¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At this point, I wouldn't put it past him. His copycat and appropriation game, and not just of Weir, has always been a strong one. Even if his outspoken character doesn't really fit the mould, everything else about him is Japanese through and through.

He probably pointed at Weir's designs each time and his mother went, I'll cook and I'll clean and I'll listen to all your gripes and even go with you everywhere to fulfill those duties but if you want me to make those for you from scratch, sorry kid, you might wanna look for a seamstress as a second mom. But until we can afford to, you're gonna have to stick with mama's slightly dumbed down versions. So when he finally got to a stage where homemade stuff doesn't cut it anymore and actually had to hire one, you can bet he went all Weir-monster on her, pent up from all those years of having to hold back. Nice of Ito, and whoever else he commissioned in the past when he stopped asking his mother, to not say anything about it, lol.

...okay if we're only talking about his senior career, and if we removed PW, LGC, SEIMEI and POTO (both versions, though I reckon the first one probably still has some kind of Weir influence still) it would come up to approximately...80.68%. *whistles* Wow. If he copyrighted his designs, together with all the other skaters who use his stuff as inspiration (if not all-out copying), as well as those ones who are inspired by costumes that were originally inspired from his own, he'd be making a pretty penny from them alone now.

At this point, I think a good 60-70%of his costumes, including Chopin, is Weir-inspired, even today. And quite unapologetically, too. >_< That, or it's flat-out Weir-designed. You really can't get a more obvious and dedicated fanboy than in Hanyu. Also, their builds are pretty similar which I think why he found the designs so appealing but because he's even more svelte and has a smaller waistline, together with the changes for the better, the designs look better on him than they ever did on Weir. I know H&L is probably Etude 2.0 but is there an obvious inspiration for Etude itself?

Ah, that explains things some. Maybe she agreed to accept Hanyu's commission because, well it's Hanyu, and even without his clout, I imagine he's the sort you just don't have the heart to turn down. Even if it wasn't exactly bringing her someone else's design, if she turned him away, it'd be like a hairdresser telling a bright-eyed kid no when the kid brings them a picture of *insert celebrity with great hair* and told them they wanted that same haircut. Okay, it's probably more because he presents a different sort of challenge for her in mashing recycled ideas strong inspiration with original details and the whole thing being a collaborative endeavor with the skater himself as opposed to being completely entrusted to handle everything but...there's gotta be at least some of the hairdresser scenario, at least in the beginning. Or, I'm not sure how long she's been doing this for skaters but Hanyu has been a client for at least since 2014 so he could very well be one of her very first ones when she was less picky about whether or not she gets to handle the design fully...

Oh hey, yeah this looks like it could be where NS was lifted from. Hanyu's pickiness and Ito's eye for detail really turn these costumes which basic designs are all borrowed into something much more incredible than their originals. Must be something that comes with being Extra... Well, his stuff all have this in abundance as well. In fact, I think he goes to her precisely because of her ability to weave intricate details into her creations. But I guess I can see where you're coming from in terms of overall cut and style. For the males, especially. Hino's and Uno's ones all seem to have some kind of overt similarity. Hanyu's pOto 2.0 has a passing one at best. Still, even if it's different, unless explicitly denied permission to, wouldn't you want to put it up for the world to see? Because it shows her versatility as a designer, and adaptability. And besides, what sane designer would voluntarily pass up on the chance as having Hanyu as a model?

Gotta love how the bird and Hanyu has a...history. And if Veggie has anything to say about it, he'd say it's a sordid one. Wow. Did his mom make that first one for him, too? That's some pretty incredible work, if it's homemade.

Yeah but based on that article, it seems to indicate POTO 2.0, at least, was all her, given that he needed it done in a hurry (she apparently had to start work on it the very night the accident happened was it? Or damn near close to it) and prolly didn't have the time to dither around and stamp himself all over it (tho she still managed to come out still something that seemed like he did anyway). And yeah, I dunno how much of NS was his idea. The basic idea has gotta be from her at least cos I can't imagine him coming up with that on his own without some kind of obvious base to copy off of inspiration. The bit with the feathers is very likely him tho.

