We’ve currently got 5 Yuri!! On Ice episodes out, and like in all my moments of solitude recently, I’ve been thinking about the show. And quite suddenly, something hit me. There are all these speculations about how it will all end, will Viktor stay/go, will Yuuri follow, will they become a couple, will the fans get an actual kiss? And tbh, as much as I like to think about it, there is just no way to know. It could go in any direction, there’s no way to tell.
But then, I remembered something from the first episode, and I ended up putting together this theory/prediction, that I’m actually really excited about because it seems likely!
I’m sure you all recall Viktor’s performance of ‘Stay Close to Me’
Which we see Minako comment on.
She says this and then comments on how the performance would suit a more naive man, which we all agree to be Yuuri.
The program ‘Stay Close to Me’ is a plea to a lover, a desperate appeal to one special person to remain by your side. Since Viktor isn’t known to have a special someone when he skates this, only many many fans, the song doesn’t quite have that personal touch.
But as he skates, we have Yuuri back in Japan doing the same routine.
We don’t see the routine fully skated either by just Victor or Yuuri. We see parts of the routine performed by each of them, and since they’re performed identically (as Yuko says) we can assume that what we see Viktor do, Yuuri is doing it too, and what Yuuri does, Viktor is skating that as well.
So I invite you to look at this part:
Yuuri skates this section of ‘Stay Close to Me’ right by the rink side, directly at Yuko, the only person there.
He skates this routine in honour of his childhood friend, who he most likely had a crush on at some point. Someone who supported his skating and who in a way introduced him to Viktor, through his skating. When Yuuri finished the performance, he says ‘I wanted to get my love for skating back. I thought I could remember how it was when I copied Viktor with you.’
Yuuri admitted at the beginning of the first ep that he wanted to meet Viktor as an equal. Viktor has always been very important to him, and skating his routines with Yuko was always a way for Yuuri to feel closer to him.
So the song ‘Stay Close to Me’ that Yuuri skated was directed at Yuko the person in the rink, but it represented his feelings for Viktor and skating (as the two were completely intertwined, I believe).
That was the difference from when Viktor performed it. I think he saw and understood this when he watched the video of Yuuri skating online, his body making music.
Now, let’s go back to the very beginning of Yuri!! On Ice, the opening scene as a matter of fact.
It’s not unusual for opening scenes to be either flashbacks of a character’s past, or the very end of the story. A bit of a ‘this is where I am now, and I’m going to tell you the story of how it happened’.
I believe YOI actually does both.
We have a younger Viktor skating, who turns into an older Viktor.
The younger, long-haired Viktor is clearly of the past, but it’s not a concrete memory (Yuuri’s there too). It embodies how Yuuri has watched Viktor skate from a young age.
When Young!Viktor skates, he gives Yuuri his back, he doesn’t face him. He doesn’t know him, they’re not on the same level.
But when he moves into the shadow and then we have the older Viktor, he’s looking right at Yuuri. He knows him, acknowledges him.
And for the rest of the routine, he doesn’t take his eyes off of Yuuri. He has eyes only for him.
I think this opening scene has shown us the past and the future. During the scene, Yuuri speaks of Viktor and says “He never fails to surprise me. Ever since I first saw his skating, it’s been an unending chain of surprises”. To me, this sounds like the words of a Yuuri at the end of the series, recounting how much he’s gone through with Viktor.
The opening scene is the Viktuuri relationship before and after.
What most got me about it though, was this part of Viktor’s skating:
I didn’t realise it at first, but it’s exactly the same as when Yuuri skates ‘Stay Close to Me’. We don’t see Viktor perform this part in the contest, we only see it from Yuuri’s performance in the Ice Castle skating ring, but we know this is Viktor’s ‘Stay Close to Me’.
So Viktor is skating this routine in the opening scene, either symbolising the future, or being an actual scene from the future.
And just as when Yuuri skated this part right by Yuko and all that she represented at the time, Viktor is skating this right up to Yuuri.
He reaches his hand out towards the person he wants to stay close to.
And that person is clearly Yuuri, he’s physically there. You can see Viktor’s hands reach for him.
Yuuri skated ‘Stay Close to Me’ the way it should have been skated, a desperate plea to be close to the one person that matters and the love for skating that bloomed from his feelings. Viktor couldn’t quite do that because he didn’t have a special person, and he was losing his way in terms of his love for skating, as Yurio said.
I believe that the opening scene was premonition, and that at the very end of the series, Viktor will skate 'Stay Close to Me’. And do it justice. He will skate the routine that started it all, that brought him to Yuuri, but he will skate it the way it’s meant to be skated. Because by then, Yuuri will be his special someone.
In this intimate setting, a private rink at night, possibly Ice Castle, he will skate for Yuuri to show him his feelings. I believe Viktor is more of a man of action when it comes to things like this. For example, he tells Yuuri at the beach that he’ll work him hard because that’s how he shows his love. I think instead of words maybe, Viktor will show his love to Yuuri, his appreciation for him, by skating 'Stay Close to Me’ for him and only him.
I’m not sure what might follow, but I think it will be a while before we get a confession out of Viktor, and I think this is how it will come to be. Because being able to skate the routine the way it should be would mean that he’s found his way, that Yuuri’s led him there. For these two, it’s love and it’s ice skating. And by skating 'Stay Close to Me’, Viktor will show Yuuri that he’s given him both, and that he wants to stay by his side, hopefully forever.
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