This is basically Check, Please! but in animated form and with less crosschecking

Same amount of food references

(Pie vs hot pot. Coincidence or really bad puns??)

Squigglebat I blame you for this

I don't watch a tonne of anime but I think that Yuri on Ice has been nailing character development of all of the side characters along with the main ones

And I love how the competitive nature of the sport they're showcasing gets padded out with the narrative of the competitors lives

That narrative also goes a long way to make a sport that I always found kind of passingly interesting far more engaging...

And 110% I love how most of the dudes competing tend to cheer one another on, that is really cute.

Also a proponent of the use of dubs to make the main love interest's over the top russian accent so terrible and so great. It really works for him somehow

seconding that last

this is the only anime I've ever watched where I would tell people that they should watch the dub or risk missing out

/salty old mariner's wind-worn scowl

It's been over ten years since I last felt excited about the animes

How did this happen

Dray

dray I don't know

my icy heart has been melting too, this is confusing?!

I have the stupidest urge to run around the house doing figure skating poses

You are such a nerd

I'm so happy you're both watching this /chinhands

We paused at the end of the dubbed ones because we watched the first ep subbed and agreed that it wasn't as good...

But that means we're on about episode 8 waiting for more when we know we could settle for the subbed version.... :IIII

i really wanna watch this but i've been burned so badly by apparently queer anime before that i wanna see how it all ends before i commit to it

Even if it winds up being a giant cock-tease I love the themes it's using.

The dub's been pretty fun, and boy watching both has me cracking up at times, grins. When the dub catches up I think you'll both be in for delights

I kinda wanna watch the sub of a couple of the episodes just to see if the really raunchy lines used in a couple of episodes were honest-to-god translations

There's a lot of decent matching, but the dub does make some much more blunt, to no objections tbh

Since the Japanese will at times be more subtle than what the dub goes for, but again, not in any bad way

The intention, however? Yeah, they're on point

Yeah, that's sort of what I figured!

There were definitely a couple of lines where I had to go WAIT WHAT is that literally what he said

That one figure skater who basically gets off in competition made me cackle in horror

Also when Yuri shouts 'love wins' I was like 'daaaang these voice actors are actually on point'

Laughs, 99% of the time the answer will be yes, that's what was said (if not literally, then by intention, etc)

HAHAHA CHRISTOPHE ah Chris

Yuri is just great... his VA has done a good job with being on point for him emotionally too, I've been appreciating that

Yeah!!

I love the way that they give him the ability to feel really weak and defeated and then to bounce back from that

It's fascinating! It's a lot more rounded out than you usually get to see characters

Yes, it's that kind of fleshing out/rounding people to be more than just one note that's kept me watching the series, characters are allowed shades of things

More shows could stand to do stuff like that tbh

I 100% agree, and not just in animation

what's interesting is that they manage it with a series where, lbr, a good chunk of the episodes are just delicious skating eye candy

they manage all this development around the edges of an excuse for oodles of lovely animation

Yeah - they manage this with 20+ minutes of show, around eyeskating candy

Yet you have character development, and not just in the singular

Everyone gets their spotlight~

It's cute. I know there's some stereotypes in there that are kind of harmful but they seem to offset that by either subverting them or balancing them with positive development

They do, and little call-backs or references later (few are truly Only Seen Once that aren't legitimate background characters), or even more fleshing out in tidbits as you go on

/nods, yeah, it seems like most the plays have been to subverting or balancing, specifically to mess with the expectation of those stereotypes

Yeaaaah, it's really nice XD

I don't know, I feel like most of the fun-poking comes from a place of the creators/storytellers being within the community, rather than outsiders making fun of gay people, if that makes sense?

yeah ngl what really turned me off a lot was like

one of the leads was just straight up the Predatory Homo Seducing The Fine Upstanding Het

........ but it turns out that no, that's what they wanted you to think

and im sorta like HUH WELL HOW ABOUT THAT

I didn't really read it like that!

I guess maybe because I don't know anything about the yaois, or the tropes that come with that

It read more to me like a guy with a lot of narcissism was inspired by someone who so obviously looked up to him so much as to follow his routine to a T and was like "obviously you wanna get with this"

yeah it's a

And that yuri isn't a fine upstanding het so much as a guy who's completely ignored his personal life for this dream that he's had

really common stereotype in yaoi and anime in general

and that his sexual orientation isn't really called into question at all except that he hasn't had a relationship, hasn't had anything outside of idolizing this one guy!

of a feminine or otherwise queercoded guy hitting on another guy in a pushy and aggressive way, usually with a lot of physicality

so when i saw scenes floating around of him getting handsy with yuri looking sort of uncomfortable i was like HMM YEAH I KNOW THIS GAME, SEE YA LATER ALLIGATOR

that sounds... gross af, wow

I am so glad this isn't that

I like that where it seems to be going is Yuri beginning to turn this fantasy into a reality by learning who victor is as a person and deciding whether he loves that more than what was in his head to begin with

and that's the romance, more than anything

Yeah, frankly what's nice is that it isn't what it appears to be - and also, the dub sticks to the gender neutral calling of Yuri's nonexistent love life

it's similar to the predatory lesbian trope of a cute girl who does a lot of tittygrabbing and drooling over other girls

Yeah, it is. Though I look forward to when you ladies see the tenth episode, when it's dubbed!

