EisElle

Watch Yuzu training 4A like he trained 4Lo in 2016 as rehab, fuelled by competitivity because someone else was attempting the jump... In theory he is in a better place time-wise than he was in 2016 for a new jump, but while the 4Lo didn't strained his left foot, this time he needs a good right ankle for 4A, so it's gotta be harder. Also, he'd been landing 4Lo in a few ice shows before and he'd somehow trained it to the point he briefly considered it for Boston. Re: 4A, so far Brian has only confirmed that Yuzu tried it and apparently can fully rotate it without help from harness for more airtime, but rumours aside, we have no video so we can't know how close he is. I do believe the jump has been trained more than Brian says (Brian didn't tell anyone 4Lz was going to be in Yuzu's layout, nor did Yuzu. Some of us only speculated about that knowing Yuzu's character and ambition. And then he came out in COR and while the jump was mightly moody, he landed some with such a quality it's easy to believe Yuzu when he talked about training a +3 GOE worthy jump). Yuzu said he was reworking his 3A technique so he is pretty darn serious about that. But he really needs a 100% healed ankle because the landing must be a monster and he would not destroy his ankle and say goodbye to skating before he could even land the jump, because he tried it when his body wasn't ready. He's ambitious but also sensible and he loves skating too much. So he's gonna be careful about that. Of course accidents can happen but he'll do his best to minimize the risks. That said, I'll still root for Yuzu to be the first one to land ratified 4A in ISU competition (so to continue the parallelism with Dick Button). Otherwise, well, Brian Orser wasn't called Mr.3A because he was the first skater to jump 3A ETA RE: Shoma's GOE With the new rules for most jumps the shouldn't ever go over +3 because he wouldn't clear bullet for very good height&distance and tbh also the one for good take off, il judges were looking at things like good toe pick or PR (what's supposed to be a good take off, other than this and the correct edge?). Tbh I'm not even sure his best jumps, 4T and 3A, can clear that height&distance bullet. Are those VERY good? The toe is quite high but doesn't cover much ice iirc, his axel looks like it can get good ice coverage (tho again, is it VERY good?) but not much height... so even if Shoma can clear other bullets, like steps before jump, he's capped. Nathan isn't one of those skaters who usually come into mind about height&distance (maybe better height than distance) but likely better than Shoma, plus overall better technique on take off, so in theory he has more chances to go above +3 if he works on better flow on exit and adds steps in (not saying it's easy to do) Both Boyang and Misha have better potential to get >3goe (tho Misha's jumps tend to be very high but not that long). So actually the new rules, if applied well, hit Nathan in BV and Shoma in *max* GOE attainable, which is fair tbh, unless Shoma manages to get better lift on his jumps. ETA 2 this to say that while it's been true Shoma has been closer to Yuzu in GOE, it might change. Of course there are still GOE on non-jump elements...

imagine if Yuzu won't go either to SC nor to IdF, I guess the planet will collectively be sorry for the gloominess, I'll see myself out

yeah the PCS ceiling for skates with mistakes are a bit ??!!??!! They could be reasonable recommendations, and I can agree that it's weird that a program with falls would get a 10 for outstanding in, say, PE (even if skaters recover from a fall and make people forget it, at a certain point there has been a break in the spell, and imo that's something a judge should take into account). But I don't like that they put an artificial limit for some components only for the highest marks. At this point, it would be more fair if ISU had said: for serious mistakes take away half a point from SS, one point from PE. If a skater A with the best SS in the world and skater B with 'very good' SS make the same amount of mistakes, I'd expect the difference between their SS mark to stay the same as it would be if both were perfect, because it should reflect the actual difference in abilility in that particular component. And anyway a mistake always affect our perception of a program, even subconsciously, so I'm not in favout of an authomatic deduction of PCS either, it would only become a double punishment. In theory, if whatever mistake makes the performance derail or forces the skater to rush to catch up with music or if because of falls the skaters can't executes the exit they usually do after jumps, therefore reducing the skating transitions (example: Yuzu's COC FS), then that should be reflected in the marks judges give, without any need for any kind of ceiling. So (and I can't believe I'm advocating for judges' freedom in this), judges should be allowed to judge only following the darn guidelines for each component. Maybe it would make more sense to ask them to write down the reason why they give some sky-high PCS for VERY flawed skates. Sure, they could come up with BS, but at least it would take a little bit of effort on their part, more than pushing a button. AND they would be forced to re-read the handbook Anyway, as they're only recommendations (one of ISU's most favourite words), judges will still have the freedom to enforce the ceiling or conveniently forget it depending on skaters (among still competing men it would basically affect only Yuzuru, Javi at Euros, but among Ladies and possibly even Pairs it could become more important. I was going to say ID too, but without V/M, now P/C would be the only ID pair that could be really affected by those new recommendations) And it's not like their "final goe for SP solo jump not preceded by steps MUST be -3" has changed anything the only thing that changed is that in the end the requirement got removed altogether @shanshani, I haven't read the details of your work on the 20 judges bias but I confess I'm surprised you found japanese judges to be that biased, their reputation is somehow that 'they don't know how to help their skaters', tho of course it might depend on the judge. I will go and see in which panels those judges were (I recognized one by name, so I must have checked that one in the past, the others I had no idea who they were LOL). I remember the GOE table made by.........ok I don't remeber who (where there were compiled the positive and negative deviation in GOE for their skaters vs the other, from each judge). It looked like Jpn judges were quite fair, compared to the others, but those data were only about top skaters iirc, so I wonder if those Jpn judges' bias is maybe stronger against skaters who are not direct competitors of Shoma and Yuzuru? tho that would be mightly weird Or maybe they just weren't the same judges or the same competitions...

