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(May contain spoilers)

I thoroughly enjoyed Yuri!!! on ICE, even bought merchandise of it while I was still high on the initial hype for the series and for the representation of a gay couple, but then I sat down and calmly thought it over. Is it really that good? Well, let me tell you why it's overhyped.

Story:
I'm gonna be honest; when I first heard about this anime, what reeled me in wasn't the story. Top Russian ice skater helps his fanboy get back on his feet along with some rivals on the way. It sounded quite generic. When I actually watched the anime, I found myself ... enjoying the story quite a bit. I like how it was executed; Victor wasn't arrogant, Yuuri didn't stay just a fanboy and actually developed nicely on his own accord and through his own hard work which, of course, Victor helped with. There were some points in the show that kept it interesting, such as the kiss, the almost-downfall of JJ, and the winner of the Grand Prix finals, and for that, I give the story a 7/10.

Art:
Ah, the art. It was both good and bad. Certain scenes were exquisitely drawn, like the many times there was a closeup of the characters' lips, glossy and soft, or their eyes, piercing. The design of the ice skating costumes was also very well done and stayed true to both the personality of the skaters and the theme they were skating to. However, the downfall of the animation were the skating scenes themselves. A lot of them were so poorly drawn that you could barely see the skater's expression and they looked truly low budget. Some might try to counter this argument by saying the animators drew over actual skating routines and put in a lot of effort into the animation, but, no matter how much effort you put in, it doesn't matter if the end result is bad, at least from a critic's point of view; a polished turd is still a turd. And I must add that, even in the most well drawn scenes of the anime, the animation was, at best, generic. If you want to know what extraordinary animation is, take a look at Kyoto Animation's works or Studio Madhouse's adaptations of One Punch Man or Mob Psycho 100. I'm afraid I cannot give the animation anything more than a 5/10.

Sound:
I have no complaints about the soundtrack, at all. In fact, it was quite nice. The music was well done for the skaters' performances, although I didn't really notice it in other, more everyday scenes. One piece that particularly stuck out to me, though, was Yuuri's main theme song. I quite liked it. However, I must say that the rest of the music wasn't anything especially amazing. It gets a 7/10.

Character:
In my opinion, the downfall of this show. The main character, Katsuki Yuuri, is the only one I believed to be truly fleshed out in this show. He had a caring family, a role model, and still, he suffered from anxiety and was depressed for a while before he met Victor. He had wonderful character development, his confidence in himself and his skating growing, Yuuri learning to be himself in front of Victor and, of course, bolder. The others, though? Very two-dimensional. In fact, we practically know nothing about the deuteragonist's life before he flew himself over to Japan in order to train Yuuri. His family, hobbies, worries and motivations? They were never elaborated upon. The same goes for the majority of the other characters, whose lives outside of skating we only got minor glimpses of. I give the characters a 4/10.

Enjoyment:
Despite all of the flaws of this series (and there's quite a bit of them), I actually enjoyed it. The shortcomings weren't that noticeable until I actually sat down and replayed the anime in my mind. They didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the series that much. 8/10.

Overall:
On the whole, this anime is worth a watch, especially if you're looking for a nice atmosphere and a feel-good series. Is it, in my opinion, mediocre? Yes. Did it deserve the two Crunchyroll awards it got for its animation and story? Absolutely not. But, if you have nothing better to do, watch it. It's not that bad of an anime and can be enjoyed quite a bit. My overall score for it is 6/10.

Thank you for taking the time to read my first ever review, it means a lot! I tried to be as objective as I could. Please rate it as helpful if it helps you in deciding how you judge this series, or if you agree with my statements, and please know that my opinions of this anime have absolutely nothing to do with whether the couple is gay or not (I've seen some people getting shit for criticizing the anime for its actual faults and not for actually being homophobic about it). Have a nice day! :)