I was referring specifically to the men. I remember reading on these forums that scores were very high at 2006 NHK - to the point of being inflated for some skaters. From looking at protocols, Oda seemed to have been given very generous GEOs - more than 10 points over his base value in the LP, which is actually a bigger gap than Buttle's pristine performance at 2008 Worlds.
And again: at SA his scores would be nearly the same if it wasn't for the fact that he had a shaky flip in SP and underrotated 3A in LP (and some other stumbles, the NHK performance was definitely better).
At Nebelhorn Trophy this year his performance was worse than at NHK (he is not used to competing at attitude and I thought he'll pass out in the middle of the LP) and he popped one of his jumps. He received negative GoEs for it.
But, he gained 6.9 GoE on that performance. If it wasn't for the popped jump and the removal of one spin from the LP, he would probably receive about + 9 GoE for a relatively uninspired performance.
His score at NHK was the highest for a simple reason: that was his best performance up to date.
Many might not remember, but post-Skate America 2006 many considered Nobunari as a favourite for gold - Daisuke and Stephan bombed at Skate Canada, Nobu beat Lysacek twice, Johnny also bombed, Brain's scores were not very impressive.
He did not come close to those scores because he did not skate as cleanly after that. Losing to Daisuke shaken up his confidence, and he put all his effort to get a 4T and the step sequences to match Daisuke's. At GPF he skated with an injured knee, and at Worlds he was a bunch of nerves with a new program that he hadn't fully mastered. And that was his last international competition for a while.
Nobu might have lack some things in his skating; namely stamina, confidence, good steps and a quad, but his technique is so pure (when he's on) that as long as he skates clean he will rack up huge GoEs. I've watched his performances broadcasted in different countries, and all the commentators swooned over the quality of his jumps (and spins). Some quotes:
Dick Button: "Best knees in figure skating." "I... I'm sorry, I just get tongue-tied when I see how beautiful they are, those jumps." "That landing... that exit landing is just like... honey, it's _wonderful_."
CBC:"(...) the quality of edge that the judges simply _love_."
Kurt Browning: "I really hope the judges _really_ give this guy a plus to the grade of execution."
I agree that Daisuke's GoEs were slightly inflated, but the judges needed to push him past Nobunari somehow. As Daisuke improved his weaknesses from that time (scratchy landings and poor spins), I'm not really bothered. He was the rightful winner of that event.