Analysis of Yuri on Ice – Is Victuri Canon? – Part 1
SW: Yuri on Ice
If you haven't watched Yuri on Ice yet you should really do it before reading this post. Stop read now. There will be lots of spoilers below.
You can watch Yuri on Ice here: https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/yuri-on-ice/videos
Disclaimer: I do not own Yuri on Ice or any of its material. The pictures are screen shots from the anime.
First of all, this post will be in English, since I think Swedes in general accept these kinds of matters more than the general population of Earth, and English is the most international language I know.
I'll put a TL;DR in the end of part 2 of this analysis.
This post is about the ice skating anime Yuri on Ice, which was released in the end of 2016.
More exactly, this post is about the fact that there are two camps arguing about if "Victuri" (i.e. sexual and/or romantic love between Victor and Yuri) is canon (i.e. true according to the creators) or non-canon.
More exactly, this post is about the fact that there are two camps arguing about if "Victuri" (i.e. sexual and/or romantic love between Victor and Yuri) is canon (i.e. true according to the creators) or non-canon.
Therefore I just have to break this down. Because I get pretty annoyed by the group of people being like this:
"They are very good friends.", "NOT HOMO.",
"It's only a lucky churm.", "ONLY A LUCKY CHURM!"
Really?
Goth bless the naïve. Or something.
So, let's start from the beginning, kind of. Let's start from the beginning of the series, which is not the first time Victor encounter Yuri. But first we'll take a quick look at the intro and the outro.
The lyrics for the intro are:
Can you hear
my heartbeat?
Tired of feeling
never enough
I close my eyes and tell myself that my dreams will come true
There'll be no more darkness
when you believe in yourself, you are unstoppable
Where your destiny lies,
dancing on the blades,
you set my heart on fire
Don't stop us now, the moment of truth
We were born to make history
We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around
Yes, we were born to make history
And then it just repeats itself with the chorus.
Yeah, I know, these lyrics could be only about Yuri's depression or only about the skating. So this in itself is not a of proof that this is about love. But it could be partly about love. If I'm not mistaken the verse with "you set my heart on fire" is Victor's thoughts, since he's in picture there, and because it makes sense of what that verse is about, and the first verse is Katsuki Yuri's thoughts by the same reasoning. And this song is sure about making history, which this anime really did! It's one of the first non-yaoi anime with this kind of relationship between two men. *Applause*
"Woah, woah.", some of you say, "Yuri on Ice is yaoi, 'cause it's about two men in love."
Let's make a small side-track here...
Yuri on Ice is not yaoi.
Yaoi is a genre of manga and anime where men have sexual relationships. It contains a lot of explicit sex. Did you ever see Yuri and Victor having sex? No, exactly.
Also, in yaoi there's this stereotype of one man being "top" and one being "bottom", this is called "seme" and "uke" respectively. A lot of people argue that Victor is seme and Yuri is uke, because Victor is very straight forward towards Yuri when he first comes to Japan. But this is because Yuri showed his "eros side" (as Victor probably would say) at the banquet. More about the banquet later.
Anyhow, Yuri finds and shows his eros, that's pretty much the whole point of at least the first half of the anime. They're both "dominant" and both "submissive", because they are regular people in a regular setting in their regular lives. Of course people may be more dominant or more submissive as persons, but that's not the point with Yuri on Ice. They may have more of one of those two traits, but it is not the point. Yes, in Yuri on Ice they have a hard time communicating with each other about in which way they like each other, especially in the beginning, this doesn't mean that one or the other is dominant (Victor seems dominant in the beginning, because he's straight forward because of the banquet) or turn dominant (Yuri "becomes dominant" because he finds his eros) or whatever. They are just two men loving each other. Simple as that.
The dom-sub and seme-uke perspectives are just a heteronormative way of figuring out how homosexual men have sex, because people in general think that when there's a penis involved someone has to be penetrated. This is so heteronormative and stereotypical and just wrong that I just want to facepalm through my head. This heteronormative view of it, sees men as dominant and women as submissive, because penis penetrates vagina. When there's no vagina the heteronormativity finds this way of making it heteronormative by thinking of one of the (in this case) men as the submissive, as the substitute for the woman, as the substitute for the person with the vagina. Therefore the seme-uke stereotype is sexist and homophobic.
The dom-sub and seme-uke perspectives are just a heteronormative way of figuring out how homosexual men have sex, because people in general think that when there's a penis involved someone has to be penetrated. This is so heteronormative and stereotypical and just wrong that I just want to facepalm through my head. This heteronormative view of it, sees men as dominant and women as submissive, because penis penetrates vagina. When there's no vagina the heteronormativity finds this way of making it heteronormative by thinking of one of the (in this case) men as the submissive, as the substitute for the woman, as the substitute for the person with the vagina. Therefore the seme-uke stereotype is sexist and homophobic.
But of course it's okay to like yaoi and the seme-uke constellation. My point is just that Yuri on Ice is not yaoi and not seme-uke and in this case it's sexist and homophobic to call it yaoi and seme-uke.
So, the conclusion is that Yuri on Ice is not yaoi. It's just like any other romantic (sports) comedy (anime), just that it's with two men instead of the, oh so rare (*rolls eyes*), one man and one woman constellation.
Let's get back on track. The intro. Let's take a look at some screen shots from the intro.
My first screen shot is one where Victor and Yuri glance at each other. They look at each other during this entire scene. Victor and Yuri Plisetsky don't look at each other during the intro. Katsuki Yuri and Yuri Plisetsky don't look at each other during the intro. But Victor and Katsuki Yuri do.
Let's look at some screen shots from the outro, too. This first one is of Victor combing Yuri's hair. He looks so calm and tender, like he really cares for Yuri.
Yuri thinks Victor is hot
After Yuri has asked himself who he dances for he turns his gaze towards Victor and gives him a seducing look. Victor whistles. Here is the first moment Yuri shows his seductive side, the side which Victor has already seen at the banquet.
Yuri: "I don't know how long Victor will stick around. [...]
*Yuri reaches out his hand towards Victor.*
Yuri misses Victor
Victor and Yuri glance at each other
Then we have these picture below. Doesn't it look very much like they are blowing kisses to each other?
Victor blows a kiss to Yuri
Yuri blows a kiss to Victor
Now, let's go for the outro before looking into the actual episodes.
The lyrics, translated into English (disclaimer: not translated by me, I have no idea how correct it is, I found it on the Yuri on Ice Wikia):
You Only Live Once
You're so beautiful
Tonight I was entranced by you
Even the hourglass stops
So take my breath away
Shining so bright
Your fighting form declared,
"We were born so that we could shine"
Waiting for the light,
I can't hear a thing
There's a shining butterfly
Amid the light
We mustn't fear being hurt so that we can shine
Shining all the while,
That's what you taught me!
Okay, someone clearly thinks someone else is beautiful. Cute! I think it might be Victor referring to the banquet, especially the line "Tonight I was entranced by you" makes me think this. The other verse might be Yuri thinking about his depression and how Victor made his life better, if we assume that the butterfly is supposed to represent Victor.
