Don’t even talk to me. I’m so.. hhnnGGAAGHAAHADAHAAAあぁぁぁぁぁぁぁぁ
Ok, so here, Yuuri says
「引退まで、僕のこと、おねがいします」
(intai made, boku no koto, onegaishimasu)
Which is translated as “Please be my coach until I retire!” in the subtitles. However Yuuri isn’t actually saying “be my coach”, he’s saying “look after me” or “I’m under your care”. He’s entrusting his whole self, physically, emotionally, and spiritually to Victor with this line, because he trusts him just that much.
Yuuri gives himself over to Victor, and that’s why he responds with a kiss to Yuuri’s knuckles and
「プロポーズみたいだね。」
(puropo-zu mitai da ne)
“It’s like a proposal, isn’t it”
To which Yuuri sighs in acceptance because he too knows it’s like a proposal, and he is totally fine with that. No rejection, no little groan, just a small sigh, contrasting his reaction to episode four when Victor asked whether he should be his lover.
You know what seals the deal right here in this scene though? It’s Victor’s next line
「ゆうりがずっと引退しなきゃいいのにな。」
(yuuri ga zutto intaishinakya iinoni na)
“It’d be nice if you never retire”
Victor says in return that he always wants to be by Yuuri’s side, and that he wants to look after Yuuri for a long, long time.
But that’s not it no no. The way Victor expresses his want to be by Yuuri’s side is strangely familiar don’t you think?
It has been brought up before, but Japanese people tend to express their emotions and wants in a roundabout way, they don’t really straight out say it. So if we jump all the way back to episode two, when Victor asks Yuuri what his wish was if he were to win Onsen on Ice, Yuuri says
「ヴィクトルとカツ丼食べたい。これからもいっぱい勝って、いっぱいカツ丼食べたい！」
(vikutoru to katsudon tabetai. korekara mo ippai katte, ippai katsudon tabetai)
“I want to eat katsudon with you (Victor). From here, I want to win a lot, and eat a lot of katsudon!”
It was where this whole love story aspect of the anime began, and it was through Yuuri’s roundabout way of saying “I want you to stay, Victor”.
In fact, we can observe Victor gradually picking up some of these Japanese traits, in episode three, during the Onsen on Ice event, there was the all-important
「カツ丼大好きだよ」
(katsudon daisuki dayo)
“I love katsudon.”
This is still quite straightforward, Victor says that he loves and supports Yuuri through the line. So when we compare this to the latest episode, with his “It’d be nice if you never retire”, which is around the same level of indirect as Yuuri’s “I want to eat katsudon with you”, we are able to really appreciate how much Yuuri has grown on Victor, and how much they both love and want each other.
When I think Otayuri on ice, I think Welcome to the Madness! – at least until they come up with a canon pair skate performance for them. I have so much hype for the movie already! 😛
Although we haven’t posted before, we’re already working on the game! The picture you can see is a small teaser of the sprites.(Minako, Yurio and Yuuko by @estellie, Mari and Minami by @maclaeroni)
Here’s some info for those who aren’t familiar with the project:
On Love: Return to Hasetsu is a visual novel project focused on Yuuri and Victor’s experience of the different types of love. The story begins as they return to Japan for the holidays. There will be five main chapters focused on the lesser known forms of love: storge, pragma, philia, philautia and ludus. The player will then have the choice between two routes: eros or agape. The agape route will take you through the story of a beautiful, selfless love. Look out for the eros route for the fantastic journey of passion!
More information can be found on our /about page. If you still have any questions, just send us a message on tumblr!
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