General Yuzuru Chat

[TallyT]

9 hours ago, Yuzurella said:

This is so touching! Yuzu is so loved!

 

Oh that is lovely! When we are still marvelling over the hugeness and spectacle of GIFT, it's nice to see the other side of Yuzu's coin, the way he touches people and they show it in these smaller but deeply emotional ways.

[Sombreuil]

@Geo1 did you manage to stream it in the end?  You don’t want to miss it if you can help it.

[Yuzurella]

Yuzu's Gift is a treasure I will love and cherish forever! I hope he knows that he is a great source of hope and comfort for so many people around the world.

 

[NEWS]

[TallyT]

4 hours ago, micaelis said:

It's been some time since I have submitted a fairly lengthy post but now is the time, though this one is about several odds and ends. 

 

First up - Yuzu and figure skating shows.   I was able to see Prologue and take in the basic approach, which was autobiographical.  On his own he was able to in just those performances up the bar for figure-skating exhibitions.  We were promised more with Gift.  I have only been able to see short snippets from it but they were enough to realize that Yuzu has risen exponentially above the formats for everyday ice shows.  Quite simply he's revolutionized the whole concept, bringing a merging of skating, lighting and other techno elements and bringing in other elements also (including Japan's leading symphony orchestra) to create a show that more resembles a high-end rock concert than figure skating shows as we known them.  It was a game changer.  Signor Anbesi was right,  This was likely the single most important event in the history of figure skating.

 

Which brings me to a second topic - Yuzu in Stars on Ice.  There was rather a bit of controversy there but I will begin by saying Yuzu wasn't under duress.  It is impossible to force Yuzu to do anything he really doesn't want to do.  So why did he agree to go with Stars on Ice.  My guess is that he is scouting for performers since the normal SOI gang is different from the normal FOI gang.  He's putting out a net.  True, he could go to vids of their performances and such ;but he needs to get up close and personal.  We have to realize that over the years the only times Yuzu has had to mix with other skaters across all the disciplines have been in galas and ice shows.  Over the years he's encountered many but back then he wasn't seeing them with an eye looking for future skaters in ice shows he's producing.  He needs particularly to see how they work in ice shows rather than galas, although what comprises ice shows is so similar that one might just as well view them as galas without a preceding competition.

 

Another reason he might have decided to go with SOI was because it would be an opportunity for him to meet with one Ilia Malinin, who will be in Japan with SOI.  It will be the first time the world's greatest figure-skating superstar meets the superstar emerging.  Now I know that a while back I was shot down by putting a description of Ilia on this thread since this threat deals with Yuzu and I think it was probably my fault for not framing it as I will now proceed to do.  This is just as much about Yuzu as it is about Ilia, since in Ilia we are seeing emerge a Yuzu done lite.  He will never eclipse Yuzu but he is right now the Next Big Thing in men's figure-skating and the Americans are embracing him wholeheartedly.  That's easy to understand since at age 18 he's already better than Nathan Chen ever was and unlike Nathan he has a 4A in his weaponry.. And Ilia's emerging greatness is primarily owed to Yuzu.

 

Ilia's parents are both former Olympic athletes (his mother even medaled).  They emigrated from Uzbekistan and settled in the US in Virginia and Ilia grew up American.  With two talented skaters as parents his decision to enter skating would not be surprising but he has, in interviews, stated that it was Yuzu's example that inspired him to seriously pursue skating.  Later Nathan would be an influence too, but Yuzu is where the initial inspiration came from.  And he still remains influential.  Case in point - amongst Yuzu's signature moves was the doughnut spin and the Bielmann spin but he never did what I thought would be obvious to him, that is moving from a doughnut to a Bielmann by raising his leg up to the proper position.  Ilia does do that.  There are some other traces of Yuzu to be found in his programs but those are not the important part

 

