General Yuzuru Chat

[lazuliblade]

1 hour ago, Sammie said:

I heard about that but I don’t know if it’s fake or not. 

It's Ice Jewels Vol. 5. Feb 2017. Gladi translated it here:
https://wherespacepooh.tumblr.com/post/158297853689/ice-jewels-vol5-feb-2017-special-interview-the

"— To Hanyu-senshu, the first GPS competition this season was Skate Canada. Same as last season, it was a battle with Patrick Chan.

YH Lost this time as well. I placed all three silver medals from Skate Canada at my bedside."

 

It's one of my favorite interviews because we can see his progression in thought process from competition to competition, he gets pretty technical -- mentions trying to reduce crossovers as much as possible and goes into a paragraph just about transitions, and he talks about how much he loves the Axel. There's a lot of insightful content in this one interview. He also talks about how...ill-planned the GPF was, and I found it hilarious that he went and said it. 

 

ETA: and yes, in the snippet of the original Japanese that was tweeted above, he literally says "The three Skate Canada silver medals are placed at my bedside", so there's no question about where in his room he has them. 

[EisElle]

4 hours ago, vanadiezz said:

 

I think he has a USD 130-ish range one? Cannot remember the brand but it is a wireless sport one.
Also, at this rate I'll bet the guy has... More than 60 pair? And no, he will not forgetting his earphones. He travels with loads of them! 

 

Writing this makes me wonder if he still keep that SONY headphone he received from Kenji's room...
 

what if he forgets the right pair tho?

we know he uses different earphones for specific purposes/moment of the day/feeling

 

3 hours ago, Sammie said:

I wonder if Yuzu just put his silver in a pile and only display his gold medals 

nahh, he keeps his gold shines all safe in his socks (when he's not wearing his OGMs for the lultz) and his silver pile of Skate Canada and 4CC medals where he can see them for kuyashii daily motivation. And if he wants to stroke his ego, he can always stop and admire his plaques in TCC

 

whoa @kiches  @lazuliblade are you becoming a living Yuzu-archive like @kaeryth?

 

@micaelis under spoiler because a brief note has turned into a long digression

Spoiler

 

I've talked about what I think could happen with Stephen in the General Skating Chat. I'm keeping this here because it's a little more Yuzu-related and because my post in the other thread is already long enough

 

6 hours ago, micaelis said:

Beginning with Shoma.  Yes, he is hungry and he knows who is the one at the top he needs to topple, and it isn't Nathan.  He is a complete skater of sorts but his range of expression is limited.  At the same time we have to remember that Shoma's first seasons at senior level were actually better than Yuzu's first seasons at roughly the same age.  On the other hand his rise to the top has been halted by an immovable object named Yuzuru Hanyu.  Finishing ahead of Yuzu has to be Shoma's fiercest dream.  

RE: Shoma's range of expression

I don't know if you've seen Shoma's new SP (still at an early stage, so it will get much better) and most important his new exhibition programs. I think in those EX he's taking the right steps. While Time after time is new for him but (to me) it still feels much as 'belongin to someone else', I think Great Spirit will give him the chance to exlore and experiment and hopefully that work with Shae-Lynn will translate even in the choreo of his competitive programs.

 

Re: the bolded part

if I've done my calculations well, Yuzu's was two years younger than Shoma at his senior debut (Shoma is 3 years younger and debuted in the second season of the quad after Sochi, Yuzu debuted right after Vancouver Olys season instead, if Yuzu had he debuted at Shoma's age, it would have been the third season after Vancouver = the season before Sochi).

I wouldn't call that as debuting at roughly the same age, because well, Yuzuru was 15 at his debut, going for 16. He was basically the youngest senior skater* but he still got a silver at 4CC (and got gold in a minor international comp), while Shoma got a bronze in GPF + medalled at his two GP. Not enough to say Shoma had a much better debut than Yuzuru IMO. You also have to remember Yuzu could'n even qualify for Worlds in 2011 because his 3 senpai (all 20 and something years old and high-profile skaters on international scene, all of them had skated in Vancouver OWG too and were known as the big 3) got on podium, while he was...well, a just-turned-16 years old boy (from Sendai, 0 political support). Tho yes, he was really struggling with stamina in the free program at that point, poor boy)

 

If you want to compare their first three seasons, then yes, Shoma was certainly more successful, with his 2 WC silver medals and 1 OGS (while 1 bronze WC for Yuzuru) but again, with the age difference (Yuzuru was the youngest male skater in Nice) and with how much Jpn men field, the international men field itself and the judging⁽*⁾ have changed, I'm not sure if we can really compare the results.