Let's look at some screen shots from the outro, too. This first one is of Victor combing Yuri's hair. He looks so calm and tender, like he really cares for Yuri.
Victor combs Yuri's hair
After this picture of Victor combing Yuri's hair there's a scene with Victor and Yuri playfully running at the beach. I couldn't really get any good screen shots of it since they're only both on screen too far away to see it's them. But if you see the whole scene you'll see it's them.
After this we have a scene of them showering together and washing each other's hair. Of course you can do this to someone who's not your lover, but I mean, look at Victor's eyes in the second picture. Is it only me or do you also think it looks like he's in love?
Yuri and Victor showering together
Now, let's start to dig into the first episode.
This first picture is of Victor wanting to take a commemorative photo with Yuri. A commemorative photo is something you take to remember something. Yuri doesn't want a photo with Victor, he probably thinks that Victor sees him as a fan and not as a fellow ice skater, because he doesn't remember the banquet, therefore he just walks away without saying a word.
Victor wants to take a photo with Yuri, but Yuri doesn't want to take a photo
If you watched the whole series (which you should have, if you're reading this analysis) then you might connect this moment even more to the banquet. Victor looks confused and torn in the second picture, because he doesn't understand why Yuri is acting so different from the banquet. He doesn't know that Yuri doesn't remember most of the banquet.
Then we get to know how big of a fan Yuri, and for that sake Yuko, are of Victor. Yuri has been a fan of Victor, since he was a child. Keep that in mind; Victor is Yuri's idol.
In the middle of the episode Yuri skates Victor's program for Yuko, and for the whole world, too, since Yuko's children film it and post it on the Internet. It goes viral, Victor sees it and he choose to become Yuri's coach.
Because you've seen the whole series you know that Yuri begged for Victor to become his coach, at the banquet. One year ago, at the final were they competed against each other, Yuri begged for Victor to become his coach and then Yuri doesn't want to take a picture with Victor. To make it all clear, the competition takes place before the banquet and the scene where Victor asks Yuri for a photo takes place after the banquet. Now, a year later, Yuri skates Victor's program, which probably makes Victor even more confused, but he probably sees it as a call, as it's time for him to become Yuri's coach. My hypothesis is that Victor both sees the potential in Yuri's skating and the opportunity to get to know Yuri better, which he wants to do because of the mixed signals Yuri gave him a year ago.
Then you all know about the scene where Victor shows up in Yuri's onsen. Victor thinks Yuri remembers the banquet, so he's straight forward.
A fun thing, which I just discovered, is that the "next episode" parts, just after the outro, are pretty funny. I never watch those, in any series, because I don't want any spoilers, but now that I've watched this series three times before, I thought I could watch those too, and I realized that in the "next episode" of the first episode we hear Yuri saying "Hasetu's great... Come and visit." in his "drunken at the banquet" voice. Such an Easter egg! So, I'm going to see what the "next episode" parts has more to share in later episodes.
If we jump right into episode 2 we'll see the same thing again with Victor being straight forward towards Yuri, this time it's more obvious though, Victor flirts with Yuri. He sensually touches Yuri's chin and hand, and he gets really confused when Yuri doesn't really seem to like it, because Victor still thinks Yuri remembers the banquet. Then he just continues to flirt with him, from time to time. For example he asks Yuri to sleep with him. Well, he obviously doesn't mean sleep as in having sex, I think that's a little bit too forward even for Victor, but what do I know. Anyway, he wants to sleep in Yuri's room, probably in Yuri's bed too since he only brings a pillow.
"Yuri, let's sleep together."
Then Yuri ponders about that they've barely even spoked, because he has put Victor on a pedestal, and he has no idea about why Victor is here, in his home, and even wants to sleep in the same room to get to know each other better, and Victor is there to help him with his skating career. Yuri is confused, but he's happy.
"My heart is pounding because of how happy I am."
I totally know this feeling. Yuri has a depression, even though he's probably almost out of it, but he has this feeling of happiness. When you're depressed you feel pretty numb, even when you actually are happy you don't really feel that happy, but then, from time to time, you get those moments where you feel happy for real, you feel blessed. I'm also depressed, and the first time that blessed happiness thing happened to me I felt so happy that I couldn't grasp it. It was like something precious was given back to me. I'm sure that's exactly what Yuri feels in this moment. His idol starts to live with him, he will even have him as a coach, so he can now think of the future as fortunate again. Also, maybe there's an undertone here about him kind of having a crush on Victor.
After this Yuri starts to exercise again, because he really wants Victor to coach him. During one of those exercise occasions Victor starts to ask Yuri about his love-life.
First Victor asks if Yuri has feelings for Minako, which he denies, then Victor asks about if Yuri has a partner/lover or an ex-partner/ex-lover, which Yuri doesn't want to talk about.
Anyway, there's a pretty big translation error here, if you ask me. Victor asks Yuri if he has a koibito or former koibito, which is translated to "girlfriend" in the subs. The word "koibito" (こいびと) is gender neutral. Victor doesn't ask Yuri if he has a girlfriend, he asks Yuri if he has a lover and he doesn't mention this potential lover's gender. Victor also suggest they should talk about his exes, here translated to "ex-girlfriend" even though Victor says "koibito" even here.
And, on top of this, they use "koibito" throughout the anime. For example, in a scene of episode 4, Mila asks Yuri Plisetsky if he went to Japan to find a koibito, but this is also translated to "girlfriend". Another example is when JJ talks about his girlfriend, he says koibito even though he knows she's a girl so he could've used "kanojo" (girlfriend).
"Do you have a girlfriend lover?"
The writer of Yuri on Ice, Mitsuro Kubo, wrote this on her Twitter in December 2016 (disclaimer, this is not my translation, I have no idea about how correct it is):
“No matter what real people think about this anime, within its world no one is ever going to be discriminated against because of what they like. And that is something I will always protect.”
“No matter what real people think about this anime, within its world no one is ever going to be discriminated against because of what they like. And that is something I will always protect.”
She basically says that there's no such thing as homophobia in the Yuri on Ice universe. Basically, people here are seen as bi-/pansexual until proven otherwise, instead of "the other" way around. Therefore they talk about lovers/partners (koibito), not about girlfriends (kanojo) and boyfriends (kareshi). Yes, there are Japanese gendered words for partners too, so it's not like they only have one word for it, they could've used kanojo and kareshi instead of koibito, but the thing is: they didn't.
Later on, Victor, Yuko and Takeshi watches Yuri skate by himself. Here is where everything changes from Victor's point of view. Well, he still doesn't know about Yuri not remembering most of the banquet, but he grasps a little bit of why Yuri isn't like he was at the banquet.
Takeshi: "Skating aside, he's not good at putting himself out there."
"Skating aside, he's not good at putting himself out there.", that's the spell to make Victor to better understand Yuri. Because Victor saw Yuri putting himself out there, at the banquet.
Yuko: "I hope Victor will bring out a side of Yuri-kun that we've never seen before."
Yuko and Takeshi have never seen the side of Yuri which Victor saw at the banquet. Victor gets it. Yuri didn't act as himself during the banquet, because he was drunk.
