Henni147

It's time for more congratulations on YouTube: Oly Seimei has surpassed 13 Mio views! Also, welcome to the +1M club: Masquerade at FaOI Sendai! EDIT: I took the opportunity to create two playlists on YouTube: Performances With +1Mio Views If there is more than one video of the same performance, I only included the version with higher views. Crazy fact: despite the deletion waves this list contains 20 videos already! Performances On Their Way To 1Mio Views List of all performance videos with either +900K views or +500K that have not made it to the 1M list yet. There are probably more videos that belong to these lists, but they give a rough overview of the development. PS: What really hit me is that there are so many +1M videos about Yuzu's COC freeskate and the crash with Yan Han. It's horrifying that such an event creates more attention than a record breaking performance like NHK or GPF 2015...

I still believe that Origin's biggest challenge was the performance. It's a bit similar to other dramatic programs like Masquerade or Romeo & Juliet 1.0. Those are the types of programs that only work, if you die. If you shed your last drop of blood and sweat on the ice. Remember FaOI 2019 in Toyama? Yuzu only did two jumps in Masquerade, but he sweat like a fountain after the performance. Then he came back, skated the choreo sequence and two final spins of Origin and he dropped to the knees, gasped and choked. Nothing left in the tank. Game over. If you add a 4-quad or not to mention 5-quad layout to a program like Origin that is suicidal on its own, well. I guess, no other skater in the Milky Way would have survived the first 60 seconds of this monster. Some might have thrown in the towel after the starting pose already. EDIT: Mom feels that Heaven & Earth is less energy consuming than Origin, because: "If you imagine the music like an ocean wave, in Origin Yuzu was fighting against a giant wave, in H&E he is riding on the wave." I like this comparison very much.

Thank you so much for sharing this interview. It makes me cry to remember that this skating trio was torn apart so early... Now they are spread across the globe, separated by thousands of miles... but still loyal and supportive comrades. One of the best stories in the history of figure skating. EDIT: I just read that one of the pairs at US Nats was skating to Seimei. So the story of Yuzu tributes continues.

This rule definitely does not apply to Yuzuru Hanyu. We have seen the amazing GOE reward for his back-to-back 4Lo and 4Lz in Torino. The 4Lz got 3.94 of possible 5.75. We also have seen the shabby GOE of Boyang's 4Lz, which actually is a true quad Lutz. On the other hand Samarin's pre-rotated one with weird axis got +5s across the board and Shoma's awful 4F is regularly showered with high GOE, too. The GOE scoring has NOTHING to do with the base value or actual quality of the element. It's blatant favoritism and push of narratives. Nothing else. It absolutely doesn't matter, if Yuzu jumps Lutzes or not. If the panel is not on his side, he can't buy anything with his Lutz. Torino was an eye-opener in that regard. EDIT: I start to believe that Beijing is somewhat bond to the 4A. This is the only jump that absolutely no one can do and it would set Yuzu apart from the rest of the field again. Just keep in mind how much media attention the 4A already creates and Yuzu has not even landed it. Imagine what uproar there would be, if he eventually decided to bring this baby in competition. This would be something that not even NBC and friends could dismiss. This would be a game changer. Not in points, but in PR and figure skating is 99% a PR game now. How could you explain to casual viewers that a skater with 4A and 2OGMs under his belt cannot beat a skater who has none of those things? Also, you see how much excitement the thought of an Olympic three-peat creates. It hasn't been done in almost a century. Media loves narratives, but I think, they love sensations more. The ISU would be forced to let him win, if he skated clean with 4A.

Actually, the only competition where his planned BV was significantly higher than here in H&E was his suicidal 5 quad layout in Torino that he couldn't skate clean. In every other competition the BV was almost the same, maybe 2-3 points higher at best. The 3F gives one point more than a 3S. The 3Lz less than a point more than the 3Lo. Those differences are very small, especially in the men's event, where top skaters win with margins of +30 points. It's only worth the upgrade, if the success rate is the same and the jump fits the flow of the music and choreo. A clean skate with no PCS cap and big GOEs usually scores much higher than a free with slightly higher BV, but one or two mistakes. @makebelieveup Exactly. Not Yuzu's program was simple. The scores did not reflect what he did there. Under normal circumstances this should have scored easily above 220. First outing or not. The difficulty and quality was there from start to finish.

