His life soon becomes intertwined with the protagonist’s, Japanese figure skater Katsuki Yuri, when he agrees to become Yuri’s coach and mentor.

Victor Nikiforov is a Russian internationally ranked figure-skater, a five-time consecutive Grand Prix champion at the height of his career. Of all the amazing things about the show, one of the most striking to me was the revolutionary way it portrayed the intersection of queer and Slavic identity. Much to my surprise (and detriment to my ability to concentrate on chemistry), I was immediately hooked. I had been hearing about the show within the anime community for some time yet had put off watching it, unsure if the anime lived up to the hype.

In the throes of 2016, I decided to take a break from my midterms cram session by watching some clips of a new anime called Yuri!!! on ICE.