¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thought I'd post this question here since it's more relevant in here: So...quick question. Since you all enjoy watching MADs of him, and there are a few that I especially love myself, would you still enjoy them as much if...say...you knew that he kinda maybe checks them out himself sometimes and makes o_O faces at some of the song choices...? Not saying that he does but...just wondering...you know... EDITED 3/08: Phew! Don't have to worry about this no more!

Oh so Moni was you? Congratulations to you and @Danibellerika for getting your very own girl group name in Japan. You actually have one now. And It beats ABC123. >_< Granted it sounds like alimony but it's still a very cool sounding name. Forget the Japanese media. Freaking China is apparently dropping pretty obvious hints to him of their hope for him to show up. Seems the guy got gifted with a pair of panda plushies (or something along those lines) from the Chinese embassy in Japan this morning as a sign of, uh, congratulations. Haha...

EriMoni...hehe...the Japanese and their portmanteaus...haha... I can't help but feel like I've seen the Eri half of the equation somewhere before...

I believe it was also you who logically predicted that there will be splats from some of the top contenders and intuitively prophesied that amidst that, Hanyu will do all right for himself right from the get-go, when you were providing zen to some here who found themselves caught in a self-induced panic attack. And you were right. On both counts. =) From what I fathom from the interview, which I saw, what Hanyu was actually saying is that at some point close to the Olys, he had resigned himself to the fact that he won't be skating with a fully healed ankle and started ingesting painkillers. He felt the need to apologize to the doctor who's been working so hard to cure his ankle all this while but he had to make a decision. If he wanted to skate despite a bum foot, painkillers were his only option.

Lol. The blazer would be a lot more ill-fitting if that were true. The pant legs only missed his ankles by a few scant mms, maybe a cm so they can be overlooked. That didn't look like the competition rink to me though. Do they have a separate rink at the venue for practice or something?

It's funny how circumstances have forced him to switch from his usual straightforward style of revealing all his cards--which usually isn't much of a surprise because they basically just show that he'd be going in with his full arsenal blazing--to a sneakier form of warfare with each season that passed. He's now a full-on sneaky chessmeister, with new character alignment and everything. Talk about character development. Not sure if it's his preferred method but with the field depth and his limits, and the way *they* (some, not all) seem to be employing strategy against *him*, maybe he felt he didn't really have a choice either way. >_< Like, if it weren't for the recent injury he came back from, he might have just gone on his merry bullheaded way to try to plow over everyone with his Awesomeness™ but since that isn't going to work anymore, what with his resources more limited and restricted now, he might as well also try to show them who's boss in outsneaking everyone by cleverly employing what he does have in hand. It's another challenge and if his strategy works, he'd be winning more than just the competition. xD

He's not the only def champion and reigning world champion to be rolling into the Olys tho. He is, however, probably the only one who invokes a very fervent kind of involuntary passion in both fans and media alike so. It's an amusing sight tho, to see him flanked like that. Reminds me of those security dudes who transport and transfer cash into ATMs. Which isn't so far off from the mark when it comes to him, I guess. >_< When the IOC sees him, they prolly see ka-ching! Didn't you? Guess I was misled cos you said he was in perfect condition in that event even though it has been revealed since that he couldn't be further away from it. And that kind of confidence you mentioned was likely not the kind he felt going into his FS. Something like what @Xen said is probably closer to the mark, based on the little he revealed in that half-hour interview the day after. As in, he probably took it for granted that just because he has the will, that there's always a way. Or that his will could always overcome a severe injury that only became more severe over time because he imposed too much will over it. Now unless he's some kind of yogi who could go into a trance whenever he wants to, at some point, his physical limits are going to overcome his mental strength. He needed to learn to reconcile the two so that one doesn't completely overshadow the needs of the other. There needs to be a balance, just like the one we see in his skating.

Uh...I didn't say he was though? Cocky, I mean. But it was certainly implied by the person I was replying to.

He wasn't in perfect shape. Far from it. Both physically and mentally. If that performance reflected anything it's his iron will and ironheadedness. Which unfortunately didn't last long enough to carry him through the FS. But it's amazing enough that it did for the SP so that was likely the best outcome we could've gotten from that whole scenario. He's admitted to overconfidence being a character flaw and it probably did play a role to what happened that day, but not in the way you seem to be thinking. He did, however, claim that he was in perfect mental and physical shape for the WC17 short but then it didn't reflect as well as he hoped in his performance. By the time of his FS, he was so fatigued mentally and physically his body was pretty much on autopilot. But look what happened. So he's since learned that not being in perfect shape doesn't mean he can't deliver, and that being in a perfect one doesn't absolutely mean he can. What conclusion he's been able to draw from learning these two lessons is anyone's guess. Were the shirt sleeves too long, tho? I thought they were fine. Something happened with the blazer tho. Did they appear that much shorter than the shirt sleeves in the catalog they released?

