#and i do enjoy some yuri…it’s just more of my favs are yaoi so i align more with that side. but yuri is the sister to my yaoi…

[akechi-if-he-slayed]

all i know is that it’s never the yaoi fans talking shit about yuri

[irlnorthshaw]

is your blog shador free? if so, whats your fav ship??

well anon i come bearing great news... my blog IS shador free !! there is a long story behind it which does include a 16 year old me on instagram getting harassed by the shador crowd BUT let's put that behind

moving on to ships i DO absolutely enjoy (not in order)

THE MIDFIELDERS

starting off w my absolute fav, they could never fail me. a dream come true would be to have an episode centred around them... 😁👍 i love their dynamic sm.

it makes so much sense why they're paired up together on the field, they have the perfect balance and dont take shit from everyone else

shakes/klaus

can't go wrong w a classic. have been a fan since day 0, they're so wholesome and i enjoy their back and forth more than shakes and el matador (yes... i did just say that)

i love shakes being the one to always have kalus' back, ESPECIALLY when everyone else doubted him. oh when he reassured klaus to not doubt himself bc he IS a great player is so... chefs kiss i love them

SHAWDOR !!! (thats what ive named them at least)

this trope never fails me. adrenaline junkie dudebro with the self centered diva??? COUNT ME IN. TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY PLEASE.

klaus w literally anyone

i really cant blame them, i too love klaus 😋 i like these two ships especially, i don't dive into them as often BUT I WILL BE SEATED !!

onto the other teams AND cross-team ships

these two are for sure crack ships BUT yk me... i will literally consume anything given to me, without a doubt. there's definitely more than i can think of. im starting to really like dingaan and klaus BUT i havent ventured into them as much.

but these two? wow... 10/10 i love it and i need more of it. Im STAAAARVING

psstt uber and skarra got me feeling some type of way... emotionally unstable height difference? a tear fell down my cheek

uber/ja nein

can you blame me? they're literally perfect. jock/nerd w a bit of spice... i am always sat whenever an episode has these two. god bless "man in the iron tank mask" 🙏🙏

dingaan/skarra

ANOTHER CLASSIC !! they're literally shakes and klaus but like... the evil counterparts 😭😭 something abt dingaan missing skarra in "food for thought!" and then going all daydream-y whenever he gets grilled into 😭 bro is not hiding the degradation kink

AND THAT'S ALL!!!

that i can remember....

there's definitely more that i haven't thought abt. Including coach ships (i definitely have one or two, i AM a big fan of old man yaoi) AND my beautiful yuri ships... i will continue in another post then 😋👍

thank you anon for this opportunity to gush abt shipping... its what i live to do 🫡

[ghoul--chan]

Episode 8 of Katsugeki/ Touken Ranbu. I have nothing to say but wow. We saw the aftermanth of the battle of last weeks episode. Saw the second unit come back together. And at the end see them head out for a new mission.

Overall a calm episode, loved every minute of it. Saw more of my favs.

The fact we saw the aftermath was interesting, i had never thought in game that there would be stuff happenening, i always asumed the guys beat them before they had the chance to do anything really major, and in a sense i was right, but seing the minor things. Man that stung, those people losing loved ones, just people in general dieing that shouldn't have died. Man Honebami i seriously feel you. Also the first unit offering the victims of the aftermath food that was lovely to see, also they do this out of their own will not because their saniwa asked them to. Can i get a sepparate show just focusing on the first unit? Like have both shows run simultaniously, because i also love the second unit and don't want one over the other.

Speaking of the second unit. Izuminokami still has some mental scars of the last mission, dispide it being a succes just barely, still there was a lot that went wrong, but hey it was their first mission together, and now they have gotten to know each other better im sure they are gonna kick some ass next episode. But yeah i wonder how Izuminokami's mental scars are gonna kick in. Also with Mikazuki right before they leave he tells them the important part they need to remember, i wonder how that is gonna pack out with Kane-san's already weakened mental state, but i feel like in the next episodes somewhere kane-san is gonna come to a conclusion on what his words in episode 6 ment, because on one hand Mikazuki is really direct with words (at least in game he is, and in this episode to) but in his and Kane-san's conversation he was kinda vague, then again Kane-san was being vague in his questions too, i need to watch the scene again before i can come to a conclusion here. But really Mikazuki really fits the bill of a mentor character, he gives answers to others questions but also doesn't completely spell it out to them, it might seem he didn't really help much at first but later they wil realise what he ment with those words. I feel that in one of the last episode's Kane-san and Mikazuki will have a conversation again just to let this come full circle.

