Yuri on Ice

I'm sick with a cold which means a great opportunity to rest in bed...and by that I mean have my sleep schedule royally screwed over.  Sigh...well, can't win em all.

In the meantime I finished (basically marathoning) Yuri on Ice!  As is often the case I'm not really sure what to say about it, but here I am anyways.  I quite enjoyed it, despite some of the "surprise" factor not being there since I already knew bits and pieces of what was going to happen.  I enjoyed watching the main characters' relationship develop and thought that was a nice arc to see, how the power dynamics of the relationship developed from being completely unequal, flipping a bit, but ultimately in a place where both realize they need and grow from each other.

On the ending: I like that it wasn't a "fairytale ending", and of course I appreciate that Yuri wasn't just that "shonen hero who tries really hard and despite failing all episode, wins in the ultimate way in the last battle" but at the same time I feel like the ending failed to carry me home emotionally and really make a statement.  I know endings are hard and of course YMMV, but this is the feeling that I have.  If I had to say what the show is "about" in terms of a main narrative I guess I would have to say (?) it's about the main relationship between these two characters and how it grows, as well as a sort of coming of age story about the protagonist, right?  Where he is this anxious wreck of a failure at the beginning and at the end he really has this newfound strength that he discovered through his relationship over these past 8 months.

Yuri on Ice ends with the grand prix final competition ending and the standings being announced, and both of the main couple affirming that they'll return to competitive figure skating in the next year.  Then we get a very nice credits sequence with (at first) just Yuri doing an exhibition routine, but he's joined later on by Victor.  I thought that part was actually really great, I think it really spoke to the future of their relationship, and I think having that as the final emotional "reward" at the end of the series (spoiler) worked much better than a gold medal.  We then fade to a final shot of Yuri running across a bridge toward Victor (and fellow rival Yurio) and a slight teaser for a 2nd season.

I think my issue with the ending is that although we had a nice emotional note with the exhibition performance, I wish that these final scenes would have been more of a takeaway moment to recapitulate what I am supposed to take away from the whole series.  So I think what I personally was looking for was maybe something more reflective, looking back on the past and seeing how far Yuri has come from the beginning of the show, and using that as a way to see just how far the relationship has come and how they have both grown.

I think what highlighted this issue for me was two things.  Firstly, the fact that Yuri didn't win the gold medal.  I think this is a great choice, actually, because to me it speaks to how even though this gold medal was the goal for Yuri and Victor throughout the entire anime, both you and the characters could realize that over the course of striving for that gold, they gained something much more important (aka their relationship with each other).  So that is great.  However I feel like this message is a bit diluted when the ending says "ah....too bad.....BUT WAIT!  Actually, let's try again next year!!!  Yeah!  Let's hope Yuri gets the gold next time!  It'll be alright!"  That's not to say that I thought it would have been better if they all retired, but I feel like that was one of the last takeaway moments in the episode so it sort of sets up that mindset.

The second issue is that I think Yuri's free skate performance is such a big emotional payoff at the end, that everything in the entire show is leading up to, and it's a great moment to see, BUT afterwards instead of moving on to closing the show up, we move on to see three other free skate routines by the other characters.  That in itself is not so much a problem, but it takes us away from this main narrative.  Yes, there is some flashbacks to Yuri's beginnings during Yurio's performance, but the focus here is still on Yurio, not Yuri.  So it's only after being distracted by three separate narratives ("Oh crap I'm jealous...but I recovered??", "Live life to your fullest???", and "Look at how awesome I am YEH") that we return back to Yuri and there is just not enough time left in the episode to re-center us on what the whole point of the whole narrative was, so instead we are left with this feeling of "oh, that was cool!.....I guess.....and now they're just gonna keep competing....hooray!"

So I feel like for me, the episode would maybe have been a stronger ending if it had looked like this instead:

- Yuri's final free skate performance ends

- A quiet=moment of emotional catharsis, (NOT a loud cheer).  Or it could be loud applause which fades to the background.

- Yuri and Victor share a moment of understanding amidst the celebration

- Cut out the rest of the entire competition (I know it's a bit jarring to have Yurio win without seeing his performance though)

- I don't think there is any way to show any of the rest of the competition or even the awards ceremony without being awkward, so probably cut to an "epilogue, aftermath" scene?  The point of this scene is to fill in what happened at the competition, (but remember, the actual result of the competition is an afterthought now, because Yuri performed so amazingly, it really doesn't even matter)

- I guess the scene might be something like: Yuri and Victor are back in Japan, Yuri does something (hang up?) his silver medal, he says something about how it's too bad he couldn't win that gold after all, but he was really amazed by Yurio's performance.  Even though he's disappointed that he didn't win, you can sense he has a new air about him, he is truly happy.

- I think it would also be nice to include some scenes of Yuri interacting with other people besides Victor, like people from his hometown, Yurio, or the other characters.  I think that is a chance to both close up their plotlines (though quite honestly some of them were not very developed in the first place) as well as show how Yuri's personality has grown in terms of his social interaction.

- Victor thinks to himself about how much Yuri has grown.  But also himself, too.  blahblahblah  (Maybe they say something about how he will just have to win the gold next year then)

- Maybe some "awww" moment where Victor notes that they did take home gold after all and points to the rings they have on (but maybe that's a bit too heavy-handed)

- (If it's getting a bit too melodramatic for the atmosphere of the show maybe some silly moment involving katsudon)

- Fade to the exhibition performance with first just Yuri, then Yuri + Victor skating together.  End song and close.

I know that was a ton of stuff about just the ending but I really felt like that was one of the main gripe I had with the show.  Honestly a lot of stories in general feels like they have endings that are too "cheap" or send a confusing message.  It's quite rare to find an example where it has been done really well.  Anyways, in general I felt like the show was a little bit unfocused in some parts and a bit predictable in others but it didn't bother me a ton.  On the other hand if you want me to speak positively, I will say the song "Yuri on Ice" still really gets to me.  I have an interesting history with that song because the very very first time I heard it was actually when aivisura performed a cover it of live at a concert (Fanime 2017 I believe).  I still remember being in the audience, I didn't know what the song was or where it was from at all, but I knew it was clearly not something mainstream that they pulled from their Steven Universe, nor was it something from The Black Box, but rather something completely different.  And I was completely enthralled by both Aivi's playing as well as the warm gentle pads coming in courtesy of Surasshu...it was really something magical, it sent chills down my spine and I felt so much emotion coming out of that performance.  It is something that really spoke to me and I will try not to forget it.

So anyways every time that song comes up it's like GAHH so good, but not nearly as good as =that= time, hahaha...

Anyways, here's to attempting to sleep again...