History Of the Yuri on Ice fandom
Here is my magnum opus. I have spent hours creating it, and it goes into many different topics. Without further ado, History of the Yuri on Ice fandom.
On Mar 26, 2016 the first official Yuri on Ice preview is posted to avex pictures
It’s reported in this article that the Tuesday around March 26th (The 22nd of March I believe) The yuri on ice offical website was opened, as well as the first tidbits of information
The preview is fairly well received. I remember the comments having a surprising amount of russian in them, and I found it off a tumblr link. My first impression was, “Woah, this looks really pretty.” I hyped it up to all my friends based on the animation, and that was it. I didn’t see it as something more than Cheer Danshi, or Days that were prospective “Yaoi-bait” anime for me, and I thought it was nice that there was no shown fanservice at the time.
On April fifth, @yaoionice was created, one of the first blogs to pop up for yuri on ice, and on August 29th @fyeahyurionice one of the more prominent first blogs was created.
And on August 21st (Or the 22nd, depending on timezones and such) the first longer preview was posted, but has since been made private. This created the first real wave of attention
Also on the 21st, the first supporting cast members are added
August 26th, the first recorded prominent post that I could find by @karmallika claims the iconic ship “Vikturi”
and… the first fanarts come in. The first one I have seen so far on record is from August 22th, done by @italiano-biscotti and is the one of Victor skating at the bottom
August 30th, TalkingIsJustAWasteOfBreath uploads the first fanfiction in the archive, which is a crossover.
On September 5th, even more characters are added and Wataru Hatano is confirmed to be singing the ending theme song
September 11th, @seiyuuslittleforest makes this post, which gets a little over 6,000 notes and builds more hype for the show. People theorize why exactly it barely passed the censorship law
September 14th, the official Yuri on Ice twitter uploads this tweet. It basically solidifies the homoeroticness of the show, and builds an even higher hype based around the gayness shown
On September 21st, the preview is re-uploded (I have no idea why it was privated in the first place) and creates another splash of GIFS, art, ect.
FINALLY, LETS GET TO THE FANDOM.
Oh boy. This one was a tizzy. The fandom seemed relatively fine most of the episode, but there are two major bits that caused a stir. Yuuko was pretty much a meme (pretty hilarious) about how it seemed Yuuri was going to confess to her about his crush but her daughters popped up. Lmao. And the most important part, the end. Victor’s ass. This was basically hell for people who wanted to GIF the show but keep their blog sfw, and also gained the title “Gayer than Free!” people loved that ass. The preview for the next episode also showed an EVEN MORE homoerotic scene
It was around this time people realized this was a decent show and contender for anime of the year, with people such as Chibi Reviews who passed it off as nothing earlier, taking an interest. I can’t remember exactly how long it trended on tumblr, but it was for around FOUR FUCKING DAYS, so it drew in a lot of people. People also praised the instagram ending for being modern. On October 6th, the first big NSFW post is made by someone (I don’t know if they want themselves to be known here for drawing porn) and gets 6,300 notes
Yuuko and Yurio: For some reason a few people thought they had crushed on each other, despite Yuuko being 9 years older than him and being married and having 3 kids. People justified this with Yuuko being Yurio’s mother figure since it was hinted at he had an absent mother
Episode 3 lip touch scene: This was in the previews, and one of the most hyped up and gayest moments in the whole show. People flipped.
“Yuuri! Lets sleep together”: Quote by Victor, easily taken out of context by fandom. After this, the fandom notes he cried when Yuuri turned him down
Yuuri’s posters: People talked about wanting to see Victor walk in on Yuuri’s photos of Victor. The fandom notices Yuuri leaves a photo of Victor behind even when he cleans up all the posters frantically
Yurio Discourse: Russian fandom takes offense to Yuri being abbreviated to Yurio. I’m not Russian so I can’t comment on this, but it did happen
Fatshaming: People get angry at Victor for calling Yuuri a pig. Athletes try to defend this saying that he physically cannot skate competitively while overweight
Evgenia Medvedeva: October 12th, she tweets about Yuri on Ice for the (first?) time. Fandom picks up on it in multiple posts. People consider her as the fandom queen for making posts every time a new episode comes out
History Maker: People fucking love History Maker. A lot.
Whistle: Episode 3, Yuuri whistles at Victor during his performance, which causes quite the reaction
Playboy: Lots of the fandom are happy when Yuuri chooses to be the seducer because it fits him more, proving he can find strength in being someone who isn’t just a playboy and not fitting to the norms. They also praise his choice of costume for its feminity
Love confession: At the end of Episode 5, the confession is seen as one of love to Victor
Tie: It becomes a meme that faces with a love confession from Yuuri, the only thing Victor thinks about is his ugly tie
Language barriers: People theorize that maybe Victor didn’t react as well to Yuuri’s confession because he doesn’t understand Japanese and they speak in English to each other. This is later confirmed.
