#now i have to draw yuuri too

[dancingontheblades]

On Yuuri's "top-secret" love life

To check my suspicions about the reasons for Yuuri being so secretive about his love life, I took a deeper look into the information Yuri!!! On Ice gives us about Yuuri’s history with love and the implications this has for his character arc.

Let’s start with when Viktor introduces the two Yuris to their new short programmes:

A first examination of the subject of love usually happens in puberty when the average person experiences their first crush. However, 23-year-old Yuuri just cluelessly shakes his head when Viktor asks whether he’s ever thought about love.

Since Yuuri has an evasive nature when feeling pushed or embarrassed, we can assume that he answers honestly. Also interesting in this context, is his interpretation of Agape:

Yuuri is projecting his own experiences with love into his interpretation of On Love: Agape and Eros and his responses reflect where he’s currently at in his journey of exploring love. (for details see here meta LINK!!!).

Japanese language distinguishes between general love 愛 (“ai”) and romantic/passionate love 恋 (“koi”). These terms roughly approximate the Greek concepts of agape and eros as they are utilised in Yuri!!! On Ice. However, the anime doesn’t draw the distinction between 愛 and 恋 but uses 愛 (“ai”) as the overarching concept that includes other forms or love, e.g. せいてきな愛 (“sexual love”).

Until Viktor introduces the two Yuris into On Love: Agape and Eros, Yuuri has never wasted a thought on love, implying that

Until the end of episode 2, Yuuri has never had romantic feelings for another person.

But why can we be so sure of that?

Even a first crush inevitably prompts an examination of love to some extent regardless of whether one is happy in love, whether their feelings aren’t reciprocated or whether they decide not to act upon them.

If Yuuri had experienced such feelings before episode 2, he would know. And we would know, too, because it would impact his views on love, how he tackles his season’s theme, and how he goes about his relationship with Viktor. It would impact his character journey significantly and require some flashbacks to a past relationship to keep the storytelling sound and comprehensible. Instead, Yuri!!! On Ice introduces us to the extent of Yuuri’s parasocial obsession with Viktor that despite the gay-coding is too abstract to qualify as an actual crush.

Note: The Japanese term for “idol” that Yuuri uses for the people he idolises is the neutral 憧れの人 = “someone to look up to/admire”. It has no romantic connotation.

For the story of Yuri!!! On Ice to work as it does, Yuuri never having had romantic feelings prior to episode 2 is crucial.

Yuuri has one-track-mind that has made Viktor the fulcrum of his existence since he discovered Viktor at the onset of puberty (aka when young people start experiencing attraction for the first time). He has every poster of Viktor at least twice, he copied his programmes and he even named his poodle Katsuki Viktor (that’s canon, I’m not kidding). In his endeavour to face Viktor as an equal on the ice, he moves abroad to train with a renowned coach teaching at a first-class skating club. The show portrays Yuuri as being more interested in skating [to pursue Viktor] than in spending time with his friends, not that he’d be great at forming relationships in the first place due to his social awkwardness and introversion.

That doesn’t sound like someone who is in the right brainspace to notice potential partners around them, does it?

Now let’s move on to the press conference at the end of episode 5 that comprises Yuuri’s journey of exploring love and gives us some more insight into his views on love.

Since the subs are low-key confusing, I’m not quoting them, but you can check this translation to educate yourself on all the nuances that the official translation misses. Particularly interesting is this part:

My love. It’s not [general] love or romantic love that is easy to understand, but my bond with Victor, and the lukewarm way I feel about my family and my local community.

Note that this is the only time the anime uses 恋 ("koi"), probably because he's speaking to a Japanese audience.

This line gives us a univocal idea about how Yuuri feels about the people in his life that are not Viktor, confirming what we’ve could already guess from the story so far: that his relationships never reached a level that is intimate enough to enforce an examination of the subject of love. We tend to take our friends and family for granted, but crushes and falling in love are such hard-to-miss emotions because they take over our existence.

Yuuri’s speech about love as a showcases that he has come a long way from utter cluelessness to the matured and nuanced idea of love that he now explains to his audience. He was able to arrive at this point because his time with Viktor sparked the examination of the subject and draws a clear distinction between his feelings for his family and friends and his feelings for Viktor, which happen to be not lukewarm at all.

A more accurate translation of that line is: “The first person I want to tie myself to and never let go is Viktor” ( 初めて自分から繋ぎとめたいと思った人、それがヴィクトルです) because 繋ぎとめたい means wanting to tie someone / something to you and never let it go (see this translation error masterpost).

After months of getting to know Viktor intimately, Yuuri has fallen in love with Viktor at last. This feeling is bigger than any emotion he has experienced before because it’s greater than 恋 and 愛 and because of that:

This feeling doesn’t have a name, but I decided to dare to call it “love”.

A hallmark trait of Yuuri is his determination to pursue a goal he committed himself to, even if that requires him to push through his anxiety. For half his life that goal was Viktor, first as an abstract concept and as an ideal to strive for, later as a romantic interest, and he makes sure the world knows.

If Yuuri had had romantic feelings for someone else, he would have pursued this person or ruled out the idea because Viktor was more important and it would have impacted his views on love either way.

To sum this up

Yuuri’s reaction to Viktor asking if he ever thought about love, the glimpses the anime provides into his past, and his words at the press conference indicate that before Viktor, Yuuri has never experience romantic love or even a crush. For if he had, his response and his approach to his season’s theme would have been different.

Since love is the central theme of Yuri!!! On Ice, and Yuuri’s character journey in particular, having experienced feelings of love before, would have a significant impact on the plot.

Or in other words:

Viktor is Yuuri’s first love.

I will discuss the gay-coding of how Yuuri idolises people that inspire him in another post because this seems to be one of the lesser-known facts.

Friendly reminder / disclaimer:

For this analysis I’ve reviewed the entire context of Yuuri’s history with love and ruled out everything that doesn’t withstand scrutiny or makes no sense in the grand scheme of things (aka the canon of YOI as a whole). You are free to headcanon Yuuri as having had crushes or relationships before Viktor, but keep in mind that this would alter the plot.

Friendship, admiration, and aesthetic attraction are often misconstrued as romantic attraction due to allonormative/amatonormative paradigms. When analysing canon, the source material has to be reviewed as a whole.

[triptychgrip]

Viktor and Yuuri Answer The Web's Most Searched Questions

“I’m Viktor Katsuki-Nikiforov!”

“And I’m Yuuri Katsuki Nikiforov!”

They turn to look at each other and grin, attempting to speak in unison.

“And this is the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.”

They’re a little off on the wording, but what is simultaneous is the way they break out into giggles right after saying ‘interview’. It’s only been a few seconds since the cameras have begun rolling, and Viktor is already feeling charmed by the pink tint staining his husband’s cheeks.

“Aww, and we even practiced that a few times!” Yuuri says, now donning a cute little pout.

“It was my fault,” Viktor automatically pipes up, before letting his heart-shaped smile take over his face. “I started speaking a half-beat too late because I was too busy admiring your pretty eyes, love.”

