Yuzuru Hanyu: 2019-2021 | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Yuzuru Hanyu: 2019-2021

yude

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Yuzuru made comments again and again he tried to understand Toshl and perform for Toshl, but personally I still feel the lyrics hit Yuzuru very hard and he performed for himself, too, intentionally or unintentionally. At least, he looked like that to me. (but I agree with TallyT, his private thoughts are unknown :biggrin:)

It will be great if he performs Masquerade in Japanese nationals as Christmas present :laugh:
 

Imov

Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
I wonder if this means he is keeping Crystal memories as an exhibition piece?
 

ankifeather

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
It's hard to tell this time...Last year they straight out say Sakura fairy was his exhibition for the season when he was still skating it on FaOI. This year nothing was said other than its not Masquerade.
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions about Masquerade. It is a pity that we are not going to see it again considering how it turned to be an iconic Yuzu performance in such a short time.
 

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions about Masquerade. It is a pity that we are not going to see it again considering how it turned to be an iconic Yuzu performance in such a short time.

At least the massive popularity of Yuzu's show performances means that pretty every one gets filmed and released - usually in HD, though we sadly don't get fancam - and therefore we have more and better videos of Masquerade (and Crystal Memories if it doesn't go to gala. Oh yes, and Doryzu if we want to be pernickety) than many skaters' actual competition pieces, let alone their ice shows. We will by the time the last broadcast is done have a lovely little collection...

And it occurs to me that in its freedom and emotional resonance, Masquerade may be a harbinger of where his non-competition programs when r**** does come, maybe not as intense and draining but certainly unique and as brilliant as only Yuzuru can be, and freed from judges' constraints...
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
And it occurs to me that in its freedom and emotional resonance, Masquerade may be a harbinger of where his non-competition programs when r**** does come, maybe not as intense and draining but certainly unique and as brilliant as only Yuzuru can be, and freed from judges' constraints...

I like your observation, the fact that the fire is not going to die :thumbsup:
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
As everyone else has said, none of us can know what exactly Yuzu was thinking, but it's definitely possible that it was all about ToshI and not Yuzu himself.

Like I said before, I have a lot of experience with gifted (i.e. high IQ) people, and I and every one of them who know about Yuzu agree that he really, really seems gifted. Gifted people usually have tremendous capacity for empathy and compassion, so I asked some of them what they think of Masquerade, and they said that it's 100% possible that it was all empathy for ToshI and wanting to reward him for overcoming everything he went through and nothing to do with Yuzu himself, especially given how much of a connection they developed so fast. (Some of the ones I know are capable of getting themselves all worked up empathizing with people they don't know or even hate, to say nothing of people they actually like.)

The one who skates said that she could very easily see herself getting waaaay too into Masquerade as well, and believe me, she is the last person who could ever relate to the lyrics. (I can't repeat in polite company what she says about people who try to stop her from being herself. :laugh:) She can't even look at Yuzu's face after he throws the glove down for too long. Just his facial expression is too intense for her, solely out of empathy.

So yeah, not saying I know better than anyone else whether or not it was personal for Yuzu, just offering information.
 

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
whole post :biggrin:

I agree that Yuzu does seem to have a huge gift for empathy - look at how beautifully and sensitively he handles his baby skater fans, the people who suffered from the earthquake, the elderly Japanese who take his performances so to heart (hey, and even odd moments like when Nathan had to leave the green room at the Olympics), and he's been like this since a very young age. And Toshi definitely took the program to heart, wasn't he actually wiping away tears at Toyama? - so this makes sense. Maybe it was 100% but it was there all right.


---Aaaand our passionate Ice Prince still has his adorkable side, on show for those who might miss it :luv17:
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
I agree that Yuzu does seem to have a huge gift for empathy - look at how beautifully and sensitively he handles his baby skater fans, the people who suffered from the earthquake, the elderly Japanese who take his performances so to heart (hey, and even odd moments like when Nathan had to leave the green room at the Olympics), and he's been like this since a very young age. And Toshi definitely took the program to heart, wasn't he actually wiping away tears at Toyama? - so this makes sense. Maybe it was 100% but it was there all right.

That is one of the main things that screams giftedness to me and the others I mentioned. There are lots of considerate and empathetic people in the world, but since as young an age as Yuzu has been!? Not many. One of them, incidentally, is the girl I mentioned who can't look at the post-glove-toss expression too long. (And now I'm really hoping she's not on this forum reading my bragging about her, lol.) I forgot in what context this happened, but when she was in kindergarten, someone completely sincerely and unironically told her she's more mature than most adults. I could totally see someone saying that to little Yuzu.
 

ankifeather

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
and he's been like this since a very young age. And Toshi definitely took the program to heart, wasn't he actually wiping away tears at Toyama? - so this makes sense. Maybe it was 100% but it was there all right.
That is one of the main things that screams giftedness to me and the others I mentioned. There are lots of considerate and empathetic people in the world, but since as young an age as Yuzu has been!? Not many.