So I was looking through the portfolio of the designer Hanyu has been going through these past few years to get his costumes made and wow, she's incredible with details. It's no wonder Hanyu and so many others go to her. Strange thing is, even though I see a bunch of other skaters in her portfolio, there's zero mention of Hanyu himself. Like, if they hadn't released that news about his SEIMEI costume last month, you wouldn't even have known that he hires her services. I'm guessing there's a good reason but man, the complete lack is more stark than if at least one of his costumes she's made for him gets featured, especially since that recent news made the front page of the sports section.

Ah oops. I've seen that performance before once upon a time (but not a fancam version) and so didn't watch it again and assumed the you meant he was squealing somewhere in it, tho I couldn't really figure out where when I pulled the bar across since the whole video was only him performing. Nevertheless I went ahead with my assumption because the guy does have this high-pitched thing that he does and he was at the age where he was going through puberty and it didn't occur to me that it's a fancam so... Well, if nothing else, this has taught me better than to jump to conclusions. >_< Can't say I'm not glad to be spared a fangirly squeal, though, if that is indeed a fan squealing. And my observation of his exceptional communication skills stands.

It's puberty, please forgive. His squeals have since matured to yowls and...less squeaky squeals. Not by much. But still. I kind of noticed that he has a very broad vocal range, though. Like his voice can go really low (usually when his adrenaline and excitement levels are low) all the way to ear-drum piercing high. Which is why he can pitch his voice however he wants based on what he's trying to convey (and the audience he's trying to convey it to). And he knows how to use it, too. He might be able to make a career out of being a hypnotherapist...or whatever profession that requires someone to deal/communicate with all kinds of people, since his brain also seems to be able to work fast enough to calibrate and adapt. He has a voice and stance for each situation and person, no matter which walk of life they hail from, I swear. Good thing he's not the manipulative sort (as far as I can tell) since these powers, they can be used for evil. Very easily and very effectively, too.

Seeing that would automatically translate to a clean skate, I don't have a problem with the idea myself. =) And seeing as whatever scores he gets for that wouldn't be counted towards the WR, he wouldn't have the huge pressure of trying to best it at the next competition. There will be a bit of it, still, but it would be far from the overwhelming one he experienced back in 2015. He'll mostly only get a nice feeling of what it's like to skate this FS with whatever layout he's using then clean. If he does skate at the Nats at all, that is. >.<

@kaerb: From what i can tell they both take mostly after their mom, although the case with Yuzuru is more extreme. He's practically a male(ish) carbon copy of her, down to the bit of flesh under his chin, like a Yumi 2.♂ (that's her name right? Oh and that's supposed to be 2.0 with the 0 being the male symbol). She's got some really strong genes...

I thought maybe you meant a new high score but I wasn't sure if I was missing something and it can actually be considered a WR.

I keep seeing this. Like, people keep harping about it so I asked about it here thinking I might have missed a detail somewhere but I don't recall ever getting an answer so I remain confused. Based on what I know, any records set at Nats aren't WRs, no? Like even if he achieved a score higher than his current WR, it doesn't actually break the standing one as it's not an ISU-sanctioned score, right? So there's no such thing as WRs at Nats, right???? @ . @ Like even if he were to get a score higher than 223.2 for his FS there, or any other new high score at all, it wouldn't really get a lot of recognition outside of Japan, no??? I mean any clean performance from him with a new high score is bound to get a lot of attention worldwide still but it wouldn't be the same kind of attention if it were an actual WR, yes? And they won't even be counted towards his PB, am I right? So I get it if people were to say a new high score at Nats (or a higher score than current WR) but WR @Nats makes zero sense to me so when I see someone say it like it should, I always get thrown for a loop...

