kiches

I thought maybe David would be there because he choreographed the exhibition, but last year they didn't mention it and we only found out at Skate Canada... I mean, I had an inkling last season. Guess we'll have to wait and find out.

David Wilson... and Shae-Lynn... Now what could that mean?

Didn't Yuzu say in an interview somewhere he was about to say "I didn't have enough energy for a 5th quad"? I think he said he was thinking about doing 5 in the free at Helsinki after the SP but during the performance he wasn't sure if he had the energy for the 5th one. In that case, both he and Brian are talking about two different things since Yuzu never got to finish his sentence.

Just note for anyone buying Yuzuru's Time of Awakening that the DVD is region coded 2, if you don't have a DVD player that plays region 2 DVD's you won't be able to watch it on your standalone DVD player (for reference, US and Canada DVD players are Region 1, Europe and Japan are Region 2). Luckily the bluray version is all region, so it should be playable on any standalone bluray player. I will note that the audio seems different, as if they've swapped in the actual music and mixed it into the video. It's much more crisp and clear than what I even hear inside the rink. There isn't a lot of dialogue and any speaking is done by Yuzuru himself, so you don't need to know Japanese to really enjoy it (plus the menus are in English, which is useful).

While his face looks thinner and cheek bones more prominent, I think the cut of the scoop neck on the shirt from 2015 is a smaller circle this it comes up higher on his neckline, whereas the new 24hr shirt is lower so t makes his neck seem even longer. I'll also chalk up this new photo as maybe being without make-up or any styling, as the older screenshot is from when he was on live TV so they probably at least put some powder on him.

I think it was Kanagawa where he trained when his rink in Sendai was closed?

I laughed out loud when I read this. I'm glad I'm not the only one that looked up Drew's height when this picture first emerged.If Drew is 178 cm and Yuzu is 172 cm, I'm not sure that height difference looks like it's only 6 cm...

@MaxSWAGG, in fact maybe you met him briefly too in Helsinki.

that's probably because Max and I were sitting together during practice for both Skate Canada and Helsinki and sometimes had the same reaction (we've talked about this a few times, too). Jason I can appreciate much better now, despite not being a fan of the programs his choreographer gives him. He's also extremely sweet in person, we met him in the hotel lobby too and he's very genuine - it's hard to not like him. I was surprised by my impression of Mai and Wakaba in person. I had heard that Wakaba was known for her speed, she's not slow by any means but I feel her two programs last season didn't allow those abilities to shine through - on the contrary Mai's speed is very apparent. Marin I've never seen before, Satoko I've seen twice now and I enjoyed more at Skate Canada last year than I did at Boston but I think this is because I really love The Planets compared to her FS last year.

After going to a couple of competitions I can definitely say your perception of a skater can change a lot when you watch them in person. Yuzu and Patrick are probably two skaters where what you see in person matches or surpasses what you see on TV. On the other hand, in person skaters like Kevin Reynolds are incredibly slow in person, as was Nam when I saw him in Boston. Evgenia during her step sequence is also slow compared to other ladies. Ashley Wagner's lack of movement with her actual feet and blades was also VERY obvious in her SP in Helsinki. In contrast I was able to appreciate Jason Brown's quality of movement a lot more in person than on TV. Mao when I saw her in Boston had an amazing ability to project, while her skating is smooth and effortless, she had a habit of slowing down going into her jumps. Mai Mihara's speed and smooth skating was also very apparent in person, she made me a bigger fan when I saw her live. Jump size and speed is the one thing that is probably the most impressive in person since camera angles usually cut off part of the rink. When you're able to see all four sides of the boards you get a much better sense of how far someone has traveled horizontally on their jumps or with their steps. Katelyn Osmond's jumps are very impressive in person, as were Gabrielle Daleman. Even off the rink in person these skaters are incredibly small without their skates on. We saw both Kaetlyn and Gabby at hotel lobby after the ladies' free skate and both are incredibly skinny and on the short side, but also muscular and fit. In other words, if you can find a chance to watch Yuzu (or any skating) live, I highly recommend it. I could watch Yuzu practice for hours.

It's so interesting to read people's thoughts on the topic of Yuzu looking down, as I feel I have a very different perspective on it. From my point of view I never really noticed an issue with him looking down more than before the season he did Seimei and actually found Hope and Legacy to be a vast improvement in that regard. For Hope and Legacy I really only notice the looking down in a "negative" way during one part of the step sequence - and it could be a choreographic choice to look down. Other than that I don't think he looks down any more than other skaters beside the occasional glance down after he lands a jump. I think it may also be more noticeable with Yuzu because he has a longer neck, so if his head is slightly tilted it's just easier to see than it is with others. LGC I never noticed him looking down, and for Notte Stellata the only time I thought it'd be nice if he lifted his head up a bit is during the opening twizzles as you can see his head dropping as he picks up speed while twizzling. For Seimei too it was really more noticeable for me during his step sequence but again I thought some of it was a deliberate choreographic choice given what we had seen of his meeting with Nomura Mansai. I thought it was to create impact and highlight by using a quick contrast between looking down, and then popping his head and gaze up. Besides that I actually thought Requiem is the program where he looks down the most, but that too I feel is largely attributed to the theme and choreography. The other possibility is that with the increased technical content this is Yuzu's way of focusing on his body and blades. Whether some of the looking down is a deliberate part of the choreography we won't know unless we asked Yuzu or Shae-Lynn, but really it's not to the extent where it becomes a distraction to the program and I felt he has improved upon this since last season already.

