Yuri Plisetsky (Russian: Юрий Плисецкий; Japanese: ユーリ・プリセツキー, Yūri Purisetsukī) is a competitive figure skater and the tritagonist of Yuri!!! on Ice. He is the second Russian character introduced.
Background
Yuri as a child
Yuri was raised by his grandfather, Nikolai Plisetsky, in Moscow, Russia. As a result of this, the two have a very close relationship, even closer than with his own mother. Yuri's mother was a former Russian idol who retired from show business early on.[3]
Yuri began figure skating at a young age, and later chose to move to Saint Petersburg from Moscow to train under the guidance of Yakov Feltsman. He is part of the new generation of Russian figure skaters and had dominated the Junior circuit before moving on to his Senior debut. He is the two-time consecutive Junior World Champion and two-time consecutive Junior Grand Prix Final Champion.
Yuri has incredible talent who is described by many to be a rising star in the figure skating world.
Appearance
Yuri has chin-length blond hair that covers the right side of his face, viridian-colored eyes and he is short-statured with a petite frame; because of his appearance, he is nicknamed The Russian Fairy/Fairy of Russia.
His warm-up uniform is either his training outfit or his costume under a black zip-up hoodie with black pants, sneakers, and a zip-up baseball tee styled runner with "Russia" across the chest. His skates have special blades that are said to make it easier to perform jumps. When not in performance costumes or warm-up gear, Yuri loves to wear clothing with mainly big cat prints.
Personality
Young Yuri
Yuri is a very ambitious boy who is determined to become the best of the best in figure skating. Contrary to his beauty and grace on the ice, once Yuri steps out of the rink he becomes foul-mouthed, rude, and dismissive of others-earning him his second nickname, The Russian Punk. To ensure he gets what he wants, Yuri is not above threatening or intimidating his competition. He is short-tempered and very accustomed to yelling.
Yuri is both very critical of himself and determined to impress Victor Nikiforov. He despises being underestimated and projects a strong air of confidence-strong enough to come across as arrogance, instead. He is prone to seeing other athletes as his rivals, and therefore his enemies. While Yuri has been noted to not take training seriously at first,[4] he can undertake highly rigorous training to do well and does so without complaining. Part of this stems from him being aware of how young and agile he still is as he appears to have not yet had any kind of growth spurt stemming from puberty and wants to take advantage of his youth before his body starts changing.
A softer side to Yuri's personality can be seen when he thinks of his grandfather,[5] and later when he gives Yuuri Katsuki some Pirozhki for his birthday.[6] Yuri also shows this side of him to the few people he regards as friends, most notably Otabek Altin and Yuuko Nishigori.
Skills
Jumps
Yuri is shown to have an amazing amount of jumping ability starting from a very early age; as a junior, he landed a quadruple salchow (4S) during a local competition, despite being scolded by his coach frequently about it being too early for him to start such difficult jumps.[1]
In Agape, his quads are planned for the second half to maximize his score. In Allegro Appassionato, he can execute 6 of his 8 jumps in the second half, again to boost his score. This may imply that he has a good amount of stamina.
Spins
Yuri's signature as a junior was his combination spins. He can hold spirals and spins in a half-Biellmann position, which is a rarity in men's singles due to the flexibility that it requires.
Ballet
Yuri is shown to have been practicing ballet as part of his cross-training regimen for at least as early as ten years old. He takes it up again more seriously when Lilia is invited by Yakov to train the skater for the Grand Prix series.[4]
Relationships
Victor Nikiforov
Victor promises to choreograph a program for Yuri.
Yuri initially looked up to Victor as a skater and had idolized him since he was very young. The two of them are rink mates under Yakov Feltsman's guidance, save during the time Victor left Russia to coach a Japanese skater named Yuuri Katsuki.
Due to how much time they spent together, Yuri knows Victor quite well and becomes annoyed at some of Victor's more negative traits, such as how forgetful he can be. Despite this, Yuri felt certain that he could not win the Grand Prix without Victor's help and went so far as to travel to Japan and accept participation in a contest against Yuuri Katsuki in hopes of getting Victor to go back to Russia.
As the series progresses, Yuri's perception of Victor changes. He no longer looks up to Victor as much as he used to, disappointed that Victor had left competitive skating to coach Yuuri.[7]
Nikolai Plisetsky
Nikolai is Yuri's grandfather and is the person Yuri loves the most, even over Yuri's own mother. Since he was a young child, Yuri received great support and love from his grandfather which left a great impact on him and eventually led Yuri to realize the love he has for his grandfather would be his inspiration for his short program of Agape. During the competition in Moscow, Yuri was very excited to see and spend time with his grandfather.
Yuri's short program very much centered around his love for his grandfather, in which Nikolai is shown to be very proud of Yuri.
Yuuri Katsuki
Yuuri Katsuki and Yuri Plisetsky's dance battle.
Yuri Plisetsky initially looked down on Yuuri Katsuki for crying after losing the Sochi Grand Prix Final and tried to intimidate him to drop out of competitive skating. He did not see Yuuri Katsuki as much of a threat and was infuriated when Victor left Russia to coach him. Yuri Plisetsky stays at Yuuri Katsuki’s house while in Japan, and often rudely teases him. Despite all this, he was willing to teach Yuuri Katsuki how to land a quad salchow[5] and eventually comes to see Yuuri Katsuki as a worthy rival.
