Yuuri Katsuki

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Character
Name: Yuuri Katsuki, 勝生 勇利 (かつき ゆうり), Katsuki Yūri
Occupation: competitive figure skater
Relationships: Hiroko Katsuki (Mother),

Toshiya Katsuki (Father), Mari Katsuki (Older Sister), Victor Nikiforov (Fiancé, Coach),

Celestino Cialdini (Former Coach)
Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice
Other:
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Yuuri Katsuki or Yuri Katsuki is the protagonist of the ice skating anime Yuri!!! on Ice.

Canon

Yuuri is a figure skater from Japan. His family owns a hot spring. He has issues with self-deprecation and lack of confidence during performances . In the first episode of the series, Yuri is shown to have been infatuated with the older figure skater Victor Nikiforov since his childhood, and was inspired by him to become a figure skater as well He once had a pet poodle whom he named after Victor. He later moves to Detroit to train with coach Celestino Cialdini and becomes best friends with Phichit Chulanont, a figure skater from the Philippines.

At the start of the series, after experience a crushing defeat in the Grand Prix Final at age 23, Yuuri develops mixed feelings about skating and puts his career on hold; returning to his hometown of Hasetsu in Japan. Yuri visits his childhood friend, Yuko, at an ice rink (Ice Castle Hasetsu) and perfectly mimics an advanced skating routine performed by his idol: Russian figure skating champion Victor Nikiforov. Footage of Yuuri replicating one of Victor's old routines catches Victor's attention, and he travels to Hasetsu with an offer to coach Yuri and revive his figure-skating career. Later, it is revealed that Victor was already familiar with Yuuri, having met him before at a banquet where Yuri got drunk and asked Victor to be his coach.

Victor becomes Yuuri's coach, and they become increasingly close. Yuuri qualifies to represent Japan in the Grand Prix series, and after a successful performance, kisses Victor. Yuuri buys gold rings for Victor and himself, and they get engaged. Yuuri wins the silver medal at the Grand Prix, losing to Yuri Plisetsky. Yuuri decides to continue skating and moves to St. Petersburg so that he can continue to stay together with Victor, and train alongside Yuri and Victor.

Personality

Yuuri is soft-hearted and easily devastated in the face of failureーso much so that he can slip into a depression for months at a time. He is shy, likes food and puts on weight easily, which he is harassed over by other characters at the beginning of the series. He is quiet, kind, and easily embarrassed, but he is also shown to be stubborn and extremely competitive. Much of the fandom theorises that Yuri has anxiety, which gives rise to his self-deprecation and lack of confidence during performances and in his relationship with Victor.

After being taken under Victor's wing as a student, Yuuri begins to steadily develop more confidence in himself. However, he still becomes easily discouraged, anxious, and insecure about his relationship with Victor.

Fandom

At the end of October 2016, different romanisations of the characters' names were in use, making matters confusing because two of the main characters share the same name: Yuri or Yuuri.

Using "Yuuri" and "Yuri" to differentiate between Yuuiri Katsuki and Yuri Plisetsky the two is a popular convention. On the Yuri on Ice Wikia, the Japanese figure skater is spelled Yuuri,[1] and the Russian ice skater is spelled Yuri.[2] These are also main tags on Archive of our Own. In the early days of the fandom, a popular method on Tumblr is to use second name initials to disambiguate, calling them Yuri K and Yuri P, but the use of "Yuuri" is now ubiquitous.

Yuri's pet poodle, Vicchan, whom he named after Victor is include in many works.

Tropes and Themes

  • Mental Illness: Yuuri canonically struggles with anxiety and depression.
  • Hurt/Comfort. May be related to Yuuri's insecurities or mental illness.
  • Transfic. All of the main characters have been headcanoned and written as trans women, trans men, and nonbinary. There are a few canon occasions where Yuri K explicitly expresses an affinity to femininity and desires the role of a woman, which leads to Yuri K being seen as a trans woman or a nonbinary person by some fans.[3]
  • Drunk!Yuuri
  • Ace!Yuuri: At the start of the show, Yuuri struggles to embrace the sexual aspects of the theme of his short program Eros. He overcomes this problem by taking inspiration in his love of food to convey the feelings of passion and desire. This leads some fans to see him as part of the asexual spectrum.[4][5]

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Example Fanworks

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Meta

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