Yeah, but like, it took several years for Dai and Mao to reach that point of their professional career to have that sort of show like Kassouya and BEYOND which gave opportunities for younger skaters to take center stage.
Daisuke's previous shows like Christmas on Ice and Ice Explosion were definitely not about younger skaters (IE is about ice dancers, which I agree is rare in Japan, but also coincides with his ice dancing debut, so), and Dai still holds the title role for Hyoen. I also think his decision to finally have Kassouya starting from 2024 with younger skaters was likely influenced by certain ice shows he watched who managed to pull a big production with active and younger skaters instead of relying on pro skaters who are more Daisuke's peers- showing their potential for shows beyond skating their own programs even while active.
The very first shows Dai was actively involved in organising and that he chaired were the Kobe charity shows that took place annually from 2011 to 2015 to raise money for disaster relief after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (which, besides, featured many young, not yet established, skaters). The first one he chaired, starting after retirement, was a revival of
Christmas on Ice (starting in 2014), which he "inherited" from Shizuka, followed by
Ice Explosion - both shows initially following Shizuka's
Friends on Ice blueprint relatively closely. In 2023 we saw Dai bring his own ideas and personality to
Ice Explosion in terms of structure and content, which he then took further in
Kassouya (with regards to casting choices and marketing strategies
Kassouya took inspiration from Mao’s tours and
Prince Ice World according to himself btw, stating that his ultimate dream is to establish his own company that would offer a platform for young, active skaters who have not (yet) made it to the top, as well as for retired/professional skaters who did not achieve the highest level of competitive success, but are talented performers).
My initial point wasn’t to debate who arrived why and when at what show concept or how long it took them to come into their own and develop their own ideas, though. My point was that there can be a
variety and a
combination of reasons why a person would want to produce their own shows, because you said that “there is nothing a show can prove that Shoma hasn't proven during his career” and that you feel that “he had a competitive career that doesn't necessarily needs him to create this show to achieve something he wanted or convey something he wants to tell to his fans”.
E.g. the joy of performing and expressing yourself / your own ideas / having artistic freedom and expanding your artistic repertoire can be one of them, giving other (not necessarily younger) skaters a platform or “just” having fun collaborating with others can be another and the desire to help people in need can be yet another one.
Everyone is different and has their own motivations, and the same person can also realise different shows with different goals in mind. I guess I don't quite understand why you think Shoma is different from Yuzuru, Mao and Dai and yet much more like Shizuka when we don’t know all of
their individual motivations aside from those they disclosed.
Since I don’t want to hijack Shoma’s fan fest to compare him to others or talk about other skaters’ shows, I’m going to bow out at this point, though.
Ironically, Shoma did have a sort of show that highlights other skaters to take center-stage before he even retired and even without having his own agency making that show: The ICE, after he took over (more like forced to take over, considering he's not even an IMG client) from Mao. It was clear that Shoma was very much pushing all the other younger, fellow active skater cast to have their highlight moments in the show aside from him, to his own fans' annoyance at times. Many of the younger skaters and his peers, also from overseas, got their first opportunity / invitation for a Japanese show at The ICE first, before getting invites to other shows. It turned a bit sour at the end especially after 2022, but I think Shoma definitely played a role for the show making it as far as it went after Mao retired and left it.
And I still remember perfectly Shoma expressing his surprise and insistence for Kazuki to be invited to PIW when he found out Kazuki has not been invited yet back in 2022... it's rare for an active skater to think about the opportunities his fellow skaters get without having his own show, but it was definitely in his thoughts.
Why is that ironic? I think this could exactly be one of the reasons why he would want to stage his own show.
