What Is Best for Hanyu Yuzuru? Popularity or Obscurity?

[Hope_and_Legacy]

Hello!!! I've never created a new thread like this, so sorry if it's very disorganized and messy!  Anyways, I'm kind of like Yuzuru in the fact that I tend to overthink things sometimes. Because I was thinking, the other day, that I wish some of my friends loved Yuzuru the way I do, but then it occurred to me....

 

What if spreading news about Yuzuru ends up being detrimental to him?   

 

What are your thoughts on this? Again, maybe I'm overthinking, but at any rate, I've created this poll because I'm curious if anyone has ever come to dislike him after discovering him. I know there's a thread talking about when & how we discovered our dear Overlord, which is why this poll exists: I noticed that most of us discovered him by ourselves, and not via introduction from others. This made me wonder why, because I am the type of fan who will talk A LOT about someone they like, and I know there are others like me. This means that we've definitely mentioned Yuzuru to some friend or colleague before. So then, how come most of us satellites didn't come to know him this way? Is it just that hard to convert others? 

 

Or, is converting others BAD???

 

I am just curious if you've ever talked about Yuzuru to someone before, and they ended up disliking him. If this is a common case, then I want to be careful when I talk about Yuzuru, because he already has too many haters, something that is really heartbreaking and unbelievable.  

 

 This brings me to my main point: I think we should be careful with who we talk to about Yuzuru and where. I don't have any data to back this up or any experience really, it's just me being extra cautious, I guess. I just worry sometimes, because I'm sure that we all know that fame can prove dangerous and unsafe, and we also know that Yuzuru has no public life is extremely private. And I feel that we should respect that. So, again, sorry for this long post, but does anyone have any insights/feelings on this? I personally think that making him known somewhat violates his preferences, but at the same time, I really wish he was more known so that I could talk about him with my friends. 

 

I would really appreciate it if someone replied! Thanks! Any suggestions and thoughts are welcome, and I won't judge you if there was anything that you disliked about Yuzuru at first glance. 

 

P.S. I'm putting this in "Space Junk" because I honestly don't know where this topic is appropriate. Sorry!

[SitTwizzle]

I tend to be too talkative too, but here I try to be prudent (less so with my husband, I just try not to bother him too much like on any subject) because I find Yuzuru Hanyu is too much of a wonder to be spoiled on some people by my fault, so I just let one sentence or send one video, and don't insist. Though I discovered yesterday that my husband himself, who is not naturally sensitive to bodily expression, was in fact somehow "the beginning of a fan". Not to the point of craving for videos of his (he is still not bound to bodily expression) but to the point of voicing his admiration of him to a close relative, in terms I wouldn't have imagined. 

[surimi]

I think rabid fans are much more detrimental to Yuzuru than the very rare cases when a former lukewarm fan gets repulsed by us Hanyu fans being 'everywhere' and 'obnoxious'. I think Yuzuru doesn't give a hoot about the few people who stop being his fans. What must be much more concerning to him, is that he needs security guards, and has fans stalking him to the point when he cannot use public transport or pay his family a casual visit... things like that. If the crazy sort of fans stopped doing that, I think Yuzuru would be quite happy to be popular.

[FlyingCamel]

Hmm I personally feel that trying too hard to convert someone to a fan can get annoying - it’s not just about Yuzu, but really anything and everything. If someone kept insisting on showing me videos of a singer they like, a movie they like etc etc I would feel slightly annoyed too. So I never really tried actively converting anyone to a fan haha XD Although it does get lonely at times because I wish I had a friend to fangirl with! 

[LadySnowblood]

Yuzuru absolutely doesn't need people to be converted. I was negative about religion for most of my life because of bad experiences with people trying to force their faith on me. It was all perfectly well-meaning and done in a positive way (no bullying etc), but it 100% repelled me which is the exact opposite of what they wanted. Now 30+ years later I can appreciate what they were trying to do and even see how it could have helped me if only I hadn't been so turned off by the "recruitment" attempts. I can see this happening to people who might have happily discovered Yuzu on their own and I really don't want that to happen if it can be avoided. Tragedy!!

 

I'm open & enthusiastic about my admiration of Yuzuru IRL but only found one person so far who appreciates him on a similar level, and it's still much more casual. And I could have predicted who that one person would be! I think that spark is either there or it's not, similarly it's strong or it's weak etc. So I'm not going to be the one who blows too hard and accidentally puts out that spark in someone else.

