General Yuzuru Chat

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

15 時間前, Maiaさんが言いました:

I wish he would change his hairstyle, or at least style it differently. The 'flop all over the face look' is not very nice. Also, has he put on weight? His face looks more filled out. 

 

Huh. I think he looks very natural the way he is and if he feels comfortable looking like his natural self, that's really all that matters.

 

The boyish non-style he always sports is what makes it easy for him to style it in different ways for his programs. It's practical and it's functional. Sure, it can't hurt to change it and if he feels like he wants to, he should go for it. But if he doesn't want to, who am I to judge that he should? Sides, he's already regarded by quite a few as if he's an idol, so he may not want to contribute more towards it. Thus, if he wants to maintain a modest look, it's his prerogative. It's not like it can't become the very opposite of modest with the simple use of a lot of hair wax. And as great as he looks with his hair all swept up from his face, really, you can't expect the guy to be using hair wax all the time. I heard it's bad for the hair and can contribute towards hair loss...

 

Also I'm pretty happy that he's maintaining this instead of going for those popular flashy and wispy bleached/dyed hairdos Japanese guys seem to like so much. Or, heaven forbid, a perm. Though if he wants to go for it someday.......then more power to him.

 

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that Plushenko has been sporting the same hair for aeons now and Hanyu at least has enough sense to not go for the same strong bowl cut (now that he's all grown up) and mullet*. For that, even for those, like you, who for some reason seem to have a problem with his already very neutral style, I think there's plenty to be grateful for. >_<

 

*I dunno if it is actually his own sense or his mom putting her foot down, though, because it still somehow resembles Plushenko's slightly and yet not quite...it's like he always stops--or gets stopped--before it could become a mullet...

 

P/s: I somehow get this vibe that the only time he cares about his appearance is when he performs. He seems quite blasé about it when he's not. And that's fine. Because how he looks when he isn't performing shouldn't matter.

[Maia]

Sorry, my comment wasn’t meant to offend. It was just an observation or a bad angle/picture

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

1 時間前, Maiaさんが言いました:

Sorry, my comment wasn’t meant to offend. It was just an observation or a bad angle/picture

 

Lol, that's quite alright. But maybe you should specify the next time you feel the need to criticize because it's not like you can't voice your opinion about something you like or dislike. Plenty of people here, myself included, have voiced our displeasure at some of his choices that we feel can sometimes be rather....dubious. Not that we, or rather I (can't speak for others, oops!), would want him to change, mind, since these idiosyncrasies are part of who he is and thus, his charm. It's just when you don't specify, you'll almost always sound like you're making a sweeping generalization. And it can't even be a misunderstanding because even if you hadn't meant it that way,  that's exactly what it sounded like. >_<

 

15 時間前, orphismoさんが言いました:

I'm super into this new costume and program  Even the part of it that looks like chest hair, lol. I think that out of the many ruffles he's worn, these are the ones that get closest to looking like feathers when he moves. It's lovely. 

 

Ugh. I wish people would stop reminding me of that bit. T_T It didn't look that way to me at first so I didn't think of it until someone here mentioned it and now I can't unsee it. And just when I was about to forget the image, you had to bring it up again. >>_<<;

 

Oh right, I still haven't said much about this costume, have I? When I first saw it, I recognized it as something that I perhaps won't fall deeply in love with immediately but would probably grow on me to a point that I'll actually grow to like it quite a lot. So I'd rate it quite a bit above Requiem (which I've gotten used to but still can't in all honesty say I like...I'm more like neutral?) but waaaaaay below NS, which I was absolutely blown away by the very first time I saw it.

 

5 時間前, Murieleirumさんが言いました:

He is fitspo, probably even more than most athletes. Some sports force you to develop more muscles than others, make you look too muscly and bumpy, or too big, or too thin in case of some girls. But he is tall, thin, muscly, strong, he is literally so perfect holy shit I'm in love with his body *Ed Sheeran's voice* 

 

I always find it a little weird when people say he looks like a twink. Like, I kinda get where they are coming from because it's not like I dunno what a twink is supposed to look like and he  does fit the bill if you're not looking closely enough but for some reason, from the first moment I saw him (Sochi's Individual Men's PW), all I could see was an alpha predator. Like he was skinny and fresh-faced and acting all cute and stuff, and back then I had yet to see him ultra-focused and intense and I still hadn't yet found out about his character nor his personality, but I just couldn't shake the vibe even then and can't quite understand why some of these other people can't see it...it's quite obvious though I can't pinpoint how so..

