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[toraonice]

Yuri on Ice BD choreography commentary translation - Volume 4

You’re seeing right... At last, the full translation of the choreography commentary from the BD/DVD vol.4! I’ve just been really busy, I haven’t abandoned the project of translating all the BD/DVDs of course. The commentary is by Kenji Miyamoto & Mitsurou Kubo, as usual. This time it’s Guang-Hong’s FS, Chris’ FS, Phichit’s FS, Georgi’s FS, Seung-gil’s SP, Michele’s SP and JJ’s SP. As you can guess from the list it was very long so it took a long time to write down and translate (I’m already scared of vol.5 lol).

Notes: -It’s two people talking, not a written interview, so expect them to hop from one subject to another within the same sentence… Even if it sounds a bit unconnected at times, that’s how they said it. -I still arranged it a little to make it easier to understand as written material, by removing lots of “ehm” “uuhm” “you know” “yes” (I especially removed all instances where someone says “yes” in the middle of the other speaking) and fumbled words. -Amusingly enough both their initials are KM/MK, but I used the surname initials so M is Miyamoto and K is Kubo. -I put (LOL) when they’re laughing because otherwise some lines might sound serious while they’re actually joking.

***VERY IMPORTANT*** Do NOT use this translation for subtitles, in ANY way. I don’t support the upload of bonuses contained in BDs/DVDs, as they are meant to be (as the word says) bonuses for the people who spent money to purchase them. Unfortunately A*ex is a b*tch but still...

Translation under the cut.

Miyamoto: Hello, I’m the choreographer Kenji Miyamoto. Kubo: I’m the original planner Mitsurou Kubo. Hahh… M: Yay~ K: So, this time you will be able to see a lot of choreography footage. The first one is the choreography of Guang-Hong Ji’s free skating program, “The Inferno” from the movie “Shanghai Blade”. Regarding “Shanghai Blade”… in Yuri on Ice some of the choreographies are based on music from the soundrack of fictional movies. This is the soundtrack of “Shanghai Blade”, which is one of these fictional movies and is about the Underworld of Shanghai. It looks cool because it was made in Hollywood, but it’s a gang action noir with the themes of fraternity, bonds and betrayal. M: That was a very clear explanation! K: (LOL) M: I used kung fu-like kicks and other things in this choreography, but it was quite difficult to make it easy to understand… K: Oh, I see. M: Though, acting like I’m wielding a sword when the sword sound plays was a little embarrassing. K: The story was decided in detail, so there is a lot of gun and sword action, battle scenes, scenes like the character entering the enemy’s hideout alone, etc. I think it’s important to make it easy to understand. M: Yeah. K: Like, with this spin, the protagonist goes to the boss’ place led by his past comrade, but just before the goal he is betrayed and loses consciousness. There are quite a few portrayals of sadness, like the protagonist being betrayed by his comrade, or being confined, and some of them were actually shown with visuals in the anime too. M: Yes. I also kind of tried to play two different roles by putting on and removing glasses. Ah, sorry, you didn’t mean it like that, did you (LOL). K: I didn’t mean it like that (LOL). But, yeah, since you performed the choreography a few times, we put together different parts, so there are times when you have glasses on too. Is it easy to dance with your glasses on? Don’t they get in the way? M: Well, if you don’t do rotational jumps or fast spins, I think it’s ok. K: So indeed your glasses would fly away during spins or jumps. M: Yes. Is this the battle scene? K: The battle has started. I think we’re almost at the car chase, aren’t we? M: Ooh! K: Aah! M: He turned the wheel (LOL). K: He did (LOL). M: There was a vrooom sound (LOL). K: Yes. We’re almost at the climax. Here it is! Sword-drawing Ina Bauer, meaning that he performs Ina Bauer while drawing the sword. And here he’s also holding a gun. M: Yeah (LOL). K: No time to rest. M: It was quite embarrassing (LOL). K: The sword-drawing Ina Bauer was very cool actually. M: Was it? K: Yeah, this Guang-Hong was really amazing. The protagonist goes to save his sworn brother, who is cornered. How will it end!? Ah, here he’s timing the seconds of the spin. M: Yes. K: Ahh… It ends with a gunshot, and the protagonist being shot down as he protects his sworn brother. Thank you, Kenji-sensei. M: Thank you.

