is a Japanese sports anime television series about figure skating. The series was produced by MAPPA, directed and written by Sayo Yamamoto with original scripts by Mitsurō Kubo under the chief episode direction of Jun Shishido. Character designs were handled by Tadashi Hiramatsu, and its music was composed by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba. The figure skating was choreographed by Kenji Miyamoto, who also performed routines himself which were recorded and used as skating sound effects. The series premiered on October 6, 2016, and ended on December 22, 2016, with a total of 12 episodes. A Yuri on Ice feature film, Ice Adolescence, was originally planned for release in 2019, but has since been cancelled as of April 2024. The series revolves around the relationships between Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki; his idol, Russian figure-skating champion Victor Nikiforov; and up-and-coming Russian skater Yuri Plisetsky; as Yuri K. and Yuri P. take part in the Figure Skating Grand Prix, with Victor acting as coach to Yuri K.
Yuri on Ice has been well received in Japan. It won three awards at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival, a Japan Character Award, seven awards in the Crunchyroll's inaugural Anime Awards, and in 2019 was named by the website's editorial team as one of the top 25 anime of the 2010s. In Japan, the series was released in six parts on Blu-ray and DVD, with all the releases coming No. 1 on the Oricon Animation Blu-ray disc and Animation DVD disc rankings respectively. It was the eighth-most successful media franchise in Japan for 2017, had the second-highest combined Blu-ray and DVD sales of any anime in Japan for 2017, and had the highest combined sales for a TV anime that year. It was popular on social media outlets such as Tumblr, Sina Weibo and Twitter, where it received over a million more tweets than the next most-talked about anime series in the season it was broadcast. It also attracted praise from professional figure skaters, with some skaters in the 2018 Winter Olympics performing to music from the show.
Yuri on Ice has raised discussion concerning its depiction of a same-sex relationship between its protagonists, with some critics praising its depiction of anxiety, its covering of homosexuality in a way that differs from most anime and manga such as the yaoi genre, and for dealing with homosexuality in a country and sport that has present-day issues with homophobia. Others criticized its depiction for being unrealistic, and of visual censorship that arguably makes it ambiguous to some viewers.
Plot
After a crushing defeat in the Grand Prix Final and other competition losses, 23-year-old Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki develops mixed feelings about skating and puts his career on hold; he returns to his hometown of Hasetsu in Kyushu after 5 years abroad. Yuri visits his childhood friend, Yuko, at an ice rink (Ice Castle Hasetsu) and perfectly mimics an advanced skating routine performed by his idol, Russian figure skating champion Victor Nikiforov. When secretly recorded footage of Yuri's performance is uploaded to the internet, it catches Victor's attention, and he travels to Kyushu with an offer to coach Yuri and revive his figure-skating career. It is later revealed that Victor was already familiar with Yuri, having met him before at a banquet where Yuri got drunk and asked Victor to be his coach.
After learning about Victor's career decision, Yuri Plisetsky, a rising 15-year-old Russian prodigy skater, travels to Hasetsu to make Victor keep a promise made prior to the beginning of the series. Victor had promised he would choreograph a routine specifically for Yuri P. if he won the Junior World Championships. Victor, having forgotten about his promise to Yuri P., makes the two Yuris compete against each other to decide who he will coach. He chooses two pieces for the skaters, both with the same melody but with a different meaning. The first piece, "Agape", about unconditional love, is given to Yuri P. The second piece, "Eros," about sexual love, is given to Yuri K. Yuri K.'s performance wins, and Victor becomes Yuri K.'s coach. Yuri P. returns to Russia, and both Yuris vow to win the Grand Prix championship.
Both Yuri K. and Yuri P. qualify to represent their countries in the Grand Prix series, and then later qualify for the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. Over the course of the Grand Prix, Yuri K. and Victor become increasingly infatuated with each other, eventually leading to the two of them kissing in public. Yuri K. buys them both gold rings in Barcelona, which leads to remarks by Victor about them being engaged. On the eve of the final, Yuri K. plans to quit skating so that Victor can return to the sport and tells Victor of his decision, but Victor tearfully rejects the idea, and they agree to choose their paths after the tournament has finished. The tournament ends with Yuri P. winning the gold medal and Yuri K. winning silver. As a result, Yuri K. decides to continue skating and moves to St. Petersburg so that he can continue to stay with Victor, and train alongside Yuri P.
Production
The original TV series of Yuri on Ice aired on TV Asahi from October 6 to December 22, 2016. The anime was produced by MAPPA, directed and written by Sayo Yamamoto using original scripts by Mitsurō Kubo under the supervision of Jun Shishido, with character designs by Tadashi Hiramatsu, music by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba and figure-skating choreography by Kenji Miyamoto. The episodes were made available for streaming by Crunchyroll, and Funimation began streaming an English dub on October 24, 2016, at 10:00 p.m. ET. Six Blu-ray and DVD sets of Yuri on Ice were released in Japan. The first set, containing the first two episodes, was released on December 30, 2016. Each set includes bonus content such as booklets, production audio commentary and costume-design and choreography videos.