The important part is that, as he stated in an interview, now that he's got the jumps under control he will focus on basic skating skills and improving his program components, in short, make him something more than quadgOd, make him more complete as a skater, with Yuzu very much the model here, and he's already well on the way.  Look at his short program, at either the GPF or the US Nationals.  The choreography is dense and his arms are almost at much in motion as his legs.  He has to achieve that sense of effortless flow that lies at the heart of Yuzu's greatness and he might never attain that but he's wanting to go in the right direction, unlike Nathan who figured his jumps would be sufficient and the cooperative judges would pad his PC scores and hand him the wins.  Ilia's free skate program, which includes as its first jump his signature 4A is not as strong choreographically as his SP, even though Shae-Lynn choreographed it.  I think that's probably due to the choice of music.

 

There is, however, another element at play here.  Ilia looks like he is going to duplicate Yuzu's achievement from his 2013/14 season, a season in which he took the GPF, the Olympic gold and the World Championship.  Basically he began the season as an 'up-and-coming' to end it being the One to Beat.  Ilia might do just that this season by doing what is very much a possibility, taking the World Championship.  If he does that than this particular up-and-coming one will at season's end be that One to Beat.  And much more impressive - This is his first season skating senior level.

 

That is not to denigrate Yuzu.  He took every important thing in his fourth season of senior competition.  He did not have a Yuzuru Hanyu as inspiration.

 

There is yet another point of comparison.  Ilia has a charisma that Nathan never had, a charisma almost as great as Yuzu's but of a different sort.  Yuzu's appearance begins with the fact that he is enormously good-looking ('boy-band good looks' as one commentator put it), a ten on a scale of ten.  Ilia I would put at an eight or nine, but like Yuzu he has presence.  His presence, though, is energetically boyish.  He has a radiant smile and gives the impression at times on the ice that he is having a great deal of fun.  That is not really like Yuzu, who gets so much into the music that the only times he's really having fun on the ice is when the music is having fun.  Another thing to keep in mind is that Ilia does not show a major depth of character.  He's very much an American teenager who just happens to be a world class skater.  Part of that is that he doesn't have an earthquake in his past.  Yuzu does, as we will be very much reminded in a couple weeks in "Notte Stellata', Yuzu's commemoration with others of the Great Tohoku Earthquake, memories of which even after twelve years have the same vividness as the day after the quake.  Facing the prospect of imminent death does tend to have a lasting effect on fifteen-year-olds.

 

So as we look ahead for Yuzu there is Notte Stellata and then Stars on Ice later this year, after the competition is over.  What follows only Yuzu knows, although knowing his habit of planning things well ahead of time (remember, he stated he was going after TWO Olympic golds even before he'd gotten the first one) he already has things mapped out in his mind.  The most important thing to keep in mind about Yuzu is that there has never been in the past a figure skater like Yuzuru Hanyu.  There have been great skaters, true, but none have had the conscious determination, as we see with Yuzu, of making figure-skating better, not merely in terms of skills but in terms of the aesthetics.  Yuzu wants to make figure-skating better not by developing more impressive jumps and such, but rather making figure-skating more beautiful.  I'm sure he will do so and that will be his true legacy.

 

PS - I have a feeling that the real reason Nathan decided to head back to Yale was that he saw Ilia coming and knew he'd never be able to beat him.

 

I'm a little annoyed at having to read or scroll past a detailed paean to Ilia Malinin on Yuzu's thread but I just have to mention, charisma is in the eye of the beholder, and most non-Americans (and let's be honest, most Americans who still don't care about fs) do NOT see much in him, so claiming he has a Yuzu level is a bit much. Let's wait and see if anyone cares in a couple of years, hmmm? Or take it to the appropriate thread for US men.

[Perelandra]

20 minutes ago, TallyT said:

 

I'm a little annoyed at having to read or scroll past a detailed paean to Ilia Malinin on Yuzu's thread but I just have to mention, charisma is in the eye of the beholder, and most non-Americans (and let's be honest, most Americans who still don't care about fs) do NOT see much in him, so claiming he has a Yuzu level is a bit much. Let's wait and see if anyone cares in a couple of years, hmmm? Or take it to the appropriate thread for US men.

