3 Reasons Why A Non-Anime-Fan Thinks Yuri!!! on Ice is Awesome
I am not and have never been an avid anime watcher. If there is one point in my life in which I could not live without anime, it must be during my childhood, every Sunday from ~6 to 10 am. Along with other hundreds of thousands Indonesian kids around my age who went straight to TV room after waking up--so it was pretty much a norm for my generation. Nothing special.
However, once I grow up, I have started to watch less anime. Maybe only one to two titles per year. Not because I hate it; simply because I am very picky about which TV series should I give my effort to follow.
Let’s be honest: so many animes nowadays revolve around the same theme, with similar plot, similar animation quality, similar style, and serve similar fan service acts. Which is the very reason for me to not easily trust Japanese animation production companies other than Studio Ghibli and CoMix Wave (Makoto Shinkai). I always spare some time for research before drowning myself into an anime series marathon.
But suddenly, this Katsudon appears.
And I was sold since the first minutes. There are only two TV series I can watch for hours: Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Yet out of blue, I got my eyes fixed on laptop screen, went from episode 1 to 5, for THIS thing.
Yuri!!! on Ice is a sports anime TV series produced by MAPPA, directed by Sayo Yamamoto (Michiko to Hatchin (2009), Lupin III (2012), also involved in the making of Space Dandy and Arakawa Under the Bridge) and written by Mitsurou Kubo (Moteki, Tokkyuu!!). Its first episode aired on October 5, 2016 and by November 14, 2016 has released its sixth episode.
Left: Yamamoto Sayo. Right: Mitsurou Kubo.
I have to admit that the style is not extraordinary, the quality of the animation is not a 10/10 either (CoMix Wave is still an all-killer), but I cannot help myself from getting all hyped up by watching Yuri!!! on Ice. Here is my three reasons:
1. Yuri!!! on Ice portrays the real figure skating
I have been a figure skating fan for years, although only limited as an online spectator. I also spent a decade of my life practicing its sister field, ballet. I can tell you that what they show on the performance scenes are real figure skating choreography that are done neatly and beautifully. The scenes are choreographed by Kenji Miyamoto, a two-time Japanese national champion who now works as a coach, which explains all the quality.
Above: We even have a figure skating champion, Evgina Medvedeva, fangirls over the series. (Although she’s already a self-proclaimed otaku to begin with)
The only downside is the standard frame rate (the number of picture per second). It makes the skating scenes, which supposedly look weightless and as smooth as Yuri!!! on Ice fans’ fantasy, a bit stiff and laggy.
I respect the director’s decision and the studio’s effort to do fully hand-drawn animation, but for me, the result does not work really well on the performance scenes. I think they can improve it to look smoother, but well, maybe on a higher budget.
2. The shounen-ai fan service
As someone who spent two years doing MBA, I can easily see through it when people does something for the sake of selling. Athletes and their chiseled body have been fetished and fantasized since forever. Now add a sprinkle of flamboyance by adapting the figure skater theme, and voila! °☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.
Figure skating is already a combination of sport and performing art, a field in which exploration of one’s feminine side and sexuality is not only normal, but sometimes even required. Hence, it is relatively easy for the studio to serve fans with well-built flower boys doing (((things))) without going out of story.
However, I think it would be nice if the producers do cut some slack on the shounen-ai (going on yaoi) material. The amount of fan service on episode 6 is already enough for me. In my opinion, since the series is dubbed as “sport anime”, too much fan service might distract viewers from the figure skating theme itself.
Make no mistake; I appreciate artistic eroticism, the style that director Yamamoto is really fond of. I am just afraid that too much of it, in parts that will not really build the story, might make some viewers tired. Nonetheless, I do acknowledge that many of you would love to see Victuuri (Victor x Yuuri) fan service to just go up to heaven.
3. We secretly want to be Yuuri Katsuki...
... or at least, we can relate to his initial state (discouraged, failed) and hope to be able to be where he currently is (taken under the wing of a ridiculously charming idol/mentor). Popular culture products are the ones that we can relate to and fantasize with, right? ;)
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