Yuri on Ice

• 1. Introduction

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  During the autumn 2016 anime season, Yuri on Ice collected 1,440,596 tweets, according to the trend-analytics company Kadokawa Ascii Research Laboratories. Its closest rival, the volleyball series Haikyu!!, drew 348,109. That gap of more than a million tweets belongs to a Japanese anime about figure skating, a sport few people expected to dominate a season of online conversation.

  Behind the number is a strange mix of ingredients. A studio had to make ice skating look and sound convincing without leaning on footage of real skaters. A love story between two men had to land in a country and a sport with present-day problems around homophobia. Real Olympians ended up skating to its music. So how was the sound of blades on ice built from scratch? Why did two animated skaters inspire both celebration and argument? And why did the feature film that fans were promised never reach screens?

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• 2. Two Yuris

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  At 23, Yuri Katsuki leaves the ice behind. After a crushing defeat in the Grand Prix Final and other lost competitions, the Japanese skater develops mixed feelings about the sport and puts his career on hold. He returns to his hometown of Hasetsu in Kyushu after five years abroad. There he visits his childhood friend Yuko at the Ice Castle Hasetsu rink and perfectly mimics an advanced routine by his idol, the Russian champion Victor Nikiforov. Someone secretly records the performance and uploads it to the internet. The footage catches Victor's attention, and he travels to Kyushu with an offer to coach Yuri and revive his career. The story later reveals that the two had already met at a banquet, where a drunk Yuri asked Victor to be his coach.

  Yuri Plisetsky, a 15-year-old Russian prodigy, arrives in Hasetsu with a grievance. Before the series begins, Victor promised to choreograph a routine just for him if he won the Junior World Championships. Victor has forgotten. His answer is to make the two Yuris compete, and the winner will get him as a coach. He gives each skater a piece with the same melody but a different meaning. "Agape", about unconditional love, goes to Yuri Plisetsky, who is called Yuri P. in the series. "Eros", about sexual love, goes to Yuri Katsuki, called Yuri K. Yuri K.'s performance wins, so Victor becomes his coach. Yuri P. returns to Russia, and both Yuris vow to win the Grand Prix championship.

  Barcelona hosts the Grand Prix Final, and both Yuris reach it after qualifying for their countries in the Grand Prix series. On the eve of the final, Yuri K. plans to quit skating so that Victor can return to the sport. They agree to choose their paths once the tournament ends. Yuri P. wins the gold medal and Yuri K. takes silver. Yuri K. decides to keep skating, and he moves to St. Petersburg to stay with Victor and train alongside Yuri P.

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• 3. The Sound of the Ice

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  Kenji Miyamoto choreographed the skating in Yuri on Ice, and he also supplied the sound of the blades. He performed routines himself, and the recordings became the skating sound effects. Each skating sequence was recorded separately, and the effects were changed to suit each venue, matching the building's capacity and crowd size. No stock sounds were used. Footage of professional skaters was not used as an audio reference either, because the music in such programs normally muffles the sounds. As a result, every skating sequence in the series is unique.

  A Sakuga Blog study found that the series used an average of 48.5 key animators per episode. That was more than any other anime of the fall 2016 season. Flip Flappers came second, with five fewer. In the early episodes, a different key animator handled each character, so the characters skated in visibly different styles.

  MAPPA produced the series, and Sayo Yamamoto directed and wrote it. Original scripts came from Mitsurō Kubo, with Jun Shishido as chief episode director. Tadashi Hiramatsu designed the characters, and Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba composed the music. TV Asahi broadcast the 12 episodes from the 6th of October to the 22nd of December 2016. Crunchyroll streamed the episodes, and Funimation began streaming an English dub on the 24th of October 2016 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

  Japan received six Blu-ray and DVD sets. The first, holding the first two episodes, came out on the 30th of December 2016. Every set carried booklets, production audio commentary, and costume-design and choreography videos.

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• 4. Music and Real Skaters

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  "History Maker" by Dean Fujioka serves as the opening theme, and "You Only Live Once" by Wataru Hatano is the ending theme. Both were released as singles. "History Maker" reached number 43 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, and the ending song peaked at number 11. Ian Wolf of Anime UK News praised the opener's rousing theme, its use of English to match the show's international feel, and unusual instruments such as a xylophone in the introduction. He added that its time signature arguably makes it a fast waltz, a dance akin to ballet. The song was later played at the opening ceremony of the 2017-18 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya.

