General Yuzuru Chat

[yuzuonice]

19 minutes ago, Hydroblade said:

You don't need friends if you have videogames and husbandos

New season of Tokyo Ghoul is coming in 2018, just in time 

[xeyra]

3 hours ago, ralucutzagy said:

They didn't show us enough in that AERA footage! 

 

 

This one I like much more, compared to the cover itself. Here we have a focus of light that actually helps not make the coat look too dark against the blue flower. And he looks really good. 

[Aotoshiro]

1 hour ago, Murieleirum said:

Please eat the Mantuvan pumpkin! Stuffed as filling in tortellini or gnocchi. One of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. (lol Why can I only suggest foods) 

And why not it's important! If I don't have this 'don't forget to try...' I DO actually forget to eat and then I'm all surprised when after a day I cannot lift a finger, lol.

 

33 minutes ago, maxcellwire said:

Rather than lack of motivation, the thing I'd be concerned about with Javi no longer in Toronto is Yuzu having friends while he's there. Although apparently they didn't hang out so much outside of the rink, so maybe Mr Introvert will be just fine.......idk

And in that aspect Javi is the forward blessing too, I like to think. With both of them knowing they had to learn English they probably were more comfortable trying out the language with each other, and even if they did focus on skating-related stuff, they still did improve each other's English, so Yuzuru is not this odd Japanese with the worst English anymore (probably). So it will be much easier to break any barrier which might have been there at the beginning, broken through by both Yuzu friendly charm on ice and Javi's easy-goingness. Plus, it seems like Yuzuru hads pretty good on-ice relationship with JunHwan (replacement kohai for the times Shoma isn't around?), and so it is possible that he still have the on-ice friends in Cricket, the way he was with Javi, and it seems the only way he really needed it.

And lest we forget, they also live in 21st century like us, even if sometimes it's hard to believe. So I guess they always can talk through mails or line or whatever, though obviously it won't be the same.

[Yatagarasu]

47 minutes ago, maxcellwire said:

Rather than lack of motivation, the thing I'd be concerned about with Javi no longer in Toronto is Yuzu having friends while he's there. 

 

That means an assumption of Yuzuru having no friends in Toronto other than perhaps Javier, which is not an assumption we should be making. We don't know things about his personal life, as he's so very guarded and who knows who his friends are. 

Yuzuru will be just fine, he's an adult.

[yuzuonice]

24 minutes ago, yuzuonice said:

New season of Tokyo Ghoul is coming in 2018, just in time 

I just saw this on my timeline, it seems that a new Pooh movie is coming out as well

 

at first I was appalled that Yuzu wasn't in the main role. But I guess his English does indeed need some more improvement 

Maybe after Beijing he can be the star of the next Pooh movie, eating honey in the English countryside 

[KatjaThera]

I've been wondering/worrying about how Javi's absence will influence Yuzu as well, but right now, I think it'll be more of an emotional thing than otherwise.

 

Yuzu needed Javi when he first arrived in Toronto, because Javi was his benchmark. Javi was the model he needed to visualize quads and not lose the image of a properly jumped quad whenever his own went off track. However, Yuzu has surpassed his benchmark and from 4Lo on, he could no longer count on Javi for help (even though Javi could jump 4Lo, I doubt he'd do it randomly, just for Yuzu to get a good image). Also, that supposed comment that Yuzu said having a good image isn't enough for 4Lo and 4Lz also tends to point at him not needing Javi in that sense anymore. (Although I also wonder, if Javi had jumped 4Lo and 4Lz, if that might have been enough... It might be far-fetched, but I think who is jumping might make a difference, somehow.)

 

While Stephen's presence will probably fuel Yuzu's competitiveness - although in a different way, they're on very different playing fields - the dynamics he had with Javi go way beyond that. I think the true strength of their bond was that they climbed to success and lived that success together. They experienced setbacks and fears and highs and lows together while in similar circumstances. Both at the top and working their butts off to stay there. That's where their bond really was, I believe, beyond competitiveness and beyond good jump images. That they went through all that together, knowing, more or less, what the other was going through and supporting each other through it.

