If by “sub” you mean the original anime voiced by the Japanese voice actors, no, he doesn’t have a Russian accent. He speaks in an absolutely normal standard Japanese! There are a few exceptions where he pronounces English words with a “foreign” accent (like when he says “amazing!”), though they are mostly single words and it happens in humorous/comedy situations. Also, for Russian words like “vkusno” I think he paid attention to pronounce them correctly.

In Japanese anime, “foreign” accents are mostly used for characters like the “token gaijin”, often in an over-the-top way, and are normally associated with humorous situations or characters that cannot speak fluent Japanese (but in this case it’s often minor characters who only appear for a short while), so you wouldn’t really see important characters speaking with a foreign accent in a “serious” context. The most used is probably the “American-like” accent, but they have a “Chinese” accent where too Chinese characters also speak with “-aru” at the end of their lines.

Because of these reasons, if Victor (or any other character) were to speak with a foreign accent people would probably be distracted by it and would find it hard to concentrate on what he says seriously. In YOI no one consistently speaks with a foreign accent, though Michele for some reason speaks in a light and quite stereotyped Hiroshima dialect and I’m still puzzled about that… (Sara doesn’t, by the way). But that still works because Japanese dialects are sometimes used to “color-code” characters.

Hello! “Niki” comes from “aniki” (兄貴/アニキ), which literally means “older brother” but can be used to refer to young men. I’ve seen a few people refer to Victor as ヴィクニキ too (it might sound like the abbreviation of “Nikiforov” but it’s actually “aniki”). There’s not really a rule for this, it mostly depends on personal preferences. For example, none of the people I know use it, and I have the feeling it’s mostly used by younger fans.. (Though it’s probably also because if the character is younger than you are it would be a bit weird to refer to him as “aniki”, unless you’re borrowing a word actually used in the anime)

Hello! I reckon you are referring to his Hasetsu/Kyushu accent? It’s a bit hard to say, because in the anime he speaks standard Japanese by default, and he is only shown speaking (slightly) in a dialect when he’s drunk and in a few other instances. As he seems to have always trained at Ice Castle Hasetsu, I don’t think he ever lived in a bigger city like Tokyo (I mean within Japan), and in Detroit he spoke English so that might not have affected his Japanese too much.

To make a comparison, the only characters consistently speaking Kyushu dialect are Yuuri’s parents, random inhabitants of Hasetsu and Minami-kun. Also, Yuuko sometimes does too though it’s not as heavy. Yuuri’s sister Mari always speaks standard Japanese, but considering her looks/personality I think that fits her. Same for Minako. It’s possible that, since whenever Yuuri participates in tournaments he would get interviewed by Japanese media, he is used to speaking standard Japanese because it sounds less “provincial”. When he’s dead drunk he often speaks in a dialect and refers to himself as “oi” (local dialect for “I”) so I guess deep down he’s still a “Kyushu boy”…

Other instances are when he’s expressing emotions or replies instinctively, though it’s not consistent and it doesn’t happen that often. For example, when he says “kakkoyoka~” (kakkoii) regarding Victor, when he says “hazukashika~” (hazukashii = embarrassing) inside his mind after pulling Victor’s necktie before the Cup of Russia, and when he says “yamete sa~” (”stop”).

By the way, the woman who voices Yuuri’s mother is from Fukuoka so maybe she’s the one with the most realistic accent among them.. (I think they get some kind of accent coaching for the lines in a dialect, but when they speak standard Japanese they also use standard accent.) Also, the dialect they use is not very heavy, otherwise viewers from other parts of Japan would not be able to understand what they say.

Hi! Sorry for the late reply… I hoped they would announce the details of the special newly illustrated tickets but they haven’t yet, sigh.

To explain about the YOI 4DX tickets I guess first of all I need to explain how movie ticket bookings work in Japan.

For some special events held in movie theaters they sell tickets via normal ticket websites (like eplus) and in that case they are sold with the date and seat number already printed on them. However, this is not the case for the YOI 4DX screening, which is treated like a normal movie showing.

See under the cut for details.

Unfortunately they only give out time slots for each day on the same day, so you can’t get them the day before.. If you want an early time slot you should probably go there at 10 am or slightly earlier. If it’s a weekday (not weekend/holiday) you should be able to get an early one without issues.

