General Yuzuru Chat

[yuzuangel]

38 minutes ago, memae said:

I hope he gets a perfect performance like this again to his current FP. 

 

TBH he already did -- JNats was near flawless. Only flaw in JNats performance were the missing lutzes/flips.

 

But okay, with 4A, because the program isn't complete (according to him) without it

[citrusjunos]

1 minute ago, hananistellata said:

Art like this is always so bittersweet to me. It's very cute to see and it makes me happy seeing how far Yuzuru has come, yet for some reason there is pain lingering inside my heart and I don't know why.

 

Still, very lovely to see. 

I get that bittersweet feeling, too. I think for me, it's because his journey hasn't been easy and that he's closer to the end of that journey rather than the beginning. It's being able to see the full picture at once: baby Yuzu who was filled with hopes and dreams, not knowing the hardships he was about to face; the Yuzu who rose to the top despite all the pain and heartache, who kept single-mindedly striving to achieve his dreams; and now, the Yuzu who's nearly accomplished everything he wants and still is pushing beyond his limits, the Yuzu who was built from all the previous experiences encapsulated in this picture.

[Anni]

13 hours ago, Veveco said:

Yuzu is back in Japan 

 

[NEWS]

 

That's good news in the morning.  I'm glad to know that he arrived safely in Japan  Yuzu, have a good rest 🙏🙏
 

[citrusjunos]

4 minutes ago, hananistellata said:

I think you put it into words perfectly. It's really painful honestly. Things were really never easy for him yet he kept fighting and fighting and fighting and he never stopped, even when he reached the top he wanted to go higher and higher, he wanted to reach the stars, but people kept and still keep trying to knock him down but he gets up every time. And now that he is so close to the stars we have a painful journey to look back to. It's quite calming to think about the happy moments he had but God he suffered so much.

 

I just want him to be happy.

I forgot which interview it was, but when he was asked whether he'd want to be "Hanyu Yuzuru" again in another life, he said that no, he wouldn't. It felt like a stab to the heart, hearing him say that. I'm not sure whether he still thinks that way, but it just goes to show how much he has suffered compared to how much he has achieved.

 

I also just want him to be happy. I want him to land that 4A. Although I did mention in one of my previous posts that I liked seeing this new Yuzu who doesn't care about winning as much as before, it does also make me kind of sad. He really enjoyed competing and would've continued to enjoy competing, but these past three years have not rewarded him at all. I don't want to be presumptuous, because no one really knows what's going on inside his head, but I feel that he felt defeated by the judging, which was what caused him to go into this ultimate zen, enlightened mode. He went from being happy at the Kiss and Cry even after a fall, to looking worried and then relieved once he got his scores, to looking confused and throwing not-so-subtle shade ("I hope the rotation was okay for the toe"), to just nodding and shrugging with an "it is what it is" attitude. I would've liked to see him go into this mode more naturally, but perhaps this outlook will lead to a road with less heartache, because regardless of scores, being the first to land a 4A is something no one--no judge nor commentator nor competitor--can take away from him.

[yumeaki]

 

[NEWS]

[Henni147]

12 hours ago, yuzuangel said:

 

TBH he already did -- JNats was near flawless. Only flaw in JNats performance were the missing lutzes/flips.

 

But okay, with 4A, because the program isn't complete (according to him) without it

 

For me TenChi at JNats was perfect, BECAUSE there was no Flip and Lutz in it. These aggressive jumps don't belong to smooth, airy and light TenChi and I'm extremely glad that Yuzu felt the same way 

 

I don't give a damn about it, if a skater uses all types of jumps or not. A program layout shouldn't be a bingo sheet, not even in competition.

 

Yuzu has proven countless times already that he can do all types of jumps with textbook technique and probably holds the world record of minimum prerotation for all six of them. Bringing them all in every single program just to prove 'hey, I can still do them!' is just... stupid, especially if it ruins the choreo 

[Yukok]

Yuzuru came back to Japan safely.

