Japanese pair figure skaters Miu Suzaki and Ryuichi Kihara set Twitter on fire during the first round of the Olympic team figure skating event Friday.
The duo skated to a song from the popular anime Yuri on Ice.
If you haven't heard of it before, Yuri on Ice is a sports anime about a Japanese figure skater named Yuri Katsuki. The show follows Yuri, his coach and longtime idol Victor Nikiforov, and a host of international skaters as they compete in the Figure Skating Grand Prix.
The show has gained a huge online following and garnered praise for its depiction of the same-sex relationship between the two protagonists.
The song Suzaki and Kihara skated to is the piece Yuri used for his free skate throughout the Grand Prix competitions. It’s an emotionally charged song because Yuri's free skates are where you see most of his growth as an athlete and as a person throughout the season.
Anime fans were overwhelmed by Friday's routine.
THE JAPANESE COUPLE SKATERS ARE USING YURIS SONG FROM YURI ON ICE IM LITERALLY CRYING #OLYMPICS
OMG YURI ON ICE MUSIC PLAYED!!! AND AT THE FLIPPING OLYMPICS! OMG MY HEART! 😘❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ #YuriOnIce
I made the most inhuman excited noise when I heard the first two notes and realized the Japan pair was skating to “Yuri on ice” #Olympics
I was shooketh by the performance. #olympics #yurionice
the japanese pairs figure skating team is skating to a song from yuri on ice so the #olympics announcers briefly ha… https://t.co/weZsKA4A7A
Yuri on Ice at the pairs event team #Olympics
yuri on ice is really a beautiful song. just shows how much thought the creators put into the music of yoi. they wa… https://t.co/Lo8TZltf1g
Me when the Yuri on Ice theme started playing. #Olympics
Mitsurou Kubo, one of the show's co-creators, even tweeted her thanks to Team Japan for taking the song to the Winter Olympics.
振付をされた佐藤有香さんが須﨑・木原ペアのSPにYuri on Iceの曲を勧めたと記事で読みましたが、有香さんは何をキッカケでこの曲を知ったのかがすごく気になります…そしてこの曲を五輪に連れてって下さって本当にありがとうございます…！！
The Japanese duo finished eighth and achieved a score of 57.42 points for their performance, their highest of the season.
Suzaki and Kihara will perform the routine again during the pair skating competition on Feb. 13.
This post was adapted from a BuzzFeed Japan post.
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