  A compilation CD of the anime's 24 original songs was released on the 21st of December 2016. It ranked number one on Oricon's Weekly Digital Album Chart for the week of 19-the 25th of December. The Oh! SkaTra!!! Yuri!!! on ICE soundtrack entered Oricon's CD chart at number three in its first week and topped its digital-album chart. A piano book of music used by figure skaters, released on the 21st of January 2017, included music used by Mao Asada and Yuzuru Hanyu. The insert song "Yuri on Ice" was the only anime song in it. On the 19th of November 2017, the Yuri!!! on Concert took place at the Makuhari Messe, with the Ensemble Fove conducted by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba.

  Professional skaters took notice. Johnny Weir, Evgenia Medvedeva, Denis Ten, Evgeni Plushenko, Masato Kimura, Ryuichi Kihara, Miu Suzaki and Adam Rippon all received the series well. Skaters Nobunari Oda and Stéphane Lambiel even make cameo appearances. Weir said in an interview: "I broke my rule about one episode per day because I physically couldn't stop watching." Professional pole dancers also commended the closing scene of the tenth episode, in which Yuri K. drunkenly pole dances, for its accuracy.

  At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Kihara and Suzaki skated in the pairs competition of the figure skating team event. They performed to the piano version of "Yuri on Ice", the track for Yuri Katsuki's free skating program.

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• 5. Love and Its Critics

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  In the seventh episode of Yuri on Ice, Yuri K. and Victor share an apparent kiss, though Victor's arm obscures it. Critics also single out the tenth episode, where the two exchange gold rings, a sign of marriage or engagement. In the twelfth, Victor weeps when Yuri suggests ending their partnership. The kiss won Most Heartwarming Scene at the 2016 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The ring exchange is considered the first time such a relationship had been depicted in anime. Gabriella Ekens of Anime News Network praised a "sincere and uncomplicated engagement" and noted that Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage. Ian Wolf called the rings "the best scene in the series".

  Johnny Weir appears in the story indirectly. A flashback in the seventh episode shows a younger Victor performing in a costume based on those worn by Weir, an openly gay skater who faced homophobic comments throughout his career. Weir told The Geekiary: "I think all positive imagery of LGBT themes in sport are good." He described the skating world's leaders as conservative and business minded, but added that he believes "every little bit helps." The finale shows Yuri K. and Victor skating together at an exhibition event, something that has not yet happened in actual competition. Critics also noted that the two characters come from countries with problems concerning LGBT rights.

  Carli Velocci of Geek.com argued that the series differs from yaoi and yuri stories. In her view the relationship "isn't strictly sexual and is mutual", and she concluded that the pair are "almost real." A review in Otaku USA observed that the skaters take on an androgynous appearance when performing. It described Yuri's exploration of his feminine side through emotional expression as the heart of the show.

  Others were less convinced. Some called the relationship unrealistic, because Yuri K. and Victor never face the homophobic abuse they would meet in real life. Cecilia D'Anastasio of Kotaku asked why the kiss was blocked when other anime, such as From the New World, had shown gay kisses. Wolf first wrote: "I'm 99.999% sure the kiss did occur, but that 0.001% is horribly getting to me." By the twelfth episode, Victor's tears settled it for him, because "the tears are proof that you don't want it to end." He decided that "the subtext did actually pay off."

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• 6. Praise, Complaints, Trophies

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  Five of the nine reviewers in Anime News Network's "Best and Worst Anime of Fall 2016" named Yuri on Ice the season's best show. In July 2017, Eleanor Bley Griffiths of the Radio Times listed it among the best anime TV series available to watch in the UK. Brandon Teteruck of Crunchyroll wrote that Sayo Yamamoto "is subtly crafting a work that embraces diversity and cultural acceptance." He pointed to the sixth episode, where the Thai skater Phichit Chulanont skates to music referencing The King and I. Both the 1956 and 1999 film versions of that musical are banned in Thailand.

  Characters drew some of the warmest comments. Critics praised Yuri K. as a realistic depiction of someone suffering from anxiety, and as "a textbook example of an unreliable narrator". James Beckett of Anime News Network called Yuri P. one of 2016's best anime characters. The plot, however, was criticised as repetitive.

  The animation split opinion. Clover Harker of the UK Anime Network called the early episodes "impressive", and Kevin Cirugeda of Anime News Network said Tadashi Hiramatsu made the designs "feel fresh, but also weirdly reminiscent of the past", comparing the series to FLCL. Later episodes met harsher words. One critic described the skating animation as "at times painful, or perhaps embarrassing to watch", and another blamed Yamamoto's over-ambition.

