Yuri!!! On Ice (ユーリ!!! on ICE) is a 12 episode slice of life sports comedy anime that is an original story by Kubo Mitsuro. The series originally aired in Japan in the Fall of 2016.
Professional figure skater, Katsuki Yuri decides to hang up his skates aftr a less than stellar season and not making the podium in the Grand Prix. He slumps back to his hometown to wallow in self pity and his families delicious pork cutlet rice bowls. Gaining some weight and feeling rather pathetic he struggles with how he moves forward in his life, not sure what he will do. Before he can figure out how to join the ranks of the normal's his skating hero and senior rival appears at his parents inn. Victor Nikiforov is the top skater in Russia and he has rashly decided to put his career on hold to become Yuri's coach, convinced he can whip the dough boy into shape and make him a champion.
Yuri, with his strong man-crush on Victor, agrees to let him coach him to victory, banking on his ability to become the world champion in the next season so he can retire on top and let Victor get back to winning before hes too old. It's not going to be as easy as he would like as the rest of the top international field is also vying for the championship and don't like Victor coaching the pathetic Yuri. Can he life up to his heroes expectations and skate his way to glory and gold?
Initially I had no interest in this for a number of reasons, mostly because I don't like sports anime and have little interest in figure skating. A lot of chatter around the first episode piqued my interest and I was hooked about half way through. This turned out to be one of the best, if not the best, anime of the fall season. The animation is fantastic, moving effortlessly between detailed realism and goofy super deformed comedy. But what really sells it are the finely crafted characters. Each with their own personalities, even some of the most minor players have well rounded identities. My only issue with the artwork is during the skating routines it can get a little, odd, visually when sometimes the character animation doesn't flow correctly in comparison to the background animation.
Yuri is the typical hero lacking in self esteem but benefits from being surrounded by people stronger than him who believe in his potential. If you are at all familiar with professional figure skating and the stereotypical personalities that exist in that world you will easily recognize the competitors that Yuri faces on his course to the Grand Prix and personal salvation. The story actually moves along pretty quickly and doesn't get stuck into too much of the training and build up, with competitions taking one or two episodes only. the story just kind of burns through months at a time as it progresses, not falling victim to the trappings of a shonen sports story. They could have easily turning this into some multi season grinder with no real end in sight, but thankfully did not. The brief time we spend with the characters was worth every moment and they teased at the potential to a follow up season!
The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll and there is no word when a physical release will be available. But check it out because its a fantastic semi-yaoi filled ride!!
Professional figure skater, Katsuki Yuri decides to hang up his skates aftr a less than stellar season and not making the podium in the Grand Prix. He slumps back to his hometown to wallow in self pity and his families delicious pork cutlet rice bowls. Gaining some weight and feeling rather pathetic he struggles with how he moves forward in his life, not sure what he will do. Before he can figure out how to join the ranks of the normal's his skating hero and senior rival appears at his parents inn. Victor Nikiforov is the top skater in Russia and he has rashly decided to put his career on hold to become Yuri's coach, convinced he can whip the dough boy into shape and make him a champion.
Yuri, with his strong man-crush on Victor, agrees to let him coach him to victory, banking on his ability to become the world champion in the next season so he can retire on top and let Victor get back to winning before hes too old. It's not going to be as easy as he would like as the rest of the top international field is also vying for the championship and don't like Victor coaching the pathetic Yuri. Can he life up to his heroes expectations and skate his way to glory and gold?
Initially I had no interest in this for a number of reasons, mostly because I don't like sports anime and have little interest in figure skating. A lot of chatter around the first episode piqued my interest and I was hooked about half way through. This turned out to be one of the best, if not the best, anime of the fall season. The animation is fantastic, moving effortlessly between detailed realism and goofy super deformed comedy. But what really sells it are the finely crafted characters. Each with their own personalities, even some of the most minor players have well rounded identities. My only issue with the artwork is during the skating routines it can get a little, odd, visually when sometimes the character animation doesn't flow correctly in comparison to the background animation.
Yuri is the typical hero lacking in self esteem but benefits from being surrounded by people stronger than him who believe in his potential. If you are at all familiar with professional figure skating and the stereotypical personalities that exist in that world you will easily recognize the competitors that Yuri faces on his course to the Grand Prix and personal salvation. The story actually moves along pretty quickly and doesn't get stuck into too much of the training and build up, with competitions taking one or two episodes only. the story just kind of burns through months at a time as it progresses, not falling victim to the trappings of a shonen sports story. They could have easily turning this into some multi season grinder with no real end in sight, but thankfully did not. The brief time we spend with the characters was worth every moment and they teased at the potential to a follow up season!
The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll and there is no word when a physical release will be available. But check it out because its a fantastic semi-yaoi filled ride!!
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