 

On top of that, what Yuzu said about Javi helping him relax and making him laugh when he was feeling pressure is the main reason I still pray Javi will do an apprenticeship as Brian's assistant and be on Yuzu's team in the future. Although if Yuzu sticks to his current philosophy, he won't feel as much pressure anymore, so... I guess he won't really need Javi like that, either...

 

I don't know, I guess we'll see.

 

Though to be honest, I'm not sure Yuzu will show us again how much Javi's absence affects him. Maybe he'll mention it in some book in the future, but my impression is the emotional reactions we saw after the FP were involuntary and only happened because he could no longer hold up his walls in relief that he'd somehow made it through. He was emotionally vulnerable and showed that. I don't think he would have, normally. Maybe not even privately, to Javi alone. The way he acted afterwards, gala practice and gala were more his usual way of acting, I think. Just having fun, being positive, and pushing away anything else.

 

As for friends, indeed we don't know if he has any. But then again, none of the TCC people seem to be really friends in the common sense either. Though who knows? I do believe Yuzu will likely spend more effort in interpersonal relationships from now on and truly make friends if he really doesn't have any. Or he might not and stay true to his introverted nature. (What I've heard of his relationship with most TCC people reminds me of myself and my relationships with my work colleagues and bosses. We can have a blast together, family-like fun and even share deep discussions and even about personal stuff. I would not, however, call any of them a friend or be particularly inclined to hang out after work or on weekends. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy their company or the time we spend together.)

[yuzuonice]

11 minutes ago, KatjaThera said:

Though to be honest, I'm not sure Yuzu will show us again how much Javi's absence affects him. Maybe he'll mention it in some book in the future, but my impression is the emotional reactions we saw after the FP were involuntary and only happened because he could no longer hold up his walls in relief that he'd somehow made it through. He was emotionally vulnerable and showed that. I don't think he would have, normally. Maybe not even privately, to Javi alone. The way he acted afterwards, gala practice and gala were more his usual way of acting, I think. Just having fun, being positive, and pushing away anything else.

Agreed. It looked more like an emotional outburst that he couldn't control, a culmination of him + Javi both on podium, and Javi probably saying sth about retirement in that group hug.

(Also people were mentioning about how Yuzu said that the last time he took painkillers it maid him feel emotionless, so this time he must have changed them 'cause the result seemed like the total opposite...  Maybe those had an effect on him as well... He was crying pretty hard in all the fancams 

[cirelle]

4 hours ago, Mastyaeva said:

It was quite a special year. But, frankly, they all are special with Yuzu.

Me. It should be something loud and sparking! Extra, just like Yuzu. It is so great to be here together 

 

24 hour streaming party!  

 

3 hours ago, raebia said:

 

 

I will go to Ravenna!

 

The mosaics are TO DIE FOR. And completely impossible to take good pictures of. 

[Bilge]

1 hour ago, Hydroblade said:

you can always open one

just did^^ 

 

[GreatLakesGal]

2 hours ago, micaelis said:

 

With Stephen moving into Junior level competition and with the fact that he becomes eligible for senior competition in 2020/21 Stephen is by my reckoning the 'coming thing' and would probably be amongst Yuzu's main competitors, if not THE main competitor, in Beijing if Yuzu hangs on long enough to compete there for a threepeat.  I've looked at all of Stephen's available vids on YouTube and I come away with this sense of things.  First, the boy is incredible in his jumping.  I do not think that Yuzu could ever hope to match the kid jump for jump.  The jumping machines Boyang and Nathan are the ones who have much to worry about here since at age 13 Stephen appears to be in position already to out-jump them.  Secondly, and this is relevant to Yuzu, Stephen is NOT a complete skater.  I don't know whether it's the choreographic weakness of his programs or some other factor but I've watched his programs and have not been impressed, so I'm ambivalent as to his potential on the PCS side of things.  Third, Stephen needs a lot of work in bringing up his GOEs.  I realize, of course, that he's still young and has time to work on these things.  Which brings up a critical issue.  Stephen is a growing boy.  What kind of impact is all this jumping having on him physically?  I remember that at this age Yuzu was also doing a great deal of jumping (although not quads, though he was trying to work towards them) and we might be seeing with his current problems the long-term effects of  that jumping finally manifesting themselves.  A factor we should also think about is that Yuzu might not be the only one physically affected by 'quadmania', that Nathan and Boyang may be looking at problems coming along because of their jumping.  We know already that Boyang missed out on some competition this season because of injury, the exact nature of which I'm not aware (was it ever announced publicly?).  Also lurking in the future for Stephen is the 'growth-spurt syndrome'.  Remember what a growth-spurt did to Nam a while back.  When the body suddenly reorganizes itself a skater loses his sense of self, his sense of how the various parts relate to each other.  In the end I would have to say that Stephen's route to possible Olympic gold is not a done-deal.  There is still the factor of who and what Yuzuru Hanyu is.