Giggles and hushed whispers immediately break out on the WIRED filming set, but Viktor only has eyes for the way Yuuri’s lips instantly morph, curving into a pleased, albeit shy smile. 

“You’re sweet, Vitya,” he murmurs, before reaching over to hold his hand. 

There’s not much space between them to begin with on the bench they’re seated on, but Yuuri closes that miniscule gap so that their thighs are pressed right up against each other. Viktor hopes the audience is grateful; the slight tension his love is now holding in his leg will give the cameras a nice view of his immaculate, muscular thighs, outfitted in the sleek trackpants that Mizuno specifically designed for him. (After some sleuthing, Phichit had informed the two of them that Kenjirou had gone ahead and bought four different pairs.)

Nyala – the WIRED production assistant in charge of this episode taping – then hands them the show’s distinctive looking question tableau. On it, are Google’s top ten most searched questions containing their names. They’re partially covered, which adds to the fun: they’ll be taking turns reading them aloud, while unpeeling the adhesive covering to reveal each query.

As they’d agreed earlier, he will read and answer the first question, so Yuuri holds the board steady.

“What did Yuuri and Viktor…”

Viktor pauses to draw out the suspense, and then whips off the adhesive in one rapid motion, his enthusiasm almost causing Yuuri to topple over.

“Oops! Sorry, Yuranya!” he exclaims, feeling a bit flustered as he helps his spouse right himself and presses a kiss to his temple. 

Nyala’s eyes are glittering with amusement, so he aims a sheepish smile at her before facing forwards.

“What did Yuuri and Viktor do before they met?” he reads off, feeling quite pleased with this clear opportunity to extol Yuuri’s praises (and, additionally, to lambast certain International Skating Union officials for not recognizing how talented he was prior to that silver medal win at the Barcelona Grand Prix Final).

“Well, the short answer is that we were both competitive figure skaters, but the long answer is more interesting! Let’s start with my Yuuri, because my side of things is boring, not to mention quite sad,” he chirps, not even batting an eye when his husband begins to splutter in protest next to him (“Vitya! Five gold medals at World’s is not sad!”)

But Viktor feigns an inability to hear Yuuri’s counter, and whips his phone out. 

One of the first things he’d done after they’d met at the banquet was to look up as many of Yuuri’s Senior division competitions as he could, hungry to expand his personal archives with any video or photos he could get his hands on. By now, his love is aware of his meticulous culling efforts, because he wears a pained expression as Viktor begins to talk and flip through his photo gallery.

“Where to even begin?” he says, allowing his voice to slide into that grandiose tone that Yurio claims “makes you seem even more punchable than normal”.

“Since we only have an hour for this taping, I will unfortunately have to limit myself to the year of Yuuri’s skating career before he and I met,” he continues on, making sure his annoyance is plain. “And, for those that don’t know, we met in December 2015 at the Sochi Grand Prix Final.”

It’s a testament to their many years of being together, because Yuuri doesn’t even tense at the mention of Sochi. He knows Viktor would never try to embarrass him by contextualizing the event in a way that makes him uncomfortable, and, besides, his spouse now shares the opinion that pole-dancing into your soulmate’s life is a pretty badass meet-cute. Even so, it had taken awhile to convince Yuuri’s anxiety of this, and Viktor owes a lot to their couples’ therapist for that mindset change. 

“Look at this picture of my beautiful Yuuri on the podium at Four Continents’ in February 2015!” he exclaims in triumph, holding his phone up so that the camera operator gets a perfect view. 

Taken in Seoul’s Mokdong Ice Rink is a photo of an adorable, 22-year-old Katsuki Yuuri, wearing a shy smile and holding a bronze medal. Next to him is an obviously ecstatic Celestino Cialdini.

“Now, no offense to anyone, but take it from me: my husband was severely underscored at that competition and should have been standing higher on that podium. Well before he ever broke my World’s winning streak, Yuuri was commanding audiences the world over with his stunning artistry. Particularly, his dazzling interpretation skills,” Viktor states declaratively, his tone brooking no argument.

Well, almost no argument. 

Yuuri makes a barely perceptible noise of disagreement, but it’s enough to make him turn and bestow his most unimpressed expression onto him, as if daring him to issue a rebuttal. 

“Something to say, Yusha?” Viktor prompts, a bit goadingly. “Do you wish to argue with “Living Legend” Viktor Katsuki-Nikiforov, who, I daresay, might know a little something or two about judging politics and biased scoring?”

His love gives him a light smack on the bicep, and when he replies, his tone is prim.

“If you want biased scoring to be the focus of this question, then I’ll have to bring up your European Championships score from 2013, where you were unfairly beat out for gold by our good friend, Christophe Giacometti.”

An “oooohing” sort of taunting sound ripples around the set, but far from flustering Yuuri, he just raises a brow and sets his jaw. (Viktor feels quite turned on at the look, as well as his protective instincts.)

“I know how the internet loves to spin things but there’s nothing to spin,” Yuuri continues, dryly. “Christophe, himself, made a big stir at the post-skate press conference about judging bias, and he still regularly tweets at the officials from that competition…so much so, that two of them have blocked him on Twitter.”

Viktor gasps with delight at the memory of this juicy event and his spouse’s answering smirk is all the permission he needs.

“Ok, let me set the scene for you all!” he eagerly volunteers, sitting up straighter on the bench. 

He makes a big show of clearing his throat and Nyala – who, evidently, has the patience of a saint – hides her smile behind her hand. It’s a wonder that she hasn’t redirected their attention back to the question list, yet.

“January 2013: Zagreb, Croatia,” he continues on, in the grave “I’m narrating a documentary” tone that he knows will make Yuuri laugh. “Twenty-three-year old Viktor Nikiforov takes his starting position on the ice of Dom Sportova arena. Unlike present-day, his hair is much more lustrous, and he has not yet needed to start using thickening oil as part of his nightly primping regimen.”

Yuuri smacks his bicep a second time.

—

Hope you enjoyed this ficlet! I adore writing post-canon interview/game content featuring sappy/extra married Viktuuri, so if I get the energy (and need the distraction from my WIPS *nervous laughter*) I may expand this into a proper fic.

If you’re also a fan of this type of thing, you may like my story on ao3 featuring their joint appearance on Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector Game series. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever written :)  

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #903

Animage 2017/03, Hiramatsu Tadashi interview

Part 10.

-- Do you have a favorite shot from the ED?

Hiramatsu: I like that shot, in which we see Yurio in front of a lion statue, with a smug smile on his face. Very much Yurio-behavior (laugh). And that shot of Yuuri and Victor taking a shower together, where they're ruffling each other's hair. It's a very cool art, with this specific atmosphere in it.

-- I've heard that there were plan to show the shower scene in the anime.

Hiramatsu: It seems that were was a lot of different scenes that they wanted to include, if somewhere in the 12 episodes, they could find a place squeeze them in. I do think that it's a shame that they didn't find that place.

-- We saw the 'See you NEXT LEVEL' message at the end of the final episode - it there is a continuation, what kind of scene would you like to draw?

