Yuri!!! on Ice

<<In short: It's an overambitious anime that doesn't manage to keep up to its potential.>> Story & Characters - 3 So, i've been following this anime from the very beginning and I'm not gonna deny, i did get charmed quite fast. Viktor was adorable, Yurio was adorable, Yuri and Viktor's relationship was funny and started to be quite adorable as it progressed and it's a friggin story about skating ! How awesome is that?? But ultimately it's just a story that tries too much with an absolutely atrocious pacing. It doesn't always manage to express what it wants and there is also a lot of telling instead of showing in the second half (which I have no big issue with if it isn't redundant or taking me for stupid, which this show sometimes did, though I imagine it was cutting corners in this case for time purposes and I can understand that). Sure, it also manages to convey certain performances and motivations without the need of dialogue, which is commendable, but couldn't escape the bad pacing by trying to cramp together several performances without letting us view them in their mightiness and with no time dedicated to the actual development of these characters besides what they tell us they feel, which seriously, in story-telling is just tiresome to follow, which brings me to one of my main problems with this show: the competition isn't really felt. I never really felt tension during the skating programs, I never really felt like cheering for Yuri or cheering for anybody; at parts, it almost seemed like the anime wasn't a sports anime at all because it tried too hard to push a certain element that I'm gonna get to later. One could argue and tell me that it was a sports anime that wanted to focus on self-confidence and pressure, how nobody really has it easy even if they look like it: today you can perform and come out 1st, but tomorrow you can perform and come out last just because of a mental slip in confidence or fear creeping in and yes, I can totally see that, but it still didn't really make me feel any more attached to who I was following. Some developments also really came out of the blue and certain conclusions were narrated to me, but it expected me to shrug with just that one line information. They didn't have enough time to do it? Well, this ties with another issue this anime has: it's overly ambitious. It wants to be a sports anime, but it also wants to be psychological and it also wants to be a bromance story and the later takes a very big portion of all this...which is my ultimate problem. When I was like 3 episodes in, I really liked Yuri and Viktor and I was okay with the BL shades, but then they started talking and I came to believe that maybe, just maybe, they were trying to go for a naturally developed gay romance (and I say gay, not yaoi or BL, because I hope that most of you are aware of it, yaoi isn't an actual depiction of a gay relationship, it's mostly leaning towards fanservicing girls/ and the potential guys that are into it, but mostly girls.) Well, some would say that I'm wrong and there was really something there even with all the "censoring" explanations I've heard (you know what I mean :/), but come on. By episode 7 it was starting to become clear that it was baiting the fujoshis and the last episode pretty much confirmed that for me (I gave it the benefit of the doubt, so maybe, just maybe, i might hear the potential "I love you" from one of the two, but nope, I never did. It even enforced the couch x skater type of relationship instead.) But believe what you will, I'm not delusional enough and hey, there will be a second season, maybe they won't be as cowardly anymore if "love" is really what they were going for. I'm just gonna shrug deeply right now. This "baiting" stole too much of the show that I wanted and if it was going to go nowhere, I would have rather just have it toned down a notch instead of continuously getting distracted and wondering whether one of the two would confess yet without making it a joke or somebody denying it with blushy cheeks or make it look like something when it was actually another context, because it does that a lot, a really really friggin' lot. For the characters as an overall, they were...I don't know. Who are they again? I liked Yuri's confidence building in the first half and the pressure he felt in the beginning of the second half, but I still feel like it could have done a lot more. Yurio had the most potential and it showed, but it was more dealt with off-screen, Viktor being trapped between being a skater and being a couch and overall working on his own person through another perspective was also dealt with off-screen; I can't pretend it didn't happen, though I'd have wished that something more to make it more memorable, and I say that for all characters. I can see there was a great dealt of effort put into defining some of the characters' personalities, even non-main ones, I can see they weren't really trying to stereotype either, but tried to work around it (like the Italian guy being a pessimist, but it's okay, it's actually generally correct at least for South Italy and most of them do have the family mentality...not to the point of being a siscon, of course haha) and they were all fun to watch if you just manage to shut your brain off, but I don't think I'm going to remember anybody besides the main 3 and maybe Pichit, at least till the second season comes around, which..i'm not gonna forgive if it pulls the same meh-ness. Art & Sound - 5 I really don't know what people were saying when they were talking about beautiful animation and if they noticed the myriad of re-used scenes and disfigured characters or the facepalming moments when it's obvious they put budget in instead of the actual skating (yes i'm looking at you, ViktorxYuri). The opening had a beautiful animation, despite being also re-used, the style and fluidity was beautiful to watch, the first and last episodes also had really good/fairly good animation respectively which is probably the reason why it was spread that the whole show has good animation. But, seriously, it's obvious when they cut corners. I do praise, however, the imagery during some of the characters' first performances, trying to explain the stories of their dancing. It was an interesting visual touch. As for the ost, i'm going to hum those opening and ending songs for a long time lol The choices during performances were also quite interesting and I praise Pichit's initial choice of Anna and the King, knowing that movie was banned in Thailand. It was beautiful symbolism and maybe the one that touched me the most. JJ's world and Yuri on ice theme will also stay with me for a long time. Overall - 4 I am not walking away from this anime completely unpleased, I do give it the credit that I think it deserves, but I definitely don't think that this anime should be rated for the relationship that it tries to establish as I saw so many reviews do. Let's not forget this is a sports anime. It didn't play itself like Free were the fanservice was the heart of it, it tried to be so much more and it can't just be all of it. So....Less baiting and more sports in the next season please?

I felt like doing Yuri on ice some justice due to the number of low reviews, but please remember that this review is biased and will contain minor spoilers. There is a 'should you watch this' at the end. Story 8/10: First things first, this is a sports anime, so it's undeniable that you're going to escape the 'underdog gets epic development and achieves goal' trope anytime soon. Yuri on ice, however, takes this a different direction. Instead of purely focusing on skills and growth as a figure skater, it centers on Yuri developing confidence in himself as a professional skater and the the world of professionals in general rather than your classic 'highschool sports club lice of life' kinda feel. However, in addition to this, we are given not so subtle hints of Viktors and Yuris ambiguous relationship, which is implied to go beyond that of coach and student. This is a hit and miss concept for many- hit for the fujioshis and those open to the idea of lbgt, miss to those uncomfortable with homosexual themes. For alot of people who claim that the show is 'queer bait' or feel as if it takes up the majority of the show's screen time- The show offers so much more than that. But if you continue to protest, then I guess theres nothing I can do about that. I feel, personally, however that it ties in with the story quite well as their relationship has a strong contribution to Yuuris confidence and Viktors motivation for teaching him. Art 9/10: If it weren't for the fact that the art was visibly a bit inconsistent at times and had a few coloring errors, this would've been a solid 10. I really felt like Studio MAPPA was finally able to show the extent of their animation capabilities through this anime. Sound 9/10: Ever since Yuri on ice started I still haven't been able to get over the opening, ending and ost songs to this very day. Honestly, the sound was magnificent, considering that they have to create up to 10 different soundtracks for each character's skating routine, I was absolutely amazed by the quality, and freshness of the mix of classical, pop and future bass(?) in the ost. Character 9/10: The characters are well created and unique, making each one easy to remember. The main 3; Yuuri, Viktor and Yurio sall have distinguishable characteristics and all express clear character development. Yuuri- Appearance wise, one can argue that he's a character you've probably seen in 10 other anime: shy, glasses, nerd looking and easily embarrassed. But Yuuri's so much more than that; he's emotional but not sensitive and can be rebellious. He's not a character designed from scratch and I can say for sure that he was not intended to fit any stereotype. Viktor- I'm genuinely surprised how they've managed to create a character so flawless yet so flawed. Viktor is perfect as a bachelor without appearing to be *too* forcibly bishounen and has a very charismatic feel to him. However, he has a hard time handling emotions, bot his own and others, and struggles with the idea of coaching Yuuri and being his mental piller. He's definitely one of the male Anime characters to stand out the most this season. Yurio- I have mixed feelings about Yurio; on one side he is downright rude and I hate the way that he treats Viktor and Yuri, but on the side he's so loveable that I can't hate him. Yurio's hot hotheadedness and arrogant behavior is difficult to overlook, however, the show has ingrained in the idea that he DOES have a compassionate side to him and that maybe we should cut him some slack since he's 15 and already has to face the trials of being a competitive skator. (bonus) Christophe- Alot of people seem to hate him and I don't really get why. Sure he's kind of weird with his whole 'nutting on the ice' nature, but I feel like that was added to express his sexual nature in general. I felt like this phrase was used to empasise his 'release' of the pressure felt when performing to keep him in character; as opposed to the other skaters, whom cried after their performance due to relief or strain. Not that I'm saying that hes incapable of crying, but to me I felt like this was his way of feeling 'relief' after finishing a performance. Enjoyment 10/10: Definitely a series I will not forget, as a long term anime fan, It's been a long time since I've been this invested in an Anime since Naruto. Which begs the question- should YOU watch this? This anime is unusual- It has seinen themes but it's main demographic is females (not statistically proven, just and assumption) So: -If you've enjoyed sports anime such as Free!, haikyuu, and Kuroko no basket and are a full time fujioshi\fundashi, then this is 100% the show for you. Invest in it enough and every episode will get more exciting. -If you want something fresh out of the anime market, modern and unique, then Yuri on Ice is something you should get your hands on. I would personally describe it as being very 'tumblr-like' since it deals with lbgt themes, mental issues and flower crowns. -If you hate the idea that two guys are crossing the 'no homo' line and focusing on improvement, emotional stability and a prominently male cast, then this is NOT for you. Avoid at all costs before you submit to becoming a hater for no reason.

