Kizuna

Thoughts on some skaters:

Mai

Watched NHK most excited to see Mai, as she'd withdrawn from CoC due to injury. I wasn't expecting her to be back at her best since CoC was just two weeks ago. It seems like she still hasn't properly recovered her triples, and her stamina was lacking in the FP. Nevertheless, she really makes you want to root for her, no matter how she does on the ice. Her joy when skating is real. When I watched the SP, after she landed all her jumps, the audience was cheering for her really hard. I felt the same. And she received a standing ovation after both the SP and FS.

In terms of layout, this time she adopted the strategy to add combos to any successfully performed jump in both the SP and FS, to make sure she got the combos in. I'm glad to see that her planned program content in the FS has a +2A sequence on a triple this season, which is what I've been saying she should do since last season as it would increase her BV and have lower risk of UR, as her +3T seemed to struggle with UR last season. In this comp, she struggled with rotations on almost all triples. I hope she manages to recover from her injury completely and restore her triples before Nats. She can also consider doing a +2A+2A sequence in the FS like Ava so she can do 7 triples without doing a +3T combo to minimize the risk of UR, though I think it's good to have at least one 3-3 in the FS as practising it as much as possible for the SP would be beneficial.

Ava

I've never watched her before, though IIRC she did something surprising last season too, can't remember what it was. A lot of the women had high tech scores after they finished their skate, which dropped drastically at the end, but on replay, you could see that her rotations were clean and the tech score would remain high. A very smart layout in the FS, as mentioned earlier.

Wakaba

Ah, such a costly mistake in the SP to go for a combo on the 3F and singling it. It would have been better if she just performed a 3F. Her PCS is getting ridiculous. It was 63 in the FS at her first GP, which I thought was a significant drop from what it used to be in the past, but 58 this time? For a performance that the audience enjoyed, and most of the jumps were visually clean. Her PCS should not be below 60. I normally don't say things like this, but I can't understand why judges hate her so much.

Yelim

The best 3-3 she's had all season, and she hits the boards. It was really funny when bits of the signage came off, and she looked down and it and was like, what's that? She really used the entire length of the rink for the 3-3, but she still hit the boards like the rink is too small for her  A bit of adjustment next time, and she'll be fine. A pretty solid skate in the FS, despite some mistakes here and there. I hope she can recover her consistency with jumps especially the unstable Lutz axis, as her skating is nice and mature.

Yuna

Produced two visually clean skates. If she continues to be able to compete out there, her scores should go up. I can't remember, but was she the junior who found it easier to do +3Lo combos instead of +3T, and that's why her layout is so strange with 3Lz+3Lo and 2A+2T? Her layout seems a bit inefficient, but if she can gain some recognition and skate like this again, she should have more chances to compete.

Shoma

Shoma is, well, Shoma I guess. Skates nicely and reliably. When I saw his scores, I felt that they were pushing for Yuma to win. Shoma seldom gets so many calls, and this time he got a q on every quad except the 4F in the SP. Interesting.

Yuma

Seems like he is the new face of JSF. He does have nice looking quads and is pretty consistent on them too.

Overall, it did seem like the tech panel was quite harsh at this comp. Of course, when there should be calls, if warranted, they should be called, but that is not the case at every comp, and it did feel like the tech panel was going hard on the tech calls this comp. I didn't check if all the calls here were warranted or if some warranted calls didn't get called, but most people got a bunch of them.

1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I know Yuzu has had stalkers and tabloids following him in Japan for years, and he's never said a word to complain. If he's making such a serious announcement now, it must have been literally impossible to live under the barrage.

I agree. But I have the impression that Yuzu does not want to cause trouble for others, more so than for himself and so, would only speak out if it involves others due to him.

Since the marriage announcement, I have always thought that being his partner must be an incredibly difficult task that not many people can bear to endure. As I thought, this partner must either remain anonymous and not tell anyone about who she married, or she must stay at home all the time. Even staying at home, she would not get to spend much time with Yuzu as he has a nocturnal time schedule due to having to skate at midnight, or he has a dozen other commitments to take care of.

As such, I wish people would have respected them and their privacy. It is not an easy relationship.

21 minutes ago, Perelandra said:

A translation has appeared. It would be greatly appreciated if someone who is fluent in Japanese could corroborate the accuracy. Many thanks in advance

 

 

This translation is fairly accurate, with less usage of overly strong words, and maintains a little vagueness.

11 minutes ago, Alicja said:

I can’t believe it is happening...