Hiramatsu: I want to draw Yuuri and the others in new situations, like new places or new seasons of the year. For example, in the anime, we didn't see a lot of their summer, did we? On the other hand it would be also nice to see the three sitting under a kotatsu in winter. And them somewhere else in Japan or in a country that we haven't visited yet. Maybe the US? I'm sure that the enormous plan that Director Yamamoto had, couldn't be fully contained within only those 12 episodes. In any case, I want to see Yuuri, Victor and Yurio being good friends with each other.

-- If only one person from this trio were missing, it wouldn't be possible to end the last episode with that last scene.

Hiramatsu: That's true. I want them to be so friendly with each other from now on, too.

[jewishvitya]

Dropping some more of my thoughts 😋:

• Kenjiro is sooo adorable and I think he is kinda ADHDer coded.

• My headcanon for Phichit: he is a buddhist and would go to a temple to pray and make offerings a couple of days before competitions or before leaving his country for competitions.

• I shed some tears when Yuuri cried after Viktor told him that he will resign as Yuuri's coach if he doesn't place in the top three. Angst. Angst. Angst.

• I read the comments on my previous ask you answered and went "hehee"

-🍓

- Absolutely LOVE Minami!!! He's wonderful. I should draw him more, so far there's mostly this, from several years ago.

- I have so many Phichit thoughts but I didn't think of anything faith related! I love the idea of him having his own rituals before competitions. He's such a bright sunshine boy, if he's anxious he might not want to show it. Praying could be a moment to let some of that vulnerability out before he's back to smiling and showing people how much fun skating is.

- Seeing Yuuri crying broke my heart too, honestly. Every time I watch it, it kills me how Viktor looks so dramatic with his "let's try shattering his heart into pieces" and then flinching with "it broke" like. "Oh no the thing I did on purpose happened, what do I do now?" If you don't know how to handle someone crying, don't go breaking hearts on purpose when someone is in a fragile state. He's lucky he handled the aftermath well by listening to Yuuri.

- fsjsfhsfjsg good, I'm glad you enjoyed it too ♡

The replies from the last post, for context. @kkelenca and I love moments of fandom fun with people.

[oddeyesarcpendulumdragon]

another late @arcvmonth prompt fill but I have decided to be nice to myself and just do things at my own pace

Anyway this is for Day 5, role swap, and I decided to dabble a bit in the Fusion-XYZ swap that used to be popular back in the day

Main art is of Sora and Shun's swap since they're the most prominent roles. Shun's outfit is semi-based off of Kaito's, as in XYZ instead of Obelisk Force, they would have the Number Hunters. The actual Number Hunters would wear an outfit pretty identical to Kaito's white coat design, but Shun's is a little different (the way Sora's is different from Obelisk Force) because he's trying to be a spy and all lol. I kept his signature colors/palette, I just wanted to make him look a little sleeker since he's not coming out of a civilian life where he got fucked up by a military invasion.

For Sora, I decided that since Academia is no longer a military school, their uniforms would end up being pretty much the same as they were in GX. I wanted to alter Sora's design a bit to show that this was a different universe, so I changed his jacket to be more like an actual GX jacket (still Obelisk Blue because come on he's still a good duelist lol), and his shorts are based off of Rei's uniform in GX, cause idk boy just looks good in shorts. Added a cloak because he had to be sort of incognito at first, like Shun and Yuto with their masks, and because even in canon all the Fusion kids are always wearing cool cloaks haha.

I have more thoughts under the cut but I don't want this post to get too long:

So basically, the swap's premise is that Leo goes to XYZ first and starts his child soldier grooming program there instead. This means that Academia is a normal duel school, while Heartland becomes essentially one big child soldier factory. Leo spreads his influence to multiple Heartland schools and connects them into one interdimensional army network.

Shun and Ruri are still siblings. They grew up together, and when Leo came along and started militarizing the schools, they just kind of got swept up in it. Leo located Ruri rather quickly, but since she already had some family ties, he couldn't isolate her as easily. So he rolled both Shun and Ruri into some of his more elite training squads.

Ruri is still kept in Heartland, but now she has not only Leo, but Shun also telling her to stay put and that she shouldn't participate in the invasion.

Shun is still very young when Leo gets ahold of him, so he swallows the whole "we have to destroy this other dimension for the sake of universal peace" pretty easily, and gets very gungho about it, because he wants to protect the world for his sister. Ruri also swallows the story, and wants to be a hero like her brother by fighting the "bad guys."

Meanwhile, Academia is just an ordinary school with ordinary kids doing ordinary stuff. Sora is just another student. He's super smart and good at dueling, but doesn't have a lot of drive to impress anyone and is considered a problem child. This gets him to butt heads with the star student of the school, Selena, who is annoyed that Sora is always lazing about, while Sora is annoyed that Selena is always nagging him.

You may ask, where are the dragon boys in this scenario? I'm glad you asked!

Yuto is still friends with Shun and Ruri, however, Leo has been taking steps to isolate him from them by sending him on lots of missions of his own. I didn't draw yuto cause I didn't want to try and design an outfit for him, but he plays a similar role to Yuuri: his job is to go and find girls that look like Ruri. Leo tells him that Ruri is special and there are girls like her who need to be found and taken into protective custody. Unlike Yuuri, who was very sadistic in his own way, Yuto is very genuine. He truly believes he's doing the right thing, and that in and of itself is terrifying. When he faces an opponent, he's always trying to comfort them, like "it's okay, being carded doesn't hurt, it's going to be all right." Which is scary! To most people!

Yuuri is another smart student at Academia who sees no need to prove himself to anyone, like Sora, so the pair of them tend to get along. He's one of those annoying kids who never studies but gets an A++ on everything he does and he has a big head about it. Yuuri's a bit of a prankster and a tease, so he also annoys Sora just as much as Selena does - but he annoys Selena far more.

Anyway, the invasion hits them HARD like it did the other way around in canon. Some of the elite students of the Academia barricade themselves in the school and defend with siege tactics as a last-ditch rebellion. Yuto is sent in to collect Selena, but Sora encounters him first. Sora challenges him and loses. But Selena arrives in time and threatens to make Yuto's job hell trying to chase her down if he cards Sora, but that if he lets Sora go, she'll go with him quietly. Sora blames himself for Selena's kidnapping, and the guilt drives him to find a way to get her back.

Unlike Sora, who in canon didn't have anything to do with the invasion, Shun actually is sent to Fusion as part of a strike force where he really racks up the card count and is considered a super powerful soldier. So Leo entrusts him then with the mission to head to Standard to keep an eye on Reiji.

Things go sideways for him though when 1) he notices Pendulum summoning and 2) he meets a girl who looks just like his sister.

So Shun goes to You Show instead, deciding this is a more effective use of his spying. While there, Yuzu ends up asking him to teach her XYZ summoning, which he agrees on account of her reminding him of Ruri.

So at this point, you can kind of guess where things go. Sora and Shun clash, Ruri runs away from Heartland to see if she can help her brother, and she meets Yuzu, who tells her to get the whole story.

