rockstaryuzu

@BWOZWaltz that's exactly what I was trying to convey. That OP said it better than I ever could.

Oh, I gave up wondering about that a long time ago. When I make reference to his masculinity or femininity, I'm talking about his identity as he presents it to us in performances. I'm firmly of the opinion that his sexuality, in the sense of who he'd be attracted to, is not our business. That being said, the thing he's shown repeatedly in interviews etc is that he LOVES gold. So I'd say he'd date it if he could.

I'm sorry, going without sparkles is the one thing of which I'm 100% sure the boy is incapable...

...do it with the women. Imagine the battle between Alina and Evgenia being described in terms more suitable to lions on the African savannah...

Some blessed, wonderful soul posted this on Youtube: Shoma's Shae-Lynn Bourne-choreographed piece, Great Spirit, starts at 1:20. I've been dying to see it, and it does not disappoint. It really looks like Shoma wanted to challenge himself with something very new and different and, well, hard. I hope we see lots of it this season, either as an ex or (maybe?) an SP...

Brian mentions it in an interview I think. I'll see if I can find the link... Ah, here. It's a translation from an Ice Jewels interview: https://wherespacepooh.tumblr.com/post/161490922159/brian-orser-interview-ice-jewels-vol-6-may Read the paragraph beginning 'After the SP, any special discussions or...?'

Is this your very first post? If so, great start! To clarify, for me, and in the strictly scientific sense of the term: Alpha male = Top Dog in the pack. No one can deny that this is Yuzu. The negative and sexist connotations that have been baggaged on to the the term in recent years have absolutely zip all to do with it's actual meaning. To me, Yuzu is able to express himself on ice the way he does because he's secure in his identity as a man. There's no self-consciousness, no affectedness (contrast this with Johnny Weir, who I find is a very self-conscious performer). It's something that flows naturally from the core of his personality. My theory is that he would not be able to do that without being confident and secure in his masculinity. That doesn't mean there's something negative in him being any other way, it just means that this is what I perceive sets him free to be beautiful, graceful, and elegant. And it reminds me of old, old ideals of what gentlemen were supposed to be like. You'd have to be quite a student of history to see where i'm coming from here, but there was a time when beauty, grace, and elegance were considered positive signs of good character in a man.

Yes, no argument. If you mean alpha in the sense of "strongest wolf, the one who leads the pack." I'm saying it's precisely because he's that, that he can make some really typically feminine artistic choices and get away with it.

Heh, considering he wanted to unite Japan, he'd be delighted that it was someone Japanese doing it.

I know it's the wrong time period but I vote for 4A being Oda Nobunaga...as both represent great ambition. And if we using Lord Of The Rings as a reference, 4A would be the One Ring because it rules all other jumps. So I've had some time to read back through the last several pages and satellites, I want to apologize. I never dreamed my joking remark about Dory would trigger such an avalanche of disputation and I'm sorry that happened. However, I'm very glad to see so many satellites support free exchange of opinion. I do think this is one of the more positive forums on the 'Net, not just in Yuzu fandom but overall. So I felt that I could speak my mind a bit.

This. Exactly this. I don't think it's 'dragging' to have and express an opinion about Yuzu's many sometimes unexpected artistic choices. After all, that is precisely what 'art appreciation' means. And there is also the side of that discussion where people talk about whether or not his costume and outfit choices suit him or look good on him. In my opinion that's harmless. We wouldn't be talking about it if we didn't like him or find him interesting. I don't think comments, joking or otherwise, about an athlete's health or training choices are appropriate though, unless it comes from a place of genuine concern ( for example, when people worry that Yuzu is trying jumps he shouldn't while recovering from injury. That's ok to worry about.) On the flip side,though, I find it strange that some people think that in order to be a fan, you have to unquestioningly adore and cheer on every single thing about him, and never ever utter a critical word. To my way of thinking, this is actually a little dangerous, because it implies that people shouldn't think for themselves and that there's only one way to be a fan. To my mind, that's on the same level as fans who write to Brian Orser scolding him for "making" Yuzu do jumps he fell on...when any fool can clearly see that no one "makes" Yuzu do anything. In short, there are many ways to appreciate Yuzuru Hanyu, and if someone is appreciating him differently from you, it doesn't mean they're less of a fan, so just enjoy the fact that you both like the same thing and leave it at that.

