the gayest skating anime (Yuri!!! On ICE)

the animation is so good

the gay is so gay

i'm too tired to think of any actually worthwhile thoughts on this anime but pls join me in freaking out about it :DDDDDDDD

 

-runs straight into thread, looking panicked-

HELP ME, I FALL FOR THIS SHIT EVERY TIME, THIS MALE BONDING FAKE GAY SPORTS ANIME SHIT, EXCEPT THIS TIME, THE GAY ISN'T FAKE, IT'S VERY REAL

THERE'S NO WAY THIS IS JUST QUEERBAITING IT'S REAL. THIS IS NOT A DRILL THIS IS REAL

THEY'RE SO BEAUTIFUL AND I'M DISTRESSED, IT'S LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE

...a note: they were REALLY careful with the ages of the three protagonists (?) so far. (Central characters. Protagonist, romantic interest, and antihero antagonist??) 15 is when you're just starting out in an Olympic sport like this, but when the REALLY good ones have already made themselves known. It's a time with a lot of pressure. And, as Yuri mentioned, right when they have to stop presenting themselves as beautiful boys and start retraining themselves for a man's body. 24 is supposed to be your prime in a sport like this, and if it isn't, you're falling behind. And no one is going to say it to Victor's face, because he's the best of the best, but 27 is too old for professional ice skating and only the best get away with it. He should start getting ready to fall off the wagon. But what if he's not ready

...personal note,

Spoiler: preferences

beautiful, long hair is my biggest Thing, that's the thing I'm attracted to, gender being absolutely not a factor, and every time they flashed back to young Victor's skating routine with the ponytail I just. A huh. Adlks. GUh? I can't feel my face D:

It's nice that a Beautiful Anime Man is older than me for the first time in. A while.

I love this. The animation is so fluid. The dances are so beautiful. I'm still just reeling over that sexy headsnap/low whistle combo in episode 3. And that poor, poor teenager who thinks he can compete romantically with an adult (even if that's not stated) and is crushed when he can't. Honey, when I was 15, I would not have had a clue how to preform eros or agape. I had only barely felt either. You're not ready yet

 

KICKS DOWN THE DOOR

I just started watching this today because the animation in the gifsets on my dash was so smooth, and I'm already in love. I adore Yuri and Victor and Yurio and I'm really excited to see where they go as the competition ramps up.

AND GOD I feel the same way about the shit they're teasing with Yuri/Victor, because sure it might be baiting (it is probably baiting) but like? Yuri's whole deal is looking up to Victor from childhood, his thing is that all of his female prospects are either a) related to him, b) parental figures, or c) already married and happily settled with kids. And fucking!!! That reaction to "I could be your boyfriend" was not "oh no I am not gay that is a bad" that was 100% goddamn anime ass fucking OH NO HE'S HOT AND HE'S OFFERING I DON'T DESERVE IT.

I'm so many emotions about this fucking anime. I'm so invested already. I haven't felt this alive since goddamn Bike Anime and Love Live.

 

It can't possibly be baiting. Did you like. Come on. That bit where Victor full on dragged Yuri up to his body and touched his lips?? Like??? Victor is aware that Yuri might like like him? Hence the boyfriend thing?? Yuri goes full-on deliberate blushu whenever he sees Victor looking Beautiful? He had to avoid looking at his naked body despite communal bathing being a thing in Japanese culture?? "I didn't feel like the playboy; I felt more like the woman in the story?" AAAAAAAAAAA??? It's not being presented as a joke?? Ok sometimes a little, like, Victor is obviously teasing sometimes, but he's also obviously seriously saying 'I'm impressed with you as a person, you matter to me, what do you want me to be to you, because I will try to be that'

This is being being panicked at even the thought that they aren't trying to do the canon gay. like. I'll be really disappointed and impressed if anime has gotten to this level of gay baiting. Because it's. It's. It's being served bait on a pleasant platter with a sign that says 'this is gay' so if they're going to pretend it's not like... what next level shit... if there's a fucking hook in this delicious gay lunch...

