2017 Japan Open

[Ender]

just watched a few videos, I think Alina and Mai are oranges and apples to me. Mai has smoother SS than Alina. And she is very cute and lovely, but to me, she really does not have the charisma to pull off this piece yet, especially during the stsq, her performance is a bit disappointing, which has not reached the marching music's demands. thb. I dont wanna use this word, but still a bit childish(body language wise not look or ponytail). I enjoyed Alina's first half, I think she is on music note, the ballet theme is all the way through (not nitpicking postures etc.), so it is cohesive. the second half, she is more focused on jumps, musicality is not as good.
As for Med's performance, I think i am confused. but I like her red dress. better then the previous one.
Could not find Marin's video, which is a shame...
Mirai is remarkable, her jumps to my naked eye is clean. she really got this one. and her performance/choreo (also seems music editing) has improved, glad to see that as well.

Karen needs to fix lots of things... I like her snap, really great snap, but unfortunately, that cannot help her rotate enough in the air...

I said this many times. Mai Mihara has this child-like quality that makes her lovely but she isn’t that mature yet. Well they don’t make her programs too mature. 147 is too high for her.
Zagitova isn’t that mature either though... but I think at International competitions, a clean Zagitova will place above Mai Mihara for sure.

 

[matcha]

It's so frustrating Karen's situation, her jumps are so big :sad21:

Such beautiful height and distance. Those URs have to go if she wants to be competitive.

 

[Lipea]

It doesn't look like Olympic winning program for me. Also so many ridiculous moments and expressions, the train sounds are killing me Her free was nice, I kinda expected she would change her lay-out but I'm disappointed with this choice.

It is the most OG winning program in the field. By far better than the other one, and the best one she's ever had. Great music. The acting looks great in this context, and she's really into it.

 

[sheetz]

Did anyone remember what Nathan said about the jumps in one of the fluffs? Something ending with like "again, I like the jumps"? I could not understand all of it because he spoke very fast (to me), but I'm suspicious that Japanese subtitle was not exactly what he said...

I didn't catch that part, but it was also shown before and the subtitles looked ok to me.
https://twitter.com/rikkobe_figure/status/910028114176106496

Some people said this time the subtitles said he thinks jumps are more important. Did they change the subtitles?

 

[lavenderblossom]

Didn't they announce something about her working with Lambiel? Maybe it's his work?

The choreographer for the original Anna Karenina EX was Gleykhengauz, Eteri's in-house choreographer. They said Evgenia wanted to work with Lambiel a little while ago, yes, but none of this looks like his work. Perhaps they'll work with him after today to help polish it. To me the program looks unfinished right now but it has a lot of potential.

 

[largeman]

Do people realize that Mirai completed 8 rotated triples?

 

[moriel]

Do people realize that Mirai completed 8 rotated triples?

I would be excited if it was an ISU competition.
Since i cannot really judge URs properly (it looked quite short of rotation to me), and its something they wouldnt call at JO, i would wait for 8 triples in an isu competition...

 

[treeloving]

why Evgenia???? I really don't like this program and music. :sad21:

 

[skatinggold]

I would be excited if it was an ISU competition.
Since i cannot really judge URs properly (it looked quite short of rotation to me), and its something they wouldnt call at JO, i would wait for 8 triples in an isu competition...

Look they really gave all those carrots to Karen but Mirai didn't get any. Go Figure.

 

[yude]

I didn't catch that part, but it was also shown before and the subtitles looked ok to me.
https://twitter.com/rikkobe_figure/status/910028114176106496

Some people said this time the subtitles said he thinks jumps are more important. Did they change the subtitles?

Thank you, I didn't know about the video above but it made much sense to me. This time, they aired only a part of that interview and the subtitle was only "The jumps are more important than artistry."

Japanese TV does anything they want to make drama :hopelessness:

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Report on Mirai: stepout on 3A but everything else good. Score: 134.69 (72.57, 62.12)
https://twitter.com/pandaatlarge/status/916513281841311744

Wow that's a pretty darn good score! I hope the judges were strict and the scores are legit!

Great job Mirai!

 

[andromache]

I am very, very excited to watch Evgenia's new program.

Not looking good for Karen to capitalize on last season. She tends to be a late-season peaker, but she can't gain any momentum that way.

I don't even think I realized that Karen was replacing Ashley here? (Ashley was originally supposed to be here, right?) I need to start paying attention. The skating season has started!!

 

[b-man]

^ I think original entries were Karen and Gold. Mirai replaced Gold.

 

[deedee1]

Usually my own season opens with Japan Open. I enjoyed 2h TV broadcast watching new programs by top skaters for the first time tonight.

My first and biggest thought that has come to my mind: "WHY doesn't Nobu think of making a comeback???" :angry2::angry2: That opening 4T3T was simply a beauty.

My other thoughts.
Javi has an Olympic champion worthy program I thought. :yes: Thank goodness Shoma's new Turandot has Carrerus! :luv17: Among Men, I loved Nathan's program the best, 10 times better than Polovtsian Dances which seemed kind of overpowering him and his quality skating to me. Vrey good choice of the music with no lyrics/vocals. :thumbsup: New costume for Nathan and Javi please.

I hope Javi Shoma Nathan Bychenko are all okay, esp Javi who seemd to have some pain in the knee during 6min warm-up. Mens is just crazy they have to go for 4/5 quads at this early of the season. Take good care, boys.

 

[Jammers]

I'm not worried about Nathan. He gets stronger as the season progresses and it's still only October and this wasn't a big competition that really matters.

 

[Jaana]

Please Javier, rethink that costume.

That costume is exactly right for the theme of his program = Don Quijote, in my opinion.

 

[superkirby]

I like Evgenia´s new long much better. Especially that she's telling a story that most of the audience actually know instead of a weird confusing one that no one gets until they expalin it. Still wish that she could scrap the creepy ending of her short tho. p.s. I know it's about clinical death do not tell me that stupid story again!!

 

[MaiKatze]

That costume is exactly right for the theme of his program = Don Quijote, in my opinion.

I get/understand the costume. I just don't like it. Brown/Black is a combination that rarely works.

 

[figurefan0726]

Anyone have the protocols?

 

[noidont]

I said before. Medvedeva MUST change FS music. She did it. Now she looks unbeatable apart from that flutz.
Zagitova skated pretty slow today for some reason. PCS is going to build up and close gap with Med but she is not there yet.
Nagasu's non-3A jumps look much cleaner today. 3A looks at least one carrot to me and should really be straight -3 GOE. Program is good for her standard but still going to be very rubbish PCS-wise all season. She is really that slow. With zero transition.
The other three didn't hold my attention enough to finish their programs.