The show quickly gained a large fanbase, prompting many writers to analyse how and why Yuri on Ice was 'taking anime by storm'. At the end of October, shortly after the fourth episode, there were already more than 3000 illustrations and 400 novels on Pixiv, almost 600 works on Archive of our Own, and more than 150 stories tagged 'yurionice' on Wattpad. The first episode of Yuri on Ice aired on October 5, 2016. The project was planned over the course of four years according to writer Kubo Mitsurou, she and co-creator Yamamoto Sayo visited Beijing, Russia and Barcelona for location hunts, and Kubo also created over 900 pages of draft scripts in manga format. Yuri on Ice was first announced by producer Axev Pictures at AnimeJapan 2016, with an official website for the series opened on March 22, 2016. The series is produced by MAPPA, directed by Yamamoto Sayo and written by Kubo Mitsurou.
Yuri on Ice (stylized Yuri!!! on Ice also ユーリ!!! on ICE) is a 12-episode sports anime series following Katsuki Yuuri in his competitive figure skating career.
