Episode 11

***Skate 11 - Gotta Super-Supercharge it!! Grand Prix Final Short Program*** (*第11滑走: 超超がんばらんば！！グランプリファイナルSP*, *Dai jū ichi Kassō Chō Chō Ganbaranba!! Guran Puri Fainaru SP*) is the eleventh episode of *Yuri!!! on Ice*.

## Official Preview

Sporting the light of Victor's love on his finger, Yuuri aims for a gold medal in the Grand Prix Final! Sparks fly between the 6 chosen warriors at the Short Program…!!!

## Synopsis

With a kiss on his ring from Victor and a planned quadruple flip as his final jump, Yuuri is the first to take to the ice in the Grand Prix Final, but is upset at his slight, single mistake. Phichit scores a new personal best with a flawless program, and Yuri Plisetski's high-difficulty performance sets him a new record, surpassing Victor's short program world record. Chris delivers a near-perfect short program, while Otabek, with Yurio's support, scores a new personal best. Top contender JJ succumbs to the pressure of the Grand Prix Final and is devastated at not being able to perform well. Back at the hotel after the competition, Victor sits to talk with Yuuri, and Yuuri simply states, "After the finals, let's end this."

## Summary

The six finalists of the Grand Prix series are first shown in order or qualification rankings. The Grand Prix Final short program then begins, starting with Yuri.

Before Yuuri begins his short program, Victor kisses Yuuri's ring to the awe of the audience. Sara wonders aloud about why Yuuri and Victor have matching rings, and Michele wishes aloud that he and Sara could have matching rings. Emil, who sits with the siblings, cheers loudly for Yuuri.

Yuuri flashes his ring at Victor and takes his place in the middle of the rink. Victor kisses his own ring, and Yuuri does the same. For the GPF, he modified his program to include a quadruple flip, a jump that he has low success in completing. Despite this, he decided that it is the only way he will be able to keep up with JJ, who has a very high base technical score for his program.

Yuuri is able to nail almost every jump throughout the short program. However as he executes the quadruple flip for the final jump, with Victor copying him from the sidelines, Yuuri touches down on the ice with one hand, and breaks down on the ice in disappointment after his performance. When the scores are announced, Yuuri is visibly upset and angry, and he doesn't notice Victor smiling at him.

Phichit takes to the ice for the next short program. While he performs, a flashback of his childhood is shown, revealing that his talent was discovered at a rink at a Bangkok commercial district. A second flashback which includes Yuuri shows the two talking in their room in Detroit, where Phichit sharing his wish to skate to the song Shall We Skate? at a major competition. Phichit delivers a flawless performance and is unable to contain his tears of joy at his accomplishment. Yuuri, with a serious expression, admires his friend from the kiss and cry, until Yuri kicks both him and Victor off the seat. Phichit scores a new personal best and takes a selfie with his coach, Celestino.

Yuri enters the rink for the next short program. In order to gain higher marks, he executes his jumps with one arm raised for a greater degree of difficulty. A flashback shows that Yuri had won the Golden Spin before the GPF was held, and that he was not hesitant to ask for as much help as possible from his coaches and rinkmates. Lilia reveals that Yuri was able to understand love due to his encounters with the people around him. While watching Yuri skate, his coach, Yakov, is reminded of Victor's past self. Yuri nails his final jump with both hands raised to tremendous applause. Behind the scenes, Yuuri discovers that Victor has gone off and eventually finds him watching Yuri's performance. Victor is shown to be bothered by Yuri's success, which hints that he still misses his career as a competitive skater. Having delivered a flawless performance with high difficulty, Yuri surpasses both his personal best and Victor's short program world record, and jumps for joy with Yakov supporting him up.

Victor invites Yuuri to look for seats in the audience for Chris' short program, where he finds seats beside Sara, Mickey, and Emil. While Chris performs, he reflects that he would not be able to compete for much longer given his age, and wishes to make this GPF extra special without Victor competing this round. Yuuri watches Victor paying close attention to Chris' performance, and becomes downcast as he makes an unspecified conclusion. Even though Chris under-rotates his final jump, he scores higher than Yuuri for the program.

As Otabek's turn comes up, Yuri finds a seat behind Yuuri and Sara, and shouts his support to Otabek from the audience. Otabek notices the cheer from the rink, and gives a thumbs-up to Yuri in reply, to which Yuri smiles in response. During Otabek's performance, Otabek is mentioned to be the surprise entrant in the competition, while Sara muses that Otabek was never very memorable but that he is different now. A flashback by Otabek reveals him being in the same ballet class as Yuri when he was young. Having never been good at ballet, he eventually quit. Instead, he decided that there is no right way to skate, and he stands by this idea as he performs his program. Yuri fiercely smiles as Otabek nails all his jumps, while Yuuri observes that Otabek's strength is his determination. Yuri concludes that Otabek's flawless program would net a score higher than Yuuri's, while Victor praises the performance. Otabek's short program score surpasses his personal best, coming second only to Yuri.

JJ is the last on the ice, backed with the most supporters and the loudest cheers. He appears confident at first, until a memory of Otabek's performance flashes in his eyes, and he is unable to finish his first combination jump. Unfazed, he makes his second jump, but again fails at executing it properly. JJ's father worries that the GPF pressure had overwhelmed his son. JJ tries to remember his proposal to Isabella, but is swallowed by the expectations pressed onto him. JJ is determined to keep going to the sound of the audience and Isabella singing along to his short program song, but underperforms his final jump. Yuuri compares the performance to his own last year's performance and is sympathetic towards JJ. JJ is shocked at his own performance and his score, being the lowest he has ever gotten, until Isabella leads the audience into a cheer for him. JJ, overwhelmed at the support from his fans, responds with his trademark "It's JJ style!" to great applause from the audience, and the disgust of Yuri, who screams for him to shut up while covering his ears.

### After Ending

Back at the hotel after the competition, Yuuri sits together with Victor in their shared room, where he learns that Mari and Minako are at a bar with Celestino. Victor, who is wearing a white robe and drying his hair with a towel, tells Yuuri they better stay away from there. Victor then asks Yuuri what he wanted to talk about. Yuuri responds by smiling and clenching his fists. Yuuri says, "After the finals, let's end this," while thinking to himself that the final event he and Victor will face together is about to begin.

## Trivia

* Minako and Mari are seen supporting and holding the national flag of every contestant except JJ, cheering in Russian for Yuri and Otabek.
* The Katsuki family also hosts a viewing party in Yu-topia Katsuki where the Nishigori family, Kenjirou Minami, and Makkachin are present, among other viewers.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

Yuuri Katsuki

Victor Nikiforov

Phichit Chulanont

Celestino Cialdini

Yuri Plisetsky

Christophe Giacometti

Otabek Altin

Jean-Jacques Leroy

Hisashi Morooka

Nobunari Oda

Yakov Feltsman

Lilia Baranovskaya

Alain Leroy

Nathalie Leroy

Sara Crispino

Michele Crispino

Emil Nekola

Mari Katsuki

Minako Okukawa

Minami Kenjirou

Yuuko Nishigori

Takeshi Nishigori

Makkachin

Axel, Lutz, and Loop Nishigori

Hiroko Katsuki

Toshiya Katsuki

Guang Hong Ji

Mila Babicheva

Georgi Popovich

## References

1. ↑ ヴィクトルとの愛の光を指に宿した勇利は、グランプリファイナルの金メダルを目指す！
選ばれし6人の戦士達がショートプログラムで火花を散らす…!!!