Anime Ventilation 30 Yuri on Ice

{Spoilers}

I JUST FINISHED WATCHING YURI ON ICE AND IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!!! You know those animes that once they get so much hype you don't enjoy them as much? Well not this one. This one broke Tumblr and it deserves at least this much. THIS WAS THE BEST THING. THIS GAVE ME STANDARDS. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.

It has the classic rivalry of sports anime but the beauty of this is how, even though there’s such a high level of competition, each of them is so supportive. They’re all bloodthirsty and ready to fight for that gold medal but when it comes down to it all of their shows of sportsmanship are admirable. I think that’s one of the most poignant things about this series; when each of the skaters took the ice the rest would all shout ‘Davai!’ and even if they weren’t in the actual competitions they would watch online and cheer for their friends. I’m actually stupefied by how wonderful all of these babies are. They're all so driven to do their best, not only for themselves, but also for their countries and their fans. Seeing the devotion all of their fans give them and how the energy of the audience and the skater bounce off and magnify one another really embodies something truly beautiful about figure skating as a sport. Even though most sports anime are based on team effort and coming together as a team, I feel that Yuri on Ice really shows that even in individual sports there is a certain unmistakable camaraderie. I can’t even begin to formulate how beautiful all of this is. I can only repeat and stress upon the beauty of the entirety of the series.

Everything about this was great. It started off with this unconfident normal Japanese figure skater crying in the bathroom. And after that first episode you just can’t put it down. Seeing Yuri crying as he let the stress of the competition break his spirit really makes you root for him and hope for better things to come. When Victor watches Yuri’s recreation of his routine and flies out to Japan, that’s when things start to take off. And from there their relationship blossoms as they break down all the competition and difficulties in their way. It was truly a pleasure to see someone so unconfident, someone that resonates with every single person in this world that doesn’t feel like they are good enough rise to the occasion and steal the show. It speaks volumes on how anyone with enough drive and motivation can do anything they set their mind to. Yuri himself said he was just a dime-a-dozen Japanese figure skater, alluding to his lack of self-confidence, but through the journey of competing against all these skaters he thought were leagues above him...and him rising to the challenge show such a natural development of his self-confidence and self-discovery. I don’t think I can even convey the message that gives. Yuri is truly beautiful. Everything about his journey and the way it was developed and delivered was breathtaking.

And it wasn’t even him. This wasn’t a shoddy second-rate anime that only focuses on the main ship. Oh no, this was a true masterpiece, a work of art. You think I’m kidding and maybe if you’re a hardcore figure skating expert you might want to fight me. But on matters of storyline, emotional evocation, and characters this was absolutely amazing. Hands down the best anime of this season and maybe of this year in my opinion. (I don’t know why I say my opinion because literally my whole blog is my opinion. Heh.) If you list any character I can tell you why they’re precious. For example, JJ. At the beginning I thought JJ was a bit of a jerk. I mean any guy that skates to a song written for him about how he’s the best in the world ought to be. But honestly I think that the whole ‘King JJ’ was just a facade. In actuality he’s just like any of the other skaters; he’s driven to bring gold home to Canada and to do his absolute best. But even though he initially came off as someone that would dominate the Grand Prix, he’s not all powerful. He’s affected by the stress and acknowledges how good his competition is. I think there’s something beautifully fragile in figure skating that’s almost like each of them is chasing after one another. No one settles when they get the highest score; they’re all hungry to keep going and surprising the audience. (That’s why during JJ’s Grand Prix long program I was crying so hard.) Even the skaters that only showed up for a substantial amount of time for one or two episodes like Seung-gil were memorable. In most anime you see a side character, acknowledge their presence, and then they’re gone. Even though Seung-gil was emotionless for the most part, his part in the plot was really to show a skater’s pride. His emotionless demeanor was broken by the fact that he couldn’t reach the Grand Prix. Ah, we have to talk about the two cuties of the show: Phichit and Kenjirou. Before Kenjirou it’d be easy to get the impression that Yuri was a bit of a loser in the ice skating world. But seeing Kenjirou at the Japanese competition and seeing how much he looked up to Yuri really gave the impression that Yuri was indeed a force to be reckoned with, even if he himself didn’t see it yet. And Phichit! Him and his selfies are iconic. He’s the cutest of the bunch and seeing him so happy even though he didn’t even win a medal at the Grand Prix was so adorable. He tried his absolute best and was satisfied with the results...well for now. I hope to see all of them in Nationals and such. And his ice show dream is sooo adorable. Oh my goodness.

