General Yuzuru Chat

[tafattsbarn]

Come to think of it, he hasn't even skated SEIMEI that many times. What is it, nine times total? That's just little more than a season for most. He's done Chopin a few more times (14 times?), but not that many more. On the other hand there are program's like Shoma's Turandot or Keegan's Chaplin that i feel like we've seen just as many or way more than that. 

 

I seriously will never understand the complaints for /him/ repeating programs when there are others that have done it just as much with even more performances of said programs that barely get criticised except for a few rumblings. 

 

Anyways, this was a bit of shock to me. Maybe i thought he had done them more times in competition because i've watched them both at least a thousand times on my own time  

[Vulnavia]

8 minutes ago, Newprogramsplease said:

 

Maybe he needs to skip ice shows during summer and work on 2 new killer competition programs. I think he needs new killer programs more than the quad axel. Yuzu is the full package whilst Nathan isn't. Yuzu should play to his strengths. 

 

The problem is that the judges are going to continue to treat Nathan as if he's the full package even though he's not. All of Yuzu's programs are better than anything that Nathan has ever done, but if the ISU and USFS are determined to crown Nathan as the new king it's going to be an uphill battle for Yuzu no matter what his programs are. 

[ralucutzagy]

3 hours ago, Umebachi said:

 

Oh, I wish I knew where to find it.  It must have been late 2016 / early 2017, before the Worlds 2017.   Perhaps @ralucutzagy might have it archived under H&L?  It was in an outdoor ice rink and she was showing the clusters to Nobu, iirc.  I cannot remember the exact location or date.  

Oh, I remember the clip but unfortunately I don't have it. @kaeryth is the one with the great memory and ability in finding everything Yuzu related. 

[KatjaThera]

1 hour ago, barbara said:

Agree 100%.  Origin is a beast.  But it will take more than his brilliant artistry and incomparable transitions and jumps to beat NC - he needs fair judging.  So, along with our support for him during what must be a quite trying time, we should all wish on the evening star, every evening, that Worlds has unbiased, fair judging.

Honestly, I don't believe fair, unbiased judging exists in figure skating anymore, not really. However, I do believe that if there is anyone who can beat the system and become so good as to win even despite that, to make it impossible to underscore him to the point of losing to his rivals, that is Yuzu. And in some ways, he's been doing this throughout his entire career. The odds were rarely in his favor and the politics were never in his favor. It's just that the powers that be have a better weapon now, because Nathan's consistency is his saving, and they're far more shameless because the rules give them more freedom to be shameless. But I do believe Yuzu might still be able to win DESPITE this. Remember, the H&L historical record is still the most underscored world record ever. And he still forced them to give it to him. I think he can do it again, but really everything needs to fall into place just right and I think that might be what Brian meant, too. They can't help the judging, but Yuzuru can become even better, possibly to the point where he can still win, despite the politics. He will probably need at least 4A on top of his other quads, though. The only question is whether Yuzu is willing to try pushing himself that far again, with everything that implies... I wouldn't blame him if he decided it's not worth it.

[kiches]

Need to do a little digging for the actual video online, but here's the translation of the segment with Shizuka Arakawa and Nobunari Oda where she does a portion of the H&L step sequence. Seems to be a segment after GPF 2016.

 

https://yuzusorbet.tumblr.com/post/155209568957/shuzo-matsuoka-interviewing-yuzuru-after-gpf-2016

[barbara]

50 minutes ago, KatjaThera said:

Honestly, I don't believe fair, unbiased judging exists in figure skating anymore, not really. However, I do believe that if there is anyone who can beat the system and become so good as to win even despite that, to make it impossible to underscore him to the point of losing to his rivals, that is Yuzu. And in some ways, he's been doing this throughout his entire career. The odds were rarely in his favor and the politics were never in his favor. It's just that the powers that be have a better weapon now, because Nathan's consistency is his saving, and they're far more shameless because the rules give them more freedom to be shameless. But I do believe Yuzu might still be able to win DESPITE this. Remember, the H&L historical record is still the most underscored world record ever. And he still forced them to give it to him. I think he can do it again, but really everything needs to fall into place just right and I think that might be what Brian meant, too. They can't help the judging, but Yuzuru can become even better, possibly to the point where he can still win, despite the politics. He will probably need at least 4A on top of his other quads, though. The only question is whether Yuzu is willing to try pushing himself that far again, with everything that implies... I wouldn't blame him if he decided it's not worth it.

Breaks my heart.

[barbara]

2 hours ago, Vulnavia said:

 

The problem is that the judges are going to continue to treat Nathan as if he's the full package even though he's not. All of Yuzu's programs are better than anything that Nathan has ever done, but if the ISU and USFS are determined to crown Nathan as the new king it's going to be an uphill battle for Yuzu no matter what his programs are. 

Nathan can continue being king in the US - but he's not the king of the world.  And I think Vincent will be giving him a run for his money next year...

[barbara]

2 hours ago, tafattsbarn said:

Come to think of it, he hasn't even skated SEIMEI that many times. What is it, nine times total? That's just little more than a season for most. He's done Chopin a few more times (14 times?), but not that many more. On the other hand there are program's like Shoma's Turandot or Keegan's Chaplin that i feel like we've seen just as many or way more than that. 

 

I seriously will never understand the complaints for /him/ repeating programs when there are others that have done it just as much with even more performances of said programs that barely get criticised except for a few rumblings. 

 

Anyways, this was a bit of shock to me. Maybe i thought he had done them more times in competition because i've watched them both at least a thousand times on my own time  

You know, at least they are all unique and complete and beautiful.  All NC's look the same - nothing memorable.

