Figure Skating Anime

[yuzushenko]

Thanks for the insight! Maybe Johnny will agree to guest star next season then? I love seeing real people get animated, though I think they did better job on Oda than Stephane. Animated Stephane was nowhere near as good lookun as the real one!

There's one shot in which JJ is standing around talking to his girlfriend and holding a magazine, and on the cover you can see Yuzuru in his purple Prince costume doing a JJ pose : http://annabeth7895.tumblr.com/post/154816905946/i-dont-know-if-anyone-noticed-thisbut-thats

hopefully! i know tarah kayne tweeted about offering to voice act lol (it would be amazing if some american skaters got to voice some english voice over lines or something, it might add more popularity to the sport in the states and we desperately need it!!)

and wow!! yuzu in anime form!! haha, as with lambiel, i dont think animation does him justice heh. i wonder if he watches yoi too?

Go lower. Think 13-16yo girls, huge numbers. YOI also has a slice of the older audience thanks to the fact the protagonists are adults so it would be interesting to see some actual figures (don't think we ever will though) but it has definitely attracted the kids too and that is where the more unfortunate content is coming from for the most part. They are still learning the boundaries.

yeah im surprised at how young the fandom is... mostly because when i was in middle school i was really into anime and we didn't have tumblr or instagram back then just myspace lol. and then in high school we had tumblr and i honestly didn't start using instagram for fandom/entertainment until just recently so im shocked when i see them say they're like 12 years old or born in 2004 and im like "oh god im so old"

like, if i go on tumblr, i will assume everyone is my age or older, but then im shocked to see people say they're 13 or 14 and it's just wow. still a bit of a culture shock.


i just hope some of the skaters don't take any of that stuff personally though (the comments). im not sure if it was discussed on here yet but johnny weir tweeted about how he hates chris and these yoi fans started tweeting him about how he shouldn't talk like that because he was disliked by everybody when he was competing and "you should know what it feels like" ? like, chris doesn't feel anything? he's fictional? stop harassing johnny? -__- i hope he still enjoys the show but after that and the other tweet about guest starring.. i hope it doesn't leave a sour taste in his mouth

 

[karne]

Go lower. Think 13-16yo girls, huge numbers. YOI also has a slice of the older audience thanks to the fact the protagonists are adults so it would be interesting to see some actual figures (don't think we ever will though) but it has definitely attracted the kids too and that is where the more unfortunate content is coming from for the most part. They are still learning the boundaries.

Sorry, but I don't buy that. 13-16 is more than old enough to know right from wrong.

im not sure if it was discussed on here yet but johnny weir tweeted about how he hates chris and these yoi fans started tweeting him about how he shouldn't talk like that because he was disliked by everybody when he was competing and "you should know what it feels like" ? like, chris doesn't feel anything? he's fictional? stop harassing johnny? -__- i hope he still enjoys the show but after that and the other tweet about guest starring.. i hope it doesn't leave a sour taste in his mouth

I raised an eyebrow at that comment because I actually consider Chris to be one of the more likable characters on the show. IMO, the fact that Weir hates him says more about Weir than it does about Chris' character as written.

 

[yuzushenko]

Sorry, but I don't buy that. 13-16 is more than old enough to know right from wrong.



I raised an eyebrow at that comment because I actually consider Chris to be one of the more likable characters on the show. IMO, the fact that Weir hates him says more about Weir than it does about Chris' character as written.

yeah i sort of raised an eye at that too because i like chris haha

but apparently it reminds johnny of someone from his days of skating so i can understand disliking a character that reminds you of someone you don't get along with

i do wonder who he was referring to.... :scratch3:

but generally i think it's ok to have opinions like that if they happen to trigger you or something. he isn't obligated to love em but yeah it is kind of silly given it's fiction but who knows what really went down with johnny and the chris-inspired-skater.

 

[Yatagarasu]

Sorry, but I don't buy that. 13-16 is more than old enough to know right from wrong.

If only that were true. We wouldn't have for example the Larry 1D fandom. Alas these days, with social media especially, it takes a while longer.

like, chris doesn't feel anything? he's fictional? stop harassing johnny? -__- i hope he still enjoys the show but after that and the other tweet about guest starring.. i hope it doesn't leave a sour taste in his mouth

Ah, the more peculiar sides of Tumblr/Twitter showing up. I've seen plenty of posts post ep12 that ask, paraphrasing, for others to please don't bash on Yurio even if you don't agree with his victory because he's really fragile and easily hurt. I never know with Tumblr when it's just exaggeration and when it's an actual problem and it's really tricky especially because we're talking about kids around that age. I mean it's hardly new, otherkin is something that exists there too, as an example, so just don't think about it too much. It's better for your sanity and hopefully actual skaters wave it off too. These days you have to even as a regular person, on social media I mean, so I'm sure they know this, as more famous individuals. If not, they're all going to get a crash course in teen fans, in very interesting ways

Otherwise I totally relate to the oh god I'm so old feeling! I'm not surprised by the age though because most sports anime have this section of the very young and then YOI especially has attracted many from other sides too due to the Victor and Yuuri being a canonical relationship. Though from what I have seen, those are usually the older fans. But it's really hard to judge overall.

