mystearicas | Why I love Yuri and Estelle's relationship:

Whether platonic or romantic, I personally really enjoy the Yustelle (Yuristelle?) relationship. ToV is not a game that needs to check off romance on their list and favors the Found Family genre (which it handles very well), but there's something special about Yuri and Estelle.

I think what got me hooked was the scene in Mantaic. Honestly, I hadn't even considered them romantically since a lot of people claim the relationship is extremely platonic. I can totally see that as well. There are a lot of parallels in Estelle's tales of Brave Vesperia and the Child of the Full Moon to her and Yuri, and the game kinda does a nudge-nudge that the familial relationship is supposed to be about them (I'm referring specifically to the scene in Nordopolica.)

However, I like Estelle & Yuri simply because of how understanding they are of one another.

I mentioned this earlier, but the scene in Mantaic is well-written and vital to their relationship. After getting into an argument with Flynn about Yuri's vigilantism, he catches Estelle and Repede eavesdropping. Like Yuri, you'd expect someone of Estelle's caliber to be intimidated and hesitant of his actions. When Yuri tries to push her away, implying that there may be a day where he turns on her too, her response isn't what he's expecting.

Of course, her word choice is to allude to the events at the end of act 2, but for someone who went into this game completely blind, this scene had more weight to it. Here we have Yuri at his worst. He hates what he's had to do, but he knows it's the only right way to enact justice on nobles who can simply pay their way out of punishment.

To rub salt in the wound, he's just emerged from an argument with his best friend about their conflicting views on justice. As people, there's nothing worse than doing something we KNOW isn't completely right and then have the people we hold dear confirm "yeah that was kinda shitty."

Yuri's willing to carry the burden of murder alone. His words to Estelle are (imo) to scare her away from him, or at least that's what I got from the Mantaic scene. But then you have Estelle holding her hand out to him (literally) and delivering a callback to what Yuri said to her when they were leaving Zaphias.

Yuri's obviously touched by this, uttering a quiet, "Thanks" before the scene ends.

Estelle may be naïve, but she's the Heart of the team for a reason. While Yuri's not met with hatred from Brave Vesperia, when the truth DOES come out, no one really talks to him the way Estelle does. I think Estelle gets something about Yuri, despite her own personal conflictions with his choices.

If Flynn is the Light to Yuri's Dark, then Estelle is somewhere in the middle. Her willingness to accept Yuri - flaws and all - is what makes Yustelle/Yuristelle so special. Her giving the words Yuri was not expecting but needed to hear is poignant.

It should also be noted that Yuri was not initially friendly and occasionally had a bit of an attitude towards Estelle because of her upbringing. While he wasn't exactly tossing rocks at her head or giving her lip, he definitely had his passive-aggressive moments.

To be specific:

In one scene (Capua Torim) where he expresses distaste at Ioder and Estelle's (and Ioder's) secrecy/leaving the castle, he gives a bit of a scathing remark about the Empire “not caring about their people”. While one could argue this was towards Ioder (because the game likes to make it clear Yuri has no patience for him), it doesn’t change the fact Estelle is right there and is just as much a part of the Empire as Ioder is.
Their victory quote:

Estelle: We finished them off!
Yuri: I finished them off...
Estelle: Huh?

Seeing Yuri's relationship with Estelle changing over the course of the game from passive-aggressive to loving (again: platonic or romantic) and in a realistic way is why it's one of the best relationships to come out of Vesperia.

I suppose a quick way of saying this is the Mantaic scene was to show Yuri (and the viewer) that he wasn't alone and that someone (Estelle) would be there no matter how bloody his hands got.

That's at least my take on Yustelle/Yuristelle. I live for m/f relationships that are natural and can be read with or without romance, and this is probably my favorite one.