This week there might be more visitors than usual because of Obon holidays, but from next week it should be less crowded than early August because many have finished listening to all the guides by now.

Hi! Yes, basically they distribute numbered tickets based on the time slot. For example, let’s say you have a ticket for August 7th. There is a counter on the 7th floor of Tower Record, close to the elevator, where they distribute numbered tickets. They start distributing them at 10:00 in the morning every day (so for Aug. 7th they will distribute them from the morning of Aug. 7th), and they have a panel with all the time slots written on it and a “O” or “X” depending on whether there are still numbered tickets available for that time slot. Kind of like this:

10:00~11:00 X         13:00~14:00 O11:00~12:00 X         14:00~15:00 O

You show them your ticket, tell them which time slot you want, and they will give you a small ticket with the time slot and a number on it. If you choose, for example, the 13:00~14:00 time slot, you can go there slightly before 13:00, they will make you line up on the stairs based on the number on your small ticket, and at 13:00 you can enter.

Tips:-You don’t have to go there at 10:00 in the morning, unless it’s a crowded day and you have a tight schedule so you absolutely want to make sure that you can get a certain time slot. Numbered tickets are distributed all day and they never finish right away (some time slots, like the early ones, might finish early). If you are ok with going in the late afternoon/evening usually there will still be tickets for those time slots even later in the day.-You actually don’t have to go there right at the start of your time slot. For example, if you get the 13:00~14:00 time slot you can go there at any time between 13:00 and 14:00. However, you must get out by 14:00, so if you go there late you will have less time to see the Museum. (The first time I went was the second day and it was super crowded, so it took 1 hour to see everything because we were moving in one long line, but normally it wouldn’t take that long.)

It probably sounds more complex than it actually is (there was some chaos among Japanese fans too before the Museum started because the first official explanation about the numbered tickets was confusing...). If something isn’t clear let me know!

Hello! If you can register on their website you can “buy” (more exactly, “book”) tickets because they require payment at a Lawson (not online), so even if your card doesn’t work on the website you can still get them. However, the downside is that you only have 2 days to pay for them, so for example if you book them today you must pay and collect them by tomorrow night…

August 11-13 is “dangerous” because of all the people coming to Tokyo for Comiket, so there is a small chance that they will not sell same-day tickets during those days, but based on my recent experience, on normal days they will sell same-day tickets at Tower Records even if the advance tickets are sold out, so if you’re in Tokyo from the 6th onwards and advance tickets are sold out for all days I would suggest going there before the 11th! They have a counter selling YOI Museum tickets on the 7th floor close to the elevator.

Hello! Thank you for your message and sorry for the late reply...!

Regarding the Museum, unfortunately video chatting would involve having the stuff on display appear on a smartphone screen, which would be considered the same as “taking pictures” and therefore not allowed (even though it’s just a live video, anyone could take screenshots or film the phone screen with another device etc. so it couldn’t be considered “safe”).

Actually, people visiting the Museum should probably never even take out their phones from their bags unless they are in the areas that can be photographed, because for example, if you type something on your phone while you’re listening to the guide, even if it’s completely unrelated it might look like you’re trying to transcribe it. I must say I’m a bit paranoid after spotting a person trying to take pictures of the costumes while the staff wasn’t in the room the other day.. (She said she didn’t know but uhm, it’s full of signs and she was Japanese.. and now they have more signs in English too by the way)

Hello! Unfortunately it’s not printed on the ticket, you can choose a time slot when you go to the Museum. There is a counter on the 1st floor of Tower Records that hands out the numbered tickets with the time slot, if you show your ticket to someone on the 1st floor they will be able to tell you where to go. If anything (like the place where they give out tickets) changes it might be written on the white board close to the elevator.

From the latest reports it seems that actually the Museum is not very crowded in the evening and starting from today they are selling same-day tickets too, so you should be fine! I was personally glad to hear that too because I also can only go at night on weekdays..

Hello! Don’t worry, your English is ok :DI think the picture you’re referring to is one of the few that were only on display and weren’t sold as goods. Though apparently the goods they are currently selling are “part 1″ so some people are hoping that they will release goods of the other pictures too (especially the ones with young Victor)..

