vd_turnan

I fully agree, that's why I believe Yuzu is right to up the quad content vs Brian who wants clean programs. I'm always amazed that he has such a clear vision of what's to come, even if injuries sometimes hinder his plans.

I had that feeling that Brian would get a lot of backlash for the situation and while I don't agree with people doing that on his IG account, I can't help but wonder why did he choose to clarify the situation in an interview (thorough a journalist's words) when he could have done it in his own words with a statement on IG that could not be twisted. It seems to have made the things worse for him and it's most likely just communication issues. Also, I remember when Yuzu came to Brian, he wanted more quads, more technical content and Brian kinda stopped him. Now Yuzu again wants more technical upgrade and Brian is more inclined to clean programs. I think that for winning (then and now), Yuzu is right. if you have the technical advantage, the others cannot catch up with you. It's enough to have one extra quad compared to the others to have 15 pts advantage. I know that Brian wants Yuzu to be the complete package (and Yuzu also wants that), but not having technical advantage forces him to be perfectly clean every time. If Yuzu doesn't go for 5 quads layout and Nathan does, he has to be super clean on everything to make up for the BV points difference and even like this is pretty sure he can't win with the way the scores are given these days. Yuzu sees the direction things are going and wants to be prepared, like when he was training the 4L and the 4Lz. Brian did not fully agree then and he might not be now with the 4A, but I trust Yuzu's judgement.

Hopefully it repeats itself fully, with Yuzu having a competition like in Barcelona.

About this, if people knew from before that votes from own country would not count that much, why would anyone make an account stating their country as Japan if wanting to vote for Yuzu, or as Russia if wanting to vote for Eteri's girls, etc.? People use VPN these days to watch their geoblocked videos, why would ISU consider it's so difficult to state you're from a different country?

Yuzu himself didn't seem too impressed or bothered about the Laureus or other awards he's been given in the past. I wonder if he considers going to such events to be chore. The award that really meant a lot to him seemed to be the People's Award in Japan. And he did go the extra mile for his appearance there.

Fans can vote for Yuzu in all the categories and they can still deny him the win. But the votes will show them actually how popular he is. Any anyway, isn't it what this awards show is about? Popularity? Because it's definitely not about the sport with it's rules and judging. I think it's good for ISU to have it thrown in their face that Yuzu is indeed the most popular now. They don't want to admit it because they have their own agenda with the politics and all. But Ary Zacharyn is a business man and he recognized where the money comes from.

Except that Kozuka wasn't invited to Ciontu. Yuzu's fans don't care so much about his words, but they do care when people he deemed close enough and inspirational to invite them to his show do that - like Yuko or Johnny.

Funny how fanyus, who "aren't real fans" are the ones with the most knowledge about the sport rules at the moment and notice and appreciate the details that go into the performances.

General question, sorry if it's misplaced in this thread, but it seemed the most appropriate: do you know what happens with the unsold tickets for an event? do they always give them for free to sponsors and such? or does the arena remain unoccupied? It's shocking to the GPF has sold so few tickets for the competition days except Saturday. And I was wondering if they give the rest for free or they lower the price right before or what?

I don't think either deserve the Lifetime one - it needs to be something they've done during their whole life. IMO, it's too early for them. As it was said earlier, it should go to someone like Orser, Mishin, Platov, Usova, Zueva or even Browning. They were renowned skaters in their time and after that they went on to become great coaches/ choreographers, still involved in skating.

half the audience at NHK were Yuzu fans also. that didn't stop the judges. There's no inflation in JPN if your name is Yuzu. We already know that. Still, with the state of Shoma's current skating, he should win it without issues.

the JP media asked him about the 4A after the worlds, knowing he wasn't recovered. what can one expect from them?

The last part - maybe that's why he considers Otonal not 100% and he wants to change the layout (maybe for WC?)... anyway, saying that a performance has mistakes because the layout is not the desired one is such a Yuzu thing...

