what is this place??
Haha, I haven't posted in a while, nor looked at this place in a while. Few people still post here, it seems. My last post was in 2017, it's a private post so it never even saw the light of day (it's about Legend of Korra). I unlocked it because why bother having written it if it's just going to sit there for only me to see.
Mostly I came back here because I've recently gotten back into anime since my kids are old enough now to be mostly self-sufficient. Some of the stuff I've watched recently is eating me alive inside to blabber about, but I've found that I no longer have anyone to talk to about fangirl squee stuff and it's frustrating. I don't want to talk with 20 year olds on the internet. That said, I'm not sure who of the people I know would be interested in any of these shows anyway, especially the BL titles, which, while a niche genre, definitely seems to be on the rise.
Anyway, I subbed to crunchyroll for a bit to peruse some of their extensive catalog. I watched "Yuri!!! On Ice!" when it was new-ish and thought it was great, which then prompted me to go on a BL/yaoi bender to try and watch any show that fit the genre that was available with english subtitles at a minimum. Crunchyroll has a surprising amount of stuff in this genre, although it's tagged stupidly/incorrectly most of the time, so you really just have to look up online lists of BL/yaoi titles and see if it's on crunchyroll using the search functionality. Otherwise, it's pirate websites ho!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, BL is "boys love" and is effectively gay relationships that don't typically involve anything explicit. It's basically shoujo/romance but with all guys instead. Yaoi as a term has evolved in this modern day to mean, I guess, stuff with more explicit content, but I don't normally use the term to mean that, mostly I use it to generically refer to guy/guy stuff. It was coined back in the day when there wasn't any variety in this genre and few titles available, so I think it's taken on a more specific meaning nowadays than it used to have.
Anyway, I guess I'll start off with a short bit about Yuri!!! On Ice.
[Yuri!! On Ice]
Yuri!!! On Ice! is a 13 episode TV series about a pro ice skater in a slump, who gets a new coach, and their ensuing hijinks. Yuri, the ice skater, is Japanese, in his 20s, and seems to be dealing with performance anxiety or stage fright, etc. He's capable of doing amazing performances but he freezes in front of big audiences. Viktor (russian), his new coach, is a bit older than him and a god amongst the world of ice skaters. He decides to put his skating career on hiatus and coach Yuri instead for various reasons. Another Yuri (from here on he shall be called "Yurio" for disambiguation), a teenage russian skater, is furious about Viktor's departure for Japan and chases after him to challenge Japanese Yuri to an ice skating duel for apprentice rights under Viktor.
This show is just great. A+++ for character development between Yuri and Viktor. Yurio seems like an annoying ass at first but he quickly becomes one of the most hilarious and awesome characters in the show. Many of the side characters are pretty great too, although this series could've used a few more episodes of character development to support such a large cast.
The animation is okay ... the character designs are great, but there are a lot of bad inbetweens, the skating isn't always as fluid as it really ought to be, and you can tell a lot of the skating animation is reused. I didn't really care about this too much because the most important thing to me in the show was the character development. However, there are some great skating sequences animated in the show, especially the first one of Yuri in the practice rink (where he skates Viktor's routine from the competition he bungled in ep1). That said, after about the first 6 episodes, you get inundated with a shitload of animated ice skating routines. This bothers some people. It didn't bother me. The show plays it just like watching the olympics, with the commentary and everything, so it just feels normal to me. And anyway, this is very much a sports anime with a Boy's Love subplot.
Yuri and Viktor's relationship is a well developed relationship between two adults, feels very natural, and isn't treated like a joke or a spectacle for fujoshi, as guy/guy relationships are so often in pretty much any media. Viktor in particular is great. He seems to be kind of a... I don't know, pansexual. Yuri doesn't really seem like he's "gay" per se, he just seems like a guy who happens to be in love with another guy right now. Yurio I can't tell, but doesn't seem to have any feelings like that for anyone (although he does blush at Yuri's childhood friend, Yuko [a girl], constantly). No one talks about being gay or whatever in the entire show, which I think is a nice change for a BL property. It just _is_, and people accept it at face value. Also, the show has plenty of people in hetero relationships so it's not like this weird alternate reality that so many BL/yaoi titles exist in where every person in existence is gay. One more thing is that because this was on tv, they kind of censor the big moment where viktor/yuri are confirmed, but the creators piped in later to confirm that yes, they absolutely are the OTP in this show.
The english dub is spectacular. Fite me. Yurio in particular is freaking hysterical; he basically screams all his lines but it is great. One of the bluray extras is a PV of a Yurio performance "Welcome to the Madness" that is just amazingly animated.
Also last thing, It is my esteemed opinion that Yuri!!! On Ice! was absolutely totally green-lit after the creators binge-watched Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. It must be true. And Free! is the show I really want to talk about, but that's for another post because it's going to be loooooooooooong.
If you're having a bad day, go watch this; it'll make you smile and laugh! I don't care if you're a dude or a chick, if you're into dudes or chicks, this show is great!
Episode 1 (subbed) of Yuri!!! On Ice! is (legitimately) available for free on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6zoUVx6uiU
Also available on crunchyroll streaming for free, and funimation streaming. Sorry, you have to buy the dvds/blurays for the dub!