  That split made Crunchyroll's inaugural Anime Awards controversial. Yuri on Ice won in all seven of its nominations, including Anime of the Year, Best Animation, Best Boy, Best Couple, Best Opening and Best Ending. It is the only clean sweep in Crunchyroll history. Some users complained that it had won awards it did not deserve, especially Best Animation, and accused its fans of rigging the vote. Crunchyroll replied on Twitter that it had used strong anti-cheating methods. Founder Kun Gao wrote that the series had "captivated passionate anime fans and introduced new viewers to anime." Jacob Chapman of Anime News Network answered critics who dismissed the win as escapism after the political events of 2016. He wrote that the show is not "anywhere near as lightweight and fluffy as its sparkly cover art might suggest."

  At the 2017 Tokyo Anime Award Festival, the series won Animation of the Year in the television category and the fan-polled Anime Fan Award. Hiramatsu won Best Animator. The Character Brand Licensing Association gave it the Japan Character Grand Prize New Face Award for making an unusual subject like figure skating appeal to audiences, especially women. It predicted the show "can continue to grow on a global level."

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• 7. Numbers and Pilgrims

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  In the first half of 2017, home video and music sales brought in ¥3,262,936,824. That made Yuri on Ice the second-most successful media franchise in Japan. Each of the six Blu-ray and DVD volumes topped Oricon's animation rankings. The first Blu-ray edition stayed at number one for two weeks and ranked second in Oricon's general Blu-ray chart, behind SMAP's Clip! SMAP! Complete Singles. The first DVD edition beat limited and standard editions of One Piece Film: Gold, and Oricon later raised its first-week sales to 50,878 copies. By the end of 2017, the franchise ranked eighth in Japan. It was the top-selling TV anime of the year and second overall behind the film Your Name. Funimation released the series in the United States on the 6th of February 2018, with a limited edition in a "cracked ice" holographic box and an 80-page book of illustrations and interviews.

  Fans measured their devotion in polls. A Nico Nico Douga poll of 306,568 viewers placed it fourth among the year's TV anime and first with women, who made up 34 percent of respondents. At the Tokyo Anime Award Festival, it topped the TV list with 64,774 of 480,004 votes. In Anime News Network's poll of 19,560 readers, it finished first with 7,400 votes, or 37.8 percent. Animage magazine ranked Victor first among the year's characters, Yuri K. second and Yuri P. sixth. Tumblr Fandometrics reported it as the fourth most talked about anime on the site in 2016.

  Live events followed. On the 11th of February 2017, a TOHO cinema in Roppongi Hills held an all-night screening and a talk with writer Mitsurou Kubo and voice actors Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Junichi Suwabe and Kōki Uchiyama. It was relayed live to 47 cinemas across Japan. More than 20 dedicated dōjinshi events were planned in Japan in 2017. Two themed cafés opened in Tokyo, one in Ikebukuro in December 2016 and one in Shibuya in May 2017. The series also turned up elsewhere. In South Park, a browser history in the episode "The End of Serialization as We Know It" shows Ike Broflovski searching for it, and a Steven Universe comic sends its heroes to a renaissance faire.

  Karatsu, in Saga Prefecture, is the real town behind Hasetsu. In December 2016, the Sagaprise project announced plans to use the series to promote tourism there. Akinori Kawakami, president of the Association to Connect Hasetsu and Karatsu, said 20 to 30 people came to Karatsu every day on anime pilgrimages. By May 2017, the series had helped attract 20,000 tourists from 27 countries. On the 22nd of February 2017, the Nikkan Sports newspaper ran an illustration of the three main skaters supporting Sagan Tosu football club, which is based in Saga. In 2018, the 8th Location Japan Awards gave a special tourism award to Karatsu City together with the series.

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• 8. Ice Adolescence

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  Written and illustrated by Mitsurou Kubo, the side story manga Welcome to The Madness reached fans on the 26th of May 2017, bundled with the final Blu-ray volume. It follows Yuri P. and Otabek Altin on the night after the Grand Prix Final. An original video animation in the same set shows Yuri P.'s skate at the final's exhibition event.

  In April 2017, at the Yuri!!! on Stage exhibition event, a Yuri on Ice original film was announced. In July 2018, at the Yuri!!! on Concert event, it received its title: Yuri on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence. It was scheduled for release in 2019 and was later delayed. The main production staff were expected to return, with Sayo Yamamoto directing and Mitsurō Kubo writing the screenplay.

  In January 2019, a teaser trailer was shown in Japan during a Yuri on Ice marathon event. It depicted a young Victor Nikiforov performing at the Winter Olympic Games. In November 2020, the same teaser was released worldwide. In April 2024, MAPPA announced through the official Yuri!!! on Ice Twitter account that Ice Adolescence had been cancelled. The teaser of a young Victor at the Olympics is the only look the public ever got at it.

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