Victor: "Thanks. I know a lot more about Yuri now."
That's it, for this episode, but what do we have in the "next episode" part this time? We have Victor saying "I wonder, which of you will be able to satisfy me?" when they show a picture from when Victor is in the onsen, and then Yuri answers "I'll satisfy you for sure!" with the scene were Victor touches Yuri's lip. I love how they play with what the next episode is about.
Naughty...
Now, let's take a look at episode 3.
When Victor skates Yuri's eros program Yuri thinks of Victor as hot. Well, Yuko also does by the way.
And after this we see the last time Victor tries to seduce Yuri. From here on he tries to flirt with Yuri in other ways. My hypothesis is that when Victor talked to Yuko and Takeshi he really got the point that Yuri isn't good at putting himself out there. Yuko said that she wanted Victor to bring out a side of Yuri that they've never seen before. Because Victor knows this side of Yuri, from the banquet, and he wants to bring out that side of Yuri again, he tries to be more careful about the way he flirts with Yuri, after this scene. One reason to why he gave Yuri the eros program instead of the agape program is because he wants to bring out that side of Yuri again.
Victor: "No one in the whole wide world knows your true eros, Yuri.
It may be an alluring side of you that you yourself are unaware of.
Can you show me what it is soon?"
It may be an alluring side of you that you yourself are unaware of.
Can you show me what it is soon?"
Then, when Yuri is going to compete with his eros program for the first time he gives Victor a hug and tells Victor to keep his eyes on him. This is their first hug by the way.
Yuri: "I'm going to become a super tasty katsudon,
so please don't take your eyes off me. Promise!
Victor: "Of course. I love katsudon."
I changed the translation a little bit, to "don't take your eyes off me", since that's closer to the Japanese phrase, at least I've read that in a Reddit thread.
When Yuri tells Victor that he'll be a super tasty katsudon and asks Victor to keep his eyes on him Victor answers "Of course. I love katsudon.". Victor sounds partly a bit sad over the fact that Yuri still thinks of katsudon when showing his eros program, since that wasn't what Yuri showed at the banquet, but he also says to Yuri that he loves him. Yuri just said he was the katsudon, and Victor answered by referring to Yuri as the katsudon.
When Yuri starts his performance it's obvious that he doesn't think at all about katsudon, though. He thinks of Victor.
Yuri: "Who am I dancing for? I know who."
*Victor whistles*
*Victor whistles*
After Yuri has asked himself who he dances for he turns his gaze towards Victor and gives him a seducing look. Victor whistles. Here is the first moment Yuri shows his seductive side, the side which Victor has already seen at the banquet.
Yuri got help from Minako to find this side of him. To his eros program there's a story about a playboy coming to a town and falls in love with a woman. The woman is first not interested in him, but after a while she gets interested. But after a while together the playboy leaves her. Sounds familiar?
Yuri: "Trying to be the playboy isn't me.
I want to be the most beautiful woman in town, who seduces the playboy!
I want to be the most beautiful woman in town, who seduces the playboy!
Yuri thought of himself as the playboy when he practiced his eros program, but he realizes he is not the playboy, he's the woman seducing the playboy. He skates for Victor, because Victor is the playboy in Yuri's story. Victor came to Yuri because he was interested in Yuri. Yuri is first not interested, he feels intimidated when Victor is close to him. Then he starts to get some interest in Victor and he gets less and less intimidated by him. But, Yuri is worried that Victor will leave him, that Victor won't become his coach, that Victor will go back to Russia and instead become the coach of Yuri Plisetsky. That's the part of the story where the playboy leaves the woman.
After Yuri's first competition performance Victor gets really happy from that Yuri finally has found his eros. He never gave Yuri Plisetsky a hug after his performance, even though he really liked how Yuri Plisetsky had grown and found his agape, but he gives Katsuki Yuri a big and friendly hug. The hug really says "I love you", but if he means as in platonic love or as in romantic love is not possible to say here. Anyway, since Yuri hugged him before the performance he now knows how close Yuri he can come without intimidating him.
Victor gives Yuri a hug
Yuri ends up as the winner of the Onsen on Ice competition. On the podium he's nervous about talking to the press, but then Victor puts an arm around him as a gesture to show him that he's there by his side and, again, Victor would probably not do this if Yuri hadn't opened up with the hug just before the performance.
Yuri realizes that Victor will stay by his side.
In the "next episode" part after this episode we have a terrific exchange of words with Yuri asking "Who'd even be happy to see me naked on ice?" and Victor answers "At the very least, I would be.", that's just fantastic, I love this! Victor obviously has a crush on Yuri, don't you think?
Victor wouldn't mind seeing Yuri skate naked
On to episode 4. Oh Gosh, I'm only a quarter of the way through this. This post is going to become long. Gomen, gomen... ^^' But as a said earlier, there'll be a TL;DR in the end of part 2.
Victor: "I was drawn to you because of the music...
The way you skate like your body is creating music."
In the beginning of the episode Victor tells Yuri that he was drawn to him because of the way he skates is like his body creates music. Well, I guess that's partly true, that may be based on the video that actually drawn Victor to Japan, but why he reacted that much when watching that video must've been because of the banquet, and how Yuri dances like his body creates music, right?
Then Victor helps Yuri to stretch, while they're both naked in the onsen.
After this, Yuri and Victor calls Yuri's former coach, Celestino. Celestino tells Victor that Yuri never had confidence in himself while he was Yuri's coach. Victor has, as you know, heard this from Takeshi and Yuko too, so this just empathise it further, and probably making Victor more understanding to why Yuri is not acting as he did at the banquet.
Celestino: "Yuri never had confidence in himself."
Later on we have this scene, similar to a scene of episode 2, where Victor asks Yuri to sleep with him, still not as in having sex of course, just as sleep in the same room, but this time it seems like Victor is inviting Yuri to sleep in his room, which he probably does to not intimidate Yuri too much as he would if they slept in Yuri's room, is my guess. Yuri dismisses the invitation again.
Victor: "Yuri, let's go to sleep together."
Then we have a very important scene, in which Victor understands even further why Yuri doesn't act as he did at the banquet.
Yuri: "There was a girl in Detroit who was really pushy and kept talking to me. [...]
When she hugged me to comfort me, I shoved her away without thinking about it.
[...] It felt like she was intruding on my feelings or something.
But then I realized that Minako-sensei, Nishigori, Yuko-chan, and my family [...]
they never stepped over the line.
When Victor hears this he decides to try what would happen if he asks Yuri what their relationship is. The last of the options he gives is if Yuri sees Victor as a koibito, here translated to "boyfriend". But here I find it very important to also translate it to koibito, because that gives more weight to it, since they've said "koibito" throughout the series so far.
Victor: "Then, your lover, I guess."
Yuri reacts like he's getting very intimidated by this question, and Victor looks a bit surprised about the reaction. Then Yuri explains that he sees Victor as an idol, and he want to keep it that way, and he says that he feels a bit bad about that he has ignored Victor before, but he'll make up to Victor by his skating. Then Victor says that he won't let off Yuri easy with the skating, which, Victor says, is his way of showing his love towards Yuri. After this Yuri thinks to himself that Victor will meet him where he is, when he opens up more to Victor.
