History YMMV / YuriOnIce

** Creator/ToshiyukiToyonaga has already been lauded in some of his previous roles, specifically in ''Manga/ZetsuenNoTempest'' due to '''immensely''' PlayingAgainstType. While his overall performance as Yuri is also impressive, he was highly praised particularly for the way he acted out Yuri's emotional outburst in Episode 7.

*** A specific difference is that, like most other LGBT characters in anime and manga (including in most YaoiGenre and YuriGenre works), neither [[spoiler:Victor]] nor [[spoiler:Yuri]] has a "coming out" scene or announces their specific sexuality label. This is a pretty big sign of "canonicity" in Western LGBT media (often treated as more important than how it's reflected in their relationships on-screen, to [[SuddenlySexuality sometimes frustrating results]]) and may reflect the difference in Western viewers' debating if the couple has "gone far enough" to be canon. This reflects a larger cultural difference, with Japan being a far less individual-focused culture, and as mentioned above, viewers preferring to figure out things on their own rather than have them specifically spelled out to them.

* GeniusBonus: The semi-canon ''Yuri on Festival'' script has a lot of {{Shout Out}}s to real life figure skating, but the mention of Creator/YuzuruHanyu's ''Seimei'' program is {{Foreshadowing}} - UsefulNotes/AbeNoSeimei was an ''onmyōji'', whose duties included exorcisms and warding against dark spirits. The ''Seimei'' program was Hanyu's artistic interpretation of Seimei's battle against the villains of the movies, through skating/dance and music. The climax of the plot involves Victor exorcising Yuri from DemonicPossession courtesy of the local squid entity, with the help of dance and music.

* GeniusBonus: The semi-canon ''Yuri on Festival'' script has a lot of {{Shout Out}}s to real life figure skating, but the mention of Creator/YuzuruHanyu's ''Seimei'' program is {{Foreshadowing}} - UsefulNotes/AbeNoSeimei was an ''onmyōji'', whose duties included exorcisms and warding against dark spirits. The ''Seimei'' program was Hanyu's artistic interpretation of Seimei's battle against the villains of the movies. The climax of the plot involves Victor exorcising Yuri from DemonicPossession courtesy of the local squid entity.

* GeniusBonus: The semi-canon ''Yuri on Festival'' script has a lot of {{Shout Out}}s to real life figure skating, but the mention of Creator/YuzuruHanyu's ''Seimei'' program is {{Foreshadowing}} - UsefulNotes/AbeNoSeimei was an ''onmyōji'', whose duties included exorcisms and warding against dark spirits. The climax of the plot involves Victor exorcising Yuri from DemonicPossession courtesy of the local squid entity.

* FandomEnragingMisconception: Many figure skating fans do not take kindly to ''Yuri!!! on Ice'' fans stating that real-life skaters ''are'' the ''YOI'' characters. Creator/YuzuruHanyu is most often subject to this, thanks to his physical resemblance to Yuri and the occasional sensual program in his repertoire.

* FandomSpecificPlot: The fandom seems to have an odd fixation on [[{{Darkfic}} dark alternate universes]], with a particularly strong love of criminal [=AUs=] and Omegaverse. This is possibly because ''YOI'' is a relentlessly optimistic show, and fans want to experiment with a tonal shift.

* HypocriticalFandom:
** When the first episodes started airing, there was a small minority who shipped Yuri and [[ChildhoodFriends Yuko]] together, even though she's already married. As a result, a small ship war ensued between fans who shipped Yuri with her and those who shipped him with any of the other men in-series, particularly Victor. The camp in favor of the same-sex pairings insisted that he was over any crush he might have had on her, that she [[JustFriends doesn't see him that way]], and that [[HypocriticalHumor it wasn't a romance show]]... even though at the time it was just as unlikely that Yuri would end up with ''anyone''. [[DoubleStandard Then some of those people enthusiastically paired her up with Yurio after she showed some attachment to him]].
*** On the topic of Yuri and Yuko, quite a few fans who insisted that Victor and Yuri never did enough to be a "canon" OfficialCouple [[spoiler: even after TheBigDamnKiss ''and'' the engagement!]] saw Yuri as "canonically" bisexual based on him calling Yuko "cute" in episode 1, and the scene being framed as like a confession.... even if it's clearly apparent right after that that's not what it was. It illustrated a strong DoubleStandard in fandom between how much "evidence" fans require to believe in heterosexual desires, compared to gay ones. Which may or may not have been the point of that scene, with how much Yamamoto loves playing with conventional viewer expectations in her anime.
** J.J.'s girlfriend was immediately disliked by fans for making comments about J.J.'s fans being better than Yurio's and generally just fervently supporting J.J. in her few seconds of screen-time. Yurio retaliates by calling her an "ugly-ass bitch", and he's mean to others in general, [[DoubleStandard yet he's a fan-favorite]], partially because he gets more screen-time and has undergone some CharacterDevelopment.
** Yurio makes several insulting comments about Yuri's weight, and continues to call him a pig and the like even ''after'' Yuri had already lost weight and toned up -- and fans treat this is a hilarious RunningGag, even though this would be seen as fat-shaming in real life. When [[TheGadfly J.J. teases Yurio]] ''once'' by saying [[DudeLooksLikeALady "Ladies first,"]] he's immediately hated on by fans since they see it as him making a sexist comment, when he said it in an attempt to lighten Yurio up.

