yoi headcanon where whenever everyone is together the skaters all speak english but when jj shows up everyone switches to their native language and pretends they understand everyone else at the table
So I haven’t seen the episode yet, but let’s all remember something.
Eros is about a womanizer conquering the heart of a lady who didn’t like him at first.
Yuri on Ice is about Yuuri’s love and career.
As we know, Yuuri tends to nail the Eros routine and flop the YOI one. Thing is, as of now, Yuuri doesn’t have to be a katsudon to seduce Viktor anymore. He doesn’t have to skate like he has to get a man, since well, Viktor and Yuuri are literally engaged.
Tl;dr- I feel like this sudden switch of score is supposed to represent the changes in Yuuri’s life (and relationships). Both routines take completely opposite meanings in regards to love after all. So yeah, don’t panic (and don’t start to bash the series too omfg it has given us so much so far), love will still win in the end!
LISTEN TO ME LET ME TELL YOU WHY THROUGH A REALLY CONVOLUTED AND BEN AND JERRY’S FUELED POST
it’s not hard to deduce why Yuuri did what he did, nor is it surprising. We were so caught up in our canon ship reverie that we were completely blind to what was in front of us, lol. But the chips have fallen, and most of us have reached the same conclusion by now.
Yuuri has anxiety.
Yuuri has self loathing.
And this entire time, Yuuri never stopped believing that Victor will eventually leave him.
A lot of the fandom seems to be freaking out about this so let’s talk about it!
This was actually one of my favourite scenes from the episode. Not because of any kind of impending drama but because this conversation has honestly been a long time coming.
After episode 7, there was no relationship talk. Victor and Yuuri have yet to sit down and tell each other straight up what they want out of their relationship (both personally and professionally). Flash back to episode 4 where Victor was asking what he should be to Yuuri. Now they actually are boyfriends (well, even more than that, fiancés) but same as we’ve never heard them state it, I don’t think they’ve really made it explicitly clear to each other either.
I feel that so far they’ve just been letting things evolve as they go. The Cup of China was actually only a bit over a month ago in-series. Their intimate relationship is still very new and it’s been moving really fast. They’re definitely physically intimate (as you can see by the pushed-together beds) but they haven’t quite connected the same way on the emotional level. They definitely love each other and want to stay with each other, I don’t doubt that for a moment, but they haven’t sat down and said “I want to spend my life with you” to each other. They haven’t told each other what their plans are for their professional relationship either.
We know that Victor has been doing a lot of thinking, and it was very obvious in this episode that he is grieving his career, but it’s also obvious that he doesn’t plan to go back to skating competitively.
Yuuri however, being the anxious person that he is, is reading Victor’s grieving all wrong. Yuuri is thinking that not only is their professional relationship (which he could end simply by retiring) but also their personal relationship is holding Victor back from what he “wants” – to go back to being a competitive skater. And thus we get the line that we did here. This is Yuuri’s attempt to “free” Victor to allow him to chase what Yuuri thinks he actually wants, which turns out could not be any further from the truth.
They aren’t going to break up. I can tell you that right now and with absolute certainty. Rather than this being something that is going to create drama, it is actually going to work to solve it. Yuuri needs to hear from Victor that Victor has no intention of leaving and that he wants to stay with Yuuri more than he wants to continue his skating career. Also very important is that Victor needs to say it out loud. Victor is a thinker, he rarely makes big decisions on a whim. He’s been processing what he wants to do with his life for a year now and he has definitely come to his decision (as was evident in episode 10).
Victor has chosen Yuuri over his skating career and this line from episode 11 is just the gateway to the discussion that will firmly cement their personal relationship in place. And the final bow-tie on the gift that is their relationship will be the duet skate at the end of the episode.
I’m honestly looking forward to seeing it.
i’m honestly not surprised by the ending?? like we’ve seen so many instances where yuuri wanted to “end” things with victor i.e. have him step down as his coach. pretty sure he doesn’t wanna break up with his fiancee a day after their engagement, but this conversation was bound to happen ever since episode 9 – heck, probably even earlier than that, since yuuri has always asked himself the question of what victor is gonna do after GPF/if he doesn’t win gold. and the new episode just confirmed that yuuri probably feels that he’s robbing victor away from his career/robbing the figure skating world of victor.
honestly i just need them to talk things out, and i’m pretty sure we won’t be disappointed because they’ve consistently proven themselves to be such a healthy couple so yeah….
my hopes for the next ep aside from yuuri executing a perfect FS: victor telling yuuri honestly about what he wants to do from here on out (marry yuuri?? adopt a few kids and a new poodle?? permanently live in hasetsu?? never wanting yuuri to retire so he can be his coach forever?? opening a skating school in hasetsu?? whatever it is, i’d be happy as long as they’re together)
(heads up: sorry, I’m not good at making metas so this post might be really wonky)
I know everybody and their grandmothers have made an analysis about Victor’s character, but I’ve been thinking about him day and night since last week’s episode, and I have a few things I want to say about him. In particular, I want to address the idea that Victor will return to competitive skating if we ever get a second season/if Yuuri doesn’t win gold/etc etc etc.
