#i love the idea of yuuri recreating viktor's routines to show how much they mean to them

[fishshit]

VIKTOR NIKIFOROV HAS SKATED TO JUDAS BY LADY GAGA (2011) WITH SMOKEY EYE MAKEUP AND DESIGNER FUR COAT JUST TO THROW IT OFF DRAMATICALLY

KATSUKI YUURI HAS SKATED THE SAME ROUTINE 10 YEARS LATER WITH THE SAME SMOKEY EYE MAKEUP AND DESIGNER FUR COAT JUST TO THROW IT OFF DRAMATICALLY

[lattetimes]

Latte Talks About: Y//O//I

okay, fuck it, let’s go.

for context, i use to be a fan of the show in the beginning. i thought it was kind of interesting, and the main character being in his 20′s and coping with constant anxiety was something i can 100% relate to! that being said, i have a shitton of issues with the show and the fanbase itself by extension. 

i’m gonna put all this under a readmore and separate this by categories. before that, i’m gonna start off with a quick summary of what Y/O//I is (for anyone that’s kinda curious and have 0 idea wtf this anime even is about). i tried to keep everything as brief as possible so it won’t be too much to read through, but i have a lot to say about this entire anime that i didn’t get to say last year, soooo.

PROLOGUE: WHAT IS “ YOI ” ?

if you already know what YOI is, you can skip right over this and jump right into PART ONE. 

ok, so. Yuri!!! on ICE (a.k.a. YOI) is a sports anime series that was produced by MAPPA, directed by Sayo Yamamoto and was written by Mitsurō Kubo. it ran from October 6, 2016 – December 22, 2016, with 12 episodes under its belt for one season and talks of a possible second season. 

the story goes that 23-year old (turns 24 in episode 9) Yuuri Katsuki is Japan’s top figure skater and he fucks the fuck up at the last Grand Prix Final (GPF) he participated in. he decides that he might as well put this career on hold or just quit altogether. while he’s chillin’ back at home (which is a hotel-bath house, keep that in mind for a lil’ bit), he recreates an advanced performance done by his idol Victor Nikiforov during that same GPF (Viktor was in first place, Yuuri was dead last). 

well, this performance was secretly recorded by his friends’ triplet daughters and put up on YouTube, getting the attention of Victor and prompting Victor to stop skating for an entire season to coach Yuuri (much to the dismay of Victor’s coach, Yakov). this event sets off Yuri “Yurio” Plisetsky, a 15-year old skating protege that worked with Victor closely and was promised Victor’s help years ago.

the two compete for who gets to be coached by Victor in this season and Yuuri beats Yurio, leading to the rivalry between the two and Yurio returning to Russia without Victor. the anime goes through the entire skating season revolving around these three characters- along with a revolving door of side characters in order to keep the competitions interesting- going through physical and even mental obstacles to kick their opponents’ asses. 

...and this is where my issues with the anime starts.

PART ONE: THE STORY IS AWKWARD

i have a lot of issues with this anime. a lot. 

for one thing, the entire story hinges on this one accidental night that was revealed in episode 10 after Victor and Yuuri trade matching golden rings: Yuuri got hella wasted after his fuckup in the GPF, and basically gave Victor the time of his life. they danced, and Victor had fallen hard for drunk-off-his-ass Yuuri. (pole dancing was also somehow involved. don’t ask me how.)

Yuuri forgot the entire night, presumably because he dropped off the face of the earth in social media. my main issue with that is how was this never brought up again with any of the other characters?! how was Yuuri completely unaware of this happening?!

Yuuri’s friend, Phichit, being unaware of it makes a little bit of sense due to his absence during that GPF. but not Yuuri? there was a small segment in the first episode that shows that he had his phone notifications off for a long period of time after he recreated Victor’s routine. 

but, i still find that to be a bit too convenient. and after he’s back into skating how did no one else mention this? i know Chris, Victor and Mickey alluded to it at separate points and that makes sense- it’s a good way to get the shock of what episode 10 dropped on us to be even better.

...but no one’s bothered to straight-up mention, “hey, Yuuri, remember when you spun on a fucking pole and beat a 14-year old in a break dance competition? yeah, what the fuck was up?”

my main issue with the entire story would be the ending, so...

