[Removed]Fantasy on Ice in KOBE Pamphlet: Yuzuru Hanyu Special Interview

[Lunna]

10 часов назад , gladi said:

For Choo Choo Train too, there were no instructions apart from “Do a trick.” It was such an opportunity for the artists to be present and performing live––and just for 3 days too––so I thought I should try to reference EXILE’s choreography.

Good student Yuzu - he did not just a trick but a short piece of choreography himself 

10 часов назад , gladi said:

There were even people in the audience who were sat so far that we couldn't see their faces and yet, were waving banners for us. For these people, even if just a little, I’d like to be able to communicate my feelings and my desire “to connect”––something that has come to be very important to me since last year. To send my emotions and the feelings that guide me to every nook and corner of the arena––I hope to embark on this run of Fantasy on Ice with this sentiment in mind.

God, sometimes I think that this boy is too precious for this world 

@gladi Many many thanks for this translation! It was very insightful! Chopin 3.0 is deep and brilliant and gorgeous in it's new way  It's good to know that Yuzu also had his doubts, made his calculations   and now definitely knows what he wants to portray

10 часов назад , gladi said:

The current program isn’t quite there yet in comparison, but the 3A gives off an airy “fuwa“ vibe and melts into the music, and the 4T combo has also become a jump that better matches the musical notes.

Yes, there is the feeling that these jumps became a part of a choreography

 

10 часов назад , gladi said:

I’ve gotten to know this piece to a completely different degree and it is a part of me, and I can skate what I innately feel. I think this is such a program that I can express as I feel, and jump as I feel.

I'll pary for Yuzu to be able to skate like he feels (and breaths) in the stressful environment of competitions 

[kitsune]

Thanks . I always feel happy when I see new translations and interviews .

Chopin really has a unique story with Yuzu.
Is the short program after the Olympics, it is the program that broke his own Olympic record and is the program that will be used in this Olympic season. This program has gone through many moments with Yuzu, with unpredictable events  and layout changes not following the original plan. Chopin is the only yuzu program that will be skating for the third time and with it it will show its growth in it how much it has grown and how much it will grow, it is a different growth.

 

[Fay]

I think it might be good to include what Yulia thought about the two performance of Chopin we've seen so far, so I translated that. The translation can be found here: 

 

 

[Lunna]

8 часов назад , xeyra said:

But it's exactly because of the repetition of Chopin that I am sort of dreading the idea that he might repeat Seimei as well. Don't get me wrong, I love Seimei, and if he wasn't already doing Chopin, I'd be one of the first waving a flag for 'bringing Seimei back for the Olympics, yes!'. But since he already has chosen Chopin as his SP, I am not particularly in love with the idea of him repeating a second program as well.

Same here. Two old programmes (no matter how good they were) will be too much. From artistic point of view Yuzu has so much expression and there's so much music that it will be a pity to see the same thing. In case with Chopin at least there's always that thought that it almost wasn't skated with it's original layout. And I just can't imagine what else he can show with Seimei that we didn't already see. So we'll just wait and see if Yuzu has the same opinion or not. Anyway I'll be cheering for him no matter what he chooses.

[Lunna]

1 часа назад , raebia said:

A lot of thinking got into this decision to do Ballade, I begin to feel  the incredible thought and work it takes for him to decide on music..

Yeah, I feel that too, felt it partly from previous interviews. Cuz he must skate to smth he truly relates to, to be completely able to express himself, and also that music must have rhythm good for jumps and be suitable for FS programme as a whole.

[kitsune]

About Seimei 2.0 I do not know why but I just do not see it happening , it's not a bad idea, it's just my intuition (which occasionally fails miserably ). He has never repeated a long program throughout his senior season but if he repeated the program it would still be somehow unique. 

[gladi]

4 hours ago, LadyLou said:

These translations are always so precious!

From Yuzu's words about people attending to shows, I can understand his kuyashii when he fails to give the performances he wants, though I wish he knew that even pops or falls don't change that what people cherish the most is just watching him skate and pour his emotions in what he does (but this is the curse of a perfectionist)

 

As we already thought, Yuzuru made his SP choice with his eyes wide open.

In the interview he makes a lot of interesting points, such us that he has learned a lot in the past year and he know can express different things. His growth and feelings are already apparent in his Chopin program in FaoI, despite small rinks, melting ice, bad lightnings and such. The one skating to Chopin 3.0 is a different Yuzuru Hanyu from the one who skated Chopin 2.0 to perfection.

 

When I think that people never stop going to live concerts and gladly listen to the same artists perform to their songs from years or even decades ago, it looks indeed strange that in the world of figure skating there can be such a bad reaction to a "mere" 3rd peat... I wasn't overly entusiast at first, but my perspective was that of a greedy fan who wants to have as many programs as possible from Yuzu, just like I look forward to new songs from my favourite singers. Maybe it doesn't help that skating careers are so short.

