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The ten year anniversary announcement for the Yuri in Ice anime shocked me. Surely it has not already been 10 years since this released? I can still vividly remember the weekly posts on the socials and the debates of is this BL, did they kiss, is it an engagement ring or is it not filling up every feed I was on. It was around this point when I started watching seasonal releases weekly. It can’t have been ten years and yet, here we are. Ten years on and I finally put together my Yuri!!! On Ice review.

I re-watched this over a few days really taking my time with it between work, sitting on moments that happened and transcribing quotes from the English Dub. 

Skate your way through the review

Tap any section below to jump straight there in the review.

Mini-Review

My Rating: 8/10

• Ice Skating: Beautifully choreographed and executed
• Tone: Warm, anxious and hopeful
• Animation: Fluid and expressive
• Characters: Believable, distinct and with their own motivations
• Vibe: A comfort watch

Story	Animation	Sound	Characters	Pacing
8	7	9	9	7

Yuri!!! on ICE isn’t technically perfect, but ten years later I still care about its characters, its performances, its music, and the story it tells about learning to believe in yourself.

What is Yuri!!! on ICE about?

• Full genre list: Sports, Drama, Comedy
• Key themes: Self-doubt, performance anxiety, found family, identity and different forms of love
• Type: Series
• Episodes: 12 + 1 OVA (Welcome to the Madness)
• Duration to watch in full: +/- 4 hours 30 minutes
• Age restriction: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older
• Trigger warnings: Anxiety and panic, competitive pressure
• Release date: Oct 6, 2016
• Animation studio: MAPPA
• English dub: Yes
• Source: Original
• Kanji: ユーリ!!! on ICE
• Average rating: 8/10
• Where to stream Yuri!!! on ICE legally: Crunchyroll, Disney+ and Hulu (region dependant)
• Official hashtags: #yurionice #yurionice10thAnniv
• Official Website

Yuuri Katsuki, a 23-year-old Japanese competitive figure skater who has returned home after a crushing last-place finish at the Grand Prix Final. Burnt out and full of self-doubt, he skates a private imitation of his idol and five-time world champion Victor Nikiforov’s famous programme. A video of it goes viral and Victor the living legend appears and declares that he is going to coach Yuuri.

My thoughts on Yuri!!! on ICE

I keep coming back to how ordinary and extraordinary that this is at the same time. Yuuri is not the typical sports anime protagonist. He is anxious, he catastrophises and he has times where he feels the pressure heavier than he should. Watching each successful achievement and landed jump and spin, is rewarding.

The character dynamics are fun and varied. Victor arrives like a force of nature and the bond he forms with Yuuri feels earned episode by episode and not just handed to them. The unexpected friendship between Yuri and Otabek was a bond I had not anticipated when this first aired. There is an easy comradierie amoung the skaters and the coaches too, rivals who still check in on each other, mentors who needle their students out of real fondness rather than duty, and it is that range of relationships that makes the whole ensemble rewarding to spend a season with.

Animation

The skating sequences are the standout for the animation, as well as the close up frames and lighting. Kenji Miyamoto’s real-world choreography is felt in every programme where he provided motion capture for the sequences. This detail made the series feel real. There is weight and momentum to the skaters, a sense of held breath before a jump, that makes the routines land even when the character art is on the simpler side. The animation does really well in carrying emotion through the performance of each skater and spectator.

Sound

The soundtrack of this is just as important as the dialogue. It starts from the intro, History Maker, and flows through all the way through to the ending track, You Only Live Once. The programme music does the same narrative wirk as the animation. Eros, Agape, the free skate that we get the series name from, Yuri on ICE, and Victor’ Aria: Stay Close to Me are not background tracks. Each one is written for a specific person and arc and each changes meaning depending on who is skating it and why. The English Dub is also really well done and its where I transcribed all my quotes from.

Characters

Yuri!!! on ICE has a remarkable cast ensemble. Even if we do not get enough time to fully flesh out all of them.

