Yuzuru Hanyu: 2016-17 Season

[Katie J]

Just woke up, hope you all are OK too, all what I saw gave me so much to think about that I couldnt sleep till daybreak.
Hanyus costume: "Heritage" does he wants to symbolize the earth ? These white flutters: No. Colours: YES.
The beverly smith interwiew here again the link:https://bevsmithwrites.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/hanyus-fall-classic-or-classic-fall/ says it all, especially Orser "Javi has no intention of uping the ante"...but Hanyu has. For this ambition to challenge himself we all love Hanyu. I watched Fernandez FS Japan Open: Nothing new, his old self.
The mentioned technical difference loop jump-salchow let me smile inside: I did sal- timing also in loop jump for years, detecting the difference first when watching Hanyus incredible new 4 Lo and trying to do 2 Lo on the floor, so Hanyu helped me again. I bow deeply.
Anyone knows if exhibition CAC is live on today ? Thanks !!!

 

[Pamigena]

There's even more evidence of the costume sparkling on @michlmint's instagram, can't wait for more HD footage from Japanese broadcasters.

:luv17:

("You wanna do one more axel?" well at least now we know who gave him the idea)

 

[Winnie_20]

So the music is basically the opening of View of Silence, and the rest is a cut of a live version of Asian Dream Song (? I think, so far I've only watched the program once).
I did feel like the music cut was a bit off for me, though I suppose that's always the case when you're intimately familiar with a song and someone cuts it up. ;-) That said, the piece is still gorgeous. By the time Worlds gets around, I'll have grown accustomed to this new "version" of the song, I'm sure.

The costume is just... :thumbsup: This is what made me fall in love with this guy. Here is someone who has guts, and not afraid to show to the world that he likes this kind of costume, and is not afraid to show it.
Not sure why Misha Ge has decided to become more "normal" in that regard, but what a shame. I'm very glad to see Yuzuru Hanyu hasn't gone that way.

 

[Katie J]

Do we have informations about his EX

Maybe we have to wait, it seems: No exhibition in CAC https://skatecanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-ACI-Schedule-EN-9-27.pdf

 

[Nontama0817]

People should take into account that:
1) Yuzuru is doing much harder layout compared to this time last season. Even Yuzuru at NHK 2015 might not be able to do well both of the current new programs.
2) Yuuru has a new quad which was never done before
3) Both his SP and LP are almost non-stoping.
4) Yuzuru still landed 3 clean quads and 3 clean 3A.
5) He was away from the shows and competitions for 6 months.

This outing is actually quite ok. It is good that he does senior B because by the time of senior A, he will have better feel of competition.

and he had sprained right ankle two weeks ago (according to Beverly Smith)

He looked really freakingly determined in the TV interview after FP saying he will work hard so he will make it better by not by just 1 leap but by 10 times more leaps( the word he used was "kawa ga mukeru (literallly peeling off the skin" maening changes inside out, reborn or leap forward and go beyond certain hurdle) So when Orser says Yuzuru "digs deep" after dismal performance, I feel nervous.

In the interview he also said he felt the music while he was skating for the first time. He probably could not do much run throughs in practices yet this time because of the injury.

Even with the falls the program was beautiful and I had rewatched again and again.

 

[mcq]

Btw I just watched some videos from michlmint instagram during and after kiss and cry in SP as well as the kiss and cry part in FP (from Japanese TV). It looks like Yuzuru was counting something using his fingers, I wonder what was that about, counting his scores?

 

[HanDomi]

Btw I just watched some videos from michlmint instagram during and after kiss and cry in SP as well as the kiss and cry part in FP (from Japanese TV). It looks like Yuzuru was counting something using his fingers, I wonder what was that about, counting his scores?

he was counting if he zayaked in fp or not

 

[DiamondDust]

he was counting if he zayaked in fp or not

Guess zayaking last year really affected him.

 

[liv]

I hope he doesn't work too hard before SC. I will be there and would love to see him skate well, but remember how hard he worked before NHK last year? It was too much, I think. I hope he sticks to the pacing plan... and remembers that the complete package will get him the marks, not just practicing those quads (body stress!)

As for the pretty costume, with the lovely colour, I could do without the floaty thing on his shoulder, but no big deal... and I love that Misha has changed costume styles!!

As for wondering about hisaishi music and us non Japanese liking it.... it is true he is an unfamiliar composer, but it is just classical piano music. Seimei sounded more Japanese to me and I loved that music. It is nice to hear non warhorse music, which is why new movie sountracks etc.. are so popular (and become warhorses).. I don't love it, but I like it.

 

[Rissa]

I feel this music is much less ups and downs than seimei or poto. Not so dramatic. This a kind of plain piece makes it difficult to insert those parts, I think. Further, I'm concerned about music. True, jo hisaishis pieces are familiar with most of Japanese. But what about other countries's people? This unfamiliarity may prevent audience from getting into performances...

