citrusjunos

I think that may have been what he said at the press con? Good to have multiple translations though.

I actually would rather Yuzu stay out of ISU politics completely. I don't think you can be in any important position in the ISU without being corrupt though, so I guess he's immediately disqualified

Oh, for sure. Even if there wasn't already a rule, I think they'd make one just for that. I think it is pretty unrealistic, since there won't be any incentives for young skaters to join, but hey, I can dream. It's the only way to stay sane nowadays

Honestly, I'd be down for an HSU (Hanyu Skating Union) Once his thesis was revealed, I had actually imagined him hosting smaller, local competitions as one of his pet projects after retirement, using AI as a judge.

After years and years of bullshittery, I'm starting to think that they really don't care about the money Yuzu brings in. Sure, they do in the sense that they'll milk him for all he's worth until he retires, but the feds probably bring in a lot more than we know. Either that or they have some flawed logic that Yuzu will retire eventually, but feds won't. The two main audiences for figure skating right now are Japan and Russia. I think that figure skating will remain popular in Japan even after Yuzu retires (I think ice shows sell out regardless of whether or not he's in it), but Russia seems to give off US vibes, where the general public only really cares about the sport when they're dominating. I remember figure skating regularly being broadcasted here in the US in the early 2000's when Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan were competing, but it pretty much fizzled out once the ladies retired. The US is now trying to re-create that with Nathan, and honestly, props to him for being so technically proficient and consistent, but guess what, he's pretty much won everything this entire quad and no one here still cares about figure skating or has even heard of him. Meanwhile, as long as Russia dominates skating, it will be popular in Russia, which means more money. They can't fizzle out the way the US did. What I think they don't understand is the worldwide appeal Yuzu has. He has enough charisma to attract people from all over the world to watch him skate. I'm mainly talking about the US, but the feds themselves can benefit from his popularity and can make figure skating popular in their own country, but since they're so obsessed with needing it to be someone from their own country, they'd rather miss out on a diamond, who has a natural, authentic charm and doesn't need it to be manufactured for him. Yuzu himself was inspired by Plushenko, who isn't Japanese, and grew up to be a legend. Yuzu can inspire others, too, if they stop pulling him down at every opportunity to prop up their own.

I also hope it's cancelled. I'd also rather not see Yuzu until next season if the only other time we're gonna see him is when media inevitably shits on him when he gets home.

Same for me. My chest is still hurting, but I can't cry. I just took a walk thinking I'll feel better, but instead I just feel immense exhaustion and sadness. Knowing Yuzu, he'll probably go back to being a ninja, but I do kind of want to see him looking mentally and physically healthy before he hides in his cave. I think I'll be able to calm down after that.

True, anything can happen between now and the Olympics. Heck, anything can even happen during the Olympics. However, I do share some of the optimism regarding Yuzu's current mental and physical state. He seemed so self-assured in his performance despite the incredibly tough year he'd had, and it's just so heartening to see him gain trust in his training again after watching him lose so much of his self-confidence during the past two seasons. To be honest, most of my worries regarding the Olympics are due to the horrendous judging. Even if Yuzu were to compete at his peak physical and mental condition, as long as his competitors don't fall or stumble, I'm not sure he'd win. His base value would have to be so much higher than others' to compensate for the undoubtedly high GOE and PCS they would get. It would just be heartbreaking to see him give his all and then get robbed due to biased scoring. Despite all that, somehow...I can't help but have hope that he'll win. He's gone through so many ups and downs before, and the downs were so down that it almost seemed impossible to rise back up, and yet he did it multiple times throughout his career. He's beaten the odds before, and I'm hoping that the universe somehow aligns once more to make his life even more dramatic with a third win to serve Yuzu and all of us an incredibly satisfying win. It'd almost be karmic justice at this point, after all the things he's gone through and the things that have been said about him this Olympic cycle.

I swear Yuzu's only flaw is idolizing those two. I do agree that between the two, I haven't heard any vitriol towards Yuzu coming from Plushenko. At least when Plushenko's being an immature, narcissistic little shit, he's more than likely to just say it straight to your face unlike a certain two-faced commentator