[kiches]

44 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 Also I'm pretty happy that he's maintaining this instead of going for those popular flashy and wispy bleached/dyed hairdos Japanese guys seem to like so much. Or, heaven forbid, a perm. Though if he wants to go for it someday.......then more power to him.

  

[snip]

 

P/s: I somehow get this vibe that the only time he cares about his appearance is when he performs. He seems quite blasé about it when he's not. And that's fine. Because how he looks when he isn't performing shouldn't matter.

 

I enjoy his non-styled casual look the best :) He wasn't kidding when he said he dresses like a typical athlete. I'm also thankful he doesn't bleach/lighten his hair or perm it, I'm usually not a fan of any of those styles for Asian men (or women, really). I also get the sense that unless he's competing he doesn't pay that much attention to his style and his clothes look very practical (yet comfortable while being high-end), but when he's competing he wants to be the thing that shines the brightest.

[Murieleirum]

31 minutes ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

I always find it a little weird when people say he looks like a twink. Like, I kinda get where they are coming from because it's not like I dunno what a twink is supposed to look like and he  does fit the bill if you're not looking closely enough but for some reason, from the first moment I saw him (Sochi's Individual Men's PW), all I could see was an alpha predator. Like he was skinny and fresh-faced and acting all cute and stuff, and back then I had yet to see him ultra-focused and intense and I still hadn't yet found out about his character nor his personality, but I just couldn't shake the vibe even then and can't quite understand why some of these other people can't see it...it's quite obvious though I can't pinpoint how so..

 

Oh I get it. The other day I made my mother and some of my friends watch Haru yo, koi and my mother said "He is the most asexual guy I have ever seen", but that is an extremely superficial judgement. It is because we are used to connect clothes and certain behaviors and movements to 'masculine' and 'feminine' identities, when actually sexuality has nothing to do with those things (I'm not talking about sexual orientation, I'm not interested in discussing those things). To me, Yuzuru has a very strong sexual identity - what you call 'alpha predator'. He is very comfortable in his body and it shows. His movements and interpretational choices are strictly connected to his self-sense, body and mind are one. That is why he is able to skate to something delicate, soft, yin, (dare I say feminine?), yet he doesn't come off as asexual if you look closely, he comes off as strong as he does when he skates to Seimei - because he never loses that sense of self, that identity, that yang side of him. 

Delicate arguments, I hope no one misreads my words. But personally this is Yuzuru's characteristic which I think makes him win over a lot of other skaters. His sense of self, his masculinity which is internal, not external, he doesn't need to show it off, highlight it, nor hide it, or suffocate it. He's a natural. 

[Victoria]

3 hours ago, SuzyQ said:

 

I think I once heard Yuzuru usually looses some weight during the off-season.  If he looks having put on some weight, it might be because of a sty in his left eye.  Or, his face might have bloated due to a weakened immune system from fatigue.  These are just my guess though 

 

https://ameblo.jp/silver-an7/entry-12385016669.html

 

 

First I thought he was wearing slight eye make up but I think his eyelids look a little irritated :(((

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

2 時間前, Murieleirumさんが言いました:

 

Oh I get it. The other day I made my mother and some of my friends watch Haru yo, koi and my mother said "He is the most asexual guy I have ever seen", but that is an extremely superficial judgement. It is because we are used to connect clothes and certain behaviors and movements to 'masculine' and 'feminine' identities, when actually sexuality has nothing to do with those things (I'm not talking about sexual orientation, I'm not interested in discussing those things). To me, Yuzuru has a very strong sexual identity - what you call 'alpha predator'. He is very comfortable in his body and it shows. His movements and interpretational choices are strictly connected to his self-sense, body and mind are one. That is why he is able to skate to something delicate, soft, yin, (dare I say feminine?), yet he doesn't come off as asexual if you look closely, he comes off as strong as he does when he skates to Seimei - because he never loses that sense of self, that identity, that yang side of him. 

