‘Yuri!!! On Ice’ Deserved So Much Better
When Yuri!!! On Ice came out in 2016, I was working on my final project during an internship. My fellow intern burst out of a studio and lamented that he should be working on his project, but could not, because he simply must watch another episode of Yuri!!! On Ice. After educating me on the merits of the show, he giddily faux-skated back into his studio.
This is the kind of pure, beautiful joy Yuri!!! On Ice gave countless people, especially members of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite the slightly obscured nature of the series’ climactic kiss, people felt seen by Yuri!!! On Ice, which recounts the tale of Yuri Katsuki, a Japanese skater who has hit a wall in his career and feels hopeless until Victor Nikiforov, a legendary Russian skater, shows up and offers to coach him. As Yuri’s skating career starts taking off, Yuri and Victor also embark on one of the tenderest romances in all of anime.
It’s essentially a perfect season of television. Yuri!!! On Ice is one of those rare shows that wears its heart on its sleeve, and that heart exudes nothing but warmth, even when it recounts hardship. I personally waited until the middle of the pandemic to watch it, and when I finally did, my immediate reaction was, “I want to watch this again, immediately.”
Why hasn’t there been more?
Yuri!!! was a huge hit, both in Japan and around the world. Instead of following up with a second season, though, MAPPA announced a prequel film called Ice Adolescence, which would focus on Victor’s teenage years. The film was announced in 2017, with a 2019 release date. But in September 2019, the staff announced the film would be pushed back—and didn’t give a new date. In 2020, we got a teaser trailer, but alongside another statement that the film was delayed, again with no mention of a date.
Some fans worried about the crypticness of these statements, and it turned out they were right to worry. In April 2024, MAPPA announced that the film had been canceled. The website’s official statement chalked up the cancellation to “various circumstances.”
Fans obviously felt hurt by this, even though after four years of complete silence, many could see the writing on the wall. Spending seven years in development hell on a publicly announced project, only to cancel it, is certainly bizarre. Maybe, in time, we’ll know what happened. Obviously, the pandemic did the film no favors. Perhaps it’s simply that the story just never came together. But still, to spend seven years working on something without the opportunity for people to see any fruits of all of that labor is absolutely devastating.
Yuri!!! deserves it all
When Ice Adolescence was announced, it was with the assumption that season two of Yuri!!! On Ice would follow suit. After all, Yuri!!! ended on something of a cliffhanger, with Victor saying he would return to skating, meaning our lovers would also become competitors.
But now, it’s eight years after the first season aired. The film shared its primary production staff with the series, so it’s highly possible they’re all incredibly (and understandably) burned out. The fear, then, is that Ice Adolescence‘s tortured development cycle has killed the future of Yuri!!! On Ice.
It’s not unheard of for an anime to get a new season after a decade. For example, while there was admittedly an OVA and a film in between to keep the franchise’s public-facing blood pumping, there’s a ten-year gap between Black Butler‘s third and fourth seasons. Tiger and Bunny 2 came out eleven years after its first season, with nothing at all in between. But the fact that the Yuri!!! team has been working on Yuri!!! this whole time makes this a very unique situation.
Unfortunately, I have no further pieces of encouragement for you here. Yuri!!! is an original production, so you can’t point to a manga and say, “But there’s more material here to adapt!” We unfortunately just have to continue waiting to see if MAPPA renews the series. New illustrations of Yuri and Victor were released in 2021 and 2022, so they know we want it.
In any case, I wish the nicest and longest vacations possible upon the entire staff of Ice Adolescence. And at least we still have the first season of Yuri!!! On Ice to cherish.
(Image credit: MAPPA)
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