Yuri on Ice Episode 7 Review

Hey everybody! I’m here with another episodic review of Yuri on Ice!! Today I’m going to be talking about episode 7, also known as, “China’s On! The Grand Prix Series Opening Event!! The Cup of China Free Skate”. Wow, this title’s original, except for the fact its the same title as last week except with Free Skate instead of Short Program. Anyway, if you haven’t seen the episode yet, please go and watch it, as I will probably be spoiling a few things. With that out of the way, let’s get started.

Summary:

The episode starts with Yuri being sleep deprived, since he was so nervous about the free skate, due to his big win in the short program. Victor tries his best to calm Yuri down, but as each competitor does their routines, Yuri becomes more and more unsure of himself, to the point where Victor takes Yuri to an empty, underground parking lot, to keep him from seeing the competition. This proves futile as he still able to hear the crowd, and becomes more nervous. Victor is not sure about what to do, since he was never showed his nervousness externally, unlike Yuri. Victor then, in order to wake Yuri up, resorts to breaking his heart, by saying that, if Yuri doesn’t qualify, Victor will take responsibility and resign as his coach. This succeeds, as Yuri then breaks down, and tells Victor that he needs him to believe in Yuri and stand by him, no matter what. Later, Yuri does his routine, but he does it with his anger at what Victor said, which creates more passion in his dance. He also attempts a quadruple flip, which was a signature move of Victor’s. After his routine is over, Victor is so proud of Yuri that he kisses Yuri and tackles him to the ice. The competition ends with Leo, Guanghong, and Georgi are unable to move foward, as they either had lackluster performances, or, in Georgi’s case, made a big mistake in his routine, after his ex-girlfriend rejected his affections. Phichit ends up winning the Cup of China, with Yuri in second, and Christophe in third. The episode ends with the announcement that Yuri’s next competition is in Russia, with Yurio ready to prove that he is better than Yuri.

Review:

Can I just say that, this show just keeps getting better and better. I absolutely love watching all the ice skating, and this episode also did a really good job of balancing between the different routines, and the Victuri drama happening, behind the scenes. We got to see more of the other characters thoughts, such as Guanghong’s cool mafia sequence or Phichit’s reason to win, and more of other characters past, such as Chris’s past with Victor or Georgi’s possessives over his past love. This episode was also great at building character relationship between Yuri and Victor, as it shows that they are both learning, whether its Victor being a coach, or Yuri having confidence in himself. But because of this, their relationship grows even stronger, and they learn more about each because of their shortcomings. And that kiss…. My god I was freaking out so much! Victuri has to be the ultimate ship.

As for the bad things, I do feel that Victor should have considered Yuri’s feelings more before trying to “shatter his heart”. While I get that Victor was trying to go for reverse psychology kind of deal by doing that, he should know by now that Yuri is a very emotional person and will react horribly to the idea that he would cause Victor to leave him. It didn’t help that Yuri already had doubts about Victor staying by him or not, which is why he tells Victor that he needs him to just stay by his side. While the scene was still good at character building, it did make Victor seem completely inconsiderate to Yuri. I don’t think this ruins the episode though.

In Conclusion:

Overall, I think Yuri On Ice!! is still going strong, and is proving to be a must-see show of the season, if not the year. This show is taking its characters to new heights, and is proving to be much more than anyone had expected. I do hope that the next episode will show more the ever-growing relationship between Yuri and Victor, but I am happy to the return of Yurio. With that said,  what did you guys think of this episode? What did you think of each of the free skating routines? Do you support the Victuri couple? Please comment below on your thoughts. If you would like to watch this series with me, please go to Crunchyroll. Be proud of what you do, and I hope to see you guys next time.