Episode 12

***Final Skate - Gotta Super-Super-Supercharge it!!! Grand Prix Final Free Skate*** (*最終滑走: 超超超がんばらんば！！！グランプリファイナルFS*, *Saishū Kassō: Chō Chō Chō Ganbaranba!!! Guran Puri Fainaru FS*) is the twelfth and final episode of *Yuri!!! on Ice*.

## Official Preview

Having just said "let's end this," Yuuri meets the day of his free skate in the worst possible condition. Will Yuuri be able to live up to his theme of "love"? As the two fight their last program against each other, will Yuuri be able to glide on Victor's frank love... and what will the final conclusion be...?

## Synopsis

The night before the free skate does not go well for Yuuri and Victor, both of them having made different decisions regarding their futures. The final day of the Grand Prix Final arrives, with JJ first on the ice, who, despite his nerves, manages to perform well. Phichit is the second to perform and is happy that he could entertain the audience with his skating. When Yuuri performs his free skate, he increases the difficulty of many of his jumps and delivers a perfect program, allowing him to surpass Victor's free skate world record. It is here that Victor reveals his wish to return to competitive skating. Chris and Otabek are the next to perform, and lastly, Yuri takes to the ice. Yuri's determination to win gold so that Yuuri will not retire proves fruitful, and he wins the Grand Prix gold, albeit narrowly. Yuuri begs Victor to stay on and coach him, to which Victor agrees. The after ending reveals that Yuuri moves to Russia to be with Victor.

## Summary

    At their hotel, Yuuri thanks Victor for everything he's done for him as a coach, but reveals that he is planning to retire after the Grand Prix Final. In response, Victor breaks into tears and asks how Yuuri expects him to skate again if Yuuri himself is going to quit. Though the conflict between them remains unresolved, they agree to make their own decisions after the free skate ends.
The free skate of the Grand Prix Final begins with JJ going first. He is overly anxious and does not notice when the music starts playing, having broken down in front of his parents before the performance. He thinks to himself that it's been sixteen years since he's started skating, and a flashback reveals that people have doubted his ability to showcase his style throughout his past. Though JJ believes that he doesn't deserve the audience's applause, he can recover in the second half and performs successfully.

    Phichit performs second and reveals that his dream is to have an ice show in Thailand to spread the joy of figure skating to the people of his country. Though he stumbles on his triple axel, he can perform a quadruple toe loop, the only quad in his program, without mistakes.

Before Yuuri performs, Victor gives him words of encouragement, but Yuuri tells Victor that he’s trying so hard to sound like a coach that he is not staying true to himself. In response, Victor states that he took a break after becoming a five-time world champion just to coach Yuuri, and he wants to kiss a gold medal. Yuuri laughs at this and hugs Victor in response.

During his free skate, Yuuri remembers that he had always wanted to catch up to Victor. His second jump is a quadruple salchow, which Yuri taught him to do back in Japan. He changes his triple loop to a triple flip, wanting his program to have the same difficulty as Victor's. When Yuuri performs a quadruple salchow in place of a triple flip, it shocks the audience as well as Victor. As Yuuri skates, he wishes to remain skating with Victor forever but feels that having Victor continuing to coach him would cause Victor's competitive skating career to degrade, and instead silently begs everyone to see the Victor that now lives inside of him. Yuuri nails Victor's signature quadruple flip for his last jump, which reduces Victor to tears of joy. The performance ends with Yuuri reaching out his free hand towards Victor.

    Having delivered a flawless performance, Yuuri shouts in elation and tears up. Victor calls Yuuri to come over to him at the kiss and cry, but Yuuri secretly wishes that he did not have to go, believing that everything would be over once he did. Victor reassures Yuuri at the kiss and cry that Yuuri's skate was perfect. Yuuri receives a score that breaks Victor's free skate world record. Victor embraces Yuuri, saying that as a coach, it was the ultimate happiness that both Yuuri and Yuri had topped his records, but also the ultimate humiliation as a competitor. At this, Yuuri's eyes light up, excited that Victor would return to competitive skating, at which Victor confirms this with a smile.

Chris is next on the ice, musing over how Yuuri had wished to retire but achieved a new world record instead, and notes it would not be easy to get a medal. Chris feels that despite this, he would be able to enjoy the GPF. He catches sight of Victor and Yuuri and is too distracted to properly perform his next jump. Chris is grumpy when Victor and Yuuri cheer for him, realizing that he was trying to ignore other skaters slowly surpassing him. Chris swaps out an early combination jump to the later half and finished his free skate. Hearing Minako cheer for him in the audience, Chris skates up to her and lets her place a rose wreath upon his head, thanking her in French. The announcement of Chris's final score guarantees Yuuri a Bronze medal at the very least.

The next to perform is Otabek. Throughout his free skate, Otabek's monologue seems to be encouraging someone to live their dreams, though there is no specified recipient. Backstage, as Yuri heads to the rink with Yakov and Lilia, Victor calls out to Yakov and states that he wished to return to competitive skating. Yuri is shocked by this development, asking if Yuuri would retire in turn, to which Victor replies that it was Yuuri's decision. Victor then embraces Yuri, who is too stunned to respond. The scene returns to Otabek, who manages to deliver a flawless performance but ends up placing narrowly behind JJ.

