General Yuzuru Chat

[LiaRy]

11 minutes ago, Pammi said:

Not sure if anyone has had this discussion yet (I've not seen it on any thread though sometimes I miss stuff!)

Yuzuru rolls up his white sleeve at the end of Raison, the side signifying a pure heart, loneliness is the winner?

When he leaves the ice after NdP he rolls up the purple sleeve, signifying loneliness, the pure heart is the winner?

My initial thoughts - this conflict he has had in recent months, years even, between remaining in competition (loneliness?), and freedom (a pure heart?)

He chooses loneliness when he rolls up the white sleeve as the purple remains in it's normal state.

He chooses freedom/a pure heart when he rolls up the purple sleeve and the pure heart remains in full....

Was his rolling up of his purple sleeve as he left his last performance ("let my poor soul just fly away from the miseries of this earth" "dance once last time for me") as Hanyu-senshu yet another big hint? (he gave us loads....how didn't we see?)

I did interpret it exactly like this the day we got the live stream. That he chose loneliness at the end of Raison and purity/freedom when he exited after NDP. But I thought he was simply expressing his feelings about how FaOI made him feel. It never once occurred to me it might go deeper than gratitude for the audience supporting him.

 

But we were mislead. I don't know if by him or by the translations or by our own feelings. I suppose we were mislead by a combination of all three. He affirmed time and time again that he is in the best shape he has ever been, he talked about YH's skating, he emphasised he wants to grow as an artist and as an athlete, too. We took this to mean that he will continue pursuing his goals in competition.

 

I'm now wondering whether we assumed all this because we have never seen a professional skater better themselves both artistically and athletically. 

[Pammi]

5 minutes ago, LiaRy said:

I did interpret it exactly like this the day we got the live stream. That he chose loneliness at the end of Raison and purity/freedom when he exited after NDP. But I thought he was simply expressing his feelings about how FaOI made him feel. It never once occurred to me it might go deeper than gratitude for the audience supporting him.

 

But we were mislead. I don't know if by him or by the translations or by our own feelings. I suppose we were mislead by a combination of both. He affirmed time and time again that he is in the best shape he has ever been, he talked about YH's skating, he emphasised he wants to grow as an artist and as an athlete, too. We took this to mean that he will continue pursuing his goals in competition.

 

I'm now wondering whether we assumed all this because we have never seen a professional skater better themselves both artistically and athletically. 

Oh I'm a lot slower than you! I only noticed today that he had rolled up a different sleeve (unless I read your post last time and promptly forgot, which could happen given my memory lol!)

Usually Japanese fans have a sharp eye for these details but I don't remember seeing any comment on it on SMS...did people engage with your hypothesis? I want to go and have a look!  (I assume it's the Shizuoka thread?)

[LiaRy]

8 minutes ago, Pammi said:

Oh I'm a lot slower than you! I only noticed today that he had rolled up a different sleeve (unless I read your post last time and promptly forgot, which could happen given my memory lol!)

Usually Japanese fans have a sharp eye for these details but I don't remember seeing any comment on it on SMS...did people engage with your hypothesis? I want to go and have a look!  (I assume it's the Shizuoka thread?)

I don't remember if I actually posted about it or talked to someone. I'll have to check

 

Edit: @PammiNo, it was in a private conversation

[LiaRy]

Excuse this second post.

 

The conversation was about how Yuzu talked about his sleeves having different meanings, but the translations made these meanings quite abstract. So I did a quick google search and found out that white in Japanese does mean spiritual and physical purity. From the context, Yuzu clearly meant spiritual purity. So when he finally rolled up his purple sleeve I understood as he finally achieved that purity - a sort of balance.

 

There wasn't much theorizing going on

[Pammi]

8 minutes ago, LiaRy said:

Edit: @PammiNo, it was in a private conversation

 

The conversation was about how Yuzu talked about his sleeves having different meanings, but the translations made these meanings quite abstract. So I did a quick google search and found out that white in Japanese does mean spiritual and physical purity. From the context, Yuzu clearly meant spiritual purity. So when he finally rolled up his purple sleeve I understood as he finally achieved that purity - a sort of balance.

 

There wasn't much theorizing going on

Well I think we were both brilliant in our observation and analytical skills then lol!