 

Just wanted to say that I agree with you about Gogolev not being a complete skater. Definitely something missing with that kid and I think Brian alluded to it in one of his recent interviews. Even when Yuzu was a tiny thing you can see his innate musicality and budding artistry. Not seeing any of that with Stephen yet.

[maxcellwire]

1 hour ago, Yatagarasu said:

 

That means an assumption of Yuzuru having no friends in Toronto other than perhaps Javier, which is not an assumption we should be making. We don't know things about his personal life, as he's so very guarded and who knows who his friends are. 

Yuzuru will be just fine, he's an adult.

 

Oh of course, I shouldn't have made assumptions, sorry. 

[Yatagarasu]

1 minute ago, maxcellwire said:

 

Oh of course, I shouldn't have made assumptions, sorry. 

 

No worries! 

 

My point, in general, is that we don't know a whole lot about Yuzuru's life. He keeps things to himself so we get a glimpse here and there, but that is not enough to draw any kind of conclusions. Yes, he'll of course miss Javier, it's normal if nothing else for the pure number of years they've spent training together but on the other hand, the rest is just pure guesswork and for me at least, I don't like assuming too much about personal relationships and lives. Oh I can wax poetic and assume about Nessie but people themselves are complex and we often fail to see a lot of things in those who are actually close to us, never mind like this. He's a grown man who seems to be more than capable of handling things, so I am sure he'll be ok here as well.

[micaelis]

56 minutes ago, KatjaThera said:

While Stephen's presence will probably fuel Yuzu's competitiveness - although in a different way, they're on very different playing fields - the dynamics he had with Javi go way beyond that. I think the true strength of their bond was that they climbed to success and lived that success together. They experienced setbacks and fears and highs and lows together while in similar circumstances. Both at the top and working their butts off to stay there. That's where their bond really was, I believe, beyond competitiveness and beyond good jump images. That they went through all that together, knowing, more or less, what the other was going through and supporting each other through it.

In looking at Yuzu and Stephen at TCC we should not forget that both of them began training there at roughly the same time.  True, they were definitely different ages but they were both essentially strangers in a strange land (I'm not sure exactly when Stephen's family moved from Russia to Canada, but Stephen was seven years old when he began training with Brian).  So the two of them, wildly disparate in age, were united by the fact that they were from cultures different from that which they found in Toronto.  Since they were working at different levels when they arrived - Stephen, we must remember, was only seven but I also think he must have shown something very very special for Brian to undertake training him at such a young age - in any case we have to realize that Yuzu and Stephen have been part of each other's lives since they first arrived at TCC.  I doubt there was ever any really close relationship at first but as Stephen moved into competition and began moving up in terms of the levels at which he was competing, I would not be surprised if he didn't start seeking out Yuzu for advice on how to handle things, and by that I don't mean skating skills, but coping with situations as they arrive.  We should not forget that Yuzu was very much a prodigy as he rose on the international circuit.  He was just fifteen years of age when he won the World Junior Championship, as also the Junior Grand Prix and everything else he was in that season.  Stephen is also a prodigy and if he needs anybody to give him advice and reassurance and to do so from having been through all of that himself, I can't think he'd find anybody better than Yuzu, particularly taking into account Yuzu's essential generosity. 

