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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