Yeah, that too. I really don't want to worry about his layout. a) With 4 quads and 2 Axels it's difficult enough as it is already. b) He has options to max out his BV anytime, if he wants to. It's not like this is his limit from now on. I feel that we got so spoiled and used to the high complexity and ease of Yuzu's programs that we do not even recognize how difficult it really is anymore. Apart from Nathan no skater has a program with higher BV than H&E at the moment. And even Nathan tends to reduce his number of quads, when he debuts new programs. Please do not forget that.

If I remember correctly, he said himself that in the pandemic he wants to avoid close contact with other people (apart from his family). That means, he can't go to physiotherapy either and he doesn't want to attempt jumps that could cause him pain, as long as he has no access to massage and medical treatment etc.

EDIT: I know what you mean, but we should be really careful with wordings like this. First of all, the quad Loop may not have the highest BV, but there is wide agreement that the 4Lo is the hardest quad jump after the Axel. This jump is difficult by default. I don't know, if anyone has noticed, but the 4T+1Eu+3S is a combination that Yuzu has attempted 7 times in competition already, but never managed to land it clean without calls before. This was the first time for him. That alone is proof of how difficult this combo is. Also, I'd like to see one other skater, who is able to pull off that cascade of 3A+2T and 3Lo right after another, do two different 4T combos back-to-back in the second half and a 3A with twizzle exit as final jump element. The BV of the H&E layout is not maxed out (yet), but that does NOT mean it's not difficult. A complex distribution and transitioning between the elements can double the difficulty of execution and I have my doubts that any skater could do it like him with all the flourish and extras he added. That he doesn't get rewarded properly, is another issue. Everyone's talking about 4Lz and 4F, but what's a 4Lz worth, if you need half a rink of preparation and complete one of the four rotations on the ice? Yuzu's 3A is probably harder to do and closer to a real quad than most so-called quad Lutzes out there. Sure, Yuzu skated H&E squeaky clean and made everything look easy at first attempt, but what he did there at JNats was close to a miracle (under the circumstances) and it's simply not true that it lacks difficult elements compared to whatever other program or skater. Gomen for this post, but I feel uneasy with wordings like this. There are enough negative narratives floating around about him and we shouldn't fuel the situation

100% agree with this. I am totally satisfied with the H&E choreo as it is. It fits the music an doesn't need more. What I'm talking about is the polishment and fine-tuning of his skating. The part that casual viewers mostly don't recognize. And I'm confident that Yuzu will do this until the next competitions. I also agree that the Russian girls have transition-overkill in their programs, primarily for the sake of points, less for choreographic purposes, which is regrettable. For me, personally, it's better to have one excellently executed rocker or bracket in the sequence that perfectly matches the music than having 5 with sloppy quality and random usage.

To be clear: I do believe that the quantity of advanced transitions was a bit higher in Origin. He literally had three full sequences in that program, receiving 0 points for the second one (which started after the 4T+1Eu+3F). However, I think the precision and quality of his edges, steps, turns and one-foot skating levels Origin already (maybe not the SC performance and the COR StSq was very strong, too, but pretty much every other version). And I strongly believe that H&E will surpass SC Origin in SS and TR quality after 2-3 more competitions, maybe in the next one already. EDIT: About LMEY: everything after the 3A is gold. The first half, for me, feels less polished than H&E at this point (in terms of SS and TR). However, if I think of LGC at ACI 2016, LMEY is far ahead. And we must not forget: both programs, LMEY and H&E, will probably undergo a Tracy-monitoring, sooner or later.

Yup, I agree. LMEY and H&E were both skated too well to be labeled as "first pancakes". The fact that people see them as potential Oly winners after one competition already (especially H&E), speaks volumes about their quality.

