Trashy Corner

And he’s clinging to my hand like it’s a life preserver and I’m being me and talking about nonsense like Grimace from the McDonalds commercials and how R2D2 is always ready to throw hands, and whatever, and the artist keeps glancing over at me and I’m like do your tattoo bro I’ve got my buddy handled

But then I realize he’s like, looking over because he can’t tell if he’s seeing something or not, and I glance down and I see my rainbow scalemail bracelet, and how I’m talking to my buddy all fondly and I’m like stroking his arm like he’s a wounded animal, and right as it clicks in my head the tattoo artist asks in his most nonchalant voice possible, like intentionally bland, I’m just talking about the weather haha what do you mean voice:

“So, are you guys close?”

And my gay ass is over to the side internally screaming because yeah, I am gay, but like this is just me being a good bro and my buddy is COMPLETELY OBLVIOUS TO WHAT IS HAPPENING BECAUSE HE’S A GARBAGE STRAIGHT PERSON AND HE SAYS

“Yeah of course, that’s why I asked him to come”

SO NOW THE TATTOO ARTIST THINKS HE’S RIGHT AND HE HAS A GAY COUPLE GETTING A TATTOO AND MY BUDDY HAS NO IDEA AND I’M AWKWARDLY SITTING HERE LIKE SHOULD I STOP HOLDING HIS HAND??? SHOULD I CORRECT THIS TATTOO ARTIST??? SHOULD I LET MY BUDDY KNOW??? MY GAY ASS DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE BEING INCORRECTLY ACCUSED OF BEING GAY, WHAT DO YOU DO

So that tattoo artist is like “Cool man, that’s great. Good for you.”

So then my buddy is like can I get some water, and the guy comes back with one bottle of water and my buddy takes a drink and then hands it to me, and I’m like obviously he has to lay down and needs me to hold his water so I just hold it in my hand, but turns out he was offering me water, so he turns to me and is like Colton, drink some water, and I take a drink and my garbage lizard brain is like “You’re drink sharing in front of the tattoo artist, now he KNOWS he’s right”

So we’re talking about tattoos with the artist and I mention that I’m getting a tattoo in September and my buddy is like “Yeah I’m gonna go and hold HIS hand for that one haha” and the tattoo artist FUCKING SAYS “I mean, I should hope so”

I MEAN, I SHOULD HOPE SO

I MEAN, I SHOULD HOPE SO

The snow.

They probably weren’t watching the weather forecast there in the first two shots, they were watching the news. This cold front came literally out of nowhere, as, like the announcer says, it was supposed to be a perfect day for hanami, ergo going for a picnic to watch the cherry blossoms. But instead, lots of snow.

Now, for those of you who live in colder areas, like myself, you probably just went “well, unseasonal snow happens sometimes, I remember once we had snow in mid-May.”

For those of you who live in warmer areas, you probably went “idk how snow works, so I guess that sounds legit???”

No.

Snow in April on fucking Kyushu is beyond ridiculous, okay. They barely even get snow in the actual winter months. This is happening on April 11th - or even later - and they should be having temperatures in the 15-20°C/60-68°F range - or maybe even higher. And they probably were, before this. That’s why Yuuri’s so surprised and confused.

So why would they even bother including this?

Victor. It’s all about Victor.

In part, I suspect it’s a literary/poetry reference, even if I can’t quite place it, because “he came from the north, bringing ice and snow” is something of a universal literary image.

But mostly, it’s because, in Japanese, when someone does something highly unexpected and uncharacteristic, like, say, me cleaning my room, you express your surprise by saying “wow, does this mean it’s gonna snow tomorrow?”

I’m probably not the most qualified to answer this, so maybe @fencer-x wouldn’t mind chiming in a bit? But from what I know and have seen it looks like the concept of soulmates in Japan isn’t that different from the West. I don’t really feel comfortable getting into how extensive the Japanese understanding of soulmate is.

For what it’s worth, I have seen zero negative response on my TL. So, I’m not sure where those people are coming from.

As for me, personally? I feel fandom, as a general whole, not just any specific fandom, has sort of taken the idea of soul mate and made it something concretely romantic. However, the concept is that of someone who perfectly completes you, is your other half, and while that often has a romantic end, it’s not in the definition. A soul mate can be a romantic partner, most often the concept is used romantically, but it can also be a best friend.

Have you ever heard the What’s A Soulmate? audio? That’s basically my perfect definition of a soulmate.

Fandom seems to have a real problem understanding the concept of love in Yuri!!! on Ice, so it’s little wonder some seem to have a problem understanding the concept of soulmates, as it’s understood by both Japanese and westerners. Because there’s no difference. Really there’s not. It’s just, as Ally says above, that fandom has diluted the meaning of ‘soulmate’ down to a WHOLLY romantic meaning, not understanding that it’s everything.

It’s love, in all its forms–and yes, i

ncluding romantic–it’s destiny, it’s a bond, it’s being meant to be with this person. Being completed.

It’s much like 愛 in Japanese, their word for love; they have a separate word for simply romantic love (恋), but 愛 encompasses everything, whole kind of love–romantic and bone-deep and cherishing and fawning and unselfish and selfish and everything in between. There’s a WORLD of difference between “suki da” and “aishiteru” for “I love you”–the former is rattled off easily and spans the length and breadth of like/love. You can use it to describe how you feel about corn, you can use it to describe how you feel about your wife. But aishiteru? Almost no one says it, because it’s just so HEAVY. There’s even a whole day dedicated to husbands going out in public and shouting it for their wives to hear, to kind of encourage men to be more open about their feelings and to also just express their love in its most concentrated form.

And that’s what a soulmate is–a true mate of your soul. A friend, a companion, a partner. A lover, yes, but so much more than that.

If you think having all of this love inside that word dilutes the meaning of the romantic component, then I feel very sad for you, because it means that you think romantic love is weakened by being coupled with affection and genuine LIKING someone and caring for someone’s happiness. As if platonic and romantic love cannot coexist.

More to the point, if you still need Yuuri and Victor’s romantic feelings spelled out for you? Well there’s no helping you. Kubo-sensei has gone on record as finding it amusing that western fans have to ask her what happened in episode 7. You make her laugh by not being able to figure it out. Yuuri said that he wanted the theme of his skating season to be 愛, and that means EVERYTHING involving love. It means Eros–which was initially a foreign concept to Yuuri, having to think of something that drives him wild because he had no real experience with sexual feelings (consciously at least) to fall back on. But by episode 11, he’s thrown Victor kisses and kissed their exchanged rings as a link back to Victor–a symbol so that Yuuri didn’t have to waste his focus distracted by not understanding what their relationship was.

If it was meant to be that confusing or ambiguous, then the point of the rings would be lost :P

I’m not sure where these ‘negative tweets’ are that the asker mentions; every Japanese person on my feed is thrilled, noting that their being ‘soulmates’ makes perfect sense.

The entire story of YOI is all about love and all its forms, and how all of those forms are just part of a greater whole. It’s why Yuuri just wants Victor to stay Victor, because becoming any ONE thing seems to sideline all of the other things. Even a lover, a 恋人 in Japanese, is literally someone you share 恋 with–but Yuuri doesn’t want just romantic passion. He wants a partner and companion and someone he can fight with and someone he can eat katsudon with.

Ruby thinks she’s a snow leopard