It’s so over, y’all. Yuri on Ice, the gay ice-skating anime that took the world by storm in 2016, won’t be getting its long-anticipated follow-up film, Yuri on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence, as the movie has been canceled. A moment of silence for those who were present for the gay cultural reset. We’re hurting.
The announcement came from a post via the official Yuri on Ice social media accounts, which was shared in both Japanese and English. Unfortunately, the statement doesn’t say why the film has been canceled, or why it was in development for so long, just that “various circumstances” prompted development studio MAPPA to shelve the project.
The full statement reads as follows:
Thank you very much for always supporting “Yuri!!! on ICE”.
Regarding the postponed release of “YURI!!! on Ice the movie: ICE ADOLESCENCE”, we have come to the decision to unfortunately cancel its production.
We deeply apologize for not being able to meet the expectations of all those who have been waiting and have continued to support us throughout the years.
The production committee and staff have been in constant discussions to create and to deliver the movie, but due to various circumstances, we have had to make the difficult decision to stop the production.
We sincerely apologize to everyone who has been anticipating its release and thank you once again for your continued support.
Ice Adolescence would have followed a younger Victor Nikiforov, one of the two leads from the original series who acted as a coach and lover to the titular Yuri as he worked his way through ice skating competitions. MAPPA had been fairly quiet about the project after its initial announcement in 2017, though it did release a teaser trailer in 2020 showing the teenage Victor in an ice skating rink. So, after four years of mostly nothing, it’s not all that surprising to hear the movie wasn’t coming together.
But it is a a shame. Despite only having one season that ended nearly a decade ago, Yuri on Ice remains beloved to this day, and fans are understandably disappointed. While some aspects of the show were divisive, such as the main couple’s kiss being somewhat obscured (to the point that people have to do frame-by-frame breakdowns to prove it was, in fact, a lip lock), it remains a staple of the sports anime canon. What a bummer that it all ended this way.
For more on Yuri on Ice, check out Kotaku’s review.