STORY- (spoilers ahead) This is what i saw a lot of people really hate about it. I won't lie, the story IS for a very niche market. Is this story for fujoshis? eeehhh I guess if you're one of those fujoshi who see two men standing five feet apart and start freaking out because they're now your OTP. It's not fujoshi bait to me, it doesn't try to make you think they aren't together and then it turns out they're not. My best example of this bait is Free!. The whole anime made you think the men were together in some way then you see certain things happen that blatantly say it's friendship, this isn't the case with Yuri On Ice. Viktor and Yuuri have been confirmed multiple times by multiple staff members that they are in a relationship and that infamous kiss was censored on TV airings, it's uncensored in the blue ray actually. The story follows our protagonist Yuuri through maybe 10/12 episodes, the other two episodes follows his coach and later fiance Viktor. The whole point and message of Yuuri On Ice is that for those who lack faith in themselves, love from those closest to you (whether that be family or a romantic partner) will always give you that boost of confidence you need to achieve your dreams. I would say love and support are the biggest themes of this series, something i honestly don't see in sports anime. I often see the main character rely on ignoring what they're told they can't do, which is good to, but i think showing that support and love will always help those who need it is a lot better and more understanding of a message. Yes, i suppose the pacing is fast for a anime like this. Perhaps it could've had 15 episodes, but i honestly think 12 was a good amount. Any longer and there would've been episodes to call 'nothing but filler' and any shorter then the plot would be completely incoherent. Side plots like Yuri P trying to outdo everyone, JJ's thing and Mikey's thing are all welcomed but i do admit they could've been a little more fleshed out - especially JJ. We see him for only a few episodes and only ever see the confident side of him before he breaks down but i think it can make sense. I have seen people with JJ's confidence before, and i have seen them suffer breakdowns like he did because they shut away too much pressure and so it built up and caused it. Still, despite it's flaws the story is moving and incredibly to me.
ART- The art style is not too much to say, but i still enjoy it. The animation was another thing people complained about and I'm gonna be honest, most skating routines outside of Yuuri's were not animated very well. Minami's routine felt the stiffest out of all the routines. I noticed reused animation as well, especially for Mikey's free program where he's using History Maker's choreography is certain scenes. Still, i think Yuuri's scenes were done beautiful although the first couple times for Eros' routine looked a little shaky. Now Yuri On Ice was done on an extremely tight schedule and the creator often had to fight against producers for certain scenes to be even in this anime, so perhaps this was why we got the finished product we had. Still, the animation of stunning when they didn't have the flaws. For instance, Yuri's Free Program routine was animated incredibly and the intro was absolutely stunning! It's flawed, but there's been worse animation in the past.
SOUND- This soundtrack is absolutely incredible! So many different styles of music to match that all these characters come from different parts of the globe. You have classical pieces, as many skaters often do and then you have really sick electronic music in other routines! The voice acting is excellent as well, even the English dub is really good. Though i will admit, i did not like the choice of Viktor's actor. They could've chosen someone else and in the first episode he sounds more like Gru from despicable me but everyone else did a good job! Especially when doing the accents, though i didn't care for Chris' accent and tone as it felt like the complete opposite of the original actor. However, i can look past it. Can i also say that the intro and ending songs are absolutely fantastic pieces of music? History Maker is the perfect song when you need that motivation and the ending song is that awesome song you dance to with your friends at a party! One song i would like to touch on, is Yuri On Ice. It's the song for Yuuri's free program and honestly it's a song that touched me. It doesn't have lyrics, it's just a piano and few other classical instruments, but goodness did it's melody and rhythm move me in ways music hasn't before. This is a song that i felt described myself and a song i could connect with and understand why Yuuri felt it was a true song to describe his entire career as a skater. Perhaps i sound too overly emotional when i say this, but i did cry upon first hearing that beautiful song.
CHARACTERS- This is the most important part for the series. If Yuri On Ice didn't have strong relate able characters and a respect for the cultures these characters came from, this series would be absolutely awful. Yuuri as a character is one i identify with most, the only anime character i can truly feel is like a anime version of myself but a man. His struggles mirrored my own and the way he felt about being around his idol is how i feel when around those i look up to. He strongly resonated with me and is now my favorite character in a anime. Ask yourself this, how many times do we see a character in a anime with clear anxiety disorder and have constant breakdowns? Not that often and if so it's the cutesy "aw you're stressed look how cute she looks!". Yuuri's anxiety is realistic, his thoughts are realistic as well. Next is Viktor, his idol. Viktor is pretty much the exact kind of person someone with anxiety wants. He's so understanding, kind and sweet but at the same time he's strict and even he can be fragile sometimes. Viktor is really someone you would hope to find in real life or maybe you hope to be like him - a true friend/boyfriend/fiance/husband/coach/etc that you hope will always be there for you. Next up is Yuri P, who broke boundaries for me as a rival character. I am so used to the tsundere Rin Matsuoka type who don't start having a heart or caring until the last minute of the finale after they suffer some kind of breakdown/issue with their parents. Yuri P is still that tsundere type, but he actually does care about other's not just himself. He even makes a friend on his own, absolutely adores his grandfather and gifts Yuuri piroshikis on his birthday. He's a angry teenager but that's his flaw. I also appreciated that they didn't give him a overly tragic backstory like what they did with Rin to make us understand why he acts the way he does. He just is a determined boy and a hormonal teenager, and that's a more realistic than other rivals in anime. JJ is another character to love, despite the hate everyone has for him and his very short appearance. Is he overly confident? Yes, but i don't understand why the hate for it. He isn't that kind of confidence that literally bullies people to add to his own ego or openly calls everyone crap while he's the best. He just believes in himself, perhaps so much that he didn't realize he was setting the bar so high for himself that he broke down, that's realistic to me when someone has to high of a confidence. Phichit is great as well as a character! I feel like maybe he could've used more spotlight but i still absolutely loved his personality and how sweet he was. His dreams were charming and he was one of those people who just loves the thing they're doing. Can i also say i love how female skaters were represented in this series? Sure it's not a lot, but finally a sports anime treats women really good without making her super involved with the sport itself. There's no Gou/Kou like girl here, and i appreciate that. It just felt a little weird to me that every sports anime I've seen had a woman lead the group of guys as if the guys didn't know what they were doing or shove one in simply to create the 'real' love interest for the guy. I like that the girl Yuuri was skating to was a married woman and was simply friends with him instead of shoving a 'haha this is the REAL love interest!' trope which i definitely don't like.
Overall this anime is just spectacular. I'll be honest, it is for a tiny market and not everyone is gonna enjoy this. ESPECIALLY if you don't like figure skating, because if you don't you're definitely going to be pretty upset with it. I wanna reiterate one more time that this anime is NOT fujoshi bait, only people think it is because they're not used to seeing a canon couple in a anime without it getting tagged as "BL" or "YAOI" somewhere. Like i say earlier here, the creators and staff working on it have 100% confirmed that Viktor and Yuuri ARE CANON. Another reason is that if you're maybe someone who doesn't like the occasional fanservice (i didn't state it here because Yuri On Ice's fan service is really tame compared to other ones I've seen with girls soo...) involving men then yeah you're not gonna enjoy it either. Basically only those who love figure skating, don't mind the fan service, can fully accept a male couple in the lead and look past it's flaws can someone really see the beauty of Yuri On Ice. If this is a anime even real life figure skaters adore, then surely that's something to be said about it right? Last i checked i don't see professional volleyball players watching Haikyuu!! or Micheal Phelps watching Free!
Just to me, this anime will forever be my favorite of all time. And i can't wait for the movie and season 2!