Happy news☺️

[shanshani]

6 minutes ago, Henni147 said:

 

For me TenChi at JNats was perfect, BECAUSE there was no Flip and Lutz in it. These aggressive jumps don't belong to smooth, airy and light TenChi and I'm extremely glad that Yuzu felt the same way.

 

I don't give a damn about it, if a skater uses all types of jumps or not. Nathan never jumps a Loop either and no one complains about it. A program layout shouldn't be a bingo sheet, not even in competition.

 

Yuzu has proven countless times already that he can do all types of jumps with textbook technique and probably holds the world record of minimum prerotation for all six of them. Bringing them all in every single program just to prove 'hey, I can still so them!' is just... stupid, especially if it ruins the choreo.

Yuzu's 3F and 3Lz aren't "aggressive" though, they're as light as airy as any of his other jumps. I wouldn't even call the 4Lz aggressive when it's behaving. Don't slander the flip and lutz like that just because other people do toe hammers or muscle through the jumps  The 3F in Hope and Legacy is perfect

 

But also, isn't TenChi a bit aggressive as well? He's portraying a samurai going to war, isn't he? The music isn't light and airy in the way something like H&L is--to my ears, it has an edge to it.

 

Speaking of portraying a samurai, I vaguely remember Yuzu saying at some point (I think around the time he was debuting Seimei) that he had to think about what kind of Japanese character he could portray, and that he wasn't really well suited to portraying a samurai. Guess things have changed  I mean, he has filled out quite a bit.

[lynnidolz]

Since Yuzuru is planning 4A as his first jumping pass in TenChi ..which quad do u think he will sacrifices or will he do 5 quads?and if he did 4A is 3a still required?just wondering...

[dreamelena]

Woke up to smiley eyed yuzu arriving hope  he'll have  a good, safe quarantine!! I know he  must  be itching to come  back to his  new baby  4A but hope he makes sure he  rests up enough  first haha.

 

Also responding to the  above question, idk if he wants to sacrifice any of his existing quads now but for sure he would have to replace one jump for his new baby 4A. Maybe he will do only 1 3A but idk.. I mean I wouldn't be surprised  if he's already started thinking of the layout for  when the baby is  ready..

 

 

[TurtleCere]

Hello, 

 

First time I post here. 

 

I'm relatively newish to figure skating so I'm not knowledgeable about the technical aspect of it. After World, it looks like many in the figure skating world are considering Nathan as the unbeatable king and many "experts" in the field (coaches, skaters and commentators) are praising his athleticism and artistry, basically implying that he's unbeatable and that Yuzuru is done and past his prime. 

I noticed that it's not only US commentators but also experts from other countries, the only exception being Ambesi. While ordinary people like me still seem to prefer Yuzu and his unparalleled artistry. 

 

Why do so many experts seem to prefer Nathan to Yuzu? 

 

I also would like to add that this is just my personal impression after reading sport articles and navigating in social media, and might not be necessarily objective. 

 

 

 

[Fay]

Hiya, German-speaking satellites, what are they saying? 

 

[Henni147]

57 minutes ago, shanshani said:

Yuzu's 3F and 3Lz aren't "aggressive" though, they're as light as airy as any of his other jumps. I wouldn't even call the 4Lz aggressive when it's behaving. Don't slander the flip and lutz like that just because other people do toe hammers or muscle through the jumps  The 3F in Hope and Legacy is perfect

 

But also, isn't TenChi a bit aggressive as well? He's portraying a samurai going to war, isn't he? The music isn't light and airy in the way something like H&L is--to my ears, it has an edge to it.

 

Yes, I 100% agree that Yuzu's toe jumps are much lighter and smoother compared to the hammered ones of many other skaters. No doubt about that. Gomen, if my wording was harsh, it wasn't meant to be a criticism 

 

I only compared Yuzu's Flip and Lutz with his other jumps and among them - especially the Lutz - is quite "massive". In German we have that word "wuchtig". I don't know, if there's a 1:1 English translation for it, but massive and powerful probably come closest.

