Hi I saw your theory about Yuuri's underscoring and I've been wondering recently too.. Because to me, apart from the local competition, it feels like Yuuri has been consistently underscored for any of his non-pristine perfect performance. On the other hand a lot of the "consistently good" skaters being overscored instead. Is it possible that it's some sort of lowkey criticism form the creator regarding the overscoring and underscoring issue with the IRL figure skating competition?
It’s possible. Although, I don’t think Kubo-sensei &co. intend the anime to be a platform for discussing scoring issues.
Rather than actually meaning it as criticism toward real-life judging, what I think is more likely is that they’re using the issue of underscoring as a way to enrich and legitimize the storytelling. They want something to happen in the anime, so they look through figure skating trends/issues to make sure it’s not impossible*. For example, we see this when they used the “quads vs. no quads” discourse to create a character like Leo who would primarily focus on step sequences and artistry (making him a parallel to Yuuri). They could have gone ahead and made that character with no problem, but by pointing it out, they make it so that their decision has actual backing. The difference here, is that no character has pointed out the scoring system.
—Which, yeah, I guess is what you would call lowkey if you want to interpret this all as criticism for the system.
Considering that Kubo-sensei is so invested in figure skating…
If you’ve watched some figure skating yourself, you’ve probably experienced this: Seeing a beloved skater give a wonderful program - it has a few flaws, but the experience is so enrapturing, and you were so drawn into it, and there were so may emotions watching them skate, that you’re SURE the score should reflect some of that…. but then the scores come up and you feel a slight disconnect. Because what you saw with your own eyes doesn’t match up with what you’re seeing in points.
I’m sure Kubo-sensei has been in this situation many times, and I don’t doubt that it’s reflected here on Yuuri. Underscoring (or “low scores” because we have no proof that it’s actual underscoring) is her way of making viewers sympathize with Yuuri’s fight. And if Kubo intends to give low scores and make us rally behind Yuuri, then it’s the animator’s and director’s job to create the same jarring effect as real-life and make Yuuri’s performances incredible for us to watch. The satisfaction is all the sweeter when a skater you cheered for - who has been scored low in the past - finally gives a program that is awarded a super-high score by the judges.
And I guess, if we want to be offended by the judging, and draw links to real-life judging, and then criticize it for being unfair… that’s up to us. She’ll place it there for us, and let us interpret it as we please.
(*On a side note, Yurio’s crazy situation actually reminds me of what happens in Ladies’ Figure Skating – where young Ladies tend to rise from nowhere and beat their older competitors. It’s still an impossible score, but the situation isn’t unheard of.)
