KatjaThera

Yuzu actually did Toshi's hand sign thingy in the KnC lol I'm sure Toshi was as happy to see that as we fans were at him reacting ti our banners

I don't think being friendly and not shy necessarily implies he's outgoing and not introverted. Even that he might be outgoing doesn't necessarily mean he's not introverted. I believe there are nuances. It could also be that he's more used to being on his own than hanging out with people all the time. He did say in some interviews that as a kid, his classmates and friends would have fun and hang out and play after school, while he went to skate. So, because he was skating, he never really got to have that same kind of childhood (though skating obviously had its own advantages, that other kids didn't get, like the joy of winning). And I think once you get used to having a lot of alone time, it's hard to want to be around people a lot. And ever since he decided skating was it for him, he dedicated pretty much his entire life to skating. Even what he does outside of skating he does for his skating (his studies, his relaxing methods). On top of that, Yuzu has always made it clear that for him, Toronto is a work place. It's where he goes to work, not to have fun and hang out. I think that might have shifted some, by now, especially as Japan has become harder for him to have fun and hang out in, but Toronto is still mainly his work place. Then, the decision to go to Toronto wasn't made lightly. I don't think he ever wanted to leave Japan, he loves his home land too much and especially after the earthquake everything, but in the same time, he knew he had to if he wanted to win the Olympics, because he'd reached the limit of how far he could improve in Japan. With the decision being made in such a mindframe, going there and having fun and playing around would have put a shallow spin on it and it might have made it seem like he's not serious enough about it. I think there were a lot of people upset about it at the time, so he had to show he was serious about this, that he didn't move to Toronto, on fed money at the time, IIRC, just to play around. On top of that, language barriers and cultural differences probably didn't make him feel much like hanging out. I can imagine at least in the beginning being in an all English environment, as someone who hated the English language, must have been very overwhelming and he probably could not wait to get back to his room and take refuge in his music and manga and games and so on. I know I would be like that And after spending most of his life like this, I personally don't think he's interested in anything that isn't figure skating at this point in time. I doubt he regrets his popularity, because he can't date or so, because I don't, personally, think he's interested in romance at this point in time. I think he might regret it when it interferes with going home when he's in Sendai - see FaOI this year - or if he ever wants to hang out with other skaters or friends, that's probably hard, but we don't know if he does, anyway. From what we know, he probably doesn't. But not being able to walk down the street is probably annoying, or being spotted even when shopping, even in Toronto, but I think it's the smaller stuff that is probably annoying. For the rest, perhaps just like he said about his asthma, he doesn't really know any other lifestyle, so to him, this is normal (the not hanging out, not dating thing, I mean, not getting recognized everywhere). It's hard to wish for something you don't even know what it's like. And it's probably not worth him risking it affecting his skating, just to try it. He'll have time after he retires. Anyway, just IMO

