Yes, this show is an anime...ah, anime. People either love it, hate it, or have no idea that it exists. It can be a polarizing subject, and it's a polarizing medium in the West. It makes Japan a source of both admiration and mockery, as people either praise the creativity of anime or criticize its aesthetics and content. I've had a pretty rocky relationship with it, and it's been years since I watched anime with any amount of dedication. In my early teenage years I loved it, and often went online to find sites on which I could watch anime or read manga for free. My favorites always fell into the shounen genre, aka anime targeted towards boys. You know, anime like these (or maybe you don't).

Above: Black Cat

Below: Bleach

I liked the flashy attacks and the cool weapons and the violent battles. I mean yes, I liked there to be a compelling story and characters behind it all, but I never paid much attention to anime that didn't feature lots of fighting. However, after a while I found myself disinterested in anime as a whole. The stories all seemed too similar, the characters fell into predictable archetypes, and of course there was a lot of needless sexualization that made me feel bad just watching anime. So I stopped watching, only occasionally trying out shows that seemed interesting and finding that they weren't.

But as a freshman at college, I signed up for a film studies class on anime, and got pulled back into the world of Japanese animation as a scholar of sorts. To be honest, I still don't fully understand how to analyze anime, but that's basically what I've been doing. On one of the anime showings (which were every Monday), the professor let students nominate their own anime. He would look over the nominations and choose a few to watch. One of these nominations was a currently ongoing anime called Yuri!!! On Ice.

The show follows 23 year old figure skater Katsuki Yuuri, and the plot is as follows (I promise not to spoil, but you can skip ahead if you don't trust me): he gets last in the Grand Prix Figure Skating Final, or Grand Prix Final, one of the most important figure skating competitions in the world. Yuuri is already lacking in self-confidence, and this crushing blow doesn't help. A few months later, he goes back to his hometown, unsure of what to do with his career and looking to find some sort of inspiration. That inspiration comes in the form of his ice-skating idol, Victor Nikiforov, arguably the greatest ice-skater in the world. With Victor's help, Yuuri re-enters the world of ice skating, hoping to win gold in the next Grand Prix Final. But, as the series goes on, the two develop feelings for each other, making their Grand Prix journey much more personal.

I saw one episode, and that was all I needed to see. I was surprised, of course; I had never watched a sports anime, much less one with a romance between two men. But I got drawn in right away; the ice-skating animation was fluid and moving, and as I heard from my professor, the show does a good job of portraying ice skating in a realistic and accurate way. The main character was instantly relatable for his low self-esteem and struggles of how to move forward in his life, and I was rooting for him every step of the way. The other characters are also very entertaining; even minor characters are given some level of depth. Particularly the other skaters, whose routines reveal very personal sides of themselves. And the growing relationship between Yuuri and Victor was exciting and heartwarming to watch. As a straight guy, I never thought that I could connect so deeply to a gay relationship. I never felt like I could really relate to it. But the love between Victor and Yuuri struck me as more touching than many of the straight relationships I'd seen in entertainment.

Yuri!!! On Ice is a show that will make you smile, laugh, cheer, cry, and most importantly feel. It is a glimpse into a different world of anime, one not defined by battles and bluster but by the emotion that comes with overcoming the hurdles that life throws at us. It is so refreshingly free from the stereotypes that I grew so tired of, and doesn't require magic, machinery, or epic adventures and battles to keep me interested. I had never cared to step into this other side of anime, thinking it boring. How could I be interested if it was so close to reality? How could I care about its message if it wasn't conveyed through epic fight scenes? How could I care about characters if they had no special powers? But now, I know. It's the realism that makes Yuri!!! On Ice so great. As someone who finds confidence hard to muster, Yuuri's internal struggle is powerful. As someone who was recently introduced to the weird, wonderful world of relationships, it makes me smile to see how much he and Victor care about each other. And as someone who likes to laugh, I love the show's over-the-top, crazy moments, which I won't even get into as to avoid spoilers.

So if you like romance, give it a watch. If you like ice skating, give it a watch. If you like anime, give it a watch. If you like life, give it a watch! And if you don't like it, then that's just fine. At least you gave it a shot!

And finally, Nick Tulio, if by some miracle you ever read this, thanks for nominating Yuri!!! On Ice 'cause I never thought I'd love anime this much again!