REVIEW: Yuri!!! on Ice, Season 1 (anime TV series)

Yuri!!! on Ice is a sports anime focused on men's figure skating. At the moment, it's one season (12 episodes) long, although I've heard that there may be a second season.

This review contains spoilers. I tried not to talk too much about how the skating worked out, but there were things I wanted to say about the character relationships that meant I had to go into spoiler territory. Reminder: I've begun posting my TV series and movie reviews on LibraryThing, where I'm able to use spoiler tags.

Review:

I know I said I was probably going to wait a while before writing my review for this series, give myself more time to process, etc. But I think I’m just going to get it out there. I may write another one after it comes out on DVD.

Yuri on Ice is a sports anime starring Katsuki Yuri, a Japanese figure skater who is trying to recover after completely flubbing the Grand Prix Final. In order to get his love of figure skating back, he imitates the latest performance of Victor Nikiforov (spelled “Victor” in Crunchyroll and “Viktor” by a lot of fans). A recording of his performance is uploaded to the internet, sparking a lot of talk in the skating world, and Victor himself inexplicably arrives and announces he’s taking a break from skating in order to be Yuri’s coach. It’s like a dream come true for Yuri.

The bulk of the series is devoted to the newest Grand Prix Final, but throughout it all are the threads of the characters’ various relationships, including the possibility of romance between Yuri and Victor.

Yuri on Ice - I have now seen the final episode

(This post is somewhat spoiler-y, so if you haven’t seen the final episode of Yuri on Ice and are avoiding spoilers like the plague, you should maybe move on for now.)

I got myself another guest pass for Crunchyroll, and I just finished the last episode. I think I feel good about it? I mean, besides the tears that were streaming down my face during most of the performances.

More Yuri on Ice

I love this show and hope its final episode won't break my heart. Since the overall series is warm, fuzzy, and lovely, I don't think that's going to happen, but you never know. Crossing my fingers.

I haven't read many of people's analyses of the show, because I haven't seen episode 11 (the most current episode) yet and didn't want to risk coming across too many spoilers. Although I did break down and watch a clip of the scene that made the whole fandom wail in anguish, so I'd know what to brace myself for. Anyway, I've still managed to read a few relatively non-spoilery things. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Courtney Milan writing about Viktor Nikiforov as a depiction of depression - Although episodes 10 and 11 are mentioned, there's nothing here I'd call a spoiler. Yuri's issues with anxiety are pretty clear in the show (although I'm definitely going to hunt down other people's analyses after I've finished the series, because I'm sure others have caught details I've missed and come up with interpretations I haven't thought of), but Viktor's are more subtle and I thought this was a nice take. And now it irks me even more that so many people keep telling Viktor to stop playing at being a coach, and that he couldn't possibly be a good one.

An Interview with Johnny Weir: His Thoughts on "Yuri on Ice" - This one's also pretty spoiler-free, although it does reference episode 10 in a vague way. Okay, so while I enjoy watching figure skating during the Winter Olympics, the extent of my figure skating knowledge prior to watching this show was somewhere in the realm of "zero" and "ooh, pretty." I don't actually know the names of a lot of figure skaters and only heard about Johnny Weir after Yuri on Ice fans started talking about how he was going to watch the show (more on that here: Johnny Weir Is Going to Watch Yuri on Ice, Everyone Is Excited).

After reading this interview, I'm pleased that Yuri on Ice's depiction of the figure skating world is apparently pretty accurate, pleased that someone besides me dislikes Chris (the characters keep saying how sexy he is, but he just makes my skin crawl), and I have to laugh about the banquet. Yeah, I figured that banquet had very little connection to reality. In real life someone probably would have called security. This bit in the interview was great: "The drunken dance offs happen in the hotel rooms once all the old people go to bed."

And that's it for now.

Currently watching: Yuri on Ice

I don't normally post about shows before I've finished seeing the entire thing, but in this case I have all kinds of feelings and they need an outlet. So, here we go!

Yuri on Ice is a sports anime about men's figure skating, with a side of something that might be romance (my current theory: Yuri is ace, or possibly demi - thankfully Viktor seems to be fine with that). It's wonderful. The first two or three episodes have some rough points (I hated how Yuri's gut kept getting used purely for humor), but it just keeps getting better and better from there.

I almost broke down and got a Crunchyroll subscription so I could watch episode 10 and then binge the whole series up to that point, but then I found out that neither Crunchyroll nor Funimation (the other site currently legally streaming the show) have Samsung apps anymore, so I'd still have to watch it on my computer rather than on my TV. But hey, 48-hour Crunchyroll guest memberships are a thing, and I managed to get one.

Episode 10 is the best. I think my poor heart came close to exploding. My favorite moments: the "lucky charm," Phichit's instantly joyous reaction, and the entire ending credits (but particularly Viktor's reaction at the very end).

If this series doesn't end happily, I'm going to be a wreck. At the moment though, it's a lovely bright spot at the end of this horrible year, and I'm absolutely planning on getting the DVDs once they become available. My favorite episodes so far: 6, 7, 9 (go, Sara!*), and 10 (♥).

ETA: This article (which has huge spoilers for episode 10, so watch out) does a much better job than I could of laying out some of the main things that make episode 10 so great. I hadn't thought much yet about episode 10's implications for a series rewatch, but now I'm even happier.


* - Crunchyroll's subtitles call Viktor "Victor" and Sara "Sala," but I have a feeling that "Viktor" and "Sara" would be more appropriate spellings.