 

[apgold]

So late to the party but had some time over the holidays to binge watch most of the eps, I actually started with the GPF ones and then watched from the beginning.

I am not a teenage girl nor an anime expert but here are some observations:

1) Definitely felt like a AU GP Series where almost all of the male skaters are ridiculously tall, can land multiple quads and triple axels and have insane content layouts (landing a quad lutz as your last jump? - even Nathan isn't doing that....yet)
2) I laughed so much at the fan reactions (the crying, the screaming) and cursing at the bad streams during Rostelecom cup
3) Yuri is definitely the most developed character as he has a full backstory and you understand his motivations. He also looks very young when he wears his glasses but an adult male when he's not. The show is esssentially a coming of age/coming out story based in the world of FS.
4) Viktor is more of a mystery, perhaps it's b/c the show is more from Yuri's POV, who is falling in love with his idol. Viktor also lacks boundaries and I get the sense he's not as together as he seems.
5) I kind of like Yurio, even when he's being a brat, other skaters are more one dimensional but I applaud them for trying to give each a personality.
6) the triplets were my favorite (Axel, Salchow and Lutz?)
7) least favorite characters were the Italian brother/sister skaters - made my skin crawl
8) Pork Cutlet Bowl!

Random Questions -

1) What are those little breaks when they show the food (before and after)? Is it to show what Yuri is eating?
2) Has anyone skated to "Born to Make History" yet for an EX?
3) Where do they get the music? Were they all composed for the series?
4) Do similar thoughts run through real skaters heads when competing? (Calculating BV + GOE, their motivation, who they are skating for)

Overall, I think it's a fun show to watch as a fan, but not take it so seriously. The attention to detail is great and I'm sure you need to rewatch to catch all of the easter eggs and references. I'm glad the show is turning people into figure skating fans, but thinking that Hanyu = Yuri is silly or thinking that Plushy = Viktor and he should leave his wife? No.

 

[Sugiady]

Random Questions -

1) What are those little breaks when they show the food (before and after)? Is it to show what Yuri is eating?
2) Has anyone skated to "Born to Make History" yet for an EX?
3) Where do they get the music? Were they all composed for the series?
4) Do similar thoughts run through real skaters heads when competing? (Calculating BV + GOE, their motivation, who they are skating for)

1.While YOI was broadcasting on TV in Japan, there are commercial ads during these little break food pictures. The ads were removed on Crunchyroll so you can only see these lovely food pictures. It's just a reminder of beginning and ending of ads, almost each Japan anime have these kind of before-and-after ads pictures.
2.Nope. Hopefully Zhenya will do it, considering about she is really a huge fan about YOI.
3.They are all composed for the series. Completely original. You can find the details about these music here
4.I think they will calculate about BV and GOE, since some skaters will add another jump for higher score if they have failed the first one.

Sorry for my poor English…

BTW I don't think people really need to worry about little fangirls. We all do silly things when we were young, but it doesn't mean being crazy for sport anime is a bad thing. I start to learn social dance in middle school after reading Japanese social dancing manga. After so many years I am still doing it and I love it so much. Some of my friends went to watch Cup of China 2016 this year, and they found that the social media of Cup of China also use YOI as a effective marketing method. We also plan the trip for 2018 Olympic in Pyeongchang next year.
Considering about the huge number of YOI fans, even a little part of them find interesting in real figure skating, it will also be a good thing.

 

[SkaterX]

I'd like to see Zhenya skate to the Yuri on Ice FS song.

 

[apgold]

1.While YOI was broadcasting on TV in Japan, there are commercial ads during these little break food pictures. The ads were removed on Crunchyroll so you can only see these lovely food pictures. It's just a reminder of beginning and ending of ads, almost each Japan anime have these kind of before-and-after ads pictures.
2.Nope. Hopefully Zhenya will do it, considering about she is really a huge fan about YOI.
3.They are all composed for the series. Completely original. You can find the details about these music here
4.I think they will calculate about BV and GOE, since some skaters will add another jump for higher score if they have failed the first one.

Sorry for my poor English…

Thanks for the quick reply, and your English is quite good. Welcome to Golden Skate, Sugiady.

I am impressed that the music is all original and wondering if real life top tier skaters will start using them in competition. I know that some amateur fans have been copying the choreo and posting videos of themselves skating to the songs.