Yuri: "I've always looked up to you. [...]
I'll make it up to you with my skating."
I'll make it up to you with my skating."
Victor: "Okay, I won't let you off easy, then.
That's my way of showing my love."
Yuri: "When I open up, he meets me where I am.
I shouldn't be afraid to open up more!"
The next really important scene is when Victor and Yuri are training some skating and Victor gets tired way earlier than Yuri. Let's break this scene down, because, from what I've seen and heard, I think a lot of people misunderstands it.
Yuri: "Victor, please let me do that one more time!"
Victor: "Wow... Hasn't it been tens of thousands of times?
I've thought this for a while, but you have pretty good stamina."
*Yuri pokes Victor's head*
*Yuri pokes Victor's head*
Victor tells Yuri that Yuri has good stamina, implying that he himself has not as good stamina as Yuri. After this Yuri looks a lot at Victor's head, which is pretty much the only part of Victor to look at when Victor is bent over to take off ice from his skates. This is the only part of Victor that Yuri sees from his, standing, perspective. Yuri is really confused about how easy Victor became tired, it's like he's thinking "Wait, Victor is actually a human being, not a 'super human'.", and he pokes Victor's head, just because he has to check that Victor is real and he's not dreaming or something. He's not poking some bald spot on Victor's head, it's just that Victor, just the second before, says "You're younger than I am." and therefore Victor mistakes Yuri for poking a, probably, non-existent bald spot on his head. So the real message of this scene is that Yuri realizes Victor is like any other human being, Victor is not out of reach and untouchable, and my hypothesis is that this is the moment where Yuri starts to look at Victor more like an equal than an idol. This is why the beach scene was just two minutes before this scene, we needed Yuri to really explain that he looks up to Victor before Yuri realizes that Victor is just as anyone else. This is the moment where Yuri starts to feel more comfortable around Victor. For example we have a scene, just a little while later, where Yuri has no problems to literally jump into Victor's bed, just to let Victor hear the new music his acquaintance has made for him.
Yuri jumps into Victor's bed, while Victor is sleeping,
just to let Victor hear the new music.
Yuri tells Victor that the new theme for his skating program is going to be about his love, instead of about his skating career as it was first supposed to be. Victor likes the theme.
Yuri tells Victor that his skating theme is love and Victor likes the theme
When Yuri and his friends and family gets to know where he will compete, his family and friends starts to talk about how Yuri is going to get known as the person who stole Victor from the skating world. Victor doesn't know what they're talking about, since they all speak Japanese and Victor doesn't know any Japanese, but Victor sees that Yuri becomes uncomfortable about something and tries to comfort him by leaning against Yuri's shoulder in a way that says "Don't worry, I'm here to protect you".
Victor leans against Yuri to comfort him
Yuri starts to really feel that he's not fighting by his own. He has his family and friends, and he's especially delightful for Victor helping him to have come this far, and he wants Victor to stay as long as possible.
Yuri: "Until now, I thought I was fighting all by myself.
But now that Victor's here, that's totally changed.Now everything feels so new.
I may never be able to regain what I've lost,
but I can clearly see what's in front of me now."
So please, God... Give me Victor's time, if only just for now."
That was episode 4. Now it starts to get really interesting with Yuri finding Victor being more of an equal than an idol, and the competitions starts. Victor came to Japan five months ago, so it's not weird that their relationship has evolved, but let's see how much it has evolved so far, in episode 5.
When Yuri is going onto the ice for his first real competition with Victor as his coach, Victor wants to give Yuri something to wish him luck. Here we have a pretty important translation error again... Victor doesn't say "What should I say", he says "What should I do", and let us look into why this is important. Well, it's not totally wrong to translate it to "say", it makes a little sense, but half of the message is lost since Victor both want to do something and say something.
Victor: "As your coach, what should I do before sending you off to the program?
What I'm thinking of right now is..."
*Yuri ignores Victor*
Yuri: "Why is Victor getting all prickly?"
Yuri: "Why is Victor getting all prickly?"
*Victor demands Yuri to turn around and then he hugs Yuri from behind*
Victor: "Seduce me with all you have."
There we have it! Victor wanted to hug Yuri and he wanted to tell Yuri to seduce him. Rawr! Then we even have a flashback to another time Victor asks Yuri to seduce him.
Victor: "Yuri, dance more like you're trying to seduce me."
And Yuri is his normal, cringy self when he thinks of seducing Victor. At least he thinks of seducing men, and Victor is a man, so well, he's not too far away from what Victor wants from him here.
Yuri: "I'm a katsudon fatale that enthrals men."
When Yuri is off to his second skating Victor tells him he looks beautiful and then he puts some lip balm on Yuri's lips, because that's something Yuri can't do himself, right? :P And then they hug.
Victor: "You look beautiful in it. Oh, your lips are chapped"
*Victor applies lip balm on Yuri's lips and then they hug*
*Victor applies lip balm on Yuri's lips and then they hug*
Then we have this part where Victor is thinking about Yuri's program while Yuri skates. This is to tell us what the program means, and it basically is about Victor, but Victor is not too enthusiastic about how Yuri skates since he thinks to himself that it looks like Yuri didn't like at all when Victor appeared in Yuri's home. Then the part comes where Yuri started to realize what love is, and somewhere here Yuri starts to change his program a little here and there. Victor thinks of whom Yuri takes after to be rebellious toward his coach, and then Victor realizes that Yuri takes after him, so it's not that strange after all. This part where Yuri starts to be rebellious is actually pretty important, from my point of view, he would never do this when he only saw Victor as his idol rather than his equal. When Victor realized Yuri took after him he offers Yuri a hug, which Yuri becomes really, really happy about, so Yuri literally flings himself towards Victor, whom, sadly, doesn't catch him because Yuri is nose-bleeding. Anyway, Yuri gets a hug from Victor anyway, right after this.
Victor explains what Yuri's program is representing,
but he's not that happy about how Yuri doesn't look happy at all
for the part representing when Victor came to Japan.
Victor realizes that Yuri takes after him.
Yuri has the courage to be rebellious towards Victor
now that he sees Victor more as an equal rather than an idol.
Victor offers Yuri a hug, which Yuri gets really happy about,
he's so happy that he even cries, looks desperate and flings himself towards Victor,
unfortunately, for Yuri, Victor doesn't catch him,
but then Victor gives Yuri a hug anyway.
At the press conference, where the skaters announce their themes for their skating programs, Yuri announces that his theme will be "love". He also tells them that Victor is the first person he has ever wanted to hold on to, and he doesn't know what to call this feeling, but he has decided to call it love, and he declares that, now that he knows what love is, he's stronger for it. Sadly, Victor, who's watching the press conference on TV, has no idea about what Yuri is talking about, since Yuri is here talking Japanese, and Victor doesn't know much Japanese. So instead of commenting on the fact that Yuri declares he, kind of, loves Victor, Victor comments on Yuri's tie, which, by the way, may be the same tie he had at the banquet, it's hard to tell because that it's different background lights at the press conference and at the banquet.
