Conspirata

I love what he's doing aesthetically for his shoots and professional programs after retiring from the amateur comp circuit. His programs are unique and new, his styling is fantastic in some of these photoshoots and I love the dynamic shots, there's color, there's movement, there are clothes that are not boring suits made for boring men. His skating has always been unique but these photoshoots are a revelation. I'm so impressed. I hope he has some very cool new programs too for the new shows. I'd love more of his new style stuff like If, along with a new program that is also a bit more classical too, but in the ways he does best.

Both Kao-s making me happy I like Kaori's usual programs, despite not caring for either Sia's song or the lyrics for the woman song in past FS, but the style of programs were great because I love the powerful and deliberate way she skates. She still has that strength and power but she brought in some delicacy too for Baby good bless you and it was so nice to see her be so versatile. Early season/new program hiccups are to be expected, I look forward to her FS and her whole season. Kao is my favorite young skater in men's now. After Yuzu, I rarely find that much interesting about men's skating with a few exceptions like Deniss etc, but Kao has such a fun style and it's not just a jump drill even though his jumps are great to watch too. Both Mone and Kao did the same weekend competition and both are a little crazy, but Kao actually winning both after two sp performed in the same day is amazing. I hope he keeps getting better and better, I want to see him stay at the top.

Yes, I get what you mean. I do think it was something Yuzu had taken on for himself because he felt that responsiblity, not that other people made him feel that way and asked him to be responsible. But, I think passing it on to spectators also makes sense as you said that way because maybe Yuzu finally felt after this long that he didn't have to be the one forcing himself to bear all that burden, everyone was right there doing their own parts too and he could let go and put less pressure on himself from now on and feel more free to live his life his own way. I try not to put too much faith in the goodness of famous strangers because I just don't know them personally and it can be tricky, but it is very difficult not to have the highest opinion of Yuzu given everything he's said and done through his life. I hope he keeps being happy.

I wouldn't say passed on the emotional load to spectators, just because it sounds like he's trying to make it someone else's problem lol, but I do understand what you mean! Notte Stellata seemed very cathartic for him overall. I think maybe part of him was so focused on doing his best in a sport that was judged by others in order to win (and thus give back to everyone) for so long, and that he then had to figure out how he would still do his best to reward an eager audience as a pro skater afterwards, so just retiring from competition wasn't its own relief. But the run of successful solo shows and the group show he led for Notte Stellata finally got him to a place where he's relatively unburdened. Both because he's rid of the scoring cycle but also because he addressed his own worries of being able to manage a solo career in a way that was both artistically fulfilling and a sustainable career option. I can't imagine him being anything less than 150% focused on anything he does in the future still, but after a year of being solo, there must be some great relief that his love for skating is still something that is rewarding even after competitions. And that he has the experience now with a year of solo stuff under his belt to not have to be as concerned about whether people will still buy tickets or appreciate his efforts and feelings.

As someone else already said, I think the loneliness was about his choices within his love for skating and the things he felt he had to do to be the best in order to give something back to his hometown/his people and everyone who was affected by the huge tragedy when he was just starting off in seniors. That's a big burden to carry. It's not something someone else made him carry but he felt like he had to give back something because he was one of the lucky ones. He seems to have a supportive family from what he's always said so it's not like a romantic partner would be the only emotional support either, but people often have feelings that are harder for themselves based on their own thoughts, even if all the people around them are loving and supportive. A personal emotional journey can be different from the journey you have with the love people in your life bring to you. Either way, I hope he's learning not to feel so burdened because he's more than given back to his hometown and people around him with what he's achieved and donated.

Congratulations to him, he's the master of moving in secret! I'm really happy that he's able to be so open with his skating and stay so private with his personal life. I'm so glad he was able to announce it on his own time instead of anything leaking and getting preempted by tabloids.

Johnny was very openly flamboyant in both his outfit choices and his skating style despite knowing (and facing) homophobia and negative critique from judges, some peers and the public, so the unabashed confidence to be himself and openly be soft in ways that are seen as "unmanly" must have been an inspiration to someone like Yuzu whose skating was never meant to fit into some preset mold. I'm not a fan of him but I did think that was brave of him and I'm glad Yuzu found somone who he could identify with in some ways where his concept of some of his own skating is concerned. Even if that was Weir lol. I was wondering how Yuzu kept coming up with more tears, he must have been full dehydrated by the end lmao. I felt sad for him but then I had to laugh when he was trying so hard to smile for the group selfie in between bawling and then when the camera showed Satoko, Piper and Paul having a blast together exiting the rink and then suddenly cut to Yuzu crying again. He really is a block of tofu inside

There's a cute mention of Yuzuru by Corey Circelli in an interview in Tresa Magazine. I've pasted the relevant excerpt below: Did you have any favourite skaters to watch when growing up and have you been given any advice over your time as a skater so far that has stuck with you? I have only ever skated at the Cricket Club in Toronto, which is quite rare. That meaning I have seen and skated with the world’s best for as long as I can remember. I remember meeting Yuna Kim and watching her prepare for the 2010 Games, as well as first meeting the new Japanese skater in 2012 that would become THE Yuzuru Hanyu. If I had to pick my favourites both to train with and watch I would say Yuzuru Hanyu, Javier Fernández, Jason Brown, and Carolina Kostner. Being around such talent is amazing and just being in their presence teaches you so much I could write a book. Yuzuru and I have always had a nice friendship and he is always offering advice on little things. It amazes me how he remembers everything. This post has been tagged by Yuzu_legend as [NEWS].

The flying cover is so perfectly Yuzuru: light, airy, fluid and at the same time incredibly intense. Only the all black clothing is not quite Yuzu in performance mode lol, but in this case it's perfect to emphasize the pose even more and not distract from the angles and the framing.

