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axelsandwich

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Everything posted by axelsandwich

  1. axelsandwich
    Generally I think darker colours or a very light colour would work better for Shoma since he's quite tanned, the olive green is a bit too close to his skin tone and kind of washes him out. A deep rich brown would have been lovely. (don't remind me about Kaori's Amelie costume......the girl deserves so much better)
  2. axelsandwich
    omgg shoma is 20.......but he's still a little baby I love the hakama photoshoot tradition (Yuzu in his dark blue hakama is one of my all time favourite photos of him). Have they done a feature like this for the popular female skaters when they come of age? (like Mao?) I suppose they'd only do a feature on the most popular/successful skaters but... (not gonna lie, I might've picked a different colour for him though - like a dark burgundy or something)
  3. axelsandwich
    I agree that the bolded is happening. I’ve seen even journalists and media state outright that they hold him to a higher standard ‘as Olympic Champion’. And he’s risen magnificently to the occasion, hence all his records. I don’t believe they’re in some massive conspiracy out to get him from the judges. People are human, they will naturally expect more from their champions but I wouldn’t say that holding him to a higher standard or against his past records is fair though, in a judged comp based on largely objective criteria. I actually think the judges score him mostly fairly when he does go and deliver a WR performance, it’s that the standards are unevenly applied across the board that rankles. It makes little sense eg. that being an ‘absolute champion’ means you can do significantly higher number of transitions or have a ChSq twice as long as others, or have steps into jumps but have differences across PCS be eg. 0.25 or the same GOE or less, but it happens. It all comes and goes with the territory - sometimes he benefits too - but like. I can’t pretend I’m not ??? at the judging a lot.
  4. axelsandwich
    I think Shoma, Nathan's reactions remind us that more than fans, skaters have the clearest understanding of scoring, they're probably aware themselves of when they've been treated leniently and the ones with good sportsmanship will dislike it as much as the fans who don't like the scoring. Which is why even though I'm annoyed that Yuzu has to work harder for the same marks relative to others, I think the fact he's able to turn it into motivation has turned out fruitful for him. I'm sure it can't be easy to avoid being bitter about the scoring but I admire the attitude of 'well there's nothing that can be done (in the short term, as an athlete) I just need to be better so they have no excuse'.* It's also, I suppose, like teachers who treat their most talented students more harshly because they believe in their students' potential to be greater and so do not accept the student settling just for 'good'. I don't think the judges are that altruistic but this was the unintended effect. *That being said, I'm also very much of the opinion that if something is rotten in the system...the system needs to change, but the athlete shouldn't be worrying about that so...
  5. axelsandwich
    magical @¯\_(ツ)_/¯ thank you!!!
  6. axelsandwich
    also lol he surfs the net, yuzu is totally an anonymous internet denizen lurker, I bet he's all over the JP internet memes too = u = ps. MAD PROPS TO @SHRUG EMOJI (HOW DO I TAG YOU?? IT NEVER WORKS) FOR THESE SUBTITLES I'm laughing so hard at them
  7. axelsandwich
    Ahhh thank youuuu (I need Yuzu to do more fun interviews like this with people he's familiar with my children are dying) Interesting that it seems like Yuzu's natural self was a highly emotional, mostly optimistic kid, more prone to overconfidence than anything else -- the key difference being he was wholeheartedly open to, and fortunate to have people like Abe-sensei tempering down those natural tendencies and redirecting it into a fierce determination to also work hard and stay humble. さすが天才. (his ossan comment makes me crack up as hard as he does every time. I also lowkey love his dynamic with Kenji, who can't help but be impressed/charmed by yuzu like everyone else but also remains his gruff ossan self w/ a poker face)
  8. axelsandwich
    Judging by how I’ve seen it being used, it’s often used to give extra emphasis and is used in more conversational contexts especially by guys, even though sugoku is technically more correct
  9. axelsandwich
    lol right??? He's too earnest and bouncy and chipper when he dances to be ~cool~ in the requisite way he should probably learn some Chill from Nathan (LGC was probably the closest he came and I wouldn't say Prince is the paragon of male coolness, at least not from a conventional perspective --- but it works for me so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
  10. axelsandwich
    every time I see him in LGC drag, the mean girls 'your hair looks so sexy pushed back' quote rings in my ears
  11. axelsandwich
    LMAO what a loser (he's too bouncy to be dancing this style of dance)
  12. axelsandwich
    OH GOD, those pantsuits......didn't hide anything did they, amazing they managed to skate with all of that D: my eyes.......my eyes.... DDDD: slightly OT but I thought Yuzu's LGC outfit would scandalise my conservative Asian parents but they actually really liked it on him. Personally, I love the costume lol, it's somehow perfectly Yuzu. I'm so intrigued about what he might bring next season but that's....thinking too far ahead.....