[Perelandra]

@Pammi @LiaRy

More superb detective work about the sleeves and thank you for researching and educating us about the meaning. Really illuminating and helpful

Maybe hints were missed, because not all of the information was available for us to pour over and make deductions. For my part there was a complete reliance on translations and the nuances of intonation, cadence and idioms can be occasionally be lost, if the message is very subtle. Many misinterpreted what Yuzu was perhaps trying to prepare us for, because it is in our nature to be eagerly awaiting new competition programmes. There has been no previous indications from Yuzu going in to the Off Season thinking about professional skating and as someone mentioned, professional skating has equated with the current format of shows, rather than the novel projects that Yuzu has been contemplating.

( Is it possible that Yuzu himself was at the time of FaOI, still yet to finalise his career plans, he too has made a huge leap into the unknown after all and perhaps needed to confirm some details / get feedback about his ideas with his closest friends and mentors, sponsors etc ? )

Hindsight always gives the clearest view and there are definitely exciting projects to look forward to

 

 

 

 

[Goatedforever]

I know Yuzu said he didn’t tell anyone about it but I’m thinking if any of his friends at FaOI had a clue. 
 

But I’m really glad that these interviews came out late, no one was able to infer anything from his words and he was able to announce his decision on his own terms. 

[Goatedforever]

 

[LiaRy]

1 hour ago, Goatedforever said:

I know Yuzu said he didn’t tell anyone about it but I’m thinking if any of his friends at FaOI had a clue. 
 

But I’m really glad that these interviews came out late, no one was able to infer anything from his words and he was able to announce his decision on his own terms. 

Honestly, I think Stephane guessed. This is only my hypothesis. Stephane attempted 4T two times. This makes me think he had been encouraged to do them, the only person I can think of who could've talked to Stephane about this is Yuzu (also see how Stephane was looking back towards the skaters and the camera focused on Yuzu while he gave Stephane the thumbs up - could mean anything, but I believe Stephane was directly looking at Yuzu). Besides this, Marika's tweet translation: 

Maybe Yuzu asked some stuff, maybe he just had a different vibe, we'll never know.

The last thing, Yuzu can't always hide his emotions and when he's overwhelmed, like in Shizuoka Day 3, it's really hard to jist brush it off even though he said he cries a lot, but it's not that serious.

 

I still think someone who paid attention and was relatively close to Yuzu during FaOI could have pieced some stuff together. Although I wonder why it wasn't Nobu.

 

The last thing: that finale embrace between Yuzu & Stephane was clearly emotional. Maybe Stephane caught on during the finale, maybe it was just a random emotional hug.

 

All this is speculation. We, as fans, had little information available and misleading hints, not in our wildest dreams did we think Yuzu would become pro after JSF page update on July 1st. Maybe the skaters' around Yuzu didn't care enough to catch onto his plans or they didn't have any clue either.

 

But in hindsight, I think everyone could trace the clues appropriately while going backwards chronologically.

 

I think Yuzu meant for TenChi to be his last competitive program, but I do want to see the full version of it with the 4A added. Maybe one day soon 

 

[Goatedforever]

@LiaRy Yes to that! That long hug from Stephane was at the back of my head during the whole time. At that time though, I just found it emotional like a hug after a long time of not being able to perform FaOI together. Stephane has been skating with him at FaOI since he was young, maybe he knew something was up. Or Jeff whom he must have thanked profusely at that time. Maybe they could have guess from his NDP tribute to DW or maybe evrn David knew something was up. From that pamphlet of the interview with Javi, he asked what it’s like to be a professional skater and I’m guessing he must have been asking the same around his colleagues. Or maybe he talked with them and they could get hints from his words. Maybe Nobu had a feeling, who knows at this point. As you said this is all speculation as fans. None of the earlier interviews hinted anything but looking back you can see that he was never specific about saying he was going to compete again.

 

I still want to see both Rondo and Tenchi in his ice shows. Fortunately, we had clean Rondo in JNats but it still doesn’t feel enough. I was hoping he’d reuse it this season if he were to compete. Rondo didn’t get a lot of love for obvious reasons and I’d like to see it repackaged in his ice show to give it a new look and make it more memorable for the new fans. 

[Fita]

I didn't yet follow Hanyu closely during FaoI 2022, and all these talks about how veteran fans confidently hoped for him continuing in competition make me fear my future ---- our Hanyu is such a troll! I know the memes, but, still..... 

