~{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, but luckily they don’t happen too often.
Animation: 7.5/10
~{Voice Acting}~
The voice acting cast also does a great job in representing their characters. The seiyuu cast for Yuri on Ice is filled with well-known seiyuu with great track record. Toyonaga Toshiyuki does Yuuri very well, even if he sounds a little younger than he should be. But he gets both the comic timing and serious moments right. Victor’s seiyuu, Suwabe Junichi, is a well-known one and he does an extraordinary job as Victor. He makes his character hilarious and passionate and overall makes his character feel more enjoyable. And whenever he says random Russian words, it’s pretty damn funny. Yuri’s seiyuu, Uchiyama Kouki, is one of my personal favorite as he’s able to do both serious and lighthearted characters. Yuri is more of a serious character, who at times you can’t take seriously, and Uchiyama manages to capture the characters rough personality very well. There are other really well known seiyuu that play important roles, such as Hosoya Yoshimasa, Ono Kensho, and Miyano Mamoru, and they all do a very good job in voice acting their characters.
Voice Acting: 7.5/10
~{Music}~
The music in Yuri on Ice is one of its biggest strong points. The OP, “History Maker”, is simply put on of the best openings of the year. All of the lyrics is in English and they have a really good meaning to it. Plus the music used in the opening is brilliant and complements the vocals. The ED, “You Only Live Once”, is just as good as the opening and the song has a very upbeat and modern vibe to it. Complemented with Instagram-style visuals, the ED feels refreshing and it’s something you’ll rarely hear in an anime. However, the background music is also really good, particularly for the ones used in the skating performances. “In Regards to Love ~Eros~” and “Yuri on ICE” are easily my favorite soundtracks from this series. And there’s so many other well orchastarted music used in the series that makes these skating moments feel more impactful.
Music: 8.5/10
~{Enjoyment}~
Yuri on Ice ended up meeting my expectations and satisfied me. It never goes beyond to something special, but it manages to consistently entertain with both its lighthearted and serious moments. Some of the buildup doesn’t pay off as well as I was hoping to be and with the inconsistent production values, some of the skating programs can feel a bit unsatisfying. But Yuri on Ice makes up for that with its character development and interactions, and its modern feel and tone. Most of the competitions feel enjoyable and the humor is really good in the series. The most entertaining part of the series is Yuuri and Victor’s relationship and without it, Yuri on Ice wouldn’t have anything too special that could make it stand out.
Enjoyment: 7/10
In the end, Yuri on Ice manages to be what it originally promises; however, it never goes beyond that. The unique and fun cast of characters makes this series have more fun to it and the relationship between the two main characters is well handled. The skating moment are really enjoyable to watched due to great background music being used during these moments. However, some of the impact is lost due to inconsistent animation and art as characters can look undetailed or deformed at times and the lack of proper depth can be distracting. Though not all buildup is payed off, the series still manages to be quite satisfying and it ends in a way where it’s open for a second season. Hopefully we get to see a continuation of Yuuri, Victor and everyone else’s journey.
+ Great characters and Yuri and Victor’s relationship is well handled and doesn’t feel forced.
+ Nice blend of lighthearted and seriousness, complemented by a modern style used for this series.
+ Outstanding OP and ED with the background music complements the skating moments well.
+ Great voice acting from a cast filled with well-known seiyuu.
- Average production values lead to inconsistent animation quality and undetailed characters at times
- The pay-off for all the buildup isn’t completely satisfying.
Overall: 7.4/10