Yeah I think Yuzuru's FS music is friendly to all the listeners. They might not love it but they will not dislike it. It's a safe choice in most countries regardless of where he will skate.
I think it's the SP Let's go crazy the riskier choice. Some people love it, some people hate it. But it is ok, this season he still has some room to experience.

[/B]

It's a beautiful music, it doesn't matter if you know it or not. I personally enjoy it when skaters are skating to unknown music pieces ( or unknown for me) and are beautiful. I really don't care if it's "popular" or not, why should someone care about this? Or are people really that spoiled? Should everyone skate to Carmen, Romeo and Juliet and Swan lake bc people seems too stupid to enjoy a performance and listen to unknown music?
Seriously, figure skating is not rocket science :shame:

Let me add to that: There are lots of skaters using various soundracks, even of well-known films, that are unfamiliar to both judges and audience because c'mon, how many people rewatch movies or collect soundracks to be familiar with music. The fact that the piece is unknown carries absolutely no risk. Sound-wise, it's a pretty classical piece. With a bit of far east flair enough to make it slightly different but not enough to throw anybody off. If we listen to Misha Ge's FP, it's not that different sound-wise. So really, no need to worry.

So the music is basically the opening of View of Silence, and the rest is a cut of a live version of Asian Dream Song (? I think, so far I've only watched the program once).
I did feel like the music cut was a bit off for me, though I suppose that's always the case when you're intimately familiar with a song and someone cuts it up. ;-) That said, the piece is still gorgeous. By the time Worlds gets around, I'll have grown accustomed to this new "version" of the song, I'm sure.

For people who are well-familiar with a given piece of music it's always difficult to listen to cuts, I've noticed... To me the music progressed smoothly. To be honest, I found the abrupt ending of the Seimei step sequence much more jarring.

The costume is just... :thumbsup: This is what made me fall in love with this guy. Here is someone who has guts, and not afraid to show to the world that he likes this kind of costume, and is not afraid to show it.
Not sure why Misha Ge has decided to become more "normal" in that regard, but what a shame. I'm very glad to see Yuzuru Hanyu hasn't gone that way.

Don't get me started on Misha... I liked the costume fine, but the program sucked from Misha everything that makes Misha Misha. Oh well, at least he's got great SP.

The costume also seems to be a mix of the NDP costume as well with the fabric and all the sparkles. I prefer the Etude color and gradients to this one too... the white is too contrasting and abrupt...

It's funny how different he looks in the two costumes though. He looks much more 'buff' in his SP costume. XD kinda like the difference between the POTO and R&J2 costumes.

I'm on the fence regarding the costume. Etude is my favorite costume of his and I'm happy he's revisiting the design but I don't particularly like the color combination. Just green-white gradient would have been great. Or green-dark green but, like Biellman, I don't like gren-blue. Oh well. I'm glad other people love it.

he was counting if he zayaked in fp or not

When I looked at the score sheet, I was puzzled by 3A-1T-1Lo. Like, whut was that supposed to be. He must have been frantically trying to avoid the combo with 3S after popping the quad. Which I believe was unnecessary...

All in all, not the greatest start but... omg, did you guys see how everybody else skated? Like, how did Misha even zayak like that? Why no quad in the FP if he's capable of one in SP? Daniel's got two great programs but holy crap the jumps... Max's Lion King needs work work work (it's got potential though) Comparatively, Yuzu did pretty well.

 

[tzazu]

Ok, I couldn't watch the competition last night (I was on duty in the hospital the night), and need to sleep some hours this morning, so till now I've not been able to see his FS. But it's been the first thing I did as soon as I got up from bed Aaaaand, I really love this new program!!!!, love the music, and love the costume. The music was easy on me, because Joe Hishaisi is one of my favs ; the costume reminds me of others that I liked a lot, green and blue are my favs colours for him and the style suits him sooo good:luv17:. About the program, he looked really tired but it's still so early and the first competition, lacked some transitions compared to previous programs but ITS THE BEGINNING of another gorgeous program, I can feel it! I'm so excited to see how he improves during the year, and I'll see him in Helsinki, where he'll have the competition of the year

(Sorry, I know my English is a mess, but I'm soooo excited:hap93

 

[Sydney Rose]

From that Bev Smith article:

“My only concern or advice is we can’t get caught up with what the others are doing,” Orser said. “And that’s not where we always win anyway. We won on the other marks. That’s what we need to train and focus on. That’s what Javi [Fernandez] is doing. Javi has no intention of upping the ante.”

So what does everyone think of this comment by Orser? Smart or foolish strategy heading into 2018?

 

[HanDomi]

So what does everyone think of this comment by Orser? Smart or foolish strategy heading into 2018?

