General Yuzuru Chat

[littleorange]

13 минут назад, Pammi сказал:

I love the detail Yuzuru goes into to say what he likes about Javi's skating/what he says he himself cannot do, he says such nice things about Javi. I love how he joins in with the interviewer, asking questions too!

Thank you for the translation.

Exactly! Yuzuru talks with the air of a person who is interested in the program and really noticed something unusual or outstanding. Javier speaks in general terms. It seemed to me that the words about the black suit of a rock star are about LMEY. Yuzuru really didn’t guess or specifically didn’t suggest the correct version of the name  

[YuDai]

 

 

What??

 

Edit: ok, apparently what they mean by "appearing" is that a short clip of him skating at a competition was shown.

 

This post has been tagged by yuzuangel as [NEWS].

[yuzuangel]

Hi everyone! I haven't been around as much lately (real life has been busy ) so I haven't been tagging posts as [NEWS] quickly enough. If you post a tweet/instagram post/video that's recent, and it's about Yuzu, please tag it as [NEWS] so it will get quoted into this thread every day! You can look through the thread to see what posts should get tagged as news, and it's also okay to err on the side of tagging anything you think qualifies  Thank you so much for your help  

 

P.S. Tag posts in the Competitions and Ice Shows subforums too!! Thank you!

[Perelandra]

Thank you @birnasan for the interview translation. The translation captures the nuances of language and interaction between the participants

[birnasan]

Continuation of the Yuzu-Javi interview in the FaOI Shizuoka pamphlet, automatically translated with deepL. The first two questions are the same as in the Kobe pamphlet, the rest is new. I have enjoyed this interview very much. 

As always, I don‘t speak Japanese and this is not a proper translation.

 

! Do not repost outside of Planethanyu !

 

Spoiler

YUZURU HANYU & JAVIER FERNANDEZ

 

 

Fantasy on Ice has not been held for the last two years due to the spread of the new coronavirus. This time, there were already three stages, starting with the Makuhari shows from 27 May, and Shizuoka will be the final venue for the event. The two of them have been thrilling audiences with their wonderful performances at this year's shows. We spoke to Yuzuru Hanyu and Javier Fernandez, who have participated in previous Fantasy shows as main performers and have been inspiring each other to work hard since the summer of 2012, when they became teammates as athletes, about the attraction and difficulties of ice shows.

 

Q: It's been three years since Fantasy on Ice. You have already finished the shows in Makuhari, what was your impression of the start of this show?

 

Hanyu: Fantasy on Ice is a long tour, from the first performance to the last day, but this time, from the very beginning, I could feel the enthusiasm of the audience, to the point where I was like, "Is this the last day already?". So I was happy about that. It wasn't just about my performance or everyone else's, it was more about the feeling of togetherness that only Fantasy on Ice can bring, and I felt that in the connection with the audience.

 

Fernandez (hereafter Javi): I agree with what Yuzuru said, the energy coming from the other skaters and the audience was amazing. Also, I thought there was a lot more excitement in the air than usual, because we haven't had a chance to skate in front of an audience for a long time and we haven't had Fantasy on Ice for a long time. And I think for a lot of skaters, it's also challenging in a way. I hadn't skated like this for almost three years, so it's taken me a while to get back into it and of course I'm tired. But I think it was a good experience and a good comeback.

 

Hanyu: I heard that the corona situation in Spain was very tough and difficult, how was your life, Javi?

 

Javi: The situation in Spain was not good for a long time, so I couldn't skate as much as I wanted to, and we had to do a lot of things to fight infection... I had to deal with many complicated things in my daily life and in my practice sessions, so it was really difficult. But I am very happy and excited that life is gradually returning to normal. I feel like I finally have my life and what I used to do back.

 

Q: Having experienced such a situation, I'm sure you were both really looking forward to Fantasy on Ice for the first time in three years, but I would like to ask you about your thoughts on ice shows. How did you both feel the difference from competitions when you performed in ice shows for the first time, not only in this Fantasy? How have your impressions changed as you have gained experience, and how do you feel this has led to your personal improvement?