 

When I started surfing youtube to track back Yuzu's programs in january, somehow his LGC, H&L and Notte Stellata didn't popped out at first, and for a while I didn't even knew there were new programs after Chopin and Seimei

Yet when I found out they did exist, I was truly shocked that once again he had got so much better in the way he used his whole body! One day I thought I couldn't ever see anything better than his his 2015-2016 programs, and the next one I was left speechless and amazed! And I kinda wondered how Chopin and Seimei would look like skated by this new astonishing Yuzuru. (sorry for the jinx  it was unintentional)

Now I'm looking forward to see what Yuzuru can do.

 

As for the LP, in a way I'd actually prefer Seimei 2.0 to some other choices...

More than the judges being annoyed by the repeat (how many of them have judged Seimei? How many times? They are not the same in every single competition, maybe they would be even happy to see it again!) I worry about the reaction from other FS fans and commentators. It's not that they may feel a bit bored (Yuzuru's last FP has been completely different, so it wouldn't be that bad) but rather that, just as someone already pointed out, Yuzuru would lend himself to bad narrative, and bad narrative and bad perception could influence the judges too.

Not everyone knows or cares about Yuzuru's thoughts and repeating two programs -those two programs - would turn him in a way too easy target.

Even worse, by going against another one of his iconic programs he would add another burden on himself. I know he could overcome it, but in Olympics he already has to face a lot of pressure from everywhere, himself included! Of course Yuzuru always challenges himself, but I fear it would be worse were he to fail his own insane expectations to a Seimei 2.0 rather than any other program.

 

However, whatever his choice, I'll cheer for him. Even if by now I've become familiar with a lot of skaters from different disciplines, none has truly enthralled me the way Yuzuru does. It's as if he gave me what I didn't even know I was looking for in figure skating. His "style" made me land on his planet. His skating and his personality are what keeps me here.

 

Thank you @gladi   because it's thanks to your translations, too, that I'm able to get a glimpse of Yuzu's wonderful world.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful post  ... sleepless but happy gladi ----> 

After seeing exactly how much he was able to do with Chopin 3.0 even as an ice show version––and nothing shows improvement better than when this new performance beats an old "perfect" hands down––I really wouldn't mind SEIMEI 2.0. I see the point about bad narrative, but end of the day, a perfect performance trumps any bad narrative like a thunderstorm clears the air :x The thing with repeat performances is that, even when people repeat, it's rare that they show a markedly improved performance the way Yuzu seems to be doing. It's a unique marriage of technique and expression. And the delicate expression is only possible upon a foundation of pristine technique. Who else can do basically a 3A in the middle of a cluster... in order to give off an airy feel the exact way he wants? XD So, SEIMEI or not... If SEIMEI, he'll show me again exactly how perfect can be even more perfect. If not, well I have a different piece of music. The way I see it, either ways there is something new for me to behold as a greedy fan, and as a gift to figure skating surely.

[Yatagarasu]

1 hour ago, gladi said:

If SEIMEI, he'll show me again exactly how perfect can be even more perfect.

 

And if it turns out to be Seimei after all, then Max is right and it won't be the same thing. There is powerful association with names, I don't dispute that; for some, simply by reusing the name (if he does, lots of ifs here) it would be enough to ignore both the content and that which you mention.

About the content though, it won't be the same because it's simply impossible. We'll have both a different music cut, so at least to some extent changed, and we'll have a change in choreography. With the layout change that is inevitable (and I am not talking about possible five quads here, but four at least are inevitable) these will change too. 

 

So if we end up with Seimei, I think we're bound to see not just the old program skated by the 2017/18 Yuzuru who is without a doubt a more powerful, skilled and overall, fully matured skater now but he will be giving us a new Seimei in another way too. 
I said it before, I would not oppose this at all. I think all of those will be enough to wrench the program from any negative associations. 

[Pammi]

 

 

[Yatagarasu]

16 hours ago, sublimeskating said:

 

seimei was and still is one of yuzu's best known programs <snip> i mean, this is a program that broke the WR twice. 

 

I think one of the potential problems is just that, if he chooses Seimei again. It is understandable where the concern is coming from; I see it both for Chopin and potentially Seimei and of course, if we do indeed end up with both, then in some ways the concerns do not just add up, but multiply. I do think it's fair to say there are some (I'm disregarding personal preferences here, people like what they like), but I believe this interview for one shows he has thought of them (those he wished to talk about).

 

But I do believe that if he chooses to go down that road in terms of the LP, we'll get a 'brand new' version, in quite a few ways, just enhanced by a fully mature Yuzuru. It truly is a perfect program for the Olympics. I think that'll be enough to negate any potential problems, or rather, in the corners that matter. If we do, then hopefully there'll be a similar interview where we get to hear his thoughts about it.