Snowflake Challenge Day 3

[muttthecowcat]

 

In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

So of course I'm going to talk about yoi for this and I might include some dbh at the end but here we go:

So I've said before that my favorite episode from yoi is ep 10, but if I'm being honest, I was hooked on the show from the first episode and here's why:  It's literal genius level story telling.  The episode is only 20 min long, and it covers so much and does it well.  Within the first few minutes we learn who Yuuri is, why we should root for him, and the main conflict that carries throughout the series.  I remember being amazed at how quickly I liked Yuuri and wanted him to do well.  He's an athlete that's had a setback, an overused trope, except it's not because anyone who knows anything about skating will recognize that he has to be one of the top 6 men's skaters in the world to be at the GPF.  It's obvious from Celestino's attitude that Yuuri's not seeing his position clearly.  And it's just all covered in a literal minute or two. Like !!!!!!  Then we actually have the pretty mature plot setup of Yuuri moving on because he's "tired of being depressed" and trying to better himself with small steps and it's really beautiful and we get to see this absolutely amazing animated skating that lasts longer than anything else in the episode (as it should).  Then we have another obvious trope setup with the "hometown girlfriend"  except it's not, because she's married with kids to another guy that Yuuri gets along with.  Then Victor shows up naked to top it all off xD  It's just all so good and the episode gets better as it progresses. Oh and Hasetsu has so many details and quirks!  I'm a big believer that the setting needs to be as much of a character as anything else.  Hasetsu is such a unique and interesting little town with it's own story, and it really sets the tone for the rest of the series.

And then a short thing about detroit become human.  I think one of the details that really makes the game engaging is the decision to make the player the android.  There's so many robot series where our POV character is a human or a human who gets turned into a robot or etc.  Setting up the game where our POV characters are the androids, gives the player and the audience an immediate connection to them despite them not having any in universe human connections.  The android's choices are immediately human and relatable because there's always a player in the driver's seat directing the game.  Anyway, I'm sure other games have done this before, but it's such a simple choice that makes such a huge difference with how engaging the story is.

Comments

[vienne1196]

Love your analysis!!! And do you mean episode 01?

[muttthecowcat]

Yes xD Sorry I tend to ramble but I was talking about ep 1 the whole time but ep 10 is actually my favorite

[coyoteclaw11]

Dude that like... instant gear switch when you meet Yuuko then find out she's happily married with kids and just a really good friend of Yuuri's sdfghjk honestly tho I feel like at every corner yoi did what you didn't expect it to (or rather what you always hope for but never expect to really happen) and they started off strong with that even from the first ep. I remember there was a wave of people insisting YOI was going to be queerbaiting, but it's like... honestly? From the beginning it had such a different vibe from the media we usually see where characters are ~hinted to be gay~ but also v much not gay. I never expected they would go so far with it, but I just always had a feeling that YOI would be more than your typical het characters with fanservicey scene for the ~yaoi shippers out there XD~. And it did not disappoint <3

[mizface]

Thanks for the reminder that I need to put YOI on my watchlist!

[muttthecowcat]

This! I remember all the people calling queerbait too. And admittedly, I had never watched a sports anime before this, but Yoi never gave me the impression that that's where the show was headed, even from ep 1

[muttthecowcat]

Yay :D

[vienne1196]

Ohhhhh, okay. I get it now :)

[spikedluv]

YOI is the only anime I've ever watched and I loved it! So many great moments! And I love how everything came to together in ep 10 - the pole dancing, lol! I should give it a re-watch.

[muttthecowcat]

It's one of the very few anime that I've watched myself. I've been meaning to do a rewatch too, just haven't had time!