The theme of “rebirth” in YOI is an interesting one.

iamthefacebehindthemask:

I didn’t notice it before, but

Lilia Baranovskaya telling Yurio this seemed really important, not just because Yurio was reinventing himself at this point to compete as a different skater from his junior days, but also because of this scene in Episode 2 

Keeping Lilia’s words in mind, it seems like Yakov is implying that Victor cannot return as the same person if he left. It could refer to his career as a figure skater, or perhaps something else.

Then, there’s this scene in Episode 10:

Since we know Victor isn’t actually dead, this seems to be a reference to his career (his era) having ended at last. 

Then, obviously, we also have the fact that Yuuri is trying to revive his career with Victor’s presence. Here, too, we face the same theme, as Yuuri tries to move forward while disassociating with his past.

He even refers to the GPF as his and Victor’s. Not his alone, as it was before Victor came into his life.

So, if Victor chose freely to leave his career for the sake of Life and Love knowing fully well that he couldn’t return (as the same person, at least) in order to help Yuuri face the competitive skating world as a different skater and is also being replaced in the meantime by Yurio in a way (through beating records and such), then from his point of view, this show is about rebirth, or, simply put, new beginnings.