(CR) Yuri!!! on Ice

[Irenesharda]

A really beautiful episode. The skating was really well done and I like the characters so far. For some reason they seem to be a lot more real than in most anime series I've seen done.

The OP is the best one I've seen this season thus far. I'm already singing it! I can't wait to see more.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Flower

Ep 01

I must admit that the premier episode was downright lovely in many many ways, but unfortunately two things held me back - one is a disinterest in figure skating to begin with, and the other is how the comedy repeatedly fell flat for me.

Such a pity too - I can tell that quite a bit of effort went into this series, but it seems others will have to reap the fruits of the staff's efforts.

I will give ep 2 a try as a just in case, but I dunno at the moment....

You know, the second part of your qualifier reminded me very much of my initial reaction to Shigatsu - and we know how that turned out. That and my mixed feelings about Yamamoto as a storyteller have me a bit worried despite how strong the premiere was.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by shmaster

I am a awe, the episode is fantastic. The skating, the animation is so graceful and fluent!
And that OP, that OP!!!!!

Then I was reminded that they are going to dump so really distracting fujo-bait in this show...
Sigh. If they are really going to go that route, I pray it'll be a mature and serious relationship between Yuri and Victor, not some random man-service that should not be here.

The OP is indeed amazing. Excellent candidate for OP of the season (the year is still won by Mob Psycho 100's though, hands down).

As for the rest... well, distracting otaku-bait is the norm, so let the fujoshi have this one. I'm fine with that, but I'd find it rather unrealistic if after years spent in love with his senpai Yuuri suddenly discovered homosexual love for Viktor. I mean, he COULD find out he's bisexual, but yeah, this is still supposed to be a sports series, and that alone could make a season's worth of character development on its own .

[VyseLegendaire]

I love this. Those backgrounds were amazing. Too much to compliment, just gib me moar.

[R.LocK]

Mhm.

I seriously can't get used to how skating is depicted in anime-form. It, uh, doesn't look good no matter how well-animated it is. I don't get the feel of the speed I'm used to from watching a looot of skating in the past, I guess.

The preview for the next episode promises tons of fanservice that I don't want to see, but whatever. I'll give it a few episodes to see if I can like the show or not.

[CriiGV]

I've been hyped for Yuri on Ice and it definitely did not disappointed, it blew me away. It was so much better than I expected.

Man! That OP animation with that song! Holy...!! And that ED! Gosh, I'm in love.

Also the whole episode's animation and the ice skating sequence. Muh heart, I'm so ready for this.

And Victor! Victor...<3 Just, anime boy of the year. Also, I could understand why the fujobaiting would be a turn off for some, but for me it's right up my alley so 10/10 for me.

Can't wait until the next episode.

[MeoTwister5]

Good lord did they do motion capture on this? That's some fantastic motion animation right there, both on and off the ice. Too bad he got cock-blocked after his senior and love interest pretty much wet herself with his performance.

Also I think I might be gay for Victor.

[LKK]

Strongest debut episode I've seen this season. (It even beats Bungou Stray Dogs 2's debut which I thought was fantabulous.) The comedy surprised me at first. I wasn't expecting it to be in the super deformed style. But the more I think about it, the more I feel that the comedy is a good balance to the rest of the show.

That OP --- song and visuals --- oh ack! I found a clip of it a few hours after the show debuted. I played it over and over and over again. The odds of finding an OP song this season that I like better are probably so slim as to be non-existent.

Fangirling aside, the episode was much better than I expected it to be. If it's keep to the standard this episode set, it'll be one of the best this season.

[Guardian Enzo]

I think it should be pointed out that men's figure skating is a sport in which there are quite a few gay athletes, so "yaoi on ice" jokes aside, it would hardly be only fanservice to see it depicted in this series - it'd be realistic.

That said, I certainly got the sense that Yuuri was 100% in-love with Yu-chan. So there'd either have to be adequate development if it included him, or it'd have to involve only other characters.

[Blueknight78]

well to be honest a lot of fujoshi show, start with a mc which think he is hetero until the "handsome"(ikemen) gay guy appear and make the mc find out which he is actually gay and his love for girls was a fake one and which he was actually what we call a "closet gay" and the predator handsome gay dude come to make him leave his "closet".

looks like the fujoshis like more that sort of development rater than all being straight gay in the beginner(they still like that but the ones where the guy find later and struck with his "new found sexuality" are more liked).

