At first glance, Yuri!!! on Ice, the hit new anime from MAPPA which brought other much loved shows such as Kids on the Slope, looks like nothing new, but if you look closer, it is clear that this show is something special. With its first season run drawing to a close, Yuri!!! on Ice, a sports anime about the intense world of figure skating, has made fans the world over, but has found a special place in the hearts of LGBTQIA individuals.

Yuri!!! on Ice follows a down on his luck ice skater from Japan Yuuri Katsuki in his journey to reaching his full potential with the help of legendary Russian skater Viktor Nikiforov as his coach and love interest. The premise is pretty simple, and originally, I was very hesitant about this show because sports anime in particular can be notoriously queerbaiting, but then this happened:

And so, Yuri!!! on Ice has done something no other anime has done, which is feature a kiss between its two male protagonists despite the lack of a shonen-ai or yaoi label and Japanese censorship laws.

Ok, let me back up, because a lot of people don't really know some of the words in that last sentence. In anime and manga, LGBT+ characters are extremely hard to come by, at least outside of the specific genres of shonen-ai and yaoi. Shonen-ai is considered to be what is called "boy love" and is generally the section which gay male couples that show strictly romantic relationships are relegated to. "Yaoi" is similar to shonen-ai but features a sexual aspect to the couples and is usually much more graphic. Then, you have the lesbian equivalent to these which are "shojo-ai" and "yuri" (yuri here takes on a different meaning than the title word in Yuri!!! on Ice, which is named for the main character Yuuri Katsuki).

Part of the reason that explicitly LGBT+ relationships are largely contained in these labels is because Japan has a large amount of censorship laws in place to protect people from what is considered "taboo." Whether that may mean nudity or relationships that don't meet the standards of a heteronormative society, if it is considered objectionable or harmful to children it can, and usually will, be censored. That isn't to say that it can't be done, after all, Sailor Moon famously was able to get away with a lesbian couple (that was, until the English version was released when it was heavily censored). Plus, over the years, more and more creative ways have been found to imply towards a character's sexuality through pop culture references and the like.

Some of these sneaky ways of referencing LGBT+ themes have been a major help for Yuri!!! on Ice. For example, Yuuri's male love interest in the show, Viktor Nikiforov has been shown on three occasions wearing costumes that referenced actual costumes of real life openly gay figure skaters Johnny Weir and Jeffrey Buttle. Here's a picture of Viktor:

And here's Johnny Weir in the costumes that Viktor's outfit references:

Of course, some of the success in getting away with the kiss comes from the fact that you don't actually see Viktor and Yuuri's lips touch, we just see the aftermath and everyone's reactions. You can see in the picture of the kiss I included above that Viktor's arm is covering their mouths from the "camera" view. Even so, the writers aren't letting anyone forget that Yuuri and Viktor are a couple, especially because in this past week's episode, we saw the couple exchange rings and Viktor explicitly told a group of other skaters that he and Yuuri were engaged and would marry once Yuuri won gold.

However, most powerful of the statements surrounding this show for me personally came from outside the anime itself, when writer Mitsuro Kubo released the following tweet:

Which translates to: "Regardless of how people in the real world feel about this work, inside the world of this show, there will be absolutely no discrimination toward the things one loves. I will absolutely protect this world."

�For me, that means absolutely everything, because this is a relationship we're talking about that involves two men one from Japan, a country which we've already discussed some of the homophobic aspects of, and Russia, where homosexuality is currently a criminal act. Portraying a happy same-sex couple, knowing that we don't have to fear that Yuuri's tight-knit family won't abandon him, or that Viktor won't have to forever stay away from his homeland, is so incredibly hopeful.

I hope these two keep dancing and smiling, and that their success inspires more writers, producers, and animators to break boundaries for what they believe is right.

For a list of ways to support Yuri!!! on Ice and show Japan's entertainment industry that LGBT+ couples and people are not taboo, please see this list of ways to watch the show, find the original soundtrack, and buy official merchandise that benefits the creators.