2025 Kinoshita Group Cup Women's Free Skate

[rabidline]

Kaori is super nice and kind and is a true role model of sportsmanship.

I have seen her at competitions twice and she is always smiling and friendly.

Some fans will always find something negative to say... that's unfortunate.

Kaori is a person with flaws though, it's why I like her a lot. It makes perfect sense to me that she's gonna be super excited about her close friend making her first international podium, a lot more than paying super close attention to Mone winning and its aftermath.

Unfortunately, Kaori is the current mood maker of Team Japan so the team shines and dims based on her energy and attention to them. But I get it though, if I was a Mone fan, I also would want Kaori to be cheering for Mone for her first challenger win to make it a super special experience. (Saw Alysa's name mentioned earlier - maybe Mone fans want it to be as special as Alysa winning her home Worlds in her first comeback season?) Alas, Saki is there and Kaori focuses on her more.

 

[4everchan]

Kaori is a person with flaws though, it's why I like her a lot. It makes perfect sense to me that she's gonna be more excited about her close friend making her first international podium than paying super close attention to Mone winning and its aftermath. Unfortunately, Kaori is the current mood maker of Team Japan so the team shines and dims based on her energy and attention to them.

sure but i don't see this as a flaw. it's okay that she's super happy for Saki. it's human

 

[rabidline]

sure but i don't see this as a flaw. it's okay that she's super happy for Saki. it's human

But some thinks she's doing that in the expense of Mone. I mean, if I was Mone I would have just shrugged and make myself the center of attention anyway, but obviously she doesn't have that kind of temperament (even if she does, I bet it would pale compared to Kaori's energy) and likely can use a nudge from Kaori to come out of her shell a bit. Hence her crestfallen face. I'm sure she didn't skate to win to get Kaori's praise and approval, but getting locked out due to a close friendship bond probably made her feel awkward as well.

 

[4everchan]

But some thinks she's doing that in the expense of Mone. I mean, if I was Mone I would have just shrugged and make myself the center of attention anyway, but obviously she doesn't have that kind of temperament and likely can use a nudge from Kaori to come out of her shell a bit. Hence her crestfallen face. I'm sure she didn't skate to win to get Kaori's praise and approval, but getting locked out due to a close friendship bond probably made her feel awkward as well.

Mone won. She's fine. She sees Kaori rejoicing for Saki, her teammate. Mone is still fine. Why would she be angry ? It's a very natural thing to do. What would be wrong is if Kaori didn't express her happiness towards Saki, just out of whatever "orderly respect" some fans would like her to have. meh

 

[rabidline]

That's just pure joy! I hope someday Mone can share a podium with a close friend too. Maybe Hana? Mao Shimada?

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Oh not a good picture.

One thing we need to remember is that much of the pr we see if performative, I know fans like to think they are all lovely people and chummily get on like houses on fire (except Plushy and Yags who would have liked to throw each other into said the house on fire and pretty much said so to everyone's great enjoyment). With the rise of social media it's also become rather overdone. None of which said they are not nice and sportsmanlike for the most part, but we should take when they are posing for the photographer, or saying the Right Things in interviews, for what it is, more performing.

No, pictures don't show everything, but neither do videos and especially not second-hand recaps of videos because nobody apparently bothered to film and upload the medal ceremony.

This has also happened before in other medal ceremonies when there was a clear group of two inside the top 3 (like at Jr Worlds 2020), but few people cared. Maybe because the "thirds" were of a more outgoing nature and inserted themselves (like Alysa), or they clearly didn't care about it or because it was more "understandable" because skaters were from different countries, I'm not sure.

 

[Magill]

No, pictures don't show everything, but neither do videos and especially not second-hand recaps of videos because nobody apparently bothered to film and upload the medal ceremony.

It was streamed live. Whoever watched it live could see it unless they left the stream.

 

[Magill]

Well, it is clear to me some people are very vocal here without having seen the ceremony, just based on some nice pr photos and their general image of Kaori. I saw it, and it did not look nice. If Kaori was just happy about her friend without treating Mone at the same time in a very contrasting manner, with dead silence and an unsmiling face, probably nobody would discuss it. And do not show me the smiling photographs, I saw the live - Kaori smiled just for cameras, and Mone was struggling hard for a good long while to produce this lovely smile you can see on these charming photos of the three of them.

 

[rabidline]

Yeah, you can see even here, LOL, Kaori is so into Saki even in their group hug

Poor Mone, I think her shyness and relative youth really make her struggle to break the ice (and she's probably emotional too about the win so it doesn't help). And she just has this pitiful resting sad face, in comparison to Mao Shimada who's also been in this situation and is more neutral / confused kind of person, so you can't help but feel bad for her. So when older skaters like Kaori is not in that mood to "moodmake", there's like no one to cheer her up.

I hope Mone's takeaway from this is you gotta have confidence in your own happiness! Can't really rely on your seniors to always make you feel good, especially when you start winning

 

[Magill]

Yeah, you can see even here, LOL, Kaori is so into Saki even in their group hug

Poor Mone, I think her shyness and relative youth really make her struggle to break the ice (and she's probably emotional too about the win so it doesn't help). And she just has this pitiful resting sad face, in comparison to Mao Shimada who's also been in this situation and is more neutral / confused kind of person, so you can't help but feel bad for her.