I've seen discussion about combo allowed with first jump landed on LBI (for counter-clockwise skaters), so basically chance to do for example a 3A3S without using the Lo Eu as connecting jump (and I've see on twitter the 3Lz3F). Is this something in the new rules that I've missed or was it already allowed before but I've never paid attention because nobody (or only a few) do this? And if it's new, where it is? I've given a cursory read at two of the new ISU documents and I haven't found a reference, and I don't feel like going through the whole thread on the other place... I guess it's hard to have a stable landing on LBI tho, or stable enough to get a reliable combo with worthy GOE. Of course it could be trained and there would be many more chances for layouts...

thank you so after boobskirt, trashbag pants, uh ok, I can make it! (not that I hate trashbag pants, but it's funny than it's the rank right after boobskirt LOL)

I love the POTOv2 costume after NDP and RJ2, it was a big change...it exuded an image of 'quiet strenght' to me I chuckle a little at Yuzu putting blings on that tiny unnecessary piece of skin-coloured mesh too (POTOv1 was so good, too) so Yuzuru had a chocolate gold medals mass production... it makes sense I wonder who else will receive those medals (and who's gonna eat them) also, flare pants? when? where? @anirien iirc you need 50 posts to graduate from mushroom (or where they 100? also @Hydroblade or any other admin, what was the whole ranking again? I might link it to the Glossary so it doesn't get lost anymore... and I want to know what's awaiting for me after boobskirt) While I personally agree with you, I think someone could say 'don't assume things' because what we see is only a part of the picture. We can observe Yuzuru's public behaviour on and off the ice, in interviews*, a few interactions with friends** and so on but we don't know him when he's away from cameras. To me he's always looked very genuine so I don't think Yuzuru would behave that much differently when not filmed, but I can't be sure, and it would be well within his rights. So I'd say that his public persona strikes me as that of your usual male dude, childish side and all (not saying that men are all children, mind you) and Yuzuru feels no outward demand to prove anything to anyone by behaving any differently. But Yuzuru's private self is unknown to us, and while I do think it isn't that different, I can't be sure, so I understand why people might say: don't take what we know about his personality as a fact without having the whole picture. idk if I've explained myself LOL *I have no doubts that people who know Japanese and can therefore understand things like speech patterns and other language nuances can have a better grasp at his personality than me who can only know his words through the filter of translations, so I might miss a whole world of subtlety... this to say to @¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and all the translators who try to convey a part of all of that when translating, because for me it's an additional glimpse into Yuzuru's mind **Adding to this that, while we fans can't get in touch with Yuzuru' private self, what we know from people close to him or acquainted with him is pretty much consistent with his public image, as far as I know thanks @SweetSakura for that bit about Daisuke, I remember I'd read it but I couldn't remember where (the herbivore vs carnivore was also briefly mentioned re: competitive mindset here in The 2014 Patrick Chan and Yuzu Situation thread). adding here this link too (is that the same @SuzyQ we have here?) and here the first time it's mentioned, apparently the original video source has been removed

