Helloo, I’m back from Bergamo! It was very cold and wet, but very good and rewarding. I was finally able to watch Shoma skate very close (I was sitting at the balcony in Helsinki and only got to see SP practices and the gala from the nearby rows, which, of course, was wonderful, but NOT ENOUGH).
Gosh, he was smiley, especially on Saturday! And sleepy, I guess, as always. The first I saw him – through the glass windows of the training hall above the rink – he was YAWNING. Of course. (I’ll post a pic later, lol.) Oh, wait, I’m reading through the backlog and I saw iorii already posted my pic that I tweeted during the comp.
https://twitter.com/asverit/status/908395695333416960 I’ll post the original once I get to the Men’s SP in my editing
He also always paces before he’s out onto the ice, goes back and forth through the whole length of the… eh, place where skaters and coaches stand. They often went out in the middle of the previous skater’s program, so Shoma was out there during Matteo’s Beatles FS, and he was kinda dancing to Help.
It was adorable. Actually, whenever he’s standing, he can’t keep still. I saw him kinda droop and sleep in the cafeteria after interacting with a lot of fans (including me, well). He’s constantly doing this thing where he kinda bites the inside of his cheek? scrunches up his face? I noticed it a lot, when he was just standing there and when he was interacting with fans.
Okay, but onto the skating!
I have to say first, though, that from what I’ve seen, the videos are, well, terrible and really, really diminish the experience. That overlaid audio (it’s not the real audio from the arena, but the music was pasted over the actual video; at least they added the clapping, but not! for ladies’s SP for example, SMH), first of all, which as I’ve heard made Shoma off his timing in Winter, which he definitely wasn’t in real life (in fact, he was maybe the most well-timed I’ve ever seen him for this program). Then the camera shooting, kinda jerky and weird. Also we were screaming like crazy (and not just us, and not just during Shoma’s performance), so I’m specifically mad at them for making that sound so muted! (They got me filmed in Hiroaki’s FS, lol.)
So basically if you liked it know that it was probably 200% better irl.
From my experiences, Winter is a much more complete program at this point, though there’s still some choreo missing from places which I believe will be there later. But it already feels really great, there are a lot of powerful moments. It’s understandable, since he practiced and performed it in front of the audience much more, of course! He has such great energy though, and the ending pose is just beautiful. (And my friend-another-professional-musician who I was there with was completely struck by it, says she’ll take that performance with her to her grave. <3)
That moment is super powerful IRL, I might have screamed (the only thing I edited from men’s SP so far, haha):
https://twitter.com/asverit/status/909177523195580416 And to think I'll see it
right in front of me in Grenoble!!!
Turandot is half costume half quads at this point, haha. A lot of empty places there, which he mentioned himself, so I wasn’t too worried. But we were definitely screaming at that 4S, which, for me, came out of nowhere – I would’ve been less surprised at an attempted quad lutz! As he said in the interview, he mostly didn’t do any jumps in the morning practice, but then in the 6-minute warmup he did a gorgeous 4lo and at the very, very end, suddenly, there goes a quad sal. I really thought it was a random “look what I can do”/“I wonder if I can” – which it kinda was, but then he did it in the program.
I’m very proud of him. And I can see the potential for it, for sure.
Both costumes are just amazing, but Turandot is just something else. It’s super sparkly and super, super beautiful.
I have a lot of photos, so far I’ve edited Men’s FS here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asveri/albums/72157686821698954 (practices are gonna be their own album!)
And Men’s VC here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asveri/albums/72157685283867222
Both consist pretty much of 70% Shoma.
I’ll link more here later!
With a small arena, I ran into him several times, of course. First time was on Friday, when he was just standing there while Mihoko and his manager were talking with the Risport guy and looking at the boots. He looked busy so I just stood there and casually looked at him while I could.
He feels so different off-the-ice. After that business was finished he actually (!) turned towards his fans, quite readily (there were just several standing there, like me, just watching… but actually waiting), but I didn’t manage to get my present to him or get a picture/say anything, it was over too quick.
I did end up getting a photo with him after the free, when he was just chilling in the cafeteria, and basically fans just started slowly crawling towards him the moment he seemed kinda not-busy. So I got in the line. Only managed to ask “can I take a picture with you?” in Japanese, but not anything else, the words just blubbered out of me (my heart was beating quite fast, I realised later). He’s very nice. I didn’t want to risk it and gave my present to him earlier in the KnC after his FS. Crossing fingers he likes the sweets, reads the card (there’s a bit in japanese!!) and maybe even wears the t-shirt.
(And I got a blurry picture with Mihoko, taken by Shoma’s manager!! She’s so nice and kinda giggly. #myidol. Amazing. Told her thank you for all the work she does with the skaters.)
Ah, feel free to ask anything, I probably forgot something for sure!
Verit, thank you so much for your report. I felt like I was right there in the midst of the action with you. Your photos are jaw-dropping. Makes my fuzzy, blurry photos look pretty awful! He is really nice to his fans! So happy to hear that you are favorably impressed with both the programs and the amazing costumes.
That is one fabulous coat!
for everything you shared: the emotions, the report, beautiful photos! I bet this was an amazing experience, from photos I see that Shoma looked quite relaxed, smiling so often
, but well - when he skates a program, he means business, that's for sure! My biggest wish now probably is experiencing some FS event live, seeing what joy it carries.
He doesn't seem too excited here, does he? 
