General Yuzuru Chat

[Smultron]

Now that we have Shoma's interview.. Does anybody know how his name is pronounced?  I'm so confused because when you here it in competitions the beginning sounds like [sh] but then Russian commentators pronounce it with a clear S. Is it a special Japanese sound that lies somewhere between SH and S ? 

I hope it makes sense somehow.

 

[Murieleirum]

On 6/3/2017 at 5:02 PM, Smultron said:

Is it a special Japanese sound that lies somewhere between SH and S ? 

I hope it makes sense somehow.

 

I guess Russian commentators have difficulty understanding maybe, but Sho- in Shoma is just like... "Show" without the final "w" (u) sound. Ma is like Ma. It's not so special of a sound! 

[Étudeesque]

14 hours ago, Fresca said:

 
I just watched the whole thing now. Simply gorgeous. In the beginning, it looked like he hadn't completely let himself go yet as I could see his determination to land the 4Lo but after the 4Lo into his spread eagles you can see him finally luxuriating in the music. BTW, his rock to the right and his skates leaving the ice in his 4Lo? Both right on the music.

Love the music you love, Yuzu and love it unashamedly. You're the one who will need to listen to it at least 10x a day for the 3rd year!

 

 

On the entrance to the first spin, I think Yuzu is overestimating the quality of the sound system. If you listen closely, you can hear a soft low note repeated 3 times which matches the repetition of his 3 toepicks on the ice generated from the same swinging leg movement to enter into the spin.

 

On the combination, the entrance works beautifully I think. Don't look at his upper body. He's not using it much at this point. Look at his knees and his feet. He perfectly matches the bending of his knees and the stroking of his skates with the most emphasized notes including one lovely nuance where he raises left foot slightly into coupe on the note before entering the turn into the 4T. You'll be able to see it better in competition with all the lights on and the contrast between his black skates/pants and the ice.

 

Maybe I'm a bit harsh on the combination, I do love the turn he does at 2.20 with the music so. The entrance of the spin is absolutely beautiful, I completely agree . Thing is though with the first two spins especially, it is not that I think that he is not acknowledging the music - he is - but the rise in the 'theme' of the music, the building of intensity is, in my mind, not emphasized nearly enough.

 

If you look at Worlds16, he is doing steps and transitions at this point and he increases the intensity of the steps first (1.41) and then he is increasing in speed, which matches the rising of intensity of the music. In Chopin 3.0 he exhibits the increasing intensity in the second spin by increasing the speed and also by doing a sit spin. Similar to in Chopin 2.0 the first spin is calmer (but in that program it is placed in a place where the music in kinda decreasing in intensity) and the second is put where it is building. This can work in Chopin 3.0 since the timing in music of the first spin is calmer, but it is still building which I think needs to be emphasized more. The second spin also needs some tweaking but it is very minor to just emphasize more as well, and looking at Yuzuru doing that spin in other programs I'm sure he will do just that.

 

I just don't think the rise and fall of intensity works nearly as good as it does in Chopin 2.0 - right now. It is still early days though, and it is already a lot better 

 

 

[Fay]

On 6/3/2017 at 5:02 PM, Smultron said:

Now that we have Shoma's interview.. Does anybody know how his name is pronounced?  I'm so confused because when you here it in competitions the beginning sounds like [sh] but then Russian commentators pronounce it with a clear S. Is it a special Japanese sound that lies somewhere between SH and S ? 

I hope it makes sense somehow.

 

 

I think it's down to a different tradition of translating Japanese names into Russian, so if you go all traditional you get S(y)oma Uno, Daisuke Takahasi etc. But there are a number of commentators who happily call Shoma Shoma.

I'm well used to that now. If you compare it to the same name of Huxley being translated as 'Гексли" and "Хаксли", then you just learn to ignore such niceties.

