General Yuzuru Chat

[micaelis]

I stand corrected by several others.  I was unaware of the seeding protocol.  Beyond that, while not dismissing any of those skaters I cited in my earlier post, I feel that none of those are able to do what Yuzu does best, marrying the TES and PCS.  Javi skating perfectly cannot match Yuzu skating perfectly.  The two World Championships he received were the result of Yuzu losing,  something which mighty be said of every competition Yuzu's been in since 2013-2014 (with the exception of the disaster following the crash).  Boyang can jump better than Yuzu but he seems to lack involvement with the music accompanying him and I really don't think that however he tries he will ever get his PCS up to the stratospheric heights Yuzu routinely hits.  Patrick, in comparison to Yuzu, is an incomplete skater, but on the opposite side of Boyang, being essentially what I term a 'lyric skater'.  He'll never be able to top Yuzu on the TES, not unless Yuzu makes a real mess of things.  Nathan is hampered by his inconsistency and his tendency to try to do more than he's currently capable of doing, which means he picks up negative points fairly readily.  This is not to dismiss them but it is to state that if Yuzu does what we know he can do, it'll be a slam-dunk.  More than one commentator made remarks back in those two legendary programs Yuzu did back in 2015, saying that if he continued skating like he was there would be nobody able to touch him.  The only skater I think should really worry Yuzu is Shoma.  I think Shoma at his best would give Yuzu a real run for the money.  He is a 'complete' skater, though not yet quite in Yuzu's league but if he's on and Yuzu is not quite on, things could be very close if not turning out silver for Yuzu.  As for another remark made about waiting forty years to see another complete skater, I think the remark was made in reference to John Curry and I am inclined to agree though during those forty years I was more or less unaware of what was going on in figure skating.  Sombreuil, this thought for you.  You might be seeing two complete skaters (Yuzu and Shoma)  dueling over the next few years.  I still go with Yuzu, mainly because he has been fortunate over the years of having superior choreographers, going back to his first coach/choreographer.  Besides Shoma's style is not quite as elegant as Yuzu and he doesn't pack quite the charisma that Yuzu has.  I think it was Kurt Browning who said that Yuzu is the only skater he knows who can command an audience's complete attention while doing absolutely nothing.  That, I think , says it all.

[Sombreuil]

I am glad not to be the only person here who remembers JC in action - at the time he was wonderful and even in bad quality YouTube videos I think the lightness of his landings, on the most difficult (at the time ) jumps is still evident.

 

I'm afraid I can't agree on Shoma at the moment- it's not lack of charisma - it's the wrenching landings of his jumps.  YH has the ease with 3A and quads that JC had with 2A and triples 40 years ago.  

 

We can agree to disagree 

 

[Yatagarasu]

5 minutes ago, micaelis said:

I still go with Yuzu, mainly because he has been fortunate over the years of having superior choreographers, going back to his first coach/choreographer. 

 

Eh, Yuzuru is not ahead because he has been fortunate of having superior choreographers; Yuzuru Hanyu is a superior skater, full stop. 

 

I am always fine with discarding performance and interpretation as a lot of that is subjective though personally I do think that one can judge it well; when it comes to the technical Yuzuru Hanyu's jump technique is by leaps and bounds ahead of Shoma Uno's. His spins are better as well while we're at it but it is especially with jumps where we see a huge difference. It's not just about doing it, it is how you do it. I am aware of the current way the judges are scoring but it doesn't mean I am going to condone it by putting an equal sign between Hanyu and Uno because no. 

[Sombreuil]

Totally agree.

[Hydroblade]

The site's banner is up now at the rink. It's lonely but it's there

[AsteroidB-612]

17 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

The site's banner is up now at the rink. It's lonely but it's there

Awww hearing that is like we are there with you! REPRESENT!

[EisElle]

It's true Shoma right now is the most "complete" among the young guns, but while he can land consistenly his jumps, the jumping quality isn't the best not only compared to Yuzuru but to the others top six too. So while Shoma can still get huge TES and huge PCS, at the moment in a fair world a perfect Yuzuru would beat a perfect Shoma.