I don't expect them to get married and live happily ever after but I expect a really vicarious thrill when someone says the words 'crush' or 'gay' or 'I like you' out loud, in a serious way, and it's not a joke at all, and it had better happen, because what transparent shit is this

((Also, I REALLY liked the bit where Yuri was given a story about a man and a woman and couldn't connect with it or identify with anyone in it until he considered connecting with the woman, and he found he really understood her position and felt like her and used her story to find a more feminine place in himself, and that WASN'T A JOKE AT ALL. IT WAS A BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT AND IT MADE HIM STRONGER

//VIBRATES//))

 

RIGHT?? RIGHT???

Like that (and a lot of the moments with Victor touching Yuri's lips or Yuri touching Victor's hair) is just one of the things that really fucking drives my hope that this is 100% going to be canon down the line. Like. C'mon. Please give this to me.

I can't even look up the novella or manga tie ins because it's a COMPLETELY ORIGINAL IP I have to suffer with the suspense of not being sure if it's true gay.

 

I don't care if the actual full gay doesn't happen or the relationship doesn't work out. All I want is for Yuri's feelings to be acknowledged and for it to not be a joke. Plz

...and PARTNER ROUTINES. I want PARTNER ROUTINE S

 

an article about the YoI gay! and queer rep in anime in general: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2016-11-02/what-so-gay-about-yuri-on-ice/.108391

i haven't read past the intro yet bc lol how do attention span but it looks interesting and relevant to this convo

 

That was a pretty good read, actually (and I agree with a lot of the assumptions in it, though my cynical heart is still waiting for the het romance shoe to drop.)

 

New episode!!

My heart is BURSTING. That was so so so SWEET.

Spoiler: spoiler, slightly more tongue-in-cheek

that's exactly what I would have said about a woman I loved before I was out of the closet too Yuri. A ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Seriously though that was just. Aaaaa. This relationship. This dynamic. Aaaaa *u* They're so kind to each other, so interested in each other being a good person, just, fuck my life, more of this, more gentle heart-felt exploration of queer feeling, including and especially the delicate, friendly, not-explicitly-sexual side of things

AAaaaAAAAAAAA

 

Okay. My one complaint about this show is that the OP's opening melody puts me in the mind of those early 90s informational shows, and it fucks me up every time.

 

I always skip it... I couldn't place why I don't like it, but I don't really. It's not my sound. A lot of people love it though so it must be doing something right -u- and it does assure me that my angry bottom bitch son will be important again

 

Spoiler: okay i am liveblogging this because I GOTTA (ep 5)

THAT
FUCKING
HUG

"dance like you're trying to seduce me" this is. fucking gay. i'm going to be so upset if this isn't canon because it is that fucking gay.

also i like how Victor has a habit of gently pressuring the skaters he works with to play to their abilities, not necessarily the most impressive abilities. how he treated Yurio when he was still in junior divisions and the way he's trying to get Yuri to focus on what makes him good, not just the technicality of the point scoring, is really nice.

also Minami is fucking adorable

FUCKING
GAY
ASS
SHIT

(minami remains adorable)

also can I just say that I really appreciate both getting to see the full programs of the skating and getting the running commentary on what they're doing and why they're succeeding/failing (as well as all the infomercial type interludes) because I absolutely adore that in sports anime

RUN INTO HIS ARMS YURI DAS GAY AND I LOVE IT

"my love is not romantic love" b u l l s h i t

 

I mean to me he said

Spoiler: spoips

that his love isn't romantic because he was talking about a lot of things at once. His family, his town. I mean, he can feel a lot of warm emotions for a lot of things even while falling in love with Victor--that happens all the time, that everything and everyone just seems more charming and endearing because this one person is fucking goddamn brightening your life. I don't know if he's fully aware of what's happening with Victor in particular yet (I mean, he just said he isn't aware) because I think he doesn't quite want to face this fully yet but--he knows it's good, it's a good feeling, a good thing, and that matters so much to me.