Yuri declares his love to Victor,
but Victor doesn't understand this since he doesn't know Japanese.
In episode 6 Yuri and Victor go to China, and are hugging a lot, or, well, Victor is very clingy, but Yuri doesn't mind.
Yuri and Victor share a blanket when they sleep at the plane
Victor is clingy when they go to eat dinner, and drink...
Phichit is obviously the captain of the Victuri ship...
By the way, some may have wondered why Chris, whom Yuri has barely talked to before, thinks he can touch Yuri's bottom. Well, as you might know by now, Chris and Yuri pole danced together at the banquet. Also, I think Chris might have a crush on Yuri, but then again, I think Chris has crushes on everything, for example the ice.
Yuri competes, and he thinks of making Victor his own, both before and during the skate.
"I want to be hated as the man who took Victor from the whole world!"
Victor: "The time to seduce me by picturing katsudon
and women during your skate is over."
*Victor rubs his right finger on Yuri's hand*
*Yuri clasps Victor's hand*
Yuri: "Don't ever take your eyes off me."
Victor (thinking): "He's far too different today."
*Yuri clasps Victor's hand*
Yuri: "Don't ever take your eyes off me."
Victor (thinking): "He's far too different today."
When Yuri clasps Victor's hand and tell Victor to not take his eyes off him, Victor thinks of how different Yuri has become. Maybe because of how clingy drunk Victor was the day before, but absolutely because Yuri has realized further what loving someone means and, as I said several times already, Yuri sees Victor more as an equal now. Yuri wants to be known as the man who took Victor from the whole world.
Yuri licks his upper lip just in the beginning of his skate.
Victor seems to like what he sees, since his eyes shines and such.
"I'm the only one who can satisfy Victor.
I'm the only one in the whole world who knows Victor's love."
Yuri also seems to have realized how much Victor likes him, and that he's the only one Victor wants.
After Yuri's skate, Victor becomes clingy again.
Victor clings to Yuri, ruffles Yuri's hair, blushes and flirts.
Is it only I who thinks Victor looks madly in love when he clings to Yuri and tells him about how good his performance was? No? I thought so.
I actually looked up some blogs and Reddit threads about this scene, and it seems like Victor is talking like one would do during sex. He says this in a hinting way, and a better translation would be something like "Of course they’d feel good after being treated with such a display."
Then Victor continues to cling to Yuri throughout the episode.
Victor is really clingy in this episode
And the episode ends with Yuri telling the world about how he and Victor will win with the power of love.
Yuri tells everybody that he and Victor will win with the power of love
Now we'll look at the episode of episodes, well, maybe that's episode 10, but episode 7 is also kind of the episode of episodes. Now I'm halfway through this analysis, I hope you'll have the energy to stay 'til the end.
A lot happens in episode 7! I took 48 screen shots... But I'll not use all of them, I just took some extra screen shots to have more pictures to choose from.
Anyway, episode 7 starts with a clingy Victor, who could've guessed? :P
The first picture is also one of those moments where Victor looks madly in love. He tucks in Yuri, and then he falls asleep on top of him.
Is Victor in love?
Victor falls asleep on top of Yuri
Yuri can't sleep with Victor on top of him, so he gets really tired and nervous about the competition. Therefore Victor has to help Yuri to calm down. Chris thoughts about how Victor never has protected someone, before, in the way he protects Yuri.
Chris (thinking): "It's not like you to leave the ice
and find someone you want to protect, Victor.
The problem is that Victor has no idea how to calm Yuri down. Therefore he choose to try what happens if he intimidates Yuri by pretending he's going to leave Yuri if Yuri doesn't get a place on the podium this time. This threat makes Yuri really sad since he has thought that Victor maybe wants to leave him, so even though Yuri understands that Victor just wants to scare him, he gets really sad. Why he gets this sad is because he already has a panic attack about to burst out.
Victor: "Skaters' hearts are as fragile as glass.
If their hearts are so fragile... Let's try shattering his into pieces."
Evil Victor...
Victor shatters Yuri's heart and Yuri starts to cry
Victor tries to apologize,
and Yuri explains that he's afraid that Victor wants to quit as his coach.
When Yuri tells Victor that he has been afraid of that Victor wants to leave, Victor really doesn't know what to do. Since he shattered Yuri's heart he thinks of something completely opposite. Victor asks if he can comfort Yuri by kissing him. This suggests that Victor has an interest in kissing Yuri.
Victor: "Should I just kiss you or something?"
Yuri doesn't want a kiss, he thinks it's stupid of Victor to first be so mean and then try to make up to him with that suggestion. He doesn't want Victor to say or do anything, he just wants to know that Victor believes he can get to the podium. Actually, when Yuri, according to the subtitles, say "Stand by me" he's actually saying "Stay close to me", which is the name of Victor's program from last time Yuri was in the final.
Yuri: "Just have more faith that I do that I'll win!
You don't have to say anything. Just stay close to me!"
You don't have to say anything. Just stay close to me!"
Just before Yuri start his program he makes Victor catch his tissue, which makes Yuri able to see Victor from above. Yuri pokes Victor on his head, as he did in episode 4, and then he pats Victors head. I think this is Yuri's way of telling himself that he still knows that Victor is a real person and an equal, and I think the pat is a way of telling himself that Victor is not his idol anymore but only his equal. And the pat is also a way to tell Victor that he's protective of him, since the first thing Victor did when Yuri poked his head the first time was to cover it with his hand to protect it. Yuri shows that he knows Victor has things he's insecure about, but that's nothing he will make a fuss about, he just want Victor to stay who he is and he wants to protect him.
Yuri pokes and pats Victor's head.
Yuri doesn't see Victor as his idol anymore,
he sees him solely as another human being, an equal.
So, how did this happen? When exactly did Yuri start to see Victor as only an equal? This is something which started in episode 4, when Yuri started to see Victor more as an equal than an idol, and it continued until now when he stopped to see Victor as an idol. When Victor showed that he had no idea of how to comfort and calm Yuri, that's when Yuri got the last piece he needed to make Victor his equal. He even think "Stupid Victor!", which you would probably not do about an idol. Well, of course you can think an idol is stupid, but the thing is that you often do so when you stops to idolize them and/or when you start to see them as a human being who can make mistakes.
Yuri: "I feel a lot better after crying.
Victor's expression when I started to cry was priceless.
It's not like my mental weakness started just now.
He should be prepared for this much. Stupid Victor!
Yuri continues to think of Victor during his skate, and he realizes he can test Victor in an opposite way of how Victor tested Yuri. Victor shattered Yuri's heart a little. Yuri does this next move to put his heart back together by testing Victor's reaction by said move. He wants to show what his program is really about, love. In episode 5 Victor gave us the insight in Yuri's free skate program. The program is a timeline from when Yuri felt like he was fighting alone, and it continues until today. The program is about Yuri's love, that's the theme he chose, and he choose to put Victor's signature move in the very end of his skate, to tell Victor that this is where he's now, this is how far he has come on understanding love. He has realized that Victor is not his idol anymore, Victor is someone he loves in another way than you love an idol, he loves him in a way where he wants to protect him and care for him. He wants to tell Victor that he loves him, so he puts Victor's signature move in the end of his skate about love.
