Yuzuru Hanyu: 2019-2021 | Page 157 | Golden Skate

Yuzuru Hanyu: 2019-2021

Didn't have to wait long. I'm lost for words. I didn't smile like yesterday but had goosebumps all over. It was a sharp contrast just like during the season with LGC and H&L. I expected a lighter song when I saw his costume but the one he chose was very fitting! Very good job Yuzu! I LOVED it!
 
I'm so loving Yuzuru's programs this season. :) Such a beautiful performance. While the SP had similarities with LGC it still had elements that made it unique. And the FS OMG, nice one. Really nice. I feel like in the mens field only he could pull of a floral costume. Congratulations to Yuzuru!!! 🖐️🖐️
 
Truly phenomenal. It’s so fitting that his most iconic program was to the soundtrack of 陰陽師, literally the master of yin and yang, which is exactly how I see Yuzuru as a skater, alpha male with killer instinct and the expressive delicate lightness traditionally associated with femininity.

His jumps looking 100% secure in the free skate was just about the best I’ve ever seen. Love the contrast between the two programs and how they are both so him, the SP dedicated to his fans and the free expressing his own feelings.
 
I feel like crying from happiness, I wanted him to win this so much and he did it in the best way possible. :clap: And it was so fitting for him to skate this magnificent performance in the same Nagano venue where he shattered all world records 5 years ago.

More than anything, I'm really happy to see him in good shape physically and emotionally. I hope he can stay relaxed and confident in his skating like he was here. And of course, stay healthy!
 
Hanyu explains a little bit about his beginning pose in the FS :)
“At the beginning of the piece, I imagine that I am fighting,” he continued. “Then the part with the Biwa begins. This is not part of the actual piece and was cut in by me. It symbolizes that I actually don’t want to fight, but have to in order to protect my loved ones. The biwa as an instrument was best suited for this. I wanted to bring in typical Japanese elements with the traditional instruments. For me, it represents the battles of Kawanakajima where (Uesugi) Kenshin and Takeda (Shingen) fight each other. I developed many different versions of the piece, but since I’m not a professional musician, I just adapted it to the step sequences and my choreography.”
 
I'm so loving Yuzuru's programs this season. :) Such a beautiful performance. While the SP had similarities with LGC it still had elements that made it unique. And the FS OMG, nice one. Really nice. I feel like in the mens field only he could pull of a floral costume. Congratulations to Yuzuru!!! 🖐️🖐️

A sparkly, flower-decked kimono top while channelling a legendary Japanese god of war. You have to love him for it :rofl: 🥰
 
When I saw it live earlier today, I felt it (esp early on in the piece) seemed a little flatter/empty choreo-wise than I'd expected though his execution was brilliant. But I watched it again (this time remembering to breathe) and changed my mind a bit. This piece of music isn't quite as "accessible" as his SP, but it is deeper and showcases some of his abilities (tech and artistic) better. The timing is so intricate/fluid and yet he moves his body perfectly to the sweeping waves of what sounds like improvised scales/arpeggios and somehow perfectly times his jumps to that and mixes them with choregraphic poses, hitting them right on the beat (which isn't nearly as obvious as in other pieces like Seimei)...his sense of rhythm is amazing. Even more impressive since flowy pieces with tricky rhythms used to make some of his jumping passes inconsistent in the past (Chopin, H and L). But not this time, nailed it on the first try.

He is also the only skater I think could pull off a piece in this genre that is so deep and nuanced and symbolic. He has a whole story for it, mirrors it with his own personal experiences, and becomes one with the music, representing the imagery in his costume (which I really love) and depicting poetry in every intentional movement. Anytime he can create more simultaneous layers of texture, depth, and meaning, he does. It's a very similar approach to the way my brain approaches piano interpretation and physical movement at the keyboard expressing technique and artistry. He mentioned he's not a professional musician in his interview in the GS article, but I was thinking, he certainly thinks like one.

I've felt like I've been in this amazing dream all day today...I can't stop thinking about it and watching this performance makes me feel so calm.
I also have had part of the step sequence on loop the past few minutes; can't get enough of it. Some of my favorite figure skating seconds I've watched, ever. I dearly hope he continues to grow this program and perform it in Beijing. But if he decides not to and if worlds is cancelled this year, I'm so thrilled to have such wonderful performances from this week to appreciate and re-watch.

Sorry if this all sounds too intense...this program just really resonates with me, I'm an artist through and through, I haven't been feeling well lately, and this has just been a wonderful Christmas present in the midst of everything.

Here's my favorite part of the Stsq:
https://twitter.com/mikejardins/status/1342830191622680576?s=20
 
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Very happy 😘Yuzuru fan here. While 2020 has undoubtedly been a difficult year because of Covid-19, it proved to be a winning and record setting one for Yuzuru in the 4CC and the Japan FS Nationals. Once more he showed his greatness, his never say die spirit which is such an inspiration in these trying times.

Re his new FS, when I’ve read he is portraying a God of War, I felt my fandoms colliding. Because of the quarantine, I have discovered (and become addicted to) the Cdrama “Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms,” the most watched tv series in the world. The God of War there, Mo Yuan, was the mentor of the main female character Bai Qian who met him disguised as a man as Mo Yuan did not accept female disciples. Upon seeing the God of War for the first time, Bai Qian could not believe that he was such because his facial features are “so delicate” and he looked like “a pretty boy.” Sounds familiar? 😁

I hope and pray Yuzuru will stay healthy and have the opportunity to show us the development of his new programs, great as they are at the first iteration. Go Yuzu!
 
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