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

Let Victor Cry 2016

 

that homage to Weir is amazing! i never rly paid any attention to skating and it's culture tbh
i hope they address the homophobia in skating AND in Russia, but i wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't touch it. never heard of an anime that dealt with it head-on before :U

 

It has been alluded to, which is a good sign, but it remains to be seen if the showrunners are bold enough to make it part of the plot (which it realistically should be, imo.)

 

This was actually giving me Such Emotions, I just didn't think to mention it. I was just in love with Weir when he was at his height--he had such incredible talent and his blatant gender-bending and queer self-expression really inspired me, even at an age when I didn't know what it was that inspired me. I remember being baffled at his low scores because he seemed so amazing to me, and I couldn't understand why he wouldn't have won. I rewatched a few of his old routines now that I'm hyperfocused as hell on YOI and... oh, Johnny. Johnny, my dove. I am just punched in my face anew by all the feelings little mouse had about his beautiful self. The way he moves, how much FUN he has on the ice... sweet baby *u*

We need MORE tributes to the ethereal grace of Johnny Weir tbh. Did you know he did an episode of Chopped once because he was invited and he decided 'well why the hell not?'

 

Thiiiiis.

Spoiler: spoips

It's subtle just because how he acts around Yuuri doesn't overtly change much--he remains as flirty, over-the-top, flippant, and occasionally viscous as he was when he first showed up. He seems very much the same. Him going out of his way to pressure Yuuri into preforming well in episode 7 doesn't look too much different from him mercilessly slamming him about his weight until you consider how fucking serious he was about it in episode 7 when he wasn't at all in episode 1. Just think about him trying to literally keep Yuuri from hearing the audience cheering for Phichit because he was that desperate for Yuuri to have the self-confidence to skate well. He cares deeply, emotionally about how well Yuuri preforms now--he just, as you said, tries to solve a problem instead of comfort a person.

People were mocking the 'edgy theories' that Victor didn't actually care about Yuuri in the beginning but that's... realistic? He was inspired by an artist he saw on the internet. I think he had deeper feelings about it but I think they were self-focused--he was desperate for the inspiration, something about it appealed to him, maybe he was miserable and this, Yuuri's beautiful imitation, made him feel like he had done something with his career. Of course he didn't care too much about Yuuri to begin with, he didn't fucking know him!

He does now, though. He really, really likes him. By the time Yuuri is preforming in the China cup, Victor REALLY likes him. And really liking a person can bring bad things out in a person who isn't used to treating other people like they're on his level. Equal. A romantic PARTNER, not a follower. Especially someone who is clearly used to holding his actual personality at a cold remove.

Now I'm getting fucked up about how cold and emotionally removed he's always been (damn, remember that slamdown when Yuuri tried to hug him after the one performance? All the weight pressure? Him absolutely refusing to be gentle every time Yuuri messed up and used it? That absolute crock of bull that was the 'I can't handle people crying in front of me, should I kiss you to shut you up' deflection?) and how easy that was to ignore because he's over the top about positive emotions and flirtatiousness and equally dramatic about praise when he thinks someone's earned it. Damn... is this... intentional? Wtf

 

HERE FOR IT

HERE FOR EMOTIONALLY STUNTED PRETTY BOYS USING FLIRTATION AND HUMOR TO KEEP PEOPLE AT ARMS LENGTH

 

I just cannot WAIT for the fic/canon about how Fucked Up Victor is inside. He's hid it decently well. I think a lot of people haven't really thought about it yet. But I'm not fooled. That 'let's shatter his heart' thing was fucking UNBALANCED. He's not ok.

 

I saw someone say the show felt like the lightest timeline hannigram AU and you know what, I feel it

 

I dunno how to reply to what you just said other than 'I mean, Victor would look nice covered in blood.'

Christ, what a fucking comparison to make. I am definitely not saying you're wrong but. Christ.

He just wants you to have some self-confidence, Yuuri.

 

And he'll KILL TO GIVE IT TO YOU

 

.....................I'm into this

 

-opens mouth-
-closes mouth-
there is no way there is a place in this particular, beautifully sweet fandom for murderhusband bullshit and i shouldn't tempt myself.

 

I didn't see the "let's shatter that heart" as unbalanced, just badly-thought-out -- I think he expected Yuuri to either get angry, or go "no, Victor-sensei, I will prove to you that I am worthy of your attention!!!!11", and either way get Determined and Motivated.

(IMO, it seemed like something Victor thought Yakov would do, and probably something Yakov actually did with Victor and Yuri both, under different circumstances, because both of them are the sort to need a kick in the ass and have Consequences presented to them. Yuuri needs something quite different from his coach.)

That doesn't mean I don't think Victor isn't fucked up! He wears a public face like 90% of the time (even drunk), because it's easier than stopping and thinking and feeling. He's probably got massive Gifted Kid Issues (he's Victor Nikiforov, he's the genius skater who ALWAYS surprises his audience... and he's 27, which is OLD for skating, and everyone expects to be surprised, so how can he surprise anyone anymore? He even mentions in Ep 3 that the programs he was designing to On Love wouldn't surprise the audience if he skated then.)

