KatjaThera

You had to ruin that ideal image... (just kidding... I didn't have that many hopes he was really there... it'd be quite OOC)

I think those are older, because Nam is there. But I hadn't seen the top right one before, so thank you for sharing, anyway!

I know, right? I really hope they dragged him to that dinner!

Javi was waiting for them with dinner at home, as per other Javi and Sonia's instastories lol (Admittedly, you can't see Yuzu in them, but I like to think he was the one in between two Javi's There was a tiny plate, there, perfect for food picky Yuzu)

I'm also looking forward to your full set of scans! I got my copy last week, but I can't find a good way to scan and taking pictures of the photobook just doesn't do it justice...

I actually think that, despite all our joking, Brian is a lot more relaxed about Yuzu's 4A than many of us lol. And he should know best, really, which, personally, gives me hope we'll see it some time in the not too far away future lol

I do wonder why mention the 4A if it was just meaningless fooling around, though. The 4Lz, yes, but 4A? Then again, I guess it depends on what he was asked. And I also doubt Yuzu would announce his layout to the press without telling Brian. Rather Brian is probably more forthcoming than Yuzu. Yuzu gave the press the layout he was planning at that point - or maybe the layout he was planning to practice - while leaving out the 'things may very well change by the first competition' part. Brian probably knows Yuzu's likely to add some more stuff, so...

I don't think he'll reach ultimate perfection at Pyeongchang. Especially if he considers he's only reached about 20% of his full ability. Pyeongchang is just aiming to be the best he can be at the current level. Then it'll be on to the next level, I think. I'm also a bit surprised at everyone's reactions to that comment... if you look closely at his career, it's obvious everything he's done so far was towards Pyeongchang. His early plan was participate in Sochi, win in Pyeongchang. He moved to Canada because he realized he needed to get much better and didn't have enough time till Sochi and then it became possible to win Sochi, which he did, but Pyeongchang was always the goal. So... it's not at all surprising? But, since he also says he has gone anywhere near his limit - 20%, 30%, whichever it was isn't even halfway there - I can't imagine he'd retire, without at least trying to reach that limit. In fact, post-Pyeongchang might be more of a "The sky's the limit," where he won't have such a set goal and deadline, but rather can take his time to develop that perfect skate without any pressure. In which case, the best will be yet to come.

I understand his fans in a way, too. I admit, I'm not fond of the "Shoma to overcome Yuzu" narratives, either. But there are, like in any fandom, the irrational ones and I just recently read some things Daisuke fanatics have said about Yuzu, that I'd rather forget. But yes, I don't think Daisuke really has hard feelings about Yuzu. And Yuzu is such a nice and fair guy, I think it must be really hard to dislike him, when you know him in person. So it's hard for feuds to happen.

That's a good point. Now this makes me wonder if his aiming for consistency this season is also in order to get a psychological upper hand. Because if Warrior God Yuzu would appear ever time, the other guys will be shaking in their boots by the Olympics... (I'd still be nervous, though, because there were two perfect Seimeis in 2015, too, followed by two imperfect ones...)

It's easier for Shoma and Nathan and Boyang though. They're younger than Yuzu and they came along when he was already on top (even if Shoma's been around Yuzu since before that). I don't think Takahashi ever imagined someone like Yuzu would come along. Yuzu pretty much came and turned everything Takahashi probably believed in, on its head. That'd mess up anyone. I'd be curious how Patrick took it, if he'd ever speak openly about it, because it was probably a blow to him, too. One example, the first time Yuzu broke the short program record, they had footage of Daisuke saying he'd just heard of it and how it was virtually 100 points and he didn't have the confidence he could reach such a score. He'd probably not imagined anyone would. That's the sort of thing I mean. That said, Takahashi doesn't blame Yuzu. He actually seems to be a bit in awe of him. But some of his fans might.

I'm not really sure about the timeline either... that it's cut to Yuzu-parts only makes it even more difficult to figure out IMO. TCC parts are from this year's Media day, though, I'm pretty sure. As for what he's saying, just as a summary from what I remember without watching again, aside from what @kaerb said, until she or someone else has more time, he talks about how Yuzu came and grew/developed really fast and he lost the confidence that he can win. The interviewer actually asks him directly: "Did you ever think 'I can't win over Hanyu'?" and he says he came to think that all the time (or something like that). And also that because of that, skating started being painful/hard/not fun. I can't imagine what it must be like to compete against Yuzu, especially when you were before hailed as the best - in their country, at least. I often wonder how Javi dealt with growing alongside Yuzu, even if the situation is different and have a lot of respect over his coming to accept a perfect Yuzu is unbeatable. But it must be hard, as a competitive athlete, to compete against Yuzu...

I'm not sure he's aiming for perfection in every skate throughout the season, but he is probably aiming for as few mistakes as possible and some perfect fine-tuning throughout the season. I'm not sure everything being perfect from the start would be such a good thing. He might do that increasing difficulty thing then... But who knows, maybe he's being all grown up about it and will hold back on such impulses lol But I know what you mean, I'm the same. The more you pile "this is it!" pressure on me, the worse it is. With Yuzu, I have absolutely no doubt that he can do it, face the pressure, and blow the minds of everyone. Whether he will or not... that's for us to have heart attacks in the process of finding out lol And that new Pino video is actually kind of from what I understood. While I think it's really brave for Takahashi to come out and talk about losing his confidence, I wonder if there are still crazy fans of his ready to hate Yuzu even more after watching this...

