Reaction Shot: Yuri On Ice episode 11 (or, OH NO: the anime)

[spindizzy]

Hey guys! Only like a year or two overdue: the reaction shot for episode eleven of Yuri!!! On Ice! It was really weird coming back to the series after so long (and it really genuinely has been actual years, HOW DOES TIME WORK?!) and after getting an anxiety diagnosis of my own. All the stuff that Yuri did that I was just "Oh man, I feel this on a personal and visceral level!" and all the stuff where I was like "Well obviously Yuri has anxiety, but I don't want to appropriate anything!" — YOU HAVE ANXIETY SUSAN. THAT WAS LITERALLY LOOKING AT SOMEONE WITH THE EXACT SAME BRAIN HANG-UPS AS YOU AND GOING "OH MAN, I FEEL FOR THEM SO STRONGLY! BUT I'M SURE THERE'S NOTHING HERE THAT I NEED TO APPLY TO MY OWN LIFE!"

... Bless past!me, but she was sometimes an idiot.

So yeah, it's weird to watch and remember feeling sympathy anxiety, but also... I dunno, be able to recognise what it is? And not be that anxious watching a fun tv show about queer ice skaters! ... Also it's so nice to be able to watch it and not be fretting about Yuri/Victor being jossed or something tragic happening to one of them, because apparently the "Is this canon or am I being hella queerbaited into being invested in something that will end in tears?!" took up a lot of my emotional energy the first time around.

... Also, you know, it's really weird to come back to the FIRE NATION ATTACK and actually see it coming, but also *screaming intensifies*

[Master post of reactions is here!]

Okay, let's do this, I'm ready!

• ... Oh no, oh no, I'm not ready.


• Oh no, this recap of everyone's motivations and placings is killing me, THEY ALL DESERVE TO WIN. I GUESS EVEN JJ DESERVES IT TOO. BUT ALSO: AHHHHHHH, MY HEART. ;_;


• I remember so little of what is coming that doesn't involve Yuri making Victor cry, okay, I am dying. This is straight up tormenting me. Especially because I'm in the break room at work trying to make the words go.


• ... Chris is going to scandalise my coworkers if anyone pays attention to him, because straight up Chris scandalises ME.


• Gotta Super Charge it!


• ... I forgot that Yuri was going first and now I am a ball of panic for him. YOU CAN DO IT YURI, YOU'RE GOING TO CRUSH IT!


• The emphasis on the engagement rings! And Victor KISSING HIS HAND OH MY GOD I AM DYING HELP ME.


• HAND KISSING IS ALL-POWERFUL, OKAY, THAT AND FOREHEAD KISSES ARE HOW YOU DESTROY ME WITH FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.


• "His coach is empowering their matching rings in a prayer for victory." UH-HUH. YEP. DEFINITELY THAT. (I mean, it might be that AS WELL, but also it is DEFINITELY NOT JUST THAT.)


• Sala, asking the important questions: Why matching rings?
  Michel, oblivious: I wish I had one with Sala!
  Me: DUDE, FIND YOUR CHILL, SHE IS YOUR SISTER.


•  (And bless him cyberpunk dude is actually paying attention to their FELLOW SKATER.


• THEY KISS THEIR ENGAGEMENT RINGS AT THE SAME TIME OH MY GOD I'M DYING SOMEONE PLEASE RESCUE ME.


• "Don't you want to see it, Victor?" OH MY GOD YURI LOOKS CONFIDENT AND SELF-ASSURED, LOOK AT THIS CHARACTER GROWTH RIGHT HERE! Especially because he knows damn well that Victor wants to see that more than he's concerned that Yuri won't be able to pull it off.


• OMG the hug because Victor is so excited and happy for Yuri! ;_;


• Seriously I'm not even five minutes in and I'm dying.


• "I don't doubt my decisions anymore." / "Yuri looks confident and yet I feel like my own heart is about to explode." RIGHT?! OH MY GOD.


• Victor is so intent on this and I love it. Especially because a) I really like it when we get to be in his head for Yuri's performances, because he's usually so off the mark with his guesses of what's going through Yuri's head, and b) HE IS DOING THE JUMPS ALONG WITH YURI HELP THIS IS TOO BEAUTIFUL AND TOO CUTE, HE IS SO HAPPY FOR YURI!!!


