2016 Japan Open

CoyoteChris said:

Why do I have a feeling she is injured or sick?

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I honestly wondered if she wasn't suffering from cold or and upset stomach or something like that. That performance was a lot more off than a usual nervous Gracie.

desertskates said:

I honestly wondered if she wasn't suffering from cold or and upset stomach or something like that. That performance was a lot more off than a usual nervous Gracie.

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So far she hasnt tweeted anything. It doesnt take much of any sort of injury or illness to put one off their game....

desertskates said:

I honestly wondered if she wasn't suffering from cold or and upset stomach or something like that. That performance was a lot more off than a usual nervous Gracie.

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I'd like to believe that too...but lest we forget, she skated a similarly bad performance at JO last year and placed last.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQC4h4mv8Ug - 2 falls, popped jumps

She just does not skate well at this event...:disapp:

lady_bee said:

I enjoyed Ashley's Exogenesis very much, and so did other audiences. I didn't expect so much from her, because, 1)the music belongs to Jeremy (at least for me), and 2) she wasn't ready when I saw her last year at the same Japan Open; however, she expressed the music very well and was so confident on the ice.
My seat was too far to see her famous "facial expression", but I was able to see her "body expression", which I believe more important than facial one. I love her grey dress, too.

It was unfortunate for Adam to skate 5th, because now, 5 days later, I can only remember his costume even though I am sure I liked his performance. Maybe because I was so happy (& relieved) to see Jeremy & Nobu did very well, and so excited to see Shoma's dramatic program. Compare to those performances by my emotional favorites, Adam's performance was little bit... maybe colorless?:think:.

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I went to JO also and I can say Adam performed well. From up where I was seated I thought he was gonna land that quad lutz. The costume is a bit bland and so is the music. Like all I can remember now is that it was a bit repetitive and didn't feel like there were any real highlights. But skate well he did. It's just that Jeremy skated previously and his performance (although not perfect also) felt like it really matched the music. He is such a performer. Plus the music cuts were good.

Flo is a performer but I wished he did more technically. Nobu was something else. Those jumps scream he still got it. He is not as fluid in performing as Jeremy (who skated before him) esp when he is skating to Mao music but he has his own engaging qualities and I'm really glad I saw him perform finally.

Javi was good but his choice of music/program for FS seem to be in the same style as his previous pros. I'd have preferred if he used his Malaguena as an FS.

Shoma was definitely better than Javi here even with the fall on the 2nd quad. He has grown more confident as a performer also and I love his pro.


Of the ladies, I preferred Anna's, Ashley's and Satoko's programs (in no particular order). I'm rooting for Anna among the Russians and I like the improved confidence I saw in her there. Ashley... I love the dress, too. It looked good on her. I definitely noticed the facial expressions (esp in the beginning) but it was matched with her body expressions, too. And I didn't care about the facials afterwards because I liked her skate as a whole. Would've thought she'd have scored higher, though.

Satoko... the tiny queen has really started to come out of her shell. Before I always thought she skates so reserved that even if she skates really well and I love her skating, performance wise it doesn't connect with the audience as much compared to those who are quite good at emoting. In here, though, I was drawn into her performance and there seems to be more confidence in her now. The dress looks pretty good but up there in the stands it looked the same color as the ice... and that goes for Gracie's dress also.

Gracie... can't comment much because I was more focused on willing her to not do anymore mistakes and just finish her program. She shouldn't have done the 3T on her first combo as she was so near the boards leading to her fall. It went downhill from that point on like she got unnerved and lost focus.

Higuchi... powerful jumps but costume choice is not good esp the color. Made her look like she's still a junior and doesn't help her packaging at all. I wished she didn't pop 2 jumps though.

Evgenia... tbh I had really high expectations considering she can get huge scores. Tech wise she doesn't disappoint but I think PCS wise she should not be receiving that much. I don't like her pro... well, more like I don't like the vocals (dialogues, screaming, etc) and that phone call in the end. I also felt that the tano in almost every jump she made was overkill. Like that 3-2-2 past the halfway mark. It didn't look smooth because she had to muscle a tano in that last jump in the combo. If Satoko is the tiny queen then Evgenia is the tano queen for me.

lady_bee said:

I didn't see him, because Daisuke had skated only for "Carnival on Ice", a kind of Gala which was held after Japan Open at the same venue. (I wanted to see the show, but I can't afford two events a day:sad4 According to other web-site, he performed Mambo for encore which TV-Tokyo didn't air.

BTW, about Evgenia's program. I think most of the audience didn't know it was about 911. My friend, who went Japan Open with me, had no idea what it was about, though she's been a casual figure skating fan since Midori's time. I wonder whether Japanese media is not very interested in her, or just avoiding to touch sensitive issue. When they air her program on TV, the commentator described it was about a story of young girl who lost her lover by "accident", as it was just a traffic accident. Interesting:think:

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I didn't have a ticket to CoI also and I really wanted to see Daisuke. However the queue was quite long for tickets and I was so hungry (no lunch) that wasn't up to queueing for tickets and food in Saitama anymore. I swear next time if I have the chance I won't swap Dai for food anymore.

So Evgenia's music is about 9/11? I didn't notice it... just noticed it was pretty loud and distracting and worse than Elena's Titanic. She does have a lot of fans, though, esp in my row. Some girls were definitely cheering (screaming) for her loudly there.

Thank you for your detailed report @roma, much appreciated!