Even though most of the time Yuri Plisetsky is rude to Yuuri Katsuki, he is still shown to care for him. Yuri Plisetsky instinctively cheers Yuuri Katsuki on when the latter was seen to be underperforming during the Rostelecom Cup free skate due to stress, and later offers him some katsudon pirozhki for his birthday.[6] Yuri Plisetsky becomes upset after Victor implies that Yuuri Katsuki planned on retiring should he win gold at the Barcelona Final - a far cry from his initial wish for Yuuri to drop out of competitive skating. To prevent Yuuri Katsuki's impending retirement, Yuri Plisetsky vows to prevent him from winning. Yuri Plisetsky rarely refers to Yuuri Katsuki by his proper name, instead preferring to call him by the nickname "Katsudon" ("Pork Cutlet Bowl" in the English dub), as both a play on Yuuri's surname Katsuki and Yuuri's love for katsudon.
Yuuko Nishigori
After following Victor to Japan, Yuri meets Yuuko where she is friendly and supportive towards him, helping him train for the "Hot Springs on Ice" event and showing concern for him when he decides to leave Hasetsu after Yuuri skates his program. The two keep in contact through texting, with Yuuko giving Yuri constant updates on the training situation at Ice Castle Hasetsu.[4] Yuuko is one of the people that Yuri thinks about before delivering his free skate at the Grand Prix final.
Otabek Altin
Otabek and Yuri talk at a cafe.
Yuri and Otabek become friends after Otabek rescues Yuri from his fans in Barcelona. They had initially met five years prior at Yakov Feltsman's summer training camp but Yuri had no memory of the meeting. The two became quick friends and would often be seen hanging around or talking to one another. During the Grand Prix finals, they are seen cheering and supporting one another. Yuri would later request Otabek's help and participation for his routine Welcome to the Madness.
Jean-Jacques Leroy
Yuri has a great disliking of JJ and is often teased by the older man. Yuri is greatly aggravated by how JJ seems to beat him with ease and how the Canadian skater was willing to mock members of his fan club. Despite this, Yuri has not shown any type of ill intent toward JJ.
Yakov Feltsman
Yakov is Yuri's current coach. Because Yuri was aware that he was the top skater in the junior league, he often slacked on his training and would usually be scolded by the coach. When he started taking things seriously, he would accept any help Yakov offered him. Over the series, Yuri is shown forming a closer bond to Yakov.
Lilia Baranovskaya
Lilia is Yuri's ballet coach and free program choreographer. Despite her strict teachings and high expectations, Yuri willingly accepted and followed all of her teachings.
Mila Babicheva
Yuri and Mila
Yuri is Mila's rink mate under Yakov Feltsman's guidance. He is often teased by Mila but tries to ignore her playful jests.
Yuri usually refers to her as "Baba" (meaning 'grandma' or 'old lady') as a play on Mila's surname or "old hag/hag" in the English dub.
Programs
Short-In Regards to Love: Agape
The song is one of two different arrangements, written to encompass two different aspects of love. Agape is defined as selfless, all-encompassing love.
The program is choreographed in-series by Victor Nikiforov.
Free-Piano Concerto in B-minor: Allegro Appasionato
The song is described in-show as being well-known for its difficulty and heart-pounding intensity.
The program is choreographed in-series by Lilia Baranovskaya.
Exhibition-Angel of the Fire Festival
Angel of the Fire Festival was Yuri's original exhibition skate before the GPF. The program was choreographed by Lilia Baranovskaya. Yuri chose not to skate this piece after the GPF because he believed that it would remind people too much of his free skate.[8]
Exhibition-Welcome to The Madness
The song is chosen by Yuri after hearing Otabek Altin play it in a rock club. The program is choreographed in-series by Yuri himself.[9] Otabek joins Yuri in this exhibition skate, standing by the side of the rink and assists Yuri in removing the latter's gloves.
Quotes
- "If you don't have any inspiration left, you're as good as dead." (to Yuuri Katsuki about Victor Nikiforov)
- "If selling my soul is what it takes to win, I'll give you this body, no holds barred."[4] (to Lilia Baranovskaya)
- "I'm going to take advantage of everything I can right now to win." (to himself)
- "If you retire now, I'll make you regret it for the rest of your life."[10] (to Yuuri Katsuki)
Etymology
- The instance of the name Yuri most likely used here means "the light of God".
- The name Yuri is not only Russian, but it is also a Greek, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean name.
Trivia
- The inspiration for Yuri is a Russian figure skater named Yulia Lipnitskaya.
- Yuri also shares his last name with Maia Plissetskaya, the first dancer to have been praised as a "prima ballerina assoluta".
- While choreographer Kenji Miyamoto performed the programs for every other skater in the anime, Yuri's choreography was the only one performed by a female skater named Honoka Kawanishi to make it easier to animate.[11][3]
- Yuri's Instagram is yuri_plisetsky.
- Yuri has been the main provider for his family since his days competing as a rookie, receiving government aid for skating.[12][13]
- Yuri's mother was supposed to make an appearance in Episode 3 (during the Onsen on Ice), but she had to be cut out due to lack of time.[3]
- Adding on his love for cats, Yuri's phone case has a white tiger's face. He also has a shirt with a tiger print on it, as well as one with a lion print.
- Yuri's short program score in the Barcelona GPF would have exceeded the real-life world record by nearly 8 points.
- Yuri's first Instagram post that appears in the ending credits reads '#StPetersburg #Russia'.
- The caption in Yuri's second post in the ending credits reads 'Lion'.
- Yuri has rabid fans named "Yuri's Angels" who appear at every competition.
- Several of the more hardcore fan's even being shown to be able to "track" his movements; following his scent and loose hair strands.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yuri!!! On Ice Episode 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Yuri!!! On Ice Episode 4
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Yuri!!! on Ice Episode 3
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cite error: Invalid
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<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:ref? - ↑ Yuri!!! on Ice Episode 12
- ↑ Miracle on ICE - Animage Jan 2017 (English Translation)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:9 - ↑ Yuri on Ice!!!Official Website Character Profiles
- ↑ Yuri!!! on ICE Blu-ray Vol 1. Booklet