fyere0

Watching Anna vs. everyone else is like watching Yuzu vs. everyone else doing group choreo at a gala. The level of commitment is noticeably different. Anyway, West Side Story dance battle between Sambo skaters dancing this guy's whatever it is, and Gadbois skaters dancing Chouinard's hip-hop. Plants would wilt for miles around.

Javi was in diapers at Sochi? His butt looked so streamlined, I would never have guessed

White walls with a corner, once again.....the cryptid does not give up his secrets.

For Zig, I think Yuzu wanted to emphasize the post-3.11 period by beginning with the first program he skated after the disaster (White Legend) and then the first program whose creation was inspired by the disaster (Etude). When looking at his body of work as a whole, White Legend is the program that (for me) marks the end of his childhood and the beginning of his adulthood as a skater. Zig, with the mama strawberry costume, was very sweet but had a juniorish feeling, and seems like it belongs to a different and more carefree period in his life, whereas WL made the transition from before to after. So I can see why he left Zig out. Anyway, Zig got highlighted in Ciontu and even got its costume, so I'm sure it's fine.

Yuzuru just makes up some stuff for NDP and it's better than what he was actually given I am so delighted. He put a lot of time and effort into making something he knew would make people happy.

I am hoping he returns to the subject of hamsters one day.....young Yuzu once said he liked cats and hamsters.

I quite like that deep red-orange on Yuzu! Mars? Orange tones have never been great for him on the rare occasions he's worn them, but maybe they need to be very vibrant instead of pumpkiny, peachy, yellowy. Venus isn't as good. 😆

He might not want to go for Hisaishi again (and Hisaishi might not even give him permission again, Yuzuru Hanyu WHO tbh ) but The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a really charming soundtrack with a light, magical feel. There's variation to the instrumentation (western-style orchestra, guitar, traditional drums and koto, and of course piano-driven parts) and I think it could be stitched together into a really interesting program. I don't see it suggested as often for him as Spirited Away or some other Ghibli soundtracks.

Yuzuru, safely inside somewhere, takes a sip from his cup of hot Ghana and flings open his Macbook to check the latest figure skating news:

OT, but a funny thing: I noticed on the main page of the forum that the most people who have ever been online here at the same time was 30,939! Which happened on 05/01/2019 in the small hours of the morning, Canadian time zones, so afternoon in Japan. (For reference, the forum has 5336 registered members right now, so less, then. Right now there are about 300 people here, including guests.) I was wondering, what on Earth would have happened in Yuzu-land to have 30k people on the forum at the same time? On May 1, 2019, a random date with no competitions? I went back through the General Chat and nothing was happening. FaOI hadn't started, so that wasn't it. Then I remembered there was more than one way to read a date! It was January 5, 2019. What monumental event happened on January 5, 2019, to draw thirty thousand people to Planet Hanyu at once?

I hope Yuzu never, ever, ever goes into politics of any kind, whether government or skating-related, like taking over being an ISU representative or taking over working for the JSF. He's got too much integrity and kindness, and it's a world too full of corruption and shadiness at every level. Maybe there are good things he could use his fame and reputation to do, but it wouldn't do anything for him except make him new enemies. Politics brings out the worst in people, and the further people with originally good intentions go in that realm, the more idealism usually gets stripped away from them and the messier the public perception of them gets. I wouldn't want that to happen to him.

(original gif source unknown.)

I think Ice Rink Sendai has been closed altogether under the latest Japan-wide restrictions. So no matter where he is, he isn't skating at all at the moment. Unless he's staying at Keegan's house or did a Karen Chen and filled his house with artificial ice tiles, which I don't put past him 😆

I got only 8 minutes into Stephane's 1 hour workout before I gave up. Why did you start with ab work, Stephane?

Which warhorses do you think need to be brought back and sparkled up into a Yuzu program? For the sake of that climax alone, let's turn the Pas de Deux into a dramatic SP! A few Nutcracker tracks cut together would also make an excellent free program. Some parts are light and playful, some parts are dramatic, some parts are romantic. Just go for the less overtly Christmas-sounding or little kid ballet class parts. (Or don't. If you want to go full HAPPY MERRY CHRISTMAS for a season, who's stopping you? Not I! I'm not going to pretend I wouldn't want to see Yuzuru Hanyu wilding out to the Trepak. )

HI, LURKING ZUZURA! Skate to a cello piece! This would make a graceful, wistful lullaby of an exhibition program. Once again, listen all the way through with your favourite classical headphones.