 

The story of TenChi could be described as aggressive in some parts, but the music itself feels so light and serene for me. It was particularly the step sequence and the dominant choice of edge jumps that blew me away at Nationals. It was the lightest freeskate I've ever seen in my life. When I saw that 3Lz+1Eu+3S combo in practice last week, it was good (most skaters would probably kill to have a Lutz like that), but compared to the 4T version it felt a bit heavy, even though it was only a triple. It just didn't have the same magical impact on me as the Toeloop has.

 

I totally agree though, that the 3F in H&L was perfect. Maybe as a single jump I would accept it in TenChi (although I LOVE the current 3Lo and hope that it will stay). Same with the 4T+1Eu+3S combo - 120% match with the music and my heart would bleed, if it was replaced by something else 

[Henni147]

18 minutes ago, Fay said:

Hiya, German-speaking satellites, what are they saying? 

 

 

I can translate the full commentary, if you like.

But I have to eat my lunch first 

[shanshani]

48 minutes ago, lynnidolz said:

Since Yuzuru is planning 4A as his first jumping pass in TenChi ..which quad do u think he will sacrifices or will he do 5 quads?and if he did 4A is 3a still required?just wondering...

imo, he'll almost certainly sacrifice 4Lo. doing 5 quads with one of them being 4A sounds very taxing. I think he's probably much more capable of a 5 quad program than he was at 2019 GPF, but 4A is much more taxing than an ordinary quad. 

 

10 minutes ago, TurtleCere said:

Hello, 

 

First time I post here. 

 

I'm relatively newish to figure skating so I'm not knowledgeable about the technical aspect of it. After World, it looks like many in the figure skating world are considering Nathan as the unbeatable king and many "experts" in the field (coaches, skaters and commentators) are praising his athleticism and artistry, basically implying that he's unbeatable and that Yuzuru is done and past his prime. 

I noticed that it's not only US commentators but also experts from other countries, the only exception being Ambesi. While ordinary people like me still seem to prefer Yuzu and his unparalleled artistry. 

 

Why do so many experts seem to prefer Nathan to Yuzu? 

 

I also would like to add that this is just my personal impression after reading sport articles and navigating in social media, and might not be necessarily objective. 

 

 

 

Nathan is much more consistent than Yuzu is, he has higher BV, and the judges shower him with points regardless of his deficiencies, so that's why he appears "unbeatable." Yuzu has also had a bad time in his post Pyeongchang competitions against Nathan for various reasons, which also contributes to it. A lot of these people also have some kind of stake in selling this narrative--eg. US commentators are clearly pushing their own skater. The narrative matters because judges hear it, and it influences how they score (judges that deviate too much from other judges get in trouble, so the judge selection process actively selects for conformists). Finally, a lot of these people are paid to yammer and consequently overreact to the latest competition result. If Yuzu hadn't had an asthma attack and had repeated his Jnats performance, you can be sure the narrative would be different.

 

From a points standpoint, it's true that Yuzu is fighting an uphill battle competing against Nathan. But scores are one thing, and what people objectively put on the ice is another. Anyone who pays attention knows that the difference between the score and the actual performance is substantial. In no universe does Nathan have better skating skills than Keegan Messing (who should have gotten bronze in the short instead of Nathan). If we went by the scores, we would have to conclude that Han Yan has worse skating skills than Sasha Trusova. I actually really like Sasha, but that's laughable. Since the judging is so bad, people who have good artistry and skating skills often go unrewarded, whereas people who have the favor of the judges for whatever reason end up being far more competitive than they would be if the judging were accurate. That's one reason figure skating results and audience reactions often differ--the audience actually has a more accurate assessment of a skater's overall performance.

 

I also think that a lot of people in the figure skating world are a little resentful of Yuzu's fame and success and also don't like the presence of fanyus, and therefore want to see him go.