PART TWO: THE ENDING KINDA WAS MEH IMO

the end of the series has Yuuri coming in second place (a huge improvement from the last year) and Yurio in first place in his first senior-division GPF. oh, also JJ gets in third place somehow, but we’ll get back to that in a second. 

now, i get why they made Yuuri get second place since he promised to quit skating competitively once he wins gold and to also “allow” Victor to go back to skating (there’s a huge internal conflict with Yuuri since a lot of people assumed Yuuri “stole” Victor from competing). what could’ve happened instead of Yuuri getting second is the following:

Yuuri wins gold, and he either stays in the competing world as a competitor for another year because he gained his love for the sport back and wants to go for one more year. or, he decides to teach Minami (an upcoming Japanese skater that greatly admires Yuuri). this would help create a new dynamic with Yuuri and Victor (if Victor coaches Yurio if Yuuri starts coaching), along with introducing Yurio to a new competitor for the next skating season. 

Victor stays as a coach, for either Yuuri or Yurio (since Yuuri does move in with Victor after this GPF). he really enjoys coaching people, and learns how to improve his coaching skills with extra help from Yakov. 

Yurio comes in second. he’s devastated at first, and he’s disappointed in himself. but then he remembers: he’s only 15. and he got second place in his first senior division GPF. and that itself is fucking incredible. 

JJ gets dead last. after an incredible season of completely crushing all of the other competitors and even showin’ Yuuri up by perfectly executing Victor’s signature move (that Yuuri struggled to replicate), he fucked up. he messed up both his skate routines. with the promise he had made is fiance, Isabella, that winning gold means they’ll get married and he fucks it all up. but, Isabella is still with him after he fucks up; his parents- that are also his coaches- still support him; the crowds still chant for King JJ! the king may have fallen, but he’s not gonna give it up. and he becomes stronger from that!

give Phichit or Chris bronze, dammit.

PART THREE: THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES ARE MEH AS HELL TOO, NGL

so the character design was handled by Tadashi Hiramatsu, working off of Kubo’s original sketches of how the designs would look. and overall, i think the designs are alright. they don’t stem too far from reality (with a few exceptions, because this is a fuckin’ sports anime so fuck it!). 

i’m only gonna specify a few characters, because tbh almost all the characters are very flat or not interesting. if they didn’t have nice designs  or hella bomb music for their routines i wouldn’t even give a flying fuck about them. but they have that goin’ for them, i guess.

Yurio Plisetksy

oh, we’re gonna get back to this character don’t worry. 

Seung-gil Lee

i personally don’t have much to say about Seung-gil, but the issue of racism against this character was brought up multiple times while the show was airing. 

Seung-gil is a South Korean skater that competes against Yuuri once, and was unable to make the cut. the issue with this character is that he’s rude to a lady skater that seems to have taken some interest in him (and she was being polite and sweet to him) by ignoring her calls and outright saying he has no interest in being her friend. he also is calculating his scores as he’s performing.

Otabek Altin and JJ

god, i wish Otabek was introduced earlier ‘cause he probably would’ve been a much better character. his entire existence was basically just to contrast Yurio, and not in the way JJ does with Yuuri.

Otabek is a large and powerful masculine man, while Yurio is constantly called the “Russian ice fairy” due to his more feminine appearance (which was stated in the anime). and Otabek admires Yurio’s grace while Yurio admires his strength.  but, other than that, Otabek is basically only a prop for Yurio. his entire character revolves around Yurio, and that’s it. you can’t really talk about Otabek at all without even mentioning Yurio.

with JJ, he’s got his own character arc goin’ for him. he’s always been at the top, he’s incredibly skilled and everyone fucking bows for King JJ. fuck, he has an entire song called Theme of King JJ! and this contrasts amazingly with Yuuri!

whereas Yuuri is constantly questioning his self-worth and skill, JJ owns that shit. but with Otabek and Yurio, it falls flat, and in the next section i’m gonna delve into the character of Otabek a bit more.

Makkachin

the dog is objectively the best character and no one can say otherwise.