Ruri arrives just in time to see her older brother throwing Sora down a flight of stairs after beating him in a duel, and she's horrified. How could her loving older brother do something like this? Shun is also horrified, because Ruri turns on him. He has no choice but to end up retreating back to Heartland, and Ruri stays behind.

Shun starts to switch sides a little faster than Sora did in canon, because now it's personal. At first he thinks that Ruri's been brainwashed or coerced by Reiji, so he's furious and desperate to take revenge, but once he has a chance to think about it, he starts to consider how Weird his childhood is and how much Leo was always trying to separate him and Ruri. So he starts to investigate what's actually happening - plus, he thinks Yuzu was kidnapped, and he feels guilty for getting her involved.

As another swap, Dennis and Sayaka switch places. Dennis is back in Academia trying his damndest to support the rebellion, but he's terrified and hates himself for his cowardice. Meanwhile, Sayaka was groomed into becoming a spy. She didn't end up becoming friends with Ruri in this continuity, so Ruri doesn't recognize her when she joins the Lancers - but Sayaka did still meet Yushou and was enamored with his dueling style, like Dennis was. She's quiet and sweet and wracked with guilt for everything she's done, but is too afraid to stand up to Leo and the Number Hunters.

anyway this is getting long! You can probably extrapolate some stuff from there :) maybe i'll do more scribbles about this au again sometime.

[sunbeamah]

Thank you so much for this JJK fics recs. As a new JJK fan (yes, just started the anime and manga last year), I was confused of what fic to read, but when I found your post, I was so happy. One of my fav is that time-travel fic of Yuji and Choso with teens Gojo/Geto pairing.

https://www.tumblr.com/dnana-2809-blog/746189842162089984/any-recs-for-some-jjk-fics-something-preferably?source=share

Can I ask your fav JJK ships and JJK Brotp?

And maybe your top 5 (or top 7) fav ships (canon or non canon) from all media (manga/anime, tv series, books, cartoon, etc)? Do you have a certain criteria for a couple to be your otps?

Sorry if my ask is kinda long @sunbeamah .....

No problem!!! I'm so sorry for how long it took me to respond to this ask-- I thought about it a lot, made a list, and then got distracted looking into my old favourite medias TT -- this ask made me go back and relive my Fairy Tail days haha, so thank you very much!!!

And also, please don't apologise!!! I appreciate this ask so much-- and again I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply!!!!!

I'm also so glad you liked the list hehe, I loved that fic too!!!

JJK Ships:

Fushiita

Nobamaki

Chosoyuki

Satosugu

Inuita

JJK BrOTP: Nobara and Yuuji!

Non-JJK top 5:

Liutana (Mortal Kombat)

Zolu (One Piece)

Sasunaru (Naruto)

Kagehina (Haikyuu!!!)

Togachako/Ochatoga (My Hero Academia)

Viktuuri (Yuuri!!! On Ice)

Obamitsu (Demon Slayer)

Below the cut is explanations, with JJK manga panels, SO PLEASE BEWARE OF MANGA SPOILERS BELOW!!! (Specifically, the front page of chapter 205 of jjk manga, and a page from chapter 200 as well I'll lyk where it is below the cut!)

Ah and minor Haikyuu manga spoilers! Just down where it says Kagehina

Jjk chapter 205 is under the chosoyuki (number 3) point; chapter 200 is the second image under fushiita, both appear in the first list below.

JJK Ships!!

Fushiita

This probably isn't surprising at all, but I love Fushiita!!! Something about stoic guys melting and being affectionate with bright, kind, mischievous boyfriends just tickles me yk

2. Nobamaki

A strong upperclassman who watches her cheeky, abrasive underclassman with fondness and interest-- there's more to their relationship that I like of course, their connection as 'the girls' that draws them closer, Nobara's instant respect and softness in regards to Maki, and how protective she becomes of her at the exchange event. I like to think Maki is protective towards her in a different but no less meaningful way. Protectiveness is one of my favourite tropes-- ik it's cheesy but it is!!!

3. Chosoyuki

Now, these two man... These two... I just love how she's so confident and outspoken, and how she saw Choso and went 'yeah. That one.' -- I loved their little date, even if he cried ((LOVE a good pathetic man)), and how she made him think differently about himself and his situation.

4. Satosugu

The soulmatery of these 2... The homosexuality of these 2..... They're unmated. A real Sasunaru descendant.

5. InuIta

I wasn't that into them, to be honest, but my friends and I quote that 'Inumaki-senpai! Shake!' scene in s2 all of the time. Eventually, I started to think of them as kind of cute, and then I tried writing them and found Inumaki is a really fun character to write! I love his mischievousness and dedication to protecting his friends (relegated to a life of speaking solely in onigiri ingredients... nah that's probably one of the perks for him).

JJK BrOTP

It's GOTTA be Nobara and Yuuji. The friendship between these two is awesome, I love how she started out thinking of him as an idiot, and then got to know him and realised that yeah he's an idiot, but he's also a little bit fun to have around sometimes. Nah jk, I love how they're 2 peas in a pod, both crazy, both from the countryside, both just as silly as each other. I really love watching them hang out in the few eps we get of that, and the juju strolls they're both in-- they're just awesome!

Top 5 In Any Media (Excluding JJK)

I had to consult my ao3 bookmarks AND pinterest for this. There are a bunch there of ships I don't read anymore but keep 'for the memories' and some ships I am ashamed of! So I didn't include those hehe.

I'll only put 1 per fandom to keep things fair! Cause there is 1 particular fandom where... My ships will fill up all 7 of the spots...

Also, no particular order! Some of these go up and down based on the day, scenario, fic, art, and heaps more factors!

Liutana My first ship! (Excluding my total drama island childhood... gwen x trent u will always be famous. I don't condone s2) I loved them so much, when MK1 came out and I heard about the kiss??? I damn near cried.

Zolu 1 thing about Zolu is that from the first ep I've shipped them 100%. Every episode that they're in is a fun episode to watch, their dynamic is so SDJHVFSBJNE and I really enjoy it! But also... Any time someone appreciates Luffy I kinda... Side-eye a little...... I'm a bit disloyal in that sense...........

Sasunaru Gaanaru is constantly fighting for this spot tho... I am disloyal. I like nejinaru, shikanaru, hinanaru, sainaru, I even wrote an allnaru fic back in the day. It never saw the light of day but man... Also Shikatema is peak love those 2.

Kagehina Height difference, moody x cheerful, sunrise x shadow mountain-- names with symbolism but also it's the sunrise that puts the shadow on the mountain and I say all that^^ but the second Atsumu appeared on screen...... IM A DISLOYAL PERSON!!! And the reunion?? "Tobio-chan!! Don't talk to my spiker like that :)" WHEN I TELL YOU I ALMOST CHOKED ON MY SCREAM...