It's totally fine, I know what you all mean by saying 'watered down' content. I just stopped using this term myself, because it doesn't feel appropriate. If Yuzu jumped 2 quads in the first half and the rest all triples, that would be 'watered down' in my book. But 4 quads including 4Lo and two backloaded 4T-combos is not exactly my understanding of 'watered down'. Especially these eye rolling narratives like Yuzu has "given up on difficult jumps" made me avoid using this term for the time being.

Sorry that this post is so extremely long, but I couldn't shorten it First of all, to call a program with four quads and two triple Axels 'watered down' is... a choice. Especially in case of a first pancake. Sure, Yuzu didn't jump any Lutzes or Flips this time, but his base value was not that much higher at SC last year. 2-3 points difference at best. He clearly didn't need a higher base value to win JNats. He needed a clean free again to boost his PCS (his last one was in 2017) and this layout was ideal to do it. Everyone who thinks that Yuzu will not up his BV in future competitions, is a moron. Very big yes to that. Having many difficult steps and turns alone doesn't make your transition work good. Their effective and logical distribution, quality of execution and matching with the music are equally important. Same goes for skating skills: Having high average and top speed are just two of many quality criteria. You also need very good acceleration and dynamics in speed, multidirectional skating, clean edges, as much one-foot skating as possible, excellent balance and control of movements and much more. A big issue is: People tend to think that skating quality increases proportionally with the tempo of the music. This is downright wrong. Fast music and fast skating are two completely different things. Yuzu has probably more speed in Notte Stellata than some skaters would have while skating to Origin. My general perception is: The faster the pacing of the music is, the sloppier tends to be the quality of edges and execution of single transitions. Some skaters even choose fast paced music on purpose to cover their poor skating quality. I think, Notte Stellata is the slowest music piece Yuzu has ever skated to, but his performance in PyeongChang was probably one of his best in terms of skating skills and transitioning. Excellent body control, very clean edges and beautiful long gliding sections on one foot. That circle at the beginning or the accelerating twizzle with 10 rotations are just two of many indicators of how strong his skating skills are. H&E might not be as polished as some of his other programs yet, but the skating quality is definitely there and I disagree with the statement that his skating skills have degressed compared to Origin. They didn't, it's the pacing and intensity of the music piece that has changed in the first place. In a way, Yuzu is now indeed doing what Nathan has been doing all the time: making ideal use of his energy resources and not wasting them for things that don't get rewarded, which is - honestly speaking - very clever and the key to success in this system. A figure skating program has basically three components that are all energy consuming to some extent: Jumping (and spinning) Raw skating Performing I can be competely wrong here, but my personal impression is: Nathan's general energy distribution is roughly like: 70% jumping - 15% skating - 15% performing. While Yuzu's distribution in Origin was like: 40% jumping - 20% skating - 40% performing. In H&E the (physical) distribution has changed: 60% jumping - 25% skating - 15% performing. The real cleverness of the H&E choreo is that Yuzu's performance and investment into the music is not less, just more cognitive and intellectual than physical. That gives him a lot of breathing room and additional resources for jumping and skating. I do believe that dramatic music pieces like R&J1, Origin or Masquerade are the real "energy devourers" in figure skating. Remember R&J1 at CiONTU or Masquerade with Origin encore at FaOI in Toyama? Yuzu barely jumped, but almost spat his heart out after those performances. As if he was skating for his life. Emotional intensity and passion can completely suck out your power before you have done a single jump. I think, this is what happened in Origin. That starting pose alone must have been exhausting and uncomfortable as hell. It was a suicidal program and unskatable with 5 or 6 quads. This is my current impression of the situation. Please feel free to correct me, if my post is nonsense.

Well, I don't have a proper editor right now, but that could NOT stop me from creating this small video. The lyrics of the song make me very emotional every time I listen to them and I feel that most of the lines resonate very much with Yuzu's life and career, too... EDIT: I've experimented with some standard animations and the rain worked surprisingly well with the overall mood of the video. So I uploaded another version of the clip. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FRMAOe-Pi4jwjCynjrg6jxEZ4GGimBCr/view?usp=sharing

Olympic Yuzu meme 2022: Now that I spend more time flying in the air than gliding on the ice, the ice conditions are actually less of an issue than gravity and aerodynamic drag. PS: My apologies to Ice-chan that we have less contact nowadays.

