General Yuzuru Chat

[utsukushii3A]

51 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I don't see the point of it, really. You've only to watch how so many figure skaters treat each other (i.e. with plenty of respect for all their hard work and talent) to realize hating one because you're a fan of another is a pointless waste of time and energy, and only interferes with the fun of watching all the skaters try their best. 

 

Yeah, that definitely makes it even more pointless. There's a decent chance that whomever someone's bashing is friends with one of their favorites.

[Veveco]

49 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

You've only to watch how so many figure skaters treat each other (i.e. with plenty of respect for all their hard work and talent)

Being somewhat new to the FS world, it is one thing that keeps surprising me - just how respectful and supportive most skaters are to each others. Like Yuzu asking the crowd to be quiet for Javier after a world record skate. Or just last night, Keegan cheering for Nam... You wouldn't see that in a lot of elite-level sports. (And it looks genuine, not forced.) It is so great to see.

[TallyT]

1 hour ago, Veveco said:

Being somewhat new to the FS world, it is one thing that keeps surprising me - just how respectful and supportive most skaters are to each others. Like Yuzu asking the crowd to be quiet for Javier after a world record skate. Or just last night, Keegan cheering for Nam... You wouldn't see that in a lot of elite-level sports. (And it looks genuine, not forced.) It is so great to see.

 

Yuzu and Javi have always been something special but yes, the top flight of the men going into the 2018 Olympics was at once a cut-throat fight on ice and the most adorable brothersinarms mutual admiration society imaginable off. They set the tone 2016-18 and it was just so wonderful and heartwarming to see.

[KatjaThera]

The most vicious of the antis do seem to be fans of other skaters. It’s actually quite common for (insecure) die-hard fans to turn vicious against their favorites’ rivals when they feel their favorite is threatened. There are even some Yuzu fans who do that - though not here. But there have been Yuzu fans who attacked Nathan or Shoma or even Javi (the latter especially is mindboggling for me, given their companionship). It’s what people do when they feel threatened, they lash out, only this is through other people.

 

Personally, though, I think anyone who ever goes to a skating competition gets over that mindframe - or if they don’t, they might have other issues. I can’t imagine how any regular person could watch skaters right in front of them and not want them to do well. It happened to me in ACI - where a good skate for Jun seemed to mean Yuzu would lose the win - and it happened in Helsinki - where good skates from Boyang or Mikhail could have posed a threat to Yuzu. Despite that, I wanted everyone to do well (a lot more so than I ever did watching on TV).

 

However, beyond the jealous and insecure fans, I believe there are other things that can fuel the antis and make some non-skating fans not fond of him as well, unrelated to skating.

 

One thing is the apparent “too good to be true” factor, like @rockstaryuzu said.

 

Another thing is Yuzu’s very un-Japanese habit of honestly stating some things, that can be interpreted as arrogant. For example, there is a video from after the first re-opening of Ice Rink Sendai when Shizuka went and held a class there and then the TV guy interviewed Yuzu and asked him how it was and he said “It made him feel like he could win Olympic Gold” and then he was asked “Can you?” and Yuzu said “I probably can.” That would probably seem arrogant to some, but we, as fans, know he doesn’t say these things because he thinks he’s God’s gift to figure skating, but because he is determined to work hard for it and stating the goals helps him with that. Similarly, his explaining why he decided 4Lo wasn’t necessary at Olys after all, can also come across as arrogant to the casual viewer, but we know it simply means he is very aware of his own ability and the others’ abilities and it’s not like he thought he could just glide around and still win. He concluded he could ditch 4Lo and win, IF he did the other jumps cleanly. So he still put pressure on himself.

 

And lastly, his bratty behaviour can also be turned against him, because, I believe, in Japan, it’s far more common to be completely subordinate towards your sempai, let alone coaches. That said, he clearly only does it with those he is close to and that he knows can take a joke (even if Tatsuki played at getting mad over it at times; or I hope he just played at it ^_^; ). I can’t imagine him being that bratty towards Daisuke, for example, as they’re not that close. So, some might think that’s rude behavior. (I actually believe antis have attacked him for teasing other skaters before, and they weren’t even sempai.)

 

So, I can see where some people could find their ammunition. Funnily enough, if you’ll notice, the first of these things - too good to be true - and the following ones contradict each other some lol To me, all are great parts of who Yuzu is as a person, though, and it’s only people who look at him in a very shallow way that could see these as negative aspects (because that way they don’t realize what they actually are).

 

As for friendliness between skaters, it could be idealistic, but I like to believe that “skating family” isn’t just a pretty PR-like term and that most skaters really are like a family. And that most rivalries are more along the lines of sibling rivalries. And that the truly vicious rivalries are few and far in between. At the end of the day, skaters spend a lot of time together and few people outside of skating can truly understand the efforts they put into it, the pains they go through and other less physical struggles. And, at the end of the day, like Javi has said many times, they each compete alone - well, pairs and ice dance compete by two, but as a pair they’re still alone - and they compete against a score, more than against a rival. I think that does make a lot of difference.