I read that on the first day some people didn’t understand that photos are forbidden in almost all of the Museum and were posting pictures online. I guess they removed them when they found out and that’s why that picture was “leaked”..

Hello! If it’s general I don’t think it would be against the rules. The staff seems to appreciate people saying whether they like them or not, so I guess that’s ok.

Also, this is something Kubo wrote about on her Twitter after visiting the Museum yesterday so I reckon it can be said.. The audio guides are called “guides” because the characters are guiding you through the Museum. “You” are basically a random person who is there to watch the items on display. How much they actually guide you I guess depends on the pair.. Before going I was wondering why on the Museum website it said “the characters talking about Victor”, but knowing the setting it makes sense since there’s an area about him. I am really curious to hear what characters like Phichit and JJ, who haven’t interacted with Victor a lot, will say about him.

So far I’ve listened to Victor & Yuuri’s one and it was really nice. Their characterization is coherent with the anime, and actually even with the voice dramas performed at the stage events.. (There is no reference to the dramas though)

Hello! Since Loppi can be tricky to explain with words (lots of screens), I went and took pictures. The shop’s neon lights are in the way, but hopefully it’s still easy to understand! (I wrote the guide in detail so that it can be used by people who can’t read Japanese too)

Under “keep reading” because it’s image-heavy.

Hello! No, unfortunately you can only choose the day. I actually think that was a mistake on their part, because if they had allowed to choose the time slot too they wouldn’t have had to give out numbered tickets every day... Maybe they didn’t expect so many people to go and they couldn’t change the ticket format after they already started selling them.

Hello! I suppose that once the Museum closes there won’t be any reason to keep silent, not to mention fans will want to be able to discuss the contents openly, so I’m pretty sure it will be allowed. And yes, when I got home the other day I wrote down what I remembered and will do the same for all the guides, so that when it’s ok to talk about it I can post about the contents (or at least a summary..). I still wish they’d release the audio too one day.. One can hope...

By the way, fans living in Japan who cannot come to Tokyo for personal reasons are similarly upset, especially because to listen to all the guides + secret one you need to go 6 times...

Hello! I went to check the reviews and it’s the reason I imagined..

The other day, Tadashi Hiramatsu (character designer & chief animation director) & Noriko Itou (animator & prop designer) were at VAX (Visual Arts Expo) in Malaysia and showed settings from the series, some of which are not included in the Setting Material Collection. Now, which ones are they? The setting design of the rings, the setting page about Victor’s ass, the alternative costume for Yuuri (this one was displayed in Nakano last December), another page with Yuuri wearing a padded vest and I think a few others. Many Japanese fans were enraged because it has happened a few times so far that YOI unpublished material was shown at conventions abroad and never shown in Japan. It was only possible to see it in cases where, like VAX, pictures were allowed and fans shared it online. At the masterclass in Paris they even showed Kubo’s “name” (manga storyboard) and Yamamoto’s storyboards, which the authors said they will never show in Japan. To be honest I’m a little upset too… And after the stuff shown at VAX even some usually quiet fans were complaining.

Since one of the pages not included in the Setting Material Collection just happens to be the one about the pair rings (what a coincidence, right?) some people are suspecting it’s a kind of discrimination, and they also wrote this in their reviews. It’s actually quite likely and at the same time stupid because I mean, they exchanged the rings in the series and are wearing them so what’s the point of censoring them in the book?? But yeah I don’t find it impossible and if that’s true I hope the person who decided this is kicked out of the production team or anything that has to do with YOI… By the way, Noriko Itou was surprised on Twitter because she thought the rings were included in the book and she had no idea why they weren’t.

If you see, the bad reviews were all posted after VAX. The book itself is not bad, it’s really nice and it does have lots of settings that were never published anywhere else so far, so I do recommend it. People don’t have a problem with its contents but with what is “not included”. There have been other controversies regarding the rings, like when they weren’t drawn in the preview for the guidebook poster (despite it showing the GPF podium). In that case fans made a fuss on Twitter and in the final version they “miraculously” appeared again. Anyway, when I say that discrimination is still rampant in Japan… here’s an example. I am really curious to see how this will develop, because Japanese fans are really fed up with how some information has been handled, and the rings were probably the last straw. (Thanks God at least the Museum doesn’t have any stupid censorship.) But anyway, the book itself is ok!