EisElle

Uh I have bombed hard the SC round 😅 But since I like pairs and ID results better than my predicted ones, I can't say I am really that sad just teeny tiny bit of kuyashii I'll be braver for IDF and test if I really keep jinxing all my silver predictions for singles (till now...Kaori, Matteo, Keegan, Bradie...especially sorry for Bradie, whom I had nominated for silver in fear of jinxing Rika out of podium...now, I don't really believe that a prediction game by me, a nobody, on a fan forum can influence results but...you know...)

yeah I saw that Very, very disappointed in Hamada, even more after she also made those remarks about Nobu not being really that much at the rink.... Nobu is now insisting on how seriously he took his duties both as director and coach.... and the club clearly handled the whole thing badly

uhh I had forgotten we are still waiting to know the EX... I'm giving for granted that Yuzuru is having the whole set from last season but I would have loved an "all of them mixed in 3min EX" option in the poll LOL from a narratives POV, IMO it would be better if he had a modern-ish new EX 'cause it would be a glorious middle finger to what some people like to say, but Yuzuru's choice for EX has been deeply personal for a while, so HYK or CM more likely... I still think KuriMemo wouldn't be "complete" without Masquerade, and given what TrollZuzu said about Masquerade, I think that's not as likely as HYK (but Yuzu if you want to skate to BOTH twins you're welcome to do so) but since I've come to LOVE KuriMemo by FaOI Kobe I wouldn't mind it being the EX... and it's the program he has skated less times compared to all the others, and it became so good so fast, I'd love to see it more...also, wow, I hadn't thought about Shizuka tribute in Turin... WAIT WHAT IF TARASOVA REALLY GAVE HIM MUSIC AND IT'S...TURANDOT??? as for Queen... I'd melt in delight if he skated to Queen, IMO he would really do their songs (and their spirit) justice, PLEASE can it happen ONE DAY? Yuzuru loved Machida's program, so there's hope! And I still hope he'll skate to LGC again, but not for EX (though gosh wouldn't it make the crow go crazy?) I'd (of course!) love something totally new and unexpected too (might even be Hoshizora no Neptune, that would fit both jpn music and Tohoku recovery theme, and we know he wanted to skate to it), but if it's HYK, can't wait to see more sakura fairy

I have sent the form! My ladies predictions are a mess (a hybrid between my expectations and my fear of jinxing LOLsob) and whoa I'm really going all out and stand by Yuzu in his quest to overcome his SkateCanada history (and the judging). Tho I am not strong enough to bet on his pcs wondering if G/P can really win over H/D...they are on home soil and it would be awesome, but I am not putting much trust in judges (or more accurately, I trust them not to overturn the status quo) @Old Cat Lady have fun in Kelowna

for italian fans, it looks like we are indeed geoblocked I verified, on ISU YT channel it doesn't even display any of the planned stream. And still nothing about RAI streaming anything. How amazing to pay for something I don't even get to watch Since I am actually paying for a legal streaming that I won't get, and since GPF tickets were robbery already, I'll stubbornly try to avoid paying for a vpn, too atm it looks to me like some free vpn might work (at least, when activating them I get to see the planned livestreaming on the ISU channel). Opera worked mostly fine with previous isu livestreaming but it's to be seen if it will grant me some decent quality ('cause watching 240p or a stream that keeps buffering is almost more frustrating than not getting any video at all...)

me when I learned RAI bought the rights ---> I still have trauma from their unreliable broadcasting of figure skating during last OWG I'm glad this season SA is the first GP, if Yuzuru had been in the first event the whole hunting for a stream would have been much more stressfull... I'll use this weekend to see if YT is really geoblocked for us and if I can unblock it with Opera vpn or someting...then if it won't work, I guess it will be time to try and buy a vpn... if anyone has any advice, feel free to share well, i still hope Rai won't be so mean to geoblock something they won't even be streaming... and that if they do geoblock they'll have the decency of streaming live the whole thing, no delayed streaming of italian skaters only, I NEED to be able to watch live the whole thing, darn it! Especially since they force me to pay them regardless of me actually wanting to watch their channels.... It is, though, a bit reassuring to me that CBC is going to stream most gps, I have sometimes managed to watch their streaming with free vpn and there's usually nice fans sharing the HD footage with the rest of us

