Tatsuki Machida

Hello Lsayogi! I was hoping for an increased PCS too next season after his wonderful Worlds result but I'm still not sure if that will be enough to get close to Yuzuru. After all Yuzuru will most likely get the same (if not higher) PCS and with his superior base value (in his LP at least) he's difficult to catch from behind. It happened in Saitama and it can happen again.

But Tatsuki is definitely much closer to a complete package than Yuzuru and I wish it showed in his PCS. I'm looking forward to seeing new programs from him next season, hopefully something different than what he's done so far. I hope he changes his mind about retiring next year.

Lsayogi said:

Hi all, first time visiting! After Tatsuki's inspiring Worlds debut, for sure he will less likely to be underscored in the new season. Who knows, if he maintains consistency alongside developing his own choreography, he may even swap if not share the top seed with Yuzuru (who needs time to develop the refinement commensurate with the difficulty he harnessed, just barely.) For the moment, Tatsuki is much closer to a complete package than his kohai. For that reason, I hope any shift of attention to Tatsuki (as we saw so-briefly after his Saitama SP) will not complicate his strong rapport with Dai. As you say, they really can become an even greater force when unified as a team.

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Welcome Lsayogi! Nice to meet more Tatsuki fans! I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about Tatsuki's consistency, for I believe that is the reason for his breakthrough season; he has stabilized his quad toe and triple axel jumps, and his quad toe, triple toe combination for me approaches that of Patrick Chan's. He has always had the artistry and musicality though sadly not the commensurate PCS score (should have scored more there for his sublime Worlds SP), but I think things will change now that he has established himself as an elite skater. I think for this season, as ionap mentioned, the challenge for him is to raise the bar re the technical content of his programs. More jumps/jump combinations in the latter half of the program perhaps?

For me it's healthy for Japanese figure skating to have as many skaters as possible to be in medal contention, and for them to push each other to greater heights. Tatsuki has mentioned wishing to have Yuzuru's mental strength as a competitor, and Yuzuru talked about wanting to be as artistic as Tatsuki and not rely so much on his jumps to win. Also, I don't think Daisuke will begrudge any attention that Tatsuki will attract because of his superb skating. From what I have seen, Daisuke has always been gracious to the younger Japanese male figure skaters.

Maria Victoria said:

Also, I don't think Daisuke will begrudge any attention that Tatsuki will attract because of his superb skating. From what I have seen, Daisuke has always been gracious to the younger Japanese male figure skaters.

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He will most certainly not, I think it's the complete opposite. During the Olympic and Paralympic meeting held by prime minister Abe, Daisuke was trying to keep himself out of the picture the prime minister was taking with Yuzuru and Mao by his side, as he felt he didn't belong there after his result in Sochi. Seiko Hashimoto had to practically drag him closer, and he was still hiding behind Mao. Mao herself took his hand and placed him beside her It just shows how humble he is. Besides, Tatsuki has beaten Daisuke in competition several times and nothing changed between them. They are still close enough to even share a room A couple of years ago though, Tatsuki was still too shy to even say something to him.

Now that Tatsuki's technical content has gotten steadier, maybe he can try raising the bar indeed.

Back to the past (updated version ): all machida's SP as a senior.

Season 2012-13 F.U.Y.A. (Skate America 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7B2LE6QQZo)

Season 2011-12 & 2010-11 Dark Eyes (4CC 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOGshKryKhg)

Season 2009-10 Celos (Jpn Nationals 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeaKt-rkVO8)

Season 2008-09 Peach (Jpn Nationals 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLIyR-dasM)

Dark Eyes's fan version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTIJx-tuAiM
my favourite part: the spins! ahah kinda love this kid

ioanap said:

He will most certainly not, I think it's the complete opposite. During the Olympic and Paralympic meeting held by prime minister Abe, Daisuke was trying to keep himself out of the picture the prime minister was taking with Yuzuru and Mao by his side, as he felt he didn't belong there after his result in Sochi. Seiko Hashimoto had to practically drag him closer, and he was still hiding behind Mao. Mao herself took his hand and placed him beside her It just shows how humble he is. Besides, Tatsuki has beaten Daisuke in competition several times and nothing changed between them. They are still close enough to even share a room A couple of years ago though, Tatsuki was still too shy to even say something to him.

