Yuri!!! On Ice Episode 2: [Two Yuris?! Drama at Yu-topia]

In this episode we learn that everyone in this show is a huge dork. Especially Victor who is a man child, crazy about his dog and borderline yandere. Did you notice he had a tissue box shaped like his dog? Unbelievable…
The news of Victor’s departure for Japan have reached Russia and not everyone is happy about this situation, like Victor’s coach who said a few angry words about his good for nothing student and Angry Yuri whom Victor had promised to train. Angry Yuri then decides to follow Victor to Japan in order to bring him back to Russia.

What can I say about this episode? Well, first of all, Victor is straight up savage. When he called Yuuri a little piggy while smiling at the same time? Savage. It sure isn’t nice from him to say that, since you know, weight is a difficult issue to address but on the other hand I can understand why he’ll say it to Yuuri. I believe there must be rules to figure skating and  you must be super athletic in order to win championships… But anyway, for the moment it’s more used for comedy purposes than everything else and since near the end of the episode Yuuri has regained his normal weight, I guess  that’s okay? But yeah, Victor is savage, even when he said to the two Yuris that they are less original and interesting than they think… boy… so harsh. That’s why I call him a borderline yandere… he’s actually scary… but still really hot.
Finally, I can’t keep up with all the English used… That guy, that Victor… too much English… without any warning… especially that ” #ninja”… I cringed a bit… and I don’t speak Russian but it must be the same thing… dear lord…

It’s nice that the show gave  many inner monologues to Yuuri, which helps us understanding his feelings towards Victor a bit more because they are complicated. I’m not completely sure about it but I think Yuuri’s feelings towards Victor are more admiration than love. But again, it’s like the show doesn’t want to draw the line and put a name on the relationship between those two. Furthermore, there’s many hints that allow the ship to keep itself afloat, like when the two of them were at the park, Victor asked Yuuri about his previous relationships. Although the subtitles said ” girlfriend”, Victor used the word ” koibito” which means “lover” without any gender implication. Sooo yeah, the show doesn’t want to give any indication on their personal preferences… we’ll see… but to me it’s more than Yuuri is impressed and glad Victor was interested in him than anything else. Since this episode showed us that Yuuri has real self esteem issues, I can’t imagine how glad he might have been we he learned Victor came to Japan just to see him. That’s probably what gave him the motivation to do sports again, to lose some weight, in order to skate with one of Victor’s programs.

Finally, Angry Yuri is freaking amazing, just the fact that he likes felines makes in good in my agenda. It’s like his all wardrobe is composed of tiger and panthers patterns.  Oh and the fact that he knew that if he posted a picture of himself on Instagram the Russian coach will found it he was going after Victor but couldn’t resist when he saw that Tiger shirt? Amazing… OH YEAH! That’s another thing that I find interesting, I already mentioned it in my first review but I really like the use of social medias in the show. It is nice to see a show that includes elements from our every day lives such as social media platforms, it gives a modern touch to the show, thing that is quite pleasing and innovating at the same time.
So yeah, I’d like to shout “BEST GUY” right now, but Yuri or Yurio, is a bit too dicky for my taste, I don’t really like how he talks to Yuuri but hopefully, this whole experience in Japan will teach him he’s not the center of the world. Let’s also remember Yurio is 15 or so, whereas Victor is 27 and Yuuri 23, so he’s like a little kid to them ( even if they all look around the same age).

So now both Yuris will have to skate on one particular song that doesn’t really fit their personality, Yuuri getting Eros, the theme of sexual love and Yuri the theme of unconditional love. I can’t even begin to imagine how Victor is going to “train” them.

I think I liked this episode a bit more than the first one, a lot of things happened and the rhythm was very dynamic, the comedy was also top notch ( props to Victor being savage and Yuri an angry little kitten). However, as I expected, the quality of the animation dropped a bit, but it remains very good. The close ups shots are still carefully drawn and every character is still hot as hell. While the little skating sequences weren’t as impressive as the one we got in the first episode, I’m glad we had some this episode. After all, it is an anime about figure skating, so better show me some figure skating!