thank you @Old Cat Lady for doing this! I'm feeling 0 confidence in predictions (aside the winners LOL), so...let's go crazy! while looking at scoring data LOL I can't help myself 1.List the top 3 of each discipline. (optional - 4 in case someone withdraws) Bonus Questions 2. In ladies, will there be more clean (positive GOE) 3 axels or quads? 3. Who will have the highest PCS before factoring? 4. Who will receive the highest GOE on a single element? 5. In ice dance, will anyone who was not top 3 after the rhythm dance end up with a medal? 6. Which disciplines will have a new season’s best? Grand Prix Finals Qualification - to be scored after NHK. hoping not to jinx a certain someone here 1.Who will qualify for the finals. *Optional - list alternates in case of withdrawal (2 for each correct) 2.Who will be the top qualifier in each discipline? If there is a tie in points for placement, I will use highest total score as a tie breaker (2 for each correct) 3. Which disciplines will have a new world record by the end of the series?

I agree that we could have a couple designs with this season costumes. Between the new costumes I definitely like Origin2.0 more, but I'm actually really loving the sample with Otonal 2.0 and that shade of pink. The pastel colour and Otonal Yuzu give a very soft feeling, tbh I'd love a banner looking exactly like that But for example with Origin 2.0 the heart could have a darker color...

I am catching up with this thread (skipped 20 pages by mistake gosh wanna go and read those too) and I absolutely wanted to say that those these were brilliant, I'll be singing them un my head instead of the original lyrics ( a few days ago I saw on twitter short renditions of a very popular Italian singer's hits but referencing ISU and scoring, so to me it was twice funny to see around the same time people were rewriting songs on the Planet too😅) NOPE jopping STAY AWAY from Yuzu The only words I will accept in a sentence about Yuzu containing the word "jumping" are "rotating fully and landing beautifully" (hey, it could make for a nice song too) Re: behaviour of fans maybe a thread would be useful not to lose the discussion in the ocean that is this gen thread😅 Though I would avoid calling for "rules for Yuzu fans", as it would kind of draw a line between Yuzu fans and other fans, and there shouldn't be one, not in bad way (Yuzu fans in general aren't worse than most, they have the same duties of anyone attending comp) nor in good way (Yuzu fans shouldn't be aiming for Nobel prize for peace, they are just regular folks wanting to enjoy an event as any other fan). @KatjaThera I know you just meant it in the sense of speaking about competition etiquette and e.g. what to avoid in the rink (or outside) Maybe a thread about such things could also have general suggestions about what to bring to a comp also in terms of accessories (like binoculars) or clothing. I don't mean policing what to wear of course, just advices about how to dress against cold and such..for example, I had little idea about what to bring the first time I went to comp. I think usually such advices are given in each competition thread under Community Talk, I am not sure if there is already a more general thread for these things (if there is, maybe it could be pinned in that subforum? So it's easier to find it) I think there was an extensive talk about competition etiquette right in this thread(I think?), about e.g. when to go for a break and so on, so they could be quoted in such a thread. Just to have in one place all the practical advices from people who already have experience in attending an event... (then of course, since a comp like ACI or JNats might have peculiar rules, further advices could be given in the respective threads...) Btw, from ACI streaming it sounded to me that JunHwan got cheers as loud as Yuzu when skaters' name was called, in both practice and comp, was it like that in the arena too?

Both seconded! Maybe this last idea is more practical? Would also resolve the issue of choosing which extra countries to print to give to fans in the venue...if fans want the banner, they can just fill it out themselves... Tbh, I was preparing a banner for myself inspired by the original idea, but I'd prefer if there was a common design/project

This is so cute! Berries rain sounds yummy...and speaking to animal is a unexpected choice for a superpower

Scary (And coupled with what Ashley Wagner disclosed about long lasting consequences of concussion and Joshua Farris still dealing with heavy consequences of his injury, it's a painful reminder of how things can get bad in a moment in a sport like fs...when brain and spine are involved it's even more terrifying...) I'm glad that she is recovering, must have been really hard and it probably still is...