PART FOUR: YURIO IN GENERAL TBH

honest to god, i think Yurio was the character that was hardest for me to get use to. 

and i’m just gonna start right off with my biggest issue here: Yurio was incredibly sexualized. and not in the way that would be Yurio owning his sexuality.

nope, Yurio’s performance for his exhibition skate Welcome to the Madness was very... uncomfortable to sit through. his performance was like this:

(CREDIT FOR THIS GIF)

there is absolutely NO FUCKING REASON to show off one of the youngest characters in this show in this way. there’s ZERO REASON FOR THIS BOY’S SHIRT TO RIDE UP LIKE THIS, OR FOR HIM TO REPLICATE THIS SPECIFIC ICE SKATING MOVE. you want one of your characters to perform that kind of move as a homage to Stéphane Lambiel? HAVE YUURI DO IT- HE WAS THE ONE THAT SKATED TO EROS- A LITERAL SKATING ROUTINE ABOUT PASSION AND LOVE-MAKING AND ALL THAT JAZZ.

yeah, Yurio was the one that wanted to go for that spicier routine (basically personifying lust) over Agape (personifying wholesome love), and you can argue that having Yurio do shit like this was for the character to show everyone that he has control over his own sexuality, but that isn’t the case.  having his arc be about how he’s coming to terms with his sexuality or how he feels pressured into being more sexual while still being a minor- leading to him being uncomfortable and having a new friend step in and say “hey you do wtf you wanna do” would’ve made this shitshow better. 

no, the creator made this routine in order to get more sales (which duh), and to garner more interest from the side of the fanbase that wants to see Yurio get together with Otabek by throwing him in the routine.

Otabek’s part in the routine was only for a decoration, like icing on the cake for Yurio’s performance! he was only there so they could upstage Yuuri and Victor’s duet!

this isn’t a character taking charge of his sexuality or even an arc about how figure skaters. no, they only had Yurio doing this performance because a lot of people wanted to see Yurio and Otabek end up together (which is something I’ve already stated i have a few issues with). 

a really good way they could’ve taken Yurio’s arc was to show him being pressured by the adults in his life into having to sexualize himself, and constantly showing Yurio being uncomfortable with this. he just wants to skate his own way, but then the fear of the judges and other competitors looking down on him because he’s the youngest competitor in this year’s GPF (everyone’s in their 20′s, minus JJ who is 19) he falls into a state of depression because he’s not doing things on his own terms. have Yurio combating with this inner struggle and have him overcome it by saying, “hey fuck you, stop staring at me like this.�� have Otabek back him up- have Otabek (who is 18) be someone that isn’t confident with himself and have him be the one that tells Yurio, “hey, this is hella gross, are you even okay with any of this?”

or, y’know, don’t sexualize kids just for money, just sayin’, that’s a better option.

another issue i’ve seen with Yurio is that he’s fucking everywhere. 

yes, Yurio is a main character and i get that he’s gonna get a shit ton more merch than Georgi or Leo, but he’s overshadow the other two main characters. and honestly, i’m sick of seeing him. it’s upsetting, but true. i’m sick of that character entirely. 

PART FIVE: THE ANIMATION REALLY ISN’T GOOD

so, another issue i have is that the animation really isn’t jaw-dropping. 

the only time i was fucking impressed by the animation was episode one, showing off Victor’s performance of Stammi Vicino! 

the show’s animation was subpar at best, and it wasn’t anything revolutionary or stellar at all. it was very flat and static, and even the ice skating routines were boring in that regard. there’s barely any real effort that is put into the animation of the anime, and it’s a real let-down!

y’know what anime had crazy-good animations? Mob Psycho 100.

this character is just talking to people, and he’s incredibly animated and overall interesting to watch!

this show has very interesting use of squash and stretch when it comes to making characters emote. even the smallest of expressions are easily magnified due to the solid execution by the animation team at Studio Bones!

YOI could’ve better attempted at doing this with at least the skating routines, and the bare minimum with the main three characters. it would’ve made the anime a lot more engaging instead of having everything be so damn static or consist of shot reverse-shots. having more interesting angles in the show would also help with the expression of feelings, as this show is very heavy on emotional weight when it comes to Yuuri and Yurio’s struggles to compete against the other.

and i’m so not upset about MP 100 losing to YOI in the Crunchyroll anime awards because it was totes not biased. which, by the way...