Togachako/Ochatoga Just getting back into bnha and man.. these 2 GRABBED ME... Allmomo is FANTASTIC too btw-- and I do mean all girls x Momo but I suppose Kaminari can stay, as Jirou's boyfriend.. and Kurotoko (is that still their ship name?!), Fumirumi, Bakukiri let me stop myself before I erupt,

Obamitsu THEM <33 I'm a bigger, 'stronger' (I'm not as strong as her she's something else) girl too so Mitsuri and this ship is just everything to me... Also love Gentan and Muitan!

Viktuuri The comfort ship I always come back to.

Honourable mentions!

Sophie x Agatha, The School for Good and Evil (BABY'S THIRD EVER SHIP!!!)

Kiyoyachi, Haikyuu (I WANTED U ON THE LIST BABY I REALLY DID)

Sidlink, Legend of Zelda (don't look at me like that... I know...)

Kyokao, Ouran High School Host Club (Yes I watched this. I was 10 and it changed my life)

Rennora, RWBY

Gajevy, Alljuvia, Stingue and Fraxus, Fairy Tail

Cleuce, Allclawdeen, Monster High (by all I mean all the girls -- same for Juvia up there!)

Dickkory, DC

[astreetcarnamedwynn]

fic by the numbers

Saw this floating around on Tumblr, and I thought it would be fun. Anything to keep me at least a little bit in touch with fic writing nowadays.

rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.

Most Hits: Sixty Impossible Things (180, 930 hits, Yuri on Ice, Yuuri x Viktor, Complete)

Two weeks after his failure at Sochi, Yuuri receives a text from a mysterious number asking why the fuck he’s ignoring Viktor. So begins Yuri Plisetsky’s all out campaign to get Yuuri to finally text Viktor and end the torment of watching Viktor pine, and so begins Yuuri's descent into a wonderland of texting his idol, meeting his #1 fan(s), and slowly rebuilding his life with a little help from his friends.

Second Most Kudos: That Which You Seek (6,893 kudos, MCU, Darcy x Bucky, Complete)

The man in the booth before Darcy stares down at his pancakes with suspicion. A few days after Bucky discovers his true identity, Darcy encounters him in a diner 50 miles outside of D.C. having apparently transformed from a handsome long-dead war hero into a creepy, scruffy, pancake-hating serial killer. So of course she tries to help him.

Third Most Comments: And The Wounded Sing (597 comments, MCU, Darcy x Bucky, Complete)

Set two weeks after the end of "That Which You Seek." Bucky succeeded in his mission. He remembers who he was and what he's done. Now he struggles to tread the waters of his churning mind, his thoughts no longer moored in time. Darcy, Steve, and the rest of the team attempt to help.

Fourth Most Bookmarks: Winter Giving Way (646 public bookmarks, 1214 with private bookmarks, Bungou Stray Dogs, Atsushi x Akutagawa, Complete)

Soft thought it is, the epiphany hits Atsushi hard. The reason why Akutagawa won’t look at him, why he won’t talk to him. He never hesitated to say anything nasty before, which means that what he wants to say now isn’t nasty at all. It’s nice. The thought defies belief, yet the more Atsushi looks at Akutagawa, the more certain he becomes. In a distant part of his brain, Atsushi hears Kunikida bellow at him to think. Careful Kunikida. Clever Dazai. But Atsushi is not them, he is not a careful, clever man, he is a beast of muscle and blood, driven by instinct and the heart that howls within him, so he does not think. He acts, lifting a hand and touching the side of Akutagawa’s face with light, hopeful fingers. . The awkward, violent, and yet heartfelt mating dance of the prickly mad dog of the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency's determined weretiger.

Fifth Most Words: The Dark Knight Rises (44,244 words, Persona 5, Akira x Goro, Incomplete)

“What do you think?” Akira asks. “A new rogue?” “Maybe," Futaba says. "This is Gotham, after all.” Akira understands the implication. This is Gotham, a city overrun by crime, by gangs led by lowlifes like Junya Kaneshiro. Yet the corruption reached deeper than this. It sank into politics and the police, too, into the very institutions designed to serve and protect the community. The bright lights that remained, the Niijima sisters, Toranosuke, Ohya when she was sober, were few and far between. If there were more of them, there wouldn’t be a need for the Phantom Thieves. Yet here Akira is. And here Crow is, too. Yet the more Akira looks at him, the more he thinks that Crow isn't another rogue, that he isn’t another criminal set loose from the shadows, that he is, instead, something else. Something new.

Fic with Fewest Words: Seven Days (719 words, Firefly, Mal x Inara, Complete)

He wants to muss her. Just a bit. Draw his fingers through her hair like Serenity through clouds, leaving a billow of soft brown behind. He wants to smudge that gloss, that red, red gloss he can see with his eyes closed in the dark of his bunk in the most remote edge of space. She doesn’t fit in the rough and tumble confines of Serenity, so perfectly composed, perfectly presented with her smooth dress, smooth walk, smooth words. From the first moment she stepped aboard, she stuck out like the most beautiful polished thumb in the damn galaxy, and his hands just itched to muss her.

[souslesetoilesavectoi]

Magician!Yuuri's Design~ For @siphoklansan's Circus AU

(I demand you check out her post now~!!! XD)

Notes:

In this AU, Yuuri is extremely morbid, like talking about corpses, death, and plagues just completely casually (enjoys the topics really) a key thing is that she often calls to her ‘spirits’— whether they’re actually there or not. She credits them for her magic tricks, and sometimes spooks the audience a bit. Her behaviour is rarely questioned because of her occupation. I’ve done much more thinking about this than I’m typing but…

Anyways I love this AU so much~~!!!! Ringmaster!Siphok is so intriguing, I’d love to learn more about her~ (I wanna draw her so bad too—)

I honestly have so many ideas for how Yuuri and Ringmaster!Siphok would interact in my brain but I digress—

Bonus:

[calamari-inari]

Playing this game (without the likes) 🫶

1. enemies to lovers, best friends to lovers, lord and their knight ❤️

2. Not sure if these are tropes, but yandere lover (just not a very big fan of yandere), obsessive love (treating their partner as a possession), misogynistic attitudes or abusive power in a relationship (basically a partner defining what their partner, whether it be a woman or man, should do or behave, and the victimized partner finds it hot???)

3. Gradual mutual understanding for one another! I also learn more about the characters' personalities this way!

4. One or both partners experience withdrawal when they're being separated from each other lol. True feelings often emerge from such situations and it's adorable...

5. Multiship! So far, the only ships I really think about now are from FE3H and a few from Engage and TGAA. Here's a list of several multiships I enjoy!

FE3H (Apparently Dimitri is very shippable to me LOL)

Hubert x Ferdinand

Hubert x Edelgard

Sylvain x Felix

Sylvain x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Felix

Dimitri x Dedue

Dimitri x Claude

Byleth x any lord

Engage

Alear x Alfred

Alear x Diamant

Diamant x Ivy

TGAA

Kazuma x Ryuunosuke

Barok x Kazuma

Barok x Herlock

6. I like both rarepairs and mainstream! Most of the rarepairs I like don't have any canon interaction, so I like to explore the "what could've been" situations.

