2017 Japan Open, October 7 + Carnival on Ice gala

Dobre said:
The ladies, in general, skated ridiculously well for this time of the year. The men . . . it's going to be a long journey this season. This is going to be a great program for Javi, IMO.
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To be honest I find it hard to recall many men's competitions in recent years that weren't a mess in one way or another. And if there are its been too few and far in between the disasters :shuffle:
Sochi was a splatfest and since then.........:slinkaway
 
NAOTMAA said:
To be honest I find it hard to recall many men's competitions in recent years that weren't a mess in one way or another. And if there are its been too few and far in between the disasters :shuffle:
Sochi was a splatfest and since then.........:slinkaway
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This is only half true, but I appreciate the men more because they bring substantive programs and the skating skills of the top are at least 10-fold better than the ladies.
 
artsciboy said:
Mai Miahara is such a calming influence on the ice. I know she doesn't get as much buzz as Marin Honda (see that Japan Open promo - I mean, they spent like seconds on Mai and minutes on Marin), but arguably Mai is the better overall package (skating skills, jumps, spins, program composition, etc.). I hope that if Mai skates as well as she did at Japan Open (and the majority of last season) at the GPs and Nationals that she doesn't get hosed of an Olympic spot over skaters who for whatever reason are viewed as being more telegenic or receive more Japanese press attention.
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Me too. I really enjoy her, and her surprise breakout onto the senior scene last year was fun to watch. I wish she'd had a better short at worlds, because she deserves to be considered as much for the Olympic team as Miyahara and Honda, and I fear that with just two spots, she won't be.
 
mgobluegirl said:
Me too. I really enjoy her, and her surprise breakout onto the senior scene last year was fun to watch. I wish she'd had a better short at worlds, because she deserves to be considered as much for the Olympic team as Miyahara and Honda, and I fear that with just two spots, she won't be.
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I actually think Miyahara's chances aren't too good. It's between Higuchi, Honda and Mihara.

Oh, and they need an anchor. So one of Higuchi, Mihara and Miyahara should go.
 
Yeah, I love Miyahara but it might seem her injuries are too much to have her contend. Of the ladies we’ve seen so far I think that Mihara might be the best bet for an Olympic spot based on her being the most consistent of the bunch when we include last season. Higuchi doesn’t tend to be consistent but she always does well at nationals so I can easily see her winning that and getting an Olympic spot that way. While Honda is my favorite I think she’s the most vulnerable of the Japanese contenders we’ve seen so far TBH.
 
You know I love my conspiracy theories, but I feel like some potential contenders are being judged super harshly this fall.
 
chapis said:
:swoon:
-------
OMG!!, Machida Swan Lake is wonderful too!!! :eek: https://youtu.be/XE3UbcTqnkk?t=54
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Wow! Another fabulous bird from Machida! First four act ex I have ever seen. He makes Swan Lake exciting again. I heard him say "concept" in the interview - wonder if he's written one of his essays to explain it. I love him so much!

I am still having trouble wrapping my head around his becoming an engineer. I wonder if his fellow students have any idea what he is when he's not mapping equations.
 
jlai said:
I actually think Miyahara's chances aren't too good. It's between Higuchi, Honda and Mihara.

Oh, and they need an anchor. So one of Higuchi, Mihara and Miyahara should go.
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Japan only has two spots for olympics
 
My pre-GP guess for the team is on Marin Honda and Mai Mihara.

Satoko's skating is beautiful, but her jumps do not usually get the GOEs that are necessary to make her more competitive. Wakaba's jumps and power are exciting, but that alone wouldn't suffice against the equally consistent Marin and Mai who are generally better skaters.

Having said that, I think I will be happy with any two of the four going and crushed for any two of the four missing out. :(
 
It looks like Marin Honda is going to have to be 100% on in order to be a threat for this Olympic team, and I'm not so confident in that feat. Mihara, aside from the Worlds SP last year (and specifically the last 10 seconds of the program), was pretty consistent all season. I like Higuchi's skating and I think the second spot is going to be between her and Satoko, if she's healthy.
 
And I was one who agreed with Zagitova's World Junior win last year, but so far this season she's looked really choppy (mechanical, if you will) to me. Maybe it's early season stuff. She's consistent and her technical difficulty/ability is going to make her a contender, but I don't think she's quite there yet.
 
As far as Medvedeva goes, her free skates are a toss-up for me as to which is better going forward. I like the layout of the earlier LP (seeing something different with spins early, a double Axel to start, the difficult elements in the second half), but I'm not sure that the music really lends itself to telling a story or creating a feeling when she does have all of those jumps packed so closely together. If she's on, I guess there would be more intensity late in the program.

On the other hand, this Anna Karenina LP has more of a story to it, I like the transitions out of the jumps more, but wish that the program had more of an impact towards the end. It's also a very typical element order for her. As the season goes on, we may be in for another Yuna Kim 2010 type of suddenly magnifying of her Lutz (which I think probably does deserve the e call) and it may be better for her to move it to the second half if she does keep this program. The jumps are looking a bit tight (Axel has never been as good as the others, and there's a bit of jerkiness between the flip and toe), but it's early season and expected.

I'm a huge fan of Evgenia either way, but I think a few other skaters are really catching up enough to make things interesting come February.
 
I think the performance value and choreography for Medvedeva is much improved with this Anna Karenina program. Still, the noise at the beginning is distracting and her expressions are overdone. OTOH, how that bit of train noise and her expression is handled at the end of the performance now seems to make more sense. So that's an improvement. A continuing problem though is Med's fake put-on smiles and her inauthentic over-dramatic expressions, which I do not buy. Seemingly, she sees herself as an actress, but to me she's trying too hard which adds nothing to her performance, except for those who are won over by her cuteness and her rotational skills.

The choreography and overall concept definitely are setting Med in the right direction. I also like her costuming which is better than the black she wore initially. And I can see this program getting stronger. I just wish Med could stop being so over-dramatic, which carries such a false amateurishness. Her exaggerated expressions only highlight instead of hide her immaturity. If she's going to continue making such faces, she needs to be doing comedy, farce or Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. Still, as I said, this new program is much better for her choreographically and there are some lovely moments within the program. Just tone down the arch (faux) drama Janny!

I just had a thought: Janny would probably make a great Coppelia/Swanhilda. Since Janny looks like a doll with big eyes anyway, she'd be perfect. I'm not sure why Janny's team never thought of Coppelia for her (Mirai Nagasu won U.S. Nationals performing Coppelia very early in her career). One reason Evgenia's team likely hasn't gone there is because they've always seemed to want to make her look older than she is, and they've been so wrong with most of the over-dramatic annoying crap she's skated to as a senior. Anna Karenina choreo is much better for Janny, but they still are going for her being more mature and womanly than she actually is. I would really like to know who Med/Janny is, because nothing she's done has been authentic to her actual personality.
 
Hard fall on the 3A for Mirai but so deliberating to see how much at ease she is with projecting to the public during shows! It feel almost like a different skater. In any case, her visit to Japan was a successful one for her standards and can we dear to hope she will not tighten up and show the same attack at her first GP..
 
I just wanted to let everyone know it's possible to watch the full TV Tokyo broadcast of the Japan Open and Carnival On Ice for a few more days here: https://fujitv.live (Flash-only sorry - you may have to click to give the browser permission to play.)

If you register you'll get a trial account without needing to provide payment info. Go to channel 006 (関東) テレビ東京, and scroll to 土10/07 at 18:30 for Japan Open and 月10/9 at 12:00 for Carnival on Ice. :)
 
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