I'm sure they have been close for some time now, but there are cultural differences. Both Brian and Javi have described their relationship closer to a father and son one. However, my impression is that in Japan, student-coach relationships have their own category. A coach isn't a father/mother or a best friend. A coach is a coach and a precious existence in themselves, but they're neither family, nor friends. It's something else entirely, though that does not necessarily imply any less caring. A coach is someone you respect and who guides you through your career. He/she is not necessarily someone you interact with outside of your sport, but within your sport they are probably the most important person and a very special bond. I believe that's what Brian and Yuzu have, what Tracy and Yuzu have. Now Ghislain might actually be closer to him, because they went through the trauma of the NHK '17 injury and recovery together and it's possible that brought them closer together. It's also possible that in time Yuzu got a bit more accustomed to the Western ways of TCC and warmed up towards his coaches even more. But even if not, it doesn't mean Brian doesn't care about Yuzu - though it might have been harder for him to understand exactly where they stand - or that Yuzu doesn't care about Brian. He skated for Brian's father when he passed away, even though Brian didn't even tell anyone about it, after all. My impression is that none of Yuzu's other coaches ever treated him like their kid either. Not even Nanami-sensei mothered him. I find Coach Fluffy to have been more motherly with Shoma than any of Yuzu's coaches ever were with him. So I think it is a cultural difference, in that the parametres are a bit different, but the relationship itself is still very important. Actually, I think Yuzu is a bit more touchy feely than your average Japanese, I think. He hugged other skaters even before Javi's Spanish influence. There's also that video of when he first went back to Ice Rink Sendai after the earthquake, and he gives a girl there a big hug as well as being affectionate with a little girl (I always keep forgetting the little girl's name). So he's quite open to hugging, though of course, that's people he knows well. That said, he is obviously very comfortable with the Cricket team and hugging them. You can see in older competitions, when he was still fresh at TCC, and especially in competitions that did not go well, he is much more distant. Those hugs in Helsinki 2017 were so very fluffy, though and I think they showed just how a close knit community they are. I don't remember this right now, so a link would be great Anyway, I totally understand diplomacy regarding comments about the ISU and scoring. I think Brian and Yuzu have always been aware of it, but also, in a way, until now it was more about just judging Yuzu much more strictly than other skaters, while being far more lax towards other skaters. Unfair, but ultimately it had the bright side that Yuzu would continue to improve to his full potential. It was something they could deal with and in the process create something truly fantastic. Which is why I got the impression that Brian perhaps didn't mind it THAT much. And he felt they could control it by simply being much better than everyone else. However, this time, it was a completely different thing. This time they weren't strict, they were just making up mistakes that weren't there. This wasn't something they could control, except by giving the judges/technical panel binoculars. So it makes sense he's pissed now. I don't know if he considers it a conspiracy theory or just gross incompetence (though one wrong UR call can happen, even two, but three is a bit too much), but if it does happen again, I won't be surprised if he'll try to do something about it. It might not be possible to continue being diplomatic if this is the start of a pattern. (And be ready for all hell to break loose if Yuzu and Vincent are ever in a competition and Yuzu gets UR calls and Vincent doesn't... I'm not sure even diplomatic Brian would sit quietly on that.) Oh and I know some people were hoping Javi would speak up for Yuzu. I personally don't expect him to. I wish he would, because nobody else really can, but I don't think he will. His very diplomatic comments about Nathan after Worlds settled it for me. Javi has a responsibility to the Spanish fed, to Spanish skaters and skating and to himself at the end of the day, and making undiplomatic comments could have bad repercussions on any of those things. So, diplomacy is the way to go. He will always be complimentary towards Yuzu, but I don't think he'll risk any of the other things in order to stand up for him. Especially when Yuzu himself probably has more power in his little finger - if he ever cared to use it - than Javi does altogether. I hope for ISU's sake they never manage to really piss off Yuzu, because I'm not sure a truly mad Yuzu is a Yuzu anyone would want to face... I have a feeling a mad Yuzu is pretty damn scary...

If you want to make banners to address the ISU issues, I believe you should make banners just about the ISU and leave Yuzu out of it as much as possible. Because once you mention Yuzu people will just say you're a bitter fan. The ISU issues go beyond just Yuzu and I think a banner campaign that is more general is more likely to have some impact. Stuff like "PCS is NOT TES" or "Skating fans against pre-rotation" or maybe a simple graphic of "This is UR. This is NOT UR." and so on. IMO, that's a completely different thing from the "We ❤️ Yuzu" campaign. (Btw, thank you, @yuzuangel again, for the banners! I waved it during the 6 min warmups )

Didn't Alina's Carmen get high PCS? Does that mean judges thought it was better than other Carmens? I'm not saying it doesn't factor in, it probably depends from judge to judge, but I think TES counts more. Which, of course, is not to say TES will count more for Yuzu as well 😒 He usually seems to be judges by different criteria, so I wouldn't be surprised if it'll be the case on this, too.