I genuinely truly cannot get over how intensely cool and dynamic this pose it. I'm so impressed by both him and the art director. This is a real artistic athlete pose wow.

This isn't an official Disney account but it looks like it does pretty legitimate updates on D+ content so I assume the July 14th US DIsney+ date is accurate. Can't believe Yuzu is making me genuinely consider paying for a Disney plus subscription, I was so adamant I would not give them any money when they first announced the streaming service...

I would love it if Yuzu skated to Winter, it's one of the warhorses I've always enjoyed. But the Vivaldi piece I really, really want him to do is Storm. It's so frantic and full of crescendos and the way he's been developing his skating to do quick stop movements so well, he'd do such a good job of mixing more classic longer moves with his current shorter movements dance style.

I see the Share practice video again, looks like whatever block was put on it has been resolved now. I assume it got caught in some machine algorithm sweep but has now been resolved manually. Permanently resolved, hopefully.

Brian's message on the instagram post with him and Yuzuru is really sweet. All the TCC pics are so cute, all the kids taking pictures with him look absolutely thrilled, what an occasion it must be for them.

Lmao, so the JSF award ceremony already happened. I wonder if the Canada trip was just a coincidence or a well planned choice to be at the same time as the ceremony. The TCC pictures with all the kids were really cute so I'm happy for that either way.

Yuzuru Hanyu and Nao Kodaira were selected as the Special Achievement Award winners by JSF. I assume this is maybe same as the special lifetime achievement award that Mao received in 2017? I'm relying on the google translate for this tweet so idk if it's missing any terminology nuance. Wonder when/if there's an actual physical ceremony for this later.

Yeah. Yuzu is the biggest name in any ice show cast almost anywhere nowadays so the fact that he's front and center is a marketing absolute, and I'm not even being biased here lol. But I refuse to believe that all the rest of the men are exponentially more popular than all of the women, including Kaori and Satoko, or that they couldn't add in more faces instead if they just couldn't bear to leave out any of the other men. There was some ice skating magazine I saw recently too that had a coverage of Worlds with the double Worlds champion, Kaori, or the first Japanese Pairs world champions, nowhere on the cover. Very unfortunate. Japan is doing great in women's and pairs now, there should be more recognition of that.

Cool! I hope we somehow manage to get a lot more recordings too, I got spoiled by all the Notte Stellata and SOI videos. Also, I know this graphic is kind of hilarious anyway, but do the FAOI design team/producers know that female athletes exist and are performing in their shows? Even knowing that I am mostly tuning in for Yuzuru, I will also be looking forward to Kaori and Satoko too, how is even the world champion not on their banner? They had only men last year too, it's weird.

Notte Stellata really was one of the most cohesive ice shows I've ever seen. Part of it was probably because it was a small cast chosen personally for somewhat similar levels of skating skill or equivalent talent expertise (like Afanasieva and Kohei), but also the opening and closing numbers were so beautifully choreographed and performed by everyone, nothing felt half-hearted or just thrown together haphazardly. The music choices for the opening and closing, the way the programs were placed with somber and light balancing each other and bookended with Yuzuru's most heartfelt show pieces, everything worked together so well. I know the premise of it was emotional and serious, but it was also a beautiful and professionally produced show in whole and I hope they do it again.

Extra flowers and fancy decor for Yuzu is very fitting! Wish his hair was styled more like his other recent appearances but the three piece suit is really nice. His pro career seems to have brought about both consistency in crazy amounts of increased stamina and suits that all fit well.

The group pic is fun, looks a little more lighter in mood than some of the previous versions. I enjoyed all the cute selfies everyone posted with Yuzu and loled at Ilia's mom being such a mom, saying it had been his lifelong dream to take a pic with Yuzu, very cute. I wish we'd gotten a Kaori and Yuzuru selfie too, but Kaori doesn't have any social media and Yuzu only uses his for show/video purposes so I guess the photobomb in the Loena and Kaori selfie was as close as we'd get.

Agree with everything you said. There's an intangible investment in and visible happiness with skating that draws me to specific skaters and that group you mentioned definitely does it for me. Yuzuru is the pinnacle of it as the full package, no matter what program he skates, but Satoko to me matches his intensity of expression in more serious programs and i always enjoyed watching her in galas a bit more so her show stuff is perfect for me. And Kaori, Jason and Kazuki are lovely to watch when they're having fun, i find myself smiling all the way through Kaori's love shack number. Post competition Yuzuru has been so great to watch, I couldn't have imagined we'd have so much more to see after he retired, with the added bonus of no stress of scores or random judging to decipher.

They took embracing opponents very literally XD There's something so heartwarming about official Chinese media just putting Yuzuru in their own athlete focused media like he's a beloved adopted child.

There's a four seasons program by a very young Patrick (2007/2008) that is probably the most beautifully musical piece from him and even though he was young, it's my favorite of his because while it was obviously not as polished as later, it was still both lovely skating and musically emotionally invested. I appreciate his skills but his later programs don't seem to care much about the music (or the outfits) telling a story to match the lovely skills and so they don't work for me. Someone like Satoko instead, who might have lacked some of the technical competition edge to have been on top of the field, matches a lot more of what I appreciate in fs and enjoy in Yuzuru's skating. They both seem to be able to tell a story with their movements and small, nuanced gestures and it makes their skating so beautiful and unique to watch. I don't care that much for the song in the SOI opening, but Yuzuru illustrates it with such lovely moments: the little delayed turns, the way he moves his shoulders and hands and creates a motion that matches the rise and fall of the voice before the spin, it's such attention to detail that makes him so mesmerizing no matter what he skates to.

Thank you so much! I kept trying to add it as a rich text link or use the embed code and it never unfurled automatically. I didn't realize it needed it to be plain text in order to expand. Appreciate the help!