#exactly like kanadai

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi | Prince Ice World 2024 Tokyo (1.21 noon) 3/3

[yuzu-all-the-way]

NHK 2022 - Impressions

(I realized I forgot to do this for Sheffield, but since that was the lightest GP imo - not the bloodbath NHK was - and because I live blogged a lot from during the competition, I guess it gets a pass)

I watched live the short programs of Miura/Kihara (I woke up at 6 a.m. for them), women, RD and men. For the free skate, I only watched KanaDai's live since I was away. I caught up with men's fs, WangLiu's, and I still haven't watched women... oops.

Men: Whew, that was a tough battle. I'm obviously happy for Jun and Sota being on the podium, Shoma... I don't vibe at all with the music and with his presentation, I really don't like his programs this season and that's because of personal taste. Objectively... I can't be objective about Shoma, so I'll leave it at that. Kazuki, as always, was a joy to watch and I really hope next year he qualifies for the GPF. Between Adam and Kazuki, I don't know who is the better performer. Seems to be like Kazuki is more of a "classic" performer, while Adam is the more modern one. I will not elaborate on what I mean by that because I'm not entirely sure that I can explain it.

Ice Dance: I reaaaally don't care about ice dance except about KanaDai and WangLiu - the former have something that really draws me in when they skate and their programs this season are amazing, although I hate the latino requirements; the latter - their scores seem fair to me (or at least their position in the ranks), I simply enjoy them for the vibes. And their Batman program... that curve lift was exceptional!

Pairs: Solely watched for Miura/Kihara because they remind me exactly of what pairs used to be. I truly hope they get to be world champions this season (a bit far-fetched, maybe, but possible). I love their energy out on the ice - I'm always smiling when I watch them.

Women: Having only seen the short and knowing the final results, I am extremely glad that Yelim got the gold and Kaori silver. Kaori may be world champion and while I like her skating and her programs for this season, I'm not overly fond of her not improving that Flutz. So Yelim gold - deserved (she got it because Kaori messed up the Loop, right?) Update: Just checked the protocols. Uuf, Yelim had a tough free and Kaori got an edge warning on her 3Lz and clearly qs for a combo. So Yelim got the gold thanks to the short, afterall.

[vesperatio]

I really like how this programme has a very clear convention from the beginning to the end, and they stick to this very particular aesthetic and type of movement throughout. So often ballet-inspired programmes/choreo flicker in and out from this very particular style, but watching KanaDai's programme is so satisfying to me because they commit and stick to it. It feels like they know exactly how rigid and stifling that convention can be (for gender roles, types of allowed moves etc) and they're very deliberately playing around with it, showcasing and highlighting it to reveal (almost parody? but it's never disrespectful, I just can't find a better word) it and show off their ability to flourish within this frame.

And it's also amazing how different their quality of movement is from their RD.

[sunskate]

HB’s FD😭 I was crying into my mask lol so happy they got rewarded

their skates have a different sound than anyone else here- a long even crackle. CB’s skates sound lighter and almost wispy. McN/S have a grittier scratch. Can’t tell you exactly what that means, just noticed it bc I’m sitting at a corner of the rink where they all turn

finally figured out why I can’t warm up to L/Lg - their FD is well crafted. But they don’t change energy with the music even once- there’s a sax/brass break in the middle that’s a big musical moment, and they skate in the same leisurely way right through it- he acts, there are nice touches in the choreo, but can’t see the music in what they’re doing

KanaDai’s FD very well made, both as a program and also tailored to them, excited to see it and them grow is what it felt like in the moment. The crowd loves them, they have a presence, the big response felt like it was partly about factors which weren’t necessarily on the ice in the performance. But they are making ice dance a bigger sport in Japan, and that can only be a good thing

[anewbeginningagain]

I think this PCS is because they want to push this kind of approach. Gr/Pa's programs this year were for the dance nerds, really. They managed to be deferential to the history of ice dance as well as contemporary dance trends. The FD is very coherent, explores a singular vocabulary and builds on the themes very effectively. It really is a work of art. You don't notice them checking off bullet points for levels or anything like that, you're just absorbed. Their execution was superb.

But is this what we really want? To see 15 lesser versions of Green/Parsons FD next season? It's exactly what happened with P/C and I for one am really not interested in it.

I think Green/Parsosn are an excellent team, I've been a fan of his in particular since 2017/18 when I first watched him skate with his sister, I think they had some of the best material out of all teams this season and I think their skating improved immensely. That being said, while they absolutely deserved the win here, they did not deserve to win this event by 18.5 points (KanaDai even had higher BV than them in the FD...), that's just insane scoring imo, they should have gotten 76 in the RD and 116 in the FD, the rest was just uberly inflated GOEs. And it really bugs me when this stuff happens, even if it happens to teams I really like.

[anewbeginningagain]

Totally agree on S/W. The truth is a lot of fans outside Canada probably didn’t pay much attention to them before they went to Scott. But I quite enjoyed their FD this season, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Do they have the same skills as some higher ranked teams, no, but I haven’t seen anyone saying that they deserve a massive bump in scores.

Honestly, what is disheartening is that this ice dance podium at 4CC was totally predictable even before it was skated. And it honestly feels like that will be the case in Beijing. Maybe PYC felt just as inevitable this time four years ago, but VM had beaten PC a couple of times. I’m hoping for some good surprises (not wishing mistakes on anyone), but I’m resigned to this just being how ice dance has maybe always been. The surprise wins are the exception.

Yeah exactly, I would have given S/W 2-3 points higher in the FD and 1-2 higher in the RD but it's not like I wanted them on the podium and was screaming WUZROBBED. I vaguely remember S/W from Canadian nationals in 2017/18 but since they mostly did Skate Canada this quad it's not like there were that many opportunities to notice them. Scott being so recognizable obviously draws some attention to them which I assume was part of the reason they moved to him to begin with (having a high level coach can never hurt). I just hate when I get asks that are basically taken out of the fs twitter playbook of declaring a team as bad without bothering to really take a closer look at their qualities, that's not what I'm here for.

I actually don't think the podium was that predictable, Green/Parsons were a lock to win this and were the highest level team, but KanaDai had to deliver to get the silver and I feel like if CPom were skating stronger they could have taken silver here. At the same time, all it took was a big error from either CPom or KanaDai and other teams would have made the podium so it was overall relatively close here.

As for Beijing, aside from the gold I think the rest are legit kind of open.

[anewbeginningagain]

giggling at the amount of fs twitter stannies losing their minds over your last answer to the ask about kanadai and koko, even manifesting that koko doesn’t make the fd. further proving your point that they think being nasty is quirky/funny lmao twitter stans really are a piece of work

Oh is my answer did its way to Twitter? Fun. Even the person who reblogged it doesn't even follow me so I have to wonder how exactly they got so pressed about it...

There's a level of toxicity in fandoms that gets more and more intense when big things are happening or about to happen, so I expect the fs twitter stans will get more and more toxic the closer we get to the Olympics, I'll do my best to avoid them as much as possible.

It's funny to me that people compare fs twitter talk to trash talk in sports like hockey/football/soccer, not only are the players in those sport are adults who get millions of dollars to play their sport (as opposed to skaters who are usually very young and struggle to fund themselves), it's also saying that people think trash talk is fine and even fun and not mostly a manifestation of toxic culture in sports.