I don't think judges judge Origin through Nijinsky comparisons, or else all warhorses would have to be judged based on legendary performances of that program. I also think Origin has a different feel than Nijinsky - which was why even Plush had issues at first, before he realized it was a tribute to him and not Nijinsky. I get the perfection argument, though. There is something about Origin that makes it feel like it needs to be perfect. That said, I also agree that quads are more essential to high scores than even better interpretation. Which is why I wonder if he might not be better off trying some of those new quads, even if adding more than one is likely to take longer to stabilize than adding them slowly, because he might get the "aww, he's going for hard quads!" bonus. It could be rougher, but might speed up things a bit. If he adds them one by one, it'll take time... he'll stabilize one, then probably it'll act up while he adds the next one and so on. But only he knows, based on stamina and health and so on. As for Otonal being perfect, I think it's hard to argue that when it was forced into a different shape than originally intended after the kuyashii kicked in. Even if he pretty much made the best of it, overall, it was still more patched up than he'd like, I think. But I, too, wonder about doing tribute programs two seasons in a row... Well, Yuzu knows best and we'll see soon.

I don't think Yuzu really speaks in the heat of the moment. I'm sure he meant it and I'm sure he's been working towards it (my theory of him training all Summer seems to support that). He also wouldn't be trying 4F at FaOI just for kicks, because that's not him. Which is not to say that I expect him to do them all this season. It's because he said he wants all the quads that I'm pretty sure he won't retire at the end of this season and will stick around for at least one more. (I also think he will likely achieve this, through sheer will, push his body until he manages to, regardless of the consequences. But I'm not sure whether I really want this or not.) That said, I'm also quite convinced 4A is a lot closer to being done than most people believe. And we know he was doing 4F before Olys as well. But I think 4A was always the priority, so I actually expect it to appear before 4F is fine-tuned. However, precisely because he doesn't have a whole lot of time left and because getting one quad stable is hard, getting three new quads stable is crazy, I wouldn't be surprised if he brought them all and tried to give them mileage, even if they don't always all work out. That being said, I also don't expect 6 different quads in the free. I expect at least one to be only in the short. I'm guessing 4T might be the only one to make it both to the short and free, though maybe not even that... maybe he'll do 4Lo 4S-3T in the short and 4A, 4Lz, 4F, 4T-3A in the free (eventually). For ACI, I expect 4Lz, to be honest. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't do that one either. I don't really expect him to come out all guns blazing, but it entirely depends on his goals and his plan to achieving those goals, so IMO, anything is possible.

What I can believe is that Yuzu looks very fit and very trained. My current theory is that he never really stopped training this Summer. We know he was back on the ice at TCC doing quads the weekend after Worlds. We can safely assume he was training the whole time he was in Toronto then. He possibly took a break to go to Japan for the monument unveiling, but then he went back to Toronto, probably for more training. Throughout FaOI, we know he was training jumps that he didn't jump in the shows. After FaOI, someone said Ice Rink Sendai was closed the whole week, and that's more than he'd need to practice for 24HTV (and I can now confess that the Tuesday after FaOI Toyama I went to Sendai and to the Ice Rink to get a music box for my friend and it was closed and the entrance completely hidden out of view with white sheets, so my instant conclusion was that Yuzu must have been there, so I turned around and left). So even while he was still in Sendai, I believe he continued training. So, aside from maybe a few days in Japan and those days when he said he sprained his ankle before FaOI, I think he's been training constantly all Summer. If so, it actually makes sense not to go all out every day, and on some days training easier layouts. As for 4A, I too believe he has landed it already. He wouldn't talk about doing it in a season if he has never landed it. That goes for last year as well. I personally think he might have landed it already before the Olympic season. But it's likely very inconsistent and he only lands one in many and possibly UR or whatever, so it's most likely not up to the level Yuzu wants it to be. BUT, I personally think he should probably start doing it in competition as soon as he's confident he can try it without risking injury too much, because he needs all the mileage he can get on it. It's not going to be perfect out of the box, I think.

Miki has said she saw one ages ago, too. But they're not really strangers, IMO. OK, this guy is apparently a friend of Brian's, but I'd be surprised if Yuzu and his team were not aware he always blabs to TSL about TCC stuff... It's just too at odds with both Yuzu of post-Worlds and Yuzu of FaOI to take seriously. I wouldn't be too surprised if he goes to ACI with the old layout, but not practicing 4Lz at least at all, just tells me he didn't practice it when that guy was there, for whatever reason. Which means he might also be practicing other things normally, that he just didn't practice then.