Yuri: "Oh, I wonder how Victor would react
if I made the last quad a flip instead of a toe loop.
I can surpass Victor's wildest imaginations!"
Commentator: "I-it's a quadruple flip!"
Commentator: "I-it's a quadruple flip!"
*Victor gasps and blushes.*
Commentator: "The quadruple flip was a signature move
of Victor Nikiforov, his coach."
When Yuri has ended his program he reaches out his hand towards Victor and wonders why Victor covers his face. Yuri turns away to thank the audience. When Yuri turns back to Victor, Victor is running to him. Yuri gets really happy about this and flings himself towards Victor, whom answers by flinging himself back and knocks Yuri down on the ice, with a kiss.
Yuri (thinks): "Is he crying? Is he mad? Which is it?"
Victor is totally overwhelmed.
Victor runs to Yuri
Yuri realizes that Victor runs to him
(Oh Gosh, he's so cute here, I can't handle it.)
Yuri gets happy and skates flingingly towards Victor
Yuri: "I did great, right?"
Victor nods and flings himself at Yuri.
Victor nods and flings himself at Yuri.
Victor kiss Yuri
Some of you may now be like "That's not a kiss. It's a hug. No homo, etc etc."
No, you're wrong. It is a kiss. Yuri confessed his love for Victor, by ending his skate, which is a timeline of his love, with Victor's signature move. Victor gasped and blushed when he saw this. Their lips are in the centre of the field of view right before the kiss. Yuri, who's not really prepared for this, widen his eyes. Victor closes his eyes, as you usually do when you kiss. The audience gets all quiet and most people gasps. "Oh my Gosh, it's a hug!" *Gasp!*, no... The whole audience wouldn't gasp that much for a hug. Of course they may gasp because they're surprised about how Victor literally knocks Yuri down, but listen to the cheers when Victor and Yuri land on the ice, people cheer a way lot more than they did to Yuri right after his skate. Why would they cheer that much to a hug really?
Also, Mitsurou Kubo, the writer of Yuri on Ice, wrote the following on her Twitter, the week episode 7 of Yuri on Ice aired, "今週の逃げ恥と何かシンクロするものを感じたのは気のせいかな", which says "Is it my imagination or was it something that synchronised with this week’s Nigehaji?". In that week's Nigehaji, which is a live-action series in Japan, the main characters kissed. Hmm, what could she mean... Of course she's talking about the kiss, duh. She basically confirms the kiss.
Also, Mitsurou Kubo, the writer of Yuri on Ice, wrote the following on her Twitter, the week episode 7 of Yuri on Ice aired, "今週の逃げ恥と何かシンクロするものを感じたのは気のせいかな", which says "Is it my imagination or was it something that synchronised with this week’s Nigehaji?". In that week's Nigehaji, which is a live-action series in Japan, the main characters kissed. Hmm, what could she mean... Of course she's talking about the kiss, duh. She basically confirms the kiss.
"Okay, but that's not proof that it was a kiss. They didn't show the actual kiss.". No, of course they didn't. This is one of the first non-yaoi anime with this kind of relationship between two men. This is a controversial topic. Japan is a really homophobic country. You probably can't imagine how bad it is. Yaoi is seen as okay because it's looked upon as just being forbidden fantasies, and you already know that Yuri on Ice is not yaoi. If you don't believe that Japan is a homophobic country, watch this documentary by Ellen Page: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3vzauc.
Victor and Yuri lands on the ice and drown in each other's eyes
Look at how they totally drown in each other's eyes! If that's not a sign of love then I don't know what is.
In episode 8, though, not very much lovey-dovey happens between Victor and Yuri. At least not as much as in previous episodes.
In the beginning of the episode we see Yuri being a bit nervous about what would happen if he doesn't make it to the final, "If I don't, what will Victor do?", so even though Victor assured Yuri about that he wasn't serious about leaving Yuri if Yuri don't go all the way to the final, Yuri worries about this.
Before Yuri's first skate in the Rostelecom Cup Victor ties Yuri's skates. We have never seen him doing this before, but we have seen Yuri tying his own skates a bunch of times, so we know Yuri is totally able to tie his own skates. Victor shows that he cares for Yuri by helping him with his skates.
Victor ties Yuri's skates
After this, when Yuri just has entered the ice, Yuri surprises Victor by pulling him by his tie and telling him that the performance already has begun. Well, Yuri begins the performance just there, by trying to seduce Victor. Victor answers by "そう です ね" ("Sou desu ne"), which here would better be translated to "Oh, I see.", rather than the subtitles "You're right.", since this is the moment Victor understands what actually happens, he understands that Yuri tries to seduce him before the actual program has started. Then Yuri tells Victor that he'll show his love [of Victor] to the whole of Russia.
Naughty Yuri: "The performance has already begun, Victor."
Victor: "Oh, I see."
Yuri: "I'll show my love to the whole of Russia."
In the beginning of Yuri's skate he blows a kiss to the audience, and, oh, how I wish we could've had seen Victor's reaction to this.
Yuri blows a kiss to the audience
During Yuri's skate we again see him worry about how long Victor will stay by his side. Just as he did in the beginning of the episode he thinks about what would happen if he lose.
Yuri: "If I lose the Rostelecom Cup,
this may become the last time I can skate this program
with Victor at my side as my coach."
After Yuri's performance Victor kisses Yuri's skate. It's not very common to kiss someone's skates, or feet nevertheless. If you kiss someone's feet it's seen as very intimate, today. In some other cases it may be seen as something you do to show a person that you have lower rank than them, but that's not very common nowadays.
Victor is kissing Yuri's skate to show Yuri that he cares for him and is close to him. Also, this might be a way of saying "I'll do whatever you want." or "I'm yours.", as someone with a lower rank could do to someone with higher rank.
Victor kisses Yuri's skate
Now it's only a third of the episodes left. Are you convinced that Victor and Yuri love each other? No? Let's continue either way.
In episode 9 Yuri and Victor are separated from each other for most of the episode. Victor has to go to Japan to take care of his dog Makkachin, whom almost choked.
When they separate Victor gives Yuri a hug and says "Even if I'm not here, I'll always be with you in spirit."
Victor hugs Yuri to say goodbye
Yuri thinks of Victor during all of his skate. Well, not only there, he thinks of Victor the whole episode. He even cries because of how much he misses Victor by his side.
Yuri cries
Yuri thinks of when Victor came into his life
Yuri: "I'm the one who loves this program Victor and I made
the most in the whole world!"
Even the audience can see Yuri showing his love, and their friends understand that it's Yuri's love for Victor.
Commentator: You can feel Katsuki Yuri's love,
a love he can only express on the ice"
Victor and Yuri's skating friends understand that it's Yuri's love for Victor
Mila: "When you think of how it could've been with Victor here,
you really want to see that, right?"
Yuri found this his toughest competition performance so far, because he, obviously, since he thought of Victor during his whole skate, wants Victor there to support him.
