12 Reasons to Watch, Re-Watch, and Love Yuri on Ice

From Yuri on Ice episode 12. Image is a screengrab via Funimation.

11. The Supporting Cast

Rest assured that we will get to talking about the three main characters of this show. However, to focus on them would be to ignore everyone else in the show from Phichit Chulanont to Lilia Baranovskaya.

Understandably, the male skaters in the cast get the most attention, since they’re Yuri and Yurio’s direct competition. However, as previously mentioned, all of them have little quirks and participate in the story.

Even Jean-Jacques Leroy, the Canadian skater who loves to shout that it’s “J.J. style!” in the most obnoxious manner possible, has his points of likability. Granted, it takes a while to find them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

You’ll certainly pick a favorite skater or two — yours truly still can’t get over Leo de la Iglesia, though that may be her American favoritism showing — but everyone gets a brief moment to shine, and there are implications throughout the series that there are friendships between them that just don’t get focused on as much. That helps make the world of Yuri on Ice seem more real.

Perhaps the most prominent of the main characters is the Thai skater Phichit, who’s not only an old friend of Yuri’s, but also very much enthusiastic about social media and hamsters. Yes, hamsters. He has several. It’s adorable, and he’s adorable.