Streptococcal infection and viral infections? Poor Yuna, must have been really severe is her body was so prostrated it needed 10 days to recover a bit... I hope she has successfully overcame that and will recover well for the rest of the season... (but it's confirmed that this season is dreadful as far as jpn ladies' health is concerned ) thank you for your translation, @Umebachi also, who wants to drop a message for Wakababy, here's the project finally, crossposting from junior skaters thread because there are info about senior comps too

dropping here a link to a blogpost that sums up the results of Jpn regionals and some info about skaters https://jumpitwithashuulanditwithapa.tumblr.com/post/188167386873/japanese-regionals since it's hard to find info in english (and of course JSF doesn't bother streaming local comps) I found it really useful to have several info in one place it was on this blog that I first read about the three Kanto crows (or bears)* Yuma, Shun and Kao (previously I only knew Shun and took note of Yuma at last season JGP) *they have tons of nicknames LMAO iirc they commented in an interview and said they wanted something cooler...can't remeber when it was, I guess after Yuma's gold in jgp maybe? or after Shun's Anyway, Yuma won Kanto regionals and Kao landed most his jumps, but had again some issues with levels but looks like he landed nice 4S, yay! also, what they want to work on (good boy, Kao, yes, work on those levels!) also this for cuteness (they really look like their dads wow)

Poor Mai I hope she is recovering a bit, even if slowly. The thought of her in pain... And so many other jpn ladies are injured too

*perfectly on brand with her procastinating habits, she checks results a good two weeks after ACI* *shily tiptoes in* OMG! I won the round and I didn't even know that? I thought the bonus questions had killed my score as the UR calls killed Zuzu's still salty about that Feeling good that I didn't jinx anyone for the gold medal thank you for organizing @Old Cat Lady making predictions is a good way to keep oneself updated on skaters (you know, the whole checking the SB list, especially for ID tho checking PB can be unpleasant, at times

gorgeous (the picture, on the contrary, looked....weird) RE: Misha I hope his surgery will go well and effectively improve his health Looking at how last season he was constantly plagued by his sinusitis, I'm glad he's putting health first now. Hopefully things will be be better and he'll be able to come back stronger... but he will be missed me, a Dima supporter ---> No, ok, seriously, I like Sasha's earnestness. And I hope he'll keep the entry into the solo 3A, that was cool. But in general I like Dima's style more. Though...he has...other flaws (now I'm reminded that, without Misha, there will be one gorgeous lutzer less in GPwho do I have to pray so the other good lutzers stay healthy and delight us with their beautiful Lz?) It will be interesting to see how much Sasha and Dima will be pushed, I think Sasha has Rostelecom, right? And Tarasova loves him. How much does she love Dima? I have no idea. It would be great if Misha could be already recovered and trained by RusNats, but very unlikely, so it's Sasha and Dima will probably be the russian main contenders for Euro title, now free for the taking (without the skater who has hoarded it for the past years). I expect scores to go crazy... or, more accurately, crazier RE: Liza's SP I hope she'll keep the original version, works so much better! Honestly, I don't think it's a song that judges would have particular hard time understanding... ETA: also, I don't see how training choreo for unrelated music can help learning said choreo... doesn't make much sense to me. What helps learning choreo (and adapt to rythm of the song) is practicing to that song, a lot. So to me Mishin's words make no sense. Also, if "experts" really praised the mismatched program, says a lot about their competence...

@ralucutzagy I think it's.... the wrong thread anyway another update on Nobu&Kandai and this which changes? What did Nobu want? It looks like Nobu didn't like something in coaching methods (possibly Hamada's, who, other than Satoko, Rika and Yuna, has promising jr like Mana and Azusa and coaches a rather large group of very young skaters) and he wanted to change some things, but what things? It is very concerning to me. I don't think a disagreement in opinion could be perceived as prolonged psycological harassment... Hamada afaik has some methods in common with Eteri, like insisting on repetitions (iirc Satoko or Rika talked about this, and I remember worrying about stress injuries), but idk what else she does. I believe she is "demanding", but thus far which other info we have? (Nobu is a retired skater, should we move to the other thread? but what happened is likely also related to training environment of currently competing skaters...) ETA: add this so only confirmed(is it? is that tabloid reliable? I have no idea) thing is that there was a disagreement with Hamada, but we still don't know if Hamada was the harasser or there was someone else who brought the disagreement further... (ngl, for my peace of mind I hope Hamada isn't the "bad guy" here, but if she is, I want to know) EDIT again tbh this sounds rather..."tame" compared to other things I am thinking about still, was the harassment related to this? Disagreement is one thing, negatively pressuring someone is another...