Yuri!!! on Ice, one of the most talked about series of the 2016 Fall Season. It introduced a sport that was not that much seen in anime series, ice skating, and complemented it with a fun set of characters that combined the seriousness of their efforts/goals and the comedy that existed everywhere. Unfortunately, that good mix was not enough to make it into a great series. First of all, there is no actual story and the pacing is all over the place. Despite the fact that the show brings us a seasoned athlete, so there is no focus how he gets to be a hero from zero, which is a welcome change, the show just jumps from one place to another in a matter of seconds, while in between there is mainly just dorama between Yuri and Viktor. That is pretty much the gist of this. We get to see other ice skaters too and see parts of their past and thoughts, but considering the show covers 8 months, everything just feels rushed; jumping to a new scene, dorama ensues, other characters just say their piece, they dance, there is tension and repeat. It is a shame, because the focus on the competition could have been handled in a more balanced way and bring out the best in everyone. Second of all, while the show starts with an upbeat vibe and successfully achieves a balance between disappointment and comedy and tries to procure a story, it pretty much fails at its premise. While they try to showcase a trio of main characters that are intertwined, Yuri – Yurio – Viktor, Yurio did his own thing after the first couple of episodes and seemed to have no relation to the other 2 other than forcibly connecting them with lines “I will not let him beat me”, etc. It seemed liked there would be a more serious rivalry or drama, but Yurio went down his own path and seemed as though he was battling himself to surpass his limits and only as a secondary thought he wanted to prove himself to the rest. But that just might be my personal gripe. Third of all, the worst part was the excessive fanservice of the BL baiting, because it took precious time that could have been used for smoother transitions or fleshing out characters. The biggest hook of this series is, of course, the relationship between Yuri and Viktor which from the start was controversial to many. Up to the end, the subtler hints became full throttle baits, but only baits, with every single episode. It is understandable since fanservice can garner more audience, but if they kept it in a subtle way, it would possibly have the same results (apart from the rabid screaming) and at the same time it would give it a higher quality. Unfortunately, that never happens and with each episode you will probably wonder “What more can they do?” Believe me, they can and they do! As already mentioned before, the characters do not have the depth they should have. Undoubtedly, Yuri and Viktor and then Yurio are given the most attention, but only Yurio turned out well. Yuri and Viktor, because of all the fanservice, their characters remain in a state of limbo trying to create more dramatic scenes between them rather than care for them as individuals. There is a personality underneath, but as their core is their relationship, it falls rather flat and while they are both very likable, they are not much more. Yurio on the other hand has some development, because he only focuses on himself and although we do not see much of his thought process, the bits here and there portray his troubles much better. The rest of the characters are given some attention and we see their thoughts, stress and weaknesses, but it feels half of what it could have been. Animation-wise, it is also disappointing in the ice skating section. The first 2 episodes are truly beautiful and there is detail in almost everything, which of course set the bar too high for the rest of the series. Naturally, a series with that much movement can hardly keep up with perfect animation in every episode, but there is barely any improvement from the 3rd episode on. They reuse animation without trying to polish it in some places at least, it can look very awkward and overall, it just takes away from the experience and considering this is part of its selling point, it is a shame, especially when it seems more attention is given to Yuri and Viktor scenes. Other than that, the show has vibrant colors and the art often takes a more comedic approach with exaggerated features to portray various emotions or entire scenes. There is much detail on the uniforms they all wear, which are distinct and always fitting the music they are dancing to and generally, the art definitely matched the show’s style. Also, the opening sequence is truly beautifully made with flowy colors all around and sketch-like characters ice skating. The sound was good; voice actors did a very good job, the soundtrack was on point and everything fit. The opening song can be addicting and combined with its animation, it makes a really great opening that not many would skip. Overall, I did enjoy this series, just not outside the rink as much. I liked seeing them dance and hearing their thoughts while dancing, but there was chaos outside with badly handled situations and forced drama/fanservice to keep up the ship between the 2 main characters. It was disappointing, because it had a strong start that seemed like it could offer a solid journey, but the priority was not that so the excitement kind of wears off in that department. But it is a great watch for someone that truly can enjoy the 2 main characters’ relationship!

This anime uses the most typical and generic and uninspired and annoying of anime tropes. Like, showing physically abusing men as something casual and even comedic. Or like expecting a man to prove his worth simply because he happens to be a member of the male gender, while a female isn't expected to do anything more than what she feels herself like doing and should always be protected and taken care of regardless and is excused from doing anything, while a male must always do what is expected of a man to do and preferrably also more. Then there's the BS romance between Yuri and Viktor, which is entirely dependent on them being a trainer and a competitor. For some dumb reason, they couldn't just be a couple regardless of anything - no, god forbid apparently. And there is no bonding process or them just hanging out unless it's related to the competition. No cuddling or chilling out - all about the training and competition all the damn time. And SOOO much focus on them skating on the ice with the same recycled skating animation repeated for each character over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER again. Not just for the protagonist, nope. It's also for all the other competitors. No montage or anything, just dragging each segment out for forever and ever. They try to give us backstories for every single one of them, but there is just no reason for us to care about them. And there's this disgustingly pretentious tone over the whole thing with ice skating meaning more than life or something. I just don't get why they can't make an honest romance out of this instead of this pseudo-romantic stuff with them only MAYBE eventually getting together if the protagonist succeeds in achieving something. It's the same stuff like in other poorly written animes like Love Hina, where they postpone them becoming a couple over and over again because the protagonist must make sure he doesn't fail at succeeding some sort of test - in Love Hina's case, getting through the exam. In fact... Yuri looks and acts an awful lot like Keitaro. SOMETIMES. They don't seem to make up their mind on who or what Yuri is. Sometimes a spineless nerdy twat, other times a generic uke from a yaoi, other times a shounen-esque "I'm gonna be the best!"-character. It doesn't make him more complex, it just makes it feel like it's more difficult to know who or what Yuri really is. Just like all other animes with male gay romances in it, this was a pure disappointment. And being a gay guy myself, that is extremely depressing to have to realize.

