#basically every actor from the drama showed up to this closing ceremony and was wearing their in-drama costume! it was so sweet!

[nexttimeisnotthesame]

美孟 & 小林 🎉 || 2024.12.28 九重紫终映礼

[lunawings]

Yuri!!! On Stage Event Report!

So today (4/29/2017) I went to the Yuri on Ice Yuri on Stage event. To clarify though, I was not at the actual Tokyo event, rather a live viewing at a local movie theater. Which of course does alter the experience but it’s the next best thing. At first I thought the theater was only doing the afternoon session, but very last minute I ended up being able to attend both!

For starters, the voice actors of most the skaters were there +Nishigori. When everyone came out they more or less came out in order of popularity from lowest to high so it was all like... YURI ON STAGE... Here is Nishigori!!! to start which got a good laugh. 

(Georgi just existing always got a good laugh too.)

Characters of voice actors who attended: Yuri, Victor, Yurio, Phichit, Chris, Georgi, Minami Kenjiro, Leo, Guang Hong, Seung Gil, Emil, Nishigori.

Characters of voice actors who did not attend but appeared on video: JJ, Michele, Otobek.  And Kubo-sensei.

Victor’s voice actor cosplayed for both showings. First he was in a suit, and second he was in a black shirt and pants like his the new figure. YES he did the pose. He even dyed his hair. Apparently he kinda killed it dying and redying it though. 

Yuri’s voice actor was wearing a necklace that could have possible been interpreted as a silver medal. 

After everyone came out and introduced themselves with a key line from their character, we moved into the talk show section. Unfortunately I don’t have that much to say about this part because they just talk so much so fast that I only understand about 70% to begin with and only half of the jokes... 

Georgi’s voice actor was the moderator and they split up the characters into different groups. Afternoon session was.... Teens: Yurio, Emil, Leo, Guang Hong Kyushu: Yuri, Kenjiro, Nishigori 20-somethings: Victor, Chris, Phichit, Seung Gil

Evening session was...  Not not just cute: Guang Hong, Emil, Chris, Leo? “My Pace”: Victor, Emil... Phichit? (I might have mixed up some of these... sorry I don’t remember.) Surprising gap: Yuri, Yurio, Seung Gil, Nishigori

Kubo-sensei was very involved in this section. It was funny because at other events I have been to the voice actors were always like “lol well I think my character would be like this...” but at this event she kept interrupting like the voice of God to be like “Well, ACTUALLY.....”

Chris was only in the “cute” group because of his cute butt.

He put Chris character badges on his butt to show off too.

I think Kubo-sensei said something about when she starts drawing Chris she just starts with a butt.  The “My Pace” group refers to the characters all having a “do whatever I want” attitude. They came out wandering all over the stage. I had no idea how to translate “surprising gap”... it meant like, characters who have two sides to them. Like Yuri with his eros, and Seung Gil when he got really upset after losing. 

During the “gap” group Nishigori’s voice actor describes the gap with a very long convoluted story that ended with the birth of the triplets? So they were like Kubo-sensei did you know about this? Apparently she DID write it... then forgot about it. 

At one point they were talking about who they look up to as voice actors, and Kenjiro’s said he looked up to Yurio’s voice actor. This was during the Kyushu men segment, so he wasn’t on stage. But they pushed him out and made them sit VERY CLOSE. It was... a moment. 

There were a lot of innuendo jokes about how Phichit’s name sounds like “pichitto”, Japanese for “tight” or “snug.” For example: Phichit’s ass is pichitto.

Anyway, next came the world quiz section. 

So they separated everyone into four groups. During the afternoon session they drew cards from a box on stage, but for the evening they just did it in advance to save time. 

Every group got a table with a buzzer. They really liked the buzzer. 

So basically, what they did was they translated an anime scene into another language featured on the show and had a native speaker read it. Then the voice actors had to guess which scene it was.

In the afternoon session the language was Thai and it was basically impossible to guess right away. SO they had JJ’s voice actor, good old Mamoru Miyano, appear on the screen give a clue. He basically just gave us the Thai word for “onsen” then showed a several minutes long JJ montage to the theme of King JJ and then told us to enjoy “JJ On Stage.”

