The Rec Center #48
IT’S ALL YURI ON ICE ALL THE TIME, BABY. Or, uh. Most of the time. I watched all eight (now nine) extant episodes last week and am O B S E S S E D. So, this week we’re doing YoI recs and a fandom primer, along with a selection of miscellania from fandom at large. And some Gilmore Girls femslash recs, just in case there’s someone out there who doesn’t immediately fall in love with Yuri on Ice. — Gav
Just a note: we’re skipping the regular articles section today, but it’ll be back next week!
tumblr & beyond
“Female Werewolves In Pop Culture, Oh My”: a conversation with Dr. Hannah Priest
“Comic book questions I will never have again” by daggerpen
Check out this cute Avengers comic about Thor and Captain America, by Meredith McClaren!
“Stay Close To Me and the Victuuri relationship” by littlechubbyyuuri
Yuri on Ice is one of those fandoms that inspires really detailed analysis. This post takes a closer look at the music choice for Victor’s medal-winning program in the first episode, which kickstarts the relationship between himself and Yuuri.
“YOI - the New Generation” by salmonwentmissing
yuri on ice primer
Chances are, you’ve already seen people posting (and crying, and screaming) about Yuri on Ice. It’s a new anime series about competitive figure skaters, and it’s an absolute delight.
The main characters are Japanese figure skater Yuuri Katsuki and his coach Victor Nikiforov, plus a supporting cast of Yuri’s family and friends, and other competitive skaters. Yuuri is talented but lacks self-confidence, and Victor is his childhood idol: a Russian superstar who, at 27, has won multiple gold medals and isn’t sure what to do next. After seeing a video of Yuuri copying one of his skating programs, Victor flies to Japan to become his coach. And then they fall in love!! Seriously, that’s literally what happens.
This show is incredibly good combining the sports narrative with its romantic arc. Victor and Yuuri’s relationship starts off kind of unbalanced, but there’s plenty of character development and within a few episodes they’re on equal footing and clearly smitten with each other. Their love story is fully intertwined with Yuuri’s professional and creative progression, and the show displays a great deal of figure skating expertise. (If you’re a figure skating fan, you’ll LOVE it, and if you’re unfamiliar with the sport sport, YoI is a very accessible introduction.)
To avoid making this newsletter 2,000 words long, you can read my full primer here. — Gav
fanfiction
“Phichit Chulanont” by niladhevan
“home is when I'm alone with you” by lazulisong. 1.7K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov
Backstory: Phichit is a Thai figure skater and one of Yuuri’s best friends.
Rec: I feel like I’m gonna rec all of these fics as “VERY CUTE,” but: this is a very cute fic where Phichit gives Victor advice about Yuuri’s birthday.
Content warnings: N/A
“Distance” by surveycorpsjean. 5.2K words, rated Explicit.
Ship: Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov
Rec: Futurefic. 50% adorable domesticity, 50% porn.
Content warnings: N/A
“When He's Not Even Trying” by qwartooty. 2.8K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov
Rec: Phichit acts as lowkey matchmaker for Victor and Yuuri, post ep 7.
Content warnings: N/A
“Yuri Plisetsky has Two Dads” by Metis_Ink. 3K words, rated Gen.
Ship: Yuuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov, Yuri Plisetsky gen.
Rec: Yuri Plisetsky teaches Yuuri how to use Instagram. I just love the way this fic balances Yuri’s natural ragefulness with his poorly-hidden affection for Victor and Yuuri. <3
Content warnings: N/A
Bonus recs! In celebration of the new Gilmore Girls miniseries, here are two of my fav Rory/Paris stories. (After watching the new episodes, I’m even more adamant that this is the clear OTP of the show.)
“Boston Marriage” by Jae. 5.4K words, rated Gen.
Ship: Rory Gilmore/Paris Geller
Backstory: Set during Rory and Paris’s time at Yale, when they were college roommates.
Rec: Frustrated by Rory’s disappointing boyfriends, Paris proposes a solution: a Boston marriage. (In true Paris Geller fashion, her proposal comes in the form of a powerpoint presentation in a ringbinder.) One of the greatest strengths of Gilmore Girls is, of course, the dialogue style, and this story has a pitch-perfect depiction of Paris and Rory’s banter—especially the way Paris talks.
Content warnings: N/A
“Whatever our Souls are made of” by dollsome. 5.6K words, rated Gen.
Ship: Rory Gilmore/Paris Geller
Backstory: Set during Rory and Paris’s early high school years together at Chilton, this fic is a CROSSOVER WITH TWILIGHT.
Rec: Edward Cullen enrolls at Chilton, and immediately sets his eyes on Rory Gilmore. Neither Rory nor Paris is very impressed. VERY HILARIOUS.
Content warnings: Humorous depiction of teen vampire stalking, I guess?
FINAL THOUGHT
We’re putting together a big list of holiday/winter/this-time-of-year stories and we need your help! Thanks to everyone who already sent stories in, and encouragement to anyone who has a favorite that falls into this broad category rattling around. Use our form, or email us! Please mention “winter holiday list” or something somewhere in the rec. And of course we’re always taking one-off recs for all fandoms and themes through that link, and we’re always looking for guests to do full lists as well, so get in touch! I’ll be going back through our email and catching up with any lists we’ve left languishing, so thank you for your patience! — Elizabeth
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)