Honestly, if anyone leaked 4Lz, 4F or 4A info from TCC, it's unlikely they'd ever set foot in there again. It could also be Yuzu was taking it more easily that day and trying an alternate layout. I wouldn't be surprised if he never tried 4A in front of strangers/guests...

Yuzu fits some of the Western stereotypes for gay men, so some people will be quick to label him. Until those stereotypes go away, that can't be helped, IMO. What I think is important is for us to respect him and NOT label him in any way. And as long as he never discusses his sexuality and chooses a label himself - and he probably never will, because he's Japanese and that's not something that gets discusses there much - I don't think it's a topic that we, as his fans, should discuss publicly, either. I'm sure lots of us have opinions, but I'd rather not see any public speculation one way or another. And by public, I mean discussed in places he could stumble upon. I don't think it's unconscious, actually, I think he is very conscious about it and is an artistic choice. When it comes to his programs at least. He's spoken about it quite freely, how the original was half Phantom and half Christine and how he was acting as both, or how he asked Shae for feminine moves for H&L, are two examples that quickly come to mind. Whether it's more than that or not, only he knows and it doesn't even really matter, because, artistically, he does it wonderfully.

To be completely honest, I think this Summer wasn't really much of a drought season... Despite no media day, Yuzu & co made sure we were constantly entertained. I think NHK-Olympics and even Rostelecom-Worlds last year were much worse. And to be honest, I'm happy I wasn't a fan then, to experience the Summer of 2016. Despite that, I can't believe ACI is in a week...

There's no one as advanced on quads as Yuzu at TCC. If Stephen were still there, I'd probably think of him, but currently, if anyone's trying out quints, it's Yuzu. (Then see Jason show up, say quads are overrated, and become the first man to land a quint )

Source: https://blog.goo.ne.jp/kosumo70/e/4de5c9ff7a4897c88d8fd03b6e8b9649

Oh, I think it's an intentional controlled leak. Remember, Brian also told us Yuzu was trying out 4A and 4F before the Olympics. And then he came with 4Lz. He also said he doesn't think Yuzu will go for 4F in competition, and Yuzu was allegedly doing 4Fs this Summer. Now he's saying 4A is almost there and quints are being done in harness. So I wouldn't be surprised if 4A IS here (or will be some time this season) and we'll also get more Yuzu wilding (4Lz, 4F), instead of quints...

No, please, I hate Timberlake! (his music, not him as a person, obviously) There are surely other cool, sexy songs out there... But I'm all for a Yuzu-Stephane duet!!! Oh, what if a future CiONTU had collaborations as a theme? Yuzu collaborating with each guest and the guests collaborating with each other, too. Could be really fun and interesting! (Yuzu, if you're reading, take notes please )

Ah, Boney M, I love Boney M! It seems like a musical sacrilege that kids nowadays don't know them, they are so fun! (Then again, one of my co-workers who is a 90s born kid didn't know Bohemian Rhapsody... that is, he knew the song, he just didn't know it was THE Bohemian Rhapsody... I was silently horrified, although as a sacrilege of my own, I don't actually like Bohemian Rhapsody) Hooray! Hooray! is one of my favorite songs to listen to to get in a Summer mood lol But hmmm, Rasputin... I'm Going Slightly Mad would be awesome, though! I also love Innuendo and The show must go on and think Yuzu could be appropriately dramatic for them, but that's going back to the darker zone