I want to warn you beforehand that this will most likely contain spoilers integral to the plot and to the main characters. Do not read this until after you have watched the show or if you simply do not care about being spoiled about the show. - Yuri!!! On Ice is just like its protagonist: while it is full of emotion, it does not give away everything you want or need it to. It does not directly tell you the true motivations of your main characters (specifically, the deuteragonist and the tritagonist) and it does not immediately give you an explanation behind the protagonist’s own actions. We need to piece everything together if we want answers, and that means cross-referencing the dub, the subs, the language, the animation, the soundtrack, and even the show’s writer and staff (from animators to voice actors to choreographers.) The plot is, essentially, Katsuki Yuri finishes last place in the Grand Prix Finals and feels as if he is lost. Months after his failure, his idol, the figure skating legend Victor Nikiforov, turns up at his family’s onsen and promises to be his coach so that he may win the Grand Prix. The story is simple enough, isn’t it? Clean and straight to the point, except that it’s not. Throughout the whole season, Yuri constantly belittles himself for his alleged failure in the Grand Prix Finals. Not only does he think of himself as incompetent and a failure because of this event, but he lets it become the reason as to why he eventually believes that he isn’t worthy being a skater and that he shouldn’t even continue. He should just retire and think of something else. (He doesn’t want to, though, because figure skating is his passion.) This is where it gets complicated and this is where we first experience a recurring theme within the anime: Katsuki Yuri, the protagonist, is not a reliable narrator. He sells himself short one too often, and puts down the fact that he even got into the Grand Prix Finals in the first place. That, in itself, is a huge feat. Yuri was able to win regional and local figure skating competitions until he was able to compete at an international level; that’s hard enough as it is, but to qualify for the Grand Prix and even make it into the Finals is a more difficult feat. Pulling in last would not have mattered when you were one of the final six of your category that got into the Finals. (And the Grand Prix Finals is one of the most important international figure skating competitions, only after Worlds.) Sure, it would be nice to be on the podium but you’re one of the six finalists, that’s still a feat not most can do. Yuri putting himself down and being a bundle of anxiety is not a one-time thing, either. It happens every time he thinks about skating, about the Grand Prix, and his mind will always go back to his failure in the Grand Prix Finals. It doesn’t tell us, outright, that he has an anxiety disorder (except for Episode 7, but only in passing and not him actually admitting that he has a mental illness) but we can infer that from his monologues, his performances, and what his former coach, Celestino, tells Victor in Episode 4. The reason why I pointed out Katsuki Yuri’s anxiety disorder and lack of credibility as a narrator is because these two things heavily affect the story. His anxiety is what ultimately keeps him from him accomplishing his goal, why he regresses after he develops as a character, and him being an unreliable narrator affects how we see the story, the narrative, and this takes a blow on our understanding of the characters around him as well as the situation he’s in. If we want to find answers regarding Yuri Plisetsky’s background and his motivations, we have to look for it and guess. If we want to find answers regarding Victor Nikiforov’s background and his motivations, we have to look for it and guess and pray we’re right (yes, we go for that extra mile because this man is an enigma). The two of them are main characters, they’re integral to the show and to Katsuki Yuri, but because we barely get to hear their side of the story -- we are kept largely in the dark of who they are and what Yuri means to them or how Yuri becomes their catalyst for change. We don’t know why they are the way they are, why one acts like the embodiment of rage and anger and the other one is childish and eccentric. The amount of effort people put into analyzing each episode is overwhelming, and the reason is because the storytelling is not clean cut. It’s messy, unreliable, and you have to shift the angle of how you perceive things if you want to understand the story even better. It’s frustrating but also very, very endearing. Because the writing of the anime is very meticulous and very consistent all throughout, even if sometimes it feels lacking or even frustrating that these characters make the same mistakes again or they’re too antagonizing or the like. Yuri!!! On Ice does not waste a second in any episode. Even lighthearted scenes somehow reveal tidbits of a character’s life or the inner workings of their mind, or even a quirk. It reinforces what we already know, reveals things we don’t yet know, and tells us which particular factoid is so important to remember in this crucial moment in each skater’s life. It may be true that Yuri!!! On Ice is generous with the intervals in which they have a time-skip. They gloss over months’ worth of character and relationship development, but it is important to note that the events that are shown in the anime are the ones that matter the most in Yuri’s career when he’s reimagining himself and creating a whole new image and reputation for himself after the previous year’s debacle. We don’t need to see a random day of him and Viktor training in anticipation for the Grand Prix. We didn’t need to see the aftermath of the Cup of China, of him and Viktor talking about their kiss on the way back to their hotel room. We don’t have to see them on the train ride back to Hasetsu once Yuri returns from the Rostelecom Cup and we don’t need to see the night they go to sleep after they get engaged. They aren’t integral to his journey to the Grand Prix Finals, even if each moment would have deepened his relationship further with Victor, Victor who is the catalyst for Yuri’s skating. (Before anyone asks, the Episode 7 kiss had been confirmed to be canon by the writer herself and their engagement in Episode 10 is not only solidified by the onscreen label of Maria Dolores, but by the receipt that blatantly displays the name ‘Wedding Rings’ and Victor’s own clarification of them being engagement rings.) The story, ultimately, is about Yuri’s personal journey as he tries to overcome his anxiety disorder and take a shot at the Grand Prix Finals. It’s about him growing as a person and as a skater. That’s why it’s labeled a Sports anime. The careful detail and thought put into the writing is reinforced by the art and the music, as we will come to learn for ourselves. The art has the tendency to drop hints even bigger than what the writing offers, especially in regards to the expressive faces of the roster of characters. I think the first clue that comes to mind for a fan and/or a viewer is how the lips of either Victor or Yuri are drawn with more detail when there is the intention to either touch it or be intimate. This happens in Episode 2 and Episode 3, when Victor openly flirts with Yuri and brings their faces close together as if they are close to be kissed. This happens in Episode 5 again when Victor puts balm over Yuri’s lips. With this emphasis, most easily draw the conclusion that Episode 7’s Kiss really was a kiss as, in that moment, both their lips were once again highlighted. Another clue from the art itself would be Victor and how closely he guards his emotions and his true self. People will point out that his vulnerability and sincerity in scenes can readily be seen by how much of his left eye is covered by his fringe -- or if the shot has it that the fringe is not in sight at all…

This is probably the most beautiful anime I would ever have the pleasure of watching, It's all about love, life, and following one's dreams, even if those dreams seem far out of reach. This anime tugged at my heart and made me cry both tears of sadness and tears of joy. The plot was very well written, the characters had great backstory, and the animation was gorgeous. They did a great job with the skating, and were even very accurate on how an actual competition goes; they even had real announcers do the announcing parts. The main plot is the guy who hit rock bottom in his career as a skater, so he does an homage of his idol and skates a perfect program of the other guys performance. This man sees it and decides to drop everything and go be his coach. Let the hilarious antics ensue as we watch them work towards the main characters goal of winning gold at the GPF! Also there is a real love story going on between the two male leads, and it isn't queer baiting!

In short : If you love being a fan serviced by males, this show is for you. Not recommended as a sports anime. Now, I know many things have been stated, from one extreme to another, as well of various shades in-between. I couldn’t bring myself to read each one of them and I’m sure most of what will be stated already have been, in one way or another, stated over and over. That shall not matter, I will repeat what has been said if necessary. This pseudo-review also contains slight spoilers, so you’ve been warned. Story : Many things can be stated regarding the story and I’ll mainly focus on its issues as well as a bit of an extra. First of all, let’s remind us this is a 12 episodes long show, and if it can be enough for some stories, this isn’t the case : the writing wasn’t able to develop itself within the accorded length. On one side, because there’s too much content and on another because a good portion is used for fanservice, taking away time that could have been allocated for other things. For example, a better pacing. The erratic pacing is especially noticeable in the first episodes, and while it gets better after a while, the pacing is never fixed up and starts getting worse again in the last two episodes. One of the things that plays against the pacing is the overuse of ellipses. While I can partially understand it due to the amount of content it wants to add and the limits of 12 episodes, it’s also true the show should have compromised, and it didn’t. Another thing that plays against the pacing is the constant tonality switch, bad tonality switch. The show seems recalcitrant to let emotions sink in most of the time. More times than it should, it is too quickly replaced by action or humour, and in writing…that doesn’t work. As the saying says : “there’s a time for everything” and that includes the amount of time you allocate to one scene. To create a metaphor that is understandable for most : a well-written story, or episode for that matter, is like a roller coaster, parkoured with ups and downs ; a YoI episode could be summarized as falling during 23 min straight with some one-second stops every now and then. Which isn’t only bad in terms of writing, but also exhausting. It’s the reason why, for example, when in the first episode hyperactive chibi-Yuri is supposed to represent Yuri purposely “overhyping” to deny/repress his real emotions, it doesn’t work. Because the humour or the action arrives too quickly afterward. Ironically enough, the moments that are the “calmest” tend to be the sport sequences, which…for a something that was advertised as a sports anime, or would want to be a sports anime primarily, is surprising. There’s rarely built up or tension, both preferring to revolve around Yuri, Viktor and occasionally Yurio. In that aspect, as a sports anime, it is failing at one of its core. Now, to get a bit “around” the show rather than the writing itself, I’d like to point something out : according to the writer of the show – whether or not you’re the type to put value in the creators words are up to you – the relationship is supposed to be open to interpretation. And, why not ? Written like that there’s no issue with it, right ? Well…usually…when you try to write something “open to interpretation”…you don’t have overt fanservice as a dominant trait of your show ; it’s “almost” contradictory. But I’ll keep most of my words regarding that in the “characters” section. I just shortly mentioned it here because in the end, that played against the story writing as well. Now, I’d like to diverge from the pure writing and to come back to two events, the hug/kiss and lucky charms/engagement rings scenes. First, a kiss or a hug ? Well, the first part of that scene possesses all the indication for a classical kiss scene, the only thing that opposes that reading is their body position once they are on the floor which wouldn’t allow a kiss to occur. Contradiction or a misleading scene ? Well, when you put it in the perspective of the whole show, it is neither of the two. Actually, the show repeatedly comes up with cover-ups, and this is scene simply is one of many. One endorsed by the almost immediate transition to another sequence, a complete absence of mentioning of it by anyone later on and its absence as a step stone in their relationship. And the latter is the biggest issue : relationships are made of steps stones. This step stone is denied, and instead, the kiss is turned to a pseudo-“interpretable” kiss/hug scene, a scene which is basically treated as none existent within the narrative. As for the reason why it would possess cover ups to begin with, the answer is quite simple : they don’t want potential viewers who aren’t comfortable with homosexuality to drop their show, which is quite silly, actually, in the face of its fanservice. But I’m not done with this kiss. Of course, I came across people justifying it as a form of censoring. And it could be, of course, a creative censoring from the writer herself, pressure from the producer or studio (which wouldn’t exactly be legal), but due to Japanese law ? That would be a fairly recent law then, to the point the English translation of it hasn’t yet been updated. Thus, this justification feels unlikely credible. However, let’s admit for a second such a law existed, there would still be a question arising : “why Yuri on Ice ?” Because it isn’t tagged as yaoi ? Fair enough…if males kissing outside of yaoi tagged animes couldn’t be found up to 3 decades ago as well as in fairly modern shows. Making this claim as little credible as the one above. To switch to the second part – and let’s be shorter - the exact same type of cover-up can be applied to the engagement rings (presentation, visuals, etc.) turning to “lucky charms” to cover it up (dialogues and humour). The only difference is that people acknowledge it – because, this time, it really worked as a step-stone - but just as a means to reinforce the cover-up : being asked whether or not they are engagement rings, for Viktor to joke about it and Yuri promptly denying it. And from then on, it is exclusively referred to as “lucky charms” to burry up the visuals that narrated otherwise. And it isn’t the oral endorsement of Vikturi as purely coach/apprentice – third biggest cover-up – throughout the show that makes it any better. Anyway, it is more than time to proceed to the next section. Art : Ice-skating is an art, a sport. And this show tries to reciprocate that, but not where it should have been. It is a sports show, advertised as such, and my minimal expectation when coming to those is for their sports sequences to be decent. And…the ice-skating sequences are for the most part, the lowest in quality. I do not possess any knowledge regarding ice-skating, so I’m unable to properly judge the performances of the various skaters, but such ignorance doesn’t prevent from perceiving the incredible amount of deformation as well as, too often for the show’s own good, each separate keyframe, leading to “stuttering” performances. The visuals of those sequences being too low in quality to transmit emotions through performances, it is unsurprising the show has each performance accompanied with inner monologues from the performer. A writing issue I shall come back to in the character section. That doesn’t mean, however, that there was close to no budget given to the art department, there can be beautiful visuals, but you’ll have to look in a different direction. A direction called “fanservice”. Yes, the fanservicing interactions between Yuri and Viktor can be visually beautiful. And the difference with the rest, be it in colours, drawings or composition is striking enough you can easily see where the budget went. Naturally, it isn’t a 100% truth, some backgrounds are, in their design, sometimes noteworthy, but this is in the first episodes as they eventually turn to be sometimes even lower in quality than the performances. Another…

