Y'all I Think They Want Us To Lose Our Shit Again

LMAOOO

HAGHAAAH JJ WATCH YOURSELF

yes,

Reblog if you agree

Viktuuri 

Yuuri is becoming too powerful………

new YOI official art….and as always, the attention to detail for little figure skating references from MAPPA blows me away, and i need everyone to appreciate it too. welcome to yuuri katsuki’s 2022 beijing olympics!

to start, this is very clearly the official beijing rink; even without the logo or rings (which would have been too much of a hassle to use copyright-wise, i’m sure, but would also take away from the subtlety), it’s very clear from the colors and the mountain pattern, as seen here behind nathan chen:

next, victor is wearing the official team japan jacket, as seen here on team japan’s singles skaters yuma kagiyama (left, silver medalist in the men’s individual event) and shoma uno (right, bronze medalist):

…as far as i know, however, only skaters got team japan jackets, not their coaches. which means victor is wearing yuuri’s jacket. cuuuute.

next up, yurio’s practice outfit has to be based off of skater andrei mozalev of the russian olympic committee:

…so since yurio here is being based on mozalev, naturally, mappa chose to put yakov in the same coat that kirill davydenko, mozalev’s coach, wore at the boards!

i’m sure that otabek’s practice clothes and the mysterious ass-haver’s are a reference to something as well. since the tragic death of skater denis ten of kazakhstan, whom otabek is based on, there hasn’t been a strong enough kazakhstani men’s skater to make it to the olympics, but these are probably practice clothes denis ten wore once upon a time, or something!

finally, this last one isn’t a reference to the olympics in YOI–rather, the opposite! the makkachin tissue box seen next to victor was seen at the olympics, used by skater alexandra trusova of ROC!

so what is yuuri pointing at and looking so mad about? personally, i think he’s probably upset about the hole in the ice that made him pop a quad salchow…

but we may never know.

he’d rather yuuri do it instead

hurt comfort prompts

“ you can stay here, if you'd like. “

“ please don't go. “

“ why don't we stay at your place tonight? “

“ can i get you anything? “

“ let's be pathetic together. “

“ are you crying? “

“ i'm glad that you're here. “

“ you're not doing this alone. “

“ i don't have anyone anymore. “ “ you have me. “

“ are you sure [about staying]? “

“ you didn't force me. i volunteered [to be here], remember? “

“ you are what’s important right now. “

“ it’s okay, you know. if you need to vent. “

“ are you sure? it's quite heavy [of a topic]. “ “ i've got all night. “

“ tonight is about you. you can make it up to me some other time. “

“ i've got nowhere else to be. “

“ you said you needed a distraction. “ “ so... where is it? “ “ you're looking right at it. “

“ why don't you come here for a second? “

“ wanna talk about it? “

“ i can't talk about it. not tonight. “

“ you need to distract me. do something, anything. “

“ i just don't want to be alone tonight. “

“ i'm tired of thinking. let's just... make out, or something “

“ i feel like shit. “ “ you look like it, too. “ “ hey! “

“ it’s okay to cry, you know. “

“ you’re a little hurt, that’s all. “

“ anything you want me to get you? “

“ nothing a good [drink] can't fix. “

“ let’s get you cleaned up. “

“ this is you thinking rationally? “

“ you're really all i've got. “

“ c'mere. let me give you a hug. “

“ and you're absolutely sure this is what you need? “

“ you don't need this right now. “

“ how long are you gonna sit there? “ “ all night, if that's what it takes. “

“ what's it gonna take to make you smile? “

“ if you're not ready to talk about it, let's not talk about it. “

“ wanna play some mario kart? it'll give us both a reason to cry when you beat me. “

