I think he has the potential making of the perfect skater, balance of the Yin and Yang, the amalgamation of opposites spectrum of men's figure skating: Johnny (artistry, sensitivity, smoothness and finesse) and Plushy (Unapologetic technical overlord!) May be being young and somewhat of an innocent, this type of boyish charming androgynous type of skating is very attractive to me (I am not sure if that makes sense) but he remind me a character straight out of the Japanese Manga F4 boys from Hana Yori Dango, except he is the sweet one all the girls can relate to and have a crush on (Especially with his Winnie the Pooh bear lucky charm ... lol!). I wouldn't be surprised if he start to become a pin up back in Japan by next year (if he isn't already)
I do think he offers something new, unique and quite refreshing among the current men's.
Maybe something to do with age and personality perhaps? Hanyu is one of the more emotional available mens skater right now (I hope that won't change when he gets older), there's compassion and venerability that shows up on his Romeo and Juliet programs which I love. He clearly feels the music, the mood changes and he is clear in what he is trying to express in tuned with the many variations of music beyond merely executing the required elements. Overall, very good intrinsic understanding of musicality, movement and performing to the audience (although the latter could be improved upon further with greater maturity).
The thing I appreciate the most is Hanyu hardly ever dumb down his program in an almost naive and optimistic way. Given the type of crazy difficult content he has, his personal situations (asthma and stamina issues) he appears to be refreshingly uncalculated and his natural demeanour is going for broke 100% of the time. And if he is on fire, you might get 110% performance out of him as if is the last performance he will ever give.
He rarely ever hesitate before his big elements, and I am always surprised to see how a major fall would really appear to shook him up as if he couldn't believe it (and refuse to believe it), only to find him coming back with an even bigger jump to prove and reassures himself. May be there's some Samurai spirit in this young one!
Amazing talent aside, it makes him an exciting and somewhat unpredictable skater to root for because the chances are, with these amount of crazy difficulties he want to include his programs at his age (with all his asthma and stamina issues) the chances of him going clean is slim, yet you know he is always going for his very best instead of following some sort of calculated risks like the older skaters tends to do. (Especially amongst the ladies field right now)