Episode 023: Yuri! On Ice
“Yuri Katsuki carried the hope of all Japan on his shoulders in the Figure Skating Grand Prix, but suffered a crushing defeat in the finals. He returned to his hometown in Kyushu and hid away in his family's home, half wanting to continue skating and half wanting to retire.
That was when the five-time consecutive world champion, Victor Nikiforov, suddenly showed up with his teammate, Yuri Plisetsky, a young skater starting to surpass his seniors. And so the two Yuris and the Russian champion Viktor set out to compete in a Grand Prix like none the world has ever seen!”
This week we are going to be reviewing Yuri! On Ice, an anime focused on Yuri who is training to compete in the next figure skating grand prix with the help of the current Russian champion! Since we are into December, I thought it would be good to get something more winter themed reviewed, and figure skating on the ice seems to be pretty wintery to me!
You can either listen to the podcast above, or you can read below for a majority of the transcript of the podcast! Now as always, our discussion will begin with a brief summary of the anime followed by spoiler free thoughts and feelings. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion of some of the key plot points that occurred and we will then finish off with my overall rating of the anime and a heads up about what we are looking at next time. If you have not had a chance to watch Yuri! On Ice and don’t want to hear any spoilers, then please feel free to skip the detailed section and listen to it afterwards if you so wish.
I have never been a big sports follower, and because ice skating isn’t really a big thing in Scotland, other than when it’s winter market time, I can honestly say this wasn’t an immediate choice for me to watch when it was originally released. However, credit where it is due, the show really does show how skilled ice-skaters are with the massive amounts of training that is required and the complexities of making those landings and moves. I am definitely guilty of thinking in the past that it looks super easy when they are doing it on TV, without fully appreciating the hardships it takes to make it look that flawless.
The overall story is what you might expect from a sports drama, where our main character is striving to succeed in their profession and following them throughout the respective contest as they aim to take that top place. But it does also have some interesting twists that make it stand out, focusing more on the stories of not just one athlete but many as they all give it their all in their competitions. Plus the fact that our main character is queer is something not always presented as being compatible with an athletic setting!
The characters in the show are all interesting and have their own complexities, which actually makes it really enjoyable to watch when the episode takes a deviation from Yuri’s mind to that of his competitors. It’s always good to have a diverse group of characters to follow in these types of shows and seeing people struggle with their confidence, meeting people they have idolised, seeking to get revenge on their ex who is in the crowd, or even just getting a bit too ‘excited’ when they are skating helps keep each episode interesting and prevents it feeling like each episode is just watching animated skating.
In terms of representation, the key focus of the show is the relationship development between Yuri and Victor as the grand prix competition progresses. But instead of being explicit, a lot of the queer development is done in not so subtle subtext, due to the fact it needed to get past censors in Japan who were not the most progressive. So although there is a possible way to ignore all the queer messaging of the show, you really would have to be wilfully ignorant to say this isn’t a queer anime with how the relationship develops as well as how close some of the characters get when they interact!
Final spoiler free thoughts! The opening song goes well with the stylistic choice of keeping the animation simply focused on the three male leads of the show skating with splatters of colours overlapping it all. Quite a restrained anime opening for some of the shows I have seen before. And the ending song is also very high energy while showing clips of all the skaters that we come to meet as well as just some really stunning visual images of Yuri skating. All so beautifully created!
Final Feelings and Recommendation
If you are a fan of sports anime, I think you know I am gonna recommend you watch this. But even if you are a more general anime fan, this is still worth your attention as it is beautifully animated and the story is really heartfelt. But even if you're not an anime fan, but you do enjoy some down to earth storytelling that really focuses on character development and interpersonal relationships, then I say give this a watch as it's only 12 episodes!
Overall, I will give this show a solid eight out of ten pork cutlet bowls. It’s a very interesting anime which allows for a lot of character development and a good insight into the sheer amount of practice going into being an ice skater.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Now, just a reminder that at this point, I will be going into a more detailed analysis of the anime which means there will be spoilers! If you haven’t managed to watch Yuri! On Ice yet and you don’t want anything spoiled, then this is your last chance to avoid the discussion. Or you can go ahead and close the page, go watch the anime and then come back afterwards to finish reading. I promise I won’t mind. Still here? Well then, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
So we start of this anime series in quite an unconventional way, where we meet our main character Yuri while he is having the worst of luck, as he is letting the pressure in the ice skating competition get to him and then he gets the news of his family dog dying, which all compounds into him failing at his first proper contest. Understandably he is quite upset, and so we are with him as he is weeping in the bathroom while on the phone to his mum. We even then witness another person named Yuri kick the bathroom door in and tell him that it's best he retire since he is a loser.
