Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Yuri!!! on Ice
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pleochroic
 Posts: 16 Location: vancouver island, canada |
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If you ask me (and I am actually gay), it's not gay either. We don't make mpreg jokes in the locker room. Rather this is what fujoshi might think is gay. Actual gay men do not see themselves as the woman, and don't dream of carrying their lover's babies. Allow me to roll my eyes at what fujoshi think is gay; they're for the most part utterly clueless about the real thing. Almost all BL is straight woman fantasies; far removed from reality. Fantasize all you want, but don't project. It's annoying. I don't see much gay in Yuuri either. It's definitely there in Viktor, but Yuuri sure protested the "koibito" line loudly enough that I doubt it has occurred to him that his big man crush might indicate something about his sexual orientation. And hasn't he had a thing for Yuuko? Did I misread that? With all the homoerotic subtext in actual figure skating, why is Viktor the only one he crushes on? No other guy ever held his interest for a moment? He's 23! Not saying he couldn't be gay, of course he could -- or hey, the often erased orientation: bi. But at this point I still read this as more fujoshi bait than anything real. I am not expecting his anime to break new ground in the depiction of actual gay characters. And if it wanted to do that via showing Yuuri as embracing his feminine side, I'd be just as happy if it doesn't, because I'm sick and tired of that stereotype. Though if they made Viktor the bottom, I could go for it. I do like the idea of a Viktor / Yuuri relationship echoing the story of the Eros piece; that would probably be a very realistic outcome because I don't see that relationship, if it becomes one, having much of a future. But for making Yuuri realize his orientation? Oh yeah, that could work. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2247 |
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Sadly, the stratification of men and women's sports being "gendered" is most apparent at its highest levels--male gymnasts, for example, do not perform their floor routine to music, do not have to incorporate dance elements, and generally have a shorter floor routine. There was also a time when female gymnasts performed on rings like the men did.
And I seem to recall that a Black female figure skater (she might've been French) either attempted or performed a dangerous (but successful!) back flip jump with a single-blade landing in order to compensate for an ankle injury, as her performances rely mainly on technical points, as she is more heavily-built than the daintier skaters you typically see. (And on a personal note, I find her skating to be almost aggressive in its speed and intensity.) That move considered illegal and she received a deduction for it. I believe she also attempted a quad at one point--also the only woman to do so--but failed to complete the full rotation, resulting in a triple. EDIT: Found her! Her name is Surya Bonaly. |
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manapear
Posts: 1526 |
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That was a popular video, but how race (and gender, but less so) intersected with her treatment then says a lot. (Happens with gymnasts too.) I remember reading recently about how the gendering can seem relevant at times, but has also happened because the women were outperforming the men, and of course the very patriarchal-mindsetted men in charge could not handle or have that. :/ Sayo tends to tackle some interesting issues in her works though, and I wondered if anything related would ever come up. (Especially in regards to race, like it did with Swan and when ballet was growing in Japan at the time.) |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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Gabriella wrote:
Regardless of how one may view their relationship (or whether or not Victor has personality "issues" or well, just an interesting personality...  ), i think we got some pretty blatant hints that he probably won't be Yuuri's coach/mentor/potential lover/insert role of your choice here forever.
First there's the running gag about Victor being notorious for "forgetting" his promises, then there's his flirtatious/fickle nature and last but not least we shouldn't forget that he's still just on a break from his skating career. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he'd be Yuuri's opponent in the Grand Prix in the end. But Yuuri seems to be pretty much aware that even though he's managed to "catch" the popular playboy for now, this probably won't last and is determind to get the most out of his time with Victor. As for Victor, i don't think he's got any "evil intentions" as some viewers seem to suspect. I believe he's genuinely interested in Yuuri right now, but, of course, he's not just doing that out of the goodness of his heart either. So in short, they were both badly in need of inspiration and managed to find it in each other for the time being. I'm very curious about where that will lead them (and ready to follow). 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11380 |
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I don't think his reaction was out of line for a dramedy, nor even for his personality. And it wasn't a NO! like "don't come near me!" but a "Nononono" as in "you've misunderstood me completely." Yuuri is pretty much in denial about having any sexual feelings toward anyone, and I think he would have reacted the same if an unattached Yuko had asked if he wanted her to be his lover (his moment of courage in the rink notwithstanding). Admitting that he might be interested, to anyone, is too risky and too potentially embarrassing. His overreaction was actually rather similar to his embarrassment when he absentmindedly touched Victor's balding (?) spot.  And I think it also had to do with Victor prodding him on that issue earlier. They were so off-model then I couldn't really tell if Yuuri was genuinely angry at him about going there or what. He did look angry in the first close-up, but his art-style was so different I wasn't sure what to make of it. His defensiveness on that point was pretty clear though.
Anyway, since all that on the beach went down immediately after he told the story about pushing a girl away who was trying to comfort him because he felt she was intruding on his feelings, his response to Victor's proposition seemed totally in line with how closed off he is to other people, even under less intimate circumstances. He can be friendly and cheerful and social with others, as long as they stay at arm's length. When they get closer he panics and thrusts out his arms to recover that distance. And yeah, he jumps three feet in the air, because comedy. I guess I'm not feeling very touchy about this so far because I don't sense a shred of mean-spiritedness in it. Characters aren't funny because they're gay. Victor isn't chasing Yuuri through the streets. Even if everything isn't perfect, as of now it feels like a huge step forward. Even moments like this I find pretty funny, because, well, what they were doing wasn't normal for a family public bath. 
