General Yuzuru Chat

[Pammi]

2 minutes ago, Henni147 said:

Yuzu is a person who always stays true to himself and his style. He does what he likes and he likes what he does. With heart and dignity. He doesn't succumb to any prevalent stereotypes or gender expectations.

I think that's very true, though from Worlds 2019 to GPF 2019 I think there might have been a bit of a wobble? Maybe not everyone will agree but I felt he seemed to be moving in the direction to trying to match Nathan's number of quads for example, and saying how cool Nathan is (and seeming to forget how cool HE himself is), but after GPF, undoubtedly with his coaches support, had a reawakening to the fact that his own style is unique and beautiful and powerful - and cool! - and made a return to Chopin and SEMEI which really worked for his confidence I think, and is maybe how we have arrived at these 2 new programmes where he is able to excel and show his quality of technique and musicality and sense of theatre in the way only he can.  And the response has been so positive in the main, and totally vindicates his choice to remain true to himself and his style (which is so important to us too as his fans).

[citrusjunos]

8 hours ago, CaroSkate said:

I want to thank Yuzu for giving us the presents we need in this depressing world.

 

My favourite part in H&E is the step sequence, especially when he stopped for a moment then moved his hand. I don't know much about Japanese theatre, but it feels like he is on the stage with a sword.

Me too! That's why I immediately had to make it my signature 

[SuzyQ]

18 時間前, SitTwizzleさんが言いました:

まず、歌詞の翻訳について少し説明します。「querer」は「愛する」と「欲しい」を意味します。「愛しています」と言う通常の方法は、たとえば「tequiero」です。「parapoderluchar」は、「戦える」という意味です。彼はタンゴで素晴らしいと確信しています。彼が本当に、真剣に官能的であるなら、多分まだですか？

そして、私は彼が（非常に）男性的またはむしろジェンダーニュートラルであるのを見たことがありますが、決して女性的ではありません。多分これは個人的な主観的な概念ですか？（私はR＆J2がプログラムと衣装の両方でミスだと思ったと告白しますが、私にとってはロミオもジュリエットも意味しませんでした。）

 

One interesting thing is, it is also said that Uesugi Kenshin might have been a woman 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uesugi_Kenshin

 

[makebelieveup]

1 hour ago, lajoitko said:

SP and FS music on Youtube. Sorry if already posted somewhere!

 

 

 

here is what I realized today. How to put it, I guess not really realizing but was reminded of something as I listened to Ten to Chi to music just now -- that is, Yuzu is really amazing. lol

 

Whenever I watch a figure skating program by other skaters, most of the time, I can't remember what their programs are about or exactly know what they try to convey. I guess that is why most skaters choose warhorses because they are well known. The skaters can just make sure they hit the notes of the music and thats good enough. For me, unfortunately, that strategy worked most of the time. Why? Because I like music pieces with familiar melodies. I like to understand what I am watching rather than doing research or going out of my comfort zone to understand something. So as long as I could see skaters actually skating to the music I like, thats a rewatchable program. Now I am not saying that makes them a good skater, but it makes the program more rewatchable.

 

Likewise, some of my most fav programs from Yuzu or any other skaters are ones where they skate to the music and have good, memorable music. In the past, at one point I didn't enjoy Seimei as much as say Hope and Legacy or Chopin because I did not like the music as much. Hope and Legacy was new but it is very melodic and suit to my taste so it was easy to grow into it. But after a while, I realized how revolutionizing Seimei, this masterpiece really is because even when I didnt (past tense because I clearly do now) love the music its how Yuzu skated to it that's made me love it. It's how the program was constructed and skated to that make a program great. It emphasizes to me that music is just a layer of a program not its foundation. The foundation is the skater. Without a great skater, we aren't watching it for the program but for the music, for the jumps, for a point/moment of the program.

 

Similarly, with Ten to Chi to, I must admit I also could not follow it at first. It was even worse than Seimei because I was looking for a climatic part but it didnt give me that. I was like many ignorant westerners who were used to listening to eurocentric programs that follow one typical storytelling structure. However, as much as I couldnt remember the music, I remember Yuzu's skating. So just now when I listened to just Ten to Chi to without watching the skate, I was able to visualize which part he skated to. Likewise, when I watched Yuzu's skate while muting the music, I could begin to hear its melody through silence. It's crazy. It shows how his skating and the music are one. To me, it is as if he brings life to the music. I don't have to be someone who grew up watching this movie to like it because he has conveyed the story through his skating.

