MovieChat Forums > Love on Ice (2017) Discussion > Shameless copy of Japanese animation

Shameless copy of Japanese animation


What the hell, I just found out about this movie. It's a ripoff of an anime called Yuri on Ice that took five years of researching to be produced and it's highly endorsed by figure skaters such as Johnny Weir, Denis Tenn, Lambiel and many others.

They copied even the age of the characters. I hope it flops.

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Seriously though, I'm cringing, it's literally the same thing??? Like imagine if a real live-action version of YOI was made that actually credited Kubo-sensei and was even put into theaters...I need to see that, not some plagiarized rip off...if this is all just a major coincidence I'll be extremely surprised.

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Besides being a shameless rip off they even made it a straight white love story when in the original anime one of the most praised and discuted themes is the love between the two male characters.

I sure hope it flops. Hard.

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YOI is a beautiful love story between two male, interracial characters who form a mutual and deep connection despite language barriers and with one of them suffering from an anxiety disorder. Honestly, I bet money that Hallmark won't be able to make the romance near as realistic and entrancing as it's shown on Yuri!!! On Ice. It's a low blow on them to take a beautiful romance story like this and whitewash and heteronormalize the characters. Despicable.

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That was my first thought too, and now because of my devotion to YOI, I feel like I have to point out just HOW shameless this mimicry is (from what little information I could find published about the movie at this point) for anyone who might be unaware:

Emily James, a former Olympic figure skating hopeful who walked away from it all: While not specifically an Olympic hopeful, Yuuri Katsuki paused his skating career after stress and anxiety caused him to come in sixth at the Grand Prix Final; I imagine the Olympics are mentioned in the movie to make the story accessible to people who aren't hardcore fans of professional ice skating.

[Emily] now waits tables and teaches young kids to skate at the local rink: Yuuri now works at his family's hot springs and skates occasionally at his local rink.

When former student Nikki begins training for Midwest Regionals with energetic (and handsome) coach Spencer Patterson: I assume this is how Emily becomes aware of Spencer as a person who exists? Anyway, Spencer's doppelganger in this scenario is Victor Nikiforov, a five-time Worlds and GPF gold medalist who is Yuuri's idol (also the person who inspired Yuuri to begin ice skating as a child) and who, unbeknownst to most of the skating world, has lost his passion despite being at the top of the sport.

Emily begins to wonder 'What if...?' when Spencer suggests Emily still has what it takes: Beginning after his loss at the GPF, Yuuri practices Victor's current free skate program and eventually performs it for his friend Yuuko, whose triplets record it and enthusiastically post it online. Victor sees the video and flies to Japan to coach Yuuri, determined to help him win gold at the next GPF. (I know, I know, but I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free.)

Once Nikki's domineering mom Mia gets wind of Emily's intention to also compete at Regionals, Emily must prove to herself that life is about taking a chance: at the comeback of a lifetime, and at love: Sounds like Mia is the obligatory forced obstacle to Emily's shot at the big time? YOI doesn't have a specific antagonist; all the characters are working hard to achieve their dreams and no one tries to sabotage anyone else. Yuuri's greatest obstacle is his own self-doubt.

Two major problems I have with this movie on its face are that while Emily has been coaching kids at the local rink, i.e., practicing skating, she's been out of competitive shape for EIGHT YEARS, and she's 27 years old. There's no way she's going to win any major competitions at this point, if she can even qualify.

The other problem is a little more obvious, that the entire movie is just a lousy YOI ripoff shoehorned into a cliche hetero love story and stripping away the amazing character development.

Anyway, I obviously haven't seen this movie (today being 2 January) but YOI is better.

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Omg guys this movie was probably made before yuri on ice was even previewed, calm the *beep* down. Now the title, they could have tastefully changed that. What, you think they made a movie in 2 months? Cause yuri on ice was from mid October to the last week of December,And only previewed in april i think. Now the movie probably will suck, but a lot of hallmark movies do.

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Actually, casting for this movie was finished on November 8th, and since Love on Ice is airing January 7th, it means that yes, this movie was made in under two months. Given that Yuri!! on Ice is so popular and the plots are pretty much exactly the same, except in this version Viktor is replaced by a younger man and Yuri is an older woman (who happens to be the same age as Viktor). Judging from the trailer, their personalities seem to be the same too. Spencer is encouraging and sees greatness in Emily just like Viktor, and Emily doesn't believe in herself and wants to quit skating, just like Yuri. Hell, their names even sound alike!

Spencer - Viktor

Emily - Yuri

Love on Ice - Yuri!!! on Ice

Tell me I'm not the only one who sees this!

Now you could be right in that the writers haven't heard of YoI before, and just changed the title after it got popular to kinda cash in on it's success, but there are way to many similarities coupled with an extremely short production window for that to be plausible in my opinion.

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While you are correct that Yuri!!! On Ice was only just recently announce in April, it has been in the works since 2013 while I cannot find any information regarding the production "Love on Ice" prior to mid-October of 2016.
Coincidentally enough there are no copyright laws in the United States Copyright Act that can be used against the Hallmark channel as this story has been changed just enough to keep it from being considered a derivative work. They just used the idea that Kubo has been creating for 4 years. I don't plan on watching this film when it airs as I personally believe the content does not belong to the Hallmark channel. I may be wrong and it may be their own content that just happens to be the EXACT same plot as Yuri!!! On Ice, but I really don't think that its a coincidence...

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How in the-2 months?! Wow that truly is plagiarism. Well I tried to play devil's advocate but in light of the facts I concede that this is a huge Rip Off. I am severely disappointed. Yuri on Ice is one of favorite anise and the last episode killed me, so I was ready to watch anything dealing with true love and ice skating, but dear god I didn't want a fake copy trying to ride it's coattails. That's just in bad taste...*sigh* why do my people ruin everything...?

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I feel the same way! I am honestly embarrassed to be from America right now.

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And the worst part is that the shooting for this THING started in November, while Yuri On Ice started airing in October. Coincidence much

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Exactly! This article (https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/filming-continues-at-local-arenas-469557) confirms that filming for the movie took place mostly in late November, which is eight whole months after Yuri On Ice was previewed in March and nearly two months after the first episode actually premiered.

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You're *beep* retarded. Ice skating and romance are not original themes nor does yuri on ice hold the rights to those themes.

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