I imagine Yuzu be like reading the forum and being at emoticons like this and being at this I think he'd definitely be at and tho, judging by how he laughs when he watches his coaches' reactions in the kiss and cry... ZUZU WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!! please keep making all the faces you want I can't help, and I only remember the main characters (among them, guess who was my fave? yeah, Date, when you talk about destiny imagine my laughter when I realized he was from Sendai) I'd say 4lz would go well with Date, tbh, with it being kinda chaotic and a show-off... but then 4S would be like that too... maybe 4S better because of loyalty when in need... 4S got jealous of 4Lo so that could be a Date vs Yukimura...but 4Lo should be elegant not...like...that... and then who'd be 4Lz? so, no, can't help you there, sorry ETA: now I'm feeling guilty for not updating the glossary

*still crying over the fanboys meeting Yuzu content we did NOT get from H&F* Crossing everything that they'll all happily meet at Nats no more injuries & flu, skating gods, please and thank you (wait, which comp is going to be in Osaka? JNats? Do we need to prepare some extra-powerful vodoo?)

that kid is sooooo cute, I can't it took me some serious effort to see that, it's hard to focus on the background with a gorgeous Zu right there in front of your eyes you've got some serious skills, teach me your way sensei Nope, he wouldn't be able to rotate fast enough try again, Japan! I love that account (and some fishes are really beautiful). There's also an account comparing Nathan to Nike trainers LOL (strangely fitting and it's funny how, insetad, Yuzu is compared to things of nature, beautiful things) under spoiler for those who don't want to keep reading about the criticism topic

Not entirely related to what we were discussing here but I'm taking the freedom to link this interesting take from @kaerb about a certain kind of fan culture It was interesting to me because I'd taken part in that kind of 'dragging' without even been aware and I asked myself why I do that, why I find it funny and I even need that, all of this while never, not even for a moment, changing my appreciation for Yuzuru's personality, my love for his skating and my whole-hearted support for him. Do I believe Yuzu can do no wrong? No. He's a human being, albeit one that I'd classify very high in a rank of 'The best people I've ever known' and for me he is the best skater I've ever seen. Do I believe he should do whatever it pleases him without a care for what fans say? Heck, YES. And I believe he's wise enough to know that his fans can disagree with some of his choices but still love him. And of course, he's free to change those fans' mind and prove them wrong. He's done that repeatedly. Heck, he might even enjoy the challenge... and imo a fan forum isn't only a place of adoration, it's also a place where fans can discuss and worry and disagree while still feeling safe, because no matter what they think of this or that costume or a program or jump layout, they still share something big and substantial (like thinking that Yuzuru is a wonderful skater and a wonderful, if flawed, human being) sorry if you all wanted to put the topic at rest and I have missed the hint

That's cruel

I think I'll keep reading that Eu as Europe for a while it's funny how they decided a poor connecting jump in 3-jumps combo deserved urgent clarification, to the point they gave it its own notation, while most of the really important rules are a mess and couldn't get more vague (ISU, this is not a challenge, plz) but yeah, after the whole discussion about the merit of CD vs USBsticks and what means "skating to music" I'm not even surprised crazy thought: this notation paves the way to future addition of 2Eu and 3Eu and so on I mean, for now the Euler is still listed element only when used for the combo, but still, it's now less unlisted than other "unlisted jumps"...who knows what will happen .... unless the landing foot will become as 'controversial' as steps before a jump & calls for wrong edge on takeoff... then all of ISU's hard work to differentiate between Lo and Eu would be useless... interesting that for Stsq, Chsq and Spins there are also the 3 required bullets to hit before awarding >3 GOE, with element matched to the music a required bullet for both steps and ChSq + effortless with energy and flow for steps and creativity for ChSq.... tho with how GOE have been awarded in the past, I suppose it won't make much difference for top skaters anyway...

WE WIN THE GLORY!!!!!! I'm surprised we still don't have 100% confirmation, c'mon Jpn media don't troll us poor fans

I've already the whole thing mapped, which tickets in which section... I only need to materially be online to go for those tickets I'm worried they'll announce when I'm sleeping...because it would also mean Japan is fully awake and I'd wake up to this

LOL same Fingers crossed for Haru yo koi, and maybe it will be piano version after all... Looking forward to the outrage at his outfit Also, if confirmed, I'll count this as partial win at out predictions for next season ETA: wait I named Kenji as choreographer BUT I added 'or some other choreographer' too, does it count?

