Yuuri Katsuki: The Importance Of Being Earnest

They’re so stupid… 💔

Yuuri's ambition and determination? The best thing ever.

He's so strong. Anyone reaching his level would have to be.

We meet Yuuri at his lowest point in the series: grieving. And he was spiraling from there, and still grieving. We meet him when he's experiencing a crisis, not his normal baseline.

I feel like that initial image makes it easy to characterize him as being saved by Viktor, but this would be wrong.

Viktor didn't save Yuuri. He didn't save Yuuri from his anxiety, Yuuri had working coping mechanisms. We see him going to skate and reconnect to his motivation with the help of a friend. He didn't save Yuuri from retiring, Yuuri's mindset is "I want to skate on the same ice as him" before Viktor reaches Hasetsu.

Viktor supported his growth, and Yuuri showed him how. Viktor didn't make him better.

Ice adolescence being cancelled is like the ultimate betrayal by mappa. Mappa's first BIG big hit, its magnum opus, was never jjk or csm or aot. It was Yuri on Ice. It's time they remember their roots, for those roots are gay.

I think we're all so devastated at the news of IceAdo's cancelation. It was an incredible anime not only because it was groundbreaking for the queer community in terms of quality, but also in terms of how intimately the relationship was depicted without being vulgar or explicit, which many other such anime depend on to gain an audience. The profound devotion Yuuri and Victor had towards each other and figure skating was palatable and it just sucked you in. A lot of times, it even felt like you were intruding on a private moment between them, especially as Yuuri got more comfortable around Victor and started being more open about his anxiety, which was also a focal point of the show, also masterfully depicted.

It was such a beautiful experience, that we wanted more of it, which is what we thought we were going to get. But for 8 years, we were strung along, our hope exploited, until finally, the cancelation, which we all realized, after a certain point, was coming.

The pain of not being able to sink in to the world of Yuuri!!! On Ice once more is very deep, because that kind of magic is something you just crave once it has entered your life, BUT!!!!

What I need us all to do is to keep reblogging, reposting, retweeting, signing petitions and just keep being loud about the impact Ice Adolescence could have had, as well as how YOI has affected us. As long as we don't loose speed, the relevant people WILL see that this fandom is very much still alive, still active AND STILL GROWING!

I know the movie has been scrapped, BUT I still think that the rights CAN be bought off MAPPA. If not for another attempt at Ice Adolescence, then a second season, which would also be incredible!

I don't know if this is even possible or if it's been done before in Japan, but I've seen it happen with the TV show "Lucifer", and I hope it can be accomplished here too. If not, LET'S SET A PRECEDENT TOGETHER! We have nothing to lose, but we could gain something beautiful!

So, please, everyone, don't stop liking, engaging with and reposting YOI-related content! We have to show that we are still dedicated and interested in this anime, and therefore PROFITABLE so they can potentially invest!

Also, because it's been 8 years, there are bound to be people who haven't heard of YOI, but would watch it, support it and talk about it if they knew about it's existence. Let's give this our all and do our best to get Victor, Yuuri and everyone else back on our screens!!! DON'T LOSE HOPE!

REBLOG THIS AND KEEP YURI ON ICE TRENDING SO WE CAN GET MORE PEOPLE INTERESTED AND AWARE!

Would anyone be interested in best parts of interviews with the Czech voice actors for Hans and Henry (subtitled)? I think we should appreciate the characters in their antive language as well 🙏

!CW BLOOD! ...they fight a lot.

isn’t it ironic that the media will never understand victor’s personal perspective at his prime despite being so dearly beloved and in the same way us viewers will never get to understand him either because all we have of that is a clip of him skating and yuuri (a fan’s perspective)

who and where? — let's talk KCD3

disclaimer: this post is a continuation of my previous KCD3 posts on speculation of the events and lore that i'd like to see explored in the next installment(s) of the KCD story. these are only speculations born of my own biased narrative and hopeful bastardizations of real events. this is not representative of ALL the real historical persons and events as there is either info missing on them, they were altered by WH for the sake of the game or i'm plain wrong. PS: i am not a historian. i just like history.

PART: 1 2 3 4 5 _____________________

the part i've been looking forward to the most!

in this post, i'll be going over the most likely locations that will appear in KCD3 according to the real historical timeline and i'll be supporting these speculations with things that were hinted at in KCD2. and we'll be using some real historical maps!

the who:

the main antagonists i believe we will be seeing in KCD3 are the following:

Heinrich III von Rosenberg

Sigismund of Luxembourg (again)

Albrecht IV of Austria (?)