7. Monogamy. Not much to explain here. It's just my preference lol

8. Using my favorite pair ferdibert, they are reversible, but I have a really strong preference for dom Hubert and sub Ferdinand. However!! I'm not a big fan of where Ferdinand is written or drawn very femininely. This applies to any MxM pair. I'm not against the concept of femininity in males, but when used in a stereotypical fashion, it rubs me the wrong way. Just a subtle depiction of their relationship dynamic is perfect to me! I'm alright with seeing SFW artwork of the reverse and reading said fics, but NSFW is where I draw the line

9. Thinking about the games I've played, I can think of at least one pair I like to see romantically, so yes 😂

10. Not at all important! After all, my favorite is romantic fluff 🥺 Depending on the intensity of my liking for a ship, the NSFW aspect becomes more bareable since I'm still personally embarrassed consuming such content lol. I am vanilla. Ferdibert is highkey the only one I consume NSFW for

11. A lot of my MxF and FxF pairs are platonic to me! This is likely due to my aegosexuality, which is the closest explanation I can identify with. Not everything needs to be romantic. I find close friendships very heartwarming too 🥺

12. My top favorites right now are ferdibert 🖤🧡, sylvix ❤️💙, and diminand 💙🧡!

13. My favorite pairs from fandoms that I'm not really engaging in now are:

Madeleine Cookie x Espresso Cookie (Cookie Run Kingdom)

Victor x Yuuri (Yuri on Ice)

Link x Zelda (Skyward Sword version)

Reyn x Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles 1)

Chrom x M!Robin (Fire Emblem Awakening)

14. Domestic fluff is really cute, but the official legal bonding of two partners isn't on my "must have" list for any romantic pairing. I really love seeing creations of my favorite pairs marrying though! Gives me the tingles every time and I just feel so happy 😍

15. As someone that made OC fan kids in the past, yes that is totally fine and I love seeing other people's interpretations for the same pair (if they don't have canon children). I've even made some for ferdibert before but I never fully flushed them out lol

[dervampireprince]

"i wonder if when people see the artwork thumbnails they think the drawings are of fandom characters? and so they don't click because they don't recognise what fandom it is?"

For me personally, I'd never heard of several of the existing fandoms you've done audios for, and have been introduced to them that way, but I'd listened to quite a few of your OCs prior to that. (Maybe that's just me, though? I'll often listen to whatever piques my curiosity at a given moment.) I can say I found your channel while searching for Sebastian ASMRs, and liked yours so much, I looked at what else you had and quickly saw Erik (I've been into PotO for almost 30 years now, so that was something I jumped at), which I played next. However, Dmitri was an immediate third, then Ambrose, then Arden. So I guess the subjects appeal to me more, but maybe I'm weird? Regardless, I hope more people will listen to the OCs with art, as they will not be disappointed in the least! 💜 /pos

I don't think it's weird.

When I first started listening to audio roleplays I can think of a couple instances where I did listen to characters I didn't know. I really liked, and still like, KinkRadio's audios and back when he was first voicing Guzma from Pokemon I didn't know who Guzma was but got into those audios, and I listen to his Witcher audios despite never having watched the show (yes I know I've made audios of Jaskier, I've only ever watched one episode, I like the characters but I overall didn't like the show and didn't want to watch the rest, if my Jaskier is in character it's because of episode 1, fanfics, and K's audios).

However nowadays I wouldn't listen to an audio unless I knew the character. I don't do it so I wouldn't have expected other people too.

I do listen to other people's OCs though so I don't know. Maybe they don't think it's a fandom character but instead just don't like my artstyle or... Well...

Most art in ASMR audios on Youtube is stolen art. Most don't credit the artist who's work they've taken, some credit Pintrest reposts, and even if they do credit the artist properly it doesn't matter because you can't use someone's art (especially their own original characters and use that as a design for your own OC) in your own audios without their permission. Even more so when the video is monetised and you're making money off someone else's art without paying them. And this includes Picrews. Picrews are still someone's art. Some Picrews are public domain / creative commons 0 meaning you can use them, but those that aren't? Don't. Not without the artists permission.

My point of bringing that up is I notice the videos with art that get the most views... tent do be stolen lewd or cropped explicit art. And I have no interest in drawing my own lewd art for my thumbnails because that's not really allowed? But they get the views.

Of course that's not to say all VAs on Youtube do this. And it's not to say that no VAs with artwork do well. People who's OCs I like and either make their own art or commission artists to make their art are: KinkRadio, Dark and Twisted Whisper, YuuriVoice. Though with Yuuri and Dark they both have only artwork in their thumbnails not lots of text so idk if that doesnt better? I'm not too bothered. Maybe one day I'll try and cosplay my own OCs just to take photos for their thumbnails and see if they do better than the artwork ones as an experiment.

Wow sorry I didn't meant to ramble here. I have no current plans to change up my thumbnails but it would be interesting to do eg a Satin audio with a photo and see how that does compared to the artwork ones just as a little test.

[dancingontheblades]

A while ago, I commissioned the wonderful and talented @nae812 to draw a scene from my YOI novelisation Can You Hear My Heartbeat. The scene is part of the Tanabata* chapter, set during the summer of mutual pining, and I'm very proud to share the absolutely gorgeous result with you:

Posted with permission from the artist because commission conditions and stuff. Do not repost.

They fell silent, watching the stars. But Yuuri’s heart refused to be still.

“O-hoshi-sama,” Viktor murmured, gazing at the sky. “I get it now. How can you look at the universe spinning in the sky and simply call them hoshi?”

Yuuri smiled. “Yeah. The stars are that majestic.”

“I like it. This is the most beautiful night of my life so far, Yuuri. Not even the White Nights can compare to this.”

The warm, reverent nuance in his voice made Yuuri tremble. This night, this place—it created a closeness he had never felt before with Viktor. As if a bridge had emerged from the sea of stars between them.

“Um, Viktor. There’s something you should know.”

“Huh?”

“There’s an even larger Tanabata festival held in Fukuoka.” The words welled out of Yuuri, encouraged by the darkness engulfing them and because they were not facing each other. “It’s because they have a huge Tanabata shrine there. I… I didn’t suggest it because you wanted to see the fireworks, but we wouldn’t have been able to stay that late because we’d need to catch the last train back. And I didn’t want to take the van because I wasn’t sure if I’d want to drink and I also don’t like to drive at night.” And because it would have been a date then. “My apologies.”

“No, Yuuri,” Viktor said softly. “I’m glad we stayed here. Fukuoka is likely overcrowded tonight and I don’t want to do that to Makkachin. Besides, here we have a better view of the stars because of less—how did you call it?”

“Light pollution.”

“Right.” Viktor’s voice was warm in the night as if he was smiling. “Thanks for introducing me to this festival, Yuuri.”

Yuuri thought back to the wish he had written on the red tanzaku. I wish that I’ll figure out my feelings for Viktor. I wish it to be love.

“I’m glad we came here, too.”

