Well, it was based on men's figure skating* which is regrettably gender-locked by definition, so there weren't any female competitors (however, one of the female characters was an active skater too, while Yuuko's family were very important to getting the whole thing going and present throughout). I noticed the ladies as I'm always happy to see decent adult women represented in anime, and I liked that they subverted the baby-faced childhood crush possibility right from the beginning by having Yuuko contentedly settled down with someone else. I personally think Victor is attractive and can easily see how people would like J.J., Phichit, Otabek, Yurio etc.
To use a different example, in Monogatari I can see how people can find Hitagi, Shinobu, Tsubasa, Koyomi and friends** appealing, whereas in Tenchi Muyou! it's genuinely difficult for me to understand how anyone would think half of the cast could be cute. I feel like Yuuri!!! On Ice succeeded in making the vast majority of its cast appealing without resorting to making them all too similar to one another in order to cash in on the most popular ideals of attractiveness.
On the ethnicity thing, I think the designs deliberately tried to respect diversity within the confines of being abstracted like most anime; Yuuri has strong features, very typically Japanese mannerisms and a more compact physique, whereas Victor is lanky and pale with delicate features and a typically Russian name, which I personally took as a visual sign that he was intended to be white (as perceived by Japanese designers) - and probably Orthodox Christian, at least in background if not in beliefs. In any case, the series handwaves most cultural tensions in general and portrays Yuuri as a well-rounded guy who has friends all over the world, which is nice to see.
* I am totally ok with them making a sequel about a fantasy mixed pairs skating championship though.
** Ok, maybe not Nadeko.
R