• Oh wow, Yuri looks like his heart is breaking, oh bless him. And the way that Victor is watching him is breaking my heart a little.


• Depressed Victor in the snow with Maccachin, oh no. Especially because the way he's been handling his career so far feels so... Ephemeral? If you're doing a new beginning every time, you're not building on what you did before, and that just feels... Lonely, I guess.


• They both look so determined!


• OMG, Victor having new feelings and determination because Yuri's there! Yuri did inspire him like the internet thought, just not in the way that they thought he did! *lies on floor*


• I like the little vignettes about Phichit, because bless him! He has tried so hard!


• Phichit's attitude is so healthy? Like, his base score is going to be lower than the other's, and he's going for it anyway! And he is so genuinely excited, not anxious, not stressing, not melancholy about the whole thing like the other skaters... IT IS SO PURE. SO JOYFUL. Is he like that because he's inherently Phichit, or because as he puts it, he has no accomplishments to defend? This is him going out to make his mark, not trying to carry forward an image of himself that everyone already has fixed in their minds!


• But also he is cute as anything, and I choose to believe that all of the photos are pictures from his instagram and none of you can convince me otherwise.


• I was like "Awwww, he has a hamster!" and then I paused it and uh, that's THREE hamsters. How are you managing to keep those in a dorm room?!


• YURI LOOKS LIKE HE BELIEVES IN PHICHIT ABSOLUTELY WHEN HE'S TALKING ABOUT HIS DREAM AND YES, GOOD JOB BOTH OF YOU, I AM PROUD.


• HE IS SO CUTE, OKAY, AND SO HAPPY TO BE SKATING THIS ROUTINE TO THIS MUSIC! LOOK AT HIM LIVING HIS DREAMS!


• ... As if they just sat in the Kiss and Cry the entire time Phichit was skating. And Yurio moving them out of it in the must tsundere way possible before one of the staff members has to.


• I stand by the theory that he is a shithead teenager who HAS EMOTIONS and not only doesn't know how to express them, but also hates that these things exist.


• Nerves you say. Yurio with nerves. ... I know I watched that episode but also I don't still don't believe it.


• "I believe he's found an entrance to 'love' through his many encounters with others," as it flashes through a whole bunch of people that Yurio would FUNDAMENTALLY DENY HAVING ANY FEELINGS ABOUT AT ALL but he really really does.


• That flash of Victor when he was Yurio's age! ;_; Skating Victor's choreography so well that it makes you think of him!


• I'm surprised that we're getting all of these other points of view on Yurio here, because in my brain, it focused on him? Because he's struggled with this routine, consistently, and I was sure this episode we finally got him realising what it meant to him, rather than everyone else talking about what it meant to him.


• LILIA AND YAKOV LOOK LIKE THEY CAN'T BELIEVE IT!


• ... Oh no, Yuri suddenly realising that Victor's not there! ;_; And Victor's just watching Yurio perform, which could be so many different things (Pride in his choreography! Pride in Yurio growing into that choreography! Automatically assessing the competition for himself or for Yuri!) but you just KNOW Yuri's going to interpret it in the worst way possible!


• "A beautiful monster continues to evolve to even greater heights!" sounds like a terrible translation, but also that is peak Yurio.


• Oh, there he is! Apparently his mind just went blank halfway through, bless him! That sounds about right for something that difficult! But also his mind shut off and he did the best performance of his life, I have no idea how he's going to take that. (*flashback to Victor smiling and laughing at them for overthinking the meaning behind the routines way way back in episode... What, two or three?)


• Oh, I didn't know that there were people who skated around collecting things that got thrown onto the ice! That makes sense, I had wondered how they cleared up all the mess.


• ... Oh NO you can SEE Yuri getting the wrong of the stick there, you can SEE IT in the way that he stops and looks at Victor, oh no. Oh NO.


• HE IS CUDDLING A KITTY TOY! NO WONDER THE FANGIRLS KEEP THROWING YOU MORE KITTIES, YURIO.


• OMG HE BEAT VICTOR! WHAT. HOW. WHAT.


• Man, he beat Victor by skating a routine Victor choreographed, that's impressive!


• I am also impressed at Yuri passing that freak-out off like it was nothing considering I think he's just been staring at Victor for like five minutes.


• I love that Minako and Yuri's sister just brought ALL OF THE FLAGS. ALL OF THEM EVER.