Even JJ can see the love between Victor and Yuri, even though he can't see why because Yuri is 'no king'. For Victor it doesn't matter if Yuri's a 'king' or not, I mean, Victor fell in love with a drunk Yuri at the banquet, which was right after Yuri came last in the final.
JJ: "Yuri Katsuki, Victor may have chosen you,
but you're no king."
Then Yuri proceeds to hug basically everyone he come across, because Victor is not there to hug him. He has become so used to get hugs from Victor by now.
Yuri hugs Yakov, Sara, Michele, Emil, Seung-Gil and JJ.
He also tries to hug Yuri Plisetsky, but it's not shown if he succeed.
Despite that he misses Victor he thinks of having Victor to step down as his coach after the Grand Prix Final. Then Yuri Plisetsky knocks Katsuki Yuri down and says "You can make an excuse that you couldn't do your best because Victor wasn't there.", and he's totally right about that this is the reason Katsuki Yuri couldn't do his best.
After this we have the airport scene, the scene where Yuri and Victor reunites. Take a look at Yuri's eyes when he spots Victor. Then they literally run for each other, and they hug.
Yuri spots Victor
Yuri and Victor run towards each other
Victor and Yuri hug
Yuri tells Victor that he wants Victor to be his coach until he retire from skating. Victor says that it sounds like a marriage proposal, to which Yuri first looks a bit surprised, like he just realizes something, but then he gives Victor a loving smile. Victor says he wish Yuri will never retire, because Victor wants to be with Yuri forever.
Yuri: "Please be my coach until I retire!"
*Victor kisses Yuri's hand.*
Victor: "It's almost like a marriage proposal. I wish you'd never retire."
Then Yuri realizes that he thinks of retiring after the Grand Prix Final, so he starts to cry and hardens the hug, because he doesn't want Victor to leave him, which he still thinks Victor will.
Yuri cries because he has thought of retiring after this skating season.
The episode ends there, with their hug, and proceeds to the "next episode" part, where Victor says "Oh, right. It's almost Christmas. What are you going to give me Yuri?" and Yuri answers "Something round and golden." to which Victor answers with just "Wow!". Victor probably thinks Yuri refers to the gold medal, but we know Yuri refers to the golden ring.
In the beginning of episode 10, which is the episode of episodes, as I said when I wrote about episode 7, it starts with Victor thinking of life and love, and how Yuri has taught him the meaning of those two words.
By the way, I took 84 screen shots from episode 10. I will try to not put all of them here since that would be kind of bananas of me.
Victor thinks about how Yuri have taught him about life and love
Then Victor describes Yuri as a sleeping beauty, and mentions that it's eight months since he came to Hasetsu. They've known each other for eight months, no wonder they have become so close by now when they even live together.
Victor: "And among the six qualifiers for the final,
the last one, who made it by a hair's width,
is this jet-lagged sleeping beauty, Katsuki Yuri from Japan."
When Yuri wakes up the first thing he thinks is "Where is Victor?", because he basically think of Victor all the time. Then he proceeds to think of how he said "Now that I know what love is and I'm stronger for it, I'll prove it to myself with a Grand Prix gold medal." as he reaches towards Victor bed, and he says "Help me, Victor.". It's obvious that he doesn't trust himself that much anymore when it comes to winning a gold medal, and he needs Victor to be there and support him to make it even slightly possible. This makes sense as we saw in last episode how he couldn't skate with Victor not being there to support him, even though he had Victor on his mind the whole time and Victor had said "Even if I'm not here, I'll always be with you in spirit." before they separated for those one or two days.
Yuri needs Victor by his side
He doesn't need to wait long for Victor though, since he, and Chris for that sake, suddenly comes from the pool and jumps into Yuri's bed.
Victor, and Chris..., but yeah, especially Victor, are happy to see Yuri
The day after, Yuri wants Victor to take him sightseeing, since Yuri has never been to Barcelona before. In this scene they've changed a small detail for the DVD and Blu-ray. When Yuri asks Victor to take him on sightseeing Victor looks surprised, then Yuri winks (only on the DVD and BD) to Victor. Sorry I couldn't get a picture in better quality, of Yuri winking, but I have neither the DVD nor the BD, so I had to take one I found on Google.
Yuri wants Victor to take him on sightseeing in Barcelona, and he gives Victor a wink
And here, look at them holding hands when shopping in Barcelona. I mean, you can hold hands with a platonic loved one, but it's mostly something you do with someone you feel romantic love to. Or maybe your child, and none of them are the other's child of course.
Yuri and Victor hold hands
When they're shopping Yuri sees a jewellery store. Look at his reaction on these pictures. In the second picture you can really see how he realizes that he can propose for and engagement with Victor, look at how much he blushes (even the ears) and it looks like he feels a cold sweat at the same time.
Yes, it's an engagement, I'll explain this further as we go through all these pictures about the rings.
Yuri realizes that he can get engaged with Victor
Yuri becomes excited and reacts on impulse. Victor is confused.
And look at this picture below. Look at what he buys! I know, the picture is not the best quality, but this was the best picture I could get. I can't see the first word though, it might be "Pair" but I'm not sure, it could just be the brand of the rings, I have no idea. If someone get their hands on the BD, please tell what it says, since the BD will be in better quality! Anyway, after this mysterious word which might be "Pair" it says "Gold Wedding Ring" and they cost 769.94 euro (or is it 768.94?), that's, like, a lot. 769.94 EUR is about 905 USD, 706 GBP, 98 961 JPY, 7338 SEK. Woah! Yuri even tells that he'll pay in instalments, which gives us a guess that he doesn't have enough money to pay everything at once, but he still wants to buy them. Please tell me again how these rings are only lucky charms...
Yuri buys Gold Wedding Rings for 769.94 euro
And Victor looks like he's thinking "Wait, what's happening? Yuri, what are you doing? Is this for real?"
Victor is confused
Then, look at this! The scene where they get engaged. Look at how Yuri takes off Victor's glove so carefully, and how much Yuri blushes. By the way, it's not too important that Yuri takes off Victor's glove carefully and sensually, I mean, it's good enough that he just takes off his glove. How often do you take off someone's glove except for maybe your potential kids' or for someone who needs help? Exactly, almost never. Basically it's most common to do for someone you're in love with romantically. Does it look like Victor needs help to take off his glove? No, Yuri takes off Victor's glove to show Victor how important this moment is for him, and that he cares for Victor.
Yuri takes off Victor's glove and blushes intensely
Victor (thinks): "Sometimes, when backed into a corner,
athletes can act completely unexpectedly."
Then, Yuri puts a ring on Victor's right ring finger and Victor puts a ring on Yuri's. Yuri says "Thank you for everything up to now. I... I couldn't think of something better. But, um... I'll try my best from tomorrow on, so... Tell me something for good luck.". He doesn't say anything about the rings being lucky charms, here, he only says that he wants Victor to tell him something for good luck. Also, he's very, very nervous, he almost splurts out the "Tell me something for good luck." part.
