Silly Little Screencap Redraw. I Agree That The Tie-grabbing Scene Is Great But The Seconds Before It

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anyway i shouldnt be allowed to read meta cause i just get really emotional about how hard yurio worked to keep this family together happy christmas eve everyone!!

LOL

HAPPY 8TH ANNIVERSARY, YURI ON ICE!

Jsyk I'm on winter break so I'm gonna be insufferable and spam y'all with silly doodles. I saw this meme and I just couldn't resist making it about my lil Viktor-and-Yurio-are-half-siblings AU.

Also yes I was too lazy to draw a bowl of katsudon myself.

Viktor is the one who narrates episode 10, the one who tells the story of the Sochi GPF banquet. Viktor is the one who tells us how much champagne Yuuri drank and how miserable he looked while he was there, long before Yuuri ever approached Viktor.

Viktor was paying attention to Yuuri. Long before the tie came off and the stripper pole got involved, Viktor was watching him.

Maybe it was because of how Yuuri rejected his offer for a photo. Maybe it was because he thought Yuuri was cute. Maybe he was also miserable and didn’t want to be there and appreciated that there was someone there who looked just as exhausted as he felt.

But Viktor was the one paying attention to Yuuri.

Some things about me: 1. I will NEVER find any fandom in a timely manner. You like idk, Dungeon Meshi? Follow me and in 6 years you’ll get so much Dungeon Meshi art it’ll make your eyes bleed. 2. I started here almost 3 years ago wanted to simply learn how to draw and write better. And lately I've worried that mostly drawing klance is gonna lead me into same face syndrome territory. So I want to mix it up. 3. Despite the hyperfixations, I've always wanted to draw multifandom. I recently found YOI and they are too adorable. Yuuri is a complete gay disaster. 4. Klance is gonna continue for sure. I'm in the middle of the next installment of Water Guardian for the end of Lance's month.

"... and then he casts aside the coach he seduced and moves on to the judges..."

In the context of the latest chapter of my YOI novelisation, I subjected the scene in which Yuuri flaunts a big portion of extra sass by blowing that kiss at the start of his short programme a closer examination.

There are two ways to interpret that move. Each one has different implications for the plot as well as for Yuuri's characterisation and motivation. And one is more plausible than the other.

Let's take a closer look at each interpretation!

1. Yuuri blows Viktor the kiss

Such a move would neatly join the ranks of past performances of Eros. What strikes me here as unusual, however, is that how anticlimactic the blow-kiss feels compared to the sensual lip-licking Yuuri did at the Cup of China because so far, he became flirtier with every performance of Eros. One would naturally expect him to double down on that as an escalation to an even lewder gesture.

In a continuous escalation of the Eros intro, the blow-kiss would happen after the flirty nod and before the lip-licking. But that doesn't happen. A blow-kiss for Viktor at this point in the story would thus imply that Yuuri no longer needs to seduce Viktor because he accomplished that at the Cup of China and focuses on keeping the love alight. However, the flippancy of the move contradicts the current stage of Yuuri and Viktor's relationship as them being madly in love and only days away from Yuuri blurting out a proposal at the airport reunion. It also contradicts Yuuri's intention to form a bond with Viktor because it stands in stark contrast to the committment Yuuri has been showing regarding his relationship for the last couple of episodes.

Just by looking at Yuuri's characterisation, this scenario seems not that likely to me.

2. Yuuri performs to the judges

Yuuri's short programme at the Rostelecom Cup has one main theme:

Before the crowd can intimidate me in enemy territory, I must intimidate them.