Also during the Thai reading the guys were laughing because a part of the Thai sounded kinda like “chinsuko” which sounds like an Okinawan snack which sounds like “penis.” Anyway.

After two more clues, first “hold back”, and then “internet” I was able to guess the scene and so did Yuri’s voice actor. (It was the Chinese restaurant scene.)

For the evening show however, the puzzle was MUCH easier. Even in the original Russan I could make out “piroshki” and a very heavily Russian-accented “katsudon.” You could tell from their reaction that the voice actors knew it too. But if someone guessed too early we would miss Mamoru Miyano’s clue so everyone stayed silent. 

Mamoru Miyano gave us the Russan word for “grandfather.” And at this point somebody (I forget who) said “Well clearly we all know it’s the scene where Yuri and Yurio eat piroshki--” BUT TOO BAD because we were shown the JJ video anyway ahaha.

So at this point everyone knew the answer but to keep the segment going they just decided to fuck around instead by buzzing in and saying random words in Russian. Phichit’s voice actor tried to make “miso soup” sound like a Russian word and the hosts got mad at him when he defined it as “japanese soup made from miso” without any other ingredients. Yuri and Guang Hong’s voice actors were on the same team with Phichit and both were wearing glasses so they were all like “which one is which???” and Phichit’s actor didn’t have glasses so he had to improvise with his hands and this foam thing he found. Victor’s voice actor tried to use the “grandfather” clue to tell long fairy tales “a very long long time ago there was a grandfather....” It’s so hard to describe well but this was so amazing and everyone was just having such a great time. 

Oh, and the Russian speaker’s name was Emil so we had a brief WHOS THE REAL EMIL contest. (If they were speaking English surely they would have said “would the real Emil please stand up?”)

So anyway, Kubo-sensei had to chose the winner in the end and she picked Yuri’s team twice in a row. This is interesting because she got to put gold medals on the winners both times. After that the winners also got to eat samples of the katsudon piroshki they are currently selling at Namja Town. 

After that they did some script reading of key scenes and it was very artistic and beautiful. While Yuri, Victor, and Yurio were reading on stage they somehow raised a TINY ice skating rink where a woman did Yurio’s Agape in the afternoon and free skate in the evening (or at least as much as she could on a tiny square of ice, no jumps or anything). 

And now, what you have all been waiting for... the original drama. 

(No, this was not animated. They could not. They just stood and read a script. Quotes are of course translated from memory and probably not 100% accurate.)

It starts off with Victor reading something vague about how unforgettable the previous night was. Yuri is making noises that sound increasingly sexual until we realize... actually he’s throwing up.  Phichit: Green stuff is coming out of Yuri’s mouth... I have to put this on the internet!! 

Seung Gil: I have something to say to you. Yuri: What do you mean, you’re just looking at me with that same unreadable expression as always. Seung Gil: Put some clothes on.  Yuri: HUAAAAHHHH.

So Yuri is naked with Russian written on his back that Yurio translates to “Overcome Chihoko” and a strange cap on his head which is actually Victor’s underwear. And his body is extremely sore. And he remembers nothing. And Victor is gone.

Yurio: Yuri Stinking Katsuki what did you do with Victor. Yuri: Don’t say “stinking” like it’s my middle name.... 

And so, piece by piece we figure out what happened. So the setting is that everyone is in Hasetsu for a “Onsen on Ice Victor With Friends” show and the night before they were all drinking at the Katsuki place. Victor is poking Yuri’s soft belly. But Chris comes into the picture and soon Drunk Yuri starts to get whiny and jealous...

Yuri: Victor... stop looking at Chris... look at me.... Victor: I am looking at you.  Yuri: No you’re not. Victor...... let’s do it...... Victor: ...........................do what Yuri: Do... what people do when they drink..... And to be honest I do not know exactly what he said next, but from the next few lines I gathered it was a drinking game where you get naked. So Yuri was like “SO I LOST THEN” but the others explained that.... ACTUALLY, Yuri then ripped Victor’s clothes off to practice a naked Eros routine and then also needed his underwear for a coronation ceremony. I may have missed a couple things but I’m pretty sure this is not supposed to make sense in the first place and Yuri basically wants to die. 

