‘Yuri!!! on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence’ cancellation sows displeasure from fans

Imagine holding on for the longest time, then suddenly, all that waiting gets you nothing. Yeah, that’s how ‘Yuri!!! on Ice’ fans are feeling right now.

As of April 2024, the originally planned ‘Yuri!!! on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence’ film has been canceled and shelved. This was announced on the film’s official website, along with a statement from the production team and anime studio MAPPA, stating that the decision was made following internal discussions between the committee and staff, citing “various circumstances.”

‘Yuri!!! on Ice’ is a Japanese sports anime about figure skating, centering on Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki, his Russian coach Viktor Nikiforov, and his Russian rival Yuri Plisetsky. The anime follows Yuri’s career as a figure skater—from his defeat in the Grand Prix Final, his journey of improving himself under the tutelage of the Russian figure skating champion Viktor Nikiforov, up to his silver-medal finish at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona.

The anime was received positively by the figure skating community, even from famous figure skaters Evgenia Medvedeva (2016 World Champion), Masato Kimura, Johnny Weir, Evgeni Plushenko, among many others. The anime’s last episode also had cameo appearances from figure skaters Nobunari Oda and Stéphane Lambiel.

Apart from the recognition it received from figure skating professionals, the anime’s storyline was also noted for its portrayal of LGBTQIA+ relationships, as well as its portrayal of anxiety, overall direction, and diversity.

Brandon Teteruck from Crunchyroll said, “Yamamoto is subtly crafting a work that embraces diversity and cultural acceptance,” applauding how the characters also had their own back stories and characterization. In the same article, Teteruck also noted on how the anime also disregards traditions and norms.

“Yamamoto subverts traditional representations of gender, sexuality, and nationality,” and also cited one example from the anime, where the Thai skater Phicit Chulanont had skated to a piece reminiscent of the “King and I”, where two variations of it had been banned in the country.

Johnny Weir, a two-time Olympian, and a retired figure skater, had said in an interview back in 2016, “I broke my rule about one episode per day because I physically could not stop watching.”

‘Yuri!!! on Ice’ is also a multi-awarded anime, garnering 25 awards in different categories in different award shows from 2017 to 2018. The anime is highly popular on the Internet, and during the time of its airing, according to the Kadokawa Ascii Research Laboratories (a trend analytics company), it was the most-tweeted anime of the season with 1,440,596 Tweets.

The plans to create a ‘Yuri!!! on Ice’ movie was announced back in April 2017, with the title being made official the following year. The film was slated for release back in 2019 but had ultimately been delayed “in order to substantially scale up the content more than originally planned.”

Fans were incredibly dismayed following the announcement, and voiced out their reactions on social media.

Other fans also expressed their anger, stating that the production should have sold the rights to another anime studio, and also called out the censorship behind the scenes.

https://twittercom/blerdgurlwatch1/status/1781166843828334724

It really is a shame that MAPPA had cancelled this project. Fans have literally waited for years for a proper announcement, but instead, got a cancellation.

 

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