Yuri On Ice is an amazing sports anime to watch. The anime follows Yuuri Katsuki, a pro-Japanese figure skater, as he deals with a painful loss at the Grand Prix Finale and how he comes back even better the following year with the help of his idol Victor. It has everything a good sports anime should: compelling rivals, beautiful animation, and funny banter.
Having only one season with twelve episodes, it’s a good binge watch. The ending was great but not fully satisfying. However, a prequel movie is confirmed, and a second season is rumored.
The show is an excellent sports anime. But it falls short of me saying it was a good shounen-ai anime. In fact, it would be a farce to call it a shounen-ai anime. The anime has constant sexual tension between Yuuri and Victor, yet nothing comes with it. Season one would have been perfect if it ended the Grand Prix with Victor and Yuuri kissing, but they didn’t.
Many people have accused the show of queerbaiting. IE: the show is just gay enough to attract a queer audience, yet not too “over the top” to deter the “straights” away. I would argue that the show provides more than enough “gay” scenes for it not to be accused of queerbaiting. Just because the actors’ sexual orientations are not front and center or that a romantic relationship didn’t form in the first season doesn’t mean it is queerbaiting. With that said, I would be highly disappointed if Yuuri and Victor didn’t start dating if the show got a second season.