Erik

the new allies we might meet are the following:

Jan Sokol of Lamberg

Matěj Vůdce (Matthew the Leader)

King Wenceslaus IV

the where

the main locations i believe were most hinted at in KCD2 were the following:

Podiebrad

Kolin

Znojmo (Znojmo castle)

Prague (partial?)

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so let's start with the who!

so far in the story, king Wenceslaus IV has merely been a name without a face, unlike Sigismund who not only got screen time in KCD1 & KCD2, but also a significant role in the main quest (and in the credits). meanwhile, Wenceslaus has been pushed off screen as we fight for the very same king. which, i guess, was an authentic experience for the people of Bohemia at the time as well.

however, it was in november of 1403. that king Wenceslaus was freed from Vienna with help from none other than our John II of Liechtenstein. i believe that this might be a cutscene we will be seeing likely in the prologue of KCD3 rather than a playable quest due to the fact that Vienna is so far. i believe that if they choose to make this a non-playable cutscene then it would allow the game to advance onto 1404. and its relevant events.

now, i fully believe that we will be seeing Dry Devil, aka Hynek of Kunštát again if the game will indeed be playable in 1404. the reason for that is that there is a relevant event that occurs in the town of Znojmo, or more precisely, Znojmo castle. in 1404. king Sigismund along with Albrecht IV of Austria lead a siege against Hynek and Jan Sokol of Lamberg in Znojmo castle, during which Albrecht was allegedly poisoned and died of dysentery which spread throughout the camp, and even Sigismund was apparently at the death's door.

anyone else see a perfect chance for the involvement of our professional bastard meddler? not only that, but the geography of the area looks very fun. i also believe this would be a convenient event to cover in the game as it's historically pretty vague which would allow WH to have more liberty while writing it.

the next person on our list is Heinrich III von Rosenberg. yes, those Rosenbergs. that name has been present ever since KCD1, if you remember the knight Ulrich of Passau sent to investigate the forging of silver coins in Sasau monastery on behalf of the Rosenbergs.

in the next installment, in KCD2 Rosenbergs get mentioned again. they were the most powerful members of the League of Lords (and one of the founders) and the biggest opposition to then king Wenceslaus IV.

in fact, i believe we saw Heinrich III von Rosenberg himself in one of the KCD2 trailers, seen with Erik and Markvart Von Aulitz in what i presume is Malešov, but he is not there during Henry's infiltration into Malešov in the game.

i believe the Rosenberg crest is etched into the inner elbow of Heinrich's couters. (trailer)

so why is he so important to the sequel(s)?

besides the fact that he was one of king Wenceslaus' biggest enemies, we can also see his banner flying among Sigismund's army during the sacking of Skalitz.

i very kindly circled the banners for you. source: KCD1

you'd honestly think Henry would have a bigger incentive to go after this guy rather than Von Bergow.

there is also an unconfirmed but still very interesting theory that Jan Žižka served Rosenbergs under a false name during a brief period, which makes his efforts of destroying Rosenberg assets starting in 1406.* very funny. i say 1406. only because that was the first time he started appearing in the Rosenberg's black book (acta negra maleficorum) of the Rosenberg estate as an accused bandit. this means his hostilities against Rosenbergs could have started as early as 1404. for the sake of the narrative convenience (wink wink nudge nudge WH?). jokes aside, the lands surrounding Trocnov, Žižka's home, were often under pressure from Rosenberg estates, so i could see his incentives against Rosenbergs easily starting before 1406. because of that regardless of the convenience of the narrative.

whew!

and if you recall the scene where Istvan Toth is sending Erik on his merry way to Malešov, you can hear him mentioning Senitz (Senice).

source: KCD2

i was briefly debating which Senitz/Senice he was talking about, but i took the liberty of visualizing the route from Trosky to Malešov for your viewing pleasure and found one Senice along the route.

(note: this is a modern route using modern roads as per google maps info because i do not have access to a more detailed map of 1400s central Bohemia. it is only an approximate of Erik's route at the time but i think it still gives you a good sense of his path. 90km/56mi.)

so that was another Rosenberg mention. i think it's safe to say that we will be encountering Heinrich III von Rosenberg in the next game.