O boy i talked a lot on one tiny part, but next the parts were we got to see the Second Unit come back together again, loved it, also Mutsunokami XD seriously he just makes me smile when he's on screen. And yeah like Horikawa said he and Kane-san really are alike in some ways yet are also different. Anyway just putting it out there if Kane-san really didn't want him back on the team he would just have told him to get lost right after they greeted each other instead of letting him trail behind them, so yeah Mutsu's freakout not really needed if you think about it, but it shows character in the fact Mutsu needed to hear the words that he was still in the team, i like that.

Also everyone giving Tonbokiri the same gift of Daifuku XD, but they tried at least. I hope he packed some for on the journey as a snack or something. God the anime makes me like Tonbokiri even more than i already liked him. Good job Ufotable.

Also Shokudaikiri showed up even if it was for a tiny bit. Huray for sword dad to finally have some lines in this show, even if it was only for talking about a tomato and giving Turumaru an okey to go. I still loved it.

I know this show is not for everyone, but please respect people that do like the show. But i will say this show has some good action, and the characters... Well they are kinda tropey, but what i know about the characters thanks to the game, i know there is more to these guys that you might initally think, its a historical anime so yeah do some research, anime doesn't explain the events and previous owners of the swords, so you may wanna look this up. But yeah it's japanese history so for their home audience they probably don't have to go into much detail, and game players of course. I wish i knew what most of these event were but i don't, but i still watch it to see my guys animated, and focus on the stuff i do know, and i'm statisfied with this. And most complaints i've seen on the show were just petty at best, the most heard complaint was "were are the female character?" Like really people, if you don't like an all guys cast just watch one of the hundereds anime with all girls casts. And they also all pretty much dississed this show as a yaoi instandly, well guess i can say all this girl cast anime are all Yuri anime. Which i know they aren't. Seriously what happened to just letting people watch the shows they want without complaining right at the first or second episode. Just let us enjoy our shows in Peace.

[punkascas]

Soo, "Yuri on Ice"!! I also love that show, I watched it in 2 days straight XD Hope you enjoy it greatly!! -YOI-lover-anon out

ANONYMOUS ASKED

I’m very curious to know what you’ll think of YOI :)

so i keep wanting to read YOI as yaoi and be like, yes i shall give u My Thoughts on Yaoi (/joke probably no one gets anymore). 

anyway i finished watching all the episodes, so general impressions/reactions below:

i watched the first episode in the original japanese with english subtitles but there were SO MANY russian words used/referenced that it started to drive me nuts not to hear them in actual russian. so then i watched the last 11 eps dubbed in english

i was really confused until @plays-with-shadows explained accents to me how viktor (WHICH SHOULD BE THE SPELLING OK THAT IS HOW U SPELL IT Y DID THEY SPELL IT WRONG) and yuuri could even communicate bc presumably viktor would be speaking russian??? and then elan explained that in the original japanese they used different japanese regional accents to signify when characters were speaking japanese or russian or english. so viktor was communicating with yuuri in english. so that was cool to learn.

i really disliked viktor at first bc i was like, I Know Guys Like You, and bc he’s kind of a dick in this really specific slavic-y way that i can tolerate much better in women and absolutely adored in my grandmother but just super bothered me in viktor. but then he kind of grew on me, especially when he started trying more sincerely to be a good coach for yuuri and learn what he needed and started to move forward to being an actual person who actually maybe feels things once in a while. then he hit right in my emotional robot character kink feels and now i kind of love him.