Top ten in ID individual event definitely hard and IMO very unlikeky, but for team event ID it's different, every country (USA, Canada, Russia) has only one team per segment, add France and Italy and they only take 5 spots (instead of potential top 10 like in Saitama), likely Spain won't qualify for Team event (Spain has two good ID team), likely no GB either (another very good team).... so things are a much "easier" and one can aim for 6th (even 5th if no P/C) but we'll need to wait at least one more year to finally reason about TES and PB and compare with potential "rivals" (like chinese/korean/aussie teams and so on) Eta: actually, I am not sure about Spain chances to be in team even, I think currently men is their weakest field, but rn Germany for example doesn't have a pair team as strong as S/M, so maybe Spain will be in and Germany out...sorry for

LMAO I had completely forgotten the team event 🤣🤣🤣 Well, that's much more likely than individual ID medal for sure😅 but still, I'm not sure about how much a team we haven't seen even once in comp (and whose scoring potential is unknown) can help podium chances...we have literally no idea if they, for example, can score better of KoKo, or e.g. Chinese team, or Korean team(is there a korean team? Last I read they had split too but iirc she had found a new partner...anyway, offtopic). I think Jack is just riding the hype (as always) Realistically: Kana had 4 whole years between her switching to ID and Pyeongchang and 3 of them were spent with Chris, a very experienced ice dancer. Now we have Dai with 2 years of time before OWG, I'm not sure if we should expect this new partnership to have potential for better placements in less time It also will depend a lot on which countries qualify, China, for example, while not likely to get a team medal, has stronger pairs (and possibly stronger ID) that could push jpn pairs (and maybe ID) lower, hence lowering whole TJ chances for a medal...or even to qualify for the fs). We basically miss a lot of data right now. And anyway, if rules will stay the same, it's still necessary for an ID team or a pair to qualify for individual olys event (and atm pairs is an even bigger question mark), so a team, be it Kana&Dai or KoKo or whoever, will still need to rank well at WC2021 or get an additional spot later, like for Pyeongchang... Too early to say, especially since injuries can change things in a moment (My hope is that there won't be any undue internal pushing for a team, if that team hasn't really better scoring potential) I had also read there might be problems for Tim's citizenship, but I am not sure if it was just a generic worry based on past issues... even with Canada possibly weaker in singles in 2022 (but, like China, with their ID and pairs they can lower TJ placement in those segments), I wouldn't underestimate France and Italy, both much weaker in ladies atm but pretty much middle of the pack (or more) in the other 3 fields, with their Men on the raise (not sure about italian pairs, DM/G aren't exactly young but iirc atm they are still competing. Same for G/F in ID, I guess they'd like to go to Beijing as the top Italian team) Tbh I don't expect that any jpn ID team will make TJ chances better compared to PyeongChang, where Kana and Chris did place quite well in the sp (5th, only behind Rus/US/Can/Ita). That's basically the very best one can hope (and P/C were not competing in team event, so France placed much lower). Of course, jpn ID team fighting for more than last place is definitely necessary for a chance at medal😅 but even a team at Kana&Chris level might not be enough (and of course a lot depends on pairs too) If any, the relative weakness of canadian and italian ladies might be more relevant for jpn podium chances compared to Kana&Dai maybe scoring better than KoKo I bet, though, that KoKo are feeling more pressure now. Especially with Misato's injury, learning all of a sudden there is a new glamurous team ready to contend for international spots can't have been entirely pleasant ("glamurous" because unavoidably there's lot of interest around them) (In the meanwhile I keep dreaming Utashin will rise through the ranks fast and steal the scene LOL ok no I would be sad for current senior teams, but if Utashin were to really compete as senior team and be the strongest one...well, at the end of the day what I want if for the best team to go....if Japan manages to qualify for a spot to begin with)

Yes, indeed! Awwww Kikuchi was with him in PC ceremony too, what am amazing experience must have been for him too, after a the years he was by Yuzu's side! (Footage of COC was heartwrenching, poor man, and who knows how many more things he's witnessed) I hope he is enjoying his retirement I'd like to know who is in charge of Yuzuru's ankles now...they deserve my utmost admiration and thousand thanks, they are instrumental to Yuzu fulfilling his dreams