Now that Tatsuki's technical content has gotten steadier, maybe he can try raising the bar indeed.

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Thank you for all your news on Daisuke. He will always be my favourite skater but I am happy that Machida has a thread that is growing. He is my second favourite next to Daisuke. I love his artistry and admire his intellect, too. I hope he finally gets the recognition he deserves from the judges.

@cdngirl Tatsuki is my second favorite next to Daisuke too right now!

Jombi, thank you so much for all the links, always a pleasure to see his programs!

Jombi said:

Back to the past (updated version ): all machida's SP as a senior.

Season 2012-13 F.U.Y.A. (Skate America 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7B2LE6QQZo)

Season 2011-12 & 2010-11 Dark Eyes (4CC 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOGshKryKhg)

Season 2009-10 Celos (Jpn Nationals 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeaKt-rkVO8)

Season 2008-09 Peach (Jpn Nationals 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLIyR-dasM)

Dark Eyes's fan version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTIJx-tuAiM
my favourite part: the spins! ahah kinda love this kid

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Thanks for the links Jombi! You must have been tracking Tatsuki's career for some time, while I just "discovered" him last season so I really appreciate being directed towards his performances when he was younger. You can see how he and his skating have matured over the years.

he is right...Tatsuki's 2014 Nagoya festival exhibition with his Worlds East of Eden SP as encore. Wearing plain long-sleeved white shirt and black pants.

@ Maria Victoria and ioanap: My pleasure I'd add the LPs too but tbh I think they're not very convincing.

Maria Victoria said:

You can see how he and his skating have matured over the years.

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I agree. For me it's also nice to spot how the little details that make his skating such a beauty today were there even in earlier stages of his career. Obviously they were not completely developed but the hand and arm movements, the refinement of every action and the flow out of the jumps were already present.

One last thing: does anybody know why he doesn't have the 4T-3T combination in the LP?zayak rule?

I think there are certain things one can spot even in the earlier stages of the career. It was the same with Daisuke, who already had the artistry in him during his first senior seasons but it fully developed with time. I'm sure Tatsuki has the same potential. Now that he has finally achieved good results, it would be a pity not to continue to Pyeongchang but he seems to think otherwise.

I've been curious as well about the 4T-3T combination, as he has it in the SP but it's 4T-2T in the LP. I guess it's not the Zayak rule because the other quad is not in combination.

Jombi said:

@ Maria Victoria and ioanap: My pleasure I'd add the LPs too but tbh I think they're not very convincing.

I agree. For me it's also nice to spot how the little details that make his skating such a beauty today were there even in earlier stages of his career. Obviously they were not completely developed but the hand and arm movements, the refinement of every action and the flow out of the jumps were already present.

One last thing: does anybody know why he doesn't have the 4T-3T combination in the LP?zayak rule?

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Maybe because Tatsuki has the 3T in combination with the 3A later in the LP?

Anyway, I hope he ups the ante re his technical elements to remain competitive with Yuzuru and Javier.

^ Oh yes, I forgot he has 3A-3T later in the LP. I think that explains the 4T-2T. Do you think he will ever be able to perform another type of quad?

ioanap said:

Do you think he will ever be able to perform another type of quad?

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Ionap I really don't know whether Tatsuki will be able to perform another type of quad (though I would hope so), that is why my suggestion is to do more jumps/jump combinations in the 2nd half of the program to get the bonus. But let us see. Tatsuki has shown himself to be quite determined and he did say he will try to "crush" Yuzuru so who knows even as we are discussing this he is after exhibitions in his "Kung fu Panda" mode and going into retreat to have another kind of quad in his programs and pleasantly surprise us once again.

Another 4T in the SP sounds like an interesting idea. Either that, either more technical content to his 2nd half of the LP. He does want to keep himself at the top of the game so I guess risking new quads at this point is going to be less likely.

This thread needs to be resurrected

Here's a sneak peak they showed on TV of Tatsuki's new Je Te Veux EX program which was apparently also done with Daisuke in mind.

http://youtu.be/VtGTOPbnQy8

According to some of the fan reports on twitter, at the first Prince Ice World show's fan meeting, Daisuke was also there to announce his appearance at Prince Ice World Tokyo.
Tatsuki has previously said he was inspired by this picture so the fans asked him if he was thinking of a girlfriend while skating. Tatsuki apparently got embarrassed, stared at Daisuke for some time and quickly told them "It's a secret". Of course, without palpable evidence it should be taken with a grain of salt, but this is what some of the fans present there have talked about on twitter.