1) Let's not watch it together! Lol. My grand plan is to skip the live telecast of the short. It's not so much his performance I'm worried about (though there *is* some of that). It's because no matter how he does, if I know for sure what the outcome of that event is, I'm gonna feel nervy about the whole thing leading into the FS. And I can't watch the FS live cos I won't be home to do it. So I'm just gonna record both to watch later. How soon I do that will depend on what he puts out. 2) If he manages to skate his FS clean and wins with that, I'll...do something I otherwise won't do. As well as not do something I otherwise would. >_< Depending on how he does on Friday and Saturday, you may very well feel differently about that comp and start looking back on it and feel lucky to have been there to witness what he did that day. Or you may still feel lucky however it turns out. Also, I'll be self-imposing a blackout on this forum and any social media I sometimes browse for news and info from some time within the next couple of days until...well, until I feel it's a good time to come back again. I get most of my other non-Hanyu related fix from these same channels so I guess the backlog of books I've been meaning to read since prehistoric times will finally decrease by 2 or 3. Maybe a few more. And I think JOC may have misread '7' as '1' when he sent in his measurements so say...47cm became 41cm and 83.7 became 83.1cm. In other Oly news, I managed to catch the men's 5000m speed skating event and the 3rd run of the men's luge event. Sven Kramer is really something else, isn't he? Hope he achieves his goal in the 10000m event. ^^

Here ya go, @Anya: (Whooops! I just realized I forgot to do the captions below and next to the images. But the images do kind of speak for themselves so...forgive me, yeah? m(_ _)m)

Fixed it for you. No need to thank me.

According to himself here, he did. So as far as we know, he stayed there at least during the team and individual competitions. Whether or not he continued to stay there after is anyone's guess. I'm nowhere on top but I was the one who said he was there for the opening and gave a description of what I recall seeing. I started doubting myself and did a more thorough search this time around and found out 2 things: 1) the image I had in my head of him marching along everyone else is actually from the closing ceremony: (1) and (2) 2) this is apparently an image taken of him from the opening ceremony but I dunno how accurate that claim is. So even though I was before, I no longer am sure if he showed up at the opening ceremony in sochi. And there's no way to tell if he'll go to this one either, given the various circumstances. And this is the extent of my contribution to the subject. Won't have anything further to add. Sorry if I confused you before.

Apparently so. Because according to Takahashi: "Yuzuru is a man who cuts no corners. Ever. The rest of us would mark down spots for certain things in practices for comps and ice shows because we don't see the point in doing them. Not Yuzuru. He'd just go ahead and do them. Quads, axels, you name it, he'll jump them. Even when there's no one around to see." Source: 3:18-3:50 of this video <-- this link was still available when I first came across it and translated the above quote from it. But I sat on it for months and the user account now no longer exists.

I love how you lumped fame with all the other misfortunes and ITA.

I see. I didn't get all that from your initial post. I can agree with you on that and everything else you said. But I think that's the way IK translates, though. They tend to skew it towards their own bias, even the things that are non-subjective, so something that is initially objective often ends up colored in their opinion. This, in itself, is a mistranslation, I feel, even if the words were accurate...or not wholly inaccurate*, at least. In which case, I guess everyone who was miffed at it was right to be after all and we've come a full circle. >_< *I do think that using the word "inferior", although technically not wrong, exacerbated the mistake of phrasing the question as a statement, since it's lacking in sensitivity. It's not wrong technically but nuance-wise, it could be labelled a misinterpretation because that may not be the nuance along which the person is thinking. Especially since it was phrased as a question. An unfortunate choice of word, so to speak. So you're right, being careful would be prudent, especially when you are relaying information. I feel Chen is more the jazzy sort with some balletic influence, rather than the true-blue balletic sort. The guy has his own unique brand of musicality that's very pleasant to watch with the right song and choreography and minus the burden of quads (and 3A). Doesn't change the fact that he kind of doesn't have the capacity to still maintain that and land his quads clean because getting there takes time and a prideful perfectionist kind of mindset which I don't get the impression he has. Because if he did, he wouldn't be as noncommittal to his programs, especially his FS, as he seems to be now.