Man Praying: When Yuuri and Victor get “intimate” in the hotspring, an old man is seen praying while looking at them. The fandom sees this and realizes that’s basically them watching it
Boyfriend: Victor asks if Yuuri wants him to be his boyfriend. Yuuri suspiciously leaps into the air and yells almost frantically “No No No”. This is seen as a push towards non-queerbaiting because Victor says he’s fine with dating another man
Hair bop: For some reason in Episode 4, Yuuri bops Victor’s hair. Of course, the fandom can’t not analyze literally everything, and take this as a sign Victor’s literally dying
Minami: People compare him a chicken nugget or McDonalds because of his hair and costumes color scheme
Christophe: He comes on the ice. First off, what the fuck, and second off the fandom literally hates him for this, the primary reason being he made a lot of people uncomfortable. He also shakes his ass a lot. Plenty of memes are made from this.
Georgi: Fandom makes tons of memes about his outrageous eyeshadow. People can’t decide if he’s a “nice guy” that needs to move on or is just deeply in love
Victor getting drunk: Victor gets extremely drink and begins to strip. Fandom notices he wears black panties as he throws them on Guang-Hong Ji. Victor is hanging onto Yuuri naked
Proud dads: Victor and Yuuri show great happiness in Yuri’s success, leaving many fans with the headcannon that Victor and Yuuri are Yuri’s proud dads
Episode 7: THE LEGENDARY KISS. Victuri is confirmed canon in a kiss!
Victor offering to kiss Yuuri: Victor seeing Yuuri upset has no idea how to deal with it. So, he offers to kiss Yuuri, which Yuuri says no to, just wanting Victor to believe in him
Censorship: In the kiss, an arm is obstructing the lips. People go to blame Japanese tv censorship, which is actually not to blame
Further confirmation: Creator compares the episode which Victor and Yuuri kiss to another episode of a show where two characters also shared their first kiss giving further confirmation
Not much happens until the end.
Makkachin: Yuuri is called and told that Victor’s dog Makkachin choked on some steamed buns and may die. Yuuri selflessly tells Victor to go back and see Makkachin for what may be the last time
Makkachoke: Pretty self-explanatory meme about Makkachin choking. lol.
Makkachin reaction: People are pretty upset over this in the fandom. The episode wasn’t very fluffy, and people begin trying to defend Makkachin and explain why he’ll survive. Art is made for Makkachin. People fucking love Makkachin.
Episode 7 vs. Episode 8: People make memes about how episode 7 saved them and episode 8 destroyed them due to the angst
Yuuri hugging everyone: Yuuri is drained without Victor, so he at the end just runs up and hugs everyone
Airport scene: This scene made me and many others cry. Victor and Yuuri embrace at the airport after spending a day separated. They talk about their future, and one particular comment makes Victor kiss Yuuri’s ring finger and comment that it was almost like a proposal
Victor leaving: Victor has to go back to Russia to see his dog, leaving Yuuri stranded with Yakov for most of the episode
Ring or Medal: The previews show Yuuri and Victor in front of a church looking down. The phrase gold and round are also said, making it seem like a ring. But, most people pass this off as an impossible joke, and settle on it being a medal. Others, not so much. Thus begins the Ring or Medal war, packed with theories
Proposal: In this episode, Yuuri purchases rings and he and Victor exchange them in front of a church with a choir. Later, Victor confirms they’re wedding rings. The whole fandom flips their shit because never before have a gay couple ever gotten engaged in anime.
Otayuri: Otabek and Yuri share a tender moment on the roof of a building after Otabek saves him from Yuri’s obsessive fans. Thus, Otayuri becomes the fandoms second most shipped ship, despite the controversy around Yuri being 15 and Otabek 18
Phichit: When Phichit sees Victor and Yuuri’s matching rings, he thinks they’ve gotten married and shouts it out to the restaurant, to the pleasure of the fandom
Pole-dancing: It’s revealed in the episode that Yuuri got drunk last year at the banquet and pole danced with Christophe
Plot twist: At the end of Episode 10, it’s revealed at the same banquet last year Yuuri asked Victor to be his coach. This completely changes many things, including snide comments from Victor previously unnoticed that now make sense
Wedding ring discourse: Fandom members overanalyzing the receipt of the ring(s) Yuuri bought, trying to decide if it was one ring, two rings, a wedding ring, and how much it cost based on a piece of blurry paper in an animation
End this: At the end of episode 11, Yuuri says “After the final, let’s end this” Everybody freaks out, thinking of the worst. What’s going to end?
Angst: Fandom members make jokes on how angsty the episode was, and how it had this weird sad vibe the whole time, courtesy of Victor being extremely reminiscent. Like episode 7 vs episode 8, people compare the happiness of episode 10 to episode 11
JJ flopping: JJ completely messes up his performance, but he tries hard and everyone cheers him on. Because of this, many fandom members cry during this scene and JJ previously hated on starts being liked
Breakup theories: People theorize the angstiest stuff, thinking “Lets end this” means Yuuri wanting to break off his entire relationship with Victor rather than retirement
Pair-Skate: It was revealed on a track that Stammi Vincino had a duet version, so many people had anticipated the pair skate. It’s a gorgeous scene with Yuuri bathed in blue light and Victor in purple
Retirement: Victor announces he’s coming back, and Yuuri says he also is after loosing to Yuri and wanting to win a gold medal before he retires
Wedding: People had also theorized a wedding would happen if Yuuri won gold. Yuuri did not win gold, therefore no wedding occurred
Yurio winning: When Yuri won, it was a surprise to many. People thought Yuuri would win, but Yuri won by only a matter of .12 points. Mixed reactions came from this, some accusing the studio of changing the result for a second season, which the creator denied
See you next level: At the end of Season 1, the title card “See you next level” is flashed. People theorize this is the announcement for a second season.
