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Yuri!!! on Ice Victor's Baby Talk in 'Yume-100' Game Weirds Out Fans

A Yuri!!! on Ice event launched in the Yume Ōkoku to Nemureru 100-Nin no Ōji-sama (The Kingdom of Dreams and the 100 Sleeping Princes or "Yume-100" for short) smartphone puzzle role-playing game on February 16. The collaboration may be a dream come true for the female target audience of the game, but Victor's words to the player in the game are confusing fans in Japan. A Twitter user posted screenshots of some of the skater's dialogue in the game shortly after the event went live.

In the game, Victor says things like "Can you make like you gave birth to me?," "I want to be born as your child," and "Hold me like a child." He references agape, a Greek concept of a type of universal love. Victor describes the concept in the original anime as "unconditional love" and adds that "God's infinite love is self-sacrificing and uncalculating." He seems to want to develop that type of love with the player in the smartphone game.

The Russian ice-skating legend also apparently says "Mama!" and "Babumi!" in the game. The term babumi derives from baby talk and has come to mean when a character invites strong maternal instincts from another character, or especially from real-world viewers and players.

Online commenters are both amused and perplexed by Victor's alternate characterization. To people who have seen the Yuri!!! on Ice anime, Victor's odd baby talk seems out of character. Still, Victor's words seem even stranger when paired with the hot spring backdrop in the game.

The last of the collaboration's prize campaigns wrapped up on Monday. For the sake of confused fans everywhere, it may be a good thing that the promotion has winded down.

[Via Nijimen]