re: how Haru yo koi would be as a free program I tend to agree with @Neenah more also, exactyl why I thought "noooo please" when someone (*cough*Max*cough*) said that maybe Notte Stellata could become Yuzuru's free program... Of course Yuzu is always free to prove me wrong, like he's repeatedly done plus Yuzuru seems to choose the music of his FS with some kind of layout already in mind, with him being so picky about how certain jumps fit where (like the 3F)... and 3Lo is probably not going to be his last jump and he would't put it late in a program like the choreographic elements would suggest if this program was meant as a potential FS... the program would need some serious changes to be made into a free program. Also, I don't believe he would use his energy in a packed and stamina-wise already demanding free program to do more than the required jumps, so no, I don't think we'll see a delayed 1A in competition. There's just no point and it's not like it's as "easy" as a SE, probably it's not even as "easy" as a split jump, he's even slipped out of it sometimes, like in OWG Gala practice, and why would he insert one more risky element when instead he can keep his remaing energy for a last fast lv4 spin that brings him points... ok, he has his principles, but he's also a strategist... now, if instead of a choreographic 1A he did a 3A as last jumping pass between hydroblade and IB... Maybe Haru yo koi isnt's a test for a free program but a test for a ChSq + last jump (tho in that case I think the panel would consider the ChSq to end before the jump, right? But it would still be so amazing...risky, but amazing) the kids imitating costumes are cute imo, tho it's weird they would imitate costumes of a skater that isn't their fave (or maybe that kid agrees with us that Nathan's 'costumes' are hopeless LOL). I find kinda cute when kids use similar music or choreo to that of their idols, it's some kind of genuine tribute and it's natural for kids to imitate what they think is cool (or maybe coaches want to make judges think along those lines and aim for cuteness bonus ). IMO it's very different when a smol mushroom Zuzu copies Plushy's choreo and when instead a much older Vincent Zhou chooses as his senior debut a program with almost same music cuts of Yuzuru's iconic RJ1. Just like it's cute to see that little girl at the Mao Asada Trophy wear Mao's Rach costume and imitate her while I find more meh when for example Marin's ending pose in her senior debut FS looks like Mao's ending pose... also, adding to people inspired by Yuzu's costume choices this is from quite an older skater and the program itself has nothing in common with RJ1 but I'd say the costume design is unmistakable Tho I've seen this skater live a few months ago in an ice-show and idk, something did remind me of Yuzu... he did an IB that gave me a strong feeling of deja vu...it was before I found that video nothing wrong with that, but I can tell you that for example, a year ago watching whole 2017 FaOI felt like a chore much more than it feels to me watching whole FaOI 2018... it helps that now I know all the skaters and I've seen them repeatedly and I've come to like or appreciate many of them (for example, last season I was 'Rika who?' when she skated to her EX. Now I am 'Rika!!!!!'. Last season I had watched a couple of Aljona&Bruno programs but I was indifferent, then I watched Nebelhorn and suddenly fell in love...), so maybe you just need a bit more time Tho ngl, the intensity of my liking Yuzuru's skating can't be compared... I have a soft spot for some skaters, I like some skaters' personality and some skaters' skating style and some skaters' programs but I rarely like all those things at once... and watching Yuzuru's programs still takes most of my 'watching skating time'. And for other skaters I don't really go mad searching for the most HD of the HD videos or keep so many multiple versions of the same program, I usually go for the best and then bye, who cares for camerawork being better there, or for one video having this and that commentary or having a better shot of hands movements on a spin and so on... I guess some skaters just click better with our personal taste Also (and Yuzuru aside) I've liked FaOI Kobe more than FaOI Makuhari, some of the collabs were really lovely (like Johnny's and Nobu's) ETA: wait, I'm Boobskirt now! I miss the angry seaweed...it was gone in the blink of an eye.. gotta make this one rank pass in the blink of an eye too

Oh no, Nastya I wish her all the best. I was looking forward to see her again in JGP but with those rumours... better for her to take her time and even leave the sport altogether if needed. She's so young on a side note, while I don't know much about her or the team, I felt she was never a priority and that she wanted to be there more than Eteri wanted her there...after all Eteri already has 2 quad girls and Alyona and many younger girls and more consistent ladies able to execute cleanly programs with much more packed transitions than Nastya...and at RusJNats judges weren't kind to her

unlikely Shoma will go for back to back GP, iirc he prefers to get to the location a few days before practices for the event start so he can adjust and get over jet lag... he would have no time to do so tbh SC/NHK would be the best combo for Yuzu, but he won't be given first choice this time, and not even second or third While I'd like for him to go to IdF (and I'm praying that if it happens I'll be fast enough to grab those tickets) I'm kinda scared the french ice could screw his jumps or screw him altogether, and so close to the final tooand I'd be super-pissed if french fed presented him with another cardboard medal or a plastic whatever and same recycled podiums...