Here is full translation of the statement: https://nantejapan.com/yuzuru-hanyu-divorced-due-to-issues-with-media-harassment/

This translation reads to me as over interpreting what he said  He did not actually say things such as "go separate ways" and such. Please read with a grain of salt.

I'm so shocked. He truly deserves true happiness with his loved ones, after all he's been through.

He says that he married his partner with a mutual respect and resolve to cherish each other. They overcame many things together. His partner could not even go out of the house, behaved with his interest in mind, and supported him. Yet the behaviour of certain media, tabloids and stalkers caused him to come to this decision of divorce, to ensure her boundless happiness in the future.

He requests that there will be no further such behaviour towards this person, her family and related parties, as well has his family and related parties.

I am so upset because he only announced it to be able to share his happiness with us, his fans. This decision he has come to is totally undeserved. He deserves to be able to have this happiness. And yet, it has somehow turned into a nightmare for him and his loved ones.

Everyone going to the next RE_PRAY, please cheer him on as hard as possible for all of us.

Let me share some thoughts on the Japanese and Korean skaters whom I really root for.

Kaori

Go, Kaori! I like this program. Kaori seldom does princess-y programs, and I tend to find her programs rather meh at the start of the season, which she somehow manages to light on fire by the end of the season, every time. But I like this program already. I didn't find the music boring, nor did I find it super princess-y, I just found it to be peaceful and happy. I also seldom like Kaori's costumes  but I like this costume and her styling for this program! Not a perfect combo, but she'll polish it. Also, I don't know if it's just me, but I seem to feel that her upper body movements have gotten better, at least in this program. Normally, I find her arms to be kind of flailing around or too stiff, but I didn't notice that in this program, it was controlled and nice. I hope she keeps this up! Good luck in the FS!

Chaeyeon

She caught my attention last season for being a skater who only started skating in 2017, but is able to compete at the elite level. Well, she certainly hasn't disappointed me! I like this program, especially the ending pose. I think she has a style that is quite unique and quirky, but is still quite feminine. It's a very distinct style of her own, especially among the Korean ladies. It's great. She has a very nice ease in her skating that doesn't look laborious at all, and it reminds me of Rika Kihira. Love the costume too.

Rino

Nice skate, nice score too! You could hear that the audience was enraptured by it as well with the applause. Hopefully this marks the start of a smooth comeback for her. She looked very pleased too! And she's in medal contention now.

Rinka

Very striking costume, I think everyone's eyes would follow it if she were on the rink. Everything was going so well until the lost combo  She seems to be struggling with her triple-triples since local competitions began at the start of the season, and she needs to fix it quickly to not let it derail her entire season. She's in a difficult position after the SP, would like to see her come back strong in the FS.

Kazuki

I really root for Kazuki as he's one of those skaters who have been skating for so long, so near, yet so far from the top. He's come a long way from that surprise 5th place finish at the 2018 WC. To me, it seems he's grown from a ball of energy exploding uncontrollably around the rink to a high-energy performer who knows how to use his energy to entertain the crowd. It's certainly one of his strengths, compared to most of the Japanese men who have more timid styles. This program surprised me even more, as his programs from the recent years have mostly leveraged on his high energy performance style, and I had not noticed that his fundamental skating abilities have also improved so much. His skating is so smooth and controlled now, no wasted energy. If he keeps up his consistency, he's definitely going to be one to watch out for this season. A big waste on the StSq, as it was a really nice part of the program. Hope he does well in the FS.

Sota

Sota has very nice, big jumps with beautiful form. They often remind me of Yuzu's jumps. A pity about the 4S landing, but good that he still remains in first. I think his program was okay, but I was a bit surprised at the PCS scores he received as I think I recall he was receiving higher PCSs last season. I hope he manages to bring back his strength from early last season, and he will be a very strong contender.

Junhwan

Very stylish and has good presentation skills as always, but I think I prefer his program from last season. It's still early, so it could still get better. I wonder why he thought he had to do a second quad in the SP? I hope he is able to get it consistent as the unclean SPs might hurt him. His jumps always seem so big and powerful, with his incredibly long legs when he launches into the jumps. I do wish he could get them consistent with shorter set ups though. I wonder if it's difficult for him due to his height.

Kao

Umm I think he had quite an impression on me some time ago, I forgot if it was last season or the year before. So far his program this time did not have any strong impression on me, and I can't seem to remember much of it. I hope he polishes this as the season progresses. Pity about the invalidated quad in the second half, that really hurt him. He needs to keep up his consistency to maintain his PCS scores.

Good decision.  Come back stronger next year.