 

1 hour ago, LiaRy said:

The last thing: that finale embrace between Yuzu & Stephane was clearly emotional. Maybe Stephane caught on during the finale, maybe it was just a random emotional hug.

I saw this clip, but honestly i thought it was Lambiel who had something, and not Hanyu because i saw some clip of Wier calling him Brenda, and I thought it was a bit emotional. Who would have thought!

 

1 hour ago, Goatedforever said:

@LiaRy I still want to see both Rondo and Tenchi in his ice shows. Fortunately, we had clean Rondo in JNats but it still doesn’t feel enough. I was hoping he’d reuse it this season if he were to compete. Rondo didn’t get a lot of love for obvious reasons and I’d like to see it repackaged in his ice show to give it a new look and make it more memorable for the new fans. 

YES! I second this!

Ppl talked about the Great Rondo and Tenchi but somehow I still couldn't in peace watching those. Like, still being salty about everything? Or is it because Hanyu didn't look like he enjoy things as before? (honestly I thought I would be able to watch those 2 since Hanyu already decided to going professional, but turns out I still couldn't watch those without feeling bitter and ended up close the tabs).

Also, bringing them to ice shows can be a good bridge from 'being competitor' to 'being pro athlete' 

Also it is because I wish for him to be less slutty in ice shows, i am too conservative 

 

[Wintek]

4 hours ago, LiaRy said:

I did interpret it exactly like this the day we got the live stream. That he chose loneliness at the end of Raison and purity/freedom when he exited after NDP. But I thought he was simply expressing his feelings about how FaOI made him feel. It never once occurred to me it might go deeper than gratitude for the audience supporting him.

 

But we were mislead. I don't know if by him or by the translations or by our own feelings. I suppose we were mislead by a combination of all three. He affirmed time and time again that he is in the best shape he has ever been, he talked about YH's skating, he emphasised he wants to grow as an artist and as an athlete, too. We took this to mean that he will continue pursuing his goals in competition.

 

I'm now wondering whether we assumed all this because we have never seen a professional skater better themselves both artistically and athletically. 

I posted something about the meaning of Raison, the costume and the rolling up the sleeve some time ago, along the same lines of @LiaRy 

 

I recently read a post from a Japanese fan, she/he was mentioning something like Yuzu being given a 'slap or hit on the shoulder' by JSF and ISU. The image of Raison and Yuzu holding his shoulder came to my mind. So I looked for the concept and it seems to be an equivalent of giving someone the cold shoulder. But I also found that there is a move in Go (Japanese strategy board game, similar to chess) that's called Katatsuki (shoulder hit). The move is used to reduce the territorial potential of an opponent's group without being easily captured. When I read that description I thought how Yuzu had been increasingly cornered by organizations that cannot be made easily accountable for their actions.

[Skrimblo_iced]

hi is there a compilation of yuzu slow mo jumps on here? 
for context I suddenly had anxiety about toe loops lol

[Wintek]

And talking about interpretations, I found this thread very interesting. I think Yuzu had been giving signs for quite some time that he was ready to move on while also sharing what he was feeling. Danse mon Esmeralda was just the most obvious of those messages that we weren't able to interpret (or didn't want to?).

 

About the other clear signs: Masquerade, Rondo (see Shae-Lynn Bourne explanation of the choreography) and Tenchi. The story of Kenshin who fought many battles and after facing defeat with his army ponders whether to continue fighting or take a new path to priesthood.

[Wintek]

9 minutes ago, Skrimblo_iced said:

hi sorry to ask about jumps (because i know we don't like them to entirely be the focus here, except for nessie) but is there a compilation of yuzu slow mo jumps on here? 

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but there are some compilations with explanations on YouTube
YUZURU HANYU - COMPLETE 6 JUMP ANALYSIS + GOE ANALYSIS

YUZURU HANYU - Highest Scored Jumps from each season | 2013-2020 (not in slow motion, but you could select to play the video in slow motion)
Yuzuru Hanyu 羽生結弦: Best Recovery Jumps and Layout Changes (this one is fun to watch because it shows how good Yuzu's mind, technique and reflexes work)

 

I also love Elisa's (@Lunnarias on Twitter) analysis of Yuzu's jumps, which of course include slow motion videos. These are on her Instagram:
Yuzu's 4Lo (part 1) & Yuzu's 4Lo (part 2)
Yuzu's 4Lz

Yuzu's 3A