Long rant with spoilers below because this thread is super important!

Real talk though, how many sports anime (or anime in general) have we watched where characters were SO CLOSE but then it got derailed as “a joke” or “just friends”? Like how many characters have we gone through where they couldn’t even hug NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY NEEDED IT, so we were clinging to shoulder touches and over-analyzing lines of dialogue.

And yet, here’s this series, where the two characters hug so freely, kiss their rings, take pictures together, proudly state that they only want their eyes on each other (Yuri to Victor), and everything else that’s happened in the series. No one is like, “No no no that didn’t happen.” Hell, even when Phichit assumed they’d gotten MARRIED, the restaurant CHEERED! Side characters aren’t making comments about their relationship being weird, if anything, they’re mad because they don’t have what Yuri has with Victor. They’re mad as competitors in the sport, they aren’t poking Yuri like, “Ha ha gay,” or explaining away Victor’s affections like, “He’s just like that it doesn’t mean anything.”

And we have a VARIETY. Don’t forget about Chris, please don’t, because he’s usually the character we get, but not only was he actually interesting, he wasn’t relegated to the sidelines, AND he was good at his sport.

But beyond all of that… Victor and Yuri are how queer people ARE in relationships. I’ve been with my partner for 15 years. We have quiet moments. We sit around and watch TV. We go grocery shopping. We travel. We smile. We wear each other’s rings. We have goals and dreams and enjoy each other’s company… like every other couple out there. Like, honestly, kudos to this series for having two people whose main focus isn’t their relationship, but their goals together, and the relationship develops over time. Naturally. The skating is very much important, Yuri building confidence is important, Yuri’s relationship with others is important, and by the way, him and his coach are very close. It just kinda happened.    

And yes everything said about remembering where this is taking place, you can’t look at Japanese society with Western eyes, but even if we DID look at it with Western eyes, as this post said, our queer characters barely make it to the end of the series, or if they do, there has either been a LOT of heartache, or they were unimportant side characters, or it’s mentioned after the fact in a, “Hey, did you know so and so was queer this whole time?” Granted, anime is guilty of this, too, but I feel like Western audiences feel like we’re so above and beyond when it comes to representation when the truth of the matter is… we could do a lot better. 

When I got into Yuri on Ice I wanted one thing as Victor and Yuri’s relationship flourished: for it to end happily, because I’m SO USED to the tragic queer story. I was waiting for Yuri to get injured, or Victor to have some kind of incurable illness or die in a car accident. That’s what I expect with queer representation, so I am THRILLED that it ends with them skating together and Yuri running to Victor. I am so happy that the biggest upset is that Yuri came in second place. Like… thank you. 

Thank you so much.