 

If you pay attention to how people react when you talk about Yuzuru and adjust as needed, I don't think anyone would leave hating him. And I really don't think him getting "too popular" is something for fans to be concerned about, only him... I think as fans we need to be strong & united against feeding into the toxic garbage that hurts him and might lead him to take additional steps away from the public eye. 

 

I can think of two (immature & petty) people who resented my Iove for Yuzuru, but to my knowledge they never hated him... which shows the power of Yuzu 

[yuzuangel]

I think everyone who's popular enough will have fans from the whole spectrum of appropriateness -- some who are obsessed to the point of stalking him all the way to some who are just casual fans. It can't really be helped. The only thing that can be done is that the powers that be (competition organizers, JSF, JOC, TCC, show organizers) need to have ample security when he's at an event to make his life easier. And while yes it may be annoying to have some inappropriate fans, I believe Yuzu is happy to have fans and support, and it's one reason while he has already accomplished so much and has been skating for so long, he still continues to do so. Knowing he touches so many people's lives must be a small part of why making the sacrifices to compete still feels worthwhile to him.

 

As for converting people, I think it's one of those things where, if you know, you know. A friend doesn't need to be "converted," but maybe just shown a few videos to help them on their own journey

[Hope_and_Legacy]

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to reply! I feel less confused now about how to approach things, and yes, I really agree that forcing others to watch Yuzu videos and things like that is not a good thing. I feel more confident now on how to handle things, so 

 

Actually, one of the reasons that I began to think about this issue is because of the Google Rewind / Year in Search video for 2019. Yuzuru showed up for for all of 5 seconds, but nearly half the comments mentioned him, and it made me wonder if that was a good thing. I really agree with all of you: we should be prudent about talking about Yuzuru and not push people to listen to us, because that is very rude. 

 

Thank you so much! ありがとうございました!!!  Now I think I understand better! I've never been a fan of a real life person before Yuzuru, so it's difficult for me to figure out how to find a balance and handle the things that come with it. I really appreciate the kindness you've all shown me!  

[Hope_and_Legacy]

3 hours ago, LadySnowblood said:

Yuzuru absolutely doesn't need people to be converted. I was negative about religion for most of my life because of bad experiences with people trying to force their faith on me. It was all perfectly well-meaning and done in a positive way (no bullying etc), but it 100% repelled me which is the exact opposite of what they wanted. Now 30+ years later I can appreciate what they were trying to do and even see how it could have helped me if only I hadn't been so turned off by the "recruitment" attempts. I can see this happening to people who might have happily discovered Yuzu on their own and I really don't want that to happen if it can be avoided. Tragedy!!

 

I'm open & enthusiastic about my admiration of Yuzuru IRL but only found one person so far who appreciates him on a similar level, and it's still much more casual. And I could have predicted who that one person would be! I think that spark is either there or it's not, similarly it's strong or it's weak etc. So I'm not going to be the one who blows too hard and accidentally puts out that spark in someone else.

 

If you pay attention to how people react when you talk about Yuzuru and adjust as needed, I don't think anyone would leave hating him. And I really don't think him getting "too popular" is something for fans to be concerned about, only him... I think as fans we need to be strong & united against feeding into the toxic garbage that hurts him and might lead him to take additional steps away from the public eye. 

 

I can think of two (immature & petty) people who resented my Iove for Yuzuru, but to my knowledge they never hated him... which shows the power of Yuzu 

Thanks for your words of advice and kindness! I'd just like to clarify that, like you said, I don't think that Yuzuru needs us to "convert" people for him. I guess I was just curious what everyone thinks about the subject and I wanted suggestions on how to talk about Yuzuru with others without being rude. But thank you so much for your advice! 

[monchan]

I think as long as it's bounded in FS Yuzu is happy getting known and popular. He has said not only once, as child or as adult, about how he LOVED being watched on ice by many ppl. So the more ppl watch his skating, the happier he is.

 

On the other hand he absolutely hates being seen off ice. So provided fans dont cross the border and only watch over his career, it should be fine.

 

Thou i feel the more fame he has, the more blurred that border becomes and Yuzu seems gradually losing his private life as the cost of his skating's popularity. We can only rely on civilized attitude of fans and conscience of media (if they have any lol).