About this, tho, Kana was very close to Mao, grew up in the same rink too, right? she kinda had a "headstart" for mixing in there 😅 I have seen a tweet with pic with whole team jpn at Sochi ceremony and op said Yuzu had chosen to attend with Kikuchi, but I can't find the tweet anymore iirc was from one of the usual fandom translators, I thought Juro but now I can't find it scrolling, must have been someone else... Thh I think that costume could have been worn by any between Yuzu and Shoma too lmao (is by Satomi Ito again?) And hair too, Shoma styled them like that for Loco. Black blades, who knows, I think I've seen an increasing number of skaters with them (they do look extremely cool), but he isn't using pattern 99 revolution(happen to be, totally by chance, I swear, the coolest-looking blades to me), so that make them lose some coolness points Tbh I don't remember who Kazuki admires, but afaik he's not usually counted among the Team Japan Zu fanboys imo good that he left the one he used in DOI, that one really resembled Masquerade (Masquerade was superior, sorry, I don't make the rules) @Fay @Figure_Frenzy when I want to embed a tweet, I use the "copy link" from the "share" function on the right low corner of the tweet (next to the heart), then after pasting link here I chose the option to "display as plain text", idk why it works this way but...it works at the moment LOL Re: Hamada suggesting Dai's move couldn't she have done the same with other skaters too? Or maybe she did, but skaters weren't interested or had no prospect for fundings? Is 2 jr teams + KoKo and later Kana/Dai the most the fed can afford for funding ID? Anyway, I already said it would have been better to start the ID training asap instead of waiting another 6 months after decision was taken, to maximize the time they had... it will be exactly two years to Olympics when they will start seriously, and they need to get minimum tes before that Well, they won't have problems to get to nationals I guess, the field is what it is in terms of depth, but they need to go to international comps too... @WinForPooh I thought they just aimed at being there (and be "olympians"), not the actual podium, and that could be feasible, if they can get minimum tes (I don't remember the requirements for having spots at OWG tbh, I only know previous WC ranking and additional spots at another ISU comp in Olympic season, for PC Nebelhorn 2017 was where teams left out fought to give their country a spot...iirc Kana&Chris got a spot for Japan there? Eta: found a reference here, probably there's more in the old Nebelhorn thread) podium is definitely unrealistic, unless, suddenly, most of current sr teams (and a few of the jr ones that will turn senior by then) for some reason won't be able to compete, or will be forced to compete at a much lower level than they do now...the war for podium will likely be among France, USA, Russia and Canada too (especially if FD/S keeps developing as fast), even if there was a jpn team competitive with them in bv(levels) by 2022, there just wouldn't be any space for them to get the political backing they would need for goe and pcs to be on par with top teams)

even if I knew Hashimoto had good chances to get that position, to know she really got it was still a disappointment (coupled with knowing who was appointed as the new JSF President). Hashimoto is really someone I wouldn't want to be the "face" of sport... or olympics... but looks like for some reason politics disagree with having decent people in key-roles. Very sad How can one trust an organization (JSF) that has kept such a person as representative for so long? and this time, even if we don't know for sure if she had any part in Nobu's situation, her track-record doesn't make me particularly willing to give the benefit of the doubt... then again, it's not like the other feds and ISU do that much better either I mean, Didier is still there too... LMAO unrelated but looks like booing ISU chairman in the rink happened several times in the past, Ottavio Cinquanta was loudly booed in competitions held in NA In general I think most TeamJapan older skaters were good senpai to Yuzu. But it wouldn't be surprising if they really felt closer to each other (competed together longer) while Yuzu paid the "price" of being much younger, "outsider" in several ways (different age, not from one of the usual "powerhouses", taking the stage by storm and upsetting the "natural order", that was unusual in Men). Add moving abroad and chances of being "involved" and developing a deeper bond were rather limited. But still, there were Mura and Nobu oc, and Machida (who could pinpoint Yuzuru's personality better than most)... but recalling 2012 Nats is always painful (and especially watching those few secs of podium footage, it really breaks your heart) Now, re: the Sochi group pic, tbh I don't know what were the circumstances (and where the heck Yuzu was), so I don't want to think about something done on purpose, but recalling how Yuzuru fully enjoyed his PC experience, closing ceremony included (and mixing with teammates and all the wholesome content we got) I'm very happy Also, Nobu is truly very sweet and caring and deserves all the best

Sad for Nobu but I hope, now that things are out in the open, decent people will reach out and allow him to work in a nicer place... This is worrying though, another example of how messed up things can be in fs, behind the scenes... I would be even more appalled if some of coaches I "know" were directly involved in creating a bad environment, I really hope they had nothing to do with that... And the new statement from Kansai University where I live, we call this, rather vulgarly, pararsi il culo (literal english translation has basically the same meaning). Issue was raised months ago, Nobu made them aware through official channels of the institute too (implies something more serious than an amicable divergence of opinions), and they did nothing, then they lied about the reason of Nobu leaving (they claimed he was busy but now suddenly it's different views on coaching, sure. Would really love to hear them, 'cause now that sounds rather ominous, too)

Lmao I should have been more accurate and say: what is he doing when he isn't sleeping or fighting veggies and playing videogames?