K: OK, the next one is the choreography of Christophe Giacometti’s free skating, “Rapsodie Espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody)”. M: Uff, had I known this would happen I would have set my hair. K: (LOL) Is it not set here? M: Not set. This pose too, I received lots of requests from director Yamamoto and Kubo-sensei. K: Yes. In all the choreographies we have asked quite a few times for poses that would leave a strong impression, but in this program there are a lot of wonderful poses, I really like it. M: Thank you. I tried a few different kinds of poses, to get closer to the image you requested. Like this (LOL). K: Ah, this! A pose where you’re kind of.. holding something in your arms, it’s nice. Though you originally practiced it when the rink was open to the public… M: Yeah (LOL). K: I remember that we decided that this was a nice pose with all the normal visitors skating around. Is it embarrassing if there are people looking at you? M: Once you get absorbed in the performance it’s not embarrassing at all, but if you look back on it it’s a little embarrassing (LOL). K: (LOL) We ordered this song for Chris’ free program, and we asked to make it sound powerful to give the impression of a program that can win, so we also requested the choreography to express Chris’ strength as a veteran, since now that Victor isn’t here he’s the oldest. Are there choreographies that look like “for veterans”? M: Well, doing wide movements, for example, means that you are moving with confidence, so I took that into consideration when I created this choreography. K: I see. M: The spiral that doesn’t rise (LOL). K: The spiral that doesn’t rise (LOL). M: I can’t raise my leg that much, I leave it to the animators to make it look nice (LOL). K: Right. Apart from your personal example, is it true that when someone is young it’s easy to do spirals and it becomes more difficult as they grow up? M: Well, men don’t really need to do it in the first place, and also a lot of the time is taken by jumps, so there’s no time to put it in the program. K: I see. M: Actually, I made this choreography symmetrical, so that it looks like he’s moving symmetrically left and right. K: Oh, really? M: Really. K: Symmetrical? M: Basically, I go to the right and then go to the left, using the whole area of the rink. K: Oh, I see. When you watch it it’s kind of vague, it looks kind of like the skater is twisting a curtain, like, they skate in one direction, then they rewind and then they go to the opposite direction again. I often watch figure skating with that image in mind. M: Sorry, I don’t get what you mean at all (LOL). K: I mean, it’s kind of like.. ah, it’s almost over! Hum hum~. Right. Hmmm Chris! Chris! And then in the Grand Prix Final Minako-sensei brings a flower crown and puts it on his head. M: I see.

K: The next choreography is Phichit Chulanont’s free skating, “Terra Incognita” from the movie “The King and the Skater 2”. This is yet another movie song. Phichit-kun used “Shall We Skate?”, from the movie “The King and the Skater”, for his short program, a song that he had always wanted to use. And… actually, according to the setting, “The King and the Skater” was a hit and so they decided to make a sequel. A song from the sequel is what he is using for his free program. The sequel is set in the near future. While “The King and the Skater” is about traveling back in time, in “The King and the Skater 2” the king of Thailand is sent from the 19th century to the future, to a 21st century skating rink that has become a clubhouse, together with the English skater who was hired as his tutor. They come to the 21st century and dance wildly together. The movie is a romantic comedy released in 2004 that became a hit in the US and is said to have supported the current popularity of figure skating. M: So that was the setting (LOL). K: Yes (LOL). Well, of course the movie doesn’t actually exist. M: The settings are always so detailed (LOL). K: Yeah, though well, this is the setting we thought when we were thinking about the choreography, so it’s a little different from the official anime setting. It was to create a detailed image for the choreography. M: I see. At the time I remember looking at lots of pictures together with you and the director because we wanted to include movements and dance poses of the Thai folklore. K: We did (LOL). We were like, what kind of poses look like Thai poses? And coming up with this and that. M: Yeah. K: So we incorporated lots of movements and then you couldn’t lift your left shoulder anymore… (LOL) M: Yeah (LOL). From the footage you don’t really see that it hurts I guess. My left shoulder was actually hurting, but I tried to show the choreography as nicely as I could. It was a really difficult program, because I moved my joints in directions I normally don’t use. K: (LOL). But I think that this choreography is really beautiful, it really shows Phichit’s personality perfectly. I see, so there are some directions you don’t normally bend your limbs in? M: Yes. For example, the way I use the toe here is unusual for me, and the way I use my head too, is something I don’t usually do. I’m actually laughing here though (LOL). K: (LOL). Are you laughing because it hurts? M: No, I was thinking, “this program is really tough” (LOL). K: We also ordered the song to sound, more than “Thai”, somewhat like traditional folk music, and I was told that the lyrics are in a fictional language. It’s really nice. And here it’s supposed to be a Klimkin eagle (cantilever) done in a Thai-like pose. M: I can’t do it, so in the footage it looks like that. K: Is the Klimkin eagle difficult? M: It is! K: I have no idea how they can balance themselves in that position. M: I haven’t either (LOL). By the way, Phichit-kun is popular in Thailand. It’s really amazing. K: Really? M: Yes. K: I’m so happy~. I really want Phichit-kun to have a great career in Thailand, I mean, I don’t mean as in a sequel of the anime, in general. M: Yeah. K: It seems that many fans of Phichit-kun are married women. M: Oh. K: Of course I’m sure that he has many young fans too, but I guess he feels like a young skater that you can safely cheer on. Ah, right, this last victory pose is so nice (LOL). M: That is kind of embarrassing! I was so tired I couldn’t move…