[Étudeesque]

I also included Worlds15 here beneath where you can see how he does steps + spins (in Worlds16 he does steps+jump) at the same moment in the music. I think it is interesting to compare:

 

 

[Smultron]

11 minutes ago, Fay said:

 

I think it's down to a different tradition of translating Japanese names into Russian, so if you go all traditional you get S(y)oma Uno, Daisuke Takahasi etc. But there are a number of commentators who happily call Shoma Shoma. :)

I'm well used to that now. If you compare it to the same name of Huxley being translated as 'Гексли" and "Хаксли", then you just learn to ignore such niceties.

 

Thank you @Fay and @Murieleirum   I was getting really confused there, haha 

 

[mcq]

On 5/27/2017 at 07:54, xeyra said:

Completely off-topic (even more so than the past 25 pages ) but @mcq hasn't been around lately, has she? I haven't seen her in forever and after today's news, I was actually hoping for her take on them.

Lol hi everybody, I am back 

[xeyra]

1 minute ago, mcq said:

Lol hi everybody, I am back 

 

Yay!!!! Welcome back, mcq!!!

[mcq]

1 minute ago, xeyra said:

 

Yay!!!! Welcome back, mcq!!!

I missed out on so many things! But yeah the important things... GP assignment and Chopin 

[Fay]

11 minutes ago, mcq said:

I missed out on so many things! But yeah the important things... GP assignment and Chopin 

 

Welcome back - always nice to see you here!

[SparkleSalad]

4 hours ago, randomanon said:

yeh i remember he said fried foods were too heavy for his stomach lol

 

ETA: he looked so excited talking about beef and dumplings LOL 

 

 

The translation is a little off. He said he liked tonkatsu (pork cutlet, the kind used in katsudon) and gyoza. I think the anime fans may have more fuel for their Yuzu theory if they hear that! 

 

[mcq]

6 minutes ago, Fay said:

 

Welcome back - always nice to see you here!

Hi hi fay! Good to be back!

Just as expected, days in Yuzuru forum is like light-years because I missed out on so many things already haha.

 

Glad that Yuzuru seems healthy :)

I can't wait for the LP announcement, whatever that might be 

[EisElle]

2 hours ago, Altie said:

There's a pretty great long interview of Shoma that has just been translated by cantilovertranslation

1 hour ago, xeyra said:

I really loved this interview with Shoma. Not just the parts he talks about Yuzu but his entire feelings and thoughts on his evolution. He actually shares a lot more with Yuzu than you think, including this need to always improve, to never being happy, to aiming for an ideal that is always changing and evolving. And also I really liked how he didn't allow the interviewer to push him too much.

 

Yes, the talk about the ideal and evolution reminds of Yuzuru, but I also noticed that there is a someway different attitude. My thoughts are reinforced by what Shoma says about 4Lo, 4A (and quints): if none is doing them, he is not the one who pushes to make them real. In this I think Yuzuru has a different mindset, as he wants to be the one who pushes the sport, while Shoma may be a little bit more conservative (in a harsher way it could be said he is the one that follows rather then the one who takes the lead. He still landed the first ratified 4F, though).

From my point of view these two are very different approaches, but it doesn't mean one is necessarily more correct (or will work better) than the other.

Anyway from the interview I gather that Shoma is hard-working, ambitious but down-to-heart, so he has all it takes to grow.

[Fay]

2 minutes ago, mcq said:

Hi hi fay! Good to be back!

Just as expected, days in Yuzuru forum is like light-years because I missed out on so many things already haha.

 

Glad that Yuzuru seems healthy :)

I can't wait for the LP announcement, whatever that might be 

 

Yeah, so far this off-season has hardly started feeling like off-season. One risks missing out on a lot in a span of a few precious days.

Have you seen the new Chopin?

[mcq]

2 minutes ago, Fay said:

 

Yeah, so far this off-season has hardly started feeling like off-season. One risks missing out on a lot in a span of a few precious days.

Have you seen the new Chopin?

I have, it's beautiful. :)

I just saw it today, both version where he popped the Loop and where he was foot-perfect. I love his chopin since 2014, so I don't think I have many complaints haha. The latter part still feel a teeny bit emptier but I heard that this is the unfinished/unpolished version yet, so I am sure once it is polished it will be a masterpiece (again). In addition, I personally think it is smart to upgrade his BV without having to go way outside of his comfort zone.