Glad to know that if I'm crazy I am in good company... And it's funny, I wonder why he can inspire such strong devotion (&similar behaviour) across different generations, countries & in general very different background

the evil overlord troll has trolled us again and I'm not even surprised YUZU YOU'RE GETTING PREDICTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! also, et tu, Shoma

I hope so, it would really require top-notch organizational skills and, yeah, even if a GP in Italy were confirmed today, we couldn't ever be that efficient LOL I hope ISU won't delay the assignment because of this whole drama

wait, did someone mentioned another GP in Europe? possibly in MILAN? OMG pease ISU don't play with my heart and my pockets 😱 I'm already trying to resist the lure of IdF.... if they put a GP in Italy and sell tickets before assignments are out I won't be able to resist btw, I can see JSF wanting Nathan vs. Yuzu insted of Shoma vs. Yuzu at NHK... I don't think JSF would be so dumb to put its top skaters one against the other...tho they have done dumber things in the past it seems jpn media love Nathan and they already had him there... tho of course they love Shoma too and he'd be kind of expected now... but I think if JSF could choose, it would go for Nathan vs Yuzu instead of Nathan vs Shoma or Yuzu vs. Shoma btw even if Yuzuru is the biggest star, Shoma would have no problem in bringing revenues at NHK, Jpn fans love single skating. Anyway, it's likely at NHK there will be some big showdown I can see the reasoning for SC getting Shoma, as he's gone there last year + events calendar, but given most of canadians biggest stars won't be there, canadian fed will probably want some of TCC skaters there...and with Javi out of GP, their best hope to attract viewers is Yuzuru (I don't think Boyang would be that effective, nor Jun Hwan). Now, in Canada it's very, very likely Yuzuru would bring more revenue than Shoma, with his level of stardom and all. I was thinking Med would be perfect for SC, but in GP Gabby will be the top canadian lady and she'll likely get SC, so idk if Brian would be that thrilled to have both his charges there... in all of this, I wonder who will invite poor Boyang SA seems a reasonable guess...

@shanshani I just wanted to thank you for all your work & analysis (what you posted *on the other place too*), it's so much work, amazing I hadn't paid much attention to the second of the two Chinese judges punished and I (mistakenly) thought it was another too blatant case like for Men FS... I was so surprised reading the official motivation, the amount of bias didn't looked that much more egregious than what many, many judges show. Still wrong, of course, but not worse than what ISU let slip away in the past. And tbh, to see how that judge singled out for his bias against S/M stings, as his scores weren't as biased as those of Lorrie Parker in Men FS... It's unavoidable to think that being part of a certain fed determined wheter ISU went for the hammer or a friendly pat on the back

I've just purchased the previous two IceJewels photobooks, the new photobook feels like a personal attack, I can't resist tho with how much amazon asks in shipping costs, I'll wait until I have a bunch of magazines to buy 😑

oooooh it still feels s weird LOL (but where's Boyang? iirc he was supposed to move around Zhenya's time too, but there are no news so far...) Also, do you ever think that now half of the men in the last warm-up group at OWG is going to train in the same place? I mean. of course we knew that already but I was rewatching OWG yesterday and it HIT me HARD re: crossovers I'm not gonna add anything substantial if not to spam Yuzuru in all-black + fan. Here he doesn't do anything special but still those crossovers timed to the music look so...powerful? Idk, but they give me chills (video here) my gifs uploaded with giphy This not to say that crossovers are worth +100 PCS, but to say that when used well they can look good. Still, top skaters are supposed to show off their skills challenging the hard stuff in their competitive choreo, and doing many crossover certainly isn't the way to do that. For how well crossovers might be done, musical and pleasing to the eye, they won't ever EVER be as hard as difficult turns and steps done with mastery and fitting the music, and score should reflect that too. Difficult steps and turns don't only require good basic skating, they also challenge skaters more re: things like balance and stamina. And of course, the harder the element, the more focus it requires and it also becomes harder to make it look natural and part of the expression. That's why Yuzu's crazily fast stsq are so astonishing