Studio MAPPA has become a heavy hitter in the anime industry, thanks to bringing to life some of the biggest anime franchises to life. Since first swinging open its doors in 2011, the production house has released the likes of Attack on Titan’s final season, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, and Hell’s Paradise. Despite MAPPA seeing major success in many of these instances, there is one anime property from the studio that fans have been hoping to see make a comeback for quite some time. Luckily, to celebrate a major anniversary, said anime franchise has returned.
Yuri on Ice first premiered on the small screen in 2016, arriving as a completely original anime franchise that wasn’t based on a manga and/or light novel. With the tenth anniversary arriving this year, the MAPPA franchise has released new artwork for the major occasion, with character designer Tadashi Hiramatsu returning to bring the characters back from limbo. On top of this art, a “10th Anniversary Box Set” is set to be released that will include the entirety of the series along with a soundtrack to hit Japan later this year. This winter will also see a major exhibition event that will revisit the original anime series, so if you’ve been waiting for Yuri on Ice to make an official return with a new anime project, this event might be our best bet of seeing that dream become a reality.
The big controversy surrounding Yuri on Ice was due to the cancellation of Yuri on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence. Originally pitched as a sequel to the first season, it was initially scheduled to arrive in 2019 following an announcement in 2017. The movie was pushed back to 2020, but was then ultimately cancelled completely by MAPPA in 2024. An official reason for the cancellation wasn’t revealed by MAPPA following the announcement, though series producer Hideo Katsumata previously discussed the controversy last year. Surprisingly, Katsumata revealed that the cancellation was due to “creative issues” rather than monetary ones.
“I can’t talk about the details, as that includes some very private matters. But if you ask whether it’s a creative or business issue, the reasons stem from the creative side. The main reason is that it couldn’t be made due to creative reasons. Since it was an original animation, the people involved—including the creators and the animation studio, MAPPA… among the creators, on the creative side, a situation arose where it just became impossible to proceed with production.”
As of the writing of this article, Yuri on Ice’s future remains a mystery. Anime fans might never see this world continue, even though an official trailer was released to promote the film. With animation revivals becoming more of a big ticket item these days, fingers crossed that the story of Yuri Katsuki makes a comeback.
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