• "The arena is filling with Swiss flags!" My immediate thought was "Oh, hey, I found the people who are into dudes!" which is unfair.


• "He's changing the mood 180 degrees, from agape to adult sexual appeal," ... Oh god no, that's the worst!


• God, Creeper is just STONE-FACED watching this while everyone else is clapping along. FIND YOUR CHILL YOU MISERY GUTS, SALA IS PROBABLY NOT GOING TO RUN AWAY AND BANG HIM.


• That little smile Victor has while he's watching Chris! And Yuri's FACE when he sees it!


• CHRIS STOP THAT. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO USE THAT.


• ... Oh no, Chris is worried about aging out of skating, which is a thing that people talk about Victor doing! Oh no!


• HE IS SO CUTE WHEN HE'S AT HOME WITH HIS NERDY GLASSES AND HIS CAT.


• Who's that? His coach? His fella? I thought his coach was a big bald guy though.


• "But that's why I'll make this Final extra special!" EVERYONE IS SO WORRIED ABOUT THIS BEING THEIR LAST FINAL AND THEIR ONE LAST SHOT AT GOLD, EXCEPT FOR PHICHIT WHO IS LOOKING AT THIS AS A START INSTEAD OF AN END, AND YURIO WHO IS TREATING THIS LIKE HE HAS TO COME OUT AND WIN THIS ONE OR ELSE.


• Man, he is thinking of Victor so hard that Victor's rival senses are tingling.


• (SERIOUSLY JJ THINKS HE IS VICTOR'S RIVAL WHEN CHRIS IS RIGHT THERE.)


• Yuri, Yuri stop, please, you're stressing me out, please let Victor watch this without freaking out.


• Yeah, that guy! I thought that guy was Chris' coach! ... So seriously who's the other guy who was in Chris' flat, explain.


• OH NO HE BEAT YURI! HOW!


• Sala: *notices that something is off in Yuri's reaction*
  Yurio: SUP ASSHOLES.


• I think that's the first time Yurio has actually yelled luck to anyone, or made a deliberate point of sitting to watch their performance. (He was going to yell at Yuri from the sidelines before JJ distracted him, right?)


• OTABEK HAS SUCH A GREAT DEADPAN FACE, OKAY.


• His goal is the same as Phichit's! He wants to bring gold back for his country!


• "Otabek wasn't very memorable in the past," wow, Sala, that is a devastating burn right there.


• Otabek doesn't have a ballet background! He is like the ONLY ONE that doesn't have a ballet background, I think? Or at least the only one called out as not having one, and it was a deliberate choice to make him stand out! GOOD WORK MY DARK HORSE SON.


• "The ice is a battleground. I am going to survive!" OTABEK IS FULL OF MILITARY METAPHORS, DAMN.


• Oh wow that jump was high!


• Yurio is SO HAPPY for him! I think that's possibly the most uncomplicated happiness we've ever seen from Yurio, isn't it? Like, he's not being a jerk, he's not expecting anything or living up to anything, he's just... Genuinely happy.


• "That determination is his trademark." ... My dude, we were first properly introduced to Otabek LAST EPISODE and we get so much of people knowing him? I'm honestly just impressed that they the the whole "this guy is a background character – PSYCH!" literally two episodes before the end.


• UGH JJ.


• I know that the art style isn't perfect and it doesn't always flow right, but that routine was PRETTY COOL. Like, it's definitely possible to tell that his routine is different to the way the other skaters roll! I think? Maybe? Possibly I'm just letting my knowing it's supposed to be influence my opinion.


• "Another score higher than the pig's," I TAKE IT BACK YURIO YOU ARE A JERK AND I AM GOING TO THROW ROCKS AT YOU.


• Victor giving his approval of Otabek is either going to please Yurio to no end or nip that friendship in the bud and I have no idea which.


• Yuri: *FLINCHES WITH EVERY COMPLIMENT VICTOR GIVES TO OTABEK*
  Me: NO YURI WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US BOTH.


• JJ: *SMUG SMIRK AT OTABEK AS HE SKATES OUT*
  Otabek: *GLARE OF DEATH*


• That man is too aggressive to be Canadian, surely.


• ... Oh no, Otabek has to skate back to a guy surrounded by family when all he has is his coach! ;_; How could you?!


• "It's like a 'new personal best' party!"