On 9/27/2023 at 12:13 PM, TallyT said:

Another teaser from AERA! Gorgeous...

 

This post has been tagged by Yuzu_legend as [NEWS].

Omg, those high heels 

17 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Women's SP on now. Kaori coming up!

Just had a chance to watch the replay. LOVE the new dress and look! And that glorious 2A and the one foot skating that followed after the landing, wow.

Hmm, rather than making the marriage all about himself as the writer claims, I think most of us would have interpreted the emphasis on continuing to skate in the marriage announcement to be Yuzu's way of reassuring us that he is not going anywhere, nothing is changing, and that we would continue seeing him skate. That was the biggest relief to me in that announcement. I honestly have no idea how someone could even come up with that kind of interpretation.

And as everyone has said already, the writer doesn't even know Yuzu's partner's opinion on this matter, but is writing a whole article based on their own assumptions and interpretations. I also think the style of this announcement is quite common for famous people.

Also, we don't have to look too far, kind reminder that Shizuka Arakawa has also never revealed the identity of her husband. 

10 hours ago, SuzyQ said:

 

After I wrote the above, I rethought that, as we Japanese are somehow superstitious for a good luck, we choose lucky days according to a special calendar (almanac) for filing the marriage registration, wedding ceremony, and so on, and I heard that today August 4th is a really lucky day from several reasons.  And as you know, Yuzuru is especially superstitious, and he would not miss such an occasion. And if he wrote the message yesterday or so, exactly today may be the day he did the registration, then he got married by now.

 

What do you think about my guessing? 

Yes, while none of us can be 100% sure, I think so too, at least the marriage registration. 

Apparently, 4th August was:

• 天赦日 tenshabi - the most auspicious day for any activities
• 一粒万倍日 ichiryuumanbaibi - a grain of seed can lead to 10,000 times of harvest, so any happiness is multiplied by 10,000 as well
• 母倉日 bosounichi - the day when heaven cares for people as a mother for her child, an auspicious day for marriages
• 大安 taian - the luckiest day in the Japanese 六曜 rokuyou calendar

There are only three days in 2023 where tenshabi and ichiryuumanbaibi overlap: 6 Jan, 21 Mar and 4 Aug, so these days are considered the best among the auspicious days in the year. In addition, 6 Jan and 21 Mar did not fall on the bosounichi or taian day.

So you could say that this is the best possible day for marriage this year, and I believe Yuzu chose it with much careful consideration.

WOWOWOW this is something I never expected would be what's dropped when I suddenly saw that the page count increased by a few within 2-3 hours.

Congrats, Yuzu!  Wishing you a happy life ahead with your wife.

Finally Disney+ Malaysia has confirmed it on their twitter too, I'm crying 

They even pinned the tweet and posted it at 11:11  Is this even real... What is even happening

5 hours ago, Melodie said:

Different audience, different producer, different goal. You can't possibly compare a pharmaceutical  company to fashion magazine now can you?

I think when the Towa ad first came out, a lot of fans collectively agreed that the look was not the best. It was not the colour combination, setting, or salaryman look, if that's what they were trying to go for. The suit itself was not fitted to Yuzu and had a little old-fashioned vibe. Also, salarymen can look good too, but that look was not styled to its best on Yuzu in that ad, IMO.

Anyway, as always, these things are subjective, so it's also fine if other people happened to like that look, but I was just stating my opinion.

 That's how you do beige suit photoshoots!  Not the salaryman one like *cough* Towa 

I legit thought it was an edit as I first saw it from a fan's post  And we've been treated to so many suit abominations as well as suit edits on Yuzu over the years 

10 hours ago, YuzuJay said:

facebook post from skating Malaysia thanking Yuzu and his international support group

 

https://t.co/9wgkvkC0Lr

 

 

 

 

 

Wait, what? 

Haha honestly, I'm quite skeptical, but no harm hoping, I guess. 

7 hours ago, LiaRy said:

Machine Translation of the Prologue of Aoi Honoo IV

 

On TUMBLR

 

Disclaimer within the post

 

Thank you for sharing. I'm aware that this is a machine translation, but it is still very sad to read. There seem to be some hidden meanings and you have to think about what he is referring to without him saying it directly, but it is very painful to know how much he suffered during that period. I hope that after what happened at Beijing 2022, he knows that we fans are always there for him, not just because of his achievements and things like that.

17 hours ago, Yuzurella said:

Footage of 15-year-old Yuzu throwing a baseball with English subs.

 

[NEWS]

  I love how Yuzu always watches footages of his younger self with a loving expression, just like how he would when watching footage of other kids. It's like he thinks of his past self as another person, another kid. 