PART SIX: THE FANBASE ITSELF (OH BOY)

these are a few examples of the issue i take with the fanbase. for this section, i’m going to list off what problems i have with the fanbase, and why i now have the entire YOI tagged blacklisted.

Victor and Yuuri’s relationship (homophobia!!): this is one of the biggest reasons why i don’t associate with the fanbase anymore. the fanbase constantly takes this couple and tries to add toxic “relationship problems” to them. this includes (but is not limited to):

threatening to divorce each other

doting “wife” Yuuri

“playboy” Victor

Yurio’s “constant disgust” with the two being happy together (Yurio seeing “sin” if the two so much as cuddle with each other)

basically calling two men that are together “a dirty sinful ship”

“Victor is the man of the relationship” “no, Yuuri is” (basically the application of heterosexual standards onto a gay pairing, and having a “power struggle” with them instead of them being happy together)

fanfics (which i will make a separate part for)

Yurio’s sexualization (OtaYuri): i’ve went well into depth about this, but there’s another point i would live to bring up. there are actual minors that don’t want to see Yurio in a sexual way because they’re around the same age as him and don’t like the idea of having people having sexual fantasies about a teenager. that thought genuinely makes them uncomfortable. well, the side of the fanbase that ships OtaYuri (the ship name) will go well out of their way in order to make them uncomfortable. some OtaYuri shippers join anti-OtaYuri discord servers or skype groups, and then spam them with OtaYuri content until they’re permanently banned from the chats. 

Killing Stalking (also referred to as “KS”): i already can’t stand the fucking online series called Killing Stalking, and it’s horrid to sit through. the fanbase of KS already has a fucked up vision of shipping the two main men- one of them being a homophobic serial killer that breaks the other guy’s legs in order to keep him trapped in his home and another his obsessive stalker that broke into his house. and the Yuri!!! on ICE fanbase flocked right into that the second the anime ended, and decided it was okay to take Victuuri (the ship name of Victor and Yuuri), and try to come up with their fucked up headcannons and AU’s with KS.

The YOI Fanfics: okay. this is honestly a huge part of why i’m very cautious of interacting with YOI fans. there’s a multitude of fanfics that incorporate homophobic, non-consensual aspects into their writing just so people can get their rocks off to it. and that really bugs me. i’m going to talk about the kinds of fanfics that really seem to bug me the most. WARNIING: this is NSFW-related, since that’s the most kind of fanfic i’ve seen of them. 

Alpha/Omega/Beta Fics: this category for fanfictions involves an AU where occasionally characters will go “into heat” and have the uncontrollable need to breed with either their partner or anyone nearby. and usually it’s the “uncontrollable, lusty, submissive Omega” (which is commonly Yuuri) that needs their “dominating and powerful Alpha” (usually Victor) to give into desires and screw. a lot. now, this is wrong for a coupe of reasons: it portrays these gay men as people that cannot control their desires at all; this isn’t always consensual sex at first; there’s always a focus on a power dynamic between the two+ characters involved due to being “presented” as an Alpha, Omega, or Beta. 

THE POSITIVES: YES, THERE’S A FEW POSITIVES I SAW

its music was composed by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba, and they did a fucking great job workin’ with the music. On Love: EROS will remain as my favorite song from the entire album that YOI released.

seeing Yuuri attempt Victor’s move in episode 7 and then successfully master it in episode 12 was something amazing to see. it was an incredible thing to see Yuuri land on his feet as opposed to him hitting the ice again, and it really shows how far’s he’s come. 

another positive would 100% be the fact that figure skating had gained a lot more popularity. it was so nice seeing so many people become more interested in the sport itself, and i loved seeing pro skaters even love the show! Stéphane Lambiel even had a cameo in episode 12!

the characters’ designs are really not all that bad. and the voice work is great! i don’t really watched dubbed anime often, but the dub for YOI was over-the-top and ridiculous! and the VA for Yuuri in the English dub (Josh Grelle) was at SuperCon this year, and he kept talking about how much he loved Yuuri’s character. he loves the fact that the story of YOI takes place in a world where no one has to be afraid of loving who they love, and that’s something he wants to see in the near future, and i find that incredibly sweet.

the dog is immortal.

