2014 Japan Open

[Violet Bliss]

Wow, quite a few tangos at COI. Between Patty, Taka and Odaddy, there was someone for everyones taste (I like Pattys Ex costume, it's tight and somewhat see-through)

Yeah, I was just thinking Tango is to exhibition this season like POTO is to the competition.

So good to sea Oda. He looks more mature now. By that I mean he looks like a 20 year old rather than a kid. I enjoyed his as well as Taka's COI skating very much. (I am still more a fan of the three Japanese brothers of the glory days, Takahashi, Oda, and Kozuka, than the new generation.) But again, Patrick is in his own league. What a wonderful program and performance, even with the "spin off". True Tango on ice.

 

[humbaba]

Oh and refine the chest\shoulder hair dress as well please, Though i guess it DOES spark conversation

It doesn't look like hair to me. It looks more like she has barnacles growing on her. I guess that goes with the pearls. Maybe they're going for an ocean theme. Her dress designer should be punished. I suggested forcing the designer to listen to the soundtrack of The Little Mermaid until he or she gets a really bad headache.

Enjoyed Rad's skate, though. She looked better than she did at the test skate.

 

[desertskates]

I really enjoyed Radionova's skate, and I think I wasn't a huge fan of her last year because the packaging was so tacky. I love this music for her (even if it is the Kween's). And her look is more mature, though I wish the hairy (lol) beading had been toned down. If I had to place a bet based on what we've seen so far, I'd say it'll be a Russian sweep at Worlds. I really don't know who could challenge these girls.

 

[shine]

number 1 in the us, maybe, but far behind internationally. I think anna pogo's firebird, russian number 4 or 5, is much better than polina's pink poodle peter pan program. And those two are around the same age, aren't they? Polina won't get a 136 or whatever she got at the sl competition with that skate on the gp.

lmao.

 

[Meoima]

I really enjoyed Radionova's skate, and I think I wasn't a huge fan of her last year because the packaging was so tacky. I love this music for her (even if it's is the Kween's). And her look is more mature, though I wish the hairy (lol) beading had been toned down. If I had to place a bet based on what we've seen so far, I'd say it'll be a Russian sweep at Worlds. I really don't know who could challenge these girls.

If puberty treat Radionova well, I can see her being a dominant lady for the next quad. The judges and the audience just love her. And yes, I can see Russian sweep at Worlds for the next 4 years. Gracie can challenge these girl IF she can hit those jumps, but as far as I've seen Gracie is not a good competitor. I hope she will improve her mentality.
Satoko's jumps are so small I am not sure she can get away with UR outside of Japan.

 

[katymay]

I didn't like Radianova at all last year, but this year-WOW-huge delayed easy jumps, and far smoother on the ice. I still hate her spread eagles though...

 

[katymay]

Lots of two-footed jumps in Ashley's skate. 2A-3T was very under rotated and I think the fall on the salchow was also caused by the free leg touching the ice. The program appears to be a good vehicle for her but she doesn't look like she's completely competition shape yet. I thought she fixed a lot her two-foot issues the past couple years, so I really hope this was just due to not being in shape yet. The judges definitely weren't cutting her any slack. And she will need that triple-triple to stay relevant.
ETA: She looked really upset. I really feel bad for her. I do feel she was lowballed; wonder what the protocols say. Not *all* of those triples were underrotated. The judges looks so ready to drop her it really, really scares me as a fan.

I love the red dress, except for the excessive bling. (Lose the bling, Ashley). I find her flexed foot very distracting, I wish she would point her toe and extend the leg. Also, while I don't mind vocals, this program was more like an exhibition number-hated the music. Every jump was a bit 'off'.

 

[skatefan22]

This is actually her SP back from the 2009–2010 season. Unfortunately, I can't find a good quality version on Youtube (I'll try to upload it later)... It's one of my favourite programs - it's rare for a junior skater to skate to flamenco well, but Kanako managed to capture the feel of it perfectly (IIRC she described it as "crisp, but oozing/sticky" ).

I really wish she'd bring it back... From the most recent interview it seems she'll skate to POTO in both her SP ("Think of me") and LP... WHY???

Saw somewhere on Tumblr that according to her recent interview at the NHK conference, she said she loves POTO so much and she had asked to skate to this piece of music before, but turned down by her coach. This season (and probably her last), she asked again and finally got what she wanted. She will skate as Christine at SP and Phantom at LP hoping to tell the full story.

 

[Meoima]

Saw somewhere on Tumblr that according to her recent interview at the NHK conference, she said she loves POTO so much and she had asked to skate to this piece of music before, but turned down by her coach. This season (and probably her last), she asked again and finally got what she wanted. She will skate as Christine at SP and Phantom at LP hoping to tell the full story.

Sounds the same as Yuzuru's story about his choice of POTO. Maybe they made a promise, since this season might be Kanako's last, they both will skate to POTO?
What a pity because, while we haven't seen Yuzuru's POTO yet, Kanako's POTO is a big mess in term of choreoraphy.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Sounds the same as Yuzuru's story about his choice of POTO. Maybe they made a promise, since this season might be Kanako's last, they both will skate to POTO?
What a pity because, while we haven't seen Yuzuru's POTO yet, Kanako's POTO is a big mess in term of choreoraphy.

Let's hope Yuzuru's is not a "Pickaboo" style rendition as well

 

[Sabrina]

I am happy Europe won, though Patrick Cjhan had a wonderful (still boring for me) program. I loved Fernandez program, but he has to sort out his jumps...
The Russian teens were amazing!
Now, I can't figure out what POTO means! Please enlighten me!