Delicate arguments, I hope no one misreads my words. But personally this is Yuzuru's characteristic which I think makes him win over a lot of other skaters. His sense of self, his masculinity which is internal, not external, he doesn't need to show it off, highlight it, nor hide it, or suffocate it. He's a natural. 

 

Lol he can pretend to be delicate and ethereal* all he wants but there's no hiding the apex predator he really is that is anything but. Like, now that I've become slightly more acquainted to his character, his game-on mode is the furthest thing from pretty. I mean he could be putting out something really awesome and beautiful but when I'm seeing it, even though I'm suitably awed, I'm also very intimidated. And I'm not even a competitor. And it leaves a kind of mark even when he's doing a non-comp performance. He does this thing that my senses are telling me is beautiful but the back of my brain is persistently going, "Yeah well you may be thinking only that *now* but just you wait." What he does is beautiful, yes, but my brain just wouldn't shut up about the guy himself being dangerous, even when he's not doing anything that gives it a reason to think that.

 

I'm not sure if I'm articulating this well enough but if I'm not, I'm sorry but I tried. I guess what I'm basically trying to say is the guy is a complete dominator, and something within me recognized that from the get-go. And now that I've seen rock solid evidence of it, that primal and instinctive part of me (re: lizard brain) is always aware of it, even when he's doing harmless fluffy bubbly stuff. >.< 

 

This guy is both a mastermind and a conqueror, and we should all be glad of the fact that he's one of the good guys.

 

.......or is he?

 

*Also, if we're talking about the delicate and ethereal quality of his skating, the fact that he's honed his skills to that level of perfection actually speaks volumes about this insatiable hunger he very apparently has to be the absolute best and nothing less--which leads right back to the very thing I'm talking about.

 

TLDR: Call Hanyu and his skating every aesthetically positive adjective you can think of with a superlative attached to it and you'd be absolutely correct. You could also call his skating masculine or feminine or neither or both and you wouldn't be wrong either. But what the guy truly is, before all these things, above all else, is Badass of the highest order. I sincerely never thought I'd ever come to think of a male figure skater as such, much less the epitome of the term, but there you have it.

 

2 時間前, Victoriaさんが言いました:

First I thought he was wearing slight eye make up but I think his eyelids look a little irritated :(((

 

It's just the left side tho. I thought he walked into another glass door or accidentally got elbowed by someone else or something.

[Moria Polonius]

2 hours ago, Murieleirum said:

 

Oh I get it. The other day I made my mother and some of my friends watch Haru yo, koi and my mother said "He is the most asexual guy I have ever seen", but that is an extremely superficial judgement. It is because we are used to connect clothes and certain behaviors and movements to 'masculine' and 'feminine' identities, when actually sexuality has nothing to do with those things (I'm not talking about sexual orientation, I'm not interested in discussing those things). To me, Yuzuru has a very strong sexual identity - what you call 'alpha predator'. He is very comfortable in his body and it shows. His movements and interpretational choices are strictly connected to his self-sense, body and mind are one. That is why he is able to skate to something delicate, soft, yin, (dare I say feminine?), yet he doesn't come off as asexual if you look closely, he comes off as strong as he does when he skates to Seimei - because he never loses that sense of self, that identity, that yang side of him. 

Delicate arguments, I hope no one misreads my words. But personally this is Yuzuru's characteristic which I think makes him win over a lot of other skaters. His sense of self, his masculinity which is internal, not external, he doesn't need to show it off, highlight it, nor hide it, or suffocate it. He's a natural. 

 

Maybe your mother meant "androgynous-looking"? It's been my observation that people who don't usually discuss gender or sexuality may be unfamiliar with the word and use "asexual" instead. It's the word I taught my mother when I introduced her to Yuzu, she likes him because he's different from all others, a mix of masculine and feminine, strong and soft.