 

[Sugiady]

I have read the interview on magazine, Mrs.Kubo(she is the screenplay writer & original character designer of YOI) said before the musicians start to creating pieces for YOI, they have found 200 pieces music from somewhere else, Kenji Minamoto is the one who decide if these music can be used to choreography or not. Those music which were chosen by Mr.Minamoto, being used as sample for these composers who write songs for YOI. Since Kenji Minamoto is former Ice Dance skater, theoretically these music pieces in YOI should be skate-able right?
My dancing coach said that Yuuri's SP(Eros) is very good for latin dancing. But I don't really know if real life top tier skaters will use them or not.

Thank you for warm welcome！

 

[karne]

4) Viktor is more of a mystery, perhaps it's b/c the show is more from Yuri's POV, who is falling in love with his idol. Viktor also lacks boundaries and I get the sense he's not as together as he seems.

Did you watch episode 10 yet? That one is from Victor's POV and explains a lot.

(Especially with the twist in the last five seconds of the ending.)

BTW I don't think people really need to worry about little fangirls. We all do silly things when we were young, but it doesn't mean being crazy for sport anime is a bad thing.

I don't mind if they want to learn about the sport (and I'd rather they ask questions than make things up or make assumptions) but I disagree that we don't need to worry about them. When they're harassing the skaters that they assume are the actual characters (and don't seem to be able to separate them - ie, that Victor and Plushy are not the same person) then I think it's something to be concerned about. And a teen knows better at this age. I don't buy the social media excuses, they should know better.

 

[apgold]

Did you watch episode 10 yet? That one is from Victor's POV and explains a lot.

(Especially with the twist in the last five seconds of the ending.)

I thought I did, but maybe I missed it since I started with the GPF ones first. I'll have to re-watch, lol.

 

[Sugiady]

I don't mind if they want to learn about the sport (and I'd rather they ask questions than make things up or make assumptions) but I disagree that we don't need to worry about them. When they're harassing the skaters that they assume are the actual characters (and don't seem to be able to separate them - ie, that Victor and Plushy are not the same person) then I think it's something to be concerned about. And a teen knows better at this age. I don't buy the social media excuses, they should know better.

The problem is: It's useless for us to discussion about how to be a polite fangirl. Unless someone do try to educate them.
But personally I will not try to argue these young kids who literally spend whole day on social media. And in my opinion, having no sense about the differences between fictional characters and real skaters, is the same thing as having no sense about the differences between characters and actors（things can go even more crazy when fans have romantic imagination about the relationship between those actors）.
These things just happened again and again, from one fandom to another. There's line between celebrities public career and their personal lives, and everyone should respect it. But it does't means that everyone know this kind of thing. Those little girls, I believe, do not mean to hurt anyone, even they might hurt someone already. They need some education and life experience to understand that fictional characters are different from real people.
'They should know' doesn't mean they all know, parents and teachers won't teach them this.

Figure Skating, like any other sports, need audience and fans to support the whole industry. More audience and fans they have, more money they will have. Just like NBA. It's not a bad thing to have more figure skating lovers, even it‘s only a possibility.

 

[apgold]

Turned out I did miss ep 10 the first time around. Does explain a bit more about Victor and his feelings for Yuri but I would like a bit more backstory.

I have to laugh at the ring exchange in a church - but they're only "engaged"?

The twist at the end was interesting with a drunk!Yuri asking Victor to coach him. So the idea didn't come out of thin air.

 

[Lenny318]

I don't know why I forgot that cameos like Nobunari Oda and Stephane Lambiel would have English voice actors in the dub so hearing Vic Mignogna say "Hi, I'm Nobunari Oda!" had me veeeeery confused.

 

[Imagine]

I've been aware of the "figure skating anime" for a while just watching regular FS videos on YouTube, where in the comments they keep talking about this Yuri person. I think this might become a legit phenomenon. One day at school, in the computer lab, I'm doing my work...and I kid you not, this girl comes in and sits in the row ahead of me, puts this show on fullscreen, and just watches it for 2 hours straight like wtheck? People actually need these computers to do work. Anyway, it's the strangest thing cause she has headphones on so I can't hear what's going on, but there's this blonde anime girl with a ponytail/braids skating and I'm just watching her movements like what...the...hell? Is that Yulia? Why is she wearing pants? Yeah, the actual animation is not very good (it IS anime after all), but some of the likeness of actual figure skaters is there. I don't know...I am a fan of FS, and I've liked some anime series in the past, but I just couldn't get into this. I tried watching a couple episodes (randomly picking from beginning, middle, and end) and...yeah, it's as I expected...too weird. Typical anime fare, not that that's a bad thing for people who are super into anime (*cough* the World Champ *cough*). In the beginning it's not so bad. I actually think they do a very good job capturing real world events in the skating world. But then it becomes this weird love/relationship...thing. Like bad fan fiction honestly. It's similar to when I tried to watch Sword Art which I thought was so awesome in the beginning, and then it just became this weird pervy cringefest.

