Yuri on Ice Episode 7 Review:
Episode 7 of Yuri on Ice is the episode I’m going to remember where it stopped being just a fun and interesting watch with some characters I kind of liked and it became a show where I truly respected the characterisation of the protagonist (and by characterisation, I don’t mean they finally kissed). Yrui’s journey isn’t anything new in storytelling, from underdog to finding his feet and using romance as a vehicle for it, it’s all been seen before.
However, the organic evolution of this character and the way it has come across finally won me over during this episode and Yuri is going to be a character I’ll remember for more than just likening romance to pork cutlets. This particular moment of clarity came while listening to his internal monologue while skating and instead of the puppy like adoration of Victor we get a clear and rational view of the situation he is in before he still determines that he wants to surprise Victor.
This episode makes these characters equals in their relationship where both have something to offer and both have something to gain and finally romance between the two seems not only likely but actually like it could work really well (though not without dealing with a few more of either character’s issues).
Oh, yeah, I should probably talk about the actual episode though. I really liked that instead of just showing us all of the routines (as we did last week) we instead saw more of the imagery and memories the skaters were drawing on while skating (we also saw Yuri and then Victor go through their pre-skate freak outs). Visually really interesting, great music, but mostly forgotten and blown away by the final sequence of Yuri skating and his growth.
Yuri on Ice is available on Crunchyroll.
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Karandi James
By far the best episode of YOI! And definitely doesn’t matter if they kissed or not – I find that irrelevant to what Yuri was actually doing on the ice. He was so lost in his thoughts and purely skating on instinct – which made him more incredibly more fluid. It’s pretty clear he does better when he’s not too focused on the actual routine too much. And the fact he was able to change his jumps on the fly just to surprise Viktor – talk about a huge confidence change from when he started. Also his free skate piece/song has me on the verge of tears everytime I hear it and I don’t know why!
Definitely agree that when Yuri is focussed on Victor rather than his technique he skates better.
The music in the show has been awesome. The opening, each piece the skaters are using, they all just work so well to carry who these characters are and what is happening.
This episode made me so shook, when Yuri broke down, and then his skating, I felt so moved. I cried twice both times I saw it.
Plus the kiss and the hair touching aaah, plus they confirmed subtlety it was a kiss on Twitter hnng
Also Yurio with long hair aaah
I’m still adamant that they hugged and didn’t kiss. I interpreted the scene as just being really suggestive.
That doesn’t make the scene any less effective in conveying it’s message to the audience though. The purpose of the scene is to fully embed the feelings that Yuri and Victor have for each other, which it does through how the scene is composed and the emotional keys played throughout the entire sequence. Whether it’s a hug or a kiss doesn’t change that one bit.
Sadly most people don’t seem to care about any of that and just care that two guys have kissed, which I don’t think they have…
All that debating aside, this episode was thematically outstanding. I’m definitely not the biggest fan of Victor and Yuri’s relationship, it’s all come off as a little shallow and bait-y for my tastes, but this episode certainly helped me to see it in a new light. It definitely has potential to feel like an actual romance now. That, and the animation was outstanding as always.
Very entertaining episode. Looking forward to seeing how this all develops. And hopefully, they don’t wind up baiting everyone by the time the final episode comes around and makes the romance null and void (which I feel is going to happen).
I agree it doesn’t amtter in the slightest whether it was a hug or a kiss what it did was clearly show where these characters have gotten too in terms of understanding each other.
As I said, this episode finally removed my reservations about this story and whether it was going anywhere beyond range of good looking guys flirting while ice skating becase I really felt that this episode made both the main characters seem just that little bit more human and their relationship felt more real by the end of this episode.
Thanks for your comment.
Where can I watch it?
Crunchyroll.
This episode was literally the best one. The piece YURI did was phenomenal. Omg all the yaoi fans were obsessed with that scene when YURI and victor hugged and looked like they kissed. Hahah
This episode was so wowza that I was sucked in for the entire ride. Agree that the rest of the ep was sorta blown away by the final sequence.
I think I just liked that it just all fitted perfectly together. That ending didn’t come out of nowhere, it’s been building since the beginning and it felt right at that moment.