THERE’S A GLOBAL PANDEMIC…and even Yuzu screamed.
I’m in a perpetual standoff with Yuzu, daring him to do anything un-blog worthy. I thought I had won when I heard he wouldn’t unveil a new Short Program at Dreams On Ice…communicated in yet another masterful Yuzuru Vague-yuism:
“I don’t have the perfect edit of the music, so NATURALLY I can’t tell you the name, who it is by, what style it is or what direction my hair will be combed…” OK, Yuzu. We’ll be patient.
He lulled me into a false sense of security. I figured Dreams On Ice would be Yuzu selling the Opening Choreography more than anyone else. Yuzu selling the Closing Choreography more than anyone else. And somewhere (late) in the middle of those choreography gems, a solidly AMAZING performance of Masquerade. Throw in some classic Yuzu moments (like seamlessly fixing his “KUYASHIIIIII BELT”) and we’d all go (or stay) home happy. I was 8 hours and 48 minutes into 9 hours of Dreams On Ice. I thought I was home (blog) free. Then…it happened.
Yuzu has appropriated several things from people: “Let’s Go Crazy” no longer belongs to Prince. Winnie the Pooh no longer belongs to A.A. Milne. “Blinding Lights” no longer belongs to The Weekend. (So, SO no longer belongs to The Weekend.) And now, sorry Edvard Munch, Yuzu owns THE SCREAM. As soon as it happened, I thought, ‘Fine, Yuzu. You win. Your gold medal for Blog-Worthiness is in the mail.’
Before we go any further, I just have to say I love that Yuzu gave us a hint of what was coming for Dreams On Ice during Stars On Ice. Remember the Blinding Lights Masquerade hand? He threw that out there, saw how 95% of the next 10,000 Tweets about him were screenshots of the Masquerade hand, thought, ‘やっぱり! [I knew it!]’ and started looking for his mismatched gloves (the intentionally mismatched Masquerade ones, not the unintentionally mismatched “SEIMEI” ones from Autumn Classic 2017 – which have given me hours of YouTube enjoyment). I bet Yuzu already has his next 57 skates planned out. Blades on Ice 2046 – The Return of Monkey Majik. Wait for it.
But even “on repeat,” Yuzu always finds a way to shake up each performance. Sometimes I wonder what were his “reject” ideas for additions to his programs. What else did he consider doing? And, even more, what else has he not…done…yet? I like to believe he has neatly organized his ideas in a notebook with his multi-color pen. But, since his thesis, this has probably advanced to video files on his laptop where he tested his ideas using Xsens technology. Though I bet for this one he Facetimed with Pooh-san who said, “You should throw the glove in the AIR instead of on the ICE.” And, thanks again to Xsens, Yuzu knew exactly where the glove would land so he wouldn’t have to skate around for 10 minutes after the performance to find it. 恥ずかしい! [Embarrassing!]
Now, if I had thrown the glove in the air, it would’ve fallen back down and landed smack on my face. But this is why Yuzu is the professional. I wondered what Yuzu was doing backstage between the opening and his performance hours later. Now we know. He was practicing throwing his glove in the air and having it not land on his face. 小さい [small] Yuzu knew playing baseball would someday come in handy when he became the world’s greatest figure skater.
Speaking of Yuzu growing up…Yuzu is quoted as saying he chose to perform Masquerade because he has “become more of an adult.” A) I’m pretty sure that happened during “Blinding Lights” and B) ありがとう [Thanks] for reading my blog, Yuzu. (Go HERE to read more about Yuzu’s…adultness.)
The first time Yuzu performed Masquerade at Fantasy On Ice 2019, it sent us quietly into dark corners to contemplate the meaning of, well, everything. After what will now go down in history as “Scream On Ice,” we were jolted out of our corners and sent running down the streets of Hanyutown. What else was there to do? It was a social media KABOOM. I really think there’s going to come a point when we WON’T know what to do. And I think the scream just about got us there. But we love it, Yuzu, so keep it coming. We’ll figure out some new way to react. Maybe we’ll all throw a glove in the air…
And then Yuzu used the word we’ve all feared for years: LAST.
I understand, Fanyus. When I saw that word come across my Twitter feed, I had the obvious, natural reaction: “I’m going to throw up.” But let’s look at this rationally:
He said the quad Axel is his last dream “as a COMPETITIVE skater.” He’s literally done everything else, unless they start making up new awards (other than the ISU awards which amount to nothing more than inane polls and cheap jabs at Yuzu and Pooh-san). To be fair, once you’ve awarded the Most Valuable Skater award to the only person who will ever deserve it, there isn’t much left to do in your future award shows. Yuzu has WON THE VIDEO GAME of figure skating. The quad Axel is just a bonus boss. Even once you’ve beaten a game…competitively…it doesn’t mean you never play one just for fun. (And we all know how much Yuzu loves video games.) It wasn’t an announcement that Yuzu is instantly retiring, never to be seen again. As I watched all the social media “farewell” cards roll in, I said I was going to “need the Fanyus to calm down.” I was determined to take this in stride. I was determined to stay reasonable. ‘We’ll keep seeing Yuzu. There’s no need to panic.’ I then instantly started looking up November flights, hotels, weather and sunrise/sunset times in Sochi and started skipping around my apartment, exclaiming, “I’M GOING TO SOCHI! IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN! THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MEANINGFUL!” Like I said, reasonable.
But I’d rather talk about “the scream” than “the last.” Especially since I’m seriously delusional to think I could go to ソチ [Sochi]…no matter how much the thought makes me skip.
I don’t know whether I think the scream was premeditated or not. But WHY did he scream? I have my theories…
-He knows how much we love Romeo and Juliet 1.0. (Please let that be our hint for next time, Yuzu!)
-He knew the fans in the arena shouldn’t scream, so he did it for them.
-He finally managed to overwhelm even himself with his awesomeness.
Regardless, I’m not sure I believe it came from a 100% Masquerade-only place.
Do I think Yuzu is happy? Yes.
Do I think Yuzu loves what he does? Yes.
Do I think his life must be very hard? Yes.
There’s a saying — “Just because someone carries it well doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy.” No one carries pressure like Yuzu — with a wink, a smile, a two-handed wave and a ninja kick. But, deep down, Yuzu has a lot to scream about and, on July 11, he chose to let it out.
I think he screamed about:
Surviving earthquakes.
Battling Asthma.
Suffering injuries.
Enduring scoring injustices.
Competing during a pandemic.
Withstanding suffocating pressure.
Fighting the quad Axel and falling again…and again…and again…and again…and again…
But mostly, I think he screamed because he’s Yuzuru Hanyu. It was emotional. It was real. It was the perfect thing at the perfect moment. We weren’t expecting it. But Yuzu was feeling it, and I’m sure he’s been feeling it building for a while. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be Yuzuru Hanyu. And, in that moment, Yuzu finally allowed us to see…in the most beautiful and artistic way imaginable.
As only Yuzuru Hanyu would.