I don't think that the pants were the key problem. In the 6min warm-up he landed some excellent 4S in the same pants. I think, it was more the nerves of skating clean and not messing up. A show program like LGC or LMEY needs to be clean to really work. One or two messed jumps at the beginning and the rockstar hype is gone. Remember LGC at SC or WTT... Yuzu saved what could be saved at the end, but it was a blow nevertheless. Not to mention the huge media backclash, if Yuzu had made one or two mistakes and finished behind Shoma and Yuma in the SP. The pressure on Yuzu was huge and he jumped remarkably well under the circumstances. If I remember correctly, Yuzu said himself that he was very much into the performance and didn't really concentrate on counting the spin rotations. That's why he counted them so carefully in the FS practice the next day. All in all, I wouldn't be too worried about the small errors in LMEY. I'm sure, Yuzu can fix them until the next competition.

I guess, there are dreams that WANT to be remembered in detail... It's such a shame that I have no access to my old video editor anymore... There is, finally, THAT clear vision of the ultimate tribute clip to Yuzu's triple Axel in my head, but with my current tools it's impossible to do. Well, at least I've written down everything in detail, so that I can create it as soon as I have a new editor. Whenever that will be...

I feel that it would be very much like Yuzu to show his respect and praise towards his rivals. I can totally picture those short video messages, where he explains how these skaters influenced him, how they played an integral part in his career and pushed him beyond his limits in all areas. Sure, the judging and "artificial levelling of the field" played a big role, too, but still. Also, those Q&A with rivals like Dai, Chiddy or Nathan would be very interesting to listen to imo. I'm sure, they all have many experiences to share from their personal point of view and a lot of interesting questions to each other. It would be a great occasion to open up about some unsaid things and yeah, make peace with the past, too. I have my doubts that this will happen in reality, but who knows... A show like this would somehow round off the "Hanyu era" (which JSF is unable to call by name), where different favorites have come and gone while Yuzu has climbed the podium early and never really left ever since. This era has covered more than a decade of men's figure skating already and is still not over yet.

Sorry, but I cannot not share my latest dream from yesterday. I had the outrageous luck to watch fragments of Continues With Wings 2022 (hashtag #CiON2), all three days of the show, and somehow ended up rolling on the carpet. I put the details in spoilers, because they might turn out to be... true? Maybe? Somehow?

Ahh HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! Yes, 2020 was a tough year, but let's remember the great things: 1. Yuzu has won his first ever 4CC and completed his Super Slam! Also, we got one of the best versions of Ballade No. 1 ever! 2. The iconic White Wall series! Starting with that awesome flashback video of all his program openings 3. In spite of all negativity around the clownery awards, Yuzu has been crowned the most valuable skater of the year 4. Yuzu has finished his thesis and graduated from Waseda! 5. He managed to overcome all the hardships of training alone and created two brand new programs in the year of recyclings 6. He has won his first JNats title since 2015 with two incredible skates and has put a big smile on our faces! 7. He finished 2020 undefeated as world no. 1, hopefully with two healthy ankles and regained confidence. Yeey!

Good one Paul and Chris really outdid themselves with repetitive commentary last year. "Absolutely!" and "Incredible!" are still ringing in my ears. By the way. I just saw the IceScope stats of Yuzu's 4Lo and whoah! 60 cm height on a Loop! This is so crazy. Many skaters have less height on a Lutz or Axel.

I actually think that Yuzu did stay true to himself in the way that he really wanted to win. He was fully aware of the drastic changes in the judging system, that now skating clean and having a high base value is more important than anything else. He was aware that he has to make a decision for himself: aiming for the win or skating the way he used to. He decided to go for the win and up his BV. It's quite remarkable actually, how little he had to sacrifice of his usual skating quality and transitions in Torino. It was not that much. EDIT: I wonder how many skaters would have had his mental strength and inner balance to move on after Saitama and Torino. The treatment that Yuzu got there from the judges and the media was downright cruel and I can't blame him that he doubted himself. Even wise men like Dumbledore would have struggled in that mess of a situation. This interview after ACI 2019 shows very clearly Yuzu's inner conflict but also his realistic way of thinking. The PCS cap and heavy impact of a mistake on the scoring, but also the lacking reward for complex transitions really pissed him off at that time. Fair or not - he accepted that (against Nathan) he cannot win with GOE alone anymore. What he said last year is pretty much what he put into action at JNats this week. Skate clean to up your scores. His scores are still ridiculous, but at least he got the highest PCS for a freeskate since Barcelona 2015. That is a start.