Maybe in his 3rd senior season Yuzuru had as much senior competitive experience as Shoma, tho for example Shoma had more experience in the junior circuit, 4 years of JGP and JWC and he also went at Youth Olympics, against Yuzuru's 2 years and no Youth Olys. It's a different experience from competing among senior skaters, of course, but many junior skaters stay in junior after being eligible for senior to get that kind of experience (Matteo Rizzo comes to mind. I wish he had given his JWC spot to Daniel Grassrl to let Daniel get a bit of JWC experience, but oh well well, he got on podium in the end but I still think it would have been better to step away in that occasion, as he was already 19 and had competed in OWG and was scheduled to compete in senior WC in Milan too).

And Yuzuru still had the body of a teen back then. You can see how Shoma's body got much more muscular (his tights!) starting from 2016-17 (when he upgraded his tech a lot, too). Men usually benefit from increasing muscle mass as it allows them to have more strengh, more stamina, jump better. Yuzuru basically started getting more muscles in his POTO season

(*For example, despite his world medal and gpf medal and being seen as a contender for WC gold, in his 3rd senior season Yuzuru still had to overcome a huge PCS gap in a moment of FS history when PCS counted a lot. More than BV, I'd say, otherwise Javi and Kevin Reynolds would have been winning much more then they did)

 

If we want to compare how Yuzuru and Shoma were at the same age, that would be 2012-2013 season for Yuzu and 2015-2016 for Shoma (at his first senior GP Shoma was 17 and by JNats in December 2015 he became 18. Yuzu in SA 2012 was 17 and at JNats in December 2012 he was 18).

2012-13 was the first season of Yuzu with Brian, with all the changes and the struggles with asthma because of the move to Toronto and the new training methods, but he won NHK GP and his first JNats title (he had just turned 18), he got one more silver GP and GPF and 4CC silver, he set his first WRs and placed 4th at Worlds (while injured, and fighting to prove his worth as the national champion and to get the Olympic spots for Japan, so he had a huge resposability)
 

One could say that Boyang getting a bronze at his first WC in the season of his senior debut could count for a better debut (like Shoma, he became 18 during his debut season).

On the other hand, Nathan was 17 going for 18 years old in 2016-17, so he debuted as a senior at Shoma's and Boyang's age (tho to be fair his birthday is in May, so he was still 17 in Helsinki). All in all, I'd say Nathan had the best senior debut of them all, getting both a silver at GPF and a gold at 4CC (in a very deep field) and becoming US champion (tho US men did't had a very deep field at that point). Actually, his two senior seasons were by far the best first senior seasons of any male skater in a while, conquering GPF gold and then WC gold a couple months before becoming 19 years old. (but we know only one men conquered the OGM as a teen in recent times ) ⁽*⁾

Of course, all of this four men, Yuzuru, Boyang, Shoma and Nathan, are very talented and had a very successful senior debut, one that you rarely see in Men skating. Not as successfully as Evgenia's and Alina's, of course, as they won everything (or almost everything) at their debut and well before turning 18 but it looks like usually men (and pair skaters and IceDancers) take a few years to get on top of the pack, contrary to ladies. I wonder why.

 

(*) if you think that Yuzuru was still age eligible for JuniorWC in his fourth senior season, when he won every major senior title (2013-2014), it's really mind-boggling

 

 

 

[Sammie]

24 minutes ago, LadyLou said:

 

  Hide contents

 

(*) if you think that Yuzuru was still age eligible for JuniorWC in his fourth senior season, when he won every major senior title (2013-2014), it's really mind-boggling

 

 

 

There was a ss of Yuzu interview with Kenji floating around on twitter, he was saying that during his JWC there was seniors came to compete in that competition and he was pissed. He wanted destroy them all 

 

[EisElle]

42 minutes ago, Sammie said:

There was a ss of Yuzu interview with Kenji floating around on twitter, he was saying that during his JWC there was seniors came to compete in that competition and he was pissed. He wanted destroy them all 

 

yeah, you don't joke with bb Zuzu, little mushroom is scary   

 

idk why, but this makes me crack every single time

[Hydroblade]

1 hour ago, LadyLou said:

ahh, he keeps his gold shines all safe in his socks (when he's not wearing his OGMs for the lultz)

I kinda imagine him, doing his homework, struggling a bit with it.