Well if your attitude is I just want to win and I will only do what is safe for me to do then I guess smart. But Hanyu seems that he want to win by doing something special what will be ultimate program with 3 diffrent quads

 

[tzazu]

I rewathced the program, no Biellman???? :roll9: At least, doughnut and Ina Bauer are there, and hidroblade :luv17:

 

[Lambari]

I will write down my thoughts about the programs:

SP: My first impression was -> cheesy af. At the moment it seems more like an exhibition piece (that phone call, NO). However, ever since I first saw the first practice of the SP I thought that it could be great if it was tweaked a bit, I know Yuzuru can pull it off but it's the costume that is dwelling down the impression of the program for me. Maybe because I'm not particularly a fan of those types of programs, hence why I will never be a hardcore Javier fan; even though I can appreciate a program like this if the cheese is toned down a bit. I think the development of this could be similar to PW, at first Yuzuru fans were outraged that Orser camp could put Romeo boy in such a wanna-be sexy blues piece, but at the season progressed and especially at the second season with it Yuzuru was getting much more comfortable with it until it became one of the signature programs of him. I sincerely hope that the same will happen to the Prince. At first I didn't like the music also but now I'm singing LET'S GO CRAZY LET'S GET NUTS in my head while i'm at the bus every single time. So hopefully, there will be a transformation in this program and he will be able to be much more in character. And for the love of my sensible eyes, these white pants need to GO he looks like he's a waiter who is late for his Candomblé appointment, all he needs is the hat.

FP: :luv17: :luv17: :luv17: Loved it to the sun and the moon. The costume is absolutely GORGEOUS and classic Yuzuru I wish it was more different from Etude though, even though this was my favourite costume of his, but I'm scared of what will happen if he changes it I try to really understand different perspectives but I honestly cannot fathom how some people think this is elevator music (??) I wish I went to those fabulous elevators you have there people. :whack: For me the music is gorgeous too. The only criticism I have for this is that it seems quite similar to his previous exhibitions but since I loved these I can't complain much, I'm pointing it for the sake of variety but It doesn't bother me. I'm positive this program will get even more stunning at the season progresses. And congratulations for landing BOTH the 4Lo at your first try in competition Yuzuru, you're certainly one of a kind!

Overall I thought it was a decent outing for the beginning of the season, nothing worrying. He will get the rythm as the season goes as always.

I think I lost counts how many times I replayed his FP

 

[Eloyse]

http://tv.cctv.com/2016/10/02/VIDEgvYaSX86D0gOYfcgQnMh161002.shtml
China's cctv sports chanel reported Yuzuru's quad loop in their evening news. I heard that a Taiwanese tv program reported this too...but nobody recorded it

 

[Rissa]

From that Bev Smith article:

“My only concern or advice is we can’t get caught up with what the others are doing,” Orser said. “And that’s not where we always win anyway. We won on the other marks. That’s what we need to train and focus on. That’s what Javi [Fernandez] is doing. Javi has no intention of upping the ante.”

So what does everyone think of this comment by Orser? Smart or foolish strategy heading into 2018?

I think he means that developement must come at skater's own pace, not just because others are doing something. He says they shouldn't get "caught up" not that they shouldn't take into consideration what others are doing. Orser's got more students than just Yuzu and Javi, he could be thinking about them too. For example, there are a few juniors with two quads, but Jun Hwan Cha got the record score focusing on a clean performance and PCS. Oh well, we shall see how it goes this season, especially with Javi. If Javi is still first or second at Worlds, it will mean that Orser's philosophy is working.

ETA: is there a way to cancel the old multiquote? It drives me nuts when I hit reply and I need to delete old multiquotes that I forgot to unclick.

 

[SuzyQ]

I'm hoping Fuji TV will air tonight the interview of Yuzuru taken before AC as they said last week, although I said I should not expect too much

 

[Yatagarasu]

As for wondering about hisaishi music and us non Japanese liking it.... it is true he is an unfamiliar composer,

When we say unfamiliar it'd be better to define it I think. In the West perhaps, or rather his recognition is limited to certain circles but in Asia he is anything but. He is pretty much a legendary composer. And here, have a listen. I am so happy this is up on YT and it's worth it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9mGQU7rGGM

There actually is quite a bit of Japanese sensibility coming through in his music and I am so very happy Yuzuru is using it. While Hisaishi does do 'grand' for sure, there is something about his music when he goes for understated and he allows the story to speak for itself. As I said in the other thread where this got called elevator music no less , this is where Yuzuru's interpretation is going to have to take over so that as a combination it melds into something magnificent. Once he has more power, but also more run throughs of the program, this will grow into a lovely, lovely performance. It's there already to be glimpsed.

 

[liv]

I know hisaishi's history, I looked it up... and by saying non japanese I thought the implication was there that it was us in the west I was referring to.... especially since up thread people were wondering what we, in the west, thought about him.

Yeah, I said elevator music, but it wasnt meant to offend at the time. It was just unfamiliar and I had no emotional attachment to it... like to movies or events or such. Now I find myself humming it, so...