 

Basically I see Yuzu reacting to Stephen's example as a goad not to match him in jumping but to make Yuzu work hard on other aspects of his skating.  A quad Axel might be his apparent goal, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a PCS of 50.00 or 100.00 and if anybody is ever going to do that my money would be on Yuzu.  That is the core of what I think Stephen's presence will have in affecting Yuzu.  Thinking that because his age is taking a greater toll on his body he just can't keep up with a jumper like Stephen he'll pursue a strategy of making himself into a perfect Complete Skater, maxing his GOEs and PCS, making himself the Absolute Champion he once was talking about.

[Murieleirum]

19 minutes ago, GreatLakesGal said:

 

Just wanted to say that I agree with you about Gogolev not being a complete skater. Definitely something missing with that kid and I think Brian alluded to it in one of his recent interviews. Even when Yuzu was a tiny thing you can see his innate musicality and budding artistry. Not seeing any of that with Stephen yet.

 

Tbh, Yuzuru's musicality is something I have yet to see in another skater, both male and female. Feels like he's one of the people who, when listening to a piece of music, have to walk to the beat, do everything to the beat, and when he moves with the music you can see it's not the choreography that's "imposed" to him, but it's a feeling from within that motivates each movement. 

(Aaaah such a wonderful musician he would have been... better as an athlete though, he's finish competition soon with music lol) 

[Neenah]

2 minutes ago, micaelis said:

In looking at Yuzu and Stephen at TCC we should not forget that both of them began training there at roughly the same time.  True, they were definitely different ages but they were both essentially strangers in a strange land (I'm not sure exactly when Stephen's family moved from Russia to Canada, but Stephen was seven years old when he began training with Brian).  So the two of them, wildly disparate in age, were united by the fact that they were from cultures different from that which they found in Toronto.  Since they were working at different levels when they arrived - Stephen, we must remember, was only seven but I also think he must have shown something very very special for Brian to undertake training him at such a young age - in any case we have to realize that Yuzu and Stephen have been part of each other's lives since they first arrived at TCC.  I doubt there was ever any really close relationship at first but as Stephen moved into competition and began moving up in terms of the levels at which he was competing, I would not be surprised if he didn't start seeking out Yuzu for advice on how to handle things, and by that I don't mean skating skills, but coping with situations as they arrive.  We should not forget that Yuzu was very much a prodigy as he rose on the international circuit.  He was just fifteen years of age when he won the World Junior Championship, as also the Junior Grand Prix and everything else he was in that season.  Stephen is also a prodigy and if he needs anybody to give him advice and reassurance and to do so from having been through all of that himself, I can't think he'd find anybody better than Yuzu, particularly taking into account Yuzu's essential generosity. 

 

Basically I see Yuzu reacting to Stephen's example as a goad not to match him in jumping but to make Yuzu work hard on other aspects of his skating.  A quad Axel might be his apparent goal, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting a PCS of 50.00 or 100.00 and if anybody is ever going to do that my money would be on Yuzu.  That is the core of what I think Stephen's presence will have in affecting Yuzu.  Thinking that because his age is taking a greater toll on his body he just can't keep up with a jumper like Stephen he'll pursue a strategy of making himself into a perfect Complete Skater, maxing his GOEs and PCS, making himself the Absolute Champion he once was talking about.

I don't really see that.. just because they are training together doesn't really mean anything especially with how young Stephen is. Yuzu is more likely to feel the need to take care of him than to be challenged by him. Also, Yuzu have plenty of competition in the quadsters and others that he himself acknowledged many times and they are more than enough motivation if he needed any, which I don't think he does because his motivation has always been internal.

 

And I don't understand why you would think that Yuzu needs Stephen or any other skater to push him to improve his skating or components when it has been his goal for years. Remember the many times he talked about his ideal performance and the importance of both technique and artistry. Yuzu did not need anyone to push him toward that, he wanted it from the beginning and worked hard for. We can easily see the results in his performance now