[Cloudedmind]

Loved the first episode. The animation is top notch, and the skating sequences flow beautifully. I like the OP animation, and the song is nice, although I'd probably like it more if it was sung in Japanese. So Yuri pulls off a near perfect imitation of Victors performance, even without being completely in shape. I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with this. And I'm looking forward to seeing more Victor. xD

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I think it should be pointed out that men's figure skating is a sport in which there are quite a few gay athletes, so "yaoi on ice" jokes aside, it would hardly be only fanservice to see it depicted in this series - it'd be realistic.

That said, I certainly got the sense that Yuuri was 100% in-love with Yu-chan. So there'd either have to be adequate development if it included him, or it'd have to involve only other characters.

If they really wanted to go that route, I don't think it would be that hard to do it. Yuri has clearly admired Victor for years. Of course the key word here is admired, but now that he'll have direct contact with Victor himself, he could certain find himself being drawn in by Victor as a person, and not just someone he's put on a pedestal.

[Gan_HOPE326]

It really depends on where they want to go from here, I suppose. Wherever it is I hope it's not too dramatic. I'd easily take "Yuuri discovers he's really bisexual and ends up with Viktor" if it was played well over some bullshit like him declaring his love to Yu-chan or worse having a clandestine relationship and that ending up with a big breakup, fights, family trouble or whatever. Character drama is fine in a sports series, but if it's too complex a subplot it ends up taking the spotlight. And I think I can enjoy the sports parts as well (actually, usually I enjoy master-pupil relationships, which means I love well made training arcs).

[kuromitsu]

Finally got around watching this one, too...

So basically what they did was, took Endless Night, made the three stages of its main character into three separate characters, and made an anime out of them. I'll be disappointed if Viktor & Yuuri don't do a duet in the end, a la Endless Night...

(They could've really kept Kamijou Atsushi as the character designer, grumble grumble.)

Anyway, this was pretty fun, although I really could've done without the OTT screaming-and-flailing type of humor, that was pretty jarring. Not that I want darkity-dark drama, but it was just too over the top, I expected something more subtle. Then again, from the internet's reaction I expected a lot more homoerotic subtext, too... (Really, everyone's like "OMG SO GAY" and I'm sitting here slightly disappointed. I kind of hoped for Suwabe Junichi turning on the hot idol voice.) Animation was fine as was expected, characters too, etc etc., overall it was a pretty solid premier. Now to hope that the production values keep up, although I don't think they would've started this project on a crappy budget...

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

Then again, from the internet's reaction I expected a lot more homoerotic subtext, too... (Really, everyone's like "OMG SO GAY" and I'm sitting here slightly disappointed. I kind of hoped for Suwabe Junichi turning on the hot idol voice.)

I suppose it's more like that people expect that to happen in the future (kind of like everyone is giving for granted that Izetta is a yuri story even though there's been nothing in episode 1). After all Viktor looks totally gay, and the anime lingered quite a bit showing his body . Now it remains to be seen if Yuuri will find that exploring new, hm, options can be a way to overcome the grief for his lost osanajimi love.

[PreSage]

Wow, didn't know Russian skaters can speak fluent Japanese. Butt it was a really good first episode. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Grifis]

This is the first anime I watched this season since I heard great things about it. I don't really care much for skating sport but I do like it so far. Very beautiful animation. The main guy is likeable. I noticed that he suddenly turned from chubby to thin while skating. And how did he manage to dance so well with the weight? Anyways, Viktor looks beautiful and fabulous. He's great. I'm totally cool with a love story between Victor and Yuuri so bring on the romance. I don't really care for the other brat.

This is Viktor and Yuuri right?

[R.LocK]

Originally Posted by PreSage

Wow, didn't know Russian skaters can speak fluent Japanese. Butt it was a really good first episode. Looking forward to seeing more.

I assume that they were speaking in English. And that your pun was absolutely intended.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by R.LocK

I assume that they were speaking in English.

English was my assumption as well.

