So, I’ve been watching Yuri on ice several times (including one time with my old mom, funny experience ^^), here are several thoughts I had while doing it. Note that these are mine, and I don’t mind at all if you think differently. ;)
YoI really reawakened my love for figure skating.
I’m the guy who used to watch everything I could on TV when I was a kid. It was one of the few sports I liked to watch (I like ski too, don’t ask me why). But I admit that I hadn’t watch it for many years. YoI made me remember that I loved this sport and why. I found myself watch all the last European championship, and catching all I could from the 4CC on Youtube.
I really liked the competitions’ programs, it was a pleasure (and they look even better on my BR ^^). I love the music of the programs (I really had to buy the CD).
I think that even if you don’t know figure skating, as there are explanations, you can appreciate it, and perhaps it will bring new fans of figure skating in long term. :)
I’m very pleased to have a loving gay couple outside the traditional yaoi clichés.
When I was younger and discovered BL, I read and watched many. That was the only way I had to find canon gay pairings. But since the beginning I realized the clichés and the more I read BL, the more I became disgusted with them. I just have a few BL volumes left at home, the ones I find fluffy and romantic and the tragic New York, New York, outside of any clichés.
So when I first watched YoI, to be honest, as it didn’t have the classic BL tropes, I didn’t think it would go that far and was skeptical till episode 7 (yes, I needed a kiss). It’s funny because when I watched it again later, knowing that yes, they are really in love, I found myself envisaging their relationship in a new but realistic way (before episode 7 ^^;), there are many many hints, and the fact that it’s not just fanservice make them absolutely cute and touching. It’s something I really didn’t expect and for which I’m really thankful.
I like that Yuri isn’t perfect but an anxious guy (no it’s not something medical, I have sometimes the same anxious crisis —one thing that made me like Yuri early—, and yes it’s something I talked with my doctor, it’s not so unusual) who misjudges himself all the time (and oh the unreliable narrator he is so much ^^;). I like that Victor is a softie who hides himself behind a smile.
But that said, here come what I know is an unpopular opinion: Victor and Yuri suck at communicating. Really. Yuri knows till quite early that he wants to quit after the Grand Prix (and why the GP?? Season isn’t over and the World are more important). He never tells Victor, in fact he choose the worst moment to do so. Victor isn’t better, he never tells to Yuri that he loves coaching him, that he has find a new joy in doing so, even beyond their romantic relationship. Till the end he doesn’t explain it to Yuri, who imagines many other things for Victor. They really should work on it, or they won’t last. :(
I have a love/hate feeling towards episode 12. I love the ice dance at the end, it’s one of the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen (and also, I’ve always been an ice dance lover).
I don’t mind that Yurio wins. JJ at third place doesn’t work, he was too low, he still failed his FP, he shouldn’t be here. If they wanted to have him here, they shouldn’t have made him fail so hard his SP.
But the worst is Victor deciding to compete again and staying Yuri’s coach. First, I don’t see how it can works. It cannot, he doesn’t have time to do both. Second, all the 11 episodes before delivered an opposite message: that Victor was very happy to not compete anymore and be Yuri’s coach. An interview lately even said that in Rostelecom cup, he would have answered that he didn’t want to compete with Yuri.
If the episodes before had prepared Victor to make a come-back, I would have go with it, but they didn’t. So I’m left with this (horrible) idea that he comes back just to please his fiancé. And I hate it. Really. It ruined the whole episode for me, except for the ice dance part.
On a side note, it’s funny how I like the characters. Sure I think Yurio is a little brat, but well, he’s a teen, and teens are easily like that. He showed that inside he wasn’t so horrible so I’ll let him grow. Chris is my sweetheart, I loved him immediately. Phichit is the best friend everyone would love to have. Gosh, I even like JJ, if you go beyond his attitude, it’s obvious he’s a nice guy.
The female characters aren’t the lead, but they really play a role and aren’t unnecessary. Minako is even an independent woman, and believe me, this kind of women in Japan is really rare, so I’m completely in love. I love also on another point that Sara breaks the siscon of her brother, it’s something I’m so tired about (I like that YoI played with many tropes to break them).
One thing I really disagree with some people is the “they’re all so gay” idea. I like YoI precisely because it’s not a yaoi. I don’t want it to become one. So I really think Yurio and Otabek are just friends, that Phichit never banged Yuri (gay people don’t want to fuck all their friends >.<), Sara says clearly she wants a “kareshi”/boyfriend and is head over heels for the Korean boy, and so on… If YoI would turn into a BL, I’d be very disappointed and it would ruin the magic this real-feel gay couple had for me.
Oh my, I’ve been so long. So to sum up, even if I have mixed feelings about the last episode, I really love this show (to the point of buying all the BR, and my last command was very expensive thanks to the Avex ban) and I hope there will be a season 2 (that could also make up my opinion of the end).
Once again, it’s my opinion only. ;)
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