CONCLUSION

so. there you go. that’s all i have to say about the entirety of Yuri!!! on ICE. 

did i enjoy it? well, yeah, a little bit. i was a part of a YOI skype chat when it began because i was so excited that we were getting a sports anime about figure skating!

was it worth all the Internet-breaking hype? eeeeh, not entirely, no? episode 7′s kiss was something special, yes, but the show itself wasn’t allowed to be critiqued that often while the show was still riding the high of popularity it had. 

and if you liked the anime, that’s awesome! i’m glad you did! i can 100% see why the show was very popular and why a lot of people still love it! 

i don’t label every YOi fan a homophobe for liking the show, but seeing this kind of behavior way too often has made me lose my love for the show overall. i can’t even look at the show anymore, and that’s really upsetting to me. but, it did make me happy for the time being. it’s just a fucking shame that the show had a shit ton to work with, and they didn’t go for it. 

i’m sorry this got very long, but there were some areas that i needed to delve more into than others and i got carried away.

[eclair]

Blabberings on Yuri on Ice and mirroring

Last night I ended up chatting with @yanumii and prior to that, there were loads of Yuri on Ice meta, head canons, etc that kept showing up on my Tumblr dash. Those things really made me say in the chat what I love about Otabek and Yuri, and Yuri on Ice in the way characters are fleshed out and how the story flows. This particular post is focused on the Welcome to the Madness manga, which I love so much because we see more of Yuri and Otabek, as well as the other skaters. Considering that this is just 20+ pages, the interactions seem to speak so much about them.

As Miya and I chatted about the WTTM manga, I blurted out some things that seemed to be parallel in Otabek, Yuri, Viktor and Yuuri’s characters and stories.

Otabek has looked up to Yuri for inspiration and strength, similar to how Yuuri looked up to Viktor. These people lived far apart and yet they were the ones who gave so much strength for these skaters to keep on going.

Otabek and Yuri were in training when they were kids, like 13 and 10. He saw how graceful and flexible Yuri was. But it wasn’t just that admiration for Yuri’s dancing skills that got stuck in his mind. It was also Yuri’s determination. After all these years, he couldn’t forget Yuri’s eyes - they were like a soldier’s. Otabek didn’t just see the things that he lacked in Yuri. I think that he drew more from the observation that Yuri gave it his best during the training sessions.

Yuuri has looked up to Viktor for his grace and how he would surprise the world with his skating. Viktor was someone he watched from afar.  He watched how Viktor won his competitions, how he moved from one program to the next, always bringing his creativity into the programs.  Yuuri knew that he didn’t have Viktor’s build, but he had the willingness to practice as diligently as he can. 

Otabek and Yuuri trained so hard to catch with Yuri and Viktor, respectively.

Otabek mentioned that he only recently returned to Kazakhstan to treat it as his home rink. Yuuri was training in Detroit with Celestino for five years. They both wanted to improve and the resources they needed were outside their countries but they were committed to reaching their goals.

Otabek offered Yuri his friendship; Viktor offered Yuuri his coaching. They saw something in them and they sincerely wanted to see their growth.