Very expressed, thank you

Was about to say something along these lines myself.

@micaelisthe youngster is full of self aggrandisement, do pompous people ever grow? Will he try to improve, when those surrounding him constantly over score him and heap praise on him. 

With all due respect, as some other satellites have pointed out, for those wishing to wax lyrical about skaters other than Yuzu, unless there is direct relation to Yuzu, there are threads. Iirc you had similar feelings about Gogolev on the past. The discussions need to be in a different thread please.

[Geo1]

21 hours ago, Beatrice said:

 

I hope you got the problem solved in the meantime and that you were able to watch GIFT  

 

Thank you, yes, I was finally able to watch it last night. It took a little bit of work and a lot of anxiety, but I was able to get into my Gmail account through my wife's old laptop. Although my wife was really tired and sleepy last night (from 2+ days of trying to resurrect my laptop and having no power or heat for 12 hours from Sunday morning due to some jerk stealing our electricity meter in the middle of the night), she connected my laptop to the 80 inch TV in our bedroom with a HDMI cable and put headphones on me because she knew how much I wanted to watch 'GIFT' on the big screen. She slept while I watched. As Brian Orser said to Yuzu following his 2015 NHK Trophy 'Seimei' free skate, "I have no words," to adequately describe the show except to say that it is totally UNPRECEDENTED. Yuzu's monster brain must be working at the speed of light to be able to put out everything that he has since turning 'professional' last July. YouTube channel, social media, 'Prologue', 'GIFT', the upcoming 'Notte Stellata' and whatever else is brewing in his genius mind. With 'GIFT', Yuzu has shown the world (again) that he is not only the GOAT of figure skating, but a MEGASTAR who transcends figure skating, a great writer, a great storyteller, an expressive actor, a world-class model, a real life anime character, and a visionary with the Midas touch. At the same time, he has shown us again that he is vulnerable, humble, respectful and always grateful for the support that he receives. I could not imagine what the show was going to be like – a solo show in the Tokyo Dome – but he definitely exceeded my expectations AND I was expecting a lot from Yuzu. 'Never underestimate Mr. Hanyu."

[Sombreuil]

I’m pretty sure the powers that be thought they’d have at least a year before he got up and running.  A lot of this must have been seething in his brain for ages.  Left us all in awe the way he sprinted away with this the moment the announcement he was turning pro.  Miracle boy.

 

I’m so glad you caught it.

[nekodearu]

4 hours ago, micaelis said:

It's been some time since I have submitted a fairly lengthy post but now is the time, though this one is about several odds and ends. 

 

First up - Yuzu and figure skating shows.   I was able to see Prologue and take in the basic approach, which was autobiographical.  On his own he was able to in just those performances up the bar for figure-skating exhibitions.  We were promised more with Gift.  I have only been able to see short snippets from it but they were enough to realize that Yuzu has risen exponentially above the formats for everyday ice shows.  Quite simply he's revolutionized the whole concept, bringing a merging of skating, lighting and other techno elements and bringing in other elements also (including Japan's leading symphony orchestra) to create a show that more resembles a high-end rock concert than figure skating shows as we known them.  It was a game changer.  Signor Anbesi was right,  This was likely the single most important event in the history of figure skating.

 

Which brings me to a second topic - Yuzu in Stars on Ice.  There was rather a bit of controversy there but I will begin by saying Yuzu wasn't under duress.  It is impossible to force Yuzu to do anything he really doesn't want to do.  So why did he agree to go with Stars on Ice.  My guess is that he is scouting for performers since the normal SOI gang is different from the normal FOI gang.  He's putting out a net.  True, he could go to vids of their performances and such ;but he needs to get up close and personal.  We have to realize that over the years the only times Yuzu has had to mix with other skaters across all the disciplines have been in galas and ice shows.  Over the years he's encountered many but back then he wasn't seeing them with an eye looking for future skaters in ice shows he's producing.  He needs particularly to see how they work in ice shows rather than galas, although what comprises ice shows is so similar that one might just as well view them as galas without a preceding competition.

