I don’t think the Japanese domestic judges were harsher to Takahashi since Takahashi got UR calls at all international events this season, especially his quads have been called UR a lot. At CoC he got 4T < in SP, 4T <<, 4T <, and 3Lo < in LP. At NHK he got 4T < in LP. At GPF he got 3T < in LP. If Takahashi’s 4T has been called < and even << four times in recent international events, then the calls at Japanese Nationals were not strict at all.It's doesn't make sense to compare Nationals to international competitions and we all know why. The only more or less right way to compare the score at Nationals is to compare it to the rival's. And here the one who got generously overscored with all home advantge was Yuzu, while Dai got none, and he actually was judged way strcicter than even at international events (ur, sq level, etc.).
Same for Takahashi’s step sequence level, his SP StSeq got level 3s at CoC, GPF, and Nationals – 3 times out of 4 events. His LP StSeq got level 3s at NHK, GPF, and Nationals – 3 times out of 4 events. The international judges and domestic judges score him in the same way.
Takahashi really skated very well in the LP. The performance itself was good because he was almost clean and he tried hard to perform. He deserved a high P/E score for that. But the choreography is still generic without many transitions. If the choreography is that generic to start with, then the skater needs more effort to pull it off, which is why at earlier competitions many people found this program not as good as his other programs. This time Takahashi skated almost 100% good and finally made it work, but with a better progrm he may only need 80%.For FS, Imo Dai's probably Maxed 95% tech and 105% artistry potential of his program in showing that he can overcome a bad program, mediocre choreography and still make something superb. The achievement in itself spectacular and can not be measured by COP.
I think Takahashi will get better programs for the Olympic season, and he deserves better programs than this. His exhibition program choreographed by Miyamoto was way better than this. Overall, I think Takahashi is getting his jumps back and will be a gold medal contender at Worlds.
Hanyu wasn't just slow. He looked like a sick yellowish kid who lost his speed before he started.
I don’t know how someone would think “Hanyu wasn't just slow. He looked like a sick yellowish kid who lost his speed before he started.” I compared the beginnings of Yuzru and Takahashi’s programs. After watching the first minute of Takahashi’s program Yuzru seemed so much faster in the first minute, like he was flying. If you think Yuzru lost his speed before he started, then Takahashi left his speed at home. Then during the last minute Yuzru slowed down and I agree he looked so sick and fragile, but still he maintained the same speed as Takahashi in the last ChSt.I think your point about speed is an important one. A lot of people criticize Hanyu for losing speed during his FS, and that is valid, but one also has to recognize how fast he is to begin with. He flies across the ice during his SP and the first part of his FS.
I agree with Riemann that Yuzru did lose speed in the last minute of LP, but that was because he had more speed to start with, which made his slowing down more visible. Takahashi, Kozuka, Mura, Oda, and many other skaters did not even start with Yuzru’s speed.