Yelim posted this video featuring Team Korea's WTT singles team. I love it, it's so badass and creative! 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cq9gkmfL-MB/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

3 hours ago, tenchisama said:

Yuzu's sakura in Nanakita Park finally bloomed!! ✨✨

The sakura represents Yuzuru, and the blue nemophila flowers, the ice.

The overall view is so gorgeous. 

So spring has finally come. 😊🌸

 

So beautiful. So it did bloom on Hope & Legacy day after all! 
Thank you for bringing us spring, Yuzu.

Yes, I also noticed Chaeyeon Kim's picking technique, it was very nice! Looking her up, apparently, she only started skating in 2017(!!). That's really recent, and she's already at this level. That's mega impressive.

5 hours ago, lajoitko said:

 

One more tweet from today. They are predicting that the tree would be in full bloom by the end of the week.

 

 

Hoping that the day it blooms in full will be on 1st April - Hope & Legacy at WC2017's 6th anniversary 

1 hour ago, Melodie said:

She wasn't in her best condition coming to Worlds. Having way too many competitions clearly did not do her any favors. For the next season I hope she will 1) pace herself better, 2) build her strength and muscles further, and 3) branch her programs out further. She herself shows that she needs to do the last two so I hope she will get the first one right as well.

Regarding this, I don't remember how her season usually went before her illness, but if this is not what she usually did, then her team must be trying something new, which, again, points to it being new experience for her being the top of team Japan. With this experience, I hope they won't repeat this mistake next season. Anyway, I agree with everything you said.

Quote

Re: Rika (Kihira?), given her track record in her juniors I don't think she would have been ready even if she was eligible, so she was actually lucky she was not eligible back then. Just look at Mana, how she has been treated since Beijing, and how that has been holding her down since then. Do you want that sort of nasty stuff to happen to your fav? 

Yes, I was referring to Kihira. I was not suggesting or even hoping that she would have even been selected for the team (if she was age eligible), the team selection was one of the most difficult in 2018 due to there being only 2 spots. I was merely referring to the fact that she missed out on a chance to even contend for the Olympics due to being born 3 weeks late, given that she had sufficient capability (not talking about experience or track record here). I would think that every skater would try their best to qualify for the Olympics if they can. Her birthday meant that she had to get through 4 senior seasons to reach the next Olympic season, which is the longest possible time. A lot of athletes of her calibre get their chance in their 2nd-3rd senior season.

Also, making it to the Olympics is every skater's dream. Us as fans hoping that a skater makes it to the Olympics even when they are young, and whether that skater is able to make the most of that chance if they are given it are two completely different things imo, so I'm not sure why this should be a bad thing. Should we be hoping that our favourites don't make it? And every skater is different.

Wow, Kaori. The first Japanese person (not only woman) to defend their World title. This is a huge feat. I was also watching 2019 Worlds, so I know and remember how the medal slipped away from her. She was literally 2 points from a silver medal finish and it was the same popped 3F to 1F. I gasped when she made that same mistake again, then gasped again when she managed to tack on a 3T(!!!). She must be the only woman now who has the physical ability to do that, with no UR too! 

And then Mai. It broke my heart at the end of her FS yesterday. I think despite being a very seasoned competitor, unlike Kaori, she's not had much experience of being one of Japan's frontrunners fully capable of seizing a World medal. She's been becoming more and more nervous ever since the GPF when she established herself as one of the top women in the world. Hopefully, she will overcome this new pressure and shine brilliantly next season. Also, she's really been having problems with the 3T on the back end of combinations this season. As I've said before, I hope she brushes up on the 3Lz+3T for the SP, and train a 3S+2A or 3Lo+2A to replace the 2A+3T in the FS. She can even get more points that way. Also, I have no idea who started calling her 3F edge till she had to needlessly try to fix it to the point where it's this unstable today. I'm very sour about that, her 3F used to be very secure.

And then off-topic to another skater everyone is hoping to see again soon: Rika. Rika is a very special competitor to me, I really hope she will be able to make a full comeback soon. Having to miss out on the 2018 Olympics due to being born 3 weeks late, and then missing out on the 2022 Olympics, which was when she was supposed to be at the prime of her career really stings. She's the only skater other than Yuzu that I've seen able to successfully pull off a yolo jump layout in competition by shuffling a lot of jumps without zayak-ing, while still retaining 8 triple jumps in the layout. See: 2020 4CC. It takes a lot of physical and mental ability to do that, that's why she's special to me.

Kohei in skating boots omg