It’s not easy being a Yuri!!! on Ice fan. After a seven-year wait for updates on a previously announced movie, news broke that the project is no longer in the works “due to various circumstances”, dashing hopes for a revival of any sort.
In a delightful twist of events, the entire series is streaming for free on YouTube from now until 21 December, but there’s a catch (when isn’t there?) — it won’t be available in most territories outside of Japan, which means a VPN is required to relive, or start on, the figure-skating journey.
The window of open-to-all availability, while short, marks a rare occurrence in anime tradition, which is notorious for its stringent copyright regulations and is often limited to paid streaming services only. Hailing from Studio MAPPA (Attack on Titan Final Season, Jujutsu Kaisen), the 2016 outing follows the relationships between Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki, his idol, Russian figure-skating champion Victor Nikiforov, and up-and-coming Russian skater Yuri Plisetsky, across 12 episodes.
Yuri!!! on Ice would go on to become a cultural phenomenon, with its niche figure skating focus, memorable characters, and groundbreaking exploration of queer romance filling a void left by the mainstream market during its run. The widespread influence extended to praise from professional figure skaters, some of whom performed to music from the anime in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
In 2017, Yuri!!! on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence was announced to be in development, with a release originally slated for 2019. However, it was pushed back indefinitely and ultimately cancelled, after a teaser trailer got hopes up with confirmation that it was still in the works.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Joey Leong
