The Fuji TV commentator said Dai was taking painkiller for his knee during the Kinki Regionals, but didn't have to during this Western Sectional because his knee feels better now.
That's wonderful news! Fingers crossed his condition will get even better until Nationals! To me it looked like the botched jump landings came down to nerves more than anything. Otherwise he looked like he was in pretty good shape. According to reports and judging from the 6 min warm-up today he's been easily landing a couple of 3As and other triples in practice.
4F? Who knows? Maybe he couldn't get the 4S around, so he's practicing the 4F again?