In despite of my rating, Yuri!!! on ICE offers plenty of points, which it can be criticized for. Many reviews already pointed them out and so will I. BUT do you remember the time, an anime REALLY got you hooked? Either by being emotional gripping, story- or characterwise? Or just think about the time back in the days, you fell in love with this form of art? Remember smiling like a little child, watching those frames flicker on TV? I do. I do remember exactly this kind of feeling, when I got into anime ~15 years ago. After watching plenty of anime over the years, there was none to reach that. Yeah, sure: There were great stories, great characters, great soundtracks, etc. For certain. But rarely one could recreate the magic moments, like the ones happening years ago. Besides Yuri!!! on ICE. A kind of generic sports anime. Yes, you read that right. It is generic, with a few variatons of already known patterns. But it managed to deliver its essence. And that's just what the magic (anime) is about.
Art/Animation:
MAPPA does a great job with astonishing skating routines. They are fluent and barely depend on work with stills. The dynamic in those is breathtaking and energizing, which leads to an euphoric watching experience (sic), where I couldn't sit still, but root for the various skaters. Even though, especially in the first three/four episodes, there are seemingly a few flubs regarding the animation of faces, which seemed a bit off at times. But I guess the blu-ray releases will polish them.
Apart from the skating, the animation/art is kept simple (minimalistic) and fits the comedic theme of the first episodes. Nothing to worry about, because it's enjoyable and lighthearted.
A nice addition were the storyboards of some routines, showing the meanings behind the interpretations. Simple kept as well, but you ge a grasp of the idea behind them. Nice!
Sound/VA:
P-E-R-F-E-C-T. The soundwork is great, the diverse soundtrack even better. As I am writing this, I am nodding to the "Theme of King JJ". The musical style reaches from classic themes à la Beethoven (Symphony nr. 9), to modern pianoworks (YURI on ICE) and different variations of classical themes like In Regards To Love ~Eros~ and ~Agape~ or just pumping themes like the Theme of King JJ, Anastis or Intoxicated.
Each track offers not just different skating routines, but also a glimpse of the diverse personalities und cultural backgrounds from the performing skaters themselves.
It is a great soundcollection and composed tracks under the supervision of Taro Umebayashi.
The VA is great. With veteran seiyu Suwabe, you just can't go wrong. Even newcomer Toyonoga as Yuri does a magnificent job, from being that insecure skater turning into a self-confident winning-type. Even the casting of the sidecharacters can't be complained, offering a couple of A-class VAs.
Characters:
Kudos to Mappa for choosing such a wide range of nationalities. Even though some seem to be a little bit stereotype, it is still great to see different cultures in competition against each other, without loosing too much of their unique behaviours in the process. The audience still learns a decent amount of personal background of each skater, without being reduced to a mere sidecharacter. Each of them offers a unique charisma (positive or negative) on- and offside the brink, which makes it difficult to not cheer for them during the competitions. And seeing them giving all their best is really impressive (yes, even Christophe has this special appeal *sigh*).
What's even better is- concerning this as a representative of the ganbatte-subgenre - that YoI knows exactly where the strengths of the characters lay. Even though you are supposed to root for Yuri, since he's the MC with all the sympathies for him, I felt sympathies for almost everyone. Victor being the cool and dominant MC with a bunch of gold medals under his chest, Yuri, being a wrecked character from the start up to his rise and Yurio, that little brat... having his very own struggles. Still, I caught myself being most impressed by Yurios performances on the ice, regardless of his shown personality. There wasn't anyone, who you couldn't like.
Story:
Okay. As I wrote before, this is a generic sports anime, with little adjustments. Yuri, being in the position of an already established skating figure, it's not your typical rise to fame story in those terms. Still, it's all about becoming better and more strong minded and - of course: winning. And this is, where Yuri!!! on ICE sinks it's teeth into: It focuses on the hardships of every sports: Being down after a grave defeat, losing your passion for something you loved more than anything else and realizing exactly that.
I really appreciated the effort, the show put into showing these kind of struggles, without degrading Yuri as a loser, who just needs to train more to reach his goals. Other reviews claim, that this is a mental illness he's suffering from, but I don't think so. If you loose your motivation, passion, whatever you call it, you cannot win. It's not just about the sportive skills, it's about that very mindset as well. And the relationship between Yuri and his coach Victor shows exactly this.
Yes, you can totally see an agressive "in your face" approach of a man x man relationship here, with Victor being the impulsive part. But I don't see it JUST as that. This relationship is always in movement, and refers imo pretty much to the musical themes of ~Eros~ & ~Agape~. The clue? You cannot fix these motives to Yuri and Victor, since they represent both motives within their personalities. And that's the interesting thing, which attracts me to them as an audience member. You can criticize Yuri!!! on ICE for being inconsequent in terms of actually showing specific moments, sure. I do so, too. But instead, I want to focus on the subtle moments as well. There's no need to talk much between them, there are plenty of subtle(!) actions, that don't focus on these"in your face" actions. They stand on the very same eye level, which shines in specific dialogues. You get what they are feeling (for each other), which ultimately cuminates in the ice skating.
-And that is, what makes YoI so amazing and magical.-
Overall production/tl;dr:
Despite the well known framework plot of sports competitions, Yuri!!! on ICE delivers a magnificent attempt in combining breathtaking sportsanimations with complex relationships. The lovely characterportraits can be seen in different ways and it's up to you, how you want to interpret it. There are certainly a couple of ways.
Even though the ending felt a little bit rushed, I enjoyed every single second of this anime. With a perfect art-, soundtrack- and charactermix, it just gripped my heart and let me feel the flow of the show and cheer for the hard working ice skaters.
This is what anime is about and this show showed me again, that there is no need to be perfect in every instance- as long as it packs YOU as the audience and lets you forget about everything else. And if it's just for a 25 minute episode. It simply showed me, with all it's honesty, how great anime can be.
