Yuri!! On Ice: Episode 3

The dancing! The detail! The facial expressions! The.. Weird body movements, recycled frames and… lack of facial expressions… What?

 

As much as I was freaking out over this series for HOURS before watching it, I have to be honest… there were a lot of mistakes.

While in the first four minutes I was on the floor, dying of a nosebleed and clinging to my rolleychair for dear life.. That was the highlight of the episode..

But what about the skating? What about the beauty? What about the inner turmoil of the characters??

 

It was…okay.

 

Right off the bat I noticed two weeeird things. 1,  Yurio possessed character body from xxxHolic. Watanuki was possessing him. I get skaters are skinny, but we have seen him skate before, and unless he is on a photosynthesis and light misting diet, he should NOT be THAT skinny. He looked like the 7 foot tall lanky teenage boy who get made fun of in grade 9. Not sexy, not Agape. Arms, legs, torso. All of it was stingbean-y and not beautiful.

Another major flaw I saw right away, there’s no sound of skates. Yurio was doing jumps and tricks and there was NO sound of his skates on ice. It wasn’t as if the music drowned them out either. A moment later Yuri’s skates had audio, but not Yurio.

 

And the biggest offence… is Yuri’s face. IM NOT BEING MEAN. At the end of his performance, in his final pose, his face looked like a fish. No detail. Eyes and mouth. Its supposed to be the final scene that conveys the lust of Eros, and… it didn’t! it didn’t convey ANY emotion.It flipped after a second, but the face was the first part you looked too after the performance.

 

I can forgive a lot of things in this series because I love it so much, but… what’s up with third episodes sucking this season!!

 

Other small details.. The reuse of frames for the performances. Like Disney reusing Cinderella frames for Sleeping Beauty-esque. How can Yurio improve when he’s performing exactly the same??

 

During Yuri’s performance, the top of his head was cut off for like half of the performance. I don’t understand why.

 

The performances themselves.. The skating is not the same as in episode 1 and 2. Those sequences were beautiful and smooth, these ones… I don’t know if it was the lanky string bodies, but it did NOT look right. The composure was good, the program was individual and sassy and sad and right, some parts just looked off.

 

The highlights? We got to see Victors ass again, and he has a suspiciously detailed inner thigh… Click HERE to see the photo. It’s a little… too detailed to be done by accident. >.>

 

There was an extreme close-up of Victors face on Yuri’s, with Eros on the tongue, along with a hug for inspiration. Knowing Victors character type, it seems to still be subtext at this point.

 

The emotional training scenes were good. Yurio is strangely accepting of Japanese traditions, like being smacked with a ruler at a shrine and standing under a waterfall. Yurio did have an epiphany, which we got to see. His unconditional love was around his grandfather, which is adorable. Although as a child he spoke Japanese.. Come on guys..

 

the grandfather scene was pretty cute, and it was done in a different style. The explanation of Eros was a scene with paper/stick people, like a mini puppet show. it was pretty interesting.

So not really what I wanted… This weeks episode was.. Weak! I mean I still loved it. And im starting to think I like Yuri for the yaoi bits. Or maybe the fact that im disappointed in this episode means I like the whole thing. The first two episodes, while the second one wasn’t as mind blowing as the first, it was still damn good. Maybe its just a cursed week. I hope so. Bring back the team from Episode 1! At LEAST fix the skating scenes, if anything. Maintaining the level of skill each week is a challenge, but it looks so good. Chibi Yuri’s are to be expected and are acknowledged as a staple. So please please please, fix the skating scenes. Watanuki does not skate well. His center of balance is all off. The panic on Yurios face at the end of his performance though, was pretty damn stupendous.

 

Yuri saying his Eros was Katsudon, im not sure if that was for comedys sake or not. its an odd thing to hold passionate/romantic love for. As for taking the womans role in the dance, im not sure if that was a nod to the fandom, or if they do intend on pushing a more real relationship on the characters. Again, with Victors character type, i feel like it would go 1 of 2 ways, if they continue down this route. it would mean more to Yuri than victor, or victor just encompasses Yuri to capture him. maybe its all the cheesy 5 chapter series, but.. it wouldn’t be a standard relationship.

Im conflicted.

it feels like, again the episode set up a huge climax, but i mean.. yuri had to win.. if the goal was to shock the audience(us) then Yurio would have won, and Victor would have dragged Yuri to Russia too. or he would have just insisted Yurio stay in Japan. The dances were good, the movements were not the same as before, but we did get backstory on Yurio, and Yuri himself went through alot. And seeing those processes and those emotions, was really sweet. Yuri makes some really hot faces. I still feel like the katsudon part was supposed to be an ongoing joke though.

 

Rating: (DON’T LOOK) B-

 

IM SORRY. But ignoring the mistakes and just fangirling wont do anything justice. Plot wise, the episode was fine, but the main aspect… was not as good. If this was ‘Yoko and Watanuki travel to the skate rink’ then fine, but it was a bit off this week.

 

For the first two Yuri’s, click HERE.

 

Thanks for reading…

 

-jill