New pics of Tatsuki at the latest Prince Ice World show

http://blog-imgs-67-origin.fc2.com/d/1/s/d1sk0218/TD001-4.gif
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnP-FffCEAAui4Z.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnQXVGsCYAAn9Bf.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnQXVOpCcAAV0e3.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnRs6qNCQAAo3mb.jpg:large

ioanap said:

This thread needs to be resurrected

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Yes it does, doesn't it?

Ok my help in the "resurrection" is a flashback to Tatsuki's performances in the 2014 Worlds. Just watched the CBC commentary on nicovideo (you have to register first, but it's a painless process): http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23359491 (SP); http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23363362 (FP); http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23370643 (gala).

In the SP, superlatives just flowed:

Kurt Browning: "When you think of a total of 18 quads being landed this season, you think of 'athlete,' but he is full artist as well."

"He carries flow, grace and edge work into his quad."

"When it comes to landing all the jumps, he really doesn't have any weaknesses."

"He's such a good jumper, he even jumps into his spins!"

"He's using the music to... to his own delight, he's just someone who really enjoys to skate!"

"Well, his core strength is just amazing!"

"There such a core of artistry in his skating as well! What a blend of athlete and artist!"

Brenda Irving (I think): "That was an incredible skate! He looked like the Japanese Olympic champion out there tonight!" (The last got a little laugh from Kurt. I was taken aback a little as a Yuzuru fan, but I think I know where she's coming from with that remark.)

Carol Lane: "Wow! That's just ownership, right?"

"What stood out to me was that every element was absolutely stunning!"

"He deserves every point of that [referring to Tastuki's 98.21 score], maybe a bit more" (eliciting a "Wow!" and again a little laugh from Mr. Browning).


On another note, I think Tatsuki looks up to Daisuke as one would to a much admired, nay revered, older brother. And judging from this photo https://twitter.com/mikappa78/status/465104467759599616/photo/1, the link of which was posted by celestecruz at the Yuzuru thread, Yuzuru to Tatsuki will be the pesky, "sooo annoying" younger brother .

Thanks ionap for the links (though the fc2 doesn't work for me; is there something I should do to be be able to view it?).

Oh that link doesn't work anymore for me either, maybe the picture was deleted meanwhile.

Thank you for the links and transcripts of the commentaries. Tatsuki getting such high praise from Kurt Browning is wonderful and he is right; Tatsuki is a beautiful blend of athlete and artist. The confidence and the grace he skated with in his SP truly made him look like a champion and he almost was - he finally landed a spot in the Olympic and Worlds team after years of placing 4th (sometimes lower) at the nationals (he even placed 4th at the 2009 nationals and named first substitute for the Vancouver Olympics) and he was 0,33 points away from becoming the second Japanese World Champion. The ending pose with the standing ovation in the background was memorable. What an incredible Worlds debut!

Tatsuki has said his Worlds silver medal is already at the back of his mind at the lecture he attended with Nobunari and Daisuke at Kansai University at the end of last month and that he already thrives of doing better than that in the next season. Hopefully he has gotten a bit of Yuzuru's incredible competitive spirit and will continue to push himself. It's definitely going to be very exciting to see.

Hopefully we will get a high quality video of his new EX program this summer as I already like what I've seen so far. I love the steps and the spin he does in the video above. I think he's going to have a very bright future in choreographing. As for the way he sees his - dare I say - more popular team mates, I think Tatsuki literally called Yuzuru annoying in an interview Their personalities clash too much for him to get along much with Yuzuru I guess. Yuzuru is the talkative and open type while Tatsuki prefers a single table at the university cafeteria. On the other side Daisuke is more his type - he certainly has a lot more friends and socializes a lot more than Tatsuki but he's nothing like the explosive man we see on the rink.

Ironically, I think Daisuke has the least self confidence out of all of them (he always admitted he had tons of issues with himself, a problem that most likely goes back to the days he was bullied as an elementary school little boy) and he's been unfortunately faced with a lot of obstacles because of that throughout his career. I'm still not sure of the decision he's going to make but if he does retire after his year off, he's leaving the men's team in very good hands - firstly Yuzuru's and now certainly Tatsuki's, who will be the new representative of artistry with his own personal style. That is, if someone talks some sense into him and prevents him from retiring in 2015. We're in for a big surprise if Tatsuki retires while Daisuke actually comes back for the 2015-2016 season.

ioanap said:

Oh that link doesn't work anymore for me either, maybe the picture was deleted meanwhile.

