Why I feel that YoI betrayed its own narrative - part 2
DISCLAIMER: I love Yuri on Ice. No, listen, you don’t understand, I! LOVE! YURI! ON! ICE! Deeply! It’s very special, extremely important to me. It has touched my heart in ways that few stories have, it’s one of my favourite things across any media. There’s not a single character I dislike. I’ve recommended it to everyone I know. I have cosplay plans. My phone’s ringtone is History Maker. Every night before bed I read fanfiction. I ordered the official soundtrack. Currently on my desk sits my mini christmas tree sporting an acrylic charm of the main trio and Makkachin. I’m wearing Yuuri on my shirt as I write this. Ok? We’ve established this. I love, adore Yuri on Ice, and I wish I could be feeling for the finale the same levels of pure joy the episodes have been giving me every week since it aired. But I’m not.
Yuuri Katsuki’s character arc
Yuri Plisetsky’s character arc
Victor Nikiforov’s character arc
The resolution of Victuuri
Missing pieces and inconsistencies
HUGE THANKS to @soobaki for doing the beta on this monster and for the constant emotional support as I wrote it!
Warning: this is a long post.
Yuri Plisetsky - on learning humility, bonds and being himself
In great contrast to how Yuuri starts the story at the lowest of the low, Yurio is standing at the top. He is introduced to us as the Junior Grand Prix Final gold medalist. Later in the same episode he is referred to as a rising star and already assumed to be a future champion in his upcoming senior debut, alongside Victor. His confidence is peaking, he is a skating prodigy, he is younger, more talented than Yuuri, everything is going fantastic for Yurio.
So how do we, the audience, meet Yurio? He follows Yuuri into a bathroom, stands outside the stall listening to his crying, kicks the door, then proceeds to yell in his face that he should quit because two Yu(u)ris are unnecessary in the senior bracket and Yuuri is obviously the inferior one.
It’s quite the character introduction. Certainly leaves an impact.
Next time we see Yurio, he is firmly rejecting the attempted advice Victor gives him on his skating, dismissing it as not mattering because he won anyway. He then proceeds to tell Victor to stop nagging him and right after that purposely ignores Yakov lecturing him.
The last time we see Yurio in episode 1 is with this scene.
This is how the narrative decides to establish Yurio for us: an overconfident rude brat who has no respect for his seniors, his coach or his fellow competitors, who slacks off his training, and who believes he’s good enough that anyone trying to even help him is doing nothing but annoy him and waste his time. Just in case we weren’t sure of just how high Yurio’s levels of confidence reach, episode 2 spells is out for us.
Yurio is 100% confident that he will win the Grand Prix Final at his senior debut, all he’s missing is the right tools for the job: AKA Victor’s choreography. At his side, Yuuri is even a bit shaken by just how sure Yurio is that he will win. He doesn’t talk about attempting, he doesn’t talk about wanting to win, Yurio takes it for granted that he will win. And he’s a 15 year old willing to fly to another country, by himself, on a blind chase for the man he thinks will help him get there.
And that’s Yurio’s personal goal, to make a brilliant senior debut by winning gold at the Grand Prix Final, and do it specifically with Victor choreographing his programs. I can already hear some of you saying that, if Yurio shares a similar story goal to Yuuri’s, then isn’t him achieving it just as justified as Yuuri achieving it?
It’s not, because while Yuuri’s story goal is linked to his character goal, as in his wants are connected to his needs, what Yurio needs for his character is the opposite of what he wants.
When you have a character that starts off like Yurio, at the top of the world, extremely arrogant, believing himself to be above everything and acting dismissive of everyone, you don’t build him up further. That does nothing for character development. So what’s Yurio’s story about then, if it’s not about him winning the Grand Prix?
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