People say that the anime industry is in decline, and that a lot of stupid anime series come out. Well this anime sends that thesis into oblivion. This show has been such a breath of fresh air, and in my opinion one of the candidates for anime of the year. What makes me sad the most is that a lot of people are not even wathing this, because they think it's IN YOUR FACE Yaoi, without any redeeming qualities, which is so wrong, that it's not even worth my time to explain. So I plead that people would give it a shot with open mind. It really is a gem. It is a figure skating anime, which is a sport that not a lot of people are familiar with, and not very popular except for mostly in Russia and Japan. However the thing that separates it from other sports anime out there, is the fact that it is a very character driven story. Every episode we learn something new about our characters, and they evolve through their interactions with others. The beauty of figure skating, that is portrayed in this anime, is that the characters are dancing based on their emotions. Every movement, every glare has a significance, and you can't help but get closer and closer to them as the story progresses. It does not follow a linear path, where the only important thing is the victory, they struggle through their performances, there is doubt, exaltation, suffering, and most of all there is no one that you can hate. Everyone has their own reason to want to win, and there are no cheap shots. The other thing that makes this anime a true diamond is the artwork. Studio MAPPA has went all out, to present to us an eye candy, with which you lose track of time, and every episode feels like it is five minutes long. All throughout these 12 episodes, there has never been bad frame, anything to suggest that they didn't give their 100 % to make this into a groundbreaking show. The music as well is stellar. Since you hear the opening, titled History Makers, you can expect greatness. I have never seen Yaoi, because I am not a fan, however if every Yaoi is as good as Yuri On Ice, than I will watch everything I can get my hands on, nevertheless I don't think that there will be something as good as this. The music during the performances is incredible as well, in a way that it makes you stand up and dance as well. I have enjoyed this anime a lot, and I will be the happiest man if there is another season. It has been a hell of a ride, hopefully, this is not the end, but a see you soon.

Yuri on Ice has brought a lot of people into ice skating, and that's wonderful. It also starts out being pretty compelling by establishing an interesting narrative of this out-of-shape, anxious, in-the-closet skater trying to drag himself back up to the peak. Unfortunately, it languishes in this mire of protagonist self-confidence issues for which Victor is the only solution, is extremely repetitive (we get to see the same routine again? I wonder what he'll mess up because of nerves this time!), and is absolutely not gay enough. I do not have lived experience as a homosexual person, but other reviewers have spoken about their frustrations with this. Yet, the core theme of the show, which is using love to lift you to greater heights, is undermined CONSTANTLY after the first few episodes. One thing that Yuri on Ice seems to forget is that it is working towards a climax which is... exactly where it started: Yuri at the Grand Prix. This isn't a spoiler, because there is no other conclusion for this show. No matter how aggressively it pushes the angle of Yuri flourishing under Victor, he literally starts the show at the Grand Prix! He is already a top skater worldwide by the metric of success he pursues doggedly throughout the entire show! It would have been wonderful to see him actually grow, rather than only grow more sexually confident. And it would have been wonderful to see him grow more sexually confident, rather than only grow more confident in his sensual dancing. The metrics put in front of us clearly denote one thing: it is everyone's game to lose based on their nerves, and we get mixed signals about where Yuri's and others' confidence stems, and how they handle it. This show seems to consistently pull back from where it is ready to be in the first few episodes. It is covered in BL tropey scenes and presentations, but the main character is so not worthy of him, and so worried about losing him! I mean, Victor being literally the most important person in the world to most of the cast can certainly feed into anxiety about him going away, but Yuri is the source of the bulk of the drama in this show and his obstinate relationship anxiety gets really old really quickly. The anime tropes at play otherwise are fine, like the mascot trio of little girls, but it is often pretty cringe. Also, the dude who's concerningly into his own sister is absolutely a JP cultural projection and I wish it did not take up as much space as it did. I only finished this show out of commitment, because I have a partner who is an ice skater. Otherwise, it is not worth watching past the first 6 episodes.

