Now if you haven’t heard of Yuri!!! on Ice, you’re either not into anime or you’ve been living under a rock for this whole anime season! Either way, you’re one hundred percent, definitely, positively and completely missing out! Yuri!!! on Ice is a must watch!
So get your head out of the gutter, because Yuri!!! on Ice is a sports anime about none other than the competitive world of men’s figure skating!
The anime’s opening theme is ‘History Maker’ sung by Dean Fujioka, and while you might sit there and think to yourself, “Well what kind of history did they make? Did they break a world record score for their free skating routine?”, you’ll actually be surprised at the answer.
Well, the short answer is no…
But!
Instead of cheesy sports anime tropes of “I’m going to be the very best!”, Yuri!!! on Ice focuses on the main protagonist rising from the ashes of his former, crappy skating season, and like a beautiful phoenix, spreading his wings and doing his best the following year with the help of his new coach. It just so happens his new coach is his figure skating idol and multi award winning skater.
What’s even more impressive, is that this anime absolutely obliterates the sports anime trope of queer baiting the ever loving crap out of it! That’s right folks, Yuri!!! on Ice is a sports anime with a canon gay couple as the main characters. Yuri!!! on Ice is not a yaoi anime, hell it isn’t even shounen ai! Fans, fujoshis, fudanshis and everyone alike celebrated the win last week as the anime confirmed what everyone was hoping for; that the blatant romantic tension between the main characters was more than just simply baiting and definitely more than pure fanservice. No, Yuri!!! on Ice fleshed out their characters, built a mind blowing, healthy, supportive and idealistic relationship between them and let the protagonist’s skating theme of ‘love’ win.
Now if only other sports anime could please take note! Free!, Haikyuu!! I’m looking at you!
Just perpetually screaming about fictional boys