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and now the allies!

i believe Dry Devil and John II of Liechstenstein will be making an appearance again, and alongside them most likely Jan Sokol of Lamberg.

there hasn't been much proof that suggests we will be seeing him in a sequel, but i don't believe his KCD codex entry mentioning Znojmo in 1404. is a coincidence.

and again, there is the mention of Rosenbergs. i believe that KCD3 will either include the events of 1404. OR it will contain the events of 1404. and timeskip into 1409. because that was when Jan Sokol of Lamberg, Matěj Vůdce and Racek Kobyla waged a guerilla campaign against the Rosenberg family on behalf of king Wenceslaus IV. two pretty relevant periods, i'd say.

as for Matěj Vůdce, aka Matthew the Leader; people have been speculating that the Matthew we encounter as Henry while recruiting Dry Devil's old band is the Matthew. or just another Matthew. i couldn't find the exact year when Jan Žižka met Matthew before the more commonly cited 1409. so i can't say for sure. (however, i'd like to think that a figure that important wouldn't be an easily killable NPC.)

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and now let's go into the where's!

i promise this section will be shorter and more illustrated than the previous one. reminder of the locations i listed;

Podiebrad

Kolín

Znojmo (Znojmo castle)

Prague (partial?) (Wenceslaus event only Prague map?)

i obviously listed Podiebrad (Poděbrady) as that is the location mentioned multiple times in KCD2. Rosa Ruthard mentions her and her family (Ruthards) travelling there at the end of KCD2, and i believe this is where Hans Capon's wedding will be held as well considering Podiebrad was an estate given to the Kunstadts (by Charles IV, Wenceslaus' father), and considering the fact that Botschek and of course Jitka are of Kunstadt, it makes sense.

i also believe Kolín will be there, probably less important but as a potential place where we will be able to meet Samuel again. historically, Sigismund did indeed order an attack on Jews of Kuttenberg and they did settle in Kolin.

the distance between Podiebrad and Kolin is also quite short.

as for Znojmo, it is located some 170km (105mi) away from Rattay which might seem like too far, but here's a reminder on how far Trosky is from Rattay in comparison!

the distance between Rattay and Trosky is 103km (64 mi)

and finally, here is the distance between Rattay and Podiebrad + Kolin.

when you compare it to Trosky and its surrounding area, Podiebrad and Kolin are a lot closer in comparison. i even speculate that Hans' wedding might happen on his way back from Trosky to Rattay, hence why Hanush was so insistent on hurrying Hans up and why Hans was so insistent on staying in the Devil's Den longer with Henry.

and lastly; Prague.

i am still very much on the fence about Prague, mainly because trying to recreate a city of that size in-game would be a Herculean task. not impossible, but very hard. i mention Prague because after stopping in Kuttenberg, that is where king Wenceslaus IV returns to once he escapes Vienna in 1403.

and there could be a lot said about Kuttenberg and that arc in itself (like Hans, Henry and co. meeting the king in Kuttenberg while they're still chilling in the Devil's Den) but i thought i'd rather talk about Prague.

Prague, even in 1403./1404. was already approx. 5-6 times bigger than Kutternberg. which is a Lot. I've already linked this map in a previous post, but here's a reminder on what a reconstructed map of Prague in 1419. looks like;

my frankenprague map. source from this lovely website!

on the other hand it's an insane project that would be lauded for decades if executed successfully because who the hell wouldn't want a walkable map of 1419. Prague ?!

thus i believe that Prague might also become only a cutscene or only a very small part of it would be playable for reasons yet unknown to me.

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okay, that's all for now. i had to cut this post down in size, can you believe it. but i really wanted to make a sort of an Everything post for the possible directions KCD3 might take because i was seeing way, way too many people guessing that the next KCD game will be set in 1419. my brothers and sisters in christ, there are so many important events to cover just from 1404. to 1416., i cannot imagine going straight into the Hussite wars without establishing Henry as a radical on the side of the people through various banditry related events and addressing the collective harem of Bohemian revolutionaries accumulated throughout both of the game's story first. i know a lot of us are here for the tragedy of Hansry in 1419., but i promise you there are many happy years between now and then in the meantime. enjoy them! (and learn more about 15th century Bohemia!)

Why Yuuri (before 2017) should not be allowed to write an autobiography

Okay, to those who might not follow figure skating as closely, I just need to point out that Yuuri, despite what he insists (unreliable narrator), did not do badly in the Sochi GPF.

We know from the flashback in episode 5 that Yuuri during his free skate fell on at least two of his jumps and touched down on one and it can be assumed he didn't do too well on his others. He says in episode 4 that he falls on jumps and makes up the gap with Program Component Scores (how artistic it was) which can also be seen on the protocol from his short program where his PCS is higher than his Technical Element Score (how technically sound it was). This is not how those scores usually relate except in certain cases (see Jason Brown, also known for his high PCS and (relatively) low TES though this is by choice).