similarly, i was hella hella dubious of yuuri and viktor’s relationship at first and why anyone would ship that??? bc i was like, okay at 15 i might have been into this thing of your idol/celeb crush suddenly turning up in your life and forming a relationship with you. since, like, lbr, at 15 i was TOTALLY ON BOARD with the idea of dating johnny depp and thought that would be gr8 and didn’t think at all about things like age differences or power imbalances in relationships. but idk at 30, i am like, dude that will never work out. that can never be healthy when one person puts the other up on a pedestal (and viktor at that time seemed to have no interest in taking himself off that pedestal). but then yuuri seemed to realize that viktor was a person and has faults and kind of sucks as a coach and can be a dick, and called him out on it. and then i was like, yes good i can get behind this. now im really looking forward to seeing them compete against each other in the next series (WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL OCTOBER give me moar noooooooooooowww) bc for me that also brings more equality to their relationship and im also about equality in my OTPs. (tho tbh im more about, im a dick, you’re a dick, we’re dicks at each other, but if ANYONE ELSE is a dick to you, i brutally smack them down - that kind of equality)

was that a hug? was is it a kiss? im so confused what happened there, if viktor kissed yuuri or just flying tackled hugged him. generally i am confused about their relationship and where it stands. like, i think my impression is that yuuri has a crush on viktor, is still not really ready to admit to it (at least not to viktor, even tho viktor totally already knows bc it’s yuuri and he’s not subtle), and viktor is … on the slow path of realizing he has feelings and that other people have feelings and those can both be influenced, and that is uncomfortable and scary. see: viktor getting all freaked when he made yuuri cry / viktor getting all shout-y when yuuri made him cry ❤️

i want a ton of fic where yuuri and viktor deal with and fail over and discuss the cultural differences between russian culture and japanese culture

the italian skater seems hella incest-y for his sister

i totally believe the swiss skater and viktor slept together at least once i mean come on

YURI IS MY SMOL ANGRY RUSSIAN SON AND I LOVE HIM AND WANT TO BURY HIM IN TIGER-PRINTED THINGS mój cenny mały tygrysku ❤️❤️❤️

like if dean and cas had a son, it’d be yuri. ANGRY, but with a lot of sensitive feelings beneath that, and hella determined to prove himself

i really liked how viktor and yuri’s relationship developed, that viktor really sincerely supported him and hugged him in the final at the grand prix

overall, i really liked it. it is very gay and happy-making and some of the dialogue is just amaze. I WILL MAKE U INTO BORSCHT (barszcz) is legit my new fav insult ever.

where are the fics??? give me fic recs

[grass-skirt]

OKAY! So last night I marathoned Yuri on Ice with @mabelshesbornwithit (accompanied by grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup--very cozy), so here’s my obligatory review post. 

This was a show that I wasn’t that interested in watching myself. I had a positive opinion of it and was glad that it was apparently doing what it could to depict a healthy and loving romance between Yuri and Victor, but I wasn’t sure that the sports part of it would hold my interest very much. I was wrong about that, since even though I know nothing about professional figure skating, it was fun to see all the different routines and suspenseful to watch them compete and stress over whether or not the people I liked would screw up or not. 

I was also surprised at how much of the cast was super likable. Even though he was a pretty minor character, my fav for the show might just be Minami 

He was so fucking cute and enthusiastic and I loved how much he admired and supported Yuri. I also really liked his jazzy routine and his lil fang. Everything about him was so adorable and pure. Bless. 

The Yuris, Victor, Phichit! (bless Phichit too, he’s so wonderful), Otabek, god, and JJ too I all liked. JJ is absolutely the one who surprised me the most. All I really knew about him from what I’d seen around tumblr is that apparently he was a jerk and then majorly screwed up his routine and then everyone loved him. But he turned out to not be as much of a jerk as I thought he’d be--he was still a jerk but like, in a kind of fun way that was good for a few laughs. He’s so fucking full of himself, but he also conveyed that he also really cares about his family, girlfriend, and all his fans. Seeing him screw up so hard but still try his best and still retain his belief in himself because of all the people supporting him made for really good character development. Tho it’s too bad that the whole JJ style thing was lame and that both his performance outfits were ugly. RIP JJ.

The only two characters who were... “stop that--stop that this instant,” were Michele, the guy who was creepily obsessed with his sister, and Georgi, the guy who was scary obsessed with his ex. At least Michele realized he need to knock it off and change, though he was still having a hard time actually putting that into practice afterwards. Hopefully he’ll get there eventually. 