“ how about we stay like this, holding each other? “

“ i don’t know what’s wrong with me. “

“ i can’t stop crying. “ “ i'll be strong for the both of us. “

“ i didn’t know where else to go. “

“ the door's always open, you know that. “

“ i thought you were leaving town. “ “ i can't leave now. “

“ there's that smile i know and love... “

“ stay with me. “

“ hey, what’s your favorite snack? “

“ i’m not leaving. “

“ just let it out. “

“ you're stronger than you think. “

“ how about i make a quick run to the store, get you some aspirin? “

“ grab a burger or something on your way home. “

“ you were always there when i needed you. let me repay the favor. “

“ i don't mean to bother you. “ “ you're not. “

“ hey, listen to me... “

“ you’re not a burden. “

“ aren’t you tired? “ “ this isn't about me. “

“ you’re going to be okay. “

“ hey, look at me… “

“ i don’t know what to do. “ “ we’ll figure it out. “

“ you’re not alone. “

“ hey, hey, hey, it's okay... it's okay. you're okay. “

Victor’s cheeks are flushed, he’s purring in Yuuri’s ear and smiling so wide… oh he is so, so smitten…

Okay, but can we take a moment to realize how difficult it must have been for the creators of Yuri on Ice to even get an anime studio to work with them?

Because this was not a simple project at all.

Like, think about Kubo-sensei walking into an office to begin negotiations with an anime studio to get the project known as “Yuri on Ice” greenlit and approved for production (I mean, in real life it’s a bit more complicated than that, but let’s just imagine for the sake of brevity and clarity), and she begins pitching her product:

“We would like to make an original anime about male figure skating”

[Figure skating is one of the most niche sports you could think of, esp in Japan, which could make it really hard to sell]

“Featuring a serious emotional (romantic) relationship between two men”

[Anime is notorious for its poor presentation of homosexuality and is afraid to treat the topic seriously and respectfully because it might scare away potential viewers]

“As well as about 14 different skaters, all from different parts of the world and relevant to the story in some way”

[All of that requires extra character design and casting]

“Which would all need at least 1 figure skating program each, amounting in about 22 different skating programs total”

[That requires immense amounts of animation (and research, and references for its sake) which also means the animation team has to be sufficiently large and skilled to accommodate this need]

“And for this we would also need a professional figure skating choreographer, to actually design all the programs”

[Finding someone who could design 22 different programs, some of them particularly impactful and memorable is a difficult task in and of itself and finding someone who would want to work on an anime project is even harder]

“And of course, we would need someone to write about 22 different music pieces for all of the programs”

[All of which would need to be impactful and memorable, similarly to the choreography]

“And all of this would be contained within 12 episodes.”

[Meaning very little downtime between competitions, as we saw, which means that the animation team has no time to rest because they must complete all the frames for the next episode’s programs (and let me tell you that fluidly animating figure skating is not only difficult but also time consuming as all hell)]

I feel like I could still mention a few aspects, like for example the design of the different locations and the references that it would require, but I think this already gives you a picture of how difficult it was to not only make this anime, but how hard it must have been to actually get it approved (considering how difficult the production process would be, especially for something that originally looked like a risky project that may not even be popular enough to make a profit).

In case you needed more reasons to appreciate Yuri on Ice, let’s take a moment to appreciate how much work and effort went into the creation process for this anime.

Because the fact that it even exists is nothing short of a miracle and something we should never take for granted.

theory time!

I, as many others, believe that we will have at least two main plot points in the movie: the past and the present. and in both we’ll get to see two different olympics – victor’s first, and yuuri’s first. and we will get to also see two different results: victor failing to win and yuuri actually winning.

now, the reason why I believe it will happen is 1) people want this and mappa&sayokubo have always been generous to us, 2) it’s about time yuuri finally wins, HE DESERVES IT ALRIGHT, 3) the contrast that will actually finally put the ‘yuuri can only be great bc victor made him’ rumours to eternal, damned rest.

but as much as I want to see yuuri win, and as much as I will love and adore when we all see victor win silver and yuuri win gold, proving he’s as good as we all know him to be, I also want to see another thing. I want to see victor recounting his desperate fight for gold, his heartbreak when he didn’t win it during those first olympics, and then I want to see him smile at yuuri and say:

“back then I thought winning was everything, but now I know better. and, just so you know, no matter how you place, you are still a talented skater, yuuri. and in my eyes, you will always be the winner.”

AND THAT. THAT IS MY MOST FERVENT WISH FOR ICE ADOLESCENCE. GOODNIGHT.

Just a friendly reminder that Viktor and Yuuri are canonically engaged/ thank you