 

[Meoima]

I am happy Europe won, though Patrick Cjhan had a wonderful (still boring for me) program. I loved Fernandez program, but he has to sort out his jumps...
The Russian teens were amazing!
Now, I can't figure out what POTO means! Please enlighten me!

POTO = phantom of the opera, one of the most hated musicals in the world (well, from a classical music uber - me).

 

[Sabrina]

Oh, Meioma thank you! I could never find out by myself, although I am quite familiar to POTO music. As for me I love opera, not so much musicals...But for figure skating programs it's completely different...POTO was slightly over used.

 

[LRK]

POTO = phantom of the opera, one of the most hated musicals in the world (well, from a classical music uber - me).

I'm not a classical music uber - more like a classical music ignoramus. I still hate POTO - even though almost the only exposure I've had to it is via FS. Even Akiko could not make me like it. (I suspect that I may actually not like Andrew Lloyd Webber at all. I don't think I've liked anything of his I've ever heard?) I was thinking maybe you and I should start a POTO Haterz Support Group (PHSG for short, obviously) to help us get through the season? We'll be there for each other and offer encouragement and support whenever things just seem like they're going to be too much....

 

[lbc2138]

Late to the party, woot woot.

Radionova: I hadn't watched any of her previous performances but from reading the threads and stuff, everyone was raving about her. So I kind of had this expectation for her when skating. And while she's super cute, I don't think she's that musical and still have issues with extension and artistry but that will come with time.

Pogorilaya: Love her jumps. Hate her costume, it's like the orange version of the one she had last season but symmetrical. Also thought her lines were poor.

Chan: Wow, what a wonderful program. Shame he won't be competing since he's probably going to add another quad and another 3-3 combo in there. What's with his problem of almost crashing into the sidelines though? Soo much speed.

Kanako: I love her to death but this program was just not cutting it. Her jumps looked a little awkward and underrotated

Ashley: The program is good, I think with work it can be great. However all her jumps were indeed "off" and I understand it's frustrating when you get lowballed for a score but I wish she wasn't so obvious about her expressions.

Mirai: Came back fighting! While there was some stiffness in the program I thought it was good start to the season!

Satoko: New Japan favorite. People keep saying her jumps are small, which is true, but she rotates really quickly. If you don't think she's getting called out for UR, slow mow the video and you'll see that her jumps for the most part were round. I was surprised myself, especially with her first combo where she looked tight, but her other combos showed smoothness and grace in her jumps. Not much of a pause before going into the jumps, which is what I love to see.

Overall, yay it was fun to watch!

 

[Miss Ice]

OMG, this is sacrilege. Radionova uses Kwan's SP music, but CHOPS IT IN HALF and shoves trash in the middle, all while wearing a dress that looks like Lipinski's 1998 SP dress. I CAN'T. I'M DYING IN THIS TOWN!!!

Triple Loop, half loop, Triple Salchow is such an annoyingly ugly CoP invention. PLEASE GIRLS STOP DOING IT.

Anyway, Radionova's program was actually quite good until halfway through the step sequence. Then you see she's just doing the needless movements as usual and not moving to a real choreographic concept. The music cut in the middle of her spin was particularly ridiculous and hackneyed and the program remains that way for the remainder of its duration.

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Murakami's program is by far the worst she's ever had. Those lyrics are awful and overbearing. And the peek-a-boo hand movements? OMFG.

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Nagasu's program is completely dull. No sense of character or emotion or anything until the very end.

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Pogorilaya's program was...not terrible. It isn't creative but does have energy.

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I LOVE the concept of ASHLEY WAGNER'S program. Well, yes, I would have to. Very happy she took this music suggestion. It's not exactly the cut I wanted and the overall choreography could be improved (but won't be because they refuse to change her technical layout), but this a work that actually moves. It is full of life. This will be a highlight of the season. Not the masterpiece it deserves to be, but still so much better than all the crap out there.

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However, it is SATOKO MIYAHARA who emerges with the probably the best program right now. Nearly every moment is considered for a real purpose and tailored TO the music. Bravo! This program should not have lyrics, though. They are only in that one segment of the program and end up just being distracting and impossible to fully interpret with the elements that need to be in that section. You wish her jumps were a bit bigger as well, because their miniscule size removes some excitement from the program. Still, great work overall!

If this forum had a reputation options, I would add reputation to this post. So spot on, except I thought Mirai's program was better than Wagner's despite Wagner being all enthusiastic. Although I am not a fan of excessive enthusiasm like that. Her jumps felt weak and choreo was so-so.

 

[treeloving]

My thoughts on the men tonight (caution, long and opinionated post)



Patrick Chan
As usual, Patrick Chan’s shirts bring great big question marks into my mind. Grey shows up sweat SOOO MUCH. Patrick was in a class all his own in this competition. This program was skated so well and it suited Patrick perfectly. There was power, and there was speed, and there was also delicacy and intricacy of movement. If Patrick were competing this year, he would be the one to make everyone quake in their boots. That first combination was so big it nearly went off the rink! By all accounts, I should like Patrick much more than I do, but it’s my personal problem that I can’t seem to really ‘get into’ his programs – complex feelings of not feeling enough from Patrick’s skating. Heh.

.

I have exactly the same opinion as you on every words.

But Javier is so charming though, in term of consistency of expression I think he is the best of the top three now (But Hanyu still has the best expression potential in my bias opinion ).

 

[invisiblespiral]

Does anyone have videos? All I found was Wagner....

 

[qwertyskates]

Does anyone have videos? All I found was Wagner....

Patrick Chan, I was impressed, even though the program isn't as intense as 4 Seasons. The near flawless execution made up for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata&v=vbSKY8lyTEQ

 

[qwertyskates]

Radianova, I miss her spunkier program, this is conservative for her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rk0K14KWAU