Finally at the last part of episode 5-8. Now, we tackle the big question.
Is Victor Nikiforov gay?
Is Yuri on Ice a shipping anime or is it legit LBGT+? I’ll state my claim right here.
Victor is gay. And there is evidence to support it.
But first before we get to LBGT we have incest. Let’s pick up one last person I kind of left behind, the siscon Michele Crispino.
Michele (or Micky) is an Italian figure skater who is overly obsessed with his little sister, Sala. Alright, another siscon! But one thing that’s different is that Yuri!!! on Ice takes Michele’s love very seriously instead of treating it as comedy like other brother x sister anime. Because they take Michele’s feelings very seriously, it turned into a 5 minute love story that is better than Twilight.
I can be as brave as a knight for you
If you want I can be a shadow of the night
No one loves you like the way I do
This song is him being a knight.
And this is him being a shadow of the night. (I listened to this song like…20 times. Love the Michael Buble vibe. This song is my second favourite, after Still Alive.)
It is very admirable of him that he could do anything for his little sister, and had been doing so all their lives, but is able to let her go once he realised Sala wants to break apart from him.
.
.
So now we get to Victor.
Victuuri is not just a ship. So far, we saw that all short programs convey what is inside each skater’s mind. So what is Victor’s SP supposed to say?
“Aria: Stay Close to Me” is in Italian, and I am clueless about its translation, however one blogger pointed out that the pronouns for first person and second person are both male. This means Stay Close to Me is a song sung by a male, for a male. In other words, Victor Nikiforov knows about his own sexuality.
Here is a verse by verse analysis of the translation.
I hear a voice crying far away
Have you been abandoned as well?
Come now, let’s empty this glass of wine soon
I’ll start getting ready
Now be silent.
[If we assume that the first person here is Victor, this verse say that he met someone who is ‘the same’ as him.]
With a sword I wish I could cut
Those throats singing about love
I wish I could seal in the cold the hands
That portray those verses of burning passion
[From this verse I think the speaker is trying to say that he felt jealous of those who could express their love freely and did not want hear of it. (With homosexuality generally unaccepted in Russia, this might also apply to Victor.)]
This story that makes no sense
Will vanish tonight along with the stars
[The speaker views love as something that doesn’t last… like stars that vanish once the sun rises.]
If I could see you
From hope
Eternity will be born
[The speaker yearns for an eternal love.]
Stay close to me
Don’t go
I’m afraid of losing you
[The speaker is trying to hold on to the one he loves. Here’s a picture to clarify.]
Your hands, your legs
My hands, my legs
The heartbeats
Are fusing together
[Clearly this is malexmale stuff. The speaker does not want to part with the person he met so much he tried to bound the other person.]
Let’s leave together
Now I’m ready
[Probably foreshadow?]
As Victor chose this song himself, we could safely assume that he, as a man, is singing this to another man, and he therefore is gay. If you’re still not convinced, there are more reasons.
Victor’s choice to be Yuri’s coach
In episode 1, we see that Victor watched a video of Yuri skating his program and became captivated. Since the song above is him yearning for someone he could have an eternal love with, Yuri skating his program is like answering his feelings.
Furthermore, on episode 10 we see Victor blushing and smiling when Yuri cuddles him while saying ‘Be my coach, Victor.’ This could be what sparked the choice to begin with. Since as revealed by Yuratchka during the training for ‘Onsen on Ice’ event, Victor valued surprising the audience more than anything, and winning 5 times won’t make them satisfied anymore, he chose to become a coach in order to surprise them.
Because of these factors, Victor decides that the one who could give the love he yearns for is Katsuki Yuri, while using coaching as a pretence.
Georgi and the Russian Ladies
I said Georgi would be important. If we guess from Yakov’s monologue during Georgi’s program, we could say that Victor had only known the ice and not how to take care of other people. The line “realise what Victor lacked as a skater” could be Yakov telling Georgi to skate this program with pride, because Victor doesn’t have it in him to skate a song of complete devotion. Georgi had the determination to put all his efforts for love (for Anya) which Victor lacked. This would make more sense if we looked at the two Russian ladies shown for a brief period of time.
“You know it won’t last. Don’t you feel sorry for him?”
Judging from how they speak, one could assume these two are quite familiar with Victor. What struck me was how she talked about it as if Victor’s playing around with Yuri for fun, as Yakov put it, “play coaching.”
That leads us to the next topic: what’s behind In Regards to Love: Eros?
In Regards to Love: Eros
A man went into town and seduced women left and right, then deserted them all to find other women. This is the story behind Yuri’s short program that Victor chose and choreographed. Was it Victor’s life? Victor, who doesn’t know how to treat other people and can’t last in a relationship, like the two ladies had said?
One other interpretation is that Eros is showing how Yuri got so close to Victor on episode 10 flashback but dissed him during the episode 1 airport scene. However, more evidence points towards Eros being a program that exhibits Victor’s personality…his not so nice personality.
Yuri: man hunter Victor: man
From episode 3 we knew Victor disregards his promise to Yurio about choreographing his senior debut program, and from Yakov we also know that Victor only thinks of himself.
From episode 7 we see that Victor had no idea how Yuri feels. He thought a kiss could fix everything.
But then Yuri said a line:
He said “hanarezuni boku no soba ni iteyo!”
Familiar? Yes, “Hanarezuni soba ni iteyo” is the Japanese name of Victor’s program, Stay Close to Me. Yuri is answering his feelings. Yuri might be the one to finally make him think of something other than himself.
Episode 7 showcases Victor’s flaw as a person, and best explain the dynamics between the two. Both of them give, both of them take. Victor gives Yuri the confidence he lacked, and Yuri gives Victor the acceptance he yearned. So… I think Yuri!!! on Ice is more of a love story where the two main characters happened to be male rather than a ship.
My favourite part is where they were so happy to see Yuratchka’s Agape they look like doting fathers.
And if the pre-skate dialogue of Yuri saying “I’ll show my love to the whole of Russia”, the hugs, the kisses weren’t enough proof, I have solid, material evidence from episode 10.
If you think carefully about what Victor said here, you can see how he changed. From Victor who forget promises and thinks only himself, the Victor that doesn’t understand why Yuri is so insecure… He learned to trust Yuri. And that’s beautiful.
Phichit has to be in my blog’s every single Yuri on Ice post… Oh, and although it’s their right hand, it’s still the ring finger!
Otabek is precious…
According to masterrussian.com, Russians traditionally wear the wedding ring on the ring finger of the right hand. Countries like Ukraine, Poland, Georgia, Germany, Spain, Austria, India and Greece have a similar tradition of wearing the wedding ring on the right hand.
Finally, one question remains. Will the anime officially declares Victor’s sexuality, or will they leave it to our interpretation?
Until next time ❤ My love for you readers is an Agape.
bonutzuu 
Wow, this article is pleasant, my younger sister is analyzing these kinds of things, so I am going to tell her.
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