(warning: really huge-ass, super long post with many screencaps)
You know what the most amazing thing about the Yuri!!! on Ice ep 7 kiss is? That it wasn’t the most amazing thing in the episode. For real. In fact, it wasn’t amazing at all, and I mean this in the best possible way: when it came about, it felt real and organic, because the show has been leading us here all along.
The narrative has paved the way for this moment to happen—and more than that, for it not to be the end of the series, but simply another element of the story as it develops.
I am going to tackle why I think this is so, starting with…
the genre question
I think one of the things that’s struck me about Yuri!!! on Ice from the start is: this is not a typical sports anime.
This is the start, and the framing, of a typical sports anime.
Our protagonists are at the start of something new. They are there to face their sport, overcome challenges, and learn to work as a team. Along the way, they will meet allies as well as powerful rivals. In the end, they will fight their way to the top and embrace the power of nakama.
This is the start of Yuri!!! on Ice.
When we first meet Yuuri, he has already done most of that.