 

I'm not a very eloquent person so I hope you guys are following my stream of consciousness haha. I am so in awe of how Yuzu not only has been pushing the sport forward technically and artistically, but also culturally. He challenges the status quo of the system like no one I have ever seen. I would not have discovered and fallen in love with so many good movies or musics from Japan if he had not been such a powerful ambassador. 

[Tae Grane]

19 hours ago, makebelieveup said:

Hanyu is experimenting with looks, but has given up on difficult jumps

Hanyu has been acting somewhat arrogant towards viewers and rivals over the past few years, returning programs from past years from year to year. The apotheosis was the decision to return the short under Chopin that season for ... the fourth time. Therefore, Yuzuru could not go to the Japanese championship with the old programs, and even a pandemic would not be an excuse.

 

 

I can't believe they said ridiculous something like this. In one of the Sponichi interview they asked why did he put combinations in first half and he mentioned that his body is not as strong as it should be and there was a period where he couldn't even land salchow and toe-loop so he put things slowly as he practiced. Probably he's been struggling a lot by physically and mentally. People don't know how his body condition yet they can talk dumb like this. That's really annoying... 

[Henni147]

1 hour ago, Pammi said:

I think that's very true, though from Worlds 2019 to GPF 2019 I think there might have been a bit of a wobble? Maybe not everyone will agree but I felt he seemed to be moving in the direction to trying to match Nathan's number of quads for example, and saying how cool Nathan is (and seeming to forget how cool HE himself is)

 

I actually think that Yuzu did stay true to himself in the way that he really wanted to win. He was fully aware of the drastic changes in the judging system, that now skating clean and having a high base value is more important than anything else. He was aware that he has to make a decision for himself: aiming for the win or skating the way he used to. He decided to go for the win and up his BV. It's quite remarkable actually, how little he had to sacrifice of his usual skating quality and transitions in Torino. It was not that much.

 

EDIT: I wonder how many skaters would have had his mental strength and inner balance to move on after Saitama and Torino. The treatment that Yuzu got there from the judges and the media was downright cruel and I can't blame him that he doubted himself. Even wise men like Dumbledore would have struggled in that mess of a situation.

 

This interview after ACI 2019 shows very clearly Yuzu's inner conflict but also his realistic way of thinking. The PCS cap and heavy impact of a mistake on the scoring, but also the lacking reward for complex transitions really pissed him off at that time. Fair or not - he accepted that (against Nathan) he cannot win with GOE alone anymore.

 

 

What he said last year is pretty much what he put into action at JNats this week. Skate clean to up your scores. His scores are still ridiculous, but at least he got the highest PCS for a freeskate since Barcelona 2015. That is a start.

[barbara]

9 hours ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Me too, but why did my post from March suddenly resurface?

 

Incidentally, I still have lots of those badges left. If anyone wants one, customised or not, DM me and I'll send you the deets.

I thought it was weird but thought, also, hey - 2020. There is no explanation for anything.

[b138oo]

On 12/28/2020 at 5:14 AM, yuzuangel said:

have we talked about this?

1. him not saying whether he's going back to tcc, almost sounds like he's considering not going back

2. confirming he hasn't successfully jumped 4A yet

 

for 2. i'm not that surprised, his attempts at the GPF last year were close but he was missing a bit of rotation, and getting that last 0.25 rotation looks like it's gonna be 99.9% of the work. 4A never sounded like something he was just *inconsistent* at, it always felt like a wall that he hasn't surpassed at. i believe if he lands it once he will learn it really quickly. but i'm not sure how much time he has had to practice it since GPF.

 

for 1. i guess i'm half surprised, half not. before the pandemic he was religiously returning to toronto even after nationals when he could have stayed home to enjoy the holidays. but it does seem like yuzu hasn't really needed coaches for a while. he self-coaches, and he turns to ghislain for advice and emotional support. it's kind of amazing if you think about it. what else can they teach him? how to jump a 4A? no one in the world knows that. but on the other hand, it worries me a bit. i wish he could still feel that it's a home for him if he chooses to return there.

Yuzu has been training in TCC for like 8 yrs, which could be considered as such a long time to live overseas away from family and friends. I think before, he hasn’t had an experience to be completely without a coach for a long time, thus he felt the need to go back asap to Toronto post competitions. In addition, he had a lot of injuries so he needed a lot of specialised training regimens from a more experienced coaches.