So with that oh so crushing introduction to our main character, we are arriving back in his hometown to the super embarrassing situation of people recognising him from the posters all over the station. It’s here where we get our fourth wall break to explain to us all what has happened and also get his feelings on certain situations. It's actually a useful device used throughout the show which again, really helpful for someone that knows sweet fuck all about ice-skating!
So it turns out Yuri lost nationals and other competitions after that, so since the season is over his future is a bit uncertain. And since he is no longer competing at the moment and comfort eats when depressed, he has naturally put on some weight. But he grew up worshipping his idol Victor and so he slowly gets back into practising Victor’s signature routine as a comfort activity. However, his friends' children manage to record this, put it online, and this results in everyone in the skating profession, including Victor, seeing Yuri skate. Talk about privacy invasions!
As Yuri is out shovelling the snow a few days later, he notices a dog with a striking resemblance to his old dog Victor, which he got based on his hero Victor’s own dog. When he then gets home, he is told there is a new guest and so he rushes through to the hot springs to confirm who it is and bang! It is Victor and he is here to be Yuri’s coach! And just to make it even more nerve wracking for poor Yuri, Victor is very full on with his intimacy which overwhelms the poor boy who has just found out his idol has come to personally train him.
Now remember the very rude Yuri from Russia that originally told our Yuri to retire? Well he is pissed that Victor is reneging on his promise to train him and so he is out to Japan to demand Victor return with him to Russia. So the only way to settle this new found rivalry between our Yuri’s is a skate off to the same song, each focusing on a different theme of love. Russian Yuri will focus on skating to agape (known as the highest form of love) which is perfectly contrasted with Japanese Yuri’s skate to eros (sexual passion).
It’s a clever move by Victor to force both boys to dance to a routine that is very much in stark contrast to their own personalities at this time, as a way to really challenge and push them as athletes. And of course I have to call out the classic line “there is so much eros in this routine I might get pregnant”. And thus we have opened the floodgates for all kinds of MPreg fanfiction.
Now both Yuri’s struggle to define what agape and eros mean to them, but eventually Russian Yuri finds that agape love in his relationship with his grandfather, while Japanese Yuri blurts out that his eros is from pork cutlet bowls. Hmm, I mean, they are tasty but not what I would have immediately thought of for sure haha. But it works for our Yuri in the end as he wins the skate off, with his Russian counterpart leaving before it’s even announced by Victor as he recognises how good Yuri was in his skate.
Now the show skirts the line of how explicit it will be in the relationship between Yuri and Victor, but we do see that at times Victor will manipulate Yuri’s crush on him to help push and motivate him to give his all on the rink. But as well as giving us queer relationship representation, the show is also not afraid to challenge societal gender roles through the way that Yuri’s costume is designed to incorporate both male and female genders into how it looks as he skates. I do appreciate this added layer of the queer community in showing that gender can be more fluid than we have been conditioned to think it is.
During one of the early skating matches, Yuri meets the young Minami who looks up to him just as he looks up to Victor and has even gotten his costume based on one of Yuri’s previous outings. It’s all so sweet apart from the fact Yuri blanks him because he is so caught up in his own head and self-doubts. Victory calls him out on this, noting that if you can’t motivate those looking up to you how can you possibly motivate yourself, which is a key lesson for us to remember to be kind to those looking up to us since we can have such an impact on them. Thankfully Yuri takes the lesson to heart and cheers Minami on to motivate him, and eventually wins this match to move on to the next round.
And so we are flying over to China for the China Cup contest! Victor lets Yuri know that the time of the seduction by pork cutlet bowl is gone, and he can do the routine just by being himself, showing us how much more confident he is this time round, which is further shown with Yuri’s internal monologue as he is skating, determined to prove he deserves Victor as his coach. And it all pays off as Yuri wins the China cup that day, showing the impact that our thoughts can have on our performance!
Thankfully Yuri manages to ace the skate and secures a silver medal, with Phinchit getting gold, and so both boys will proceed to the next round. But as the boys are celebrating, Victor surprises Yuri with a kiss to celebrate his progress! It is blocked out by their arms so it’s not super explicit which isn’t the best representation, but I do understand the environment it’s been made in with Japan’s conservative values.