Haha I try not to fault the skater for the choices of the various machines surrounding them, since they don't usually have much choice but be caught up in it image-wise. If anything, these things shine an even better light on Hanyu and his team. I always find it amazing how the guy doesn't manage to get caught up in it, good or bad, no matter how much they use his name. Factors such as him knowing exactly what he wants and not being afraid to ask for it (calling the shots), him being able to take responsibility for himself without relying on his team, him finding people who would not just respect his choices but try to see things from his unique perspective even if it's really difficult to (or maybe he just trained them really well) and be willing to shrug it off when they can't and he steamrolls over their concerns anyway, and him training in a faraway foreign land play a very dominant role in achieving this outcome. Most others don't seem to have the same privilege and have little choice but let their choices be influenced by those around them who "know better" and being told that they should concentrate on skating and leave everything else to others who "know what they are doing."

Lol I'm not sure if I'm included but in case I am, if you read what I said properly, you would see that I wasn't doing it in any way at all. Unless telling it like I see it=mean. In which case, my intentions weren't mean-spirited, at least. I've said before that out of all the younger contenders, he's the one I'm rooting for the most and that is still true now. I enjoyed his SP a lot when I saw his CoI performance of it last year and didn't expect it to flow as nicely as it did there in comps once all the quads are in. And I was okay with it when, as expected, it didn't, still doesn't, and I was able to enjoy it despite that since my expectations were well-managed. But then they started spinning the ballet yarn again, when that aspect of it is clearly missing in his competition performances. It was something I was originally able to overlook to enjoy what actually *is* there instead, without really thinking too much about whether or not he deserved the scores he's been getting, but now they've gone and made the lack and the score inflation glaring, which made me think back to his gala showing of it where he had the moves to back up these claims, and the difference became even *more* obvious as I'm reminded that he *does* have them. Just not in competition. And now...now the placid enjoyment I had earlier of his SP in competition is somewhat ruined. Oh and a short throwback to the TE topic, another reason I feel it'd be a huge bonus is the fact that no matter how much stamina one regains in training, when in competition, the stamina required is always higher due to the pressure that is unique to competition. If Hanyu is able to show up for the TE, he'd be able to use it to train up his competition stamina. Of course, if he isn't, then his mind will have to make up for the physical lack of it in the individuals. Either way, fingers crossed!

In all fairness to Iron Klaus, whose interpretation is indeed sometimes questionable, and with all due respect to @sweetwater, of whom Japanese is a native language, I don't find the choice of word "inferior" wrong per se, contextually. I'd say it's pretty accurate and even natural when translated into English. "Monotarinai" does indeed indicate inferiority in this particular context. I think the whole problem, though, is that part was phrased as a question originally, and Iron Klaus' mistake was overlooking that and making it come out as more a statement. So I would say @sweetwater's phrasing with IK's choice of words would be pretty accurate. I myself would probably have used the word "lacking" which holds the connotation of inferior in this context, which is why I think IK's choice in words isn't fundamentally wrong at all. So, "(as a ballet dancer yourself) do you find him inferior to those two/lacking when compared to those two?" would be a pretty accurate translation, I'd think. And the question itself is a fair one, seeing as how people always like to talk about ballet in fs like it's the only artistic requirement, and specifically comparing one skater with another*, so I'd say it couldn't be directed at a more appropriate person. *Taking Hanyu out of the equation altogether, I think the more they put the word "ballet" and "Nathan Chen" in the same sentence, the less favors they are doing him. Because even if US media keeps hammering it into our heads and the scoring reflects their words, Chen's performances don't. Like it's one thing if he actually successfully translates what he's learned into his competition skates, which signs aren't there no matter how much the US media and the judges try to put it into our heads that they are so we'd be able to imagine them into reality the way they seem to be doing, but it's quite another if we only really get to see it in galas, where he no longer has to focus on successfully landing his quads and 3A. Like if they didn't do that, we'd try to focus on his positives instead. This is virtually forcing us the focus on his negatives.