Then he gets up and wears his two OGMs to make himself feel better because he can't get those stupid calculations right

[yuzuangel]

54 minutes ago, Sammie said:

There was a ss of Yuzu interview with Kenji floating around on twitter, he was saying that during his JWC there was seniors came to compete in that competition and he was pissed. He wanted destroy them all 

 

He really likes to destroy things (and people...and records....) doesn't he...

[Sammie]

36 minutes ago, LadyLou said:

yeah, you don't joke with bb Zuzu, little mushroom is scary   

 

idk why, but this makes me crack every single time

I watched this so many times. The way he said NO. His face said he was joking but his voice was a firm “NO”. 

[Maya]

Can't wait to see Yuzu's new programs. With his physical condition in a good shape and the two world records last season (albeit a truncated one,) I have high hopes. He said before that when his physical condition is not the best his mental condition is primed optimally and together they produce good results. I hope he will produce satisfactory outcomes when he's physically well, too. Might we see you at ACI, Yuzu? Please ... 

[Forcefield]

I'm rewatching Olympic material and one big question about a Yuzu Mr. Troll legend from Olys to ponder for the next season:

Will Pooh-san return for the upcoming season and this strawberry shortcake tissue cover go back into the forest, forever to be a legend of the Olympic season, or will we see it again?

 

cr

 

I think the answer is obvious, but still I wonder how many tissue box covers he has/had on stand by. What will he do with the strawberry shortcake now that Pooh isn't banned? I still have so many questions about this tissue box.  Even when my nerves were wrecked during the games, I love him so much for the smallest things like his replacement for a tissue box cover. It was all within his calculations anyway. It's pretty obvious I'm missing Yuzu.

[Guest turquoiseblue]

 

[Glory]

7 minutes ago, turquoiseblue said:

 

It's too hard to decide between Seimei and Hope and Legacy! 

[souyouki]

Just now, Glory said:

It's too hard to decide between Seimei and Hope and Legacy! 

and while it's not my least favourite costume of Yuzu's, why oh why is Notre Dame de Paris on there... why not Ballade No. 1 or POTO(either one)?

[vanadiezz]

7 hours ago, BWOZWaltz said:

 

 

One day they will build Hanyu Yuzuru museum and all his headphones will be on display chronologically. The caption will be there to remind people which headphones were used at olys as well as all WR comps and such. The engraved iPod from Nanami sensei will be there too. I wonder if they have audio display to listen to Yuzu's warm up music library including One OK Rock - 完全感覚Dreamer 

 

That might happen in a very distant future since the Smaug will not let all his headphones go that easily. Gloves? No big deal. Costumes? There you go. Headphones? NO WAY. Unless they find an exact replica.  

 

4 hours ago, LadyLou said:

what if he forgets the right pair tho?

we know he uses different earphones for specific purposes/moment of the day/feeling

 

 

He'll return to take it or have an express courier service to send it to him. 

He has several custom-made right? That ones will be hard to replaced in an instant. I am thinking to get a custom as an upgrade for my current one and it took about 3 days for production only (benchmark from a local brand). 

 

[lazuliblade]

5 hours ago, LadyLou said:

whoa @kiches  @lazuliblade are you becoming a living Yuzu-archive like @kaeryth?

I'm an encyclopedic person, and I tend to keep folders within folders within folders, or links nested under links. I have an index with a bunch of his interviews/mentions and made summaries of them with notable points and quotes, so when something comes up often, I can just search in the doc for the relevant link. It's still a work in progress, and I keep finding that there are notable interviews/documentaries/photos that I forgot to add, so I end up scrambling through blogs and my youtube lists trying to re-find stuff. >.< It's also a bit of a mess, so I really should get around to making a new doc and organizing these mentions by categories...personal life, skating technique, injuries, ice shows. I need to figure out a system.

I just get super annoyed when there's something that I remember and I want to provide the citation, but then I can't because I either: 
1. thought it wasn't important at the time and I didn't bother saving it, or
2. it's buried among all his interviews. 
So I ended up making a master-list. 

Funny how research skills can come in handy outside school. Hey look, professors -- I'm applying those research techniques to the real world!  I'm sure they never thought I would use this skill set for figure skating, though.

[kiches]

 @LadyLou I’m not sure I’m the best archive but I’ve basically saved up all Yuzu clips since I became a fan during Sochi. I’m going through the process of putting them all in folders within folders in a way that sounds a lot like what @lazuliblade has but it’s nothing sophisticated. 

 

I just have a pretty pretty good memory when it comes to Yuzu  I usually remember very minute details about things that really interest me and Yuzu is very interesting!