 

Another reason he might have decided to go with SOI was because it would be an opportunity for him to meet with one Ilia Malinin, who will be in Japan with SOI.  It will be the first time the world's greatest figure-skating superstar meets the superstar emerging.  Now I know that a while back I was shot down by putting a description of Ilia on this thread since this threat deals with Yuzu and I think it was probably my fault for not framing it as I will now proceed to do.  This is just as much about Yuzu as it is about Ilia, since in Ilia we are seeing emerge a Yuzu done lite.  He will never eclipse Yuzu but he is right now the Next Big Thing in men's figure-skating and the Americans are embracing him wholeheartedly.  That's easy to understand since at age 18 he's already better than Nathan Chen ever was and unlike Nathan he has a 4A in his weaponry.. And Ilia's emerging greatness is primarily owed to Yuzu.

 

Ilia's parents are both former Olympic athletes (his mother even medaled).  They emigrated from Uzbekistan and settled in the US in Virginia and Ilia grew up American.  With two talented skaters as parents his decision to enter skating would not be surprising but he has, in interviews, stated that it was Yuzu's example that inspired him to seriously pursue skating.  Later Nathan would be an influence too, but Yuzu is where the initial inspiration came from.  And he still remains influential.  Case in point - amongst Yuzu's signature moves was the doughnut spin and the Bielmann spin but he never did what I thought would be obvious to him, that is moving from a doughnut to a Bielmann by raising his leg up to the proper position.  Ilia does do that.  There are some other traces of Yuzu to be found in his programs but those are not the important part

 

The important part is that, as he stated in an interview, now that he's got the jumps under control he will focus on basic skating skills and improving his program components, in short, make him something more than quadgOd, make him more complete as a skater, with Yuzu very much the model here, and he's already well on the way.  Look at his short program, at either the GPF or the US Nationals.  The choreography is dense and his arms are almost at much in motion as his legs.  He has to achieve that sense of effortless flow that lies at the heart of Yuzu's greatness and he might never attain that but he's wanting to go in the right direction, unlike Nathan who figured his jumps would be sufficient and the cooperative judges would pad his PC scores and hand him the wins.  Ilia's free skate program, which includes as its first jump his signature 4A is not as strong choreographically as his SP, even though Shae-Lynn choreographed it.  I think that's probably due to the choice of music.

 

There is, however, another element at play here.  Ilia looks like he is going to duplicate Yuzu's achievement from his 2013/14 season, a season in which he took the GPF, the Olympic gold and the World Championship.  Basically he began the season as an 'up-and-coming' to end it being the One to Beat.  Ilia might do just that this season by doing what is very much a possibility, taking the World Championship.  If he does that than this particular up-and-coming one will at season's end be that One to Beat.  And much more impressive - This is his first season skating senior level.

 

That is not to denigrate Yuzu.  He took every important thing in his fourth season of senior competition.  He did not have a Yuzuru Hanyu as inspiration.

 

There is yet another point of comparison.  Ilia has a charisma that Nathan never had, a charisma almost as great as Yuzu's but of a different sort.  Yuzu's appearance begins with the fact that he is enormously good-looking ('boy-band good looks' as one commentator put it), a ten on a scale of ten.  Ilia I would put at an eight or nine, but like Yuzu he has presence.  His presence, though, is energetically boyish.  He has a radiant smile and gives the impression at times on the ice that he is having a great deal of fun.  That is not really like Yuzu, who gets so much into the music that the only times he's really having fun on the ice is when the music is having fun.  Another thing to keep in mind is that Ilia does not show a major depth of character.  He's very much an American teenager who just happens to be a world class skater.  Part of that is that he doesn't have an earthquake in his past.  Yuzu does, as we will be very much reminded in a couple weeks in "Notte Stellata', Yuzu's commemoration with others of the Great Tohoku Earthquake, memories of which even after twelve years have the same vividness as the day after the quake.  Facing the prospect of imminent death does tend to have a lasting effect on fifteen-year-olds.