'Dory' is what satellites other than myself called the costume. I'm well aware of the actual program name Wings of Words; I even used to watch the anime Yuzu was inspired by for that program. His performance was fine. The costume choice remains questionable when you see it in certain photos.

Eh, I dunno...Dory can hardly be termed anything other than 'dubious'...

It's also a time-honored tradition in kabuki and Noh theatre, which are done by all male performers.

See, I wouldn't say that. I would say it about Weir. But for me, with Yuzu, it's more like the grace and beauty is the feminine side of his masculinity. Like, only the most secure, most confident, most alpha of men could express those feminine traits so naturally, without self-consciousness, fear, or embarrassment, because it just never occurs to them that any one could see them as anything other than masculine. I think it's beautiful, but it's also very old-school. There was a time 200-300 years ago (in the West anyways), when it was the natural place of a gentleman to be beautiful, graceful, and elegant. Yuzu reminds me of that.

That, and acting cute is a bit of a Japanese thing anyway. Are you familiar with other Japanese celebs (actors, singers, etc?) ? If you watch the Japanese entertainment world, you'll see a lot of 'cute' behaviours from both men and women, some much much older than Yuzu. I think it's important to make a distinction here: acting dominant, as Yuzu often does, is not really related to being either masculine or feminine. It's a social trait that can be expressed by both genders.

Yes. Although he does have some cutesy-girlish behaviours IRL too. As for his off-rink style, I've heard it described as 'early Japanese teenager'...which seems about right. My point was that, whatever style he wears/genderness he exudes, it all comes from the same place: within himself. And I don't attach any particular meaning to it; I'm old enough to understand that a mature personality always has traits that may not normally be associated with a person's gender. in my opinion, it's impossible to be a fully developed male or female personality without having and being comfortable with traits of your opposite gender within your own psyche. So what I'm saying is, I see in Yuzu a man who knows himself well and has come to terms with every aspect of his personality, and because of that he's able to pull off things like Haru Yo Koi and Etude and H &L and still not be too girly.

You can't be a top athlete without that characteristic; it's literally impossible. I have to agree that Yuzu is one of the most...integrated... human souls I've ever seen. That is, he is always wholly and completely himself - he's never trying to be something or someone else for the sake of pleasing others (I mean, look at the footage of him at the Emperor's Garden Party...talking up a storm with someone who's supposed to be descended from a deity, no less, and he looks as if it's just a regular day in the park!). He's self-contained in that regard. And I think that characteristic is what makes it possible for him to appear as a lovely celestial maiden, or as a total testosterone-driven rock god (as in LGC), and not seem at all out of place in either role. Because it's still the same Yuzu, who knows who he is, on the inside. Both of them are Yuzu, and more importantly, both of them are him at the same time. It's not either/or with him when it comes to masculine/feminine...it's 'and'. And it's 'and' all the time.

Is it just me, or have they made the costume more pink? Now all it needs is more sparkles.

But now I'm curious about this skater's program, because the costume being that close a copy kind of implies the kid, whoever he is, tried to copy Seimei the program too.

I think we have a small advantage there, in that 'O Canada' was originally written for a brass band so frankly it's hard to mess up and easy to shout no matter how drunk you are... serious props to the original composer for thinking so far ahead...

We make up in enthusiasm what we lack in ability to carry a tune . I'm just impressed that they can take what amounts to a fairly random group of Japanese people, ask them all to sing, and get a result this good

I'm a bit disappointed we didn't get to hear Yuzu sing, but on the whole, the team have very nice voices. I quite liked hearing Keiji Tanaka's singing. If you did something like this with a Canadian group of athletes, you'd be lucky to find even one who could sing as nice as this.

Just a note on Skate Canada this year: there's literally no Canadian man in competition at Yuzu's level right now. Keegan Messing is fun but he's not that caliber. If Yuzu does get assigned SCI this year, his competition is going to be other international skaters or nothing at all. Unless a dark horse comes out of nowhere.

'Fields of Gold' by Sting. Or, one of the many dwarven songs (please Google 'Discworld dwarves' to see what I'm talking about) that go 'gold, gold, gold, gold, gold' and are about how dwarves love gold. Yuzu might be a dwarf, he loves gold so much!