  13. axelsandwich
    I can't roll my eyes harder at the concept of sexiness = maturity. I think for me, a 'mature' performance actually comes from a skater being able to convey/add some point of view of their own into their interpretation and that definitely comes mostly with time. It does happen more easily when you have music that already has a degree of pathos/gravitas that allows for deeper/nuanced interpretation (as opposed to eg. Cinderella's upbeat music that's kind of just 'happiness! joy! prettiness!') but you can have beautiful mature music that's non-sexy too (eg. Marin's SP, Satoko's FS). What I find with less mature skaters is that you can tell they haven't fully grasped what they feel about the music yet - they're ticking off the motions and choreography (sometimes with Eteri's girls, even facial expressions are choreographed to the T) but you can tell there's not quite a personal connection to the program. Some girls like Wakaba and Karen Chen are precocious in being able to understand how to 'play' the character and make that personal connection - even when they can't exactly relate to their own experiences - but it's so much harder for eg. poor Sasha Trusova who could not be at all expected to grasp what her FS is about and so the performance feels oddly empty because she's just parroting the choreo. So yeah...I really support working with what girls DO understand and can internalise and if it means fun, light music for tiny girls, then so be it because it will feel more authentic. With the older girls, I think eg. Libertango is an interesting fit for Mai in that I quite like the program for her but I think she hasn't quite grasped how to channel the aggressive 'attack' that tango needs or 'lose herself' in the character which is why I still find her interpretation lacking a bit.
  14. axelsandwich
    Exactly -- Dai and Nobu seemed to be huge personalities, it must have just been insanity all the time (with Yuzu and Tatsuki as the proverbial 'straight men' but also secretly Extra -- I refuse to look at Tatsuki's winged eyeliner and believe he's anything less than dramatic AF). You are so right about him wanting to be Extra and funny in galas but not having a lot of people who get it (bless his soul though, the boy doesn't care and air guitars anyway). Along with all the reasons I'll be sobbing at Misha retiring and Javi (potentially??) retiring this year, one of the more minor but equally devastating reasons is because Yuzu would be losing the two rare guys who not only humoured him but played along?? LIKE WHO IS GOING TO DO STUPID QUAD BATTLES W/ YUZU ONCE JAVI'S GONE WTF ;; it'll literally be Yuzu and Zhenya??? The younger gen (+ Keiji and Ryuju lol) are all too sensible/shy/cool 4 dis dammit! (this is why I kind of want Yuzu to become best friends with Boyang because Team China are actually extra and weird and hilarious AF and Yuzu would love them so much without a language barrier. That or Yuzu will wear down Shoma's defences eventually -- he's slowly succeeding but would be faster with some backup)
  15. axelsandwich
    Han Yan...... fulfilling his true destiny as an idol in pyjamas
  16. axelsandwich
    oh my god, Team Japan c. 2010 was a Wild experience, as you would expect with a combination of Extra AF personalities thanks, now I'll never look at Yamato the same way in the K&C again, I wonder if his students ever pull this stuff out to embarrass him (then again, he'd probably just own it lolol). Alas, even Yuzu isn't that extra and Shoma is definitely not leading any charges in Wild Team Japan Shenanigans. We'll have to see if Yuzu gets Wilder with age ; __ ;
  17. axelsandwich
    CALIBRI AND ARIAL ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (lmao jokes but I am just as bad when I'm commissioning someone as a client and have had some stickler clients, and I know how annoying it can be to have someone who doesn't miss anything, you're forever having to make minor adjustments lol. Not surprised she may be a little tired after Yuzu's annotated notes lol)
  18. axelsandwich