SO everyone is blaming Yuri for Victor’s disappearance when detective Minami Kenjiro steps in to solve the case. He mentions Yurio is the only one with a motive since he found a list Yurio made of different names for a show he is planning to take over the Victor With Friends show with. I wish I could remember them all but the only one I remember 100% accurately is Yuri on Tiger. Yurio denies it though. But also apparently Otobek came up with half of them. Also Yurio has no idea who Minami is even though they were “rivals” in junior.

To make everything worse we suddenly find out from Nishigori from the triplets that the skate otaku are flipping out because the Victor With Friends show will not have Victor in it. Somehow they found how he is missing. SOMEBODY uploaded photos to the internet of their get together... PHICHIT! 

But this is a blessing in disguise because now they can check the photos. And they find... Seung Gil kissing Nishigori.... AND IN THE BACKGROUND is Victor stretching out Yuri. (”Oh, that’s why I am sore all over,” says Yuri.)

Georgi then comes in to reveal that Victor and Yuri actually had a fight last night (Phichit: YOU... GOT DIVORCED...?!) , but about what he does not remember... he rattles off some words that sound vaguely like “penis” before they realize it’s “Chihoko”! The word on Yuri’s back! So, it’s in Russian, and if Yurio and Georgi didn’t write it, that must mean... VICTOR. 

So then Emil comes in, who apparently came to Japan on jet skis or something, and informs them that he knows where Victor is... He’s at Hasetsu Castle... on the roof, naked. 

So they all run down there and it’s revealed what really happened. 

While they were stretching Victor commented on how Yuri’s belly is soft but his back is rigid. Yuri says of course he can’t compare to Victor, but there is someone more limber than Victor... “Sha... Chihoko...”

Okay so. The joke here is that Victor hears this and thinks it’s the name of Yuri’s ex-lover and gets jealous. But the thing is, I have NO IDEA what Yuri was actually trying to say? It had to mean something because people in the theater were laughing. I know it also sounds vaguely like “penis” but that alone cannot be the joke... HELP. 

EDIT: OKAY. I think I got it. It’s a mythical carp which bends backwards. I should have known this because it’s also Nagoya thing. The statues of them are on Nagoya castle too. This ties in with them going to the castle in the end OF COURSE.

(EDITEDIT: Guys I’m sorry but it’s NOT that Yuri was saying Victor was too tense. I know you must think I’m nuts but grammar wise Yuri was comparing Victor to a person or an object. I know that sounds like that could make sense but you’ll just have to believe me. The whole point was that Victor IS flexable... but not as flexible as “Shachihoko”... Yuri even refers to “Chihoko” as “aitsu” as in “that guy” which makes Victor’s blood boil. And once again the castle part completes the joke.)

So Victor writes “Overcome Chihoko” in Russian on Yuri’s back and then goes off to train. There is this whole montage of scenes from the anime as Victor reflects on the fact that Yuri had a past before him but... VICTOR IS HIS NOW.

So, in present time Yuri shows up at the castle to find Victor bending over backwards on the roof:

Victor: IS THIS BETTER THAN CHIHOKO? Yuri: WHO THE HELL IS CHIHOKO. Nobody is better than you. 

In the end he convinces Yuri to strip and do stretching too as the skaters below gaze up at the amazing one in a million sight. 

Phichit: MY BEST FRIEND GOT REMARRIED...!!!!

The end. 

What followed was a live performance of “You Only Live Once” and a really cool ending ceremony. Everyone came out with laser pointers imitating the fireworks in the ending. Then they showed a slideshow of photos from the event (as in stuff that JUST happened) also to mimic the anime ending, and finally at the very end they showed a time lapse photo revealing that the voice actors were not waving the laser pointers randomly. They were spelling out the words “thank you”....... AWWWWWWWWWGHHHH--

So at the afternoon show the end was the end.

This meant if there was going to be any announcement it would be in the evening show. As it wound down I was skeptical there would even be one because Kubo-sensei actually said something about taking a “season off”... and I was like NO... NOOOO.

But then the display dimmed and we say that one card which said “All new original movie has been decided!” I wish I had more info, but that was it! No key visual or date, just... we’re getting a movie! It’s coming! It’s not a second season, but, I guess they have their reasons.