1. Masquerade as a short program is my dream. I will probably love Seimei forever as his best program (to me it feels that it represents him the most), but Masquerade overtook Chopin, LGC and H&L this summer for me, it was just that powerful, it felt like Yuzu was showing his skills and prowess on a plate there. 2. [Sarcasm following] You mean to say that you did not appreciate Samarin's The Greatest Showman FP last year? He was expressing the music so well. [Sarcasm ended]. His costume was nice though, very movie-like. On the other hand, there were quite a few programs done in ice dance using the music from the movie. Some were actually good. And the gala from the Olympics was on the music from the movie, iirc.

Yeah, Man in the Iron Mask and Gladiator are such iconic Yagudin programs that it would be tough not to compare him with Yagudin if he chose one of these soundtracks, especially because he had quite distinct choreography (they include Yagudin's famous steps) and costumes and the fact that he skated them clean multiple times (and won big competitions with them). I love these OSTs, and although I would be curious to know how Yuzu would interpret them, I think in competition judges could not help compare the two programs. Therefore, I'm not sure he would be able to make this program his own as much as he did with Origin and Otonal. For Origin, Plushenko did not have a memorable choreography (mainly because he was a skater who worked more with his hands) and for Otonal, Johnny did not win a big title with it (like worlds or olympics) for the program to be remembered so well internationally.

I admit I would like him to skate on some music by Yanni, just because the songs have a very diverse range and can combine strong parts with soft parts, fast parts with slow parts etc. without giving the impression that they were just glued together. I don't really like it when skaters have various song just put together and it's very obvious (annoyingly obvious) when the transition is done. Some even stop completely and wait for a few seconds doing nothing until the next part starts like they would start a different program (this is quite visible sometimes in pairs and dance). About Shae (and other choreographers for that matter), do we know that she chose the music for the other skaters? Or maybe they come to her with a song. I thiing she said that Evgenia came to her with MOAG ideea and she just did the cut. Maybe bad choice of music is not always on her.

He'd be an elf maybe? Not sure Legolas.

Yuzu is there even when he's not in the competition

I don't think people complain about the same songs beings used by so many skaters, but by him using the same songs again and again. On the other hand, no offense, but Nathan's La Boheme is not that modern, it's from the '60s. Marton's Art on Ice is from the 2000s. Personally, I wouldn't want him to repeat again next year, because I would feel that he's becoming obsessive about the programs (more than usual) and that's not a healthy mentality for him to have.

I like the numbers, but secretly I hope there's a chance for him to have a GP in Europe again (somewhere where visa is not needed). I regret so much not trying for Helsinki last year, that I'm making every effort to go to the GPF this year. I don't know if I dare to say France (maybe if they fix their ice issues).

Possibly doesn't want to be subject to their constraints? When you work for someone, you have to abide by what they want and say. I applaud him for not doing it. Myself, I would not want to be labeled as working for ISU in the state they are now (corrupted, political, etc.)

Hopefully, he will win GPF again (as it is his goal at the moment), so he will be 5x GPF champion. He will then need more of the others, to keep the balance right :).

Maybe they tried and he refused. He does say he doesn't want to work for them. Maybe it irks them that he got such a good response.

I would like to go to the GPF and I need some advice from those who have been to GPF before, if there's anyone willing to share some information. The cost is quite high for it (competition, travelling, hotel, etc.) and I only want to go see Yuzu. Although I would like to see a FS competition live, I'm not willing to make such a great financial effort as what the GPF will come to be. Do you guys think it should be better to wait buying the tickets until after NHK? It's quite late and there's not much time between NHK and GPF. After his declarations, I have a fear of him landing the 4A at NHK and then saying "this is it" (although he also said his goal is to regain his GPF title). Also, after last year, I'm dreading this second GP, because of what it does to his body. Regarding tickets, I've seen some people selling tickets on this site, I was thinking that maybe I should buy from them than from the official website, as to help fellow fanyus, who might have bought the ticket but cannot go anymore. Could you please give some insight on which is better? Thanks a lot!