Then of course we have the scene where Yuri has moved Victor into his room and Victor gets very close and hands on with Yuri while making statements that can quite clearly be misinterpreted (and will gladly be misinterpreted even on a first viewing by those who want these two to be together, and will gladly not be by those who insist they are just coach and student). Possibly I’m just too attached to these characters. Which actually leaves me in two minds given on the one hand I completely agree that Victor hasn’t said anything actually wrong and on the other hand I really want to give Yuri a hug. But you can’t really feel annoyed at Victor because there is actually nothing wrong with what he has said.
While it comes across as an offhand remark, putting yourself in Yuri’s shoes, when his confidence is already low and his idol has just launched that kind of sideways attack, it would definitely hurt. As Yuri and Minako explain that Yuri gains weight easily and so only ate Pork Cutlets when he won something and Victor asks why Yuri had eaten one recently when he hadn’t won anything. Of course this scene also reveals how callous Victor can be whether intentionally or not. I can definitely understand the joy of having something that yummy put in front of me. That and his reaction to a pork cutlet bowl kind of reminded me of my reaction the first time I went to Japan. From scene to scene, from mood to mood, he really does follow his whims and that makes him a real joy to see in action.
Part of what makes Victor’s character so fantastic to get to know during this series is how dynamic he is. As is the fact that a lot of his anger is misdirected at the other Yuri (then again, later we’ll get a reveal about events that happened earlier that actually make it easier to understand why Plisetsky is blaming Yuri for this one – there’s some very good cohesion in this series in that things make enough sense as is, but then as more pieces come into play it all just snaps together perfectly). The shouting that follows is entirely easy to emphasise with. And even though Plistesky understands that Victor is pretty impulsive, he’s a teenager who was just ditched by his idol. His idol who had promised to choreograph for him had just upped and left the country without even a word. Unlike last episode though, here Yuri Plisetsky’s anger is a lot easier to understand. The rest of the information about him being in denial about Victor’s presence we already understood because of Yuri’s expression, and that Victor has made a giant leap to come to Japan was also already established this episode so there’s just no reason for this narration to exist. We’re already back in more comedy mode without this sequence and even if this was the first time watching this series through, we really don’t need the main character to introduce himself again. We had Victor’s dramatic departure already softened by his smile and antics on the plane and then Minako’s arrival. However, like in episode 1, I am going to comment that the narration by chibi Yuri really just interrupts the flow. While there are scenes that are definitely just meant to be comedy, mostly Yuri works as a character drama and seeing Victor here in this scene really helps to establish his character a bit more without Yuri’s lens that dominated every scene we had with Victor in episode 1.
This mix of real character drama with just enough of a twist to make you smile without pushing into full on comedy and ultimately detracting from what should be the focus of the scene. This is one thing that Yuri on Ice does very well. Although we will learn later there was a bit more thought put into his departure for Japan than the audience is initially aware. The old style dramatic music with Victor walking through the snow (once again on a character is crossing a bridge) pursued by Yakov, and then Victor turning toward him… It’s fundamentally attention grabbing and yet ends amusingly with Victor doing his dramatic farewell scene as though he was heading off to war or something equally dramatic when really he’s kind of just being whimsical and ditching his coach. Once again, I’m going to start by praising the choice for opening scene this week. Okay, maybe the poll proved that there’s a lot of love for lots of characters, but Victor is awesome.Ĭuriosity: Favourite Yuri on Ice character? If other, please reply. Hopefully you enjoy this rewatch and re-review of one of my favourite anime that I have watched since becoming a reviewer.īefore we get to that, last week I asked on Twitter who everyone’s favourite character was and the results came in proving once and for all that Victor is just plain awesome. We’re onto Episode 2, “Two Yuri’s?! Drama at Yu-topia”. Last week I revisited episode 1 of Yuri on Ice and that post may have gotten a little bigger than intended (okay, a lot bigger than intended).