 

However, currently he may feel being independent from TCC is doable. His mother and him sacrificed a lot to live in Toronto for such a long time, so if he could stay and practice in Japan and has a good result, I think he may want to consider doing that instead of going back living overseas. However, he mentioned about the lack of objective views about his performance/ jumps during practice and he also would discuss the problematic 0 spin thingy with his coaches (which I assumed tcc coaches), which kinda shows that going 100% independent is pretty difficult. No matter how good of an athlete you are, it’s sometimes really difficult to see what’s wrong with your practice/ performance without others’ perspective and inputs. A pro- tennis player for example (Djokovic, Federer etc). They don’t hire coaches because they need to learn more about tennis, they hire coaches to improve their game plan by utilising the tools (serve, rally etc) they already have. In addition, the coaches are there to remind them to do the right thing. This I believe is pretty similar to what Yuzu needs. Yuzu at this point in his career most probably doesn’t need a coach to teach him about figure skating. He already has one of the best techniques and he knows what needs to be done. But, he needs someone else to monitor his practices, give inputs to his performances and remind him to do the right thing. 
 

I guess, once the pandemic is over, there may be a possibility of him spending less time in TCC and more time in Japan. 
 

I believe he knows what’s best for him because no one understands him better than himself. However, going 100% independent without a homebase rink and coaching team while actively competing and preparing for the Olympics sounds really really difficult. 

[barbara]

8 minutes ago, b138oo said:

Yuzu has been training in TCC for like 8 yrs, which could be considered as such a long time to live overseas away from family and friends. I think before, he hasn’t had an experience to be completely without a coach for a long time, thus he felt the need to go back asap to Toronto post competitions. In addition, he had a lot of injuries so he needed a lot of specialised training regimens from a more experienced coaches.

 

However, currently he may feel being independent from TCC is doable. His mother and him sacrificed a lot to live in Toronto for such a long time, so if he could stay and practice in Japan and has a good result, I think he may want to consider doing that instead of going back living overseas. However, he mentioned about the lack of objective views about his performance/ jumps during practice and he also would discuss the problematic 0 spin thingy with his coaches (which I assumed tcc coaches), which kinda shows that going 100% independent is pretty difficult. No matter how good of an athlete you are, it’s sometimes really difficult to see what’s wrong with your practice/ performance without others’ perspective and inputs. A pro- tennis player for example (Djokovic, Federer etc). They don’t hire coaches because they need to learn more about tennis, they hire coaches to improve their game plan by utilising the tools (serve, rally etc) they already have. In addition, the coaches are there to remind them to do the right thing. This I believe is pretty similar to what Yuzu needs. Yuzu at this point in his career most probably doesn’t need a coach to teach him about figure skating. He already has one of the best techniques and he knows what needs to be done. But, he needs someone else to monitor his practices, give inputs to his performances and remind him to do the right thing. 
 

I guess, once the pandemic is over, there may be a possibility of him spending less time in TCC and more time in Japan. 
 

I believe he knows what’s best for him because no one understands him better than himself. However, going 100% independent without a homebase rink and coaching team while actively competing and preparing for the Olympics sounds really really difficult. 

And I believe that he will do what he feels necessary to compete at the highest level, and that means returning to Toronto and his in-person coaches.  If there is a 2022 Olympics, he will want to take gold, and no one, not even Yuzu, can do that without coaching.  And it's not like he's been able to renew friendships and had much of a life in the last 10 months.  He's been on both a gov't and personally imposed lockdown.  He has sacrificed so much for his skating, but why would he mess with a perfect partnership when we're only talking about, probably, one more active season?

[yuzuangel]

8 hours ago, Fay said:

Lol there’s an over the top article in a Russian online news outlet about Yuzu’s new programs and his outing at the Nationals. 
https://amp.sport24.ru/news/figureskating/2020-12-28-yudzuru-khanyu-korotkaya-programma-video-yudzuru-khanyu-proizvolnaya-programma-analitika-razbor-postanovka

 

This post has been tagged by robin as [NEWS].

I love Russians and their over the top articles

[Fay]

This is what commentating should sound like. Seriously... maybe slightly less of it  

 

 

[yuzupon]

5 minutes ago, Fay said:

This is what commentating should sound like. Seriously... maybe slightly less of it  

 

 

Goodbye, sinners! I’m howling 

[makebelieveup]

9 minutes ago, Fay said:

This is what commentating should sound like. Seriously... maybe slightly less of it  

 

 

lmao is this google voice?

[Veveco]

16 minutes ago, Fay said:

This is what commentating should sound like. Seriously... maybe slightly less of it  

 

 

 

OMG this is hilarious, thank you 

[river]

16 minutes ago, Fay said:

This is what commentating should sound like. Seriously... maybe slightly less of it  

 

 

“Who cares about the landing on the Salchow when Yuzu’s wearing leather pants?”

 

Indeed.