ALSO CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE YURIO? In his senior debut he totally kills it. There’s so much growth on his part. He goes from the Russian thug to the tsundere Russian fairy. Speaking about compassion, when he gave those tonkatsu piroshkis to Yuri after the competition to cheer him up...awhhhhh. He’s actually more beautiful than a lot of girls I know in all honesty (Him skating ‘On Love: Agape was always a killer. Almost as killer as Yuri skating On Love: Eros tbh.). And the most beautiful part is that he’s always looking to improve. He does the hardest moves and is constantly evolving his routine, but still feels threatened by the others. His striving for improvement is what really got him that well-deserved gold medal in the Grand Prix. Also his reaction when Otabek was like "So you wanna be friends?" and Yurio was like "No one's ever asked that before" was so precious.

I feel like I can’t even do Yuri and Viktor’s relationship justice. Like it’s actually so adorable. They went from fan-idol to student-coach to fiances in the span of 12 episodes. Like WHAT EVEN?! The creators of this show actually gave us everything. They gave us a romantic and super classy gay relationship. They gave us a super cute hug. A date. A kiss. Basically a marriage scene when they’re in front of the church in Barcelona exchanging rings. Even an ice skating duet!!!!! I can’t stress how much their relationship means to the world. It’s beautiful.

Sports animes really get to me; they hold a particular place in my heart, more cemented than any other genre if I’m being honest. But this one, this one was truly special; I already started crying at Episode 11. Okay not even the last episode. Episode 11!!! That’s when you know it’s good. That's when you know you have to drop all your priorities for this. It’s the best thing. Absolutely the best thing. I’m a mess. I’m still crying. I’m disgustingly sniffing and wiping my tears as I write this because this is how overwhelmed I am. 30 seconds into Yuri’s routine in Episode 12 I was gone. I was lost and I cried so hard I couldn’t see and I had to pause it to wipe away my tears with my shirt. I was so riveted I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom to get myself a tissue. And then by the end when Yuri got second place I couldn’t even be mad. It was so beautiful. All of them are beautiful cinnamon rolls that deserve everything. Absolutely everything. Give all of them a gold medal because they really really really really really deserve it. I cried for so long. Catharsis. Wow. Just wow. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT SEASON. When I saw the “See you next level” I cried hard for a long time.

Wow.

Kenjirou is the representative of the fandom

The cutest skater ♡

THIS SELF CONFIDENCE OMG

This is the same but not. This is important. Look at him coming into his own.

A cute, precious baby looking for validation from his idol

I'm editing and posting this a day later. You think my wounds would heal. But I'm tearing up now.

I won't let you forget your promise.

I stopped here with pictures or else I never would've stopped. (#^^#)ゞ

Image Sources: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/images/encyc/A18191-2291224427.1469808485.jpg, http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Yuri-on-Ice-06-18-1280x720.jpg, http://images2.itechpost.com/data/images/full/47811/yuri-on-ice-episode-7.jpg, http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2016/12/23/victor12.png, https://media.tenor.co/images/e349fa852918b4e6345b04563b92f2ca/tenor.gif, http://lostinanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Yuri-on-Ice-05-4.jpg, http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/thumbnails/max500x500/cms/news/110204/nextlevel.png.jpg