Entertainment Without A Life

The proof? Ilya.

He's gentle and respectful of consent and boundaries, he never made shane feel uncomfortable for how he folds clothes before hooking up even though he did find it amusing, or how shane felt uncomfortable with so many windows even tho they were on one of the higher floors, mind you that at that point their feelings for each other weren't nearly as intense as its been later.

But he's also funny and made shane laugh alot even when he was uptight and nervous, ragebaity on the ice yes (he's still a hockey player after all) but he's a good captain and knows how to uplift his team whether its with jokes or speeches that made ME want to win their game lmao, he's always there for other people's important moment ie after scott came out and his speech at the awards (when he met scott at the bar, in the books).

Its so obvious how caring he is at the hospital scene too, he went to check on shane while also mentioning how marleau feels bad for what happened and wanted shane to know that. In episode six, reassuring shane when his dad found them, told shane he'd of course go with him to his family with zero hesitation, was there for shane as just a quiet support until shane really needed him while panicking and ilya immediately jumped in to reassure him.

But, he also cared for his father who was absolutely terrible to him and his mother, whom he FOUND when she committed (thats an entire trauma of its own). He spent his summers in russia taking care of his father, when he was away he was sending an absurd amount of money over, made sure they eat the best of food and wear the best of clothes in the hopes that it would be good enough but it wasn't and yet, and YET he still took care of them. Even after his father died and his brother being an ass, he's leaving money for his niece because none of this is her fault. It also broke me how emotional he got when shane talked about the foundations he wants to donate too and his plan like, after all this time taking care of others he got shane (and the hollanders) taking care of him and making future plans with him in mind and it got to him.

But he's also polite and respectful, he smiled at the nurse and said thank you, apologized to the bartender for his team being idiots, in episode six he's respectful of shane's family and dug into the food happily and said thank you for it later and also complimented the vodka they brought out. He played with the children at the all star weekend so beautifully and made them laugh and for god's sake! He likes to spread joy.

So yeah i do believe that she was beautiful and funny because, even though it was for only twelve years, she raised him! and he is exactly the way he describes her. Strong and beautiful and funny despite the circumstances.

He's proof that being kind is a choice you actively make every single day, that even with a shit upbringing or circumstances you can still be a good person because you choose to be. But also even though his mom left the battle at the end, she still powered through just like he is. Except he has Shane to be there for him while he fights his fight.

Given how YOI started with Yuuri’s failure at the Grand Prix Final, it was almost too easy to discount the fact that Yuuri’s a professional skater - the top skater in Japan actually.

But there are all these clues in the background, even throughout the first episode, that Yuuri is an unreliable narrator when it comes to assessment of his own skills. 

Just look at all the trophies that his family has proudly displayed in the common dining area!!!

In fact, he has so many, that there are even more trophies in storage in his room!

And compare it to JSF website IRL…

You’ll know how big of a deal Yuuri is as Japanese skater… I mean, he’s the only JSF-Certified Men’s Top Figure Skater in YoI universe!! Morooka isn’t exaggerating when he calls Yuuri as Japan’s Ace.

Indeed Yuuri is Japan’s top skater! He’s not a run of the mill skater certified by the JSF, he’s the absolute top male skater in the entire nation. I think this is partly due to some of the CR subbing? I don’t believe it intentional, but a couple of line translations did make his repertoire sound not as impressive. 

This is why what happened to him at nationals was such a shock. For a skater who is at the top of their country to not even finish in the top five at the National Championships is just… something that doesn’t really happen often. Yuuri was most certainly previously the Japanese national champion, and I would imagine that he’s got to be ranked top ten-ish in the world if he made the GPF. Judging by that website above, winning or placing high at nationals should have been something easy for him, so yeah, it’s no wonder he broke down. 

(Obviously this is a universe where Japan doesn’t have several male skaters in their ranks who could potentially medal on an international level, including one who is largely considered the greatest male skater in the world.)

In the first episode, they even say “Yuuri’s not at World’s this year?” Because duh, he should be. 

Minami looks up to Yuuri so much because he’s indisputably the BEST skater in his entire nation, so no doubt he’s been watching him for years. Yuuri though is caught up in his self esteem issues, and he’s constantly comparing his career to actual living legend Victor Nikiforov’s career, so he doesn’t see that. He’s legitimately bewildered by Minami admiring him so much.  I actually love that episode because I think that being at a regional competition like that again really put things in perspective for Yuuri. 

Don’t forget that he made the Grand Prix Final before, which alone is huge. That means he placed highly at two Grand Prix events the previous year, which is exactly what he’s trying to do right now (though his skating has increased in difficulty/improved so I imagine his placements are higher and his scores definitively are– not to mention the higher program component scores he’s probably getting). Yes, he placed last, but in a field of six of the best skaters in the world, that’s still pretty darn amazing. I think that, to trigger the reaction he had, he must have not only placed last but skated very, very poorly. 

Given how YOI started with Yuuri’s failure at the Grand Prix Final, it was almost too easy to discount the fact that Yuuri’s a professional skater - the top skater in Japan actually.

But there are all these clues in the background, even throughout the first episode, that Yuuri is an unreliable narrator when it comes to assessment of his own skills. 

Just look at all the trophies that his family has proudly displayed in the common dining area!!!

In fact, he has so many, that there are even more trophies in storage in his room!

Henry doesn't dislike Alex at all. At most he's defensive because Henry's annoyed by the giant crush he has on a beautiful loud American who obviously dislikes him yet demands his attention whenever they're in the same room together.

Alex does dislike Henry at first, but it's mostly justified hurt feelings confused by the giant subconscious crush he has on an elegant closed-off British monarch who attempts to cosplay a wallflower whenever they're in the same room together.