Yes, that's the difference between seeing a nice cut and the whole scene uncut which was not so nice. They do not show to you here how they arrived in those smiles, do they? And you have not seen the whole thing yourself, have you?

 

[rabidline]

Yes, that's the difference between seeing a nice cut and the whole scene uncut which was not so nice. They do not show to you here how they arrived in those smiles, do they? And you have not seen the whole thing yourself, have you?

I have, it's why I edited to say Mone's takeaway should be you gotta have confidence in your own happiness! You skated great and earned the win, can't really rely on your seniors to always make you feel good, especially when you start winning you don't want to have your podium photos and videos looking sad and awkward.

I mean you can see in the last GIF, poor girl just want to be out of there, while Kaori and Saki are finding people in the crowd to smile at

 

[Joekaz]

I don't understand the uproar about the celebration on a podium of a glorified warm up practice for the Grand Prix season, which is mostly a glorified warm up for Nationals. And there is only one spot available at Nationals anyway since it is very obvious the fed is sending Kaori and Mone no matter what. If there was any negative feelings, it's natural Kaori would resent not being the only chosen one anymore.

 

[Magill]

I have, it's why I edited to say Mone's takeaway should be you gotta have confidence in your own happiness! You skated great and earned the win, can't really rely on your seniors to always make you feel good, especially when you start winning

I mean you can see in the last GIF, poor girl just want to be out of there, alas

Sure she wants out of there, maybe because she's shy, or maybe just wants away from those fake smiles and forced hugs, who can tell?

This discussion is not about what Mone should do or feel but about Kaori after all not being such a great sport she appeared to be . Which I say without satisfaction because I thought higher of her. But I do not like her enough to deny what I have seen with my own eyes for the sake of saving her image and my - or anyone's - perception of her.
That Mone should not rely on her rivals to make her feel good when she's winning over them, sure, that's right. But this is exactly what great sportsmanship is about - how you treat your junior winning over you, and not just your friend joining you on the lower step of the podium.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Found a complete replay of the event here:

https://kick.com/leehanlogists/videos/b81efef8-75d0-4d5d-a155-60c92ca98440

The medal ceremony starts a bit after 2 hours in, so watch and judge for yourself. While I am seeing that Saki and Kaori are closer (not surprising), I am not seeing the "cold", unsmiling treatment they supposedly gave Mone. For a lot of the moments they are together as a duo, it's because Mone was skating ahead of them and either she didn't notice that they were going much slower than her (how would she?) or they didn't notice because they were too caught up in each other. I am also not seeing how it took Mone "a long time" to find her smile for the photos.

The moment with the flags was obviously awkward, but more so because of the logistics. How was Mone supposed to wave with two arms around the skaters next to her?

 

[rabidline]

Sure she wants out of there, maybe because she's shy, or maybe just wants away from those fake smiles and forced hugs, who can tell?

This discussion is not about what Mone should do or feel but about Kaori after all not being such a great sport she appeared to be . Which I say without satisfaction because I thought higher of her. But I do not like her enough to deny what I have seen with my own eyes for the sake of saving her image and my perception of her.
That Mone should not rely on her rivals to make her feel good when she's winning over them, sure, that's right. But this is exactly what great sportsmanship is about - how you treat your junior winning over you, and not just your friend joining you on the lower step of the podium.

Yeah, but Kaori never held herself up as a paragon of sportsmanship she doesn't need her image to be "saved" . She said when she was crying and hugging Alysa at Worlds that she was mostly thinking about really hating that she lost the title to Alysa and she was inconsolable in some of the bad competitions she had. The thing people remember the most about her (for now) is still that she's warm and smiley, so unless you record the video and make it viral that she's a sore loser, it's still gonna be her image.

The thing about fake smiles and forced hugs in front of cameras is why I reccommend Mone to be confident of her own happiness instead of relying on others. I have seen plenty of those, and for me the best way to react is to be at peace with yourself and your results. But she's very young and has just started winning (and seems a bit of an overthinker in general), so it's something that she'll learn over time.

 

[elektra blue]

What do you mean, missing? I'd like to make the whole costume go missing.

i mean a detail that makes it special other than just bad

 

[Magill]

Yeah, but Kaori never held herself up as a paragon of sportsmanship

She did not, but her fans did. So she's not that great sport, agreed. That's all. Disappointing, but that's all.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's all take a step back and take a deep breath. This really isn't that big of a deal, y'all. Kaori's entire reputation or Mone's happiness for the rest of her international career don't hinge on this one medal ceremony. It's fine to have opinions on something and we're all gonna interpret stuff differently but we're maybe going a little overboard with this level of projection, speculation, and arguing. This forum has developed a reputation for being a really toxic place in other Internet circles, and I'm on a mission to prove those other people wrong, but this type of conversation (that's continuing on for pages and pages) isn't helping whatsoever.

 

[Arigato]

sure but i don't see this as a flaw. it's okay that she's super happy for Saki. it's human

That's because it isn't a flaw. What is flawed is the argument that it is a flaw. This utter nonsense aside, what I care about is how Wakaba is doing after being taken to the hospital. That is worthy of concern. If anyone has any further news of her condition, please post.

 

[Arigato]

Found a complete replay of the event here:

https://kick.com/leehanlogists/videos/b81efef8-75d0-4d5d-a155-60c92ca98440

The medal ceremony starts a bit after 2 hours in, so watch and judge for yourself.

I'm watching it now. I see nothing unusual. Thanks for posting, so I could see it for myself.