In the first episode of the first season of Yuri On Ice<\/i>, oh no. oH NO NOOOOOO. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Yuri On Ice<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of mental health and depression, body image\/weight loss<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Welcome, friends! If you happen to be new to Mark Watches, may I remind you that I do things a little differently than most places, so here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a refresher for you:<\/p>\n
1) Spoilers are not allowed in any form on Mark Watches<\/b>. Please refrain from ever posting (in normal text) any sort of spoiler or reference to future storylines or developments while commenting on this site. This rule is probably a lot more strict than you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to, so if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re warned about spoilers or if your comment is edited because of it, trust me. This is for a reason. Please visit the\u00c2\u00a0Spoiler Policy<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0for guidance.<\/p>\n 2) You may, however, post spoilers in rot13.\u00c2\u00a0<\/b>You will inevitably see what looks like gibberish in the comments. We use\u00c2\u00a0rot13<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to cipher all possible spoilers so that y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0still have a conversation about each episode if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen the entire show. Please cipher all spoilers.<\/p>\n 3) Please read the Site Rules before commenting<\/b>. My group of moderators and I try to make Mark Watches an exception to the rule when it comes to online conversations. This means that moderation is more evident here than other places. Please review the rules, as this is your only warning.<\/p>\n 4) Mark Watches videos are attached as a link at the end of the post.<\/b>\u00c2\u00a0They are $0.99 each, and you can download each video 15 times, meaning you can send them to friends or anyone else for free. The system is built to handle free downloads, so download away. The lovely folks over at Mark Spoils run a place called the\u00c2\u00a0Black Market<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0where you can find extra downloads of videos in case you cannot afford them or don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to pay for them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s totally sanctioned (and adored!) by me, so go ahead! Test them out. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically me sitting and yelling at my TV, and I cry a lot because reasons.<\/p>\n Now that that is out of the way: Oh no<\/i> OH NO WHAT IS THIS. Oh, is this really happening??? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THAT FINAL SCENE.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back up.<\/p>\n Failure<\/b><\/p>\n The beginning of Yuri On Ice<\/i> opens on such a strange note, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one that becomes necessary once you settle into Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Easy as Pirozhki!!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is about his failure<\/i>, at least initially. Despite his talent and ambition, we find out that Yuri placed last in the Grand Prix Final. (Referred to as the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Grand Prix Final of Tears\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s title.) Right from the start, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I was pulled in because despite that it might not seem obvious to most people, I did competitive sports all throughout high school. I ran cross country every fall and track every spring. And I was pretty good!\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Not record breaking, but I was solid enough that I was often a strategic member of the varsity team, used solely to get us more points or to be the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rabbit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That position was a lot of fun because of how easily other runners took the bait and chased after me, only to tire themselves out halfway through a course. Of course, one cross country meet my junior year, I was the rabbit and then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 almost no one caught up to me??? I kept waiting for people to pass me and I ended up coming in third with my fastest time ever??? THAT WAS A GREAT DAY. My coach was SHOOK, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n Anyway, my senior year was upsetting because of other factors, and like Yuri, my mental health contributed to me feeling like I just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t win. Granted, our situations are very different, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know exactly why Yuri felt off. I do<\/i> know that depression affects athleticism and desire BIG TIME. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to feel motivated to do anything<\/i> when you feel worthless, and honestly? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still dealing with it! I do like physical activity, but some days, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to do anything at all.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same sense I got from Yuri. After his failure at the Grand Prix Final, he slipped into a depression that caused him to mess up further and gain weight. And I do feel a little weird about all that stuff? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell what the show is going for here, as if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poking fun at Yuri for being chubby or it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to comment on the physical demands of figure skaters. Hopefully, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to return to that, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll say this: it felt very<\/i> real. Weight fluctuation and gain is something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to deal with a lot since I stopped running absurd distances every day for four years straight.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Homecoming<\/b><\/p>\n More on that in a second, as there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something else I want to talk about. Yuri<\/i> transitions from a sports drama\u00e2\u20ac\u201done that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already invested in because SPORTS and MOTIVATION are deeply relatable\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto something closer to a slice-of-life or a family drama. That switch is astounding, especially since the writers find a brilliant way of introducing us to a large cast of characters in Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hometown of Hasetsu, Kyushu. His family is well-meaning, if intense at times. I feel like we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to get some more conflict over that because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I expected that maybe someone in his family might be brutally disappointed in Yuri. Instead, these people are all generally supportive of him. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Minako, who I think is more of a family friend? AND SHE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SUPER INTO ICE SKATING, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Super, super, super<\/i> into it. But she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not cruel to Yuri, just a bit overbearing about his role in the skating world. His parents are supportive and loving, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that they understand<\/i> him. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of Mari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role, Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s older sister and resident excellent-hair-character. SERIOUSLY, SHE LOOKS SO PUNK ROCK, I LOVE IT.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Yuuko, though, who seems most important to Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, and she is the first witness (technically) to Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to return to skating. Given that he feels like he flunked out of ice skating and missed out on truly meeting his lifelong idol, Victor Nikiforov, as an actual competitor, I get that he wanted to escape from competitive skating for a while. Through flashbacks, we come to find out just how instrumental Victor was in influence young Yuri. Despite only being four years apart, Victor was almost godlike<\/i> in Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life. Yuri even got a poodle to match Victor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because of how much he idolized him. CUTE POODLES EVERYWHERE.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, it felt important to me that Yuri let Yuuko watch his Victor imitation routine. Now, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, the animation for that sequence was INCREDIBLE, and I was impressed how much of it managed to capture the excitement and fluidity of figure skating. Is this what I have to look forward to? BECAUSE YES. THANK YOU. THIS IS VERY PLEASING TO ME. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a cool sequence because Yuri is just as good as Victor is\u00e2\u20ac\u201das graceful and emotional, too\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhile<\/i> being pudgy. WHICH I LOVE. One of my favorite, petty things to do at the gym or while running outdoors is to pass people or run faster than them when they give me disgusted looks because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not skinny. GUESS WHAT, I CAN STILL RUN A MILE UNDER 7 MINUTES ANY DAY OF THE WEEK WITHOUT EVEN TRYING. So, I expect he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably lose some weight just from training more heavily, but I just want to appreciate the chubby athleticism from Yuri that we get in this episode.<\/p>\n Future<\/b><\/p>\n And then Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life changes because of Yuuko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daughters, who upload his routine to the Internet, causing him to go viral, and lord, I am still reeling<\/i> from the escalation that we witness here, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Look, all I know about this show is gay figure skating? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if this is that thing where a show queerbaits the audience or just hints at queer\/gay content, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit. The fact that Victor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first appearance in Yuri\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hometown is a naked shot of his muscular body from behind as he rises out of the hot spring\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 excuse me.<\/p>\n ex<\/p>\n cuse<\/p>\n me<\/p>\n what the fuck<\/i>!!! I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expecting that at all??? And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 oh god. I am fine. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n (i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not)<\/p>\n (Yuri has a huge crush on him, right?)<\/p>\n (right????)<\/p>\n (PLEASE LET THIS BE ACTUAL CANON THIS TIME, I SWEAR.)<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Easy as Pirozhki!! The Grand Prix Final of Tears\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the first episode of the first season of Yuri On Ice, oh no. oH NO NOOOOOO. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Yuri On Ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[684],"tags":[685],"class_list":["post-6858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yuri-on-ice","tag-mark-watches-yuri-on-ice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}