[rockstaryuzu]

14 minutes ago, barbara said:

You know, at least they are all unique and complete and beautiful.  All NC's look the same - nothing memorable.

The thing is, both Nemesis and Mao's Last Dancer could have been great, memorable programs, but he never really did them justice. I'm not going to knock Nathan too much, because clearly Yuzu cherishes him as a good competitor, but Nathan's more an athlete than a performer. He's the kind of guy who should always do programs like Rocketman, because that's where his strengths lie. He would be at a complete loss if you asked to perform something like, say, Requiem. Not because he couldn't do it technically, but because he couldn't do it emotionally. The performance wouldn't ring true. And that's why he failed with Mao's and with Nemesis - there was no emotional connection for the audience to grab onto and be moved. 

 

But what do I know, I'm just a silly satellite...

[sweetwater]

Here's the segment of Hodo Station aired after GPF2016 in which Shizuka doing a part of H&L to explain how upper-body movements and vertical motions affect the difficulty of Stsq.

Spoiler

 

 

Translation can be found here 

 

[Henni147]

9 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

My brain is running away with me now, but how about Yuzu doing a one-man remake of Tessa & Scott's Moulin Rouge? I really think he could do it and make it awesome. 

 

Great. Now you made me think of Yuzu bringing the house down with 'Fame' 

 

He obviously loves the choreo. Gabi was very amused by his iconic high kick in Torino 

[memae]

7 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

The thing is, both Nemesis and Mao's Last Dancer could have been great, memorable programs, but he never really did them justice. I'm not going to knock Nathan too much, because clearly Yuzu cherishes him as a good competitor, but Nathan's more an athlete than a performer. He's the kind of guy who should always do programs like Rocketman, because that's where his strengths lie. He would be at a complete loss if you asked to perform something like, say, Requiem. Not because he couldn't do it technically, but because he couldn't do it emotionally. The performance wouldn't ring true. And that's why he failed with Mao's and with Nemesis - there was no emotional connection for the audience to grab onto and be moved. 

 

But what do I know, I'm just a silly satellite...

 

I think that he could if, just if he wasn't competing. He really switches on as an athlete in a way that is so focused on the technical skills that he closes himself off from performance aspect. A bit of it came out with Caravan but we didn't get much. I think that's why his free last season worked so well for him. Contemporary in style but simple and minimalist - I know it looks empty compared to Yuzu's programs (I typoed the ms in programs the wrong way around TWICE just now, but like, as a portmanteau that's pretty much how good Yuzuru's programs are so...) but I thought he brought out a lot of elegance for something that could have been much more boring in different hands. 

 

What we know about Nathan is that he has the humility to not only to know he has real room for improvement in PCS but that he actually wants to improve (he said so at GPF). The contemporary style works for him (I just call it that because it reminds me of contemporary dance). He should go to Marie France for a decent chunk of time for more than choreo and just learn to melt in with music the way dancers do. His musicality is good - it's just that it doesn't all quite connect when he's performing (because he's not performing so much as competing).  Yuzuru's crazy footwork is magic with music because he just connects his movement and expression with every moment in every aspect of the music. Nathan has gorgeous lines and those 'balletic arms' (as everyone likes to call them) - he might not be able to what Yuzu does the way that he does it, but damn if he held a spiral (or something) at the right moment for the right amount of time (he did ballet FOREVER so you just know he can do one) it would really play to his strengths outside of the jumps. His style and the music he uses would work well with holding positions for the right amount of time to build that emotional connection with the audience so it doesn't have to come from his 'performance'. It's like if you give a speech, people will applaud after the 3rd point because we're conditioned to consider 3 to be completion or a point of emphasis. If he could just hold a move for a couple of seconds at the right time, the audience would eat it up and he wouldn't have to try to deliver that emotion in a way he's not capable of. God knows he has time for it when he's doing laps between jumps. Imagine him doing LGC - it would end up too schticky and ham-fisted without Yuzu's performance quality. H&L, Chopin, Origin, etc, would all just feel flat, and it's the feeling you get watching Yuzu skate that makes him so special. His technical elements are great, of course, and those SS are to die for, but I think if he did a program like Land of All or La Boheme (I just had to google to remind myself what Nate's SP is this season - how bad is that? And I'm even a fan of Nathan!), as they are, no added Ina Bauers or Biellmanns or Yuzu Step Sequence, he'd still have you mesmerised and hanging on his every move. 

 

I like watching Nathan. I like that he and Yuzuru are such different skaters because it would be so boring if they were the same. I do just really hope Nathan grows into his PCS more and more and doesn't get complacent because of the current inflation and his ability to rest on his technical capability (he should have learned his lesson at the Olympics). He has a style he likes and that works for him, but he doesn't own it yet. I hope he keeps working towards it because I want to see Nathan skate in a way that deserves his current scores. 

[Frances]

Does anybody remember what time the confession is supposed to be at and what TV station? It is supposed to be today right? 

[memae]

1 hour ago, sweetwater said:

Here's the segment of Hodo Station aired after GPF2016 in which Shizuka doing a part of H&L to explain how upper-body movements and vertical motions affect the difficulty of Stsq.

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Hahaha, Nobu   

I didn't understand a word of that except 'step sequence' but I got the gist. Also, Shizuka is still very nice to watch even just pottering through H&L St-Sq for the sake of this demonstration. Thanks for posting! 

[sweetwater]

11 minutes ago, memae said:

 

Hahaha, Nobu   

I didn't understand a word of that except 'step sequence' but I got the gist. Also, Shizuka is still very nice to watch even just pottering through H&L St-Sq for the sake of this demonstration. Thanks for posting! 

@kiches has posted the link to the translation of the main parts by yuzusorbet  

I'll quote this post in my previous post too. (Should have done it!)