[TallyT]

I have no idea where these came from - bought, handmade, whatever - but, but, but....

 

Wow.

 

 

[SuperMin]

By Yuzu’s statement, he only has 1-2 years left, and I can see him being dominated by his future spouse. 😂 

 

 

[SuperMin]

33 minutes ago, KatjaThera said:

The most vicious of the antis do seem to be fans of other skaters. It’s actually quite common for (insecure) die-hard fans to turn vicious against their favorites’ rivals when they feel their favorite is threatened. There are even some Yuzu fans who do that - though not here. But there have been Yuzu fans who attacked Nathan or Shoma or even Javi (the latter especially is mindboggling for me, given their companionship). It’s what people do when they feel threatened, they lash out, only this is through other people.

 

Personally, though, I think anyone who ever goes to a skating competition gets over that mindframe - or if they don’t, they might have other issues. I can’t imagine how any regular person could watch skaters right in front of them and not want them to do well. It happened to me in ACI - where a good skate for Jun seemed to mean Yuzu would lose the win - and it happened in Helsinki - where good skates from Boyang or Mikhail could have posed a threat to Yuzu. Despite that, I wanted everyone to do well (a lot more so than I ever did watching on TV).

 

However, beyond the jealous and insecure fans, I believe there are other things that can fuel the antis and make some non-skating fans not fond of him as well, unrelated to skating.

 

One thing is the apparent “too good to be true” factor, like @rockstaryuzu said.

 

Another thing is Yuzu’s very un-Japanese habit of honestly stating some things, that can be interpreted as arrogant. For example, there is a video from after the first re-opening of Ice Rink Sendai when Shizuka went and held a class there and then the TV guy interviewed Yuzu and asked him how it was and he said “It made him feel like he could win Olympic Gold” and then he was asked “Can you?” and Yuzu said “I probably can.” That would probably seem arrogant to some, but we, as fans, know he doesn’t say these things because he thinks he’s God’s gift to figure skating, but because he is determined to work hard for it and stating the goals helps him with that. Similarly, his explaining why he decided 4Lo wasn’t necessary at Olys after all, can also come across as arrogant to the casual viewer, but we know it simply means he is very aware of his own ability and the others’ abilities and it’s not like he thought he could just glide around and still win. He concluded he could ditch 4Lo and win, IF he did the other jumps cleanly. So he still put pressure on himself.

 

And lastly, his bratty behaviour can also be turned against him, because, I believe, in Japan, it’s far more common to be completely subordinate towards your sempai, let alone coaches. That said, he clearly only does it with those he is close to and that he knows can take a joke (even if Tatsuki played at getting mad over it at times; or I hope he just played at it ^_^; ). I can’t imagine him being that bratty towards Daisuke, for example, as they’re not that close. So, some might think that’s rude behavior. (I actually believe antis have attacked him for teasing other skaters before, and they weren’t even sempai.)

 

So, I can see where some people could find their ammunition. Funnily enough, if you’ll notice, the first of these things - too good to be true - and the following ones contradict each other some lol To me, all are great parts of who Yuzu is as a person, though, and it’s only people who look at him in a very shallow way that could see these as negative aspects (because that way they don’t realize what they actually are).

 

As for friendliness between skaters, it could be idealistic, but I like to believe that “skating family” isn’t just a pretty PR-like term and that most skaters really are like a family. And that most rivalries are more along the lines of sibling rivalries. And that the truly vicious rivalries are few and far in between. At the end of the day, skaters spend a lot of time together and few people outside of skating can truly understand the efforts they put into it, the pains they go through and other less physical struggles. And, at the end of the day, like Javi has said many times, they each compete alone - well, pairs and ice dance compete by two, but as a pair they’re still alone - and they compete against a score, more than against a rival. I think that does make a lot of difference.

 

I agree with everything you said, but I also think antis are irrational and their reasoning is inexplicable.  They just have hate in their hearts.  All I can say is hate makes people’s hearts rot and causes unhappiness, so in a way I feel sorry for them.

 

I will focus on all the positivity that Yuzu brings.

[TallyT]

20 minutes ago, SuperMin said:

 

I agree with everything you said, but I also think antis are irrational and their reasoning is inexplicable.  They just have hate in their hearts.  All I can say is hate makes people’s hearts rot and causes unhappiness, so in a way I feel sorry for them.

 

 

 

And in this case, it brought its own punishment... the hatred must have curdled in them as they watched him keep flying upwards to a place neither their favourites nor any other competitor - except maybe Javi, Yuzu's teammate and friend - nor the venom could reach. 