Thank you for the links and transcripts of the commentaries. Tatsuki getting such high praise from Kurt Browning is wonderful and he is right; Tatsuki is a beautiful blend of athlete and artist. The confidence and the grace he skated with in his SP truly made him look like a champion and he almost was - he finally landed a spot in the Olympic and Worlds team after years of placing 4th (sometimes lower) at the nationals (he even placed 4th at the 2009 nationals and named first substitute for the Vancouver Olympics) and he was 0,33 points away from becoming the second Japanese World Champion. The ending pose with the standing ovation in the background was memorable. What an incredible Worlds debut!

Tatsuki has said his Worlds silver medal is already at the back of his mind at the lecture he attended with Nobunari and Daisuke at Kansai University at the end of last month and that he already thrives of doing better than that in the next season. Hopefully he has gotten a bit of Yuzuru's incredible competitive spirit and will continue to push himself. It's definitely going to be very exciting to see.

Hopefully we will get a high quality video of his new EX program this summer as I already like what I've seen so far. I love the steps and the spin he does in the video above. I think he's going to have a very bright future in choreographing. As for the way he sees his - dare I say - more popular team mates, I think Tatsuki literally called Yuzuru annoying in an interview Their personalities clash too much for him to get along much with Yuzuru I guess. Yuzuru is the talkative and open type while Tatsuki prefers a single table at the university cafeteria. On the other side Daisuke is more his type - he certainly has a lot more friends and socializes a lot more than Tatsuki but he's nothing like the explosive man we see on the rink.

Ironically, I think Daisuke has the least self confidence out of all of them (he always admitted he had tons of issues with himself, a problem that most likely goes back to the days he was bullied as an elementary school little boy) and he's been unfortunately faced with a lot of obstacles because of that throughout his career. I'm still not sure of the decision he's going to make but if he does retire after his year off, he's leaving the men's team in very good hands - firstly Yuzuru's and now certainly Tatsuki's, who will be the new representative of artistry with his own personal style. That is, if someone talks some sense into him and prevents him from retiring in 2015. We're in for a big surprise if Tatsuki retires while Daisuke actually comes back for the 2015-2016 season.

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I wish Daisuke and Tatsuki will both be competing come 2015-16, and someday for Daisuke to choreograph for Yuzuru as well. Yuzuru once said that although style depends on the individual skater, if he's pressed to choose, he'd like to emulate Daisuke's skating style, "who's capable of abandoning himself to the flow [of the program] without exerting any effort."

Tatsuki also has that quality of passionate abandonment to the program without appearing strained or forced, although Kurt Browning did note in Tatsuki's Worlds FP that Tatsuki doesn't look at the audience much and tends to have his eyes downcast more than he should and seemingly skates for himself (a refrain of Tatsuki's "solitariness"). Tracy Wilson (now Yuzuru's coach) when she did commentary on Yuzuru's 2012 Worlds FS also said that Yuzuru "doesn't share with the audience as much as his teammate Daisuke Takahashi." So in terms of projection to the audience at least, Daisuke can teach a thing or two to the younger skaters.

Tatsuki was definitely much more nervous in the free at Worlds, he was really not as confident in himself as he was in the short and he admitted he let the pressure go to his head. He seemed too cautious and had shaky landings to his jumps and was the reverse of Yuzuru, whose free was stronger than the short. I cannot help remembering Daisuke's glorious 2010 win where both his SP and LP were outstanding and he won over Patrick Chan with 10 more points. I hope I'm not forgetting anything but I think he was the last World Champion to deliver two clean, effortless programs (except the underrotated and two-footed quad flip attempt but that did not interrupt the beautiful flow of the program at all). Patrick was very close to that at the 2011 Worlds but that stepping out on the triple axel in the LP was visible. Eye and La Strada are already legendary programs.