About consistency, I know Yuzu mentioned he wanted to aim for consistency and I can clearly see that the choice to do Chopin and 4T3T are linked to that desire, but I wonder if he may risk a bit more in the free skate. Despite his uneven freeskate performances with Hope and Legacy up until Worlds, he basically won the free skate portion of all his competitions except for the GPF. This means he won the free skate 83% of the time despite the inconsistencies. For the SP he won it 50% of the time this season which resulted in a silver at 4CC and Skate Canada (judging aside). I think he may feel he has a little more room for error in he free skate early season at least, but wants to build an image of consistency with the SP as a result of last season.

His black and pink rose pattern blade covers from 2012, I wonder if these are homemade by Mama Hanyu or if they're normally sold for skating boots?

I'm pretty sure those are furry blade covers that go over his plastic blade covers. He had black and pink rose ones that are visible when he competed in Nice in 2012.

So... Does anyone know if the JSF updated the profiles by having their athletes do a physical check up? If that's the case then I'll take 172 cm as his legit height. Otherwise it makes me think the info on their ISU bios are just whatever the skater provides them and that maybe Javi randomly said 175 cm at one point and maybe Yuzu is just guessing at 172.

I'd take option 2, Olympics are just special. Those world medals are the same every year, right? Are they also the same as Euros and 4CC medals?

Olympic medal all the way if I had to choose between only these options in a skaters career. It comes once every four years so the chances to medal are a lot less, plus I think Olympic success translates better into commercial success and even exposure. I never saw Yuzu until the Olympics and I'm sure for many casual fans it's the same.

Actually I feel like he's developed quite a bit in the upper body, and his shoulders and chest were already super buff - it's always seemed disproportionate to the rest of his body since it's so pronounced. Probably it's his slim waist that gives off the illusion that he's not as muscular as he really is. Even his lower arms look more muscular then they did two or three years ago.

For all wanting to bring gifts to Yuzu at Autumn Classic: They do not have sweepers for ACI so you won't get to toss anything onto the ice, but they do have a box outside to drop off gifts for skaters. Banners appeared to be hung by individual fans as well, there wasn't necessarily a restriction on it. Keep in mind this is not a typical arena, it's a sports complex so there are a lot of children and adults coming for hockey and other skating lessons. The good thing is the food sold there is reasonably priced, but options nearby for non-fast food within walking distance are limited.

Yay, Autumn Classic! Planning to go again this year, glad we North Americans have an easier chance to see him at a competition this season after all! Now I'll wish for him to stay healthy and have productive training until then.

Yeah, I have to agree with this as well - I imagine Javi doesn't feel sorry about it either as it takes the pressure off, in a lot of ways he's in a very lucky position of not having any real pressure to make a World, Olympic, or European Championship team - and he can usually count on coasting to an easy victory at Europeans as well. Yuzu has been the one to chase since Sochi (maybe even since GPF 2013), but I think he really cemented that status with his performances after his Olympic title. For all the talk of Yuzu being inconsistent he manages at least one (if not more) absolute standout performance/competition a season whereas I don't think Javi has that same track record (opinions may vary on this). Yuzu's status was really set when he produced those two clean back to back competitions in 2015 at NHK Trophy and the GPF, and appeared to be on track to repeat the feat in Boston up until the FS. I think in a lot of people's minds Javi's two world championship titles were really two titles Yuzu lost and handed to him, versus a complete and confident victory (his first world title Javi was 2nd in both SP and FS, Boston he had a convincing FS but Yuzu had his disaster). Couple that with the fact that Yuzu tends to give off the image of a resilient fighter who at times has proven he can emerge from the ashes like a phoenix and you start to get people calling him a god and all other sorts of things. Frankly put, the way I see it is that Yuzu has been the one to set the bar and Javi is one of the ones that are reaching for that bar - but not necessarily one looking to constantly set that bar higher. I don't think Javi sees himself in that role either which is why, despite his 2 WC gold, fans and commentators don't really regard Javi the same way they do Yuzu. On another note, I wasn't an avid skating fan until after Sochi, but Patrick was the clear leader/favorite in the Olympic cycle leading up to the Olympics in Sochi - for those that followed skating during this time do you feel that Patrick had the same amount of pressure? I know domestically he's never had any real competition in Canada so he's never had to worry about making the national team, but I sensed his pressure was on a different scale since he had settled on his 2 x 4T layout in the FS in the past and hadn't pushed forth technically until he returned to competition in a new quad frontier.

According to Brian, maybe he'd be his twin brother .

Hmm maybe I will

I remember someone roughly translating the key points to this back on GS. I know I copied and saved what I could find but it's on my external hard drive I think. I'll go digging for it later and share what I find.

Among all the things we've been hearing about Fantasy on Ice in Niigata (cat ears, Pooh headbands, and tummy flashing) the one thing I wish to see the most is his speech on the final day, it sounds like it was really heartfelt. I probably wouldn't be able to understand it very well on my own but I feel like the impact it would have hearing it in his own voice would be incredibly moving (made my teary eyed just reading about it).