 

Hanyu: To be honest, I liked ice shows more than competitions from the beginning, and I was very happy that people would watch me. So when I skated in this spotlight for the first time, my memories of having fun are more intense than my feelings of nervousness.

However, as I gain more and more experience, I realize that I have to give a good performance, or if it's a collaboration, I have to make sure it's perfect. In that sense, I think I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. But that has also led to good performances. I don't skate just for fun and for myself, but I also need to connect with the audience and skate with responsibility for what I want to express. Now I feel that I can skate with a strong sense of responsibility as a skater in an ice show.

 

Q: Are those feelings, techniques and expressions transferable into competitions?

 

Hanyu: Of course they are. But the tension during a competition is quite different from the tension during an ice show. Of course, there are limitations, such as the small size of the rink, but more important is how to communicate to the audience. In a competition, the main thing is communicating to the judges, so there is a big difference. So, it is important for me to convey my feelings in all directions, 360 degrees at the same time. Of course, in the past, I didn't think to that extent (laughs).

 

Javi: I don't remember my first ice show. My first ice show was probably a small show in Spain, because the kids in the skating clubs are still doing small shows now. But to add to what Yuzuru just said, I was really looking forward to it because the show has a different atmosphere from the competition. There are special effects like the lighting, so I think it's great to be able to enjoy that.

However, the lights always flicker in a show, so I had to get used to that and there were many things I had to learn. But I think it's a great experience for all skaters to perform in a show. Everyone wants to be seen by a large audience. We want people from all over the world to see us and fall in love with figure skating.

 

Hanyu: Also, in an ice show, you have to show your uniqueness, something that only you can skate, something that will delight the audience because you are the one who skates it. I think ice shows require a lot of that. I think I have learnt that through ice shows, what do you think, Javi?

 

Javi: I think the best thing about ice shows is that we can be playful and do what we want to do. For example, we can try different things that we wouldn't normally do, such as the style of the music or the program we choose. On top of that, there is no need to do very difficult technical things. We don't have to complicate the steps, we don't have to put in a lot of spins, we can be really open and focus on 'entertaining the audience'.

And then, with the music too, we can choose songs that we want to skate to, or that we think will be really exciting for us to perform. Of course, a show is meant to be for the audience and spectators, but it can also be 'useful for us'.

 

Q: Hanyu, you have said before that you "push yourself very hard in practice" in preparation for such ice shows, but is there a difference in the way you push yourself for the competitions, or is it more mental, like pushing your mind or raising your spirits?

 

Hanyu: This time, for this Fantasy, I have been practising very hard, and I have actually lost about three kilograms of weight, and I think I have gained a lot of fitness. But when I'm practising... if I'm practising for a normal competition, I always do the same pattern, like I said earlier, "I think about how I'm going to present myself to the judges". I focus on the same direction in front of me.

But when I was practicing for this Fantasy, I was also thinking about what it would really look from the back side. Then I thought, "Am I really expressing this properly?", I thought about it. It's obvious that it's expressive when you look at it from the front, but I was thinking about how it would look when you look at it from the back. I gave a lot of thought to whether the silhouette was beautiful or not. In that sense, I think it is necessary for an ice show to practice each and every aspect in detail, so it takes a lot of time.

In addition, of course, it is meaningless if I don't jump well, so I am practising how accurately I can perform my jumps, which I learned at the competitions, while also working on small details, such as jumping from the opposite position.

 

Javi: We were talking about a training program to prepare for shows, weren't we?

 

Hanyu: Yes.

 

Javi: Yuzuru is the type of person who prepares very carefully for both competitions and ice shows (laughs). I'm not like that, but in a show, you are closer to the audience than in a competition, and you perform right in front of them. The good aspect of this is that you can sell your character and yourself to the audience, or rather, they can really connect with you. But the negative aspect is that you are right in front of the audience, so you can see their reactions. If the audience's reaction is not so good, I get very scared (laughs). In a competition or an ice show, I just give it my all, but it's different in that way, so it is both fun and scary, which is something that is unique to ice shows.