K: The next one is the choreography of Georgi Popovich’s free skating, “A Tales of Sleeping Prince”. In his short program Popovich-san performed Carabosse from the Sleeping Beauty, and since he is maintaining the same atmosphere, this time it’s the man’s feelings in the Sleeping Beauty, though it’s not a ballet song. The image of the story is actually pretty clear: I will become a prince, save everyone with my kiss and take back the girl’s smile. He regrets having cursed her into eternal sleep, gets depressed and feels lonely, so he decides to become a prince and save everyone with his kiss. He saves everyone with his kiss, everyone becomes happy, and in the end the girl wakes up and gets back her smile, and we have a happy ending. This is what happens in the free. M: I see (LOL). K: (LOL). Well, this is the tentative story we decided. When we talked with Kenji-sensei we told him some things about the image of the song ad asked him to dance with somewhat of a lonely aura. M: Yes. In the first half, and well, in this part too, I created the choreography to make it look like I’m feeling lonely. K: Yes, we requested the song to be that way, but we also made it on purpose so that, if you listen to the lyrics, one false step and it will sound like a stalkerish kind of love. We thought maybe it would fit a Russian guy (LOL). M: I see (LOL). K: Popovich is the same age as Victor-san and his birthday is the next day, so for all this time he couldn’t see the light of the day and stayed in his shadow. For this reason, we thought it would be nice if he could express love in a different way than Victor. I really love both this song and the choreography. M: I tried to raise my arms as much as possible when it says “promise”. K: Yeah, when it says “promise” he raises both his fists to the sky and I really like that. Makin’ up~. He’s kissing her! M: Yes. Ok, if you say it out loud it’s kind of embarrassing (LOL). K: (LOL). Yeah, but you know, what is nice is that there are lot of clear meanings in this song and they are all expressed. M: I made them visible. Also, this time I have a microphone attached to my left leg. K: Oh right, he’s not injured, this time he has a special microphone attached to him to record the sound of the edge grazing the ice as he skates. M: It made it kind of hard to perform. K: I guess normally you don’t skate with something like that. M: I don’t. K: I’ll save you now~. Ah, at the back you can see the sound staff holding the directional microphone, but he’s sitting right on the ice without anything under him, we were really worried he would freeze to death…

K: Thank you. Ok, the next choreography is Seung-gil Lee’s short program “Almavivo”. This is one of the songs that I really wanted Kenji-sensei to choreograph. The reason is that… it’s mambo! M: In this program too I did my best to incorporate easy to understand mambo movements. How do you like it? K: It’s perfect. I remember how I felt when we took this footage (LOL). The director and I were so excited, it was awesome. By the way, the theme of Seung-gil-san’s programs this season is “greed”. Since he is composed and isn’t good at showing his emotions, with this song he tried to radically change this image. M: I see. K: So basically, more than his expression, the costume was surprising. When I wrote the manga storyboard we still hadn’t decided the costume, but when it was turned into an anime it had become a costume that really looks like some bird living in the tropics… That’s quite a change of image (LOL). M: Here I was looking at the camera and dancing aggressively to catch the attention of judges, but yeah, Kanako-sensei was just bursting out laughing. K: Yes, Kanako-sensei is the one holding the handy camera and filming up close. It was really fun to look at too. M: Was it? (LOL) K: Yeah, Kanako-sensei was laughing too… Come on, look at the camera! (LOL) M: I was laughing too in fact (LOL). K: It was nice. Everyone was looking and I was also absorbed in filming. M: I tried to use light steps and dance following the rhythm. I looked a bit stiff though. K: (LOL). You know, mambo is not a music style that you can use more than once in the end. M: Yeah. K: So you have to choose the right time to use it. Seung-gil~. Thank you. So this was Seung-gil Lee’s short program.