Next up we are on Russian Yuri’s home turf of Moscow! But this time in the competition we have a wee hiccup, as Yuri ask’s Victor to go back to Japan to look after his dog who has just gone to hospital, and so Victor asks his old coach in Russian to look after Yuri for this part of the competition. It’s an interesting episode to see both Yuri’s managed by the same person and they each show off good music choices to suit their dancing, and so they both make it to the next round. Our two Yuri’s even managed to have an actual moment of friendship, showing how far they have both come emotionally from their first interaction. Amazing to have such character development
And so we have made it to the finals in Barcelona. And instead of having another episode focused on skating, we get to spend time with the contestants to develop them more as characters. Russian Yuri goes to hang out with the competitor from Kazakhstan, actually making a friend for once, and our Yuri and Victor go to explore the city and we get to have Victor be our key narrator for the story.
We actually see the very sweet moment where Yuri gets Victor an early birthday gift, as well as getting himself a lucky charm for competing, a pair of matching gold rings for the both of them to wear. It’s a very sweet moment between the two, really showing their relationship develop. And it’s taken to mean something completely different when they meet the others for dinner that evening, with Yuri’s friend assuming they have gotten married and shouting out congratulations! Thankfully Victor correctly corrects this … by saying it's only an engagement since they won’t get married until Yuri wins the gold medal! Talk about finding unique ways to encourage your mentee / boyfriend!
Now that we are in the finals, we find out from the others that last year Yuri got super wasted at the social event for all the skaters. This was an unfortunate combination of having no courage to approach your fellow contestants and a free bar which you use as the ability to get some dutch courage. The end credit sequence of this episode actually shows us the terrible photos of Yuri that night when he started stripping and dancing and getting everyone else to dance with him too. We even see that in his drunken stupor, that Yuri challenged Victor to be his coach and come to Hasetsu if he managed to win the dance off, which rather hilariously then helps bring the show full circle in why Victor noticed Yuri and decided to start this whole saga!
Now I mentioned before that the opening for this anime has some beautiful artwork, and the last episodes kick this up another notch as the intro now also shows the outlines of Yuri’s fellow competitors that we have seen throughout the show. As well as this, we also have the ice rink for the competition appear as Victor, Yuri, and Yuri all skate. It’s a really beautiful and subtle change that they have made to acknowledge how far our characters have come to get to this final moment.
And so we kick off the final part of the tournament getting to see each skater perform as we follow along with their internal monologues to help us fully understand how they feel. At the end of the first day of the finals, Russian Yuri is in first place while our Yuri is currently in fourth, giving us the tension build up before the final episode as we hope he can pull it off. Yet that night Yuri decides to tell Victor about ending his professional skating career and thanking him for everything he has done for him in this contest.
It’s a very noble idea, however it actually causes Victor to cry, get angry, and then call him selfish as he has assumed Yuri would have wanted him to stay after the Grand Prix after they have grown so close over the last few months. But they both agree that they will make their own decisions after the free skate is over, deciding what is best to do for themselves but it really feels like this could be the breakup before they ever truly became an item.
It's interesting since part of the drama here stems from Yuri having spent half his life looking up to Victor and he wants to dance with Victor forever, but the price of that will be to slowly kill him as a competitive skater. It’s a really interesting dynamic to challenge the relationship rather than it being about another person, it's about wanting the best for that person while also recognising that this sometimes means both pursuing different paths.
For the final match, with everything on the line, Yuri actually manages to break the record for the free skate score which was previously held by Victor! In the end, once the dust from the ice is settled, it is Russian Yuri who takes the gold and our Yuri has secured silver, which although surprising since you usually expect the main character to succeed in the end, it was a well earned win for both Yuri’s. The sting of missing out on gold is lightened when Victor states he won’t kiss the medal since it’s not gold, his own fun way of urging Yuri on, and with his own announcement that he will also be returning to competitive skating while also coaching Yuri. Talk about your ice skating power-couple!
So although it’s not a winning end, it is a sweet ending. But that’s not the final part of this anime, oh no! We then have the ending credits going and we are treated to seeing Yuri skating his own showcase. And half-way through we see Victor join him and we end with a very intimate dance between the two after the journey they have been on together.