 

[karne]

Anyway, it's the strangest thing cause she has headphones on so I can't hear what's going on, but there's this blonde anime girl with a ponytail/braids skating and I'm just watching her movements like what...the...hell? Is that Yulia? Why is she wearing pants?

*awkward cough* Yurio is a boy...

I've been asked about it twice at work, one by my boss who actually watches it, and one by my supervisor who has a friend who watches it. I had to avoid derailing into a rant about the scoring though

 

[Warwick360]

Yeah, the actual animation is not very good (it IS anime after all),.

What? If anything, I think the animation is rather good. And also, I think anime in general has and have had better animations that the western counterparts for quite some time. The type of styling can be a matter of taste, but I mean just look at the kind of stuff that is on cartoon TVs in the west like CN and Nick. Makes me weep being a 90s kid, seeing how dumbed down the shows are whenever I flip over to those channels by chance.

 

[sallycinnamon]

What? If anything, I think the animation is rather good. And also, I think anime in general has and have had better animations that the western counterparts for quite some time. The type of styling can be a matter of taste, but I mean just look at the kind of stuff that is on cartoon TVs in the west like CN and Nick. Makes me weep being a 90s kid, seeing how dumbed down the shows are whenever I flip over to those channels by chance.

Exactly, the 90s were the last good decade for cartoons in the west, everything went downhill afterwards.
I'm not into animes at all and even if I didn't like the storyline of Yuri On Ice, I would watch it because of the animation. It's very precise, beautiful, and realistic at the same time.

 

[Imagine]

What? If anything, I think the animation is rather good. And also, I think anime in general has and have had better animations that the western counterparts for quite some time. The type of styling can be a matter of taste, but I mean just look at the kind of stuff that is on cartoon TVs in the west like CN and Nick. Makes me weep being a 90s kid, seeing how dumbed down the shows are whenever I flip over to those channels by chance.

It's not a knock on this show in particular, it's just very typical of anime. It's a known fact that in Japan, animation is made cheaply on purpose so they can meet deadlines...quantity over quality. That's why there's hundreds of new animes coming out each year. And you're right, this is (has always been, will always be IMO) a problem with western TV animation too, but in anime they go to even greater lengths to cut down on costs. There's a lot of tricks they will use as filler; you'll see a lot of things like recycled sequences, still images that they just pan across (maybe with a few moving parts), flashing backgrounds, a lot of dialogue (because it is easier to just animate a mouth opening and closing), etc. It was pretty ambitious of them to animate figure skating actually...and for what it is, they did a pretty good job. As I've already said, the show does convey the likeness of actual figure skaters moving on ice quite well albeit minimally. But if you really look at it, they reuse a lot of the movements, pan into just the feet a lot, constantly do cuts to other characters, use flashbacks, thoughts in the head, and the actual skating sequences don't last very long. Why? Because believe it or not, it's hard to animate lifelike human movement in the first place, and it's probably a million times more difficult to animate the intricate movements required in figure skating. Of course they won't be doing that a lot because it takes a lot of time and money, which anime production companies don't have. Also, I'm almost 100% certain they used some sort of rotoscoping/tracing over actual FS performances to get more realism. While I think this helped the most, it also makes some of the skating look stiff or unnatural, and they won't be able to do that all the time because people will probably be able to tell after a while (like hey, isn't that Yuzuru's choreo sequence from so and so competition or w/e?).

Anyway, I'm not saying all anime has bad animation. Miyazaki Hayao's works are visual masterpieces that are almost unrivaled in the quality of animation. Nobody touches that. But those films also take years and years to develop and hundreds of master artists to make. Most anime studios never have those kinds of resources, and they really don't need them to do what they do. Nor am I saying that anime can't be enjoyable because it has bad animation. I've enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, Digimon, etc, none of which have particularly outstanding animation. I just liked the artwork and stories. But those things by themselves are not "animation." Anyway, it's a moot point. I only brought it up as one of the reasons why I personally couldn't get into this show. My main gripe is actually with the plot, but animation is kinda my passion so I couldn't just ignore it. I just can't overlook the bad animation if the story and characters don't interest me enough and in this case...they don't. I think it is an interesting premise though, and I'm glad a lot more people will become interested in the actual sport because of it. Obviously the animation isn't the main draw of this series, it's the plot/characters...which I kinda hate but I guess people really love based on how successful it's becoming.

 

[Rissa]

^^^

Actually, in my opinion, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood has outstanding animation throught its almost entire 75 episodes. I haven't seen much that topped it in terms of animation quality apart from cinematic releases.That show was as good as TV animation ever got. Attack on Titan had ver few low points, it was overall very high quality animation-wise.

Yuri!!! has its lows but it still on the high end - nice character designs, lots of beautifully animated places and interiors, some really action sequences. I imagine the bluray release will be better still.