Japan Open 2011

Better late than never!

Official Site (Japanese)
Starting Order/Results Page (Official)

Protocols:
Men
Ladies

The Skating Examiner article Star linked to in the General News thread pretty much covered the basics:
www.examiner.com/figure-skating-in-national/team-north-america-takes-japan-open-by-a-fraction-young-russians-impress

Excellent content from Liza (3Lz-3T, 3S+3T in the second half), except for the popped flip
Lots of DGs and URs for the ladies; looks like Alissa at least attempted the 3Lz-3T (DGed)
So-so skates from Joannie and Akiko
Alena's COP spiral was deemed invalid
Huge meltdown from Miki

Only succesful quads from Florent (4S with slight -GoEs) and PatC, who lands the 4T-3T but falls three times
PatC maintains his PCS boost from last season; Kozu's PCS drops to the 73s as if the Nats title and the silver medal at Worlds never happened
Heck, Kozu's PCS is so low here that even Gachinski's is higher by 0.9
Jeff lands the 3A, which is a bit of a victory
I'm presuming Dai stepped-out of a good number of his jumps, since he has the most URs out of the men

I'm going to 2ch now to have a better grasp of how the skaters performed...

Thanks, Clovera! Is there a place where we can watch videos? I was very much looking forward to seeing Taka's and Dai's programs, I can't wait.

Thanks, clovera!

Dai's program https://youtu.be/TbOlKmEiY1U
News of Taka's program https://youtu.be/2x9IQfLxkdY

I really like daisuke's new program!

Opening

Cute Miki and Taka

Ending

shikure wrote:

Dai's program https://youtu.be/TbOlKmEiY1U
News of Taka's program https://youtu.be/2x9IQfLxkdY

Dai's program is going to be a masterpiece, can't wait to see it later in the season. Hopefully he'll kick butt at worlds and beat Patty!

OMG! I'm so with you guys, I looove Dai's program!

Someone over goldenskate posted this link from where you can download Japan Open videos. It's working a bit slow for me, but it's working: http://hi.baidu.com/kakuhuohong/blog/item/e3c6767cd072191428388ae9.html

I only watched 4 videos so far.

Akiko's LP is lovely! I was a bit worried, because "Die Fledermaus" didn't work too well for YuNa. It seems to match Akiko's style well, though. I loved the step sequence. And her 2A-3T was superb! Shame about the popped Lutz, and I wish the dress was a bit less busy (weird sleeves), but otherwise, it's a very promising LP. I can't wait to see it later this season.

Miki - stunning dress, it looks so lovely in motion. I love her choice of music ("Passion" by Ikuko Kawai) and the choreo looks quite promising. I hope she doesn't get discouraged and keeps this program, because it has the potential to become my favourite Miki's LP, next to "Firebird" and "My Funny Valentine". I don't know what Morozov and whoever invited Miki to participate here were thinking, though - she obviously wasn't anywhere in her competetive form (as expeced of a skater who withdrew from GP citing lack of preparation). It didn't even look like her injury was acting up (she tends to slouch slightly and favour her back/shoulder then) - it simply looked as if it were one of her first run-throughs with jumps (and possibly it was; I read that only recently Miki went to Novogorsk to have her LP choreographed).

Eliza - "Besame Mucho". A great debut! I liked the way she attacked the program. Nice jumps. She should work on getting a bit more speed going into her jumps to avid problems when she grows up, but her jumps already look better than during the summer, so that's a good sign. My only complaint is her side "layback" spin - it's my least favourite spin position ever.

Florent - "Besame Mucho", the jungle edition. Complete with jungle noises and a tiger shirt. I genuinely don't know what to say about this program. It's certainly different... I think I could've enjoyed it quite a lot, if it wasn't for the body stroking and the silly costume and hairdo. Get a new costume, please, Florent!

Where did you find Akiko's and Miki's programs?

Thank you for posting the links! But the downloads keep failing halfway for me... I've tried like 5 times already. Can someone who managed to download but them up on another server please?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv0wseaekwo - Akiko. This is my channel. I'm uploading all the videos except Miki, Jeff and Kozu(i simply could not download anymore, it stoped working).

I found Taka here: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ_6yAzX8ns ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ_6yAzX8ns [/url]


Liza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK3W_tzkvCs

Alissa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv0wseaekwo

Lady_in_black wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv0wseaekwo - Akiko. This is my channel. I'm uploading all the videos except Miki, Jeff and Kozu(i simply could not download anymore, it stoped working).

I found Taka here: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ_6yAzX8ns ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ_6yAzX8ns [/url]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

Your welcome Enjoy them will you can, I'm not sure they will get blocked sooner or later Liza was wonderful!

Thank you Lady_in_black for sharing this link!
I've just downloaded Taka's program and I am off to watch it!

The download worked just fine for me, it was very fast. Unfortunately I can't upload it somewhere else today, because it is rather late here and the files are big (Taka's LP is over 250 mb) and uploading one file would take me over four hours..

yep, somehow it stopped working, I uploaded Takahiko to my old Sasha channel and some video to another servers and that's all Who happened to have Alena's program?

Then if you don't mind, I'll download them from YT I've got this lovely little extracting software that allowed me to keep a lot of videos that disappeared or were blocked from YT

ETA: I really love this program for Akiko. And she seems to have worked her butt off to improve her lines. Where she used a little clunky, she's now smooth and elegant. You can see she really tries to extend her legs. Good for her! The judges really did seem to notice and it's reflected in her PCS.

Artur Gachinsky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoqvI_HeKEQ
Alissa Czisny - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baXsIoWx9EM
Elizaveta Tuktamisheva - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK3W_tzkvCs

I'll upload Miki and Jeff if nobody else does it before me. I just want to download all the videos first, in case the links expire.

Jeff skated to "Naqoyqatsi"! I love this program. Jeff is just an amazing and actor on ice. I'm very impressed that he landed 3A! 3A was his nemesis when he was still participating in ISU competitions.

I am uploading Alena's program Downloading from youtube, that's cool I must learn how to do that too. Feel free to do it Chiyori!

Here is Alena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k4bTHdkyHE

Joannie Rochette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8JBWp7s9pM
Firebird What it is with the retired Canadian skaters bringing back my favourite programs of theirs?

Lady_in_black wrote:

I am uploading Alena's program Downloading from youtube, that's cool I must learn how to do that too. Feel free to do it Chiyori!

It's very easy... I'm using Firefox and you can download plgins. I have one called DownloadHelper and it works just fine on YT.

chiyori wrote:

Lady_in_black wrote:

I am uploading Alena's program Downloading from youtube, that's cool I must learn how to do that too. Feel free to do it Chiyori!

It's very easy... I'm using Firefox and you can download plgins. I have one called DownloadHelper and it works just fine on YT.

Good to know! Thanks

Thanks everyone for the youtube videos!!

I really enjoyed Jeff and Joannie! Absolutely adore those programs... Joannie, come back! Ladiezzz figure skating needs you badly!

At first I was when I saw Taka's PCS, but to be honest, upon viewing the actual performance the basic quality of his skating just wasn't up to his usual standard. He skated slower than usual and it was especially noticeable during the footwork sequences, which are usually the highlights of his programs for me. The second footwork sequence looks like it has the potential to be breathtaking, but it just didn't have the flow and takes-no-time-to-cover-the-ice-because-of-glorious-knees-and-edges that I've come to adore from him. I hear he's just switched to new boots. If it's true that could explain it.