** A big part of the discussion about the age gap between Otabek and Yurio, with them being 18 and 15 respectively. Since Otabek only has been 18 for a month and Yurio isn't that far away from 16, making their age gap closer to two years than 3, most people don't find it any different than shipping Leo and Guang-Hong who are 19 and 17 years old. Some hardline fans, though, insist it is inherently abusive because Otabek is legally an adult and Yurio a child, even though those lines vary from country to country and even in many places where Yurio would still be a minor, exceptions are made for small age differences. There are even lines between those who are more okay with it aged-up, vs. those who insist the ship is problematic no matter what and aging-up "normalizes" the initial age difference. It's all a part of larger debates and discourse around fanfiction that probably come off as puzzling ValuesDissonance to anyone who's not deeply involved in social-justice-oriented online fan culture.

** When the first episodes started airing, there was a small minority who shipped Yuri and [[ChildhoodFriends Yuko]] together, even though she's already married. As a result, a small ship war ensued between fans who shipped Yuri with her and those who shipped him with any of the other men in-series, particularly Victor. The camp in favor of the same-sex pairings insisted that he was over his crush, that she [[JustFriends doesn't see him that way]], and that [[HypocriticalHumor it wasn't a romance show]]... even though at the time it was just as unlikely that Yuri would end up with ''anyone''. [[DoubleStandard Then some of those people enthusiastically paired her up with Yurio after she showed some attachment to him]].

** The anime itself became one, as, due to it's popularity, drawing or writing characters of several other shows in a [[AlternateUniverseFic figure skating AU]] became increasingly popular.

** More specifically, the creators had trouble finding studios willing to put faith in it, as Yamamoto's two [[Anime/MichikoAndHatchin previous]] [[Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine anime]] had flopped financially, and it was very different from the kind of sports anime that had been previous successes (like being about adult professional athletes rather than a high school club, including many non-Japanese characters, and of course Yuri and Victor's relationship). It turned out that what made it different was exactly why it was such a massive global success.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: As one person claims: "It's [[HoYay homolust]] with skating as window dressing." Though the skating sequences can be noteworthy and the team behind the anime has clearly ShownTheirWork when it comes to the sport, what most people tend to associate with it are the high amounts of HoYay and how the boys milk their sex appeal for everything they've got.

** ''Victor''. No matter what side of the fence you're on, you're going to have an opinion about him whether you like it or not. Most people just don't know what he is or is trying to be to Yuri, something even he lampshades in Episode 4. And Yuri's reply of wanting him to just be himself left more opinions up in the air, since we don't know ''who'' Victor's real self is.
*** Episode 3 has caused heated debate over Victor as a character and his role in the competition he sets up between the two Yuris. Some fans believe that Victor's behavior towards Yuri -- giving him more attention and being more obviously constructive -- was clearly biased in comparison to the way he treats Yurio, who's given no concrete instruction, to the extent that some think that he was set up to fail. Meanwhile, others believe that while Yurio had the harder theme to convey, he was given the same opportunity as Yuri and performed well, only failing because he couldn't incorporate his emotions into the routine, which was the entire point of the contest in the first place.

** More specifically, the creators had trouble finding studios willing to put faith in it, as Yamamoto's two previous anime had been flops, and it was so different from the sorts of sports anime that had been previous successes (like being about adult professional athletes rather than a high school club, including so many non-Japanese characters, and of course Yuri and Victor's relationship). It turned out what made it different was exactly why it was such a massive global success.