Nam did an interview with The Ice Tea Podcast today and talked a little about Yuzu and Javi. (Here's the link to the podcast on Spotify, since I failed at embedding the tweet ). Here are most of the Yuzu and Javi bits: On his tweets about Yuzu's programs at Nationals: "I just felt that that it was appropriate to show appreciation for Yuzu's program. Like, obviously, I hope everybody has seen it. It's a masterpiece--both short and long, especially the long, like holy moly! The dude is like training like what, ten months without anybody, without any coaching supervision or anything, no like, external motivation. The guy just pulls that out, like butter. Like, I don't even know how he does it. That was incredible, and I just thought, you know, maybe people can share the same views as, 'Wow, that was an incredible performance.' Let's all just, you know, bask in that." Q: "Imagine a theoretical [world] where some sort of alien lifeform comes to Earth, and they've never seen figure skating before; they have no idea what it is. It's just a completely unfamiliar blank slate. What would be the one program you'd show a complete outsider to be like, 'This is it. This is the sport. This is what we do'?" Nam picked two performances: "Javier Fernandez 2019 European Championship program and Yuzu's free program from 2020 Nationals...really capture the whole figure skating spirit--Yuzu's being more majestic, regal with the Heaven and Earth, and Javi with more emotional, spiritual kinda vibe with it." He then talked about how he teared up watching Javi's final program. "And like, obviously, I split ways from the Cricket back in what, 2016? When I watched [Javi's skate], it put me back into 2015 where him, Yuzu, and I were all training together. And it was just the three of us back then. You know, pushing out our technical content and really just getting the training spirit going, and just to watch that really brought me back...Yeah, those are the two performances that I recommend, for sure." He talked more about Javi's program and how it embodied Javi's career. "It perfectly represents his entire career. That free program was not one hundred percent clean...and I think that little hiccup perfectly represents his career and his lifestyle. Nothing is always perfect for him and yet he still can adapt to it and push through it, with a little bit of humor, because that's who he is. He's a humorous guy, and everybody who has ever met him, honestly like, should be grateful, because he's a very special person...I miss him a lot. His character is so evident through his skating...When you watch him skate, not only do you know him as a skater, you know him as a person, even though you may have never met him. "That was kinda my whole thing. Just watching [Javi] go through his career, especially at the Cricket. Like when I first moved to Cricket, I had no idea who these people were. But then, you know, as the years go by, and you know, the emotions we share, it's like, 'Holy damn, we got something special going on,' and you know, unfortunately, it all ended, but obviously at some point in life, you have to move on, right?" Even though Nam may have parted ways with the Cricket, I'm so happy he still looks back at the old days so fondly and that his respect and admiration for Yuzu and Javi have never changed. I mean, he picked a performance from each of them as examples of the sport, and then naturally brought up his memories from his time at TCC. You can tell he really looks up to them. I hope he achieves his dream of making the Olympic team! This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

I said don't quote me on it, since I didn't count But thanks for actually counting (unlike me). Either way, regardless of how few crossovers there are in his programs, they'll just prove his superiority in skating skills. What an insane legend.

He is pretty insane. And I actually think H&E had slightly more crossovers than some of his other programs. (Don't quote me on that; I neither timed nor counted his crossovers ) Don't know if this has ever been posted here before, but here's a video comparing transitions among skaters' short programs in the 2017-2018 season. You can see just how crazy Yuzu is and how complex Chopin is as a program. It's pretty incredible. And another one for one-foot skating (basically comparing skating skills). Yuzu is just on another level. He's lightyears away on Planet Hanyu, while everyone else is stuck on Earth

Yuzu proving yet again why he's bigger than figure skating. His message nearly made me weep. I sometimes wonder how can such an incredible person exist. A true leader of his sport and beyond. If only the world would follow his footsteps (clearly not, based on the pictures from that ice show with a filled audience and skaters in close contact) . On a more light-hearted note, here's another commentary from the robot commentator, this time for H&E: 334.98 total score? I approve

Axel with Wings translation of the Men's Press Conference at 2020 Japanese Nationals Yuzu is a class act as always, and Shoma is incredibly precious, saying that Yuzu is his ultimate goal, no matter which competition it is This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

Still a couple hours before 2020 ends for me, but Happy New Year to everyone! I'm so glad I ended my 2020 by joining everyone's excitement about Yuzu's return to competition I'm happy I stopped lurking and finally made an account Best wishes to you guys!

My favorite from this channel is still the first one I watched from them : Gosh, I feel so vindicated whenever I watch this. Completely expressed how I feel about this program

Me too! That's why I immediately had to make it my signature

The difference between Yuzuru Hanyu and other top skaters is that other skaters love to skate, but Yuzuru Hanyu lives to skate.

I actually think that H&L is harder to skate to since it represents more of an idea and a feeling rather than a character, which is easier to portray. Both Seimei and H&E have historical figures to draw from, and as robin said above, H&L is more introspective. I don't really know how to express this, but to me, Seimei projects "outward" and H&L projects "inward," while H&E does both (though it leans toward "outward"). I do agree that this program can keep improving (especially LMEY, which was a bit empty in the beginning for Yuzu standards), but as you've said, it will develop along with Yuzu, so I'm hopeful. The unfortunate reality is that you're right and there will be some people (especially Western media) who will see it as another Seimei

I don't know how many times I've rewatched H&E, but it still leaves me in awe. It takes me to heaven and brings me back to earth when he does final pose in time with the last note. It really feels like the lovechild of Seimei and H&L -- two programs which I thought embodied Yuzu -- but somehow, it still feels completely unique and separated from its predecessors. To me, it seems that he was able to take the fierceness of Seimei and the softness and pensive qualities of H&L and combine them into something new, something that truly represents him as a whole. And what's even more amazing is that while this performance was flawless, I feel like Yuzu can still keep growing with this program. It's already a masterpiece, but I cannot wait to see what more he can do with it.

That's also the reason why I was hoping for Queen's version; it felt more dynamic than this one. But, I think with the right music cuts and with great choreography, it will deliver. Have not been disappointed yet on those ends, so I'll decide on my feelings when I actually see it.

Thank you! I had been lurking for a while, but couldn't resist making an account with all this new hype. I needed to express my excitement somewhere, since I don't know anyone who watches figure skating.

I was never a fan of PW or LGC on first listen either, but Jeff has never disappointed me with his choreography, so I'm beyond excited! I also think Jeff's music suggestions bring out a different side to Yuzu, since they're songs he'd never have picked himself. (I'm assuming that Jeff suggested "Let Me Entertain You" as well).

Well, he did say, "I'd like to convey what Yuzuru Hanyu is in this program" (Iron Klaus translation), so I guess it's just extremely fitting? Yuzu does like to think about things deeply and in detail.