Of course if Yuzuru makes any mistake he opens the door, but he opens it to pretty much to everyone in the top six, depending on how they perform on the day. Indeed in the past he's done exactly that and he's been beaten by Patrick, Javi and Nathan too. So any of the top six (or other upcoming quadsters?) can beat a not-perfect Yuzu but perfect Yuzuru is still better than any other perfect one (again, in a fair world), because he is not just a "good" jumper, he is a great jumper, not a good spinner but a great one, with great skating skills and great musicality, and he is a great performer and a great interpreter etc and right now no one else is that great at everything like he is.

 

Also I'd like to add one more thought about comparing the first senior seasons of Yuzuru and Shoma: back then (quad between Vancouver and Sochi) Japan men's field was way deeper than what it has been the last couple of years. There were a lot of experienced skaters that were all competing at the top on the world stage, there were world and olympic medalists, there were Daisuke and Kozuka and Oda and then Machida and Nationals were a real bloodbath (just like it's going Ladies Jpn Nationals this year), so nobody (meaning JSF and judges) cared about a little mushroom that came from Sendai until he didn't forced them to notice him.

Yuzuru had to work really hard to get smallish GOEs and PCS in an era when judges were stingy even on +2s and the only skater that could consistently go above 90 PCS (but not that much higher either) was Patrick Chan. And Yuzuru was already doing spread eagle-3A when he was 16-17 years old, but has never got +3 for that (the next season he ditched the spread eagle entry to his solo 3A because it was too easy ... ).

  And we can't forget either that, those first two years in senior, training facilities and training hours were a big big big BIG issue for Yuzuru, even before the earthquake happened. Sendai wasn't Nagoya or Osaka.

 

Argh I wanted to comment on something I read in the previous page but I don't remember what it was anymore...I got distracted this thread is always so fast

And I should really be sleeping now

 

 

25 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

The site's banner is up now at the rink. It's lonely but it's there

Don't forget to take as many photos as possible (and then of course to share them with the rest of us)

A photo of the banner too pls

(but MORE photos of our Overlord Zuzu )

[Lunna]

1 час назад, micaelis сказал:

 I still go with Yuzu, mainly because he has been fortunate over the years of having superior choreographers, going back to his first coach/choreographer.  Besides Shoma's style is not quite as elegant as Yuzu and he doesn't pack quite the charisma that Yuzu has.  I think it was Kurt Browning who said that Yuzu is the only skater he knows who can command an audience's complete attention while doing absolutely nothing.

Shoma also has quite a charisma and when he's on grabs audience's attention very good (maybe not Yuzu-level but still))). About superior choreographers I can agree. Even if I find Shoma's Loco interesting, Yuzu & Jeff is a mach made in heaven))) (and we're forever grateful to Shae Lynn for SEIMEI).

[Yatagarasu]

25 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

The site's banner is up now at the rink. It's lonely but it's there

 

Thank you!! Please tell me you took a photo! 

[FCSSp4]

What really impresses me about Yuzuru isn't necessarily his scores or his medals (although those are great too) but his tenacity as a competitor. He has a penchant for studying the strengths of his rivals and finding ways to 'adapt' those to his own style of skating. Yuzuru has strong rivals going into the Olympic season which means he has a lot of strong competitors he can learn from. I look forward to that. 

 

 

[Pamigena]

look who we got here 

 

https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2017/09/21/0010573400.shtml?ph=2

 

[AsteroidB-612]

He is there!! gosh he looks so dashing in all black

[SparkleSalad]

17 minutes ago, AsteroidB-612 said:

He is there!!

 

Yeaaaah how many hours until first practice? 14ish? Gotta make those hours productive because I will be a wreck during this competition. 

(Also, I am seriously in awe of that neck. They just don't make collars high enough.) 

 

ETA The weird thing happened again where the competition keeps moving further away. Obvs its tomorrow. 

[Sammie]

5 minutes ago, AsteroidB-612 said:

He is there!! gosh he looks so dashing in all black

 He looks cute as ever. Is it me or he looks even younger??? What is this magic? I need it. 

[Yatagarasu]

14 minutes ago, Pamigena said:

look who we got here 

 

https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2017/09/21/0010573400.shtml?ph=2

 

 

Ahhhh he looks so good!! 

 

(see, this is why a black costume would look fab! Just saying.)