And the praying man's "Ahh, thank you god" really sold it. I didn't catch it the first time and thought he was praying for deliverance.
One other thing about Victor, he does seem to have a hidden side that he doesn't normally reveal. First there was the slight frown when he was watching Yuuri's video, which I still don't know how to interpret. Then there was his annoyed body language when Yuuri kept him waiting, though he acted like it was no big deal and only made a passing comment on it. And when he came to Yuuri's room (after being stood up again, so I can totally relate to his annoyance!) his face is half darkened as if he's really pissed off, and then instantly brightens before Yuuri can see it. I don't think he's got a nefarious plan, but he's not just the easy-going sweetie he presents to the world either. It'll be interesting to see if that's just normal public persona vs private feelings, or if it's a mask deliberately-crafted for other reasons. |
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Peebs
Posts: 419 |
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After the review to episode 3, I want to watch the show dubbed. I prefer subs, but there are a few dubs out there, not all from Funimation, that I really like. I may have to add YOI to that short list.
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Rivailloli
 Posts: 562 Location: Virginia |
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Another good episode for me and I liked the little interactions that were present here. It was adorable to see how Viktor and Yuri work with one another and interact. I dunno, I like the little downtime moments the most! Yurio is not as important to me as the others, but watching him grow in this episode was interesting! His development as he becomes an adult skater and phases physical changes that will more than likely impact his performances could make for a rather neat narrative. I'm excited to see more of the other skaters next episode though!
Well if you ask me (and I'm actually a bisexual guy), it is rather gay to call another man "sexy." Also, we make mpreg jokes in the locker room all the time. Now to seriously reply to your kind of condescending and rash assumptions about me, I'm not a fujoshi because I'm not a girl and I'm not "rotten", but thank-you your assuming I was a girl over a difference of an opinion about a line in a cartoon. People have different perceptions concerning what insinuates homosexuality and clearly we have different opinions. Clearly you and the person who wrote this review have differing opinions on what insinuates homosexuality as well. Thanks for telling me what I know btw, as someone who has been into BL since I was essentially 12 I'm well aware of it's issues and tropes. Not gunna make me think the line was any less gay, but thanks. Have a nice day, dude. |
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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Pot, kettle, black on the stereotyping. Anyway, I'll just drop this here. Evidently, some gay men think this behavior is just like them. That's because everyone is different and one person's experience isn't the rule, nor does it invalidate another's. https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/59jgua/spoilers_yuri_on_ice_episode_4_discussion/d98zhig/ |
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iamtooawesome
Posts: 351 Location: Thailand |
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The comment section became heterosexual all of a sudden, but if you compare it to simulcasting sites like CR the Yuri!!! On ice comment section there is a battlefield
I just came here from Evgenia's(figure skater world champion) twitter, that post gave me cancer ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ She's also sailing Vikturi. The dub version is good but seriously the Russian accent made me rofl Viktor sounds like Dracula and Yuri sounds like Solusod trying to speak Russian, it was so funny that it became so goodㅋㅋㅋㅋ |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11380 |
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Some random observations:
The very first piano notes of the series totally make me expect it to launch into Endless Night, which has the same chord progression at the beginning. I like how the OPs have gradually become more colorful with more background details. There's no arena in episode 1's OP and the colors are very muted, with the few yellows being pastel. They've become more vibrant by episode 2, with Yurii's blond hair and Victor's golden skates being practically neon, and there's an arena in the bkg near the end. 3 and 4 each have additional flourishes and splatters of bright blues and lavenders and yellows on their hand movements (some of that was in 2, but there's more in these) and the arena has more details in more shots. I wish someone would do a quad-screen video of them. How is it that no one has been freaking out/fangirling/fleeing in terror over the fact that Victor has nipples? That's always such a frequent complaint about female-targeted fan service (I remember Gabriella even mentioned it in her review of DRAMAtical Murder) that I was expecting a few squees at least.
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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I like having a dub for this. The sub is great and I'll watch it as soon as it's out every week, but they can throw a lot of technical information at you that's easier to hear than read. Plus, with a dub I can concentrate on the skating and not subtitles during skating scenes. Funi did a pretty good job, though the accents are a little strange. What do I know though, I'm not Russian.
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nightmaregenie
 Posts: 167 Location: Palmy, NZ - student central |
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As someone who's been religiously following the show I must say: episode 5...wow, I'm honestly very disappointed. Animation-wise, this was even worse than the last episode (yes, I'm aware that the Japanese broadcast version apparently was better but Crunchyroll still has the dodgy version). Characters couldn't stay on model, the frame rate slows right down mid-skate and the anatomy was horrible...
Maybe that 3-episode curse thing is going to come true for YOI. Hopefully they'll really fix things up for the Bluray release. I've been loving the series up to this point and I understand the high standards set at the beginning are probably unsustainable in the long run...but still...I'm kinda sad... |
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genkillua
 Posts: 20 Location: usa |
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Obviously the drop in the ice skating animation quality is a little disappointing, but everything else in this series is so stellar, and I really do think that after the first volume is released in japan and more funding is available, that we'll see more animation like what we saw in episode 1.
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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So I don't really follow ice skating but is it common for skater to change routine mid season? Cause otherwise we might literally be stuck with the same skating sequence another like 4 times...
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CheezcakeMe
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Sure the animation suffers but I'm damn proud of them to be this ambitious. I'd rather they try and fall short than give in and use slow pans over backgrounds while an off screen narrator fills us in on things the studio was too cheap/lazy to animate.
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