Why are you going back to bringing up the technical difficulty? Again, no objection with that assessment. But Kirk said "there's nothing special/memoreable about her skating" (this is not interpretation, that's what she said), and Lease adds "she lacks that killer instinct". THAT is what I disagree with so much.
And why would anyone just want to misinterpretate what they say into something worse than it is? It's two people I don't have any clue about who they are to begin with and PJ, who I usually just don't pay attention to that much. I just think they're saying some pretty weird stuff.
I don't really get what this has to do with anything... I certainly don't want to diss Ashley, and it's not about comparing Ashley to Akiko at all. PJ&Co. are definitly putting Ashley above Akiko though, they're even putting her in the same league as Yuna, Mao and Caro. And that's just not right, like it or not. (I'm not saying it's impossible Ash will be on the podium. If Mao and/or Caro make mistakes and she skates well, she can beat them. But it's about overall skating quality - and in that regard Ash is not up to the standard of the other three).
I am simply pointing out reasons why they said what they said, but you disagree with them and that is fine. as to the second part, I think a lot of criticisms towards Suzuki reminds me of criticisms towards Ashley. Sort that underdog, middle-of-the-road type comments, and it is perpetuated by not being able to see that they are fine skaters, though perhaps not gold contenders. There was literally a thread here that compared these two skaters specifically, and I see a lot of that sentiment being carried over. I don't think it's that far-fetched.