Otabek and Yuri met again in Barcelona. After five years. Otabek rescued Yuri from his fans and they went to talk in Park Guell. He then offered friendship. And in WTTM, we see that Yuri definitely accepted the friendship wholeheartedly. There’s so much more in the WTTM manga that shows how much Yuri trusted Otabek as a friend. It’s probably because Otabek saw him as an equal, a fellow teenager who has the same dreams of winning gold. Sure they are rivals. But still, he didn’t expect him to be Yuri Plisetsky the prima ballerina type or the junior world champion. He wanted to be friends. A friend is what Yuri sorely needed. He’s been isolated by his focus on figure skating and winning. He had rinkmates but it was not the same as being friends. It seemed in WTTM manga that Mila was treating him like a little brother, it wasn’t quite the same as having another friend that he could goof off with or go on crazy adventures with. (Imagine when he followed Viktor to Japan, he was by himself. I mean if he had lots of friends, he’d probably dragged one with him? But no, he went off to Japan by himself.) And in the manga, Yuri bared his soul to Otabek when he asked for help in the exhibition skate. Otabek listened and Otabek gave him the help he needed. Otabek didn’t pressure him into conforming to other people’s expectations. I think it was then that Yuri really felt that he could be himself, his awesome self. And that there was an assurance that there was at least one person that who’d love to see him be himself on the ice. Viktor offered his coaching to Yuuri after watching him recreate his routine (and of course, we also know what happened at the banquet before). Yuuri has been isolated from his peers because of his anxiety and how it ate him up so badly. Celestino seemed to have faith in Yuuri but maybe something didn’t jive in terms of methods used in coaching and the issues that Yuuri battled internally.  Viktor, despite being a newbie coach, he was able to motivate Yuuri. I could imagine how nerve-wracking it was for Yuuri to be mentored by Viktor. But at the same time, having your idol assuring you that he sees the beauty in you (even if you tried to shut him out whenever he approached you before), that would help motivate and boost someone. Viktor could be very blunt with his criticism but he was also generous with his praise. He saw flaws in Yuuri but he  praised him as well when he did something so well. He even had this child-like enthusiasm when he’d do it something. Maybe this helped Yuuri because Viktor didn’t really tread on eggshells when it came to him (except maybe episode 7 sorta, when he didn’t know how to motivate Yuuri). Even then, Yuuri also saw how Viktor was flawed as a coach and yet he still had enough trust to tell Viktor that he just wanted him to have more faith in him, which Viktor did give.

Yuri and Viktor carried the weight of being champions on their shoulders, Otabek and Yuuri are giving them a bigger picture of life outside those expectations. Yuri and Viktor have probably been carrying the weight of being part of the Russian figure skating team so heavily all this time. Yuri is still young but you could see with how determined he is that he wants to prove himself to the world. Viktor has been around for a while and he seemed to be running out of ways to surprise the world. When Yuuri asked Viktor be his coach during the banquet, he probably had no idea how much he has affected Viktor. Until after his leaked video doing Stay Close to Me (thanks to the Nishigori triplets), he didn’t know. Actually he couldn’t even believe that Viktor would go to Hasetsu. When Viktor got there, he saw what the conditions that Yuuri lived in, grew up in and it expanded his perspective of what it is like outside Yakov’s tutelage, the competition and all that. It might have been the one of the few times he had a long time to do whatever. Sure he was there to coach Yuuri, but he also ended up getting to know the people around Yuuri. And being a coach made him see things differently especially as Yuuri kept growing and surprising him. In a way, I guess it rekindled his love for figure skating. There’s something about Yuuri’s freshness and the discovery that he could do so much that could inspire anyone, to be honest. And Viktor had the privilege to witness all of that up close because he was the coach. Yuuri might not have said anything directly about showing Viktor a new world or anything (because Yuuri was really more worried about failing Viktor) but in the process of him learning how to open up to Viktor, Yuuri did bring life and love to Viktor. (To think it started with an invitation while he was drunk though ahaha...) As for Otabek and Yuri, the fact that he wanted to be friends with Yuri was enough for Yuri realize that there is someone who sees his worth as a person, regardless of his status as an athlete. Otabek approached him and didn’t flinch. He has been known as the Russian punk, a temperamental teenager who flared up so badly when he gets annoyed. Otabek didn’t care about his status or his facade. Otabek was resolute in that aspect and he wasn’t intimidated.  Yuri found that he could talk about anything with Otabek and that Otabek could do the same (see WTTM manga for this). There is life outside skating, is what he seems to be discovering with Otabek. And that he could enjoy this kind of life too. He is not just Yuri Plisetsky the figure skater, he was Yuri. Plain and simple. Whover Yuri is right now and whoever Yuri could be, Otabek seems fine with that. He wants Yuri to be himself and he wants the world to see that. In turn, as Yuri opens up his true self to the world, he also gets to know the world more. In the manga, he had to ask other people for help in locating Otabek. He saw that they did care enough to help too. Maybe his friendship with Otabek could open doors with regards to how he could relate with the other figure skaters. Who knows? This could totally be an interesting thing to see.

It’s just me rambling and trying to process all the feelings. I still have to rewatch the series all over and see what else I might not have realized before. I think this anime is one of those that I could watch a whole lot of times and still be fascinated with it.