A reddish shine illuminated the lookout, followed by a cracking noise that ruptured the silence. “The fireworks have started!” Yuuri said. “Let’s watch!”

They hurried to a spot where the trees parted. Orange sparks rose into the sky and blossomed into colourful stars, illuminating rooftops and the people cramming on the beach and along the bridges, glittering on the bay. A sudden giddiness rose in Yuuri.

“When I was younger, I often imagined what it would be like to celebrate Tanabata with you,” he said. Each year, he had written a wish for it and hung it on a tree. “I didn’t ask you because I didn’t know how to do it without things taking a weird turn.”

“Really?” Viktor’s voice was hushed with an undercurrent of excitement.

Yuuri nodded. “The last weeks were very nice. I would have hated to ruin that.”

A hand touched Yuuri’s shoulder, stirring a swarm of butterflies in his stomach. “I enjoy our time together very much, too.”

“Yeah,” Yuuri said. His heart fluttered.  

They fell silent, watching the colourful sparks blossoming above the town, mirrored on the silent river. The hand remained on his shoulder and Yuuri found he liked it being there.

“Yuuri?”

“Hum?”

“Will you tell me what you wished for?”

“No, Viktor.”

“I’ll tell you what I wished for in return.”

“It won’t come true when you say it aloud.”

“But if a wish isn’t voiced no one will know and they won’t do anything about it.”

“The gods will.”

If I were already sure of my feelings, this would have been the perfect date, Yuuri mused.

“Will you tell me your wish when it comes true?”

You will know when it comes true, Yuuri thought, struggling to tame the tempest of emotions raging within his heart. “Yes,” he said, leaning his head against Viktor’s shoulder. “I will.”

-- Chapter 17: So close and yet a universe apart

*On Tanabata or the Star Festival:

According to a legend, Princess Orihime fell in love with a cow herd named Hikoboshi, and their love was so great that both neglected their duties whereopun Orihime's father, the Emperor, banished the pair to the heavens with the Milky Way separating them. Orihime became the star Vega and Hikoboshi became the star Altair. Only once a year, in the seventh night of the seventh month, they can meet--but only if the skies are clear.

Tanabata (七夕) is celebrated in July, but in some regions, it's celebrated in August (depending on whether the Gregorian calendar or the lunar calendar is used). The stars Vega and Altair are visible in Japan from July to September. There's a couple of customs surrounding the festival, one of them is to write your wishes on paper strips and hang them on a bamboo tree. These trees are set afloat or burnt during the night. Tanabata is a very popular festival in Japan and often referred to as the most romantic night of the year. However, since in most regions, the rainy season lasts until August, the chances for clear skies are 30% on average and thus people pray for good weather several days in advance.

[capsensislagamoprh]

"What the hell?! Why did you wait?!" Yuri barked at Victor.

Christophe stared at his long time friend with a studious gaze. "Yes, why?"

"I... it doesn't take long to get a car detailed? I thought it would be here on time?"

"Victor, min vän." Christophe said no more as one hand rested just under his chin, the other on his hip. He'd done his utmost to make sure that everything was prepared for the bachelors party tonight. Phichit was in the other room with Yuuri, getting ready to take him out. They were meant to be partying, without a care for anything but hangover cures in the morning. Now they had to deal with this.

Victor pouted, arms crossed, head turned defiantly away from the other two in both frustration and a touch of guilt. If his Yuuri found out he'd messed up, his delectable little piggy would stress very badly and that would ruin his beloved's night as well as his own. "They said it would be ready on time," he offered by way of explanation.

"Otabek told you to take it in two days ago in case something like this happens! He told you that it's better to have a window of, like... fucking fixing shit or something. In case they fuck it up! Whatever." Yuri blew air to puff his bangs off his eyes. "No, not whatever! Chris said, take it in. Phichit reminded you. Hell, I told your balding ass to get it done!" Yuri fumed. "This is proof that love kills brain cells, not that you had many to begin with!"

Both men gasped. "Yurio! How can you say such things!"

"Amore is no enemy of mine!"

"It's such a wondrous -"

"Magical!"

"- glorious thing!"

Yuri did not look convinced. The two men exchanged looks of deep, unspoken conversation. Yuri thought he smelt their last two brain cells smoking. "Right, well, what are you going to do about it," he hissed.

"Someone will have to go get it," Christophe sighed. "We can get a cab, then drive it back ourselves."

"Or," Victor said, drawing out the word.

"Or?"

"We could," his plastic smile in place, Victor turned towards Yuri.

"Could what, old man?" Yuri felt his hackles raise. "Don't even think of sending me. I can't drive."

"No, but a certain someone you know can."

Christophe's brows rose to his hairline, eyes twinkling. "That is true."

"Oh My God! How does this shit always fall on me!"

"What falls on you?" came the calming tones of Otabek.

"Listen to this!" Yuri growled. "Baldy here didn't listen, as usual, and now his stupid classic car he paid way too much for just to have it for the wedding is stuck at the detailers because he stupidly didn't listen to everyone when they said two days was not enough of a window for delivery! Because he's stupid!"

"I don't think he's stupid Yuri. I think he's got a lot to keep track of. Even with help, weddings are laborious. This is a very stressful event. Something was bound to fall through the cracks."

Victor clasped his hands, leaning on his best friend, a look of utter delight on his face. Not only was Yuri - despite the sour look - accepting his friend's words as truth, the man thought he wasn't stupid. Could he trade Yuri in for Otabek? No. His Yuuri would be upset. Just a little.  Shame. Christophe felt the air around Victor vibrate with mischief. He had his own thoughts on the matter.

"Why is it not ready?" Otabek turned his preinstalled poker face towards the two men. The gaze was unsettling. It felt intense, like he was staring into your soul. Or through your skull.

Suppressing a shudder, Christophe had a momentary flash of using that stare in Monte Carlo. Blinking away the image, he focused on the Kazakh. "You can drive internationally, right?"

"Yes."

"Mind doing us a favor?"

"Depends."

Victor's smile wavered as Yuri's teeth grinding seemed to be calling him out. "The car needs to be picked up," he offered forlornly.

"The detailer can't get someone to drive it because there's no one to take him back," Christophe offered.

"I can take him back," Otabek offered.

"They already said they sent everyone who could drive it here home," Victor sighed. "We'll have to go get it ourselves. They said they'd stay open for another hour and after that they won't be open again until Monday."

Otabek settled his gaze on Victor. "Your wedding is on Sunday."

"I know!" Victor wailed. "My Yuuri will be so disappointed!"

For a long moment no one said anything. Then Otabek disappeared down the hall.

"HA! That's what you get for putting things off, Baldy!" Yuri crowed.

Christophe put a comforting hand on Victor's shoulder, "Don't be mean, Yurio. He's already feeling bad about this."

"Not bad enough. He could just admit he fucked up, without the dramatics."

While Yuri did have a point, Christophe refused to give him the advantage. He would just have to show up to the party fashionably late, that was all. Fortunately he was spared being tardy to the event of the year when Otabek came back, pulling on a familiar leather jacket. "Do you have the paperwork for the car?" he asked as he tucked into his boots.

