-----------Welcome to spoiler territory--------------------
YOI was really atypical for what was marketed as a sports anime. Even though the main character, Katsuki Yuri, was a bit of a disappointment in terms of his figure skating career, I didn't come to hate him for his weakness, like I do so many other protagonists. Yuri's experience resonated with a lot of traumatic experiences I've had in regards to anxiety, and his desire to perform and to redeem himself, despite seeing himself as "average" is a strange oxymoron that I feel I relate to. The fact that he struggles on is probably my favorite part of this show- he doesn't just randomly "get over it", his anxiety is still there- he just performs despite his anxiety.
The other part of YOI brings up a strange topic for me- the portrayal of relationships. I don't know why, but for a lot of media directed towards women, specifically, there are a lot of suggestions of homoeroticism. Not that there's anything inherently WRONG with that, but I don't like it when it's forced into the story, when the characters are actually independent of each other. A term I've seen used is "queerbaiting", where the show displays subtexts of a queer relationship without any intention of following through the relationship on screen. That's what I thought I was in for, with this anime.
From episode one there's this ?random scene of a handsome guy called Viktor Nikiforov showing up in a hot spring resort run by Yuri's parents, and he decides to stand up, in his glorious nudity, and says "Yuri I'll be your coach". I mean, whew, what an introduction. It was comical, so I laughed it off, but I started getting a bit annoyed in subsequent episodes, where there would be small scenes of Viktor pressing on Yuri's lips with his fingers, or scenes of close physical contact with Yuri. I was kind of jaded at that point, and I thought, "wow I wish they'd stop, if they're not going to take this any where. If it's a show about skating then focus on the fucking skating". About half way through though, there was a change in mood, and Yuri and Viktor's relationship began to seem more and more authentic. I thought, "can this show get more gay", and then show told me that "yes, yes it can".
By episode 10 Viktor and Yuri are engaged, and then it dawned on me. Huh. That's it. They're engaged. They're like, actually gay. I wasn't just "seeing things" because I think the characters are cute together. It's not queerbaiting after all. Holy fuck this show is ACTUALLY portraying a gay relationship. My jaw hit the floor. It's not that I didn't see it coming, but it's more like I saw so much of it and dismissed EVERYTHING, and then it's like, "wait, what????" Well, I definitely didn't see the engagement coming, because I didn't expect their relationship to go anywhere. It was such a strangely pleasant surprise.
Huh...they're swapping rings...huh.
Today the last episode aired, and I woke up early-ish to watch it. It was... kind of disappointing. I felt like I had zero closure, empty and hollow on the inside. The climax of the anime was this event called the Grand Prix Finals, which is like, an international skating competition that has a bit of prestige in the skating community. I knew shit all about skating before this anime, and it's like a different world. Anyway, Yuri barely qualifies for the finals, and he finishes 4th in the first half of the program, having messed up some moves. I expected him to make a comeback in his free skating and win gold, but uh, he ends up getting silver by 0.12 points. There was so much talk and build up and I just really wanted him to win, he's the protagonist and all. I can tell it's this show wanting to surprise us, being like, "hahah, you expect the protagonist to make a comeback and win, but jokes on you, he comes second but he's still happy about it". Except I'm all, "wait, I'm not happy about it. Fuck this show".
Like, surprises are nice, they're refreshing. YOI is immensely refreshing, since it breaks all your expectations and cliches. HOWEVER, cliches are used for a reason. Just because Yuri winning gold at the end of the anime would be cliche, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Like for fuck's sake why do I care about his RIVAL winning gold. Fuck that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Anyway the show's setting up for a season 2, and because I'm so dissatisfied with the way season 1 ended, I'll definitely watch season 2. Mostly because I'm bitter and whewww that ending felt so...rushed. Like, without a season 2, this would just be another anime that started so well and ended in spectacular mediocrity. I mean, it's nothing compared to the Bleach ending, but I don't really want to follow a show that pulls a "Bleach ending" on me.
YOI did get me interested in real life figure skating though. In the men's singles, the reigning world champ is this guy called Hanyu Yuzuru, and I looked up his record-breaking performances. He literally skates like an anime character, with his flashy moves and perfection. I mean, you can draw a character and have that character be perfect, but Yuzuru matches that, which means he's a bit of a legend.
Welp, I'm really looking forward to next year now. If YOI ends in a similar manner in season 2, I'm so fucking done.
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