If you're assuming this based on a scenario where everyone skates clean, then are you only saying this because he hasn't had a clean FS in a while? And because he seems less than prepared mentally this season? Because if he produces a clean performance of both his SP and FS in a competition where all the others are present, I'm pretty sure he'll get very impressive scores that may sway the judges to be more level-headed with their judging of other skaters with clearly inferior quality (but are somehow being scored as though their skating is very near to being as good as it gets--something that I think is happening mainly because the ones with clearly superior quality haven't been delivering clean skates lately, much less consistently). He *is* the only one other than Hanyu to score above 100 in his SP with a single quad, and the one with the lowest value no less, although he did do it in combination. And among the two, he's the one with the higher score (again, probably thanks to his quad triple combo). If a miracle happens and he's able to deliver clean programs at the Olys, I think he'd still have a very decent chance for the gold, even if most of the younger half of the top 6 were to skate clean. Because he'd have delivered a very clear point of comparison for PCS scoring and judges may be more hesitant to score the younger contenders in the same league once they have perfection delivered right to their doorstep. If that happens, his placement on the podium would be dependent on how Hanyu and Fernandez both perform, because if Chan delivers two clean performances, the only ones who can beat him are still only Hanyu and Fernandez, and only if they skated clean or very close to clean, as well. And perhaps Uno, if Uno skates clean and they don't suddenly begin to penalize him on his weaknesses (not sure if they can at this point without seeming too obvious what they're trying to do), just cos even if they were to scale him back down in PCS a bit, it likely won't be below the 90 mark (since suddenly dropping him to below that despite a clean skate when he's been hitting above it would, again, raise a lot of eyebrows) and his BV will do the rest of the work, even if he doesn't get awarded very high GOEs...* *Yeah this would sadly mean that even if Chan skated clean with all his superior strength and quality, he may still lose to a clean Uno whose only edge against Chan is in the fact that he has more quads, even if they aren't necessarily high quality ones. If judges haven't painted themselves into a corner and instead left themselves room for fair judging if this scenario were to happen, then Chan would still win, hands down. But because politics made it so that they have to remain within a certain bracket regardless of a clear difference in what was actually presented...well...you really can't fault Hanyu for being paranoid (regardless of whether or not he may be using paranoia as an excuse to simply do what he wants and that is a 5-quad FS, preferably with a new jump >_<) even though his safety net of 5-to-6 quads in total is a lot sturdier than Chan's 3-quad total one. Thanks for this! Do you know where I could find the rest of this article?

My stab at it:

Kind of rough around the edges, since I dont see any real point in polishing it but here, took a shot at it:

Aw, I think the picture itself is a good one. The ta-da! pose is very nicely done and they managed to capture a good expression on his face. It's just them thinking the washed-out sepia tone is a good idea that's a little mind-boggling. I mean, if the idea was gold, there are a million and one better ways to execute it. Now it just looks like they left the posters out in the sun for a bit too long. Who knows, maybe the boss of this campaign likes it this way. And what the boss says, goes. Especially in Japan.

My jaw. I dropped it. And now I can't find it. Please. If anyone here sees it, pleeeease report it to the lost and found.

Some interesting things beings said here that I felt deserve fuller context, since we've only gotten fragments so far, so here y'all go. (I only did the questions that were addressed directly to the guests and skipped all the pure MC bits about P&G. Just follow the time stamps if you want to know where exactly in the video the things below are being said.) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I don't think I understood you wrong, though. Your word choices tell me that you deliberately wanted to sound upset but actually weren't and were really kidding. So I think I got you. But I failed in communicating my end of the humor. So, sorry about that, I guess. I write it the same way you do, too. So I guess I feel your pain. And well, dude's a numbers guy so I guess that explains a little why his writing is all at straight and sharp angles and looks blocky, lol. And I think his roman letters are rounded because any language that's not Japanese and doesn't involve kanji is probably still a vague concept to him. xxD

With words like "agonizing" and "disappointed", I took it that you wanted to sound like you were complaining but were really jesting. Which was why I was using the term "complaining" loosely. Guess it didn't come through seeing as text based messages can be rather limiting.

The diagonal ones? Which you and Hydro are complaining he cheats on by making them vertical instead? Lol. So long as it's legible I guess. This cheat technique is quite common with native writers who aren't picky about calligraphy, I think.

His writing in Japanese is very angular but his roman letters are all roundish. Lol. Talk about duality. I don't have this problem with「生」but I do have it with certain other kanji like「五」so「平昌五輪」would inevitably end up looking like「平昌五輪」when I write it out. Lol. It's quite frustrating. I thought WRs don't exist for National Championships since they aren't under the jurisdiction of ISU? But whatever records are set there would be national records, I reckon, in which case, what are the current ones and whose are they? I know the SP one likely is his but I dunno about FS and overall. I think that's cos most fans, the ones who earnestly root for him, really only want for him what he wants for himself. So it's different. ^^ 「羽 」is a 6-stroke kanji, though...?