Thanks! Yeah, I saw the news earlier today and realized the error in the wiki page I sourced the info from. Thanks for setting things straight in here. ^_^ It may not seem measly if he's not on form enough to compete by the time the team event rolls around. But it still kinda does because if he's not on form enough for the team, he's not going to be on form enough for the individual because I don't imagine that small amount of time will make a yawning difference in how much more physically on form he would be, in which case he will ultimately have to depend more heavily on his mental strength than usual. Which on a good day would be an impenetrable vault, a calm sea of quiet determination and a rock solid base. And something akin to overcooked noodles spilling over the sides and onto the table on a bad one. Whether or not he skips, but especially if he does since his mind would be bearing the burden of having to dive straight into the ultimate event after a long absence, I just hope the 16th and 17th would turn out to be consecutive good mental days for him. It's something I wish harder for him than simply the clean skates he so badly wants to put out. Because without the former, there won't be the latter. It'd be the ultimate test for him, much more so than if he's able to skate the TE, and if this turns out to be the scenario, I hope he passes with flying colors, like he's done a considerable number of times in other tests he's had to go through before.

Whoa thanks. I shoulda known Thomas B. is involved. It has him written all over it. And now I recall why it's so familiar. It's probably one of the tunes that played when I randomly clicked a video featuring a string of songs with the same theme and I heard it one day when I happened to be going through one of the ones with "epic" in its title (there were many). It didn't resonate with me as strongly when I first heard it as it did after I heard it used in that well-edited Hanyu MAD but it stayed with me with me enough to sound familiar, lol.

The 50% chance (very high, given the circumstances...though it'd still be the same even if he had had a season where he won his 5th straight GPF title) of that happening is more than enough reason to figuratively bet all my life savings on him. If I win then ! If I lose, well, it was worth it for the hope i felt. (I don't trust my feelings because while my logic has yet to *really* fail me, my feelings have failed me utterly about, oh, would you lookit that? 50% of the time. Lol! Though that'd also mean they *haven't* failed me the other 50% of the time...) Good thing I can't seem to decide on what I'm feeling about how things will turn out but I do know how I *want* them to turn out so imma just bank on that. xP

Alright, my bad for missing that point. But I also didn't say not doing the comp was without pros. All I said was objectively speaking, the pros of skating the competition would vastly outweigh those of choosing not to, like what @kiches has acknowledged, especially for him. But if he's in a situation where the pros of not skating outweighs that of the pros of doing it, well, that doesn't say great things about his condition overall, does it? Which, I hope, of course, despite all these odds stacked up against him, he'll still be able to beat them, even if not in the form of clean skates, at least in skates that would still be impressive given the situational context. Though my money is on the best outcome, and I do have a more realistic expectation (which would see me lose that money), I'm still gonna prepare myself for the worst, because I'm a contradictory hopeful pessimist like that. >_<

A clean performance of his FS in his first competition only after successful training and runthroughs? Well, hope springs eternal and it's never a bad thing. If he does decide to skip, let's hope your optimism turns into reality. I'm not saying what I think he should or shouldn't do. Far be it for me to do that. I'm just saying what I think the message his ultimate decision might send, based logically on what he has shown of his character, past decisions and actions. I'm under no illusion that the things I've thought of, he and his team haven't already done the same and deeper and there's absolutely no doubt he'd choose to go if he could. So if he doesn't, seeing as not doing team would only buy him one more measly extra week and change for training, when competing would have given him much more than that, it means he felt he didn't have a choice, and that doesn't shed the most positive of lights logically on the outlook of his performance at the individuals. I feel like I'm repeating myself because some of you seem to be missing this main point I'm trying to make. I guess I'm greedy in that beyond wanting to see him skate, I want him to leave PC a satisfied person, with the kuyashii he's been living with the last 4 years finally lifting, and the only way that'll happen is if he delivers clean skates (or at least just his FS, though I bet that will just create new kuyashii >_<). I think that's even more important than achieving his lifelong goal of winning the second gold. That he no longer feels as though he's undeserving of that first gold. This probably means I'm more invested in him than I have any right to be. And it's all Hanyu's fault that I can't help but be inspired to feel this way, because I've since learned that these things are involuntary. Aaaaand you just had to go there, didn't you. Guess somebody had to cos it's not like that hasn't crossed everyone's minds, since it *did* happen to Lipnitskaya. Look, I might like to argue my points based on the logic my brain gathers and processes (usually without my permission), because it's always fun to have a wholesome discussion but at the end of the day, the outcome could go any which way (I've had some superb, probably impossible ones, and I admit, I'm guilty of having even worse scenarios than the one you mentioned cross my mind >_<) so whatever will be, will be, lol. At the end of the day, regardless of whether he chooses to skate the team event or not, my money's still on him to deliver.

Fixed it for you.