Japanese anime studio MAPPA released a sports Anime series at the end of 2016 that took the world by storm. This series, called “Yuri on Ice,” cleaned house in the first Crunchyroll Anime Awards by winning Anime of the Year, Best Opening, Best Animation and Best Couple. This was a well-loved show that was going to get a full-length movie; however, the movie was stuck in production and was recently canceled.
In the 12 episodes of the series, we follow Yuri Katsuki, a 23-year-old Japanese figure skater, who had a crushing defeat on the figure skating circuit the previous year. He planned on retiring when none other than his idol and 5-time figure skating champion, Victor Nikiforov, says he would coach Yuri this upcoming year. This ensues a bunch of training and confidence building as we watch Yuri become the figure skater he was destined to be. However, that is not the only thing we watch because over the course of the season, we see both Victor and Yuri fall in love, leading to the two of them becoming engaged near the end of the show.
There is an amazing cast of characters all of which people love for different reasons and the topic discussed in this show leaves fans wanting more and more. The style was beautiful and felt like watching real figure staking, which is something the team worked hard on. The music that was used helped build both the love of the characters and figure skating. With this show being just under 6 hours, it is an easy show to binge-watch on a Saturday night or enjoy over several days.
Rating: 10/10
