wpisces

I agreed about the unnecessary side lunge. It made his programs look busy because he can't hold his position longer.

Artistry is very subjective. Some skaters are naturally musical and artistic but they can't express that through their skating. Some aren't artistic themselves but their skating "unintendedly" brings out the artistic sense. I think it's unfair to compare one's artistry to another's. Some people find Nathan's skating more appealing, some said they failed to see artistry in Yuzuru's skating or simply can't feel his artistry. It's understandable. It might be a matter of taste.

I watched "Hope and Legacy" fancams and also saw it in person at 4CC 2017 and the costume worked well to me. I can see the contrast of colors even when I was far away. With Origin costume, unlike H&L, Chopin, etc... it wasn't the color but the details and patterns on the costume that affect how it looks. Unfortunately, these details, which were supposed to get highlighted, were overwhelmed and barely seen due to lack of contrast. That's why the costume being seen from afar looked like a black armor, very different from what it was supposed to look like.

I felt conflicted about his costumes. His FS costume itself is gorgeous but it looked tacky when being seen from afar because I can't see intricate details. It was because the details and patterns on it have the same color tone with main color of the costume, which made them overwhelmed and diffficult to be seen. Same with SP costume. I only can appriciate their beauty when I zoom in photos of these costumes.

I think we will see him in the sparkling white shirt that he has been wearing for 103827 performances

Not sure. Bright color clothes tend to make you look bigger while dark ones usually make you look thinner.

Actually, I won't use his feminine side to prove his masculine side. I just admit the existence of both within him. Both males and females have feminine and masculine qualities. The masculine side gets expressed when we're working toward a goal, making progress, getting things done, and pushing forward. The feminine side gets expressed when you move with the flow of life, play, do creative activities such as dance, painting, writing ...With Yuzuru, he always gets in touch with his feminine side on ice to a certain extent ( and maybe in real life too). I don't think because he's confident and comfortable with his own masculinity, he dares express his femininity without being afraid. In my opinion, when performing NS, Haru yo koi... he was simply expressing his elegance, his sensitivity, his gracefulness ....which define his feminine side on ice. And it's nothing to do with his masculinity. ETA: "I don't think because he's confident and comfortable with his own masculinity, he dares express his femininity without being afraid" This sentence might make some confused I mean although I fully agree that he's comfortable with his own masculinity, I don't think because of that/ it's the reason why he dares express his femininity. In other words, IMO being masculine and being confident and comfortable with it has nothing to do with having ability/ courage to express one's feminine side. Sorry, I'm bad at expressing thoughts in writing, especially in English

I somehow think different. Behind his fierceness and competitiveness in competitions, I always feel he's very sensitive. As a sensive person, he's easily emotionally effected by everything happening around him. And it's his sensitivity that made his elegance. Personally, I think programs like Requiem, NS, H&L and most recently Haru yo koi allow him to face his emotions properly and earnestly ( If I'm not wrong, he said it himself when asked about Haru yo koi in one of his recent interviews). That is why I'm okay with his EX choice(s) though many fans want him to try a somewhat new style of EX.

This camera angle helped me see his facial expressions more clearly. There's a moment where it looked like he was under the rain of sakura petals trying to catch a falling petal.

Don't lose your hope. He said he wanted to show a new Hanyu next season. He might try something absolutely unexpected

Maybe Japanese fans interpreted "new show number"+ "a step forward for new season" as "new EX next season"

I don't speak Japanese but I saw some Japanese tweets saying it would be his new EX on Twitter.

This is "Flowers will bloom" sung by Japanese Olympic team having competed at 2016 Rio Olympics . They all had solo parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeXf5MJCrh4

You are not alone. I'm here with you Everyone hyped it up. But the photo really gave me a bad feeling.

The costume itself isn't bad at all I think it's better than some of Yuzuru's. Imagine Shoma in Yuzuru's R&J 2.0 . Some of Yuzuru's bad costumes looked less hideous on him than on others because he can pull them off better thank to his beautiful body lines and charisma.

We seem to suffer "recycling" trauma. We are so scared of it that we all feel relieved when hearing "new" He looked happy and cheerful today. It seems he's close to all the ladies.

Back to last November when Yuzuru was badly injured and stayed in Japan for a while, Japanese media contacted to Brian and asked him about Yuzuru's situation and he said they hadn't contacted with Yuzuru yet and didn't get any info ( via phone call, email...maybe ) from him. I wondered if a call to him and asked him how he was then was that difficult ? They was expecting a man who was physically and emotionally exhausted because of the injury to call them instead of taking the initiative and calling him. I was worried at that time that things would fall into the same pattern as Boston 2016 ( Yes, fortunately, it didn't) But I agree maybe Yuzuru didn't expect that kind of close relationship so he finds it fine and acceptable for 6 years.

Well, once Japanese media sniffs out it and senses it could make drama, Yuzuru will have to deal with their tons of questions long before Brian But I'm not sure if he would agree to give opinion about it so ...

It's not the matter. The matter is that he might feel disrespected if Brian didn't tell him about Boyang beforehand. Anyway I will trust only Yuzuru words if he is ever asked about this in the future. At this point, we don't know what happened.

And being confident and being two time Olympic Champion don't mean he doesn't need a gentle approach.

I always think "asking skaters for permission" to take another skater is ridiculous. I only can call it " letting know beforehand". It's even none of their business. Even if Yuzuru feels uncomfortable with it, what he could do about it ? Acting like a crybaby and go:"Never. I don't want him/ her to be here"or acting cold and letting his coach guess what it means ??

I agree with all your assumations about his plan. He has repeated that he would compete just a little bit more, which made me think that he planned to compete one more season, see how things go and decide what to do next. But as I said, I wouldn't be surprised if he fixed his retirement plan after next season. He wasn't lying or exaggerating when saying " a little bit more", he surely had his own plans (short term or long term) already. What I'm getting from the movement at Orser ( TCC) recently made my assumations more compelling and realistic. And no, you aren't pessimistic thinking like that. It's logical and objective to assume considering what he said.

He said recently he wanted to compete a little more. Maybe he doesn't want his fans to expect too much and feel upset if he retires earlier than they expect because at the moment his plan is a short term one. And yes, we don't know his intention. Even neither does he.