 

What do you mean by "alpha predator" though? It doesn't seem something connected to sexual identity. People of all kinds sexual identities, straight, gay, bi, asexual, could be "alpha predators", dominant, confident, comfortable with themselves.

 

For some reason this reminded me about a fun thread I saw at GS: they sorted all skaters into Harry Potter houses and had a tournament. (Hufflepuff won). Yuzu was sorted overwhelmingly into Slytherin based on the "ambition" and "leader type" traits.  So was Evgenia. (And Wakaba, based on... a photo of her wearing a Slytherjn scarf.)

 

 

[wpisces]

1 hour ago, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 

Lol he can pretend to be delicate and ethereal* all he wants but there's no hiding the apex predator he really is that is anything but. Like, now that I've become slightly more acquainted to his character, his game-on mode is the furthest thing from pretty. I mean he could be putting out something really awesome and beautiful but when I'm seeing it, even though I'm suitably awed, I'm also very intimidated. And I'm not even a competitor. And it leaves a kind of mark even when he's doing a non-comp performance. He does this thing that my senses are telling me is beautiful but the back of my brain is persistently going, "Yeah well you may be thinking only that *now* but just you wait." What he does is beautiful, yes, but my brain just wouldn't shut up about the guy himself being dangerous, even when he's not doing anything that gives it a reason to think that.

 

I'm not sure if I'm articulating this well enough but if I'm not, I'm sorry but I tried. I guess what I'm basically trying to say is the guy is a complete dominator, and something within me recognized that from the get-go. And now that I've seen rock solid evidence of it, that primal and instinctive part of me (re: lizard brain) is always aware of it, even when he's doing harmless fluffy bubbly stuff. >.< 

 

This guy is both a mastermind and a conqueror, and we should all be glad of the fact that he's one of the good guys.

 

.......or is he?

 

*Also, if we're talking about the delicate and ethereal quality of his skating, the fact that he's honed his skills to that level of perfection actually speaks volumes about this insatiable hunger he very apparently has to be the absolute best and nothing less--which leads right back to the very thing I'm talking about.

 

TLDR: Call Hanyu and his skating every aesthetically positive adjective you can think of with a superlative attached to it. While all true, above all else, the guy is well and truly badass.

 

 

It's just the left side tho. I thought he walked into another glass door or accidentally got elbowed by someone else or something.

I somehow think different. Behind his fierceness and competitiveness in competitions, I always feel he's very sensitive. As a sensive person, he's easily emotionally effected by everything happening around him. And it's his sensitivity that made his elegance. 

Personally, I think programs like Requiem, NS, H&L and most recently Haru yo koi allow him to face his emotions properly and earnestly ( If I'm not wrong, he said it himself when asked about Haru yo koi in one of his recent interviews). That is why I'm okay with his EX choice(s) though many fans want him to try a somewhat new style of EX. 

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

30 分, wpiscesさんが言いました:

I somehow think different. Behind his fierceness and competitiveness in competitions, I always feel he's very sensitive. As a sensive person, he's easily emotionally effected by everything happening around him. And it's his sensitivity that made his elegance. 

Personally, I think programs like Requiem, NS, H&L and most recently Haru yo koi allow him to face his emotions properly and earnestly ( If I'm not wrong, he said it himself when asked about Haru yo koi in one of his recent interviews). That is why I'm okay with his EX choice(s) though many fans want him to try a somewhat new style of EX. 

 

That's true, too. And I think that juxtaposition is what makes him such a paradox. I wasn't discounting the existence of that part of him as it very obviously makes up a huge part of who he is. But even at his most emotional, I'm still aware of that other...less emotional and more primal part of him which enables him to show what he's really capable of when the guy wants something badly enough or is backed into a corner. That part of him used to be more wild but now it's reined in and has grown to become methodical. And if that ain't scary I dunno what is. 

 

See, all that he's gained by his desire and iron will to be the best is also what allows him to show his sensitivity to the world, culminating in performances expressed in a way that only he can. But even though every individual skater and their expression are unique, being emotional and expressing their sensitivity are things that hold true for other skaters as well. What truly sets him apart from everyone else is that part of him that's the exact opposite to his sensitive self: his determination and hunger to be the absolute best and nothing but. And I don't mean simply in a way that wins him medals. There are plenty of skaters like that as well. I mean in a way that satisfies his idea of what the ideal of figure skating is. Now this is a much, *much* rarer breed. And his ideal and everything that leads up to it, is an impossible--perhaps even unimaginable--one to most skaters.