I remember Tracy Wilson's comment back at the 2012 Worlds and I thought Yuzuru was still too young to project himself so freely to the audience yet but he's turning 20 this year and still hasn't made much progress to that aspect. Just imagining Daisuke teaching Yuzuru some of his secrets and maybe making him a choreography is like a dream! Can you picture Daisuke standing next to Yuzuru in the kiss & cry just like Phillip Mills joined Tatsuki this year? What an incredible team it would be. But I'm sure Brian Orser will provide the choreographers he needs and as much as I'm trying to imagine a Yuzuru-Daisuke partnership just like the one Daisuke had with his senpai Takeshi Honda, there are slim chances for that to happen. Somehow I think if Daisuke ever gets the courage to choreograph a program to somebody, Tatsuki will be the first one to benefit from that Then maybe juniors like Shoma, whose skating style is also artistry-oriented.

A comeback of the Sochi Olympics team in the 2015-2016 season would be extraordinary. Two World Champions - one of them also Olympic Champion and the other the first Asian man to win an Olympic medal - and a Worlds silver medalist (plus who knows what else Tatsuki's gonna get this next season). I am already blown away.

ioanap said:

Tatsuki was definitely much more nervous in the free at Worlds, he was really not as confident in himself as he was in the short and he admitted he let the pressure go to his head. He seemed too cautious and had shaky landings to his jumps and was the reverse of Yuzuru, whose free was stronger than the short. I cannot help remembering Daisuke's glorious 2010 win where both his SP and LP were outstanding and he won over Patrick Chan with 10 more points. I hope I'm not forgetting anything but I think he was the last World Champion to deliver two clean, effortless programs (except the underrotated and two-footed quad flip attempt but that did not interrupt the beautiful flow of the program at all). Eye and La Strada are already legendary programs.

I remember Tracy Wilson's comment back at the 2012 Worlds and I thought Yuzuru was still too young to project himself so freely to the audience yet but he's turning 20 this year and still hasn't made much progress to that aspect. Just imagining Daisuke teaching Yuzuru some of his secrets and maybe making him a choreography is like a dream! Can you picture Daisuke standing next to Yuzuru in the kiss & cry just like Phillip Mills joined Tatsuki this year? What an incredible team it would be. But I'm sure Brian Orser will provide the choreographers he needs and as much as I'm trying to imagine a Yuzuru-Daisuke partnership just like the one Daisuke had with his senpai Takeshi Honda, there are slim chances for that to happen. Somehow I think if Daisuke ever gets the courage to choreograph a program to somebody, Tatsuki will be the first one to benefit from that Then maybe juniors like Shoma, whose skating style is also artistry-oriented.

A comeback of the Sochi Olympics team in the 2015-2016 season would be extraordinary. Two World Champions - one of them also Olympic Champion and the other the first Asian man to win an Olympic medal - and a Worlds silver medalist (plus who knows what else Tatsuki's gonna get this next season). I am already blown away.

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Yes, Tatsuki did not have that utter confidence and ease in his LP as he did in his SP but still props to him for nearly pulling off the victory at his Worlds debut.

And I agree with you that the Sochi team is indeed a dream team for Japan though I also like Takahiko and Takahito, both of whom made the national team ahead of Tatsuki. I hope Tatsuki's success will embolden the two to strive to be better as Tatsuki did when he was trying to make it to the team.

Pictures of Tatsuki and Daisuke at the Sochi gala (some of those shots remind me of that of Yuzuru and Javier):

https://24.media.tumblr.com/5601339d02470390b4d8aed1fa328f8e/tumblr_n54g8lSTyx1qfbp2ao3_1280.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/e9db6affdf0884e1118fac3e7b218327/tumblr_n54g8lSTyx1qfbp2ao6_1280.jpg
https://24.media.tumblr.com/e7413610b8cec2494169763f2a1b48e1/tumblr_n54g8lSTyx1qfbp2ao1_1280.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/db9553bba255f2b1c76375d54a57a9ce/tumblr_n54g8lSTyx1qfbp2ao4_1280.jpg
https://24.media.tumblr.com/291d5b5e39b475f375d53817626e820c/tumblr_n54g8lSTyx1qfbp2ao2_1280.jpg
https://24.media.tumblr.com/9f5376e3c26bf3a93429e1ff0f9ce9cc/tumblr_n54g8lSTyx1qfbp2ao5_1280.jpg

Credit: http://joannaechelonro.tumblr.com/

Because of the lighting, they look like the "Blues Brothers."