As for the relationship between Yuri and Victor... it’s a complicated subject. It’s complicated because of the unfortunate realities that surround the show’s existence and creation. These cultural forces both dictated what was possible to include in the show, and influence how parts of their relationship are perceived by viewers. And you can’t talk about their romance in the show without also talking about the constraints that the content of the show was under. For starters, Yuri and Victor’s relationship was absolutely romantic. The single best moment for this for me was the scene in Barcelona before the final competition where they bought each other matching gold rings and put them on each others’ fingers on the steps of a cathedral while a choir sang around them. 

This moment was super lovely, but it was kind of a double edged sword that Phichit shouted about them being married afterwards. On the one hand it was fantastic that Phichit was so happy for them, but at the same time it was also funny. And it being funny is both good and bad at the same time. It’s a problem because it’s funny for being a “misunderstanding”--oh, they’re not actually married. The fun somewhat takes some of the seriousness out of the situation. It allows viewers to choose to not view Yuri and Victor exchanging their rings as a symbol of their romantic love for each other, and instead view it as the setup for a joke. (Of course viewers who do that are shitty and are never going to respect Victor and Yuri’s romantic relationship, but it makes their doing so a little easier) 

On a related note, Dani mentioned that they felt that the frequent fanservice at the start of the show, like Victor showing up naked in the bath, probably didn’t set a very good tone for their relationship. It’s not a SUPER big thing, but all the non-serious casual nudity that was going on early on is the kind of thing that makes it easier to view their relationship as existing for the purpose of fanservice. It makes it easier for anime fans to mentally classify the show as a yaoi/BL/shounen ai--related genres that overwhelmingly exist not to provide positive representation by and for gay and bi boys and men, but rather to pander to the fantasies of girls and women. 

This is part of why the realities that surround the show’s existence complicate the content of the show so much. Ideally, I shouldn’t need to care in the slightest that Phichit excitedly announced that his friend got married to another guy, but I do care because Yuri had to deny it and it made me feel a little bit bad at the same time I was laughing myself. It was depressing to talk about their relationship after we finished the show because I checked, and same sex marriage is only legal in 21 countries around the entire world right now. 21 out of 196 countries. And you know what? It is illegal for men to have a sexual relationship in 74 countries. It is so depressing to read fancomics in which Victor and Yuri talk about getting married because they can’t actually do that in both Japan and Russia. Hell, if Victor and Yuri even kissed in public in Russia they could be arrested for it. 

Anyway, as depressing as the realities of our current world are, that’s all the more reason why it’s good to have shows like Yuri on Ice showing a relationship like the one between Yuri and Victor. Yeah, it sucks that they didn’t (or rather, most likely couldn’t) show a clear, unobstructed kiss between them. But the show absolutely tried its best to represent the relationship between Victor and Yuri as one overflowing with romantic love. The fact that they couldn’t be more explicit isn’t so much a fault of the show as it is the fault of the culture in which the show was created, where love between boys is viewed as something illicit and sinful for straight girls to indulge in through fantasy, rather than something real and valid that deserves respect and acceptance. So with that in mind, not only should people temper any criticisms they have for the show for not going “far enough” with Victor and Yuri’s relationship, we can also only hope that there are more shows and stories like Yuri on Ice in the future in Japan, where healthy and loving relationships between men are depicted outside of the problematic yaoi/BL/ shounen ai genres in order to help further the acceptance of these kind of relationships in the real world. 

Still, the fact that the show neglected to acknowledge any of the real world discrimination that gay individuals face is a pretty big shortcoming. The show missed a chance to educate people in Japan and elsewhere in the world about homophobia and the discrimination it produces, and it’s valid for viewers to wish the show had done that and feel it glossed over the reality of the difficulties they face in life. (Which is a subject that an anon reminded me to address, which I wrote about in more depth over here.) 

Overall I enjoyed the show and I’m glad it was made. It wasn’t without flaws, but on the whole it was good and I hope they get a second season in which they might just be able to advance Yuri and Victor’s relationship without needing to veil it as much behind the metaphor of a coach/student relationship (and more Minami pls). 

Oh, and one last thing--I loved how all these skaters were such social media hoes. It was great