I watched the episode again this afternoon. Once again, Viktor's expression while watching the viral clip of Yuuri's skating worried me. Viktor doesn't look pleased. He looks as if he feels that he's being mocked. He definitely doesn't look like he's found someone he can nurture into a great skater. I fear he's in Japan to make Yuuri's life miserable in revenge. I hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, I hope Viktor quickly changes his mind about Yuuri.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by LKK

English was my assumption as well.

I watched the episode again this afternoon. Once again, Viktor's expression while watching the viral clip of Yuuri's skating worried me. Viktor doesn't look pleased. He looks as if he feels that he's being mocked. He definitely doesn't look like he's found someone he can nurture into a great skater. I fear he's in Japan to make Yuuri's life miserable in revenge. I hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, I hope Viktor quickly changes his mind about Yuuri.

That seems quite a huge amount of effort to go just for a petty revenge against a random nobody. He's a world champion. All he'd have to do is answer that Yuuri is clearly only an amateur when interviewed about the viral video and he'd slam him down a peg or two. I think the expression was simply an attempt at misleading the viewers, make it look like he was pissed at the beginning while he actually was fascinated by what he was seeing.
Or maybe it's a bit more complex than that and he has a second purpose in that he wants Yuuri to provide a foil to his own Yuri in order to promote his growth through rivalry.

[Veritas]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I think it should be pointed out that men's figure skating is a sport in which there are quite a few gay athletes, so "yaoi on ice" jokes aside, it would hardly be only fanservice to see it depicted in this series - it'd be realistic.

That said, I certainly got the sense that Yuuri was 100% in-love with Yu-chan. So there'd either have to be adequate development if it included him, or it'd have to involve only other characters.

Not really. Despite the contributions of gay skaters, figure skating is as insanely homophobic and conservative as any other sport. There have been about three skaters who have been out of the closet while competing (and zero gay women) because to be out is to hurt your career and the "image" of the sport. And part of this stereotype is just cherry picking - we expect male skaters to be gay and men in other sports to be straight, even though this is certainly not the case.

Of note:

- I'm amused that Yuri!!! appears to be the only notable Japanese Men's singles skater to compete with a dominant series of men from Russia considering it's been the exact opposite in real figure skating. The 2013-14 season going into Sochi was a damn bloodbath of, like, 8 potential Japanese men's skaters meanwhile Russia's been foundering for years, which is why they sent Plushenko to Sochi despite his being 80 in figure skating years and having a fucking broken back.

- When is this set in relationship to the Olympics? They said Victor had won 5 consecutive World titles, but no mention of any Olympic medals or whether he was threatening for it in the next quadrennial. It's not unusual for skaters to retire if they've won Olympic gold and if there was speculation that he was going to, are we to infer that he has already won Olympic gold or at least another color? Maybe silver, since if he'd won Worlds for five years running and it's also not unusual for the OGM winner to skip Worlds since it comes after the Olympics. Maybe Victor is planning to retire after all and that's why he's going to coach Y!!! instead of working on his own programs for next season.

- The scores listed at the GPF are ridiculously high. Pleased to see a Swiss skater made it to silver, which I will take to be a nod to Japan's love for actual Swiss skater and all-around piece of perfection Stephane Lambiel, since he is my favorite. Canada in 3rd could be the same to Patrick Chan? And Boyang Jin for China, but ain't nobody in Men's singles coming from Italy, so maybe this whole hypothesis is out the window.

- To even get to the Grand Prix Final, you have to be really good. The Grand Prix series, which they touched on in but didn't really explain, is a series of 6 competitions held once per week in the fall. (Skate America is usually the first and is in a couple of weeks.) The Grand Prix Final is for the 6 skaters who did the best in their discipline. For Yuri to have placed, he would have had to have been assigned 2 Grand Prix comps and almost certainly placed on the podium in both of them so I don't buy this whole struggling skater who's only recently seen success.

- It's also improbable that Y!!! and Victor have never met or skated on the same ice in their entire careers.

- Victor and Y!!! are surprisingly old. Usually Men's skaters peak a couple of years after Women's, but not a decade after.

- Going to guess that Y!!! wasn't able to do the jumps the Victor could do since he'd just be destroying his competition if he had multiple quadruple jumps.