 

We have now all FaOI 2022 pamphlet interviews on the Planet, at least as deepL translations.

 

(Again, please don‘t post any Javi negativity as a direct response to my post. Thank you.)

[NEWS]

 

 

[LiaRy]

14 minutes ago, birnasan said:

It's obvious that it's expressive when you look at it from the front, but I was thinking about how it would look when you look at it from the back

Personal thought that I found funny and fit the situation

Spoiler

I instantly thought about the Raison bent upper-body, parting legs movement. I'm sure Yuzu refers to all the elements of his programs, but the wording was just too on the nose 

 

[LiaRy]

 

 

The seeds of an idea to support Yuzu in the upcoming season. Take a look at the entire thread, please

 

 

[rockstaryuzu]

This edit just absolutely rocks!

 

https://twitter.com/yoongolie/status/1543248648753991681?s=20&t=5ASCYMwNrX5kwH8pSH4i2Q

[Sun_Rise]

25 minutes ago, LiaRy said:

The seeds of an idea to support Yuzu in the upcoming season. Take a look at the entire thread, please

 

 

We will continue this with @Wintek who proposed to take this further (thank you!) and start a small campaign perhaps to first test it and to have it ready whenever there is a need to relaunch a virtual pooh rain for Yuzu, so stay tuned!

[Anabel]

33 minutes ago, Sun_Rise said:

 

We will continue this with @Wintek who proposed to take this further (thank you!) and start a small campaign perhaps to first test it and to have it ready whenever there is a need to relaunch a virtual pooh rain for Yuzu, so stay tuned!

How exciting!! 

[Wintek]

1 hour ago, LiaRy said:

Personal thought that I found funny and fit the situation

  Hide contents

I instantly thought about the Raison bent upper-body, parting legs movement. I'm sure Yuzu refers to all the elements of his programs, but the wording was just too on the nose 

 

Same thought, though it's quite interesting when you think about human perception and how we interpret things. The different reactions to the program when we had very limited information/images of the actual choreography where quite varied. I sometimes think that geeky Yuzu pilots human behaviour experiments with fans to then plan future performances with maximum impact

[Perelandra]

@birnasanThank you, you are really spoiling us with these in lengthy translations

 

Yuzu says that he "liked ice shows more than competitions"

Hopefully this is not related to how he has been mistreated by the powers within the skating world.

 

Sadly the last 5 years has seen Yuzu underscored, even his world records and gold medals were hideously scored. All of the times Yuzu competed he must have become very disaffected, filled with self doubt, thinking that everything he worked hard for never pleased the judges. The scores and protocol sheets telling him that he was deteriorating. Yuzu must have really questioned whether it was worth continuing to compete. 

Finally, I think that he reached a realisation that it was a lie, none of the reality that the judging served to him was in any way real. At that point he seemed to find a different purpose, that was the point when the pursuit of the 4A became most meaningful to Yuzu. That maybe the reason behind his surprise winning JNats and once again becoming one of Team Japan's medal contenders. Once again Yuzu bore the burden of being a medal hope, even though he must have been aware that he might be unfairly scored and humiliated. Yuzu is like Aslan walking willingly to the stone table. 

Yuzu's inner strength is truly awe inspiring, as he has now declared his intention to continue competing. 

 

Any measure that can be used to demonstrate masses of support for Yuzu will be more crucial than ever before. 

The letter to ISU, Twitter and social media campaigns, scoring and judging analysis will all send a strong message that Yuzu is loved by many, despite these futile attempts to deny what a great asset he is to skating 

[Perelandra]

This is whole other level of dedication 

Super keen to see Yuzu performing, not sure about visiting a hotel bathroom that he frequented

What else can I say

[Yuzurella]

3 hours ago, LiaRy said:

Personal thought that I found funny and fit the situation

  Hide contents

I instantly thought about the Raison bent upper-body, parting legs movement. I'm sure Yuzu refers to all the elements of his programs, but the wording was just too on the nose 

 

 

I'm sure Yuzu knows very well that his backside is exceptionally attractive.

[Perelandra]