You know, I'm starting to realize more and more how bullshit my policy on avoiding popular opinion of an anime before I make my own actually is. Between my desire to keep up with what's current along with my "nerdy friends who take this hobby seriously enough to the point that they pay attention to the many in-between animators that KyoAni use" flooding the social media sites with tributes to shows that haven't even come out yet, I'd have to seal myself in a bunker without wi-fi to avoid the impact that Yuri on Ice has had on the community. It's not as popular as Re:Zero or ERASED were in their prime, but the show benefits from more than just a little luck in regards to it taking the anime world by storm. With sakuga and anime production in general being an increasingly important part of a fan's life, LBGTQ issues being an increasingly important part of a regular human being's life, fujoshi making up more and more of the fanbase in general, and the opening flat-out stating that this show was born to make history, the only people who don't watch this show are the ones who state that it's too gay for them. I should know considering only one of my real-life anime friends actually watches this thing. So what exactly is the plot of this legendary show, you may ask? Well it's pretty much just every sports show ever only with adult characters and it's not paced like Stephen Hawking trying to win the rocket-powered wheelchair race. You have a young Japanese dude named Yuri failing to make it big in the ice-skating rink and deciding to vent off frustration by getting fat and doing a routine in his free time that his Russian idol, named Victor, was famous for. However, said routine gets uploaded on the Internet thanks to Yuri's annoying friends, causing Victor - who's in a bit of a funk due to being past his prime - to spend his pre-retirement days training the Japanese youth to be the new star of the ice world. However, a snot-nosed kid who's also named Yuri (the Russian spelling) wants Victor to teach him himself, and from there on you see the two training to compete in the Grand Prix of Figure Skating as well as the thousands of yaoi fanfiction being written with every frame used to depict the journey. Yuri on Ice reminds me a lot of Damien Chazelle's films, particularly how most of the praise and acclaim comes from the actual production and directing, with the story mostly being a bunch of emotions that are handled in unexpected ways. Whiplash was a story about a student and a teacher having a mental war with each other in order to push the former to his limits, and La La Land is a story about two lovers inspiring each other to achieve their dreams whilst wondering whether they can be together whilst doing so. I'm not a fan of Chazelle's movies personally, but I know a lot of people are, and I'm pretty sure a majority of this show's audience intersects with that audience as well. You have to be into emotional storytelling to appreciate what Yuri on Ice goes for because that's really all it has beyond the gay jokes: men embracing their femininity in order to achieve dreams that can only be discovered through the rink. It doesn't actually say anything about ice-skating or LBGTQ issues beyond portraying it positively, and the characters are all either happy go-lucky or do such a good job of seeming happy go-lucky that you can't really believe they're facing serious personal issues even when they say they are. I will say though that even if you take into account what it's going for, the execution is kind of rough at the start and gets better over time. I understand the humor is not for me, but please explain to me the reason why characters have to be spouting exposition during the ice-skating scenes. When they're getting into the characters' heads like if Makoto Shinkai directed a sports anime, sure maybe you need to clarify some things to the audience. But why on earth do they have to describe moves that I can clearly see? For a studio as talented as MAPPA and a director as talented as Yamamoto, you'd think they'd understand the importance of letting the actual animation tell the story, but I think only the first and last ice-skating scenes of the series had people keep their mouths shut. And there are alot of performances in this show to the point that it starts to get silly. None of the characters aside from the two Yuris have any relevance to the main plot, so when the show devotes large amounts of time to their moves and arbitrary backstories, I realized that they only existed so that the animators could fill in the obligatory twelve-episode count whilst showing off at the same time. They're not bad or anything, but the only one I even remember by name is JJ, and that's only because it's a really easy name to remember. Well that's a bit of lie. He is also very memorable in regards to how the show constantly screws him over despite nothing really negative about him or his routines sticking out to the point that you'd swear that he signed some sort of devil's contract in order to make as many appearances as he did. But let's be honest, despite the show trying to give him some connection with Victor, he only exists as a convenient obstacle for Yuri and nothing else. The large number of ice-skating scenes used to fill up the time brings it own annoyances as well. Animating even one of them would be a huge challenge to your average studio, and I'm pretty sure this show tried to fit in no less than twenty of them throughout the entire runtime. This leads to a lot of reused animation, noticeable choppiness, and convenient shortcuts like pulling in on the person's face at a critical moment or cutting to another character watching the routine after a few seconds, like a porno director who's clearly new at his job. And because the ice skaters only stick with one or two routines during the multiple stages of the competition because we're trying to keep some sense of realism to avoid turning into Prince of Tennis, I had to sit through Yuri doing the same Eros moves to the same music every week to the point that it felt like I was watching the same episode over and over again, only with slightly different plot details, Endless Eight-style. In a sense, maybe it's a good thing I don't care about the other characters and thus can't remember their routines after they finish them, because I'm pretty sure they got stuck with repetition syndrome too, and yet every time Yuri (that's the Japanese Yuri, not the Russian Yuri) wasn't doing the actual skating, it all felt fresh in my eyes. As for the plot-important characters, I can't really say much about them because whatever depth they have is drowned out by how much they conform to their initial stereotypes. Victor is occasionally wise, but mostly a naive gay jackass. Yuri is occasionally deep, but mostly a naive confused happy man. And the other Yuri from Russia is occasionally respectful, but mostly a shark-toothed rival who may or may not be gay. I didn't really care one way or the other whether they would succeed in their goals, since the only reason they have for doing so is because that's what they want out of life. That's not a bad reason, but when you compare it to the named extras who want to impress their loved ones or have a country's name to live up to, that's pretty damn weak. Yeah yeah, it can be argued that these characters are doing all this ice-skating in order for their gay marriage to come true, but given this show's high comedic tone in general, you could say that their goal in succeeding is to have a statue of themselves built in the center of a mountain and it'd have just as much impact. Disregarding the fanbase and other outside influences, my opinion of Yuri on Ice is that if you're willing to accept that anime is going to continue the legacy of Hetalia for a long time to come, like shows about male characters embracing their feminine side, aren't automatically opposed to bare-bone narratives,…

Sports anime don’t come very often, let alone skating anime. However, 2016 has been a year for sports anime. With anime based on volleyball, rugby, soccer, and… water jousting with butts and boobs(?), Yuri on Ice needed to prove that it can top most of the sports anime and make theirs more intense. Or maybe they don’t need to compete with other with the sport. Maybe Yuri on Ice doesn’t need to compare itself to other sports anime and maybe compare itself to other series like Ping Pong – where the sport isn’t the main focus. In Yuri on Ice, the skating it simply the backbone that holds the series in place. The real focus of the series is its characters and their relationships. And does this formula end up holding up well? Luckily is does! ~{Story}~ In most sports anime, the story is never the selling point for the series, but rather the sports and the characters are what pulls the series through. Yuri on Ice is no exception as its overall plot is quite simplistic and gets the job done. But despite all that, the writing still manages to be intriguing and exciting, primarily because it’s not completely predictable. This isn’t the type of anime where the protagonist ranks first in everything. It’s never really clear who the winner of a tournament can be, and that’s what makes the writing feel stronger than it is. Other than that, it’s a typical underdog story of how the protagonists idol becomes his mentor and coach and helps him in becoming a better skater… with a lot of fujoshi-baiting of course. And that’s another reason why the series ends up feeling a little more unique in its writing is because the series focuses on its characters more than anything and spends a lot of time in creating relationships. The skating is the background stuff, while the characters are in the foreground. It’s the moments with the character and the development in their relationship rather than the development in the competitions. Story: 7/10 ~{Presentation}~ As mentioned before, Yuri on Ice is more of a character-driven anime rather than a story, or sports-driven anime. For the most part, the series focuses on the interactions between the characters, particularly Yuuri and Victor’s. The tone of this series is a nice balance between seriousness and lightheartedness, just like many other sports anime. And Yuri on Ice’s style is definitely worth mentioning. It has a modern feel to it with its use of social media in the anime and it maintains an elegant and traditional feel during the skating moments. During more of the slice-of-life segments of the series, the series maintains a more lighthearted feel and simply focuses on making the series feel fun by using its characters to its potential. However, during these breather moments, there’s also moments of seriousness that focuses on the character relationships. And the series is at its most serious during competitions and maintains a more intense tone. Despite it being a sports anime, it’s main real focus it its shounen-ai moments, and that’s not a bad thing. There’s a lot of sports anime where fujoshi-baiting is one of their selling point, or maybe the anime was designed to be normal, but the fujoshi fanbase went crazy on Tumblr. Yuri on Ice is more than baiting as it’s quite genuine, and that’s what makes this series succeed. With it actually having the will to go all out with its character relationships, it makes the series stand out more. One issue with the series is that not all buildup pays off, particularly the finale. Arguably, it’s the buildup moments that are more enjoyable and they keep the standard high, and when the result of the buildup arrives, it feels a bit underwhelming. That isn’t to say that they lack impact, but with the inconsistent production values, some of its effects are lost. Presentation: 7/10 ~{Character}~ What Yuri on Ice’s biggest selling point is its characters. For a character-driven series, it’s important for the characters to feel complex, or at least interesting. Luckily Yuri on Ice manages to succeed in doing that. The protagonist, Katsuki Yuuri, is a great character, despite being built up from an initial cliché characterization. At first, he starts off as a character who is lacking in skating abilities, but with the help from his idol and coach, he’ll try his best to win the gold medal at the Grand Prix. What started as an simple character ended up being more enjoyable and felt a bit more complex. This is primarily due to his relationship with Victor Nikiforov, the deuteragonist of the series. Victor is consistently fun to watch due to his humor, style and personality. His and Yuuri’s relationship feels more than just fujoshi-bait, and that’s what makes their relationship feel stronger. Nothing feels forced, despite the fact that the sole reason this relationship exists is because of its fan-base. There’s a misconception that Yuuri is the titular character of the series, when it’s actually Yuri Plisetsky, despite him not being the main character. Yuri is a grouchy, ignorant and selfish person who is somewhat easy to tolerate despite his attitude. As a matter of a fact, he’s one of the more enjoyable characters of the series, and they fact that even he gets character development by the end of the series is a well addition. And there are other enjoyable characters in the series that make the cast of characters feel more violent. From the overly narcissistic JJ, to the logically composed Otabek, this series has a wide variety of characters that get enough spotlight to be likable. Character: 7.5/10 ~{Art}~, The art in Yuri on Ice, for the most part is very good-looking, however, there are moments when the art quality drops, especially when it’s sacrificed for more fluid animations. When Yuri on Ice looks good, it looks really good. Character models are well detailed with great lighting effect being used. Background look fairly detailed and has a modern look to it. The character designs are also quite pretty and attractive and it feels unique. However, due to its art looking really good during these moments, it makes it even more distracting when it doesn’t look good. During many of the skating moments, character models will lack details and sometimes the character bodies would be disproportional. And sometimes the backgrounds (in outside areas) would be done with a water-paint design. Though some can argue that it might be used for artistic purposed, it’s clear that it’s just done that way to save effort and time. However, Yuri on Ice still looks good for the most part and these quality drops aren’t terrible enough to ruin the experience. Art: 7.5/10 ~{Animation}~ The animation quality also suffers the same problem as the art quality, as it is quite inconsistent. During its high points, Yuri on Ice looks really good and very fluid. As seen in the first episode and during the most important skating sessions, the animation quality feels very top-notch. Character motions look very fluid and it adds a greater impact to the performances. For a sports anime, it is very important for the production values to be top-notch inconsistent. Since characters are in constant motion in most sports anime, it’s important that the animation quality is fluid so the character motions don’t end up being distracting and more engaging. Anime with poor production values may end up making their series look like a slideshow, especially during the sports part (I’m looking at you Days). And for a skating anime, where characters will move constantly in a fluid motion, good animation quality is necessary. Yuri on Ice’s animation is consistently fluid during these skating moments… in sacrifice for some other stuff. As mentioned before, the art quality ends up being undetailed during most of the skating moments, but also the series fails to create a proper depth in perspective. Sometimes characters would look farther than they are and this is because of a failed sense of depth. However, these moments are distracting,…