 

[rockstaryuzu]

3 hours ago, Veveco said:

Being somewhat new to the FS world, it is one thing that keeps surprising me - just how respectful and supportive most skaters are to each others. Like Yuzu asking the crowd to be quiet for Javier after a world record skate. Or just last night, Keegan cheering for Nam... You wouldn't see that in a lot of elite-level sports. (And it looks genuine, not forced.) It is so great to see.

Isn't it great? I love it. 

[rockstaryuzu]

2 hours ago, TallyT said:

I have no idea where these came from - bought, handmade, whatever - but, but, but....

 

Wow.

 

 

I've seen pictures posted of the first two as works in progress, but the ginger LGC cat is new. They're wonderful. 

[yuzuonice]

Yuzu and Javi probably had their last practice together sometime this weekend. 

 

 

Thank you for everything, Javi!  

[Murieleirum]

On 1/19/2019 at 11:52 PM, robin said:

 

(also, remember how we speculated if Yuzu does yoga? He was doing cat-cow in the end... and a faster version of it that looked.. funny lol)

 

Actually that fast sequence of cat-cow he does is pretty difficult to do right. You have to do it with a big movement extension and if you do it it brings your heart rate up because it takes a lot of core muscles. I think it has something to do with jumps and the speed with which he has to go and close his body tight for rotations. 

[Anki]

5 hours ago, SuperMin said:

 

I agree with everything you said, but I also think antis are irrational and their reasoning is inexplicable.  They just have hate in their hearts.  All I can say is hate makes people’s hearts rot and causes unhappiness, so in a way I feel sorry for them.

 

 

 

I have actually seen amongst fan-wars of Korean and Japanese idol group cases of extreme Antis  who later admitted to be mentally ill from hating someone so much that they had to get treatment, and then after treatment regret they ever became like that.

 

So yes, a lot of extreme antis are probably mentally unstable to start with or on the way to become mentally unstable, hence why they are irrational. Here, I am not talking about the usual fan of another skater who happen to not like Yuzu's style or feel threatened and criticise him, but the antis that actually spend more time than even Yuzu fans in watching his routine or reading his latest interview just for the opportunity to find anything they can twist negatively.  In my opinion, that is already a level of obsession on the verge of mental problem, and you will find in some cases, they have forgotten to even care for the original rival skater they were supporting.   When you win as many competitions as Yuzu, you are bound to hit a couple of nutcases like that, people who took the defeat of their preferred skater way too personally. 

 

If I don't like a skater, the normal reaction is I don't want to watch said skater's routines more than once let alone follow his every move or interview.  

 

     

[kaeryth]

 

[BWOZWaltz]

Not sure if this has been posted before somewhere in PH but I've found a post about this on a fanyu's blog.

 

The photo of the signed card from 15yr old Yuzu thanking the towel maker for the towels that were given to him with a gift from a fan at an ice show. The card is displayed at the maker's showroom.

 

The towel maker is called 七福タオル (Seven lucky towel) and when the fan (not the fanyu blogger) was looking for suitable gifts for the skaters of the ice show (skaters like Plushenko, Lambiel and young Yuzuru), she had visited the towel maker thinking their quality Imabari towels would make ideal gifts. At the towel maker's showroom, a towel sommelier went through with the fan choosing gifts from vast varieties of the towels to find suitable one for each skater. After they've chosen all the gifts, the sommelier brought out a bunch of small hand towels saying they are give away gifts from them as an appreciation for the purchase and asked her to use it for cleaning windows or something. The fan had an idea that these small towels would be ideal for the use of maintenance of skate boots/blades. Also, she thought Yuzu would benefit with these the most since he had no sponsors at that time. 

 

The fan's posted her comment with a name "銀" at the bottom of the page explaining how the thank you card from Yuzu ended up in their showroom. 

 

The post says: I said thank you to Hashida-san (the towel sommelier) and also mentioned that I was going to give Hanyu senshu the hand towels. And I had given Hanyu senshu the towel that I bought and the hand towels and mentioned in a line within my fan letter to him that the hand towels were given by Seven Lucky Towel company. Later, I received a letter from Hanyu senshu thanking me for the fan letter and the gift. Also a thank you card for Seven Lucky Towel company was enclosed within. I was so touched by his gesture as I could imagine hundreds of letters and cards are given to him by fans and yet he finds time to go through each one of them and replies to them. So I had visited the showroom again to hand the signed card to them.

 

*********

 

People can pretend to be nice and all smiley but what distinguish a diamond from an artificial gem stone is the quality that never changes. A diamond brilliance never fades away and like Yuzu's genuine appreciation for the fans and the people who support him, it always shine through even in the tiniest details. I just love the way he is. I am thankful that I can appreciate him like I do and feel sorry for the antis that living in hell with envy and jealous.