 

[Murieleirum]

36 minutes ago, Moria Polonius said:

Maybe your mother meant "androgynous-looking"? It's been my observation that people who don't usually discuss gender or sexuality may be unfamiliar with the word and use "asexual" instead. It's the word I taught my mother when I introduced her to Yuzu, she likes him because he's different from all others, a mix of masculine and feminine, strong and soft.

 

I think she meant both - meaning, he looks androgynous and it's an image that's hard to sexualize - ergo, asexual vibe. Even though I showed her LGC multiple times... weird. 

[wingman]

19 minutes ago, wpisces said:

I somehow think different. Behind his fierceness and competitiveness in competitions, I always feel he's very sensitive. As a sensive person, he's easily emotionally effected by everything happening around him. And it's his sensitivity that made his elegance. 

Personally, I think programs like Requiem, NS, H&L and most recently Haru yo koi allow him to face his emotions properly and earnestly ( If I'm not wrong, he said it himself when asked about Haru yo koi in one of his recent interviews). That is why I'm okay with his EX choice(s) though many fans want him to try a somewhat new style of EX. 

Yes, absolutely, I agree with this. Honestly, without the "murder face" (and the mentality that goes with it), it is impossible to bear the pressure as the top athlete in any discipline. So you can think of it as: all top guys and girls are the same in their "game on" personality, but their "game off" personality is their "normal" self. This is why top people can be quite annoying: sometimes their "game on" personality gets to everyday life.

 

Yuzu, on the other hand, is a maximally sensitive guy who still stay down to earth despite all of his achievements. (Except for pockets of troll modes).

 

[wingman]

4 minutes ago, Murieleirum said:

 

I think she meant both - meaning, he looks androgynous and it's an image that's hard to sexualize - ergo, asexual vibe. Even though I showed her LGC multiple times... weird. 

How about we open a "manly Zu" photo thread?

ETA: sorry for the double-posting, I don't know how to merge my post...

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

17 分, wingmanさんが言いました:

Yes, absolutely, I agree with this. Honestly, without the "murder face" (and the mentality that goes with it), it is impossible to bear the pressure as the top athlete in any discipline. So you can think of it as: all top guys and girls are the same in their "game on" personality, but their "game off" personality is their "normal" self. This is why top people can be quite annoying: sometimes their "game on" personality gets to everyday life.

 

Yuzu, on the other hand, is a maximally sensitive guy who still stay down to earth despite all of his achievements. (Except for pockets of troll modes).

 

 

Hmmm, he seems to be very well-liked for sure but I wouldn't be so quick to say that his desire to be on top doesn't spread beyond skating. I mean his competitiveness in just about everything is pretty well known. I'm pretty sure that can be a tad annoying and tiring at times but he doesn't seem overbearing about it and seems to be able to perceive his surroundings well which I think enables him to know when to tone it down. >_< I think the fact that he truly doesn't seem to think his achievements belong to him alone, which I'm pretty sure all the extraordinary circumstances that led him to become who he is and where he is today is a significant factor, also helps to tamper down the burning competitive demon that resides within. ^.^

 

Anyway, what I meant to say was, despite his sensitivity and his myriad emotions that he seems to like to show as well as all his other non-binary tendencies, the guy is still an alpha male in my books. He's just not your typical one, but rather an evolved one.

[vanadiezz]

Funnily, I don't really see him as a paradox. He surely is capable of acting totally dorky and serious at times, but that is something he controlled at will. And very well too, if I may say so.

 

I see him more like as a kaleidoscope; with his sensitivity and competitiveness as an integral part of him, yet shaped also with an external circumstances and also family/cultural background.

 

All those make him totally unique and I wish there are others like him (because the world just need it, lol) but at the same time I also acknowledge that the chance (of having more people like him) is slim.

 

Well, that is why he is such an inspiration.