If I were to look at a list of the most popular genres of anime, 'Sports Anime' is the one that I would avoid 95% of the time. I have severely disliked every sports anime I've previously watched. Kuroko no Basket (Kuroko's Basketball), for example - I absolutely hated it, and 'hate' is not a word I use frequently. I rarely identify with the characters, and I never really care about the outcome of the sports themselves. Though an anime fan, I also consider myself to be both an athlete and sports fan. Of the sports I enjoy watching, Figure Skating is not among them. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I really dislike Figure Skating - my family has always been adamant about watching it whenever the Winter Olympics happen, and I've never enjoyed it. So when my SO came up to me and said "Heyyyy let's watch Yuri On Ice, it is great" my immediate reaction was a giant groan - YOI is a Figure Skating Sports Anime. She insisted it was worth the watch, and since she'd suggested some other shows that had been outside my wheelhouse, and I ended up enjoying those, I decided to trust her on it. Well... You know what? She was right. It was worth the watch.

First and foremost, the show has a spectacular art style. It is colorful, and diverse. The characters look great, the environments were lovingly crafted, and there is a sort of fetishization towards food art that I'm super into - the food always looks amazing. There is also a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the animation involved with the skating parts of the show. You can tell that a significant amount of painstaking research went into proper figure skating techniques, as well as how a skater's body moves, the way their blades interact with the ice, etc. There is no doubt that the show is a visual feast, and it's one of those "you could pause the show at any moment and use that frame as a desktop background" type shows. Something else I really appreciated is that when the characters are competing in different parts of the world (Spain, Russia, China, etc) each area feels authentic - including language and architecture!

Next, the show does a really good job with characterization. The way that anime usually likes to establish characters is to give each new person their own episode and dedicate that episode to the new character's background. YOI says "nah," and just lets the new characters walk in. There will be lines of dialogue which establish "hey these two have known each other forever," or "I don't think these two like each other very much" - but the nice thing is that it works. By the end, each character has their own distinct personality that you can recognize, and you'll appreciate everyone involved by their own merit. That is a big accomplishment, and I am really glad that YOI subverted the normal anime tropes by handling it that way - it is a better show for it.

As you would expect, YOI focuses on its central character, Yuri. He's a high-level Japanese figure skater who has never really been able to live up to his talent. He'd mess up during competition, and always go home disappointed. He's a good character, and he never really gets annoying or anything like that. Throughout the show, none of the other characters are ever his enemy. His biggest enemy is Anxiety, which I thought was a really interesting factor. As someone with depression/anxiety, I totally understand what he feels, and the show depicts it in a fairly mature way. The other main character of the show is Victor - Yuri's long-standing idol, and now coach. I don't want to delve too deep into the details, since the show is fairly short (12 episodes) and the story paces itself in a strong way. The peaks and valleys are worth experiencing organically!

Another highlight of the show is that it has a pretty great soundtrack. Figure Skating is always set to music, and the songs the skaters perform to are chosen with care. This goes for YOI's soundtrack, as well. To be honest, though I liked the music of the show, I found it to get a little bit repetitive. I realize that is inherent to the format (figure skater honing their performance over the same song over the course of a season) but I personally got bored with it since the music was sort of simplistic (I have a degree in music and play in prog metal bands, this is almost assuredly just a "me" thing). I think for those who are less analytical about the music, you're going to love it too!

So where does the show fumble? Well, for me, there were still some trappings in the 'sports anime' thing that I didn't love. The outcomes of each competition were fairly rote, and I never really felt surprised by how they transpired. Because of that, the overall story arch left something to be desired for me. To phrase it another way, moment-to-moment the story felt like it moved well, but the overarching story was a bit boring. I also felt like it got a little too fan service-y for me, but that is more of a personal preference thing than a show quality thing (you can see in my Episode 0 post that I'm not big into fan service).

Before wrapping up, because I know it would come up if I didn't mention it: yes, the main relationship in the show is a homoerotic one. I think it was handled really well, and I liked both of the characters involved. It never felt pandering, and more importantly, it felt rooted in genuine love. I think it's one of the better canonical relationships I've seen in an anime.

Ultimately, I think YOI is a good show. I don't think it's a great show, but I enjoyed it enough to want to keep up with it if they make a new season. I know there is a movie coming out, which my SO and I intend to watch when we can! If you aren't into sports anime like me, I'd say that it is still worth your time if you enjoy dramas. The characters rock, the art is lovely, and there is a lot to like. There are some faults, and it can be fairly predictable; but the journey is worth taking.

I rate Yuri On Ice: 4/5

B2112's Anime Reviews: Episode 0