Is Yuri!!! on Ice anime shounen ai?


Is the Yuri on Ice anime shounen ai? I want to watch the anime but it gives me
yaoi vibes. I'm not a big fan of yaoi, so I want to know if it is a yaoi.




This answer was written when the show was first airing, in Fall 2016. I don't
claim to have watched it; I've only gleaned information about this particular
show from Wikipedia.

* * *

The description for it [on
Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_on_Ice#Plot) gives a pretty good
summary of the story.

> _Yuri!!! on Ice_ follows a Japanese figure skater named Yuri Katsuki
> following a crushing defeat during the final of a Grand Prix competition. As
> Yuri becomes mixed over his feelings about ice skating, among the other
> troubles in his life, he goes to an ice rink and perfectly mimics an
> advanced skating routine performed by the famous Russian figure skater
> Victor Nikiforov. When footage of Yuri's performance is uploaded to the
> internet, it catches the attention of Victor, who decides to become Yuri's
> coach and train him alongside another skater, Yuri Plisetsky.

From this, I can surmise:

  * The main demographic are fans of [male] ice skating
  * The main character is male
  * The story appears to be about this person's struggle to get back to prominence in a sport in which he thrived in

Not sure I see any _yaoi_ or _shounen ai_ vibes that are _explicit_ in there,
since this is predominately an anime about figure skating with a cast of male
characters. There may be some degree of fanservice to that direction, but you
really won't know much about the show until you watch the first couple of
episodes.

Then again, if this genuinely makes you feel uncomfortable, share a moment of
sympathy for every late-teen/early 20s woman who sees an all-girls anime and
_plenty_ of _shojo ai_ overtones...




This answer was written when the show was first airing, in Fall 2016. I don't
claim to have watched it; I've only gleaned information about this particular
show from Wikipedia.

* * *

The description for it [on
Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_on_Ice#Plot) gives a pretty good
summary of the story.

> _Yuri!!! on Ice_ follows a Japanese figure skater named Yuri Katsuki
> following a crushing defeat during the final of a Grand Prix competition. As
> Yuri becomes mixed over his feelings about ice skating, among the other
> troubles in his life, he goes to an ice rink and perfectly mimics an
> advanced skating routine performed by the famous Russian figure skater
> Victor Nikiforov. When footage of Yuri's performance is uploaded to the
> internet, it catches the attention of Victor, who decides to become Yuri's
> coach and train him alongside another skater, Yuri Plisetsky.

From this, I can surmise:

  * The main demographic are fans of [male] ice skating
  * The main character is male
  * The story appears to be about this person's struggle to get back to prominence in a sport in which he thrived in

Not sure I see any _yaoi_ or _shounen ai_ vibes that are _explicit_ in there,
since this is predominately an anime about figure skating with a cast of male
characters. There may be some degree of fanservice to that direction, but you
really won't know much about the show until you watch the first couple of
episodes.

Then again, if this genuinely makes you feel uncomfortable, share a moment of
sympathy for every late-teen/early 20s woman who sees an all-girls anime and
_plenty_ of _shojo ai_ overtones...

