Character designs were handled by Tadashi Hiramatsu, and its music was composed by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba.

It was popular on social media outlets such as Tumblr, Sina Weibo and Twitter, where it received over a million more tweets than the next most-talked about anime series in the season it was broadcast.

After a crushing defeat in the Grand Prix Final and other competition losses, 23-year-old Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki develops mixed feelings about skating and puts his career on hold; he returns to his hometown of Hasetsu in Kyushu after 5 years abroad.

[1] The anime was produced by MAPPA, directed and written by Sayo Yamamoto using original scripts by Mitsurō Kubo under the supervision of Jun Shishido, with character designs by Tadashi Hiramatsu, music by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba and figure-skating choreography by Kenji Miyamoto.

[6] In December 2016, Saga Prefecture's Sagaprise project announced plans to use Yuri on Ice to promote tourism in the area.

[12] In the skating scenes, the sound effects were changed to match each venue, according to the building's capacity and crowd size.

on Concert took place at the Makuhari Messe with the Ensemble Fove conducted by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba, the event was live-streamed on July 1, 2018 on YouTube and the CD was made available on November 20, 2018, it was released on streaming services on February 15, 2019.

Written and illustrated by series co-creator Mitsurou Kubo, the manga follows Yuri P. and Otabek Altin the night after the Grand Prix Final.

[24] An original video animation also included with the Blu-Ray, Welcome to The Madness, depicts Yuri P.'s skate at the Grand Prix Final exhibition event.

[28] A teaser trailer depicting a young Viktor Nikiforov performing at the Winter Olympic Games was released in Japan in January 2019 as a part of a Yuri on Ice marathon event.

[34] From professionals, Yuri on Ice was well-received by figure skaters, including Johnny Weir, Evgenia Medvedeva, Denis Ten, Evgeni Plushenko, Masato Kimura, Ryuichi Kihara, Miu Suzaki, and Adam Rippon[35][36][37][38] and included cameo appearances by skaters Nobunari Oda and Stéphane Lambiel.

[44] Brandon Teteruck of Crunchyroll commented: "Yamamoto is subtly crafting a work that embraces diversity and cultural acceptance.

He highlights a scene in the sixth episode in which the Thai skater Phichit Chulanont skates to a piece of music referencing The King and I, of which the 1956 and 1999 film version are both banned in Thailand.

[52] Kevin Cirugeda of Anime News Network commented that character designer Tadashi Hiramatsu was able to, "make it feel fresh, but also weirdly reminiscent of the past", comparing the series to FLCL.

Ian Wolf of Anime UK News commented on its rousing theme; the use of English connecting to the show's international feel; and the use of both unusual musical instruments such a xylophone in the introduction and of a 68 time signature, arguably make the song a fast waltz and thus a dance akin to ballet.

[55][56] "History Maker" was played in the opening ceremony of the 2017–18 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya.

He wrote that some people argued the fans were drawn to the anime as a form of escapism following the political events of 2016 among other factors, but he responded to this saying that: The problem with this reductive view is that it assumes Yuri!!!

(It's also just a gilded version of the more common "only horny fangirls care about this" argument, meant to delegitimize the show's audience and therefore its merits as a work of art.

According to the Kadokawa Ascii Research Laboratories content and information trend-analytics company, Yuri on Ice was the most-tweeted anime of the season (collecting 1,440,596 tweets).

[93] A poll by mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo of 4,800 users named Yuri on Ice "Most Favourite TV Anime of 2016" and the "Most Moe" series,[94] while another poll by the same company revealed the tenth episode was the eighth most popular "Swimsuit" episode of anime as chosen by women.

[103] An all-night screening of the series and a talk show with writer Mitsurou Kubo and voice actors Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Junichi Suwabe, and Kōki Uchiyama (the voices of Yuri K., Victor and Yuri P., respectively) was held on February 11 at the TOHO cinema in Roppongi Hills, and was relayed live to 47 cinemas in Japan.

In the animated series South Park, the episode "The End of Serialization as We Know It", Ike Broflovski's browser history indicates that he searched for the show.

[105][106] The twelfth episode of Yuri on Ice includes a flashback in which a young J.J. Leroy is dressed to resemble South Park's Eric Cartman.

In the first half of 2017 it was the second-most successful media franchise in Japan, taking ¥3,262,936,824 from sales in home video and music releases.

[132] On February 6, 2018, Funimation released the series in the United States on a combined DVD and Blu-Ray boxset, with extras including textless opening and closing, trailers, commentary from the 11th episode, and the "Welcome to the Madness" original video anime.

There is also a limited edition version including a chipboard collector's box with "cracked ice" holographic finish and silver foil, three art cards, and an 80 page book of illustrations and behind-the-scenes interviews with Sayo Yamamoto, Mitsurou Kubo, and Kenji Miyamoto.

[134] The anime's opening song, "History Maker" by Dean Fujioka, reached number 43 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.

I don't know if Yuri on Ice will be able to change the perception of gay athletes to a 60 year old businessman, but I am of the school of thought that every little bit helps.

[42]The series finale features a scene in which Yuri K. and Victor skate together at an exhibition event; something which has not yet occurred in actual competition.

Gender roles are further addressed via Viktor's [sic] lines of encouragement to Yuri that, at least as translated, imply both skating direction and romantic suggestion.