To be completely honest, there is a part of me that will be a bit disappointed if he recycles both programs, especially as I'm traveling halfway around the world to see him again. But that's mostly because I want to see him do as many programs as possible and FaOI this year really spoiled me rotten. I do understand the logic of recycling, though, why it's preferable for the challenges he's set for himself and why he might want to perfect them himself. Also, I love the programs. I cried every time I saw Otonal live and Origin blew me away, especially in Helsinki and Toyama. So I'm sure I'll enjoy them anyway. At the same time, it makes me wonder, because, even though I agree that he's made the programs his own by now and I'd understand wanting to perfect them, he still introduced them as tributes and it seems a bit much to do tribute programs two seasons in a row. And even though they weren't 100% perfect, Otonal was pretty close to it in Russia and Origin also came full circle at Toyama, when Plushenko got to see it live and allegedly even cried about it. On top of that, as they are both tribute programs, it feels more like they're a packaged deal. If he kept just one, people might try to find implications of what that means related to the person it was a tribute to and that just seems like a whole other kind of headache Yuzu doesn't need, IMO. Oh, regarding Origin in Toyama, I'm not sure what I felt, because it was just too emotionally overwhelming. I think to me it felt maybe more like making it up for Saitama, rather than anything for the future, either way. But that's likely me projecting, because the only thing that bothered me in Saitama was the slowness and the Toyama encore was insanely fast. Other than that, it was just emotional. It didn't exactly feel like 'good bye', but it also didn't really feel like 'not done yet' either. Bottom line is, I, too, expect recycled programs, given the total silence and the clips of Origin we've heard. But at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if he did come with something new (one or both programs).

Not unless he's the one getting lifted

The contrast... between CITIZEN and Ghana... Also... we're definitely getting some new Yuzu-icons from this CM and making of, right?

Now I kind of wish someone would make graphics of all the top skaters, with ta-da poses and screenshots of their new programs, and then at the end Yuzu with a ta-da pose... and this CM

I would lean towards those being his actual clothes... since that was just for voice recording... otherwise, they could have just had him wear that shirt and pants for that part, too... and it's not really much of an outfit... but that... that reminds me of other fandoms I was in where fans would sometimes share pictures and go "DEEP V!!!" lol That was my reaction now, too (along with my jaw dropping to the floor)

If we go pink, might as well go all the way pink And the Ghana stuff is the most adorable thing ever... Although I admit I did a double take at that low-cut tshirt... And he was having so much fun during that photoshoot lol I wonder how much chocolate he ate during the making of this CM lol And it figures that with a bit over a week to go, there's news on all TV stations and it is NOT about his upcoming season, but about the adorableness of a new CM. For chocolate dispensers lol

All of my paid holiday this year is being spent on FS: ice shows, ACI and my one and only remaining day will be spent for ROI in Madrid, to be able to attend both days. And it seems multiple TV stations have mentioned Yuzu for their morning shows, so we'll be getting something. I'm not holding my breath for program announcements, it could be something for Tour de Tohoku or Ghana or some other sponsor thing. Though, this close to ACI and being covered by multiple sources, it might be something else, too... As for Yuzu thinking about life after skating, I think not yet. I do think that at the end of this season he will have decided for how much longer he will continue. If he stops after this season, after the next, or tries to go for Beijing. And a lot of it will depend on how the season goes, though I think less depending on results and more depending on his physical status and also the success level of his jumps. I think he will want to continue until he can land all six quads beautifully in competition and I really don't know if that's possible in just one season. Not even for him. But if he's healthy, I think he'll continue and might even try for Beijing. If not, I think he will single-mindedly focus on getting the quads next season and then call it a day. Of course, there's also the possibility he will get tired of the politics, that the ISU and judges might become shameless enough to underscore him obviously, and then he could decide it's not worth his time. But that'd be pretty OOC, IMO. As of right now, health issues aside, I actually expect him to continue at least one more season. But either way, I doubt he'll be thinking of retirement during the season. He'll think about it maybe before the season starts - set his goals and such - and after, but I think during the season, he'll just focus on each competition and the goals he sets for this season. And a little late to the party, but I said I'd try...

I always find it so amazing how contemporary skaters call him their idol. Ok, Daniel is actually very young, but I still remember when I checked Boyang's ISU biography and seeing that one of the skaters he looks up to is Yuzu (alongside Plush and Yagudin, IIRC). I'm not sure how common that is, really, in any sport. To be the idol of your peers while still competing against them.