Skating in Viktor's homeland and in front of the people whose hero he has stolen, puts immense pressure on Yuuri that forces him to skate better than ever. Flirting with Viktor is no longer enough, Yuuri must seduce convince the audience that Viktor didn't waste his time on him and that includes seducing convincing the judges. He is freaking out internally over the possibility that this might be the last competition with Viktor as his coach. Unlike at the Cup of China where his inner monologue during his skate revolved around his prowess of seducing Viktor, his thoughts are centered around the audience. Every skater knows that an excited crowd generates power that motivates them to perform even better, and the effect of that is not lost on the judges, either. By flirting with the judges, Yuuri can increase his chances for a high placing and gets rewarded with a new personal best. Figure skating is a crazy sport and athletes can be quite eccentric, but a direct flirt probably isn't on the list of things the judges see that often—and if they did, they rather saw it from the likes of Chris. (Performing to the judges has become popular in the 2023/2024 season, but only a small part of the skaters bold enough for that move, actually used it to flirt with the judges. Right now I can only think of Loena Hendrickx in her free programme.)

It really takes guts to flirt with the judges like. Yuuri is known to show guts in the most desperate situations and when the stakes are highest, and the Rostelecom Cup puts him to the test. He has grown so much that he no longer needs to rely on performing to Viktor to deliver a perfect skate. He now has the confidence to achieve with his skating any goal he sets his mind on and by doing so in episode 8, shows the world that coaching him wasn't a waste of Viktor's energy and time.

However, at the same time, Yuuri is sending a certain message to his coach and boyfriend. Paying no attention to Viktor in a moment in which Viktor anticipates to be the centre of Yuuri's attention is a small but sweet revenge for Viktor ignoring Yuuri earlier when he was supposed to send him off. This little gesture of saying "I can flirt with the audience, too" has the power to stoke Viktor's desire and make him even more devoted to Yuuri than he already is. It makes me wish that Makkachin was less greedy.

In a way, Yuuri's flirting with the judges is also a reference to the story he used in the beginning to get an idea of Eros: "...and then the woman casts aside the playboy she seduced and moves onto the next man." Not that Yuuri would ever cast Viktor aside for another man, he just knows how to pay him back in kind and get the message across. Beware, Viktor! This extra-large serving of katsudon his spicier than you can take.

Like Yuuri, Viktor has come to Moscow with a goal "I want everyone to focus on Yuuri" that is supplementary to Yuuri's goal to convince the audience of himself. Except for that one time when Viktor greets his fans like an overexcited puppy, all his words and actions strictly adhere to his motto, starting from the interview in the beginning, to lacing Yuuri's boots and kissing his blade. But he didn't reckon with Yuuri's eros that is quick to remind Viktor and the world that Yuuri made this man his. (How fortunate that Viktor forgets his coaching duties when Yuuri needs him most!)

These two kinky dorks absolutely deserve each other.

That Yuuri blows the judges a kiss is more in line with his characterisation and the themes in this episode than Viktor being the recipient of that kiss. The cut towards the judges right afterwards supports this theory from a technical viewpoint. The Rostelecom Cup SP is the first time that we get a glimpse of the judging panel during Yuuri's performance. We've not been shown the judges' shocked expressions right after Yuuri blew the kiss because that move was so scandalous. Yuuri has been more scandalous in the past and the creators didn't bother to show us the judges then and preferred to show us a blushy Viktor and a stuttering commentator instead. The cut towards the judges seems to be a deliberate choice to drive home whom Yuuri was flirting with.

It's amazing how much meaning the YOI creators poured into even these couple of seemingly insignificant but hilarious seconds. And that deepens the love and appreciation I feel for this beautiful show.

A personal note below...

If you like this meta, please consider supporting me by reblogging it or giving this blog a follow. You might also be interested in checking out my canon works on AO3.

Found this beautiful thing by @kiaronna called The Power Of Love, go check it out if you love long hair and miscommunication (really, it was almost physically hurt to read, but i loved it anyway)

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oh god im sorry im so sorry a twitter thread with @onlyou718 went a little (a lot) too far and now im in anime crossover hell..

heres a gem from that thread tho  

Sooo, I had @crimson-chains draw this commission this for me years ago (via my other tumblr account @suzewrites) for a fanfic I wrote called Dreams on Ice. I had hoped to post this comic once I posted the chapter it goes with, but I never did and it seems a waste that I never shared it. Well, better late then never! Enjoy!