#i can understand jp but barely speak it so idk if it counts

[seneon]

Girl I swear you speak like 5 languages

haha lol wrong! it's actually 4

[cullinankatsudon]

YOI BluRay Report

Today I received my Yuri on Ice BluRays, and I thought I’d give my initial thoughts on it (with pics) for those interested. First of all, to answer a question I get a lot, I did order from Amazon.co.jp, mostly because I could set the site to English and I have a high trust ratio with Amazon. There are other places and there was one where you could get some cool tapestry, but I was nervous and I went with the familiar.

The thing you need to know about ordering these is that despite that happily reassuring menu above the discs are entirely in Japanese, no subs, and on this disc we have only episodes 1 & 2. I forget how the exchange rate worked out but I want to say this was around $50 with shipping and all. I did get a super cute tote out of it as well, but at this rate if I keep buying them (I will) I’m going to drop a mint on them. 

Naturally I’ve already rewatched both episodes. These two I honestly could narrate the English almost verbatim over top of the Japanese, but even without that the thing I noticed was how much I didn’t need the English to understand what was going on. Also, for someone who has seen these two episodes no joke over twenty times, minimum, I noticed more new things this watch than I ever have, and that’s because there were no words on the bottom of the screen distracting me. 

(This is my cat Sam, wanting a better look at Victor’s ass, while Yurio throws him some side-eye.)

I also started to recognize Japanese characters and the few (few) words I know. There were a few moments like when someone (Minako?) screamed and said “Ahhhhhh!” and they put the Ah character snaking across the screen and I thought, oh hey, that’s the Ah character, I know what that is, I get what they just did, look at me, I’m reading Japanese. Pretty fucking basic, but it took removing the English for me to do that. 

I can’t say I noticed much different animation-wise, except that BluRays really are sharper than a stream, and nothing ever buffered, thank christ. I need to take this downstairs and play it on our HUGE TV and really swim in it at some point. I do have volume 2 on preorder and will continue to order all of them. 

I will also continue learning my damn Japanese because there’s a frigging commentary in the Special section, by Toshiyuki Toyonaga at least (I think) but of course he’s speaking Japanese. I can’t even read the specials menu page, and the hell I’m turning whatever that second one is on and off. The third thing seems to simply be the opening? IDK. There aren’t many specials. 

Why the hell did I buy this BluRay, spend all this money on something with no subs and barely any episodes or specials? Because I’m an independent artist, I get how this business works, and I want to support this show. Hashtags and AMVs and art is all well and good, but at the end of the day what will get us a season two and what will help Mitsurou Kubo and Sayo Yamamoto and the actors come back will be sales of the BluRays and DVDs. They’re literally running around doing press junkets saying “buy the DVDs” and they’re not joking around. 

I get that these BluRays are pricey and it’s frustrating that they’re not in my native language (though I don’t entirely mind, either, mostly I’m frustrated I can’t learn Japanese quicker), but I cannot fathom how expensive it is to make an anime. I know how much it costs to make a book and how low the returns can be, how high the risks, how honestly it’s the stupidest way to make a living but I do it anyway because I am more than a little nuts. I want a season two for this show like I want air and water. It’s not even about “it would be nice.” My eyeteeth ache for this. I don't even care that it’s weird to be this obsessed. I could be addicted to something far worse. A few BluRays and random fan stuff and a renewed desire in a old promise to my kid we’d learn Japanese and go to Japan someday seems harmless enough.

If you don’t have the money to get the BluRays, then don’t. Or maybe buy one. Maybe don’t buy the whole set and beggar yourself. I will, however, keep posting pics and telling you about my experience and urging you to snag yourself something. Because what I keep hearing is simply subscribing to Crunchyroll is not enough. Definitely pirating copies is not anything at all. If you’re downloading torrents and that’s all...get your ass onto amazon.jp and at least buy some keychains and a poster, something licensed. 

Art ain’t free. Kubo-sensei poured her soul into this. It shows in the work, but all the stories leeching out now about how she and Yamamoto-sensei went around buying their own tickets and doing everything on their own dimes, begging and borrowing and pleading to get this made...JFC, they deserve more than a click poll and a GIF set. 

I would like to think the stuff at Crunchyroll’s store counts because it’s the same stuff I see at Amazon.co.jp, the licensed material--you would think it all goes back to the same income stream. But let me tell you, international stuff can be weird. Licensing is weird. It doesn’t always work like you think, she said from experience. Decidedly your Crunchyroll and Funimation views aren’t really netting them much except that Funimation and Crunchyroll are saying they’ll pick up the show if it’s offered again, which isn’t going to help them animate Victor’s pearl tears or Chris’s bubble ass or pay someone to write and perform all those damn songs. So if you’re all up on a high from YOI and you want to support Kubo-sensei and Yamamoto-sensei, go to a Japanese site and buy something. 

If you go to Amazon.jp it will immediately, just under the search bar, give you an option to switch to English.

Do you see that there where it says JP? If you click that, you can select English, and the whole site magically, mostly, becomes English. And now you can shop. At first my orders confirmations came in Japanese, which were like, well, thank you for nothing, but then one day Amazon got smart and said, “Hey, would you like these in English?” and I said, YES, PLEASE and now it’s all amazing.

So buy something. It’s easier than you think. The BluRay is their preferred choice. You get a bag at the very least and two episodes to practice your Japanese on. If you wait for episode 7 I hear you get an uncensored kiss. 

If it’s true, I’ll be sure to let you know (and so will others, I’m sure).

Here’s the inside of the booklet that came with the BluRay. I will continue learning my Japanese so I have some kind of clue what it says. Though I can’t help noticing how much English is on this. Guys, we have to get out of our myopic hole and acknowledge other languages exist. 

Anyway...enjoy!