Yuri on Ice is one of those shows that hype you up with a trailer that promises if not outstanding then at least appealing animation and a premise ripe for drama, and... that's about it. At no point does the actual show get better than or even live up to its promise, which is a telltale sign of poor execution. It ultimately doesn't matter how much research you do about the sport you're writing about if the athletes you're writing make no sense in any universe, real or fictional. Victor Nikiforov, the world's best male figure skater who - at the age of 27 - can't possibly have much more left to give his sport, loses his “inspiration” and decides to take a season off. As in, up and leaves Russia, apparently with not a word to the public, the skating federation, the sponsors... you know, all those people who make it possible for him to be nasty rich and famous. So there goes realism as Victor leaves home to become the coach of a guy who's a perfect stranger to him, for flimsy reasons to be explained later on, and that's possible because... he's Victor, I guess. That's all the explanation we ever get when it comes to him, which is unfortunate since he's supposed to evolve from the protagonist's unreachable idol into a flesh and blood human being the protagonist is personally close to. He's supposed to be an important main character who's slowly but surely humanized in the eyes of the rest of the characters who all look up to him to some degree, but that never really happens. Oh, there's a halfhearted attempt to explain away his lack of a personality but honestly? It just feels like weak storytelling. Weak storytelling reminds me, the show wants to be so many things at once, it ends up being none of them but a schizophrenic amalgamation of poorly constructed sports drama (you know things are not going well in a sports anime when you'd be okay with just about anyone winning, you just want the repetitive sporting sequences to end already) and lowbrow comedy populated by a jarring mix of characters who are “realistic” and characters who are insufferable caricatures (the triplets? JJ? Give me a break.) This mess is peppered with character and relationship drama that never really gets explored beyond a few scenes which, at their best, suggest complexity (Russian Yuri and Victor's bittersweet mixed feelings towards each other, while largely unsaid, are perfectly understandable and thus far more compelling than any other relationship on the show) and at their worst are really just fanservice taken to a distasteful level. It's been said before but it bears repeating: gay characters and relationships have been done well by mainstream aka non-BL anime before. Not often but it does happen. It doesn't happen here. In conclusion, YoI is far from the best or worst of the medium. The animation, script and sound are all safely in the 'average' range. It's not the kind of bad I'd warn people off of – if you're interested after seeing the trailer, give it a try. Maybe you'll find it enjoyable entertainment. Just don't expect anything life-changing, because – despite promises to the contrary – no history gets made here.

Before I start, I would like the preface this by saying that a 6/10 means I deemed the show as "fair" or "fine". Many people think of anything below a 7 to be bad news, but that is not the case in my reviews. As always, you are free to agree or disagree with my own views as you like, but I always do my best to review a project in totality, and not just based on enjoyment as many reviewers tend to do. Now on to all the technical stuff! Yuri!!! on Ice is Fall 2016's most popular anime, with an interesting take on the rarely touched field of professional figure skating. Originally I passed on starting this show as I figured it would be a fairly average sports anime with a fair amount of yaoi bating for all the fujoshi's out there. However after hearing positive opinions on the show I figured I'd give it a shot, alas it was about what I expected: alright. Story: ~5 A five according the grading criteria on this site is described as "mediocre" or "average", and I found this to be a fitting way to describe the writing of Yuri!!! on Ice. I'll avoid summarizing the show here in an effort to avoid spoilers, as well as avoid repeating information that finished viewers are already aware of. To be straightforward, the writing wasn't particularly impressive, and ended up falling into a more predictable sports anime type of plot. Main character loses his passion for the sport -> In getting a new coach his spirit is revitalized and he struggles to reach the top and win 1st place. Through Yuri and Victor's little adventure towards the 1st place in finals, we find ourselves subject to many story telling issues. 1. Weak characters that last an episode and then just make cameos that serve as a time filler or attempt at comedic relief 2. Forced romance (if you even want to call it that) 3. Mild melodrama to make things seem like plot points 4. A story that is crammed into twelve episodes and finds itself struggling to keep up with and develop all of the main characters. 5. A final episode that felt extremely cramped and rush as they tried to fit too much info to properly end the show. (And I can't agree the show was properly ended either. Sure there might be a second season coming, but it still felt rushed and we barely saw any of the performances compared to usual, and saw basically nothing in terms of conclusive material) Although many of my points seem like complaints, the story itself was still follow-able, and served as a fine background for people to indulge in the animation and sports drama. Art: 7 A seven is likely low enough to get me punched by plenty of people, but I still think it to be a fair assessment. The animation was good, but there are two main reasons this score isn't higher for me. One reason would be that there often seemed to be a severe contrast in animation between different scenes. For example, it was obvious most of the budget was poured into the skating scenes, but in turn the scenes outside of the skating rink oftentimes were comparatively weaker. My second complaint is that I found it obvious that this show did not have enough time every week to produce the art they wished for. By this I mean that because the artists are restricted so heavily by time restraints and deadlines, it often seemed like the art felt choppy even in the skating scenes. To further illustrate this, in the earlier episodes I often found myself annoyed with some of the skating scenes because it was obvious they were drawn apart from the backgrounds on which they were drawn for. The skaters themselves were drawn to show disparities in depth from the camera, but they still seemed out of place compared to the constant picture of the rink behind them. I can't really fault the artists for this though, as drawing every single frame of an ice skater and their respective rink would take immense amount of time and budget. And here's where we end with my rating of 7. The art was good, but it was obvious that the art could have been better if the show had more time and money behind it. Alas it was a single season show with an episode weakly, so it's hard to ask for much more. Thus we end with a good rating of 7. Sound: 7 I plan on keeping the sound section on the shorter side because I don't have a ton to say about it. The music across the whole series was good. Oftentimes it felt like the staff chose good songs for the respective performances. Apart from just the music, the voice acting was good as well. The VA's did perfectly well for most of the characters, and the voices were cast well for each individual character. Another positive note here is that the foreign voice acting were better than most anime. A good example of this would be the French reporter seen in the last episode, who was voice acted by someone who obviously spoke fluent French, whereas in anime it is very common for companies to just have a Japanese individual attempt speaking a language in which they are not comfortable in. Overall, good sound in general. Nothing absolutely amazing, but nothing I can really hate on either, so the safe rating of 7 was given. Character(s): 5 To be abrupt, many characters were very simple and one-dimensional, and as discussed before in the story section, were undeveloped and under-utilized. The rating 5 means average, and I found that very accurate in describing the characters of a show. No characters stood out as very interesting, but instead fell into very common tropes. The main character, Yuri, was the average wimpy MC who has to change who he is to reach the top. Victor was a fairly average bubbly flamboyant male. Yurio was an angry teenager. And most other characters could be described in one or two words. One more thing to comment on would be the awkward forced romance between Yuri and Victor, but I won't complain too much about that because if I do I'll likely just be called a homophobe. For a short summary : The characters were average. Not much else to say there. Enjoyment: 5 In terms of enjoyment I found this show pretty average. I didn't particularly enjoy or not enjoy the show, so an average score of 5 would likely be the best option here. It's worth noting however that I did tend to enjoy the skating scenes themselves because I found them interesting as a person who has never been into figure skating, but this enjoyment was counteracted a bit by the fact that many performances were just repeated. To be conclusive, in terms of enjoyment, I found this show to be average. Final Thoughts. Overall Rating is a 6. The show wasn't awful. It was alright. Generally a 6 or above on my list means I consider the show recommendable. Objectively I don't think this is a great show by any means, but I can understand it's appeal to specific people or audiences. Was "Yuri!!! on Ice" overhyped? Yeah, I think that's perfectly fair to say. Is it an awful show? By no means. It's just alright. This concludes the review. If you'd like to further discuss anything, or have any questions, you are always free to add or message me. Thanks for reading the review guys and gals.