K: The next one is the choreography of Michele’s, I mean, Michele Crispino’s short program, “L’homme Armé” from the movie “Destiny of Knights”. This is another song from a fictional movie, “Destiny of Knights”. For the costume we had Michele wear an armor costume in the European style everyone loves. M: He drew the sword. K: He did, another program where the skater draws a sword. But it’s not a Japanese sword, it’s European, I guess the drawing style is different? [translator’s note: I adapted this line because the original was impossible to translate literally into English. She is using the word “battou”, which literally means “drawing a sword” but it’s normally used to refer to Japanese katanas, so in the original Japanese line she is actually wondering whether there is an exact term to refer to the drawing of an European sword.] M: Since he is supposed to be wearing an armor I was careful to make his back look powerful in the choreography. I’m keeping my back straight so that it looks square, without bending it because it would make it look softer. K: Aah, it’s wonderful. The theme of Michele’s programs this season is “chivalric romance”. A knight worships his lady but it’s not romantic love, he must be satisfied with just spiritual love, and since Michele has never had a lover we had him represent this concept of carnal love being forbidden. Since he loves his younger twin sister a lot. The movie is an action fantasy movie set in medieval Europe and this is its theme song. It’s about the spirit of chivalry. Though well, in the end I just wanted to see an armor (LOL). Sorry for being that simple. You can hear roaring… some animal howling… I mean, not howling. It’s the roar of a tiger or lion. I discussed with the director on whether we should insert this sound or not, and in the end we decided to insert it. It’s nice to add this kind of sound effects (LOL). M: It makes it feel more realistic. K: Realistic (LOL). I felt that it would sound more like movie music, and it would be easier to have a clear image of the story. Now he just swore his loyal love. Thank you.

K: The last choreography is Jean-Jacques Leroy’s short program, “Theme of King JJ”. This song is so popular. With this program JJ did something quite wild. He got a rock band – a rock band so hugely popular in North America that they could get a Grammy Award – to write a song for him with his name in it, and used it for his program. M: But the song is cool. K: Yeah, i love it too (LOL). M: Seriously, when I created the choreography for this program the song stuck to my head all day (LOL). K: (LOL). It was the same for us. Aah, JJ is so cool. We pictured him as a skater representing North American strength, and he really turned out that way. I think it’s expressed very well. JJ. Though well, Victor has been on top of JJ for a long time, so actually he has never gotten a gold medal in the World Championships or the Grand Prix Final. M: I see. K: So he is referring to himself as “king” to encourage himself. Even though he’s still young. He says, “everyone, sing!” and from here the audience starts to sing the lyrics. M: Yes (LOL). K: In real sport venues you would probably annoy the person next to you if you started singing, and they would glare at you, but since this is an anime we thought it would be ok to do something a little unrealistic, so we had them sing. And some time ago there was an all night screening of “Yuri on Ice”, and the public was actually singing during this program. M: That’s cool (LOL). Before creating this choreography I was told about JJ’s, how do you call it, pose? But I refused to incorporate it in the choreography. K: (LOL). I’m glad you did. It’s fine. Ah, this is the cut version for the TV broadcast so it’s shorter. Ahh~ JJ, J-J, J-J! Stop! It’s JJ style. Waah~. This is what is happening now. M: Is it happening? (LOL). K: Thank you. We have looked back on a lot of choreographies. How do you feel? M: Well, uhm, first of all I’m surprised to see once again how many choreographies I made, and then I feel that you and the staff really have too much passion, and I hope that I was able to live up to that passion… K: Only you could have met our expectations so much, Kenji-sensei. M: No no (LOL). K: Thank you very much. M: I had a lot of fun working on this, though. K: Looking at the choreography footage I remembered that at the time I thought “oh, we’ll be able to see this animated!”, but even without seeing it in the anime, I was happy enough to be able to see your choreographies every day. I went home every day thinking that. Looking at the morning sun in Edogawa. M: Yeah (LOL). Everyone was chilled to the bone (LOL). K: Right. It was exactly one year ago. One year has passed, and “Yuri on Ice” is now a work loved by people all over the world. Thank you very much. M: That’s really wonderful. K: It’s really really wonderful. I think there is still some choreography footage left, but did your state of mind change from one year ago? M: I must say that I’m happy that in this way I was able to make a contribution to the world of figure skating. K: Thank you. Bye-bye~. M: Bye-bye~.

I personally appreciated that she asked him some of those “questions that you would like to ask but are afraid to sound stupid or a figure skating n00b” like “what happens to your glasses when you spin”, “why don’t men do spirals” etc.. Also, some techniques like eagles and cantilevers are famous because they are impressive and easy to recognize, but actually it’s not like every single high level skater can do them (sometimes it’s because of physical reasons related to joint flexibility etc., Akiko Suzuki explained that about the eagle in the YOI-related figure skating talk event in March). By the way, I think the cantilever is only called “Klimkin eagle” in Japan?

The contents of vol.5 or other interviews will be translated next... (Hopefully “next” is not “next month”, though I already have plans for almost ALL weekends until the end of November and it’s mostly YOI’s fault..)