Fandom stuff:
Opening song Tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFgUlRJpslg
Cover of Yuri!!! On Ice! (Yuri's free skate music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26I1hs1bg3o
Here's someone performing it at a concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2JhKYQLodM
Someone performing yuri's on love eros program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WXwHJkjrNw
Someone performing yuri's free program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSAHOMZYkOQ
A public skate where someone skates to theme of King JJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTedZrBG_jw
(i just love all the screaming fangirls in the background of both vids)
The song was used at the olympics for a pairs skating team: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPDi8olW8Us
Queen Yuna (Yuna Kim) skating to On Love: Eros: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1hlI3jdV0
Mostly I came back here because I've recently gotten back into anime since my kids are old enough now to be mostly self-sufficient. Some of the stuff I've watched recently is eating me alive inside to blabber about, but I've found that I no longer have anyone to talk to about fangirl squee stuff and it's frustrating. I don't want to talk with 20 year olds on the internet. That said, I'm not sure who of the people I know would be interested in any of these shows anyway, especially the BL titles, which, while a niche genre, definitely seems to be on the rise.
Anyway, I subbed to crunchyroll for a bit to peruse some of their extensive catalog. I watched "Yuri!!! On Ice!" when it was new-ish and thought it was great, which then prompted me to go on a BL/yaoi bender to try and watch any show that fit the genre that was available with english subtitles at a minimum. Crunchyroll has a surprising amount of stuff in this genre, although it's tagged stupidly/incorrectly most of the time, so you really just have to look up online lists of BL/yaoi titles and see if it's on crunchyroll using the search functionality. Otherwise, it's pirate websites ho!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, BL is "boys love" and is effectively gay relationships that don't typically involve anything explicit. It's basically shoujo/romance but with all guys instead. Yaoi as a term has evolved in this modern day to mean, I guess, stuff with more explicit content, but I don't normally use the term to mean that, mostly I use it to generically refer to guy/guy stuff. It was coined back in the day when there wasn't any variety in this genre and few titles available, so I think it's taken on a more specific meaning nowadays than it used to have.
Anyway, I guess I'll start off with a short bit about Yuri!!! On Ice.
[Yuri!! On Ice]
Yuri!!! On Ice! is a 13 episode TV series about a pro ice skater in a slump, who gets a new coach, and their ensuing hijinks. Yuri, the ice skater, is Japanese, in his 20s, and seems to be dealing with performance anxiety or stage fright, etc. He's capable of doing amazing performances but he freezes in front of big audiences. Viktor (russian), his new coach, is a bit older than him and a god amongst the world of ice skaters. He decides to put his skating career on hiatus and coach Yuri instead for various reasons. Another Yuri (from here on he shall be called "Yurio" for disambiguation), a teenage russian skater, is furious about Viktor's departure for Japan and chases after him to challenge Japanese Yuri to an ice skating duel for apprentice rights under Viktor.
This show is just great. A+++ for character development between Yuri and Viktor. Yurio seems like an annoying ass at first but he quickly becomes one of the most hilarious and awesome characters in the show. Many of the side characters are pretty great too, although this series could've used a few more episodes of character development to support such a large cast.
The animation is okay ... the character designs are great, but there are a lot of bad inbetweens, the skating isn't always as fluid as it really ought to be, and you can tell a lot of the skating animation is reused. I didn't really care about this too much because the most important thing to me in the show was the character development. However, there are some great skating sequences animated in the show, especially the first one of Yuri in the practice rink (where he skates Viktor's routine from the competition he bungled in ep1). That said, after about the first 6 episodes, you get inundated with a shitload of animated ice skating routines. This bothers some people. It didn't bother me. The show plays it just like watching the olympics, with the commentary and everything, so it just feels normal to me. And anyway, this is very much a sports anime with a Boy's Love subplot.
Yuri and Viktor's relationship is a well developed relationship between two adults, feels very natural, and isn't treated like a joke or a spectacle for fujoshi, as guy/guy relationships are so often in pretty much any media. Viktor in particular is great. He seems to be kind of a... I don't know, pansexual. Yuri doesn't really seem like he's "gay" per se, he just seems like a guy who happens to be in love with another guy right now. Yurio I can't tell, but doesn't seem to have any feelings like that for anyone (although he does blush at Yuri's childhood friend, Yuko [a girl], constantly). No one talks about being gay or whatever in the entire show, which I think is a nice change for a BL property. It just _is_, and people accept it at face value. Also, the show has plenty of people in hetero relationships so it's not like this weird alternate reality that so many BL/yaoi titles exist in where every person in existence is gay. One more thing is that because this was on tv, they kind of censor the big moment where viktor/yuri are confirmed, but the creators piped in later to confirm that yes, they absolutely are the OTP in this show.
The english dub is spectacular. Fite me. Yurio in particular is freaking hysterical; he basically screams all his lines but it is great. One of the bluray extras is a PV of a Yurio performance "Welcome to the Madness" that is just amazingly animated.
Also last thing, It is my esteemed opinion that Yuri!!! On Ice! was absolutely totally green-lit after the creators binge-watched Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. It must be true. And Free! is the show I really want to talk about, but that's for another post because it's going to be loooooooooooong.
If you're having a bad day, go watch this; it'll make you smile and laugh! I don't care if you're a dude or a chick, if you're into dudes or chicks, this show is great!
Episode 1 (subbed) of Yuri!!! On Ice! is (legitimately) available for free on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6zoUVx6uiU
Also available on crunchyroll streaming for free, and funimation streaming. Sorry, you have to buy the dvds/blurays for the dub!
Fandom stuff:
Opening song Tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFgUlRJpslg
Cover of Yuri!!! On Ice! (Yuri's free skate music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26I1hs1bg3o
Here's someone performing it at a concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2JhKYQLodM
Someone performing yuri's on love eros program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WXwHJkjrNw
Someone performing yuri's free program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSAHOMZYkOQ
A public skate where someone skates to theme of King JJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTedZrBG_jw
(i just love all the screaming fangirls in the background of both vids)
The song was used at the olympics for a pairs skating team: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPDi8olW8Us
Queen Yuna (Yuna Kim) skating to On Love: Eros: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP1hlI3jdV0