Somehow, I don't really get as much a sense of pressure from this. If anything, it's more strength and confidence. Mostly, though, it's very matter of fact, because this has sort of been his plan all along. So rather than 'everything is culminating here' nervousness, it's more like: 'finally getting close to completing this goal'. To me... And we know he already seems to have ideas of wants to do afterwards, so it's not really the final countdown, either. I can't really explain it, but I don't think this 'culmination of 18 years of skating life' is a pressure thing. On the contrary... However, on the other topic, it's true that there is a fine line between very confident and too confident. And when that line is crossed, it's easy to make stupid mistakes. (From a personal perspective, in Maths tests in high school, I always managed to do well on the most difficult exercises, which I was nervous about, but often made mistakes on the easy ones I was confident about.) Also, failing when you're feeling confident feels so much worse than failing when you're not so confident. So, yes, a balance is necessary. But I think Yuzu is in a good confident place now. And if he crosses in the too confident part, that should show in the early days and he'll work on it. (I also tend to think that he's leaving himself room to increase difficulty, if he feels like adding a challenge to keep himself on his toes.)

Lately, other, younger skaters at TCC seem to be wearing similar, dark, form-fitting training clothes. Jun-hwan particularly, but not just him, I think. The skates are a good point though... has anyone at TCC copied those yet? lol (ETA: Actually, to my untrained eye, the skates could also be like these source: Wikipedia)

The eternal issue though... is it really Yuzu? He seems a bit short and not skinny enough to me (although he is further behind) The troubles of having his training fashion style copied

*crosses all limbs to find these in stores when in Japan* The 2015-2016 ones were pretty cool already, but the new ones...

While I am torn between being happy at this possibility and being sad about it, because I wanted LGC as an SP again, some day, I think it makes some sense. He's recycling partly to save the time it takes to develop a new program. If he did a new EX, that'd be a bit... weird? As that'd take some time to develop as well (even if not as much as an actual competition program). And I think LGC as an EX would need some changes, too. Isn't it a bit short? All in all, I think it would be in tune with his philosophy this season. (Though I personally expected something like last Olympics, rather, for the EX.) And of course, we still need confirmation for this...

As long as the distraction is positive, I don't think that's a problem ^_^ There might be some preconceptions, but... generally, casual viewers watching male FS might have preconceptions anyway.

LGC vs Chopin when it comes to casual viewers is definitely a matter of taste. It's also quite possible people who normally would like LGC-like music wouldn't be watching FS in the first place. I had actually never heard the song before seeing Yuzu's program, but I tend to like rock music, and the live concert-like performance was really awesome, so it was an instant hit with me. To me, LGC is a lot more commanding and gripping than Chopin ever can be. But again, that's a matter of taste. Like I said, I understand the arguments in favor of Chopin, but I can't help but wish I knew what would have happened if he'd chosen to do LGC again. I guess we'll never know, though, so I guess arguing further is pointless.

I don't think the pace was the problem as much as his thinking too much and mental blocks that made him question his ability to do it cleanly, and particularly, to land the CoD. LGC doesn't give much time to think, but if he had the confidence to just go with it, I think he'd nail it. PW was quite high pace as well, and once he was comfortable with it, it tended to flow super well. I think LGC had the same potential. Maybe he and Jeff should have been a bit more flexible in considering changing things to improve his comfort level. (There was recently talk about how he made his programs more difficult and actually handled that better than the simpler version. I think that was with Chopin? I'm not sure, though, I'll have to check again.) Also the argument isn't really about repeating Chopin for the third time anymore. It was which would have more impact on the casual viewer. I think LGC would have more impact. But if he wants Chopin, then Chopin it is. I just want it to be his choice and not because of any insecurities. (Though even just saying it's less risky implies some insecurities)

This. LGC plus Seimei would be incredibly epic. (And I admit, all the skaters switching programs nowadays make me wonder... lol). I understand all the arguments in favor of Chopin and, indeed, unless he got over his mental blocks on LGC, it could turn out badly. BUT, if he managed to get over those and do LGC perfect consistently, most probably upgraded, as well, because this is Yuzu we're talking about, it would have a much bigger impact. I think what bugs me - and I sometimes worry it might bug him, too - is that it seems like he lost confidence that he can do LGC clean. I want him to do whatever he's happiest with, but I don't really want him choosing a program because he's lost confidence in another (and someone encouraging him to choose it over the one he lost confidence in is like that someone also saying they don't have the confidence he can pull it off, and that's not really a message he should get from his own team, IMO). So, it's not so much about the choice itself, and it's not even about choosing the safe option. It's about the implications it might have about his self-confidence. Oh and I think Shirota is ANA, but that's just from what I've seen around, myself.

I'm more intrigued by that "Yuzu thought of doing LGC, but Shirota convinced him to do Chopin instead" thing (Yes, I know all the issues of LGC, but I think a nailed LGC would be epic!) (I also take it with a little grain of salt, though, because... that interview makes it sound like Shirota has quite an influence over Yuzu and that's a bit Of course, it could very well be true, but it's weird to me when someone seems to talk themselves up like that. Especially when it's someone Japanese, because it's a very un-Japanese-like thing... And I don't mean the translation, just... it's a bit weird to me. Of course, we also don't have the original, so, it's hard to say anything.)

The question is what is the best? lol I actually wonder - honestly, because I'm still not very familiar with the physics of jumping - if, considering Yuzu's 3A, which looks so easy and effortless and like he could do it in his sleep,, training 4A would be as dangerous for him as for other skaters. I understand it's half an extra rotation compared to other quads, and so requires more height, possibly more speed, but is there any other reason that makes it so dangerous?

Hence my edit about the meaning of 'oriru'... my only knowledge of it is when Yuzuru used it in his tanabata wish making, in 2010, regarding quads. But he had already landed quads, so it made me think it might be more like being able to do it consistently. But I have no real idea and not enough experience with Japanese in a figure skating context.