Yuri Katsuki's hometown of Hasetsu, Kyushu is based on Karatsu, Saga. In December 2016, Saga Prefecture's Sagaprise project announced plans to use Yuri on Ice to promote tourism in the area. According to Akinori Kawakami, president of the Association to Connect Hasetsu and Karatsu, 20 to 30 people visit Karatsu every day on anime pilgrimages. By May 2017, Yuri on Ice helped to attract 20,000 tourists from 27 countries to Karatsu. On February 22, 2017, the Nikkan Sports newspaper featured a collaborative illustration depicting Yuri K., Yuri P. and Victor supporting Sagan Tosu football club, which is based in Saga Prefecture.
According to a Sakuga Blog study, Yuri on Ice used more key animators than any other anime series during the fall 2016 season: an average of 48.5 key animators per episode, five more than Flip Flappers (which had the second-highest number of key animators). In the early episodes of the series, each character was handled by a different key animator, meaning that skating style of the characters differed from each other. In the skating scenes, the sound effects were changed to match each venue, according to the building's capacity and crowd size. The skating sounds for each sequence were recorded separately. No stock sounds were used for the sequences because each part sounds different, and no footage of professional skaters was used because the music in the programmes normally muffles the sounds. Thus the sounds used were recorded and performed by series choreographer Miyamoto, and each skating sequence is unique to the program.
Related media Music
The opening theme, "History Maker" by Dean Fujioka, and ending theme, "You Only Live Once" by Wataru Hatano, were both released as singles. A compilation CD entitled , with the anime's 24 original songs, was released on December 21, 2016, and ranked #1 on Oricon's Weekly Digital Album Chart for the week of December 19–25. The insert song "Yuri on Ice" was included in Piano Solo Chū Jōkyū Figure Skate Meikyoku-shū ~Hyōjō ni Hibiku Melody~ 2016–2017, a piano book released on January 21, 2017, with music used by figure skaters (including Mao Asada and Yuzuru Hanyu). It was the only anime song in the music book release. An album of the TV soundtrack, the Yūtora/Yuri!!! on Ice Original Soundtrack Collection, was released on June 28, 2017. On November 19, 2017, the Yuri!!! on Concert took place at the Makuhari Messe with the Ensemble Fove conducted by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba, the event was live-streamed on July 1, 2018 on YouTube and the CD was made available on November 20, 2018, it was released on streaming services on February 15, 2019.
Welcome to The Madness A side story manga, Yuri on Ice Side Story: Welcome to The Madness, was published on May 26, 2017, as a bonus item included with the final Blu-Ray volume of the anime series. Written and illustrated by series co-creator Mitsurou Kubo, the manga follows Yuri P. and Otabek Altin the night after the Grand Prix Final. An original video animation also included with the Blu-Ray, Welcome to The Madness, depicts Yuri P.'s skate at the Grand Prix Final exhibition event.
Cancelled anime film A Yuri on Ice original film was announced in April 2017 at the Yuri!!! on Stage exhibition event. The film's title, Yuri on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence (Yuri!!! on Ice Gekijō-ban: Ice Adolescence) was announced in July 2018 at the Yuri!!! on Concert event. The film was originally scheduled to be released in 2019, but was subsequently delayed. A teaser trailer depicting a young Viktor Nikiforov performing at the Winter Olympic Games was released in Japan in January 2019 as a part of a Yuri on Ice marathon event. The primary production staff from the Yuri on Ice TV series were expected to return for Ice Adolescence, including series creators Sayo Yamamoto and Mitsurō Kubo as the film's director and screenwriter, respectively. In November 2020, the same teaser trailer was released worldwide.
In April 2024, MAPPA announced through the Yuri!!! on Ice official Twitter account that Ice Adolescence had been cancelled.
Reception Critical reception and figure skating community The series received positive reviews from critics and professional figure skaters. Among critics, in Anime News Networks "Best and Worst Anime of Fall 2016", five out of nine reviewers called Yuri on Ice the season's best show. In July 2017, the series was named by Eleanor Bley Griffiths of the Radio Times as one of the best anime TV series available to watch in the UK. From professionals, Yuri on Ice was well-received by figure skaters, including Johnny Weir, Evgenia Medvedeva, Denis Ten, Evgeni Plushenko, Masato Kimura, Ryuichi Kihara, Miu Suzaki, and Adam Rippon and included cameo appearances by skaters Nobunari Oda and Stéphane Lambiel. Weir said in an interview that: "I broke my rule about one episode per day because I physically couldn't stop watching." The closing scene of the tenth episode, when Yuri K. drunkenly pole dances, was also commended by professional pole dancers for its accuracy.