And here it begins. Around this time, people begin theorizing Victor is using Yuuri in the way he doesn’t smile when he hugs him or even theorizing Victor is dying based off of a “was” statement at the end of episode 1. These theories were taken seriously by some, and laughed off by others. I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE BY NOW THEY WERE ALL COMPLETE BULLSHIT
Multiple times “lover” is corrected to boyfriend, and in many episodes words are chopped so badly they fuck up EXTREMELY important scenes, that literally warp Yuuri saying that his love for Victor is indescribable to “It’s not a romantic love” which is dumb because it left more room for people to pass it off as queerbait.
Headcannons are mostly about him being an angsty teen and liking trashy animal print and heavy metal. Also about him calling skates “knife shoes” and him being disgusted by Yuuri and Victor’s PDA. Also referred to as being Victor and Yuuri’s adopted son
Until episode 7, wild accusations of queerbait are going around, with people comparing it to Free! and being angry about it. People in the fandom defend this saying not all the episodes have aired yet and that queerbait is a western term.
Known for their over the top reactions to yuri on ice, gaining thousands of views on her instagram. The most famous reactor who screams way more who they should. Extremely well known around the fandom and had around 60k instragram followers
Yuri on Ice dub is well… not exactly received nicely. People immediately start comparing Victors accent to Gru, even editing over audio from despicable me or photoshopping Gru’s face onto Victor. It’s constantly made fun of, and is basically a joke. It does (at least to me) improve in later episodes. A post with a compilation of funny things said in the dub reaches 100,000 notes.
Crunchyroll Anime Awards:
Yuri on ice won 7/14 of the Crunchyroll anime awards, to people’s outrage. Because of this, massive amounts of hate were directed to Yuri on Ice, because apparently some people don’t understand the word “popular votes” Many of the fandom became angry and defensive by this, and rightfully so as the hate started being directed towards fujoshi’s and female fans, saying they shouldn’t be allowed to vote
It started becoming a bit of a problem when Yuri on Ice fans started comparing anime characters to actual skaters, going as far as spamming their comments and changing their wikipedia pages. This has led to some figure skating fans hating yuri on ice fans
Yuri on Ice, to the surprise of some and not to others, sold 50,000 Blu-ray/DVD copies in it’s first week. As of January 22nd, 2016 it has sold 66,000 Blu-ray/DVD volumes, an extremely high number
Phichit has become sort of a meme for his face, which has been photoshopped onto shocking photos. He is also known around the fandom as a Victor and Yuuri shipper.
Small amount of discourse, but something that should have been bigger. Korean fans started accusing the Yuri on Ice cafe of racism after having the South Korean character Seung-gil Lee be represented by a soup rather than something more filling. Japan and Korea have a long history of hatred, and I wouldn’t be surprised if these accusations had some merit
So um.. there’s some pretty major incest vibes between these two, especially coming from Michele who seems dependent on Sara and goes as far to say he loves her. It’s pretty weird and most of the fandom agrees on that
Victor vs Viktor. Yuuri vs Yuri. Yurio vs Yuri. Victuuri vs Viktuuri vs Victuri vs Vikturi. Sala vs Sara. Nobody can seem to decide on how to spell any of the names
Yuri on Ice has been called by many in the LGBTQ+ community a good representation, taking the examples from yaoi and how they are usually heteronormative, sexualized, and stereotype LGBTQ+ characters. Even in non-yaoi, LGBTQ+ characters can be villains, be killed off, or face homophobia. There’s none of that in Yuri on Ice, the creator Kubo literally taking to twitter to say that in her universe there’s no hate
Many figure skaters, including Johnny Weir, Evgenia Medvedeva, Dennis Ten, and more have come out saying that they have watched and love Yuri on Ice. They tweet about it, and some find similarities between them and the characters. Johnny Weir especially as a former openly gay figure skater has done interviews about it.
Episode 12 actually managed to crash many streaming sites, including Gogoanime, Kissanime, and Crunchyroll. People also suspect Tumblr was crashed from this
Chris’s Mysterious Boyfriend:
Christophe has a mysterious person, who the fandom have concluded as his boyfriend. He shows up at his house, and comforts him at the kiss and cry. Chris is shown to be extremely gay, so the theory is plausible.
When it was revealed that Yuri on Ice was not about lesbians and instead gay men, some people were outraged. Others created this extremely cringe and overused joke that should only be used ironically by now.
Can’t believe I forgot this, but basically Hallmark made a movie called Love on Ice. Due to the similar plot and name, people started accusing it of copying Yuri on Ice. It got so much attention that Hallmark themselves had to come out and say no, they did not copy the gay figure skating anime and turn it straight
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