Yuuri’s anxiety is an ongoing point that does not conveniently disappear. It has weight and follows through with consequences making it a notable obstacle. Watching him slowly stop treating his talent and skill on the ice as luck or accidental is the core of the series.

Victor is playful, easy going and spontaneous on the surface but as the series goes on it reveals a serious and sensitive side to him. It also goes on to show us how he himself was feeling lost and looking for direction with his skating and self. He needed to find a reason to actually want something again while discovering a new goal for himself.

Yuri Plisetsky, a.k.a Yurio, start the series as a sharp, angry and somewhat egocentric teen lashing out at Yuuri. Then he learns that Victor has now gone to coach Yuuri, who he had deemed as pathetic, while failing to follow through on his promise he follow Victor to Japan. The end of the series does not see him ‘reformed’ but as a teen who has taken the next step into his professional career while coming to understand things about himself and respecting the effort and talent of others. We come to uderstand the weight and pressure on his shoulders.

Phichit is pure, fun and full of energy and one of the few characters in the cast with a life entirely separate from Yuuri’s story. Even the competition rivals, JJ, Christophe, Seung-gil Lee, feel like people with their own careers happening off-screen, not obstacles placed in Yuuri’s path.

Pacing

The pacing is deliberate rather than rushed, for most of the run. Some competition episodes spend long stretches on the ice, which wull either feel immersive or slightly repetitive depending on how invested you already are.

Where it does show a bit of strain is the final stretch. Fitting the Grand Prix Final into the last episodes means that some of the performances get less room than they deserve and I would have liked more time for the resolution. I would have loved more episodes and I am sad that we are not getting a Yuri!!! on ICE season 2.

Themes

The two L’s, life and love. These two words get brought up in episode 10 by Victor and that is when everything clicked into place for me. These two words describe the whole series. Eros and Agape are not just the programme titles, they become the ways of understanding what each character and skater needs. Confidence is shown as fragile and rebuildable rather than a fixed trait that you either have or not. Yuuri spending the whole season learning to trust the people who already believe in him is still a plot thread I fully revel in.

Yuri on ICE as a shounen-ai (BL)

I wish this could be openly marked as shounen-ai to settle the debates on whether Yuri on ICE is boys love (BL) or not. No official platform tags or marks this as BL in any form. On this re-watch I settled into, this is shounen-ai, so yes, it is BL. There is a kiss, there are declarations of calling this love, there is the exchange of rings where Victor says they are engagement rings. It is not the prominent plot point but it is one of the layers that add to the complexity and connection of the characters.

In summary, this anime can be described as…

Yuri!! on ICE is a warm, anxious and hopeful sports story about two people who teach each other how to live and love while chasing gold on the ice. Ten years later it still feels like a place I can return to when I need reminding the progress is not always the same.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths:

• Authentic, emotionally driven skating sequences
• Yuuri’s anxiety portrayed with unusual honesty and care
• Victor and Yuuri’s relationship develops with mutual respect and real stakes
• A supporting cast that feels lived-in rather than decorative
• The soundtrack and programme music deepen the story

Weaknesses:

• Some side characters get less resolution than they deserve
• The cancelled movie leaves a lingering sense of unfinished business
• Rushed final episodes, The Grand Prix Final deserved more breathing room

Bingeability, is Yuri!!! on ICE an easy watch?

This is an easy anime to binge watch. One sitting viewing easy. The episodes flow and feel short and are mostly self contained with the overall story flow.

What hooked me was the sound of the skates on the ice. There is something about that sharp scrape across the ice that makes me long to go ice-skating and pulls me in right away.

Re-watch value of Yuri!!! on ICE

High, I have watched this at least five times now and I still get something new out of it every time I watch it.    

What will stay with me?

The way the anime treats love, showing it comes in multiple forms and is something you practice, are intentional about and shows that it is something to reflect on, not just feel.

