JJ is my least favorite skater in the YOI universe, and as a personality, I find him a little bit insufferable. But as a character, I think he’s really interesting, and let me tell you why.
I’ve seen some discussion about JJ’s role as a parallel to Yuuri. Like Yuuri, JJ chokes in the final. It’s a chance for Yuuri (and us) to see that pressure can get to anyone, breakdowns are unpredictable, that even the best skaters have their off-days, and that a bad performance doesn’t mean they’re suddenly not these amazing, elite athletes.
I think all of that is true. But I think that JJ is actually more of a parallel to Viktor.
JJ is a well-rounded skating powerhouse; he’s got steps and quads and height for days, just like Viktor.
He does everything HIS way, just like Viktor. (We even see that he butts heads with his former coaches, just like Viktor does with Yakov.)
He’s got a charm that the media and fans eat up, just like Viktor.
He is the pride of his country, just like Viktor.
But JJ has two things Viktor never had.
Even though we’re led to assume that Viktor is a playboy, there’s very little first-hand evidence of that aside from Viktor trying to talk to Yuuri about his first lover. Viktor says he’s been ignoring love for two decades. Conversely, JJ, who isn’t even two decades old yet, has a fiancee who he met in high school. They love each other, as evidenced by their mutual compliments and physical closeness. She’s his biggest fan and supporter, even when he messes up badly.
He also has his parents, who have his back and stoke his confidence. Viktor only had Yakov, and while I’d argue that they love each other in their own way, Yakov NOT ONCE compliments Viktor to his face. Viktor apparently responds well to criticism, but that doesn’t mean that he never needed praise from him. Even during his skating, JJ monologues a lot about love that he both gives to and receives from his fans. Viktor loves performing for the audience, but he also feels the need to convince them to stay on his side.
The other thing JJ has that Viktor didn’t have was a life. He likes music and collaborates with a famous band for his song; he even performs it with the bad at least once. When he proposes to Isabella, they’re surrounded by a LOT of people, who all look very happy for them, which leads us to believe that he has friends and family, and the creators have referenced his adherence to his Christian upbringing, so he may have a religious community as well. Viktor, on the other hand, has always been alone; his only friend seems to be Chris. Otherwise, his network revolves around Team Russia, and there’s not much to suggest that he’s particularly close with his rinkmates.
JJ is boisterous, but he’s kind and he’s honest. He asks Otabek to go to dinner, thinking that he might be lonely. He cheers for Emil’s successful quad. He thinks the world of his fangirls. I think even his teasing of Yurio is an attempt at affection. Whereas Viktor puts on a carefully crafted persona and tries to earn validation and support by constantly reinventing himself to be who everyone else wants him to be, JJ puts everything out there. He IS loud, he IS a little over the top, he IS proud, and he’s not ashamed of those things, even if others find it off-putting, because skating isn’t actually what defines him.
And maybe all of this is part of the reason that Viktor doesn’t seem to like JJ. Aside from being an obstacle for Yuuri, Viktor can see that JJ is arguably a more successful version of himself. He’s a force to be reckoned with on the ice, but he isn’t isolated by his success. At 19 years old, he already has everything Viktor found himself lacking and wanting at 27, and that must sting a little.
