not the non-dangerous sort like that in the Pirates of the Caribbean who end up being betrayed by the mermaids, fools forgot that beauty is a trap!) The legend  is definitely worth the name of the mall!

Yuri Gagarin You must have probably had that name in your primary class, rings a bell? He’s the first man on the moon. His craving for travel was so damn serious that he was willing to travel outside the planet itself. Must be some kind of father of all travel genes.   And he was fearless, way too fearless. Guessing why I am saying this? It’s due to the fact that the dude was blasted into the dark, unknown space in 1961 on a seat placed on top of a tin that was itself set atop a bomb. Mother of all the wicked, really!   Fridtjof Nansen

  This dude is the father of polar exploration; he was the first to head to Greenland’s ice cap and the first to saiL the Artic Ocean and went deeper into the north than anyone had ever before.   He was brave but not a wreaking-ball-brave, as he never lost a single man during his travel tales, which is amazing in its own way. Nansen saw winter most though. He lived through nine months in freezing temperatures without turning into a mighty ice cube himself. His survival tip: hiding in a hut of walrus hides and stones and feeding on walrus and polar bears.   Captain James Cook  

Pair a traveler with a cartographer, and he makes for an excellent personality. His curiosity sailed him to the Antarctic and Artic circles and the seven continents, twice, I repeat, twice!     Oh and Cook also mapped Australia and New Zealand. He also survived biliary colic by feeding on the stew made from a ship’s dog. Absolutely, a travel enthusiast, we got there.   And when Endeavour, his ship hit the grounds in the Coral Sea, he beached and repaired it. So here we go again, Captain Cook at your service!   But for now, you have me at your service, now signing out from an episode on the famous travelers in the world. It’s for you to decide who impresses you the most, but for me, all are my great-great-grandfathers, as from them I seek the inspiration and to them shall I always look up to. For now, hasta la vista habibis.       Click to Post

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

☕️ Sawatari wasn't a waste of a character ☕️ Yuri while not the best Yu boy was a decently written character

☕️: I agree. I’d be surprised if this wasn’t a popular opinion since I thought that Sawatari was generally well received by the fanbase. A part of me thinks he was chosen to be one the Lancers simply because he was more popular after his first few appearances than the writers expected him to be. Not to mention people have gotten on my case for not liking Sawatari, his development and preferring Yuya’s performances over his, so I assumed he was one of the more popular characters in the series.

I could almost see why people would call him that though since he didn’t have a more traditional kind of character arc that I think people were expecting/hoping he’d have. Not having a victory during the course of the show probably didn’t make people happy either. He stayed primarily as the comedy relief and the writers clearly didn’t have much interest in doing more with Sawatari than that. And to be fair, he does work for that role. He can be funny and entertaining. He still had some good moments like his duel with Yugo, his reaction to Crow being carded and dueling with Crow against Zarc, even though I still wish they had more teamwork during their brief match. While I wasn’t that into Sawatari, I don’t think he was a waste of a character either. He still had impact on other characters and the story as a whole even with primarily staying as the comedy relief character of the group.

☕️: I’d also agree with that, although maybe a bit less than the one on Sawatari. I think my issue with Yuri is that they spent so much time emphasizing him as the over the top hammy villain. That kind of villain can be entertaining and it made sense to do that for his early appearances. It made him stand out as the polar opposite of Yuya, which was fitting. I just think that they spent too much time primarily on that aspect of his character. By the time they were doing a bit more with him, it felt a bit too little, too late for me. Becoming so overpowered and defeating a bunch of characters that I actually liked for a few episodes probably didn’t help either. I know that he had to defeat them and merge with Yugo for the story to progress, but it still kind of bothered me to see him being that overpowered.

Still, with what they were able to do with Yuri, I’d say he was written decently all things considered. I liked his backstory. You could take it as Leo manipulating a lonely or at least isolated child and molding him into a loyal soldier with the Academia mindset, which does add a kind of tragic element to Yuri’s story. If he had the kind of friends and support that Yuya had instead of being taken in by Leo, he could have turned out really differently. It’s one reason why I grew to like his pairing with Serena. It’s interesting to imagine how different both Yuri and Serena would be if they had that connection like the other counterparts do.

Thank you for asking. ^_^