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Yuri On Ice was a show hyped up by many, and because of that I decided to give it a go. I'm a queer male, and enjoy seeing homosexual relationships played out well, and that was what I was looking for in Yuri On Ice. However, I was disappointed greatly by the show.

Story: 6/10
From the get-go the story wasn't something I found remarkable, I'd never watched any other series, but figure skating isn't unheard of in the anime database. The whole story was incredibly predictable, beforehand you already knew what the outcome was going to be, and because of that it brought the story down ... for me. There was never a point in the story that I was shocked by a decision made, as none of them were shocking, they were all predictable. The ending wasn't much better either, and in all honesty is very forgettable. It didn't give much enjoyment having made it to the end, as a lot of series do give you once you finish.

Art: 5/10
Episode 1 was amazing in terms of animation, the figure skating scenes shocked me with how fluent and smooth they were. They played around with different animating styles, the set-up shots of scenery were even enjoyable to look at. But this didn't last for long, it was very obvious the studio only focused on the first few episodes, as beyond episode 3 the animating dropped drastically. It is very clear that Yuri and Yurio were the main focuses of animating, and when it comes to the supporting characters they do not put as much effort into animating them. You can tell very easily the studio was in over their heads with the animating they wanted to do, and the time they had to do it. It's commendable they did manage to animate every performance, but it did come at a cost.

Sound: 10/10
The sound is the one thing I cannot discredit in this anime, starting off with the amazing opening. 'History Maker' is the song used, and it was a perfect song to use. It got me hyped for the show, it really has a triumphant feel. "We were born to make history," the lyrics really set the show up in the right way. The voice acting was enjoyable as well, there was never a time I heard a character and thought they had made a bad decision with it. They all fitted the characters they were playing. The OST was undeniably beautiful, the music in this anime was unreal, and something I'll praise Yuri On Ice for endlessly.

Character: 8/10
The main characters (Yuri, Yurio and Victor) were all enjoyable characters, they each had their flaws that were shown and worked on. They are easily relatable characters, the situations they go through are ones many people can relate to and see themselves in. They are all extremely realistic, and are well rounded characters. Each one of the three are well developed in the show, and seeing them grow was something I did enjoy even though I'm not the biggest fan of the show. However, the one flaw I found within Yuri was his reasons for developing, more than not they were all prompted by Victor. It was a shame that this relationship had to be the cause of many changes in Yuri, and he couldn't develop on his own most of the time.

Supporting characters are a completely different stories, they were so rushed and often we were introduced to a character made out to be so important and mighty. Only to never see them again; Kenjirou for an example. We were introduced to Minami Kenjirou earlier on in the series, and he was made out to be an up and coming figure skater. Only for him to be cast aside after an episode or two of being in the spotlight, it was things like this that made being introduced to the characters feel pointless. Especially when we were introduced to so many as Yuri went to different tournaments and competed against everyone. No supporting character felt completely developed and explored in the way it felt they were being set up for.

Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall, I did not enjoy Yuri On Ice. As a queer male, it felt too much like queerbaiting for me to enjoy. The focus felt more on the homosexuality than the sport at times, which I feel it shouldn't have considering it is a sports anime and not Shounen Ai. It felt like just another series that Fujoshi's and anyone else interested in gay fanservice would like. Which is not a bad thing, it was just something that didn't appeal to me. This series could easily, and has easily, appealed to non-anime and manga fans, the homosexuality was a touch that interest many people. I would never consider rewatching Yuri On Ice, I did not hate it, but I struggled to make it through it once around. Watching it again would have no point, other than to see the characters that got discarded over the episodes.

Overall I gave Yuri On Ice a 5/10, it was not horrible, I don't hate it. But it didn't have anything that I found special, which is easily a personal thing. I would recommend watching Yuri On Ice, as it can easily appeal to you. If gay fanservice and Fujobaiting is not your thing, I don't feel you'll find much enjoyment from watching this. But if it is your thing, you'll love Yuri On Ice.