Favourite character: Victor Nikiforov

He is playful and larger than life on the surface, yet he quietly shows how lonely his years of perfectionism and unpredictability had been. Watching him work out what he actually needs from coaching Yuuri, is a rewarding arc. Plus, his physique is gorgeous, I am a sucker for the hair and eye combo and I do appreciate how much time he spends on screen naked. But overall I just adore his personality and easy going nature.

Most endearing: Yuuri Katsuki

I am surprised I am featuring both main characters. Yuuri’s self-doubt is specific and relatable. It is never played for sympathy but shown as a real problem he needs to face and accept about himself while finding a path forward.

A few quotes I liked

I transcribed these while watching, and I have been thinking about them ever since. These are just a handful; I have a longer collection of 50+ Yuri!!! on ICE quotes post if you want more.

“Turns out being depressed gets pretty old after a while.”
— Yuuri Katsuki, Episode 1

“I may never be able to regain what I’ve lost, but that’s okay. Because for the first time I can remember, I can clearly see what’s in front of me.”
— Yuuri Katsuki, Episode 4

“Don’t let yourself lose sight of what you want. Now is the time to take off. Fulfil your dream. Only you can make it reality. Live your life, as it was meant to be lived.”
— Otabek Altin, Episode 12

“I’m not very good with people crying. I don’t know what to say in this situation”
— Victor Nikiforov, Episode 7

“On the rare occasions when I take time away from skating, two L words come to mind. Life and love. I’ve spent the last 20 years neglecting both of them.”
— Victor Nikiforov, Episode 10

“I always thought we were alike. That’s all there is to it. Not so complicated, really. So, friends?”
— Otabek Altin, Episode 10

“Talent and originality aren’t only about what you’re born with. Some things you get by fighting.”
— Celestino Cialdini, Episode 12

Quick questions and answers

Is Yuri!!! on ICE worth watching? Yes. There is a reason the fanbase is as loyal as it is.

Is Yuri!!! on ICE suitable for beginners? Very. The skating is explained clearly enough through context and performance, the characters are easy to care about, and the tone is welcoming throughout. No prior knowledge of figure skating required

Does Yuri!!! on ICE have a satisfying ending? Yes for me. Although it does end with a lie of a promised ‘next level’.

Is Yuri!!! on ICE a BL anime? It is a sports anime with an unconfirmed, yet subtly, confirmed romantic relationship between the two male leads. If I could, I would tag it as Shounen-AI.

Overall Experience

Watching Yuri!!! on ICE again in 2026 was a strangely fun experience. I remember the original excitement and debates in the fandom. Now my feed if filled with this anime once again and I am revelling in it once more. Ten years on and I still enjoy this series. A lot. There are anime that I become attached to because the series is generally good, then there are those I get attached to because of connect-ability to characters and how they bring the story to life.

Yuri’s struggle with confidence is relatable in a way I was not expecting. I dive more into this with my post exploring Yuri as an unreliable narrator. Watching how Victor approaches coaching and Yuri is entertaining while exploring how he has to navigate his own approach to skating and mental dilemmas. We watch as Yurio first comes across as a proud and inflated egocentric teen with anger issues and slowly morph into a complicated human navigating their path forward. I knew the results going in this time, yet I keep watching to see how each of the characters grow and get comfortable with themselves.

Would I recommend Yuri!!! on ICE?

Yes and no. Due to the not so hidden romance line between Yuuri and Victor I am hesitant to recommend this without any hesitation. On the whole I do recommend Yuri!!! on ICE to those of us who enjoy character-driven sports series. The skating is only one aspect of why this anime works. This is worth the watch if you like series showing characters overcoming internal and external struggles to become stronger than their previous self.

Have you watched Yuri!!! on ICE?

Has your opinion of Yuuri and Victor’s relationship changed since your first watch? Do you think Yuuri’s biggest opponent was ever actually Yurio, or was it always his own lack of confidence? And, most importantly, which skating performance is your favourite?

Date Watched: 11–14 August 2026

All images used in this review are screenshots from Yuri!!! on ICE. Any GIFs used are snippets from the series. The images and footage belong to their respective copyright holders and are used here for commentary, criticism, and review purposes.