I'm honestly amazed how much I love this series. I am not generally into sports anime (out of the 5+ sports animes my friends have tried to get me to watch previously, I only actually liked one) and actually hate the vast majority of yaoi/shounen-ai with a burning passion. However, this is actually one of my favorite series and I love practically everything about it. Before continuing with my review I should probably clarify that the reason I hate the majority of yaoi/shounen-ai is because its almost tailor-made for the "female gaze" (and I'm saying this as a heterosexual female). The characters personalities and their development exist solely within their relationship. Said relationship is also hypersexualized to the point of absurdity to appease the female viewers and the homosexuality is fetishized to hell and back. Not to mention that said relationships meet practically none of criteria of a healthy romantic connection. This fetishization even leaks into other shows in the form of queerbaiting, showing just enough to imply a sexual relationship for those that want to see it, while outright denying any actual queer representation. Yuri on Ice exceeds my expectations by subverting and countering both of these things. Not only are Yuri and Victor confirmed on screen as a couple, their relationship is beautifully done. They have a genuinely healthy romance that is a major focus of the story without being the only aspect of it. Both characters are well developed and have their own agency both within and outside of their relationship, which is something that media has problems showing even in heterosexual romances. This brings us to the characterization, which in my opinion is phenomenal. Yuri and Victor are, as I mentioned, fully realized and multi-faceted characters. Unlike many other shows, this also extends to the other characters. Yurio is just as well developed and shows just as much evolution as a person as the main couple. Even the side characters, although not as developed as the main trio, are multifaceted: they all have their own goals and personalities, without relying on 1 dimensional tropes (yes, even Chris). I would also like to add that I love how none of the characters fit the stereotypical "rival who sabotages others to get ahead" role because the character reactions feel so much more genuine and realistic. In terms of the "sports" bit of the sports anime, I am not an authority on figure skating. Besides watching bits of the Olympics, this show is basically my only source. However, the show has gotten a lot of positive views from actual professional skaters, so I'm gonna take their word in terms of the accuracy of the portrayal. If the amazing characterizations and relationships weren't enough, the aesthetics are also great. The designs are good, and animation looks really fluid (not perfect but we sadly cant have an infinite budget. Itll be touched up more for the DVD release anyway), the competition outfits eyecatching (Yurio's are my personal favorite), the scenery is well done (and a lot of them are real places), and the art style and movement in the opening is gorgeous (I like watercolor and ink type art way too much). Speaking of the opening, it was stuck in my head for like a week. The opening and ending songs are so good and the music used in the skating routines is just as good and fits amazingly with the animation. TLDR: Yuri on Ice has a wide array of amazingly well developed characters and interactions, does a great job showing a healthy non-fetishized queer romance, the animation and designs are aesthetic goals, the music is beautiful, and the show surpassed all of my expectations and I love it so much for it.

It doesn’t matter if you are a girl or a boy, you will enjoy this sports anime. I never thought that you could make a good anime about figure skating but Yuri on Ice proved me wrong. The plot is one of a typical sports anime: the protagonist fails at the beginning and tries to succeed again with a lot of obstacles on his way to the top, (very simplified version). It is beautiful animated, you can see how much effort and time they put in to the animation. This is one of the rare anime that you can watch the first episode and decide if it’s for you or not, it’s that simple. It has a lot of sexual innuendo between the protagonist and victor, this is one of the main reason you should watch it. It makes literally every person a little more “gay”, in a total positive way. One of the “nicknames” is on purpose: yaoi on ice, although you are left alone with your imagination. :-P The intro and ending songs are just beautiful, every episode I sing them along (or at least I try). The anime combines a lot of different animation styles, sometimes really basic “stuff” and then with a lot of “specialties”. I think you should give it a try, the first episode and then decide for yourself.

After watching the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2016 and some Youtubers reactions to it I decided to give Yuri!!! on ICE a go. At first I quite liked it, then it became less and less enjoyable with every episode... I generally don't watch sport animes nor BL so the show was new to me in these aspects, but did not capture me in the slightest because of these elements. Let's start with the sport aspect... For the first 5 or so episodes it felt like I was watching the Olympics. I did not really understand how difficult the performances were but it felt good to see them. After that it just became more of the same with more and more forced personal struggle. The last 2 episodes were really really boring because of this.... For the BL part it felt like it was there to be there so our main character could improve for a reason and that's all. It was obvious from the start but there weren't enough screen time for it to feel entirelry right with me when the establishment of the relationship happened. There were tears, anxiety, happiness after that but all of it felt forced and it got more screen time than necessary... The story was like this: Get somewhat familiar with the characters > Competition > New characters > Competiton > New characters > Competition and that's all. Because of this the characters were vague for me. All had some kind of a dream but nothing I would remember after some days. Especially Yuri's character was bad. It was all over the place. Agressive, submissive, brave, cool, crybaby, anxious, etc. Inconsistency in it's finest. The art and animation was alright but a lot of short clips were repeated more than once. I did not like the skating bits however. They felt too much like cheap green screen parts from older live action movies with unmoving backgrounds... The character designs compansated for it though, they were quite good. The one part I praise is the sounds. The OP and ED were good especially the OP as far as the music goes (The animation for them was kinda meh...). The songs the skaters were skating to were diverse but enjoyable and really set a mood for the skating. The voice actor selection for the skaters were really good as well amd they did a fine job with their lines. The last thing I would like to rate is the fanservice. It was definitely for the female watchers. Asses, musculine (half-)naked men, shiny and tight costumes for the performances, and some close up lipshots...I still can't get over those.... All in all it was watchable, even entertaining to some degree. I expected far worse than what I got because of the Youtube reviews. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone but if you like ice skating or shipping male characters with each other then give it a go. Btw I'm a straight man in his early twenties with an acceptance to homosexual relationships. Maybe someone can better understand this review with these informations.

Oh.my.god. Even if it isn't acknowledged as shounen ai, I can tell for sure, it was the most enjoyable among any shounen ai anime I've ever seen. The art was great, the motion, the colors, the expressions and the emotions that the characters provoked in every scene. No exaggerations or show-offs, like in most shounen ai or yaoi anime. The plot escalated in a slow but exciting way. I liked how every skater had his own personality and style, and ooooh Victor. In my opinion, Victor was the most astonishing character among any anime of this season.Simple, yet fascinating in his own sweet and attractive way. Hope there's a second season!

