My Thoughts On: Yuri!!! on ICE Episodes 7-12

I finished this show last night at about 1:40 am. I was determined to finish it so I could write this, but I was also reluctant because that would mean I couldn’t watch it for the first time anymore.

This show exceeded all expectations I had. I’d heard about it sometime in early October before it was aired. I read the description, but it didn’t strike me as something I would love to watch. I would see posts about it on Twitter for months, but I generally ignored it all. Then in December, my friend decided to start it and convinced me to watch it. I didn’t start it until the beginning of this month, but once I did, I knew I made the right decision.

As I said in the last post, I fell in love with the opening immediately, and that was what drove me to finish the episode. By the end, I was thoroughly intrigued and excited to watch the next episode.

This show broke boundaries, and did things that I wouldn’t expect. But they did them WELL. They included a canon gay couple, in a SPORTS ANIME and it wasn’t even tagged as being “yaoi”. Which I would say that it still shouldn’t be tagged as that, even when I finished it.

I’m aware that fans of sports animes that have an all-male cast tend to do a lot of shipping. And that’s what I’d assumed when I saw fan-made posts about this show. I’d assumed that it was just another sports anime that people did a lot of fan-shipping for. I was shocked when I  found out that it wasn’t fan-made relationships in this show, but actually something that was weaved into it.

Alright, I’ve talked about the overall of the show enough. I’ll actually talk about these specific six episodes.

My favorite episode out of the whole show was episode ten, big surprise, right? I absolutely love filler episodes in general, unlike a lot of people. And this was no exception. There was so much that was important in that episode, and things all clicked by the end. For those of you who have watched all of it know exactly what I mean.

But besides that, it showed a lot of the characters’ true nature, outside of being in competitions. I couldn’t stop smiling watching it. They all were so relaxed and just decided to hang out for a while before going back to competition. And when I finished this episode I wished that there were more episodes like this. Where they could all just sit and talk and have fun without worrying about being rivals.

And, of course, one of the cutest scenes between Victor and Yuri happened in this episode.

Okay, so on the topic of these two, I’ll discuss some of my favorite scenes between them. I know I saw a lot of pictures from episode seven, you know, the one with the kiss (?). And, alright, so I’ve seen some people say it was, and some say it’s not. But it totally was, if you look at the expressions and where their arms are, and the previous offer that Victor had given. You can’t deny it, you disbelievers.

Anyway, that wasn’t my favorite. It was actually in episode nine, when Victor came back from his short trip to Japan. The way they ran to each other was so frantic and desperate, and it just proved the bond and relationship they’d created over the eight months they’d been working together. I nearly cried watching it. And, I’ve never been a person who gets the most excited over kiss scenes in shows. I usually like seeing the simpler, sweet scenes such as hugs or words exchanged. I just think they’re so much more powerful than a kiss.

Something I thoroughly enjoyed about the relationship was that it was surely a slow process, and they took small steps to reach the relationship they have now. It wasn’t an instantaneous thing, and I can respect that deeply. One thing I can’t stand in shows and books is a relationship that is unrealistically rushed. And neither of them was more “feminine” than the other, where they both played a role in the end. It wasn’t one person making all of the “moves.” Yes, you can argue that Victor would do some things in the beginning, but this was before they really got to know each other well. It was a gradual change of feelings, and I think they just tend to show this through  different means, much like most people. Anyway, I just think the portrayal of the relationship was well done. Much like many things in this show.

Okay, I’ve talked enough about Yuri and Victor, though I’m not sure if one can talk about them too much. I’ll move on to my favorite character, Yuri Plisetsky, or Yurio, as I’ll be referring to him throughout the rest of the post. In my last one, I used different spellings, but I think calling him Yurio is good enough. Even in the last episodes, he still remained my favorite, same as in the first six episodes.

First off, he’s completely adorable, even when he’s salty and yelling at whomever. And, again, he’s closest to my age of the the main three characters. He’s really impressive in his skating, performing feats that someone of his age shouldn’t be capable of. It kind of makes me feel a little disappointed in my own accomplishments, if I’m older than him.

But I think I want to talk about his development. Especially in his relationship with Yuri. When they first meet, in episode one, he’s yelling at Yuri, calling him a loser, and requesting that he just retire entirely. But by the end, Yurio is easier on Yuri, though still very competitive toward him. Even though he hides it, you can tell that he doesn’t hate Yuri anymore. And when Yurio and his grandfather made a katsudon pirozkhi, he was eager to have Yuri try it, since he knew that it was his favorite dish. And then he makes the cutest face possible and I just melted looking at it. This angry, rebellious teenager made this face and I can’t get past it it’s so adorable.

I’m sorry I went off on that little t
angent there. But I really love that scene, since it showed a side of Yurio we never saw before. And happy Yurio is the best Yurio. Oh, and I loved the little scene in episode nine where Yuri went around and hugged all of the other skaters after the competition, and when he came to hug Yurio, he ended up having to chase him down. So, that’s another thing.

Yurio was also the one to win the gold at the Grand Prix Final, which again, was incredibly impressive for his age. He’s the youngest possible to enter the competition, and managed to win, out of either intense dedication or sheer luck and insane talent. I was very happy to see that he won, and though the goal was for Yuri to win, they were so close to tying. I looked at the final scores, and I believe they were about 0.1 point away from each other.In the end, either could have won, Yurio just performed slightly better than Yuri, which I’m alright with. I know some people are disappointed, since Victor had said he would marry Yuri if he won. But, hey, this means we get a second season hopefully and see Yuri improve even more. So that should be exciting.

 

Overall, I loved this show. Never thought I would watch something like this, but I’m glad I did. But then again, History Maker has been stuck in my head for all of this month, and I find myself looking at a lot of fanart on Pinterest when I wake up in the morning. Ah, I’ve let this consume me, just like many other animes. Nothing new to me.

I gave this show a 10/10 on MAL, which isn’t that common for me. It surpassed a lot of animes I would consider my favorites, so I think this one has made it to my top anime list.

I hope all of you enjoyed this, I was making mental notes on what I would talk about as I was watching it.

Remember to follow me on Twitter: @letstalkanime1

Pictures:

Featured Image: https://68.media.tumblr.com/4fa1102749b81c3d3a11549d1a059d32/tumblr_ognx7nfVus1qmlmyuo1_500.jpg

Nose-to-nose: http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Yuri-on-Ice-06-18-1280×720.jpg

Rings: http://images2.itechpost.com/data/images/full/56440/yuri-on-ice-episode-10-recap-episode-11-spoilers.jpg

Kiss: http://images.jobsnhire.com/data/thumbs/full/50628/720/0/0/0/yuri-on-ice-viktor-yuri.jpeg

Hug: https://68.media.tumblr.com/2e675aa76093cfeffe82ca06d4e0b1ab/tumblr_ohh4woInOG1rdrmaho1_500.jpg

Hand kiss: http://randomc.net/image/Yuri%20on%20Ice/Yuri%20on%20Ice%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2034.jpg

Angry Yurio: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/17/f7/ef/17f7efd9df9724eafaa3c2fe158dc0a0.jpg

Happy Yurio: http://i.imgur.com/Nshuv7b.png

Yuri chasing Yurio: http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Yuri-on-Ice-09-50-1280×720.jpg

Cute Yurio: https://rare289.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/screenshot-878.png?w=648