Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov

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Pairing
Pairing: Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov
Alternative name(s): Victuuri, Viktuuri
Gender category: Slash
Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice
Canonical?: Canon
Prevalence: High
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Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov, or Victuuri, is a canon slash ship in the fandom Yuri!!! on Ice.

Canon

Yuuri was a huge fan of Victor's ever since he was a child, and it has greatly inspired him to skate. An early wish of Yuuri's was to be able to meet Victor on the ice at a similar level and to one day surpass the Russian.

Victor walks into Yuuri's life after watching Yuuri perfectly replicate his free skate, Stay Close to Me. He declares himself Yuri's new coach and takes a year off from his own skating career to do so. Yuuri was first rather afraid and distant from Victor, but as the days went on, they became closer. He becomes afraid that Victor would leave him, begging Victor to always remain by his side. Yuuri's free skate, and eventually short program as well, are dedicated to Victor. Yuuri also spontaneously changes the final jump of his free skate into Victor's signature jump in a bid to surprise Victor. In response, Victor knocks Yuuri onto the ice with a kiss after the program was over, saying it was the only way Victor could surprise Yuuri more.

In Barcelona, before the Grand Prix Final, Yuuri presents Victor with a gold ring as a birthday/Christmas present. Victor also places a gold ring on Yuuri's finger, and later confirms the pair rings to be engagement rings, stating that they would get married when Yuuri won gold at the GPF.

It was revealed that Victor's first true personal encounter of Yuuri was during the previous year's GPF, where they had danced together. Yuuri had also begged Victor to come to the family hot spring and to be Yuuri's coach, explaining why Victor was quick to leave Russia for Japan and be affectionate with Yuuri. Yuuri, having being drunk at the time, has no memory of this first encounter.

Fandom

The ship was popular from the start of the show, considering Yuuri is shown to have admired and idolized Victor for years. At first, there were concerns about queer baiting and fan service, found commonly in sports anime. Victor's affectionate behavior in early episodes was perceived by some to be overly aggressive, but the reveal in Episode 10 that they had met previously explained this.

Yuuri and Victor kiss at Cup of China, episode 7.

The ship and fandom exploded after Victor and Yuuri kissed on screen in Episode 7. The canon gay relationship was widely celebrated.[1] Many people who had not been in anime fandom before were drawn to Yuri on Ice by Victuuri.[2]

Going by fics written, Yuuri/Victor was third largest ship in Yuletide 2016, even though Yuletide only allows character matching, and the top ship in Chocolate Box 2017, which is a relationship matching exchange. Yuletide and Chocolate Box are the first and second largest exchanges currently running.

In 2023, the relationship won 7th place in the second MLM Ship Bracket Tournament out of 32 entrants.

Common Tropes & Fanon

  • Soulmarks and soulmate AUs proliferate in the Yuri on Ice fandom, and many of the most popular fanfics feature this trope.
  • Owing to the prevalence of Instagram and other types of social media in the series, chatfic (fanfiction written in the style of a group chat) and other fanworks which centre around social media as a theme or plot device are common. Many fanworks creators imitate the format of social media in their works to create fake posts and screencaps.[3] Others include references to photos and videos going viral, or reference an individual skater's followers and fanbase.
  • Celebrity - Yuuri and Victor are both professional, internationally competing figure skaters, but Victor is a longtime world champion and far more renowned. Yuri has idolized him since he was young and is insecure because of his perceived inferior skill. Yuri becomes insecure about their relationship because of Victor's success and is conscious of how the media follows them. Many fanworks focus on the theme of fame. Canon-compliant works often explore the public, media, or fan reactions to their eventually committed relationship, and how it affect Yuri and Victor individually. There are alternate canon works that flip the dynamic, making Yuuri the more successful (and perhaps older) skater whom Victor idolizes. AU fanworks may also make either character a different kind of celebrity - for instance, one or both of the pair are no longer skaters, but actors or a different type of athlete.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

  • Rivals series
  • Stargazer, Part 1 of Yuri!!! in Space by Fahye. "No, see, we've all been trained a certain way. The training system is traditional; it's centuries old. Nobody taught you. You ballist like it's got nothing to do with war at all." A sleepy, extraordinary smile crawls over Victor's face. "Nobody else does it like that. That's why we're going to win."
  • Landing a Quad by el_staplador. Nothing could be more natural than that Takeshi and Yuuko and Yuuri should form three quarters of a sedoretu. It's only a pity, says public opinion in Hasetsu, that they can't find a fourth and give those poor triplets (those appalling triplets!) a stable upbringing in a decent sedoretu. But that's not going to happen, not when those feckless parents can't think of anything beyond skating and Victor Nikiforov.
  • a story in three parts by nerakrose. Christophe takes Yuri for dinner while their husbands get drunk.
  • katsuki_fc wrote by tetsurashian. "Just because Yuuri isn't big on social media, doesn't mean his fans aren't. (aka a social media fic)"
  • The Fundamentals of Caring and All the world’s a stage‎‎ by braveten
  • Praise Please by surveycorpsjean. Viktor is a good coach. Strict, talented. But Viktor is kind. He gives praise like a waterfall, overflowing and loud and it makes Yuuri drown.
  • like your french girls by ebenroot. in which Victor is an artist, Yuuri is his figure skating muse, and Yuri is so done hearing about their stupid love story through Instagram
  • Paper Airplanes by LunarTimeLady
  • Be my Sex Coach, Viktor! by Lucycamui. An example of an AU where Yuuri is still a professional skater while Victor is a pornstar.
  • Yuuri Katsuki Secret Route Walkthrough/FAQ[1] by Metis_Ink. Dating Sim AU fic styled like social media posts.
  • On My Love[2] by RikoJasmine. Time travel AU where Yuuri dies and wakes up before the Sochi Grand Prix Finals.

Classics

Fanart & Fancomics

Doujinshi

Zines

Fanvids

Meta

Communities & Resources

References

  1. ^ The AO3 Tag of the Day is: Smugness by ao3tagoftheday, 2017.
  2. ^ "Even though Reiya writes fanfics about YOI, she admits that she doesn’t really watch anime. She became interested in Yuri on Ice when she kept seeing it on her dashboard around episode two or three." – Getting to Know Reiya
  3. ^ Fanart by b-tandoodlez on tumblr, published December 8th, 2016 (Accessed December 25th, 2016).
  4. ^ yoi fandom classics Aug 2017, accessed 10 March 2018
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