Damnit why do I have so much grading to do, I have fic that I need to write.

 

Next episode speculation;

Spoiler

Looking at the scene in the trailer where Yuri is yanking on Victor's tie to get his attention again, I'm a little worried. It doesn't look like cute flirting. It looks like Victor might be genuinely rattled and struggling to focus on Yuri. I'm kind of expecting Victor to get a certain amount of shit thrown at him in Russia. He's always been Russia's Victor Nikiforov, and through his actions in the last six months or so (including kissing another man on live international TV, whether that's openly stated or not), he's pretty much declared himself to be Yuri's Victor Nikiforov, not Russia's. There could be some pretty nasty attacks on Victor's loyalties and motivations even without any open homophobia. I'll be watching Yuri's reactions to see if things people are saying to Victor are in English or in Russian and flying over Yuri's head.

 

I avoided this show for ages because I was afraid it was going to be a bunch of queerbaiting subtext with no substance and I couldn't handle it. I'm so glad I finally watched it.

Spoiler: Ep7

I'm so impressed with the way they timed this. Victor's fuckup finally forces Yuri to take him off the pedestal and see him more as a person who is sometimes wrong and impatient and messes up than as the perfect idol. That's been building for a while now as they got to know each other better, but I feel like this really put their relationship on more even footing in a way that's necessary for the romance to work.

And the tender look post kiss! I am ded.

Also excited to learn more about Victor, since we're going to be on his home turf. I'm hoping he gets some emotional catharsis too because he seems super bottled up and I think there's a lot going on under there. Poor bab has been the perfect gifted child for most of his life, that can really fuck a person up.

 

-scratches at glass, trying to hold Victor- I love

 

Note: I don't know if this is going to be a long post or multiple posts. But I have so many fucking feelings about this show. I've watched is probably 8 times in total at this point (not exaggeration ask @ADigitalMagician she saw me). FYI I've removed some parts of posts that are quoted to keep this from being too long, even if they were under a spoiler snip.

But! before that, I've decided to try an read the whole AO3 archive because I like pain. I've been bookmarking what I consider to be the really good fics if anyone is interested but not up to combing the 1500+ works. https://archiveofourown.org/users/siveambrai/bookmarks

Thank you so much for translating this! It makes no sense in the straight sub and I've been puzzling over what Yuri could mean by that since I doubted it was implying that he and Mila were a couple (like in a "I'd never risk crossing you by getting another girlfriend" kinda thing).

Yuuri's mom is the best. It's great because she immediately starts referring to Victor as Vicchan in the very first episode which surprised me because that's rather informal. But I think she's just taken with him. She's super super sweet.

This is some really fantastic analysis about where Victor is coming from.

Spoiler: Anxiety and Failure

I feel like the reason that Victor's approach actually works out in episode 7 is because he presents Yuuri with the absolute worst case scenario. As Yuuri's mind is spiraling into all the ways he could fuck up and disappoint everyone and be literally the worst person to have ever existed (wee anxiety disorders are the best!!!) Victor makes the very worst possible thing happen. And it forces Yuuri to deal with the situation at hand and address it instead of the possibilities he sees in his head. Yes, Yuuri cries and yells at Victor but he also doesn't have to worry because Victor doesn't walk away in disgust and Yuuri doesn't have to have that feeling of knowing your going to fail and sob in the toilet after. It comes to a head BEFORE his performance for once and afterwards he finds that the world didn't end. And since it didn't end he can start focusing on ways to get better. While Victor managed to get Yuuri through that particular anxiety attack his approach was extremely suboptimal. And I think to some degree we'll see that the growth he and Yuuri both have come to a head at the GPF.

I also really loved Yuuri being angry at Victor during his performance. I enjoy the idea that love fixes everything but I also like that Yuuri has a realistic grasp of the fact that he's dealing with a mental illness. It doesn't just go away, or make logical sense, it's part of who Yuuri is.

I approve of this as well. Victor has the both the raw natural skill and the confidence in himself. It's easy to see those people and just feel jealous of them but I like how they're really humanizing him as well.

I just have so many thoughts and reflections about this show and how it makes me feel about my own life and how fucking well they represent being in the top of your field but feeling like an impostor and dealing with self-doubt fueled anxiety. And I dunno, I'll probably write a navel gazing and narcissistic tumblr post on it soon.

 

Oh, trust me, I'm really, REALLY feeling, on a very personal level, what I've put together about Yuuri's anxiety and queerness and his past re those two things as far as I can tell. I'm writing a fic right now that's like 10k words of uncomfortably personal headcanons. I can tell you right now no one wants to see it. It's amazing how personally I feel this show I love it.

 

Welp, guess it's time for a rewatch before the new episode :3

 

AHHHHHH! AHHHHHHH!

Spoiler: Episode 8 Spoilers

They better not hurt that dog or so help me.