Yuri gapped. "You're just gonna do it?"

"Why not?"

Yuri sputtered, trying to come up with some reasoning that didn't boil down to 'I wanted to order junk food, watch movies, and play video games with you all night because no one would be sober enough to tell me when my bed time is like I'm a fucking child', but couldn't. Fortunately he was saved from any response at all as Victor flicked his gaze between Otabek and Yuri. 

Deciding Yuri was the safer bet, he grappled the blond, twirling him. "Ah, Yurio! Isn't it wonderful! Your Otabek is so helpful. You know," he drawled, nudging the blond in the ribs, "You could learn a thing or two from him, yes?" It was the lascivious wink that made Yuri break free, cheeks pink.

"I don't need to learn shit."

"Don't you ? What don't you need to learn? Tell me, Yurio." Victor smiled, his tone deceptively soft. He'd noted the lack of correction on a particular word. Mischief vibrating in his skin, he readied a delightfully pointed retort to whatever venom this feral ice child decided to spew next.

Perhaps sensing the ammo Victor was loading into his smile, Yuri backed up. "You know what, I'm not explaining shit. Fuck you." Turning, he muttered to his friend, "Beka, I'm coming with you." Christophe shared a smile with Victor. Hiroko shuffled in, her tiny steps causing her to glide. 

"Oh! There you are. The caterer called. The cake is ready. They want to know if they can store it here, assemble, and put on finishing touches on the day. I told them yes. I need to clean some space in the refrigerator for it. It's quite large." The pronouncement caused Victor to beam. "Can I ask someone to pick it up?"

Both Victor and Christoph turned towards Yuri. Otabek stood up, boots in place. "We can do that," he said calmly.

"How are we going to get it back on your bike?" Yuri asked skeptically.

"Pick it up in the car. Drive it here. Put the cake away. Go get the bike," Otabek rattled off the logical order of events.

Hiroko nodded with a smile. "I will make you katsudon tonight to thank you for your help."

Yuri raised a brow. Katsudon made by Hiroko? "Fine. Come on, Beka. We'd better get this done." Yuri marched to the bike. Otabek gathered the claim tickets and anything else he needed before quietly heading out.

Victor and Christoph shared a conspiratorial smile before they took themselves off to get ready for a hell of a party.

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #526

Yuri!!! on Life official guidebook, Toshiharu Mizutani (Art Director) interview

Part 3.

-- For sure, there is a lot of small things in the designs.

M: When I look at just the line arts, I always think that they are drawn in a very loose way, and a lot of those small things are skillfully drawn in a simplified way/omitted. It's something that only somebody with a lot of practice can do. Even newcomers can draw precisely, if they look at a drawing and try to copy it, but the most important thing is not to draw something that is not necessary. If you have to later erase something that you drew, then you give yourself twice the amount of work, but only people with a lot of skill can simply not draw too much to begin with.

-- Then it must have been a good opportunity to learn for the younger staff members, I'd guess?

M: They were all very desperate [to get the job done] and working while on the brink of death.

-- The ice in the skating scenes is very realistic, too. Was it a request from the Director?

M: Yeah. Since the first PV. Even I have watched some figure skating on DVD, so it was something that was on my mind, too. In case of ice shows, the lights are very elaborate, and your eyes are really drawn to the ice, cut with blades of skaters' shoes. Because of how it sparkles. I was wondering if it would be possible to try to achieve this effect, but I thought that if I touched this subject, we all were going to suffer, so I kept quiet. But then I decided that I want to have those cuts in the ice, after all. All were drawn on the same layer, but then split into multiple layers. We put at least three such layers on the surface of the ice.

[Notes: Long time no rant, so...

((Just in case, newer readers may not be aware, that I'm a "fujo-hater" 😂 But fret not, I'm not against seeing relationship between Yuuri and Victor as romantic or against people reading BL, but I'm very much against fujos, who as it was in the case of YoI, try to "teach"/press the creators/other staff members to make the canon bend to their doujinshi tropes.))

The talk about staff members on the brink of death reminded me about that huge controversy about MAPPA that happened last year 💀 It's not a secret that Sayo was overworking animators during YoI and there are still screenshots of animators calling her names on twitter and say condolences to each other, bc of being involved with YoI. So, YoI fandom now hating MAPPA, bc "bad MAPPA, bad working conditions, poor animators...", while demanding that they should stop producing shonens, bc they should make YoI instead is well... an example of how spending time in an echo chamber and just following the crowd can make you a huge hypocrite.

It should also be said that it's not that those shonens are "just for boys" or anything like that if we talk about this topic, btw. GoYuu from JJK (Gojo x Yuuji) is so popular with fujos that it has now more views in total on pixiv than VicYuu, and gets more views in 10-30 min than VicYuu gets in 24 hours (a huge credit for that should ofc go to YoI's IP holders, as they've been trying to starve the fandom to death since 2018, basically...) It's really ironic that it's YoI fans who are so much against MAPPA making those popular shonens, bc so many Jp VicYuu fujos moved to GoYuu (it's basically the same trope "the most awesome, strong and cool man in the world the seme" x "fujoshi avatar the main character in the center of the universe the uke") - one of the reasons, why Jp fans don't attack MAPPA - they very much enjoy those shonens. (Another is that they can read and it's very easy to check who owns the IP.)

To sum up, as always, it's very unfair for YoI fans to call Otsuka CEO the greedy homophobic liar, while absolutely refusing to see the bigger picture.]

[jewishvitya]

Who's your favourite character from Yuri on ice?? (Sorry if you've been asked this) ><

Don't be, I love getting asks sfjgdjdhsfd please always feel free to talk to me about Yuri on Ice

Honestly it depends on my mood, but it's always either Viktor or Yuuri. I made a joke at some point about how Viktor would love hearing "Yuuri is my favorite" and Yuuri would love hearing "Viktor is my favorite."

Viktor is the chatacter I like playing with when something hurts, or when I need a character to be comforted. When I want to think about depression and burnout.

Yuuri is the character I like playing with when I want to dig into insecurities and anxieties and the ways they can contrast with reality. The way they feel real even without good evidence.

Viktor when I want to think about jumping into things and changing course, Yuuri when I want to think about diligence and consistent work. They both have aspects of both, it's just where the characters meet me emotionally.

I lean into the depression aspect a lot, because that's been my main struggle for several years now, and I know it gives the impression that I prefer Viktor. But Yuuri is my go-to comfort to draw when I need something that feels good.

For example, this. Look at him. I love him.

I added a Viktor version later, but here I was grieving a family member and I started sketching and here's Yuuri.

It's so easy to draw him pretty too. I struggle a bit to make Viktor appear on the page the way I imagine him.

But Yuuri? Comes naturally to me.

The first character I made art of after 5 years of not drawing. And that kinda thing stays with you.

[arom-antix]

I finally have a second to draw so here's a sketch of Viktor in drag like i promised @blended-ice

Finished work here

[lonepuddingcup-moved]

i miss them