** Emil seems to hit on ''both'' the Crispino siblings at one point. And he does so with both of them at the same time.

* EarWorm: The ending theme, "You Only Live Once", has a catchy electronic beat that's hard to get out of your head once you hear it.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The show is very popular in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

** A lot of the debate around whether the show ultimately "went far enough" in portraying [[spoiler: Victor and Yuri]] as an OfficialCouple can be seen as this. Some fans have argued either that it does go pretty far and is pretty progressive for a country where LGBTQ relationships are far less normalized than they are in the U.S. Others come from the angle of pointing out that Japan is a far less physically-affectionate culture, especially with public displays of affection (and despite this, they still get TheBigDamnKiss very publicly), or that Japanese audiences are more used to subtle indications and don't need physical relationship milestones and "I love you" statements to indicate a romance. The milestones that [[spoiler: Yuri and Victor]] hit aren't really that different from many popular ''heterosexual'' anime romances. It's worth noting that this variety of ValuesDissonance seems to be especially common with Americans, as European viewers have similar expectations for subtlety in their media compared to Japan. For more information, see the general [[ValuesDissonance/AnimeAndManga Anime and Manga page]] for this trope.

* InternetBackdraft:
** Let's just say that the response to the show sweeping all of the seven categories it was nominated for in Crunchyroll's 2016 Anime Awards was not pretty.
** The initial plot announcement got this from Western fans who were hoping, based on the title and Sayo Yamamoto's reputation for female-centric anime, that it would be a YuriGenre work. Some fans even accused the show of queerbaiting over this, though this is a case of CriticalResearchFailure since the two versions of "yuri" (the boys' name, and the word for "lily"/lesbian anime) are written and pronounced differently in Japanese. Whatever lingering drama wasn't cured by that was by the revelation that [[spoiler: the show was just another kind of QueerRomance]].

* ItsPopularNowItSucks: Interestingly enough, the anime had little to no detractors during its run. But once the results of Crunchyroll's 2016 Anime Awards were announced, the anime began receiving this treatment, and the amount of haters and naysayers have continued to increase since then, with the series winning "Anime of the Year" award adding fuel to the fire. See HypeBacklash and InternetBackdraft above.

** ''Manga/BananaFish'', as an iconic LGBT-themed manga with a (more subtextual in ''Banana Fish's'' case) gay male romance that's getting an anime adaptation by Studio MAPPA, has unsurprisingly attracted a lot of ''Yuri!!! on Ice'' fans its way.

** Emil Nekola gained the attention of fans due to his uncanny resemblance to WebVideo/PewDiePie. He became even more well-liked due to being one of the friendliest skaters in the cast besides Phichit.

*** On the topic of Yuri and Yuko, quite a few fans who insisted that Victor and Yuri never did enough to be a "canon" OfficialCouple [[spoiler: even after the BigDamnKiss ''and'' the engagement!]] saw Yuri as "canonically" bisexual based on him calling Yuko "cute" in episode 1, and the scene being framed as like a confession.... even if it's clearly apparent right after that that's not what it was. It illustrated a strong DoubleStandard in fandom between how much "evidence" fans require to believe in heterosexual desires, compared to gay ones. Which may or may not have been the point of that scene, with how much Yamamoto loves playing with conventional viewer expectations in her anime.

** A lot of the debate around whether the show ultimately "went far enough" in portraying [[spoiler: Victor and Yuri]] as an OfficialCouple can be seen as this. Some fans have argued either that it does go pretty far and is pretty progressive for a country where LGBTQ relationships are far less normalized than they are in the U.S. Others come from the angle of pointing out that Japan is a far less physically-affectionate culture, especially with public displays of affection (and despite this, they still get a very public BigDamnKiss), or that Japanese audiences are more used to subtle indications and don't need physical relationship milestones and "I love you" statements to indicate a romance. The milestones that [[spoiler: Yuri and Victor]] hit aren't really that different from many popular ''heterosexual'' anime romances. It's worth noting that this variety of ValuesDissonance seems to be especially common with Americans, as European viewers have similar expectations for subtlety in their media compared to Japan. For more information, see the general [[ValuesDissonance/AnimeAndManga Anime and Manga page]] for this trope.

** Both ''Yuri!!! on Ice'' fans and ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' fans get along really well. It helps that many characters from both series share the same voice actors, and are both the most popular sports anime that aired in the Fall season.