axelsandwich

I believe yes, Toronto time! I'm in Australia so I feel the same... it'll be an early morning tomorrow Thank god it's winter and Japan is only 1hr behind us right now so I should be just in time for the morning news

I had a heart attack this morning looking at the page count (which has jumped like 30 pages I s2g) and thinking the FS had been revealed but nope, just everyone anticipating the announcement (and getting trolled............) I think we're going to comfortably hit it by Autumn Classic L O L

Oh wow, there's some news. And of course it's tomorrow when I'm in class Is this a reliable news source though?? Kind of looks like someone's blog.... From what I can gather from some of the text (please take with grain of salt since I'm not sure if this is a reliable news source - other JP speakers, please check to see if I have the dates + times right): On 8/08/17 from 11AM, there will be coverage of Brian Orser, Tracey Wilson and choreographers Shae-Lynn Bourne and David Wilson Then there's Yuzu's open practice from 2:30PM for 1hr and then 1hr from 5PM ((The person who posted the blog then says because Jeffrey Buttle's name is not there, it seems like a long version of Let's Go Crazy as the free for this season is not a possibility anymore..... was that a real possibility?)) Then on 9/08/17, he'll be practising from 1:30PM and then having an interview from 2:30PM

Lmao the anticipation is definitely more agonising than the decision. Well, I'm going to bed over here and maybe will wake up early in time for JP morning news and survey through the wreckage on the planet here (at least I hope it's going to be the 9th) I'm sticking with my Seimei 2.0 or warhorse gut feeling and hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I've seen this illustrator's works around before but Iron Klaus just linked to her Youtube channel that appears to compile allllll her Yuzu illustrations~ I love~~~

http://kaerb.tumblr.com/post/163861497889/rough-translations-from-もっと強く-pt-1-i-must-get Quick speed translation exercise since I was watching it myself before ( : Some of my thoughts from watching: I think this puts into perspective just how difficult quads are and what an amazing feat they are to achieve. I think in the quad race nowadays, we often take that fact for granted -- just seeing Yuzu practice the 4T back then and fail so many times (he jumped 50 in one session and only landed one...) made me wince so hard but also admire the strength and persistence of figure skaters so much more... and now they're all jumping like 4 quads (that being said, the transition from triples to quads is probably such a huge hurdle to cross and it hopefully gets easier) I thought it was very interesting and perhaps fortunate that Yuzu's jump technique issue basically meant he couldn't land the jump until he fixed his position/technique (as opposed to perhaps other athletes with problems in their technique that allowed them to land the jump but with issues or minor strains that build up over time. The latter is harder to spot especially with a busylazy/lenient coach I think). Sometimes that's honestly just luck of the draw (and I'm glad Nanami Abe was so mindful of the technique issues) Even at 16, Yuzu really was pretty good at identifying his own weaknesses and what he needed to do. Also, the dislike of talking about injuries/attributing failure to injuries was there from the beginning.....

Found the full early documentary of 16yr old Yuzu called 'The New Star of Figure Skating' (there's Pt 2 and 3) - I've seen clips of his mother making his costume and also parts from this, but not the full documentary. Anyone know if there are English subs for the full thing and can link? Otherwise, happy to translate some fun tidbits (also, the clips of him repeatedly falling while trying to master his quads makes me wince so hard but also feel so inspired )

LOL well at least we hopefully don't have to worry about our boy getting a bald patch too soon PChiddy on the other hand.......that hairline is receding with the tide... ^^;;

Ah Satton )): I hope she experienced the entire season's worth of bad luck now and can focus on getting better

Yeah I agree with you that it's a bit old-fashioned (though tbh I'm just happy to see Asian music being represented more, despite it being the most culturally cliche thing possible...I'd rather that than European warhorses especially for Asian skaters). I do wish he kept Spiderman because the fun, playful vibe of the song totally matches his weird-ass goofy personality (in the best possible way). I can't help but wonder if the Chinese Fed/coaches really pushed him hard for the song. They can be so traditionalist and probably wouldn't have approved him ~representing China at the Olympics so frivolously~ with Spiderman you know? That being said, I won't count him out on PCS if he can really channel the energy/vibe of the wuxia moves in his choreo/SS. It'd be cool if Boyang could do something with that

ohhhhhh I spy a fanart reference

A warhorse trifecta for pairs But yay, some interesting (and Asian/Chinese!!) music for Boyang, yay~ I'm a bad Chinese person and haven't ever seen the movie at all but I wonder what song he'll be using - I'm guessing a fast paced one, maybe with the drums?

I love reading instances that prove Yuzu is as book-smart as he is athletically talented and evidence he's an obsessive note-taker (have to admit, I laughed at how even Yuzu's other interests are all indirectly tied or related to his skating - boy has tunnel vision focus that's awe-inspiring but also hilariously single-minded). And it's very reassuring he seems attuned to his mental state and is taking active steps to practise self care - that's something I wondered about since there's still such a taboo on mental health in Asia. The only thing I wish for is that he can better communicate the complexity his thoughts and learning to Brian. The language barrier must be frustrating.