I had the impression that Yuzu is a person who always stays true to himself and his style. He does what he likes and he likes what he does. With heart and dignity. He doesn't succumb to any prevalent stereotypes or gender expectations. For him things like crying, which are considered as "unmanly" or a sign of weakness by many people, are not a weakness at all. As he said himself this week, he even uses crying as a source of strength before competitions. For me his way of thinking feels very refreshing and sort of "ahead of his time". It also reminds me very much of his own quote: "The driving force for growth is to have an open heart."

Yuzu has given up on difficult jumps? Does that mean, the 4Lo is considered as an easy hop now? Also, since when do other skaters go full force with their layouts in their first program outings? About Yuzu and recycling: How many different variations of insult have I read over the last few years...? Hanyu is not versatile. Hanyu is lazy. Hanyu is a coward. Now he is even arrogant... Did I miss something? Random question: How many people were mocking Javi for recycling Malaguena three times? Honestly, I'm so tired of this recycling debate. Especially because Yuzu is one of very few skaters, who's actually able to improve and polish his programs from season to season. He is not reusing but remastering, which is a big difference. But what is quality worth nowadays...

Sorry for the long post, but I didn't know how to shorten it I'd like to share some thoughts about a potential SP for the future (if Yuzu intends to do another one after LMEY for the Olympics or whatever occasion). In general When Yuzu said that he and Jeff struggled to find a good piano music, I had to think of an advice from my former dance teacher: "When you are searching for a new music piece, think about your biggest strength as a technician, as a performer and as a person. Pick a music piece that highlights those three strengths as good as possible." I'm really curious, where Yuzu sees his biggest strengths himself. He has so many. I tried to think about it myself and I'm curious, if you agree: Technically I see Yuzu as an allrounder, but his biggest strength is probably his high quality of execution. For me this is what sets him apart from the rest in the first place. Thankfully, an SP is not that packed with jumps, so he has the time and stamina to show his full range of technical skills there. As a performer Yuzu has a very special aura that only he has. He doesn't need to draw in the crowd. The crowd comes to him and this gives him a lot of freedom. He is able to create a world or setting around him that makes you forget about competition. As a person, what fascinates me the most is him having so many different faces. Especially the way he transcends any gender stereotypes with dignity is something that probably only he can do. Masculine or feminine or gender neutral. It never feels grotesque, but completely natural and authentic. In Romeo and Juliet Yuzu has already tried to portray two different characters, but I think, he did not quite have the maturity at that time to switch between the roles of Romeo and Juliet alone through his expression and body language. Today he definitely has the maturity to do that and it would be super exciting to see imo. In particular For the SP I could picture a program with a similar concept. Imagine a tango that is meant to be danced with two, but skated alone by Yuzu portraying both - an elegant, passionate man and a graceful, sensual woman - and switching between the two roles back and forth. It would be very challenging, but also something absolutely unique and thrilling that has never been done in that form yet, as far as I remember. It would be a whole other level of performance skill. As a costume I could picture something like this: As a music piece I could imagine Francesca Gagnon's "Querer". It's not too fast, but has a rhythm that I think is very suitable for jumping, spinning and also for long gliding on one foot with nice deep edges (including Yuzu's praised cool-down moves that we hardly get to see in competition). Here is an excerpt from the lyrics that I found especially fitting for him: Querer Entre cielo y mar Sin fuerza de gravedad Sentimiento de libertad Querer Sin jamas esperar Dar solo para dar Siempre y todavia mas Amar Para poder luchar Contra el viento y volar Descubrir la belleza del mar Want Between sky and sea Without gravity Feeling of freedom Want Without ever expect Give only to give Always and still more Love To fight Against the wind and fly Discover the beauty of the sea