Yuri!!! on Ice

Episode 3

Last week, in order to resolve the dispute over who holds claim to Victor's tutelage, our manic pixie dream skater arranged a contest between his two potential pupils. The theme: love. Each Yuri was assigned a routine to take him out of his comfort zone, and now they're scrambling to get their bearings in time for the big show. The bratty Yurii Plisetsky, aka Yurio, gets a routine based on agape, or pure/unconditional love. By contrast, Yuuri Katsuki gets eros, or passionate sexual/romantic love. This contest emphasizes expression over technical skill, so they're both searching for something that could inspire these emotions in their inexperienced hearts, even though the assignments are so different from their usual demeanor.

Following an “inspired” training regimen courtesy of Victor, Yurio discovers agape in his memories of his grandfather. It's implied that Yurio had a bad home life - his mother's absence is noted - and that he was raised by his grandfather, who supported his initial ambitions as a skater. This relationship probably ended sadly, considering Yurio's current grumpy disposition. Meanwhile, Yuuri doesn't find hiseros until the evening before the competition. He tries to play himself off as carnally into pork bowls for a while, but that proves insufficient. In truth, it just takes him a while to finally admit that he's into Victor. His realization comes when he remembers that Victor intentionally played with androgyny in the routine that originally inspired Yuuri, so he doesn't have to limit himself to typically male-coded roles and behaviors. While he can't beat Victor at playing the assertive (male) playboy, he excels as the (female) target of seduction, wavering between hesitation and enthusiastic submission in a way that is a form of seduction all its own. Yuuri is becoming comfortable with himself sexually – and with his attraction to Victor.

Some clarification on the term eros: it isn't necessarily physical love. (Although there's plenty of that in how Yuuri stares at Victor.) More specifically, it's the kind of high most often experienced in an intense romantic or sexual relationship, considered selfish in that it's more about the lover than the beloved. When a lover stops yearning for their partner in that way, they may fall out of love, but while it lasts, the feeling is obsessive. By contrast, agape is a more passive but all-encompassing type of love. It's often characterized as love between family members or even God's love. It doesn't expect that the beloved meet some sort of standard in order to receive love. This was chosen for Yurio because he hasn't had much of a support system in his life. Now that we know he has a rough family history, I suspect that his livelihood is largely dependent on his success as a skater. The other Yuuri has a strong network of family and friends who'll stick with him no matter what, so Victor may be trying to forge something like this for Yurio by pairing him with Yuuri and his crew. There's already some hope – Yurio strikes up an odd instantaneous connection with Yuuko. At first glance, this might seem a bit skeevy, since Yuuko's an older married woman while Yurio is a teenager, but I don't think that their interactions are supposed to be read as romantic. Rather, Yuuko feels an immediate maternal instinct towards Yurio. After all, she already has kids, which can't be a coincidence paired alongside Yurio's (potential) mommy issues.

In the end, Yuuri wins. Yurio's performance was more technically impressive, but he loses touch with his emotions near the end. Yuuri fails a jump in his performance, but shocks the audience with his enthralling, coquettish performance. Disheartened, Yurio rushes back to Russia, vowing that he'll triumph over Yuuri in the next world championship. (Victor did praise Yurio's performance as the best of his career, but I guess Yurio still can't stand to lose to someone like Yuuri.) So Victor will be Yuuri's trainer, as the two reach a new level of intimacy in this triumphant moment.

I'll be honest – I've been waiting to see which direction Yuri!!! on Ice would take its homoerotic content. The obvious implication has been there since day one, but would it remain just subtextual (as in most female-gaze BL content) or would the show actually commit to being about dudes who have the hots for one another? I'm happy to say that the story appears to be taking the latter route, firmly taking the sub out of its text in this episode. At least, it's now made the gay reading so prominent that it'd be a huge betrayal if they went back on it somehow. This episode does not make sense as anything but Yuuri being sexually and romantically attracted to Victor. Whether they'll get together is another issue altogether, but I'm happy it's taken this step in any case. So far, it's been easy to read Yuri!!! on Ice as Yuuri's coming-of-age story, with Victor as a sort of gay Mary Poppins dropped in from afar to lure him out of the closet both sexually and artistically.

The production began to show some strain in this episode, but it can't be in top form every week, I guess. Honestly, I'm impressed by how much it held up in spite of the obvious limitations. While the skating setpieces were pitch-perfect during the first two episodes, they now suffer from some modeling issues, particularly a bad case of spaghetti legs on Yurio. It's unfortunate, but I think that this looseness was a compromise in order to maintain the animation's fluidity. That's what they really can't give up for this show to succeed, considering all of the performances are shot using long takes that don't let you cheap out by holding on stills. It's also worth mentioning that there's a lot of skating this episode – maybe 50% of the runtime consists of this animation-intensive activity. Otherwise, Yuri!!! on Ice looks as great as it ever has, making it one of the season's premiere visual experiences.

Following a stunning debut, Yuri!!! on Ice has started hinting that it might have some thematic meat to serve alongside all the cheesecake. Since it's been progressing at a rapid pace, I'm more excited than ever to see where this goes.

Grade: A

Yuri!!! on Ice is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.