Shoma......... I remember in his documentary, his teacher said he takes awhile to master the jumps but when he does, he rarely fails them (questionable technique aside....or perhaps partly due to his ability to do some truly terrifying saves). So that might factor in to his 'jump it if I can land it' mentality right now. I have a feeling Shoma's approach will cause him long-term issues but maybe it will pay off in the short term, esp if his technical stuff doesn't get called very strictly : /

I don't encourage sharing mindlessly hateful posts just to prompt people here to go on a witch-hunt or to retaliate against the poster in some way - it's super pointless and we are far better off generating positive and productive conversation. That being said...can we not erase posts please? Putting things under a spoiler tag is fair since the post could be upsetting but I think people should be encouraged to make decisions for themselves about what they want to see or read. And if we really must delete posts, it's worth an explanation as to why. I put a rough summary under the spoiler cut for anyone who wants to know. Like people have said, it was an attack against Yuzu as a person and very out-of-line. To discourage any angry mobs against the hater I haven't posted their Twitter account. Celebrities and athletes will always have haters, even extreme ones - the best thing to do is to avoid drawing attention to them and leave them to a sad existence of being so caught up in their angry/hateful feels they can't lead a productive life. Yuzu wouldn't give them the time of day, so neither should we.

Yuzu and Shizuka's handprint (he has a really long thumb lol)

Well he definitely didn't get normal braces like Satton unless it only needed a few more months in the off season so I wonder if he did Invisalign (which are 'clear' retainer-like braces that can be removed at will). I know Japan doesn't mind crooked teeth as much but I think many JP celebrities still get their teeth straightened. I just noticed his lisp and slightly prominent teeth suddenly seemed to disappear so maybe the lisp was related to his teeth? hmm...

Yuzu fixing Zhenya's hair (look at the cutie fanning herself afterwards lol is that why she fell down? )

Something a little random...but did Yuzu get braces at some point? (invisible ones.....??) Because it felt like he lost his lisp and also his teeth look slightly different from when he was younger. It just occurred to me watching the 2014 video.

lol what is that face ; u ;

LOL me too, I can never strike the right tone with them - either I talk to them like a normal adult or I end up feeling like I'm treating them in a condescending way. The kid seems extremely shy and the type to take awhile to warm up to people so I hope Yuzu can help bring him out of his shell if they do practise together (I was totally sweating bullets with the interviewer hahaha having a shy interview subject is always tough) What's more surreal is that I basically left J-pop fandom about 7yrs ago, only occasionally checking up on KAT-TUN and now they're back again thanks to Yuzu hahaha. I can never escape. and omg yeah, it is Koyama! He looks really different at the end (did....he get a new nose or something??????) but during the broadcast when their faces were shown on the 'side box', I recognised him straight away. Maybe! Also I guess last year, he couldn't practise for awhile so he may have put on some weight in the recovery process. Poor bb still does look tired though, I hope he stays healthy, that's all I ask for

"22 degrees. End report."

Also roughly translating the start of the video to give some background about Sora - he started skating 3yrs ago (he's in 1st year of middle school) and his interest was triggered after watching Yuzu on TV and thinking he also wanted to try skating. However, his mother initially said 'no'. She was extremely worried about his asthma and about whether he could do it; she was particularly worried about his stamina. There were many times where his mother thought it would be impossible for him to continue. There were instances where he would have an attack or couldn't breath and had to leave the rink. Even though she told him 'it's okay to quit', Sora would say 'I'm not quitting.' Also, they describe Yuzu's revelation of his asthma as his 'first TV confession' which is awkwardly translated but basically suggests the info about his asthma is not widely known (judging by the surprised reactions of the commentators). I'm glad they're shedding light on Yuzu's asthma this year - for me, this makes him even more astounding to have been disadvantaged in this way and yet still managed to achieve what he has. (you can tell it's been a desert of an off-season despite all the FaOI stuff lol, Twitter is exploding)

I know - the difference is startling. The kid can't afford to lose more body fat

omggggg my heart is melting so much ;; Iron Klause already translated the key things he says about asthma and @AsteroidB-612 basically said it all but the poor kid was so starstruck he basically couldn't speak, so the interviewer helped him out by feeding him lines LOL (to the extent the commentators were like 'she's like a mother!') Interviewer: Tell Hanyu-senshuu what you like about his skating! Sora: I like Hanyu-kun's jumps Yuzu: Thank you! Which jump do you like the most? Sora: Triple-axel Yuzu: Ohh, I'm happy. Interviewer: Would it be possible to practice with Sora-kun someday? Yuzu: Yes, I want to! Let's do it? Let's do it, yeah? (he was like...trying to prompt Sora to say something but the kid could only nod, the poor thing) Interviewer (stage whisper): 'I want to do it!' Sora: I want to do it Yuzu: Let's do it when I return to Japan. No one knows the music artist he's collaborating with but they're all speculating. (also sidenote: I grew up as a fan of KAT-TUN, ARASHI, so to see Kame and Sho reacting to Yuzu now remains so surreal ....also is that Koyama?????)