A while back, MAPPA Studio announced the production of Yuri!!! on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence, which was a spin-off for the original Yuri!!! On Ice anime series. However, it was recently announced that the movie has been canceled due to “various circumstances,” which the studio has not revealed as of yet.
Yuri!!! on Ice was written by Mitsurō Kubo and had an anime series created by Sayo Yamamoto, which was released in 2016. The story featured a Japanese figure skater called Yuri Katsuki, who was about to give up on his dream until a well-known champion by the name of Victor Nikiforov agreed to coach him.
The movie was announced in 2017 just after the first season of the anime series was finished and was supposed to be released in 2019, but it got delayed and is now ultimately cancelled. There is a chance that the animators controversy that has been going on with MAPPA for quite a while may have had something to do with it.
Yuri!!! on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence Gets Officially Cancelled
The production committee for Yuri on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence revealed in a post to X (Formerly Twitter) that the project has been officially canceled. The most recent update on the film’s production was given in 2020, and the release date was yet to be determined. The movie being officially canceled came as a disappointment to fans.
The statement read:
“Regarding the postponed release of “YURI!!! on ICE the movie : ICE ADOLESCENCE”, we have come to the decision to unfortunately cancel its production.
We deeply apologize for not being able to meet the expectations of all those who have been waiting and have continued to support us throughout these years.
The production committee and staff have been in constant discussions to create and to deliver the movie, but due to various circumstances, we have had to make the difficult decision to stop the production.”
MAPPA also released a teaser for the movie three years ago, which indicated that the movie would follow the exploits of a young Victor and his struggles during his early skating years. He was seen ice skating at the Olympics in France, and the movie would have given a glance at what the coach of Yuri Katsuki had to go through.
The Animators Controversy Might Have Played a Major Role in the Cancellation of the Movie
Although the production committee has not given any solid reason behind the cancellation of the movie, many fans believe that the controversy that MAPPA has been going through for the past few years regarding the animators’ inadequate pay and difficult working conditions might have played a major factor in it.
These controversies were majorly exposed during the release of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, where many animators and editors from MAPPA came forward and accused the studio of allegedly creating a toxic environment for work and providing insufficient compensation for their contribution to the series.
The controversies damaged MAPPA’s reputation as one of the top animation companies in the world, and while there hasn’t been an official statement stating that it was the cause of the production’s cancellation, it’s likely that it had a significant role.
You can watch Yuri!!! on Ice on Funimation Now and Crunchyroll.
