In interviews following his short program at 2019 Worlds—which landed him in third place— Yuzuru expressed his feelings of “kuyashii” (= akin to regretful, remorseful) and how his mind went blank.
He suddenly thinks about how neither flatters his image.
By now you must all know I'm a Fanyu (the good, sane type I hope). But only close friends know that I do SORTOFFF skate too😝🐧⛸️
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I remember three crazy, unattainable dreams as a child: learning how to fight, how to ride a horse and being able to skate on ice. Started training kendo at 25. Skating at 30. Horse hasn't arrived yet. But the thing is, the older I get all the more likely everything seems, cause all barriers that told me fancy sports (or sports whatsoever 🤣) weren't meant for me have gradually disappeared.
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Not gonna lie, it was the Hanyu euphoria that motivated me into taking lessons, and believe me, in a country where figure skating is only meant for kids or Olympians, rink time is scarcer than water in the sun, and chances to actually being taught a thing as an adult are close to none it seemed like such a futile thing to do. But man, never been more glad that I tried, it's so damn addictive!! 🤘😖🤘
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My one and only goal was The Hydroblade™, as a lame fancipants fangirl I am. I didn't actually believe I would ever do it, and yet, once again, I was proven wrong. If only I had the guts to use this piece of advice in other fields as well... 😑😂
Oh, Vincent's shirt! The fabric treatment do remind me of Shoma's purple Lavender (not made by Satomi). It is a newly used technique by Satomi. I think because the shirt's color doesn't photograph well I didn't think to look closer, so thank you for bringing it up. Yes Boyang's FS do recall Wakaba's Energia, in a refreshing way. Yeah, Medvedeva's dress is... there are a lot of beautiful elements but they're just... there. They don't uplift one another and proportionally it's a mess.
With Yuzuru, I think Otonal 2.0 is a little improvement to Otonal 1.0 simply because there’s no longer that atrocious neckline/proportion. I understand if you’re disappointed with it though. My disappointment is more with Origin 2.0, because Origin 1.0 is such an amazing peak of Satomi’s costuming technique and it got replaced by… that. It’s not bad (none of Satomi’s costumes are outright disasters) but it’s like Medvedeva’s dress: a collection of beautiful elements on top of one another.
Medvedeva - I guess they were going for authenticity, but this dress is too busy in a bad way. The neckline, and the flowers, and the obi, and the gradient and the flowy skirt are all too much together. I feel tired from only listing everything. And with this all too busy design it’s not even complimentary to her body type, the upper body looks very heavy. I wish they chose one or two of these elements and went with them. The flowers are done very beautifully, but are completely lost on that dress. The big question is what Medvedeva asked herself, because her fashion taste in costumes is questionable a lot of times.
Otonal and Origin - My greatest disappointment with the new Otonal is the costume’s shape. It looks like he is wearing a thick winter coat (or in a less nice wording - he looks like he is pregnant). The design itself also doesn’t bring anything new, it’s basically Mai’s first Mission dress and a bit of Requiem. My greatest wish for his new costumes was that they would be fundamentally different from the last season (to at least somewhat sweeten the recycling). And Otonal 2.0 feels stale. Origin 2.0, despite not being a masterpiece, feels fresher than Otonal 2.0. I’m glad they didn’t try to remake the first one, because it indeed was a masterpiece. I think if you look at Origin 2.0 separately from Yuzuru it’s nothing too interesting. But I like the color on him, and the red flowers and the butterflies. I like the fantasy vibes and it suits the mood he tries to bring to the program. I probably would like it much much less on someone else, but i do think that in this case the costume works well enough for the specific skater and for the programs’s atmosphere.
Before the costumes were revealed i had this wish the would use the silhouette from the Masquerade costume for Origin. I would love to see him in more geometric costumes, with more severe lines maybe.