     Yuri is the last to take to the ice. Yuuri runs to the audience to wish Yuri luck. Otabek also shouts his support from the kiss and cry, which Yuri hears and gives a thumbs up in response. During his skate, Yuri recalls the first time he had seen Yuuri in last year's Grand Prix Final. He reveals that he had wanted to see Yuuri skate a flawless performance, and was disappointed to find the Yuui crying. Yuri becomes angry that Yuuri might leave competitive skating if the latter won a gold medal, and is determined not to let Yuuri win. Yuri falls after a jump, but gets up immediately, to the awe of Yuri's grandfather who is watching the GPF on television. Cleanly landing the remainder of his jumps, Yuri completes his performance and breaks down on the ice. The final scores are announced, with Yuri placing first, followed by Yuuri, Jean-Jacques, Otabek, Chris, and Phichit. Yuuri is proud to be standing on the podium, but Yuri wears a disgruntled expression even after having gotten a gold medal, disappointed that he had not been able to top Yuuri's free skate score.

     Yuuri delivers his silver medal to Victor, but while Victor smiles, he tells Yuuri that he does not want to kiss the medal unless it's gold. Victor jokes that he has failed as a coach and presses Yuuri backwards, asking Yuuri if he has any suggestions that would make him excited. At this, Yuuri gulps, leading Victor to ask what Yuuri is thinking. Yuuri blushes, then he pushes Victor down into a hug. Yuuri then begs Victor to stay with him for one more competitive season so that he could win a gold medal. Victor's eyes light up with joy, but he tells Yuuri not to stop there, asking him to become a five-time world champion in exchange for having to coach Yuuri while staying on as a competitive skater, as he places the silver medal around Yuuri's neck. Yuuri clutches the medal tightly and tearfully agrees.

## After Ending

Unlike most other episodes, the ending song is not played during the credits. Instead, Yuuri performs his exhibition skate to Duet: Stay Close to Me, which is Victor's previous year's free skate. For the skate, Yuuri dons a blue and silver outfit that matches Victor's red-violet and gold free skate outfit. He is shown to land quads on the ice successfully. Victor later joins Yuuri on the ice and continues in a pair variation of the skate.

     The scene later changes, showing Yuuri running along with Makkachin on the sidewalk in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with his hair grown out slightly.

 Yuuri believes that there is a place that cannot be reached unless the dream is too big for one person to bear alone, and he calls everything on the ice "love." Makkachin barks, revealing that Victor and Yuri are waiting for Yuuri in the distance. Yuuri smiles happily upon seeing them, and Victor smiles back too, waving to Yuuri and calling his name.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

Yuuri Katsuki

Victor Nikiforov

Yuri Plisetsky

Otabek Altin

Christophe Giacometti

Phichit Chulanont

Jean-Jacques Leroy

Stéphane Lambiel

Hisashi Morooka

Nathalie Leroy

Alain Leroy

Isabella Yang

Celestino Cialdini

Emil Nekola

Michele Crispino

Sara Crispino

Seung-gil Lee

Guang Hong Ji

Leo de la Iglesia

Makkachin

Kenjirou Minami

Axel, Lutz, and Loop Nishigori

Yuuko Nishigori

Takeshi Nishigori

Hiroko Katsuki

Toshiya Katsuki

Josef Karpisek

Yakov Feltsman

Lilia Baranovskaya

Nikolai Plisetsky

## Trivia

* When Victor is speaking to Yuuri before his free skate, his beige trench coat changes to black. This happens twice and happens again later when Yuuri asks Victor to stay on as his coach for one more season. This is likely an animation error. In Blu-ray version, finally, Victor's coat color being fixed to beige trench coat overall.
* Episode 12 is the only episode not to have a "Skate Number", being referred to instead as "Final Skate".
* In the credits of Episode 12, the opening theme's title is changed from "History Maker" to "History Makers".
* Like Episode 11, Mari and Minako cheer from the audience, and the Katsuki family holds a viewing party back in Yu-Topia which Kenjirou and the Nishigori family attend.
* Seung-Gil, Guang Hong, and Leo watch the performance via Livestream in their own countries, while Emil, Michele, Sara, and Mila watch from the audience.
* The last word Victor speaks in the show is "Yuuri!" when he calls Yuuri over in Saint Petersburg. This is also the first word Victor speaks in Episode 1, though referring to Yuri Plisetsky (Yurio) in the episode.

## References

1. ↑ 「終わりにしよう…」勇利の言葉を引き金に、最悪のコンディションで迎えたフリー当日。
2人で戦う最後の試合に最高難度のプログラムで、勇利はヴィクトルとのむきだしの愛を滑りきれるのか…そしてそれぞれが出す結論は…？
2. ↑ Yuri on Ice Season 2