I am most encouraged and pleased about Mao's 2A+3T. Her 3A we have seen so many great ones in practices the past few days, so I already had confidence she could pull off a clean one. I think the 2A+3T really was better than all of her previous attempts, including the one at 2013 Worlds where she got +1.4 GOE. This bodes well for her 3F+3T and I can't wait to see it.
I am afraid she does need to be mindful of URing the 3F though... despite being her strongest jump, both her 3Fs looked borderline this time. And of course, keep working on the lutz edge (I am no longer an advocate of leaving the 3Lz out of her program, seeing the improvements she has made!) and be careful about 2L-2L URs in the 3 jump combo.
I also wanted to point out the remarkable quality that is her focus, and her calmness. For those who have been following the media clips closely and watched the whole Japan Open TV cast that was in fact a "Mao Asada Comeback" TV Special, you know how much media attention she has been under and how much hype and anticipation have been built up. It was almost impossible to live up to! And she has been making commercials (every week it seems) and doing Young Japan Action PR stuff and giving interviews (I am not even Japanese and don't live in Japan, so I couldn't have caught the full extent of it) which would all have been distractions. At the event, cameras were FIXED on her face the whole time. For her to give the FS performance that she gave and fulfill what was "demanded" of her from the fans, the sponsors (Lotte the candy company and Japan Airlines and Hotel Nikko and flu medicine) and the media after 553 days of not competing, I think is just amazing
Couldn’t say it better
I am afraid even just imagining how much pressure she had been under.
^ Can hardly see a thing because of the tuxedo.
Mao needs a new EX costume, maybe a gold fauxedo like the dancers in One Singular Sensation... This one looks really heavy. And it isn't compatible with the final spin.
The one thing I still can’t accept is that her EX costume. Not only for the design but also it looks so heavy. I hope there is any idea for a new one :hopelessness:
-----------------------------------------------------------
I was there
at Sitama Super Arena yesterday. So here is my small impression about the event and Mao.
First, I met
Junko Yaginuma and Nobunari Oda in front of the arena, they were very cute persons as we know.
In the Arena, looked like every shop was crowded so that made me to hesitate buying anything but in the end I got
some pamphlets (to be honest, I was a bit disappointed at the pictures. Even though Mao looks stunning as always, there’s nothing new.) and some little fancy goods at some shops.
(On another note, Yuzuru didn’t even participate the event,
but he was there.)
Mao looked to me very nervous in the beginning of her performance on the big screen.
I was also very nervous until she landed her 3A but at the rest I had a confidence that she could do it and as the result she was able to make it.
(I thought the hall was ridiculously huge for skating events even though there was full of the audience and unfortunately my seat was not that good the other side of the judges seats and was far away from the rink so I could hardly see skaters facial expressions plus the music was very loud that everything were totally inaudible, such as any edge work sounds during their performances that I had expected.)
Despite all those things, I was overwhelmed by her great presence on the ice. Her musically, artistically and some beautiful elements were still there. Besides, I had known her wonderful rink coverage but I was even more impressed with it live. (I just saw that gotoschool has already mentioned about it and her new program in an awesome way.)
I think that the result is almost perfect for her considering the fact that the performance for the first time in 553 days.
In all, it was a great experience and even if she didn’t look in her top shape yet I was very satisfied because I felt that she had showed me what’s “figure skating”, yes the true essence of figure skating, overall.
No one is worried when a skater is not doing good, unless you are a fan of that particular skater. So yep, you can say they're afraid and it's only the beginning.
I hope she performs well! 
If a 3flip-3toeloop is 'pedestrian', what's a 3toeloop-3toeloop!? 
I really wanted Mao to skate to the Budapest Klezmer Band version, or the one sung by Nina Hagen (or Martha Tilton, 1937 version)! This one (the Janis Siegel version, if I'm not wrong) was my 4th choice... Close enough, I guess 
...is all I have to say to that.