 

So as we look ahead for Yuzu there is Notte Stellata and then Stars on Ice later this year, after the competition is over.  What follows only Yuzu knows, although knowing his habit of planning things well ahead of time (remember, he stated he was going after TWO Olympic golds even before he'd gotten the first one) he already has things mapped out in his mind.  The most important thing to keep in mind about Yuzu is that there has never been in the past a figure skater like Yuzuru Hanyu.  There have been great skaters, true, but none have had the conscious determination, as we see with Yuzu, of making figure-skating better, not merely in terms of skills but in terms of the aesthetics.  Yuzu wants to make figure-skating better not by developing more impressive jumps and such, but rather making figure-skating more beautiful.  I'm sure he will do so and that will be his true legacy.

 

PS - I have a feeling that the real reason Nathan decided to head back to Yale was that he saw Ilia coming and knew he'd never be able to beat him.

Hi, Micaelis, it looks like you really like this guy and are looking for someone to share your passion with, which is totally understandable . But let me tell you part of my story. I watched figure skating since I was a little girl. For me it was a fascinating, colorful, fairy tale world. And then Evgeny Plushenko stepped onto the ice and everything changed. I was a teenager, and he became my first "skating crush". When he decided to leave the competitive circuit (for the first of many times, lol), I couldn't find anyone able to reignite even half the excitement. And it wasn't due to the lack of any new good skaters. As soon as I saw Lambiel's debut, I knew he would be a big name in this sport. But it wasn't enough for me. I felt disappointed and stopped following FS. This way I missed almost all of Yuzu's competitive carrier, but that is another story.

 

Toutes proportions gardées (as there is no equal to Yuzu in the skating world and history imo), my point is that love/interest/admiration for one skater doesn't easily translate into appreciation for another, no matter how good he or she is. I guess that some of us really like and admire Ilia, but others strongly dislike him or his skating, or both, and there are those who remain indifferent, because e.g. they don't even follow FS and have no interest in this sport, they are just strongly attracted to the one-of-a-kind phenomenon called Hanyu Yuzuru, which goes far beyond figure skating itself.

 

In fact, we come from so many different cultures, environments and fields of interests that Yuzuru is probably the only common factor that unites absolutely all of us. Here we find other people who can understand our fascination for him - the same way you're probably looking for someone who could also reflect your emotions about Ilia. But we come here to talk about Yuzu. It's not about right or wrong framing, it's about what this place is about

 

Honestly, for now, with all the fresh Gift experience and Notte Stellata on the horizon, I don't have any room left for any other skater - or any other artist, or generally speaking any other personality than Yuzuru, and it's him and his newest projects that I would prefer to focus on. These moments are precious to me, I want to savor them as much as I can, for as long as I can. As a fellow satellite, I hope you will join me in this process 

[TallyT]

I apologise if I got a bit too harsh there.

[YuzuJay]

Beauty blogger is back on 3/8

 

 

 

[YuzuJay]

 

 

[YuzuJay]

The special photobook campaign has started and all visuals used in the book are on display( google translate)

 

 

 

[ccy]

reminder : this is General Yuzuru Chat. If you want to discuss about other skaters or team please do so at their respective thread. Thanks. 

[LAY]

1 hour ago, ccy said:

reminder : this is General Yuzuru Chat. If you want to discuss about other skaters or team please do so at their respective thread. Thanks. 

Bravo! I totally agreed👍

[YuzuJay]