    I love all these documentaries shining a light on these athletes' stories but it's going to make JNats so much harder because I'll be even more emotionally invested in all the hopefuls I'm a little conflicted about the Hamada backlash - on one hand, I...don't find it unusual for coaches to talk frankly about things that their students still have to work on, especially if she's being asked directly (perhaps a cultural...thing? like...it's pretty common for Asian parents to just outright criticise their own children in front of others so perhaps I was just raised to think it's not...nice but not unusual either). I don't think it's fair to assume she hasn't raised the issue with Marin in the past because it sounds like she has many times, though saying so through the media seems to be like a 'let's see if this can finally get through to her' measure. I definitely don't get a sense she's being malicious - on the contrary, I'm pretty sure it's because she cares a lot about Marin that she's saying these things - the fact she called Marin her 'most talented student' says volumes. On the other hand, I do think it's important that coaches and skaters present a united front to the media and that giving them more ammunition to throw against Marin seems like a pretty unfair thing to do, especially considering how young she is and all the expectation on her shoulders.
  19. axelsandwich
    LMAO WHAT when did this happen and where do I find video?? paging @kaeryth! (those are some impressively neat lip marks!)
  20. axelsandwich
    Yeah, the lack of Yuzu's costumes in her portfolio also struck me as a bit weird because like... from any sort of marketing perspective, he's a pretty big coup of a client, why wouldn't you at least put his name up? Most likely reason is probably a combination of what people pointed out earlier (Yuzu's design not being 100% her vision, unlike Shoma's -- even Notte Stellata, I'm sure he had a set of detailed ideas and references; someone pointed out Chopin was also probably inspired by Johnny) and Yuzu's costumes are definitely not 'her' usual style. You don't usually want a designer describing themselves as a seamstress/assistant LOL I get commissioned to make art on occasion but I know I'm always much more enthusiastic about displaying my own conceptual work and Shoma's basically a blank cheque for her creative freedom. From the news coverage, she's designing basically all the single skaters' costumes (or at least a huge number) so it's not like she's lacking work at the moment, or is potentially so busy she doesn't have time to update her website which is also not unusual. Or she's just not a huge fan lol.
  21. axelsandwich
    Surely it must have been some sort of fabric, I can't imagine she sewed those...tassles???? on herself, but it's a pretty awesome fabric find. apart from a few more...questionable ruffles, I love how his early outfits are all so on point - sparkles, bling and all. I also lowkey wish he'd wear suspenders and a tie again
  22. axelsandwich
    bb!yuzu aka. 70% leg lol And 3A from standstill (also, I apologise @liv if it seemed like I was targeting you and if it was a joke - like I said, I don't think you meant badly but I think just the wording and the fact it wasn't in the context of a wider discussion about SA meant didn't register immediately as a joke to me. I've seen people un-ironically say stuff like this today/recently on GS, YT chat and Twitter so I'm sorry I was overly sensitive)
  23. axelsandwich
    I think that's a little unfair to call it a 'fake' GPF or to call the SA competitors imposters or to imply they're somehow not real figure skaters? : / Totally understand feeling less than enthusiastic about GPF but I have no doubt everyone who's in the GPF or participated in the GP series has worked ridiculously hard to get there and are legitimate in every way, no matter their level or results. I'm sure you don't mean any harm with your words but just...let's all be respectful here yeah?
  24. axelsandwich
    Aw it’s yuzu’s forest creature defence squad (bear says ‘if you bully Yuzu.....’) this is what we look like when he gets questionable scoring i guess lol
  25. axelsandwich
    Nah, it’s the legendary 4A, they’d have it under a microscope and then another microscope like they’re doing with Mirai, even if other jumps aren’t called... no shortcuts for Yuzu even if he wanted to = u =
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