Yuri!!! on Ice is not amazing unless you're a 14 year old yaoi fangirl. Or if you're Canadian. It's a fun comedy mixed with sports anime made for women by women and there's no need to think it's anything more because it isn't. Story? What story? Yuri Katsuki's anxiety problems and homoerotic relationship with Victor? Because that's all you're getting. The plot progresses with the figure skating competition which sadly gets boring when the same formula for showing the skating and characters is had. It also doesn't help when there's only 12 episodes to flesh out such a huge cast of characters. The character design is vast and diverse and the better aspects of the show thanks to Kubo Mitsurou's beautiful artwork but the animation tends to be stiff and the skating scenes which should be the most eye opening and exciting are boring and even embarrassing. You have to give them credit for never backing out and fully animating everything though. All the budget seemed to be wasted on the first episode so that left the rest of the show to be horribly looking and repetitive skating scenes where the only redeeming thing is the music. In the later episodes many backgrounds are unfinished but the scenery is nonetheless beautiful and the attention to detail on particular tourist spots is worthy of praise. Next to the character design the other good thing about this show was the music, from the catchy OP to the unique songs used by each skater in their programs. It has everything and you'll find yourself wanting to listen to them again, even JJ's narcissistic theme song. Now here's something not so good: the characters. The cast is huge and underdeveloped because the anime only has 12 episodes, which left even the main three to be cheap fanservice. The main two characters are Yuri Katsuki, a Japanese skater and his coach Victor Nikiforov who just so happen to also be the main couple of the series. The other main character, if you could call him that, is the rival and the Russian Yuri. Do these characters ever change and develop beyond what they are from the beginning? No, instead they sell what they are, a homoerotic love triangle made for fujoshi. Victor especially is grating since he seems to just be a bishounen character with no development or personality whatsoever beyond being perfect and beautiful. Some characters are unique and memorable like the Swiss skater and Miyano Mamoru's character JJ but they only serve as being jokes and space for the competition. The few female characters that appear are very good and what you'll find in any decent josei anime, since this is what Yuri!!! on Ice essentially is. It is refreshing to see a sports anime dealing with adults instead of high school kids for once and the overall cast is very fun and entertaining. The comedy is cheap and boring, it's all fanservice for the lowest consumer, like the equivalent of panty shots and accidental boob groping in an ecchi anime. Just watch the first episode and decide for yourself if a beautiful Russian man appearing naked with a full shot of his ass is fanservice or not. In my opinion the worst part comes from how popular it has gotten and people praising it for having a gay couple. To me it's nothing different that what you will find in a common BL anime. It's not groundbreaking when they are constantly taking back whatever progress in their relationship is made; instead of outright stating "WE'RE GAY" it's ambiguous to the end in the most unsatisfying way that only fujobait can be. It is also not the first "mainstream" anime to have a gay relationship especially when it was obviously made for fujoshi. In a way Yuri!!! on Ice tries to balance itself between being completely yaoi for the otaku that will support it and waste money on it and the other mainstream audience that watched it for the skating, and for that it's obvious they held back even though they're supposed to be an established couple. For a show that deals with finding love and doing your best we see none of that when the main character can never hold the end of his deal in neither his skating career or his relationship with Victor. Overall, it's a fun show to watch if you need a laugh but nobody should pretend it's anything more or that it's groundbreaking. It's not that deep.

Warning: This anime is consider anime that everybody likes but I don't Warning: For this review I'm going to consider Russian Yuri as Yurio Story: The story is with Yuri Katsuki a professional ice skater that somehow flop at the final and meet his so-called rival Yurio as well in the journey of getting better in ice skating again with love thrown in as well with his coach Victor. That on paper sounds interesting.... However poorly executed. Why?? Let's find out Characters: Now the main 3 characters are great. Yuri, Victor and Yurio. Those 3 got the most character development. Yurio start out as a prick but at the end turn into a gentle, kind and just thought out person. Victor from a coach that was doubting on getting back on the ice but thanks to Yurio and Yuri that broke his records he is going to get back into ice skating. (Although felt last minute).... Yuri... Thank god he is the main character if not he will be boring and forgettable really. Now with all main leads aside let's look at the secondary characters in this anime and the main issue is TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Like seriously do any of us remember any of the characters??? Some characters are classified as what I would love to call them as "characters there to be there". some of the characters only show up for 1 or 2 episodes and we never see them ever again. Like remember the scary Russian guy?? No?? Though so.... The only side character I remember is JJ. Speaking of JJ, he actually did something in episode 11 questioning why and how it happen?? JJ as been doing his best for the past 10 episodes and always reach #1 or at best #2 and in episode 11 he just fail epic. HOW?? I mean give us some reason why he mess up. I mean Yuri got into a mental breakdown once. He since fine... So what is his reason. Like give him some sort of reason to he felt the pressure. Is the same routine, same opponent, same ice. What is the reason??? Art and animation: The art style is kinda iffy in some moment. Some look fantastic while some look like berserk 2016 or even Ajin animation bad... Stretch that is worst. The 3D animation in this anime are worst than those two. Also, if you pause frame by frame you would see that their faces look like... To put kindly... off-model. I have to credit to MAPPA on making the ice-skating scene look like real figure skater. But other than that... Nothing stand out in a good way. Music: I'm not a big fan of the opening and the ending. I just found it bland and dull. The visual are pretty and great but the lyrics were bland and just can't get into it. The OST... Some hits and some misses. Enjoyment: Overall some positive but a major let down at the end with "characters there to be there characters", Horrible 3D animation but that's not the biggest disappointment of the series are the filler performances. Performances in sport anime are great and all but what are you getting of the performances are the major key to the performances and I pray to the heavens no other sports anime will do that ever again. Also, Ice skating is such a great influences in those characters live so it should have some impact on me to try ice skating. It doesn't... In fact they make it felt boring with the same routine over and over again. Ok, you can argue that the sport is not the main focus but the love between yuri and victor but if you remove 70-80% of the filler performances it would have no effect on the relationship. Look, I have not seen ace of diamond yet but I would bet that it would make the most boring sport ever due date exicting and fun which is baseball. So with the average score of 3.4 I would present yuri on ice a recommendation of a skip it. I love sport but this by far the worst sport anime I have seen due date that and battery Other recommendation include cheer danshi which highlight the sport with the fundamental basic and also give us great characters along the way. Next is a blind recommendation I have not try it but I bet is 100 times better than this chihayafuru.

Yuri On Ice was a show hyped up by many, and because of that I decided to give it a go. I'm a queer male, and enjoy seeing homosexual relationships played out well, and that was what I was looking for in Yuri On Ice. However, I was disappointed greatly by the show. Story: 6/10 From the get-go the story wasn't something I found remarkable, I'd never watched any other series, but figure skating isn't unheard of in the anime database. The whole story was incredibly predictable, beforehand you already knew what the outcome was going to be, and because of that it brought the story down for me. There was never a point in the story that I was shocked by a decision made, as none of them were shocking, they were all predictable. The ending wasn't much better either, and in all honesty is very forgettable. It didn't give much enjoyment having made it to the end, as a lot of series do give you once you finish. Art: 5/10 Episode 1 was amazing in terms of animation, the figure skating scenes shocked me with how fluent and smooth they were. They played around with different animating styles, the set-up shots of scenery were even enjoyable to look at. But this didn't last for long, it was very obvious the studio only focused on the first few episodes, as beyond episode 3 the animating dropped drastically. It is very clear that Yuri and Yurio were the main focuses of animating, and when it comes to the supporting characters they do not put as much effort into animating them. You can tell very easily the studio was in over their heads with the animating they wanted to do, and the time they had to do it. It's commendable they did manage to animate every performance, but it did come at a cost. Sound: 10/10 The sound is the one thing I cannot discredit in this anime, starting off with the amazing opening. 'History Maker' is the song used, and it was a perfect song to use. It got me hyped for the show, it really has a triumphant feel. "We were born to make history," the lyrics really set the show up in the right way. The voice acting was enjoyable as well, there was never a time I heard a character and thought they had made a bad decision with it. They all fitted the characters they were playing. The OST was undeniably beautiful, the music in this anime was unreal, and something I'll praise Yuri On Ice for endlessly. Character: 8/10 The main characters (Yuri, Yurio and Victor) were all enjoyable characters, they each had their flaws that were shown and worked on. They are easily relatable characters, the situations they go through are ones many people can relate to and see themselves in. They are all extremely realistic, and are well rounded characters. Each one of the three are well developed in the show, and seeing them grow was something I did enjoy even though I'm not the biggest fan of the show. However, the one flaw I found within Yuri was his reasons for developing, more than not they were all prompted by Victor. It was a shame that this relationship had to be the cause of many changes in Yuri, and he couldn't develop on his own most of the time. Supporting characters are a completely different stories, they were so rushed and often we were introduced to a character made out to be so important and mighty. Only to never see them again; Kenjirou for an example. We were introduced to Minami Kenjirou earlier on in the series, and he was made out to be an up and coming figure skater. Only for him to be cast aside after an episode or two of being in the spotlight, it was things like this that made being introduced to the characters feel pointless. Especially when we were introduced to so many as Yuri went to different tournaments and competed against everyone. No supporting character felt completely developed and explored in the way it felt they were being set up for. Enjoyment: 4/10 Overall, I did not enjoy Yuri On Ice. As a queer male, it felt too much like queerbaiting for me to enjoy. The focus felt more on the homosexuality than the sport at times, which I feel it shouldn't have considering it is a sports anime and not Shounen Ai. It felt like just another series that Fujoshi's and anyone else interested in gay fanservice would like. Which is not a bad thing, it was just something that didn't appeal to me. This series could easily, and has easily, appealed to non-anime and manga fans, the homosexuality was a touch that interest many people. I would never consider rewatching Yuri On Ice, I did not hate it, but I struggled to make it through it once around. Watching it again would have no point, other than to see the characters that got discarded over the episodes. Overall I gave Yuri On Ice a 5/10, it was not horrible, I don't hate it. But it didn't have anything that I found special, which is easily a personal thing. I would recommend watching Yuri On Ice, as it can easily appeal to you. If gay fanservice and Fujobaiting is not your thing, I don't feel you'll find much enjoyment from watching this. But if it is your thing, you'll love Yuri On Ice.