• ... Damn, but JJ is BULLETPROOF CONFIDENCE here. He's like the single most confident person in the room! ... I have this horrible suspicion that if I ever did write thebaconfat that age-swapped YoI fic, young!Victor would probably have that too and I'm cross about it.


• NO ONE CAN BEAT YURIO.


• I love how done Mickey and Sala look, and how much like Yuri looks like he's witnessing the spectre of death passing over him and his chances. ... Seriously, every new person who's come out has knocked the previous person down from second except Yurio, these guys are ridiculous. Also: I WANT TO TELL YURIO TO STOP LOOKING SMUG BUT HE LEGIT DESERVES TO, I'M SO MAD.


• JJ casually crossing himself as he hits the ice.


• WHY IS THERE A GUY TEARING AROUND WITH THE CANADIAN FLAG, WTF.


• ... Man, JJ is probably the most popular guy there, it's ridiculous.
 

• Me, the first time I watched this: I have NO IDEA how they're going to get JJ out of the way for Yuri and Yurio to have a chance of winning, he's established as Too Powerful, I am so tense.
  Me, as JJ falls apart: OH. I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING.


• Christ, set modest goals why don't you JJ.


• I think this is possibly the first time that he's considered that he has real competition, and it's completely thrown him off! Which is an interesting conflict with Yuri, who sees EVERYONE as valid opponents!


• ... Seriously though, Otabek popped into JJ's head and completely threw him off his game, truly Otabek has the most power here.


• The skating corner of the crowd is just like "OH NO. OH WE SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE AND WE DO NOT LIKE IT." Like, even Yurio looks appalled.


• Too much pressure! From literally everyone he loves, just because they believe in him without questions! ;_____; This is why I always follow up my "I believe in you!" with "Unless that is too much pressure, in which case ????"


• Man, Yurio and Oabek look like mob guys, while Yuri looks like someone's femme fatale assassin. ... Here for it.


• Man, as much as I have kvetched about JJ this entire time, but his fans stepping in to sing his theme song to support him brings TEARS TO MY EYES. ... I would probably have done that too, tbf. And just! His fiancée rooting for him! And his absolute refusal to give up!


• "It's like looking at myself from last year. No, this is different. JJ just can't stay stuck in one place. No one has the right to mock the challenge he's taken on. I have no regrets for taking on my own challenge this time, either! After all, I've managed to become one of the final six." Yes! Yuri, this was the lesson you were supposed to take away from last year! I'M GLAD YOU GOT THERE UNDER YOUR OWN POWER, YOU HAVE DONE SO WELL AND GROWN SO MUCH! ;____________; YOU TRIED YOUR BEST AND YOU MADE IT TO THE FINAL, THAT IS NOT NOTHING! ;___________;


• Oh no, everyone is heartbroken for him. He looks broken. ... And then his fiancée jumps in to cheer him on and I love these massive nerds. BLESS THEM ALL.


• HE IS SO PROUD OF THEM. AND HE'S TRYING TO LIVE UP TO THEM.


• Yurio at the back howling at him to shut up when he starts being JJ again.


• Yuri is in fourth! That's not the worst place to be starting from! You can do it!


• Minako drinking in a bar with Celestino and potentially the skaters DOES NOT SOUND SAFE. WHO ALLOWED THAT. (Even Victor thinks they should avoid that. Good man.)


• "What did you want to talk to me about?" OH NO, HE LOOKS SO HAPPY AND HOPEFUL AND I JUST REMEMBERED WHAT THIS NEXT THIRTY SECONDS HOLD, NOPE. NO. NEIN.


• And Yuri looks so calm and confident and pleased! NO. YURI. STOP. DON'T DO IT.


• "After the Final, let's end this."


• I AM HEARTBROKEN, STOP THAT! I DID NOT AUTHORISE THESE FEELINGS! *lies on floor in despair*

Comments

[forestofglory]

I recently watched YoI for the first time and I have so many feelings! Glad I'm not the only one.

[spindizzy]

Yessssss, I'm so happy that you got to see it! It is so good for feelings! Did you like it?

[forestofglory]

I adored it! It's probably why I've suddenly be moved to read all the manga (well I'd been thinking about rereading/finishing Fruits Basket for a few months -- but not actually doing it.) I may also have fallen down a fic reading hole, which hasn't happened to me before. So yes! it was really good! Victor and Yuri are so cute! And the figure skating is so pretty!