The beginning and the ending.
This story is already full of everything I need.
Reblogging again because I'm mildly obsessed with this diptych. The artistry is obviously fantastic, but the symbolism is killing me.
Beginning: First we have Yuuri looking upwards but with his arms closed in upon himself, showing his yearning to shine but also the barriers he's creating for himself. Victor visibly depressed. Both of them isolated. And their respective spotlights and crossed shadows creating a large ❌ and indicating that this is not the way forward.
Ending: Yuuri and Victor respectively help each other find happiness. Yuuri shows himself fully to the world, and Victor finds more fulfillment in a supportive role than he ever did when he was alone under the spotlights. Both their spotlights on the ice form a heart 💜💙
This is truly a spectacular artwork! 🥹
(For those of my followers who don't know what this is about: Yuri!!! on Ice is an anime that was released in 2016 about (fictional) Japanese figure skater Yuuri Katsuki and Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov. A heartwarming story tackling subjects such as battling through social anxiety and depression to achieve success and happiness. Season 1 ended at 12 episodes with a possible hope for a second season, and confirmed news about a movie being in the works. Titled Ice Adolescence, it was probably going to be a prequel to the series. An animated teaser was released, but due to Covid and other studio issues, the production had been postponed until further notice. Just a couple of days ago, there was an official announcement that the movie was definitely cancelled. Under the circumstances, this was not exactly unexpected news but disappointing nonetheless. 😔)
Thank you SO MUCH for putting so much time and energy into writing this out. When @zombubble helped me come up with the first painting, a lot of this was what we talked about. I played with the lights to make an upside-down heart, I put Yuuri in the ending pose of Stammi Vicino and Viktor in the starting pose and played with the angles to show Yuuri's face and hide Viktor's, because when they were skating in the first episode Viktor was stuck in his burnout and lack of inspiration, but Yuuri was starting to carve his way out of grief and depression by skating in front of Yuuko. When I painted the second one, I picked a pose from the Stammi Vicino duet and tried to keep the symbolism and invert as much of it as I could.
I wanted these to be a celebration of their journey. And I'm so happy when someone sees it.