To even think about this possibility of him returning to skate competitively, I thought long and hard about Victor’s character arc, the whole narrative woven around him as a character, and I decided that no, I would definitely not want him to go back into competitive figure skating, because that would ruin the purpose of the whole narrative centered around his character.
Let’s go back to the first episode. In snippets, we see that Victor has doubts about what he wants to do for next season. In the GPF, he scored another gold medal, and Morooka commented that it laid rumors of him retiring to rest. Sure he might be in his late-twenties, but he’s still winning lots of medals and he’s still living up to his title as the living legend and Russia’s hero. But a few months later, during the World Championship, he is quiet and thoughtful when asked about his plans in the future. This is after Sochi’s GPF, so it would mean that he’s probably thinking about the option that Yuuri has presented to him a few months before: becoming a coach. It would make sense that he’s mulling it over all this while, because hell, this dude does not know a life outside of competitive figure skating.
In the next episode, Yurio says that yes, Victor indeed had been harboring doubts about where he wants to go next in his career. The thing about Victor is that he’s done it all; he’s been reigned champion almost all of his career, he’s won dozens of medals, he has tons of fans, etc, so nobody is ever surprised anymore when he wins. Heck, what would be surprising is if he doesn’t. And the other thing we know about him is that this sucks, because he loves to surprise others, he thrives off it. He’s formulating new routines for next season, but does he even really want to compete? Will he even surprise anyone anymore? He’s probably only planning new routines thinking that yeah, of course he’s gonna continue to compete, because he doesn’t know what he would do if he doesn’t.
What’s also interesting is that Yakov has said in the very beginning that if he leaves [his skating career] now, he won’t be able to come back. Why? Well it’s because he’s leaving the strict regimen that every figure skater has to stick to in order to win. And episode 10 cements this, telling us that Victor has been neglecting ‘life’ and ‘love’ all his life because of skating. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been the Victor Nikiforov that’s revered by the skating world. Yakov knows this, which is why he tried to prevent Victor from leaving. Do you really want to do this? Do you really want to drop your career now? Do you really want to drop the only life you’ve known so far? But Victor’s done thinking about it, he’s had a few months to think about it, and he decided that yes, he wants to fulfill what he has been devoid of all his life. He’s had his run, he’s won and gained a lot, but he’s also lacking a few integral things in life.
Christophe said that this isn’t like Victor. Victor has lived his whole life on the ice, and everybody thought he would continue to do so. It’s “not like him to find someone he wants to protect” – this line by Chris is probably one of the most moving things that’s said about Victor and Yuuri’s relationship I think. Because it suggests that Victor – despite having previous lovers (as he himself implied in ep 2 lol) – had never found someone he’s willing to leave the ice for. Skating, surprising others, winning – these had always been his top priority, and no one else truly mattered. But his commitment to Yuuri is real, and despite what everyone else says about bringing him back to the ice, he won’t be returning. He’s found something else now, something that doesn’t rob him of ‘life’ and ‘love’. He can still skate, but he doesn’t have to sacrifice his personal life now, not anymore.
Sure, there might have been the possibility of him not being Yuuri’s coach anymore (inferred from Yuuri’s monologues, which is a whole different topic lol), but after episode 10, after the exchange of rings, Victor is definitely sticking with this new path he’s chosen for himself. The question of him returning to competitive figure skating is pointless now. And Yurio’s “Victor Nikiforov is dead” line pretty much supports this. The Victor that sacrificed so much in order to win and keep on winning is no longer here, the legendary figure skater Victor Nikiforov is no more, but what exists is Victor who is a person of his own, without having to carry the burdens of skating and whatnot. Because with Yuuri, he can do just that – be Victor and nothing else (recall Yuuri’s line in ep 4: “I want Victor to be Victor!”) (ps: this post is a great one that discusses this idea)
I digress, but some have pointed out that Yuuri had expressed that he wanted to be on the same playing field as his idol in ep 1, but I would argue that this could also mean that he simply wanted to be acknowledged by Victor, not necessarily wanting to compete against him, and boy is he acknowledged now ohohoho. Then there’s also that small part during Victor’s interview in ep 8, about whether he wants to face Katsuki Yuuri as a fellow skater, but his smile and lack of answer (which Yurio noticed) indicates that he’s probably realized, at that point, that he can never go back go that world anymore.
My main point here is this: Victor’s character development and growth is about him finding something meaningful in life once again at the age of 27, it’s about him finding “a brand new world he’d never known before”, a world that he never thought possible for him. And this is why I don’t think I would want to see him return to competitive skating. This is just my personal thoughts though and I could be completely wrong, but yeah lol
This is from the YOI staff interview in the recent Animage issue where they talked about the elements of the show. Questions about the ED are finally answered.
The shower scene was meant to be included in the main show but they didn’t have a chance to do it so they includedyit on the ED instead 😊
Nothing but My Aching Soul 