This reminds of the fact that the very first biography Yuzu released was after the earthquake. His own home was destroyed, his family was in financial difficulties, he has no rink to practice and no sponsors. The publishing company released the biography precisely to help him out financially (otherwise it was weird to release a biography before he even became famous). Yet despite all that, he donated the royalty from the biography to charity. Today he is super rich and can afford to donate as much as he wants (I think Japanese fans calculated just from known amounts, he has donated over USD 1 million dollar already, and that is not including other side hanyuconomy effects), but the fact he started doing it as a teenager at a time when he needed money more than anyone shows he holds true kindness and empathy.

Another instance is Orser saying that Hanyu was the only one to sense his father died and dedicated his Notte Stellata performance, despite Orser told no one. I think Yuzu is able to pick up emotions much better than normal people - he did say when he is skating in the 'Zone', he can feel everything from the audience, including who loves him and who hates him.

And whilst his IQ is undoubtedly high, I think its his EQ that is even more outstanding. This is most obvious in his responses in Japanese interviews. Everytime I marvel at how he can answer some really difficult questions instantly and eloquently with plenty of content, yet not a single foot in his mouth situation. Some Japanese journalists admit they deliberately set a trap for him, but he never fell in. And when he doesn't want to answer a question, he doesn't shut it down but actually say a lot, but when you think about it, he hasn't given away anything :laugh:. I think he would be an excellent diplomat. In fact he already speaks better than a lot of diplomats.
 

Shedi0806

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
This reminds of the fact that the very first biography Yuzu released was after the earthquake. His own home was destroyed, his family was in financial difficulties, he has no rink to practice and no sponsors. The publishing company released the biography precisely to help him out financially (otherwise it was weird to release a biography before he even became famous). Yet despite all that, he donated the royalty from the biography to charity. Today he is super rich and can afford to donate as much as he wants (I think Japanese fans calculated just from known amounts, he has donated over USD 1 million dollar already, and that is not including other side hanyuconomy effects), but the fact he started doing it as a teenager at a time when he needed money more than anyone shows he holds true kindness and empathy.

Another instance is Orser saying that Hanyu was the only one to sense his father died and dedicated his Notte Stellata performance, despite Orser told no one. I think Yuzu is able to pick up emotions much better than normal people - he did say when he is skating in the 'Zone', he can feel everything from the audience, including who loves him and who hates him.

And whilst his IQ is undoubtedly high, I think its his EQ that is even more outstanding. This is most obvious in his responses in Japanese interviews. Everytime I marvel at how he can answer some really difficult questions instantly and eloquently with plenty of content, yet not a single foot in his mouth situation. Some Japanese journalists admit they deliberately set a trap for him, but he never fell in. And when he doesn't want to answer a question, he doesn't shut it down but actually say a lot, but when you think about it, he hasn't given away anything :laugh:. I think he would be an excellent diplomat. In fact he already speaks better than a lot of diplomats.

If you have not seen the 1-hour-interview right after Worlds, please make sure to check it out. The part you are referring to is especially intriguing for me, like, when he talks about his gaze and how he percieves the audience's energy when performing. He is so assertive and emotionally intelligent. I cannot gush enough about him. I wish I would understand him in Japanese....I started to learn the language, it is super difficult. It would be so good if I could just pick up a couple of sentences. That would be awesome.
 

pianistliz

On the Ice
Joined
May 19, 2019
Today's pre-performance Yuzu inspiration:
When he WILLED those jumps to happen in his world's 2014 free skate (he was like, Not today, Machida!) and when he entered the "zone" at NHK 2015 and world's 2017 freeskates (despite a LOT of pressure and less-than-perfect SP at world's). I don't know how many times I've watched his Helsinki free. It is absolutely mind-boggling the way he melts his jumps, even quads, into the lyrical choreography. If he hadn't done it, I would have said that level of perfection was impossible.
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
Another instance is Orser saying that Hanyu was the only one to sense his father died and dedicated his Notte Stellata performance, despite Orser told no one.

Wow, Brian didn't tell him!? I'm impressed (but not surprised) that he managed to sense that. Such a sweetie. :luv17:
 

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
...but the fact he started doing it as a teenager at a time when he needed money more than anyone shows he holds true kindness and empathy.

Agreed. There are very few people in sport or out, I think, who could have been that selfless (and at the same time driven, doing all those shows to get practice/make money, ot's an expensive sport) even at a much more mature age.

Yuzuru of course isn't a plaster saint - who is? - but part of the reason I became is fan is how complex, multfaceted and genuinely good as a person he is, even and above his brilliance as a skater (Javi as well, which makes their friendship all the more special)
 

pianistliz

On the Ice
Joined
May 19, 2019
I know the grand prix assignments have been announced already, but do we know if Yuzu is doing any Senior B's beforehand-please please please Autumn Classic... I MIGHT MAYBE be able to afford to go to that since I'm in the US. Skate Canada is too close to the west coast :(

ETA: Autumn Classic is sold out, anyway... probably lots of people figured there's a good chance of him being there.
I've never been to a figure skating event live before...how soon do tickets generally sell out for competitions? I'd assume you have to book world and Olympic tickets a year+ in advance, but what about GP assignments and Senior B's?
 
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