This is Yuuri's short program protocol. If you don't know how to read this then all you need to know is that his total score was 82.80, 40.42 of that being TES and 42.38 being PCS.

Now, to relate that to the real world, in the 2015 Grand Prix Final, Daisuke Murakami scored a total of 235.49, scoring 83.47 in his short program and 152.02 in his free skate and placing 6th. As we can see, that's pretty darn close to Yuuri's score (82.80 in the short, 149.79 in the free, 232.59 total) and I would not be surprised if they were inspired by his scores since they're also PCS centric.

Sidenote: Looking at Yuuri's PCS here and comparing them to Murakami's, Yuuri's are higher, not having anything lower than 8.00. Based on the fact that he was likely very off-kilter, I'd say this is still a very respectable score (duh, Yuuri just can't accept that he's good). Boyang Jin who took 3rd in the short, 5th overall in the 2015 GPF had way lower PCS scores.

Anyway, here's Murakami's free skate protocol.

Murakami has 8 jumping passes in his free, 7 of which he lands with a two-footed landing on one and a stepout on another. He only falls ass on ice like Yuuri does once on his second quadruple salchow (which was supposed to be a combination. The << and REP are explained at the bottom of the protocol). He does not touch down at any point. Otherwise his jumps look fine to me, most of them barely having any ice spray and only his 3Lz+1Lo+2S combination getting a warning for an unclear edge.

If you don't know, falling is (kind of) the worst mistake you can make on a jump and the judges are required to both give a certain negative GEO (grade of execution) and a deduction of 1 point. Other mess-ups just give negative GEOs.

Murakami's FS score is 73.26 TES and 79.76 PCS which would mean Yuuri's scores are likely very similar. But he fell on two jumps, not one meaning his PCS would likely have been higher to make up the difference.

And if Yuuri's insinuation that he flubbed all his jumps in some manner is true (which I find highly unlikely, have some confidence) and he missed elements by either popping (opening too early which costs rotations but saves you from a fall) or just not doing them, his PCS would have needed to be even higher to make up for that.

Missing elements, like popping a double, triple or quadruple axel into a single (at least one double is required), results in that element not being counted at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. You get nothing for it if you can't make up for it later in the program. Even falling on a jump is better because that's at least a few points. So if that happened, he'd have a big gap to make up with his PCS.

To sum up: with everything that could have gone wrong for Yuuri, this is still a very good score, even on the international scene. And to highlight that, Murakami is happy when he finishes, even fist pumping.

And yes, there was still that 103.17 point gap between Yuuri and Viktor which is the same (okay, 94.95) for Murakami and Yuzuru Hanyu who took gold in the 2015 GPF. But, and I cannot stress this enough, Hanyu broke 3 world records with that score meaning Viktor likely did as well. No wait, scratch that, I know he did because Hanyu's score was 330.43 which Viktor beat by 5.33 points. Of course it's not going to be even close, are you kidding me?

Looking at the World Championships in 2016, Yuuri would, with that 232.59 score, still have taken 11th place. He'd have taken 16th in 2023 and that's with a single quad (I don't trust his quad salchow yet) in the age of quads (and that quad being the one with the lowest base value). I'm positive he'd have been able to do a Jason Brown whose PC scores are so good that he in 2023 placed 5th without a single quad and would have placed 3rd in 2016. Now, take that and throw Yuuri's quad toe loop and some confidence in there and you've got a Worlds podium finish before the series even starts.

And then in the season the show is in, he has his quad toe loop, quad salchow and quad flip. He might even have gotten the quad loop down in the 3.5 months between the Barcelona GFP and Worlds. I definitely see a world champion on the next level (if they'd give us it >:[ )

And scores always get higher over time, the world record having gone from Hanyu's 330.46 in 2015 to Nathan Chen's 335.30 in 2019 still standing in 2023 which is still less than Viktor's Sochi GFP score (335.76) (yes, the system has changed since 2015 but it's close enough that it doesn't really matter in this context. Viktor is OP no matter what).

Really, the fact that Yuuri's in the GFP at all should be all we need to know that he's insanely good. It might not technically be Worlds but my stars, Yuuri, it does basically make you 6th in the world.

BE. PROUD.

OK SO i found this vat7k Spotify playlist and YKK I LISTENED TO THE WHOLE THING IN ONE RUN AND YOU SHOULD TOOOOOO its honestly so accurate 🤭 whoever made this, ilysm please marry me