All of this, and (speaking of the huge impact his message had on social media and in the news in a short time) also that Yuzu seems like a go-to person and an emotional anchor when something catastrophic happens in his country. He's a public figure that people instinctively turn to for reassurance, and want to hear from, because of the resilience he's personally shown in dark and certain circumstances, as well as the outreach he has done for disaster relief. Every summer we get essentially a mini-documentary showing his warmth and empathy towards people who are experiencing hard times, and how he is able to give them strength. If I were Japanese and living through difficult circumstances, I would be waiting for Yuzuru Hanyu's message and I would get a lot of comfort from it. I mean, I'm not Japanese and I was still waiting for it.

I keep seeing this around and I finally realized what it reminds me of: When less experienced skaters look at Yuzuru Hanyu during the medal ceremony to see what they're supposed to do.

This is just a given, no need to mention

♡ ✧*。SOAP OPERA♡ ✧*。 Yuzuru, during off-ice training: F-floor-chan.....I have something to confess.....I.....d-daisuki da yo. Floor-chan: ___(♡⌂♡)___ Y-Yuzu-kun! We have been spending so much more time together lately but I.....I had no idea.....you truly felt this way.....the same way I do..... ///BLUSH/// Ice-chan, distantly: Yuzu? Yuzu-kun? (❄°͈▵°͈) Yuzuru: Floor-chan.....you have been there for me.....at a time when no one else could be. Not even Ice-chan. Ice-chan seems.....like a lovely but distant memory. Floor-chan: Oh, Yuzu-kun. I will comfort you. ___(/ω＼)___ Ice-chan: YUZURUUUUUUU NOOOOOOOOOOO w(❄･:ﾟДﾟ:･)w Keegan: ICE-CHAN! BEAUTIFUL ICE-CHAN! Ice-chan: K-Keegan-senshu?? (° o°❄)! Keegan: Don't you realize.....I have been here all along? And I still am because I'm in Alaska. You are everything to me! *builds an ice tower and does a double backflip off it onto a frozen lake, does a triple Axel on the frozen lake, then cuts a hole in the lake and pulls out a fish* Ice-chan: No one has ever made me feel this way..... (❄♡´❍`♡)*✧ ✰ ｡* *Keegan becomes 2022 men's singles figure skating Olympic champion, Yuzuru becomes 2024 men's gymnastics floor exercise Olympic champion* why

I was thinking about how, just like Yuzu's whole life so far, a series of calamities and misfortunes largely out of his control is making him grow as a person and an athlete, and is leading him on a path towards the Olympics. The path is not smooth, but the cycle repeats - something painful always holds him back, and he needs to break through, and he learns something important in the process, and he gets better, and it all leads up to an Olympic Games. 2018-2019: What did we learn this season, Yuzu? To train safe. To go back to thinking like a war strategist. That just enjoying yourself isn't going to be enough in the current FS climate. That judges aren't going to do you any favours, and nothing has changed in that respect with another Olympic gold. Personal goals not achieved, need to keep competing. 2019-2020: What did we learn this season, Yuzu? To skate from your own heart, not for anyone else. Not to keep pushing something if it doesn't feel right. That training smarter and trying new strategies can work better than exhausting yourself. That perfection is your only weapon now. That sometimes, perfection isn't even good enough, and there's nothing you can do, so just keep being you and aiming for excellence. Personal goals not achieved, need to keep competing. 2020-2021: What will we probably learn this off-season and season, Yuzu? Patience. That rest and self-care are important. New off-ice training strategies. That whether your programs are new or recycled, people will still find something to pre-emptively complain about and then will complain even more when you make your choices, so just do what works for you. Personal goals not achieved, need to keep competing. Personal goals achieved, can stop. 2021-2022: Olympic season.

Alternative version: Brian: "Just go do the Yuzu exercise." TCC skaters: "Yes, coach." *puts on blade covers, goes over to a wall, silently screams and dances aggressively at it for 3 minutes* Yuzu:

That story of lazy Javi with his bike is such a classic. You know Brian will whip that one out at Javi's wedding reception one day.

Those are not great pictures of 1 and 3 and a particularly good picture of 2. But my favourite is 6. It was such a Yuzu thing to create a special hairstyle just to be used for Olympic Seimei Day a.k.a. My Second Olympic Gold Medal Day and no other day in his life. I don't think his bangs were ever styled *exactly* like that before or since, even for other Seimeis. Decades from now you could see a picture of him from the neck up with that hair and you would know exactly what the date was.

Iconic?