I just. Give me a second.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

-bouncing, hand flapping-

Ok.

I love how Victor keeps pushing him to be a better person. 'Hey. I know you're just focusing on yourself and your performance, which is fine, but you can't treat your competitors like that, even if they are children to you. They look up to you. They're legitimate competitors. I will think less of you if you're unsporting.' Which is good. That's the sort of push to improve that's just such a GOOD SIGN between two adults building a relationship--they want each other to be good people.

Well, we've seen a lot of Victor working to make Yuri a good people. We've not seen much of the return yet for obvious reasons--Victor's the coach, he's deliberately working on Yuri and trying to keep his own self-improvement on the backburner, and whether he means to or not, he's being pretty cagey about his own motivations and feelings. At this point I'm pretty sure he's not hiding any horrible surprises when it comes specifically how he feels for Yuri and what he wants for them, he's just... not talking about himself yet. Which is probably a good way to start. And after some time, after he starts really wanting to know more, Yuri is going to realize the attention is a little unbalanced right now, and he's going to start wondering what he can do for Victor, and it's going to be good shit.

Gosh, just, the overflowing love and goodwill, someone hold me

OMG and the 'dance like you'll seduce me' line just SLAYED ME I was just so happy about the serious straight delivery (hee) of the queer feeling, Yuri's very specific seducing MEN comment, holy shit, we are going there, we are going there fast, and it's just so KIND, to us, to them

Man the running commentary during the dances made me so... nervous... I just want him to do well... and for Victor to be proud... and Victor realized 'he has flaws and he's being a bit stubborn but he's doing this with all of his heart with the desire to do it as well as possible' and

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

I just got caught up and SCREEEEEEEEEEEE
Look. Episode three literally doesn't make any goddamn sense if Yuri's not attracted to Victor. This is for real. THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Man... this show is so earnest and emotionally vulnerable it actually makes me a little anxious, but I've always felt like that's kinda just the way figure skating is on the artistic level? Like, just the simple, baldfaced aesthetics of expressing emotions through form and movement and music? I feel like I've never seen a show that had so many super-close-up shots of characters emoting wide-eyed directly into the camera.

Minami's such a bab. Go get'em, tiger.
Russian Yuri is so fun. The bit when he's wandering around Japanese Yuri's hometown and buys the tiger sweatshirt was a great character moment. I love how fast they managed to establish his personal aesthetic. (waves Team Angry Bottom Bitch flag)

 

i am so SO excited for this anime, my cynical heart is just waiting for it to be nothing but a huge queerbait, but like that article said it's treating their feelings for each other much more seriously than other anime out there. i'm
optimistic about the directors track record with LGBT stuff though
2016 has already been crazy enough anything could happen at this point

it's also cute as shit and animated beautifully ;u;

 

Thanks for reminding me of the existence of this. I may as well make 1 out of my 20 cries today about something I like and watch some more of this

 

glad to be of service!

i watched episode 6 today and Yuri's performance.....hahaa.......it got my mind off things which i am eternally grateful for

 

i just watched it............ i'm................. distracted........................

Spoiler: spoips

oh.... ok you're gonna...... try to make the fact that you've completely stolen victor's heart so obvious that literally the whole world gets jealous, that's your stated goal

good

 

they've really upped the ante on the performances, they're so beautifully animated and well done!! especially yuri's, like....

You Sir, May Kindly Fuck Off. the only other time i was THAT into watching a sport was league of legends

Spoiler: fuckin gay ice anime

when he yanked victor towards him i legit thought they were gonna kiss. also........nosebleed imagery........really.....(i'm not mad it was just absolutely ridiculous in a good way)

this anime is gonna kill me i s2g

 

God yes. I've watched all the episodes up 4 times now. It's fluid and raw and refined at the same time, and it only feels like 5 minutes for each episode. It's so profoundly hopeful and loving and encouraging AND I HAVE A LOT OF EMOTIONS.

Spoiler

ALSO THE RUSSIAN LESBIAN SKATER WHO WAS DATING A HOCKEY PLAYER