When he was in the jewellery shop he thought "I've always wanted a lucky charm. I-it's a lucky charm so that I can do my best in the Final! It's also a thank you gift to Victor for all of his help.". He never actually says what exactly the lucky charm is. He may mean that the lucky charm is the rings, or the engagement, or both. Because it's translated to "it" instead of "they" I guess he means the engagement, but I don't know since they don't have the word "it" in Japanese and I don't really know what he's thinking in Japanese in that scene. But, as we already know, Yuri wants Victor to be at his side, to have him close to himself. By the way, even in his thinking he stutters when he thinks "I-it's a lucky charm", his brain tries to make himself less nervous, it's actually pretty common to lie to oneself to make things better, there are plenty of scientific studies about this phenomenon.
He also says that the rings are a thank you gift for Victor for all his help. I think he doesn't only mean the help with his skating career, but also the help with understanding what romantic love is, and sexual love for that sake if you think of Yuri's eros program and how Yuri has grown in his ability to seduce Victor, not only by doing it without knowing he's doing it, but also in actively doing it as seen in episode 8.
Also, note that they're standing in front of a church. Why would you stand in front of a church putting golden wedding rings on each other's ring fingers if not if you're getting engaged?
Blushing Yuri puts a ring on Victor's right ring finger
Victor puts a ring on Yuri's right ring finger
Yuri looks like he's about to cry from happiness
Victor and Yuri give each other kind looks from feeling blessed
Now you may be like "But, they're putting the rings on the ring fingers on the right hand, so technically it's not an engagement since then the rings would be on the left hand!"
In Russia you wear the engagement ring and the wedding ring on your right ring finger. Also, they are in Spain here, and in Spain you also wear the engagement ring on the right ring finger. Also, as a comparison, when JJ propose to his lover, in episode 11, he puts the ring on her right ring finger. Sooo, what was your argument again?...
Fun fact: In Arabic and Hebrew the ring finger is literally called "victory". Sound like "Victuri". :3 This has nothing to do with the series, I just wanted to tell you.
After the engagement, Victor and Yuri walks with their arms around each other.
Victor and Yuri walks with their arms around each other
Then we have the big revelation, the fact of why Victor really came to Yuri and why he started to like Yuri in the first place: The Banquet.
Yuri: "At last year's Final, I was always by myself, even at the banquet.
I couldn't even talk to Victor."
*Victor almost chokes on his beer*
Victor: "Yuri, you don't remember?"
Victor: "Yuri, you don't remember?"
Oh Gosh, poor Victor! Here he thought all the time that Yuri remembered the banquet. Now he must feel like a fool turning up, uninvited and naked, in Yuri's home eight months earlier. xD
Then we have the scene where the rings are noticed and Phichit gets into Victuri ship captain mode, again, and mistakes the rings for being wedding rings rather than engagement rings.
Phichit mistakes Yuri's and Victor's rings for being wedding rings
The Victuri-deniers may here say "But, Yuri tries to stop Phichit from telling everybody that they got married, therefore it can't be engagement rings, since Yuri wouldn't stop Phichit if he was even almost right."
Oh, come on now. Yuri tries to stop Phichit because Phichit mistakes the rings for being wedding rings rather than engagement rings, and because Phichit is screaming it out to the whole restaurant and everybody at the restaurant give them applauses. Also, note that Victor looks uncomfortable too when Phichit misunderstands, and he has this look even though he's the one who later explains that the rings are engagement rings, not wedding rings. Both Yuri and Victor get embarrassed by Phichit's reaction to the rings.
Victor: "Don't get the wrong idea. This is an engagement ring.
Victor proceeds by saying that he and Yuri will marry when Yuri wins gold, and here Yuri tries to stop Victor from saying that. Both because Yuri gets embarrassed and because he means something like "Don't say that in this room where basically everybody wants that gold medal!", as you can see by what follows.
Victor: "We'll get married once he wins a gold medal. Right, Yuri?
Yuri: "V-victor!"
Otabek: "A gold..."
Phichit: "...medal..."
Otabek: "A gold..."
Phichit: "...medal..."
Chris: "...huh?"
JJ: "I'll be the one who wins gold and gets married, of course!
Sorry we can't congratulate you on that future marriage."
When Victor stands at the beach, the day after, Yuri Plisetsky offends Victor for being together with Katsuki Yuri. This makes Victor pissed, and this is the first time we see Victor pissed, for real, in the whole series.
*Victor looks at his engagement ring*
Yuri Plisetsky: "Why do you look so happy to be looking after that damn pig?
the ring you got from that pig is garbage."
the ring you got from that pig is garbage."
*Victor gets really pissed at Yuri Plisetsky,
and in the whole series for that sake, for the first time*
In the end of episode 10 we get to see the actual banquet. Let's take a look at it. First Victor notices Yuri, probably he feels kind of pity for Yuri coming last, and with low points too, and despite this being dragged to the banquet by his coach.
Victor notices Yuri
Then Katsuki Yuri starts the dance battles by competing with Yuri Plisetsky. Look at how interested Victor becomes in Katsuki Yuri. Victor is in the background taking photos of him and cheering for him.
Victor takes photos of Katsuki Yuri and cheers for him, during the dance battle
Then, Victor gets to dance battle with Yuri. By the way, take a look at the fifth picture below and tell me if you also think they're playing matador and bull... xD
Yuri and Victor dance battles
After a while the dance battle between Victor and Yuri instead becomes a partner dance. I think this is the moment when Victor falls in love with Yuri. I'm surprised that Yuri is able to do a partner dance while being so drunk, but obviously he's good at it since Victor seems to like it, based on Victor's smiles.
Oh Gosh, they're looking so damn cute in the second picture below. No wonder Victor falls for him when being treated with this dance.
Yuri leads Victor in a partner dance
Then Yuri invites Victor to come to his home and to be his coach. Victor gets really happy about this, since he has fallen in love with this man who he got to have a partner dance with. This scene below is very likely after the partner dance since Yuri is wearing less clothes than he did in the partner dance. If this is before or after the pole dance is hard to tell, but I would guess it's after since Chris is not wearing his tie, which he wore in the beginning of the pole dance, and therefore it's more likely that Yuri has put on some of his clothes again rather than Chris has taken off his tie and then is putting it on again for the pole dance to then take it off again. This means that Victor has already seen Yuri pole dancing before this scene takes place, and because of this it's even more obvious why Victor fell in love with Yuri, since Victor seems to be a person who likes to see naked and half-naked bodies as we can tell from what he has said and done before, during the series.
Victor, who's now in love with Yuri, gets really happy about Yuri's invitation
Now, the scene in episode 1, where Yuri doesn't want a commemorative photo with Victor, makes much more sense. I mean, of course Victor would be sad from that, and of course he thought the invitation was withdrawn from Yuri's side. This is why it took a year until Victor came to Hasetsu, because he came there after he saw Yuri skate his program and he understood that Yuri still thinks of him, even though it's not in the same way he thinks Yuri thinks of him.
Sorry, but I had to make a part 2 of this analysis, since blogg.se didn't allow me to have a longer post than this. Episode 11 and 12 will be in the next part.
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