Yeah there was some of that in Orange is the New Black, but they also called it out as being a gross trope by having the gross counselor adhering to it

8D God I want to see it

I really do like that Yuri's the one who gets to make the decision??

they basically exist to play into shitty comedic stereotypes of queerness in japan but also to provide a nonthreatening 'rival' for the character's affection (in romance shows) or otherwise like

Also I really really like Yurio; he's a little shit, but he's also a 15 year old and he's such a perfect teenager that his angst and shit makes perfect sense

either providing eye candy for fujioshi or providing the male target audience with reassurance that their self insert protag is a Fine Upstanding Het

Yeah, Yuri really does set the pace, and his anxiety just... touches on everything. The actual series antagonist: his own head

it's such a prevalent trope that my instinctive reaction to seeing the shippy scenes in YOI was WELP, I GUESS IT'S MORE OF THAT SHIT

which says a sad lot about the state of queer characters in anime lmao

Yeah, it's really gross, how that stuff is pulled all the time

It makes just how caring and normal and normal stumbling blocks instead of Extraneous Dramatics for these guys so appreciable

Totally!

YEAH LIKE some of the stuff i've been hearing about YOI has really floored me

To be fair it's hard to find good representation of queer relationships in MOST media

i'm really really hoping it doesn't trip at the finish line

also just... the fact the creator said there's no in universe homophobia, flat out, so none of that knee jerking of NO HOMO is there

i saw her tweet about that and it made me a little

Me too... hmm... though I can see this being one of those series where Yuri thinks that he's in love with Viktor and then in the end he decides that... you know what, he's great on his own, and he appreciates

oh my god, I love that Word of God just... magics out homophobia

Viktor for being his idol and helping him get there, but he loved the dream more than the man that, by the end of the series, he's gotten to know as a person

Laughs I honestly don't think it will, but it's a very understandable fear given how the industry is re queer relationships

like don't get me wrong, we need media that addresses how awful it is to live in a world where people are hated for their sexualities, but.... man I want some escapism now and then too

Amazing! I didn't know that!

yeah!! it's why i like

idk i've given up on western queer media

there's so much tragic shit and it's like

fuck man let me rest

pardon the totally stereotypical suggestion, but do you watch Steven Universe?

More than addressing how people are hated I think it's great to have represetnation where it's treated as normal so that people can see what it's like when things DON'T suck

Exactly

i know my queer ass is a tragic snowflake ya don't gotta remind me

^ yeah and like, straightforwardly and not Dumbledore style

jkatkina: i do! i actually mod a steven universe game on dw rn LMAO

Oh hey!!

Cool, I didn't know that was you!

JK Rowling likes to dip her toes into shit she knows nothing about and do a crap job of it on EVERY subject, let's be real

it me

I hear fantastic things from Dray about the test drive

you've got a fourth wall event going on, don't you?

oh speaking of recs, i 100% recommend akiko morishima's manga

and i want to discuss this with you all post ep 10 (since who knows how the end competition will go)

she's a lesbian yuri mangaka and all her stories are about adult women falling in love and having real relationships

it's such a refreshing change from the ~BEAUTIFUL AMBIGUITY~ shit other ppl write

ahhh I have a harder time getting into manga but man that's a compelling suggestion

ooh, that's something I could stand more of, cool, thanks!

jkatkina: we do!! if you'd like a link lemme throw it at ya

toss it my way brah!!

she also did the character designs for yurikuma arashi if any of y'all watched that

I didn't, it's been a dog's age since I've animed at all

(... which i also rec if ikuhara's work is your cup of tea, i watched it not super long after i came out to myself and friends and it means a lot to me)

Are these the ones you're talking about?

they are!

and there's the fourth wall link jkatkina !

office romance and conditions for paradise are my faves

"office romance: women's division" omg

from the title alone I am so sold

i also REALLY REALLY recommend yurikuma if you wanna watch some queer anime

it's uh. IT'S VERY IKUHARA so if his particular brand of trippy storytelling isn't your bag then i'd avoid it and the first three episodes are honestly the shittiest part of the show but

hmmmmmmmm I know there's going to be a void left in my heart once we finish this season of Gay Skaters In Sequins

I'm'a earmark that

it's literally a story about gay girls breaking free of the confines of a homophobic society that punishes them for being Other

and I love the shit out of trippy storytelling, that ain't no barrier to me

Aeon Flux used to be my jam, man

and a shitton of the staff on it were queer ladies, it's a great show

Have you ever read Their Story? I don't know how popular it is and it's still ongoing/being translated, but it's another queer lady thing and it's really pretty

I don't know if it's going to end in a fakeout but it's pretty explicit about the main character being queer and pursuing her love interest

OH MAN I HAVEN'T but i will DEFINITELY put it on my list

I enjoy it quite a lot!

...that's not chronological, crap, hang on

There! Better

Also there are lots of other side stories in that one and the characters are really cute <:]c

slams a bookmark on this

It's really cute, do recommend!!

hmmmmmmmmmmm some of the things still seem slightly out of order

when in doubt take a peek at the number down below the comic, I guess

I usually wind up clicking from one number to the next, though even then once in a while it's broken

:/ It's not the best set up, but it is cute