Japan Open 2012

Thanks so much to everyone for the links! (and PochinkoPotanko for the firsthand report!)

I love the program. IMO it has the potential to be a real masterpiece, and I can't wait to see how she performs it in the next few competitions. I think she still needs to settle into it somewhat (and obviously she doesn't want a repeat of the spin issue), but I agree with those who said this has the potential to score very well if she can hit everything as planned. Very good debut for her!

She's looking great, as well. I'm so happy for her!

Looks like morozombie made a post about the new programs, which of course included Mao's.

Quote :

http://morozombie.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-smorgasbord-of-new-programs-so-far.html

Well, I didn't think Dai's program was that bad.

klarification wrote:

Looks like morozombie made a post about the new programs, which of course included Mao's.

Quote :

http://morozombie.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-smorgasbord-of-new-programs-so-far.html

Well, I didn't think Dai's program was that bad.

Same here. Dai's program is not bad. It's actually pretty good. But people sure can't help comparing it to last year's masterpieces. The costume doesn't help either but I'm sure the program will grow on people more. When I watch it now I try not to focus on the costume also.

Looking at the protocols, Mao did gave a lot of points away but I'm glad the point GOE deduction (although the jump was deemed UR) was lesser than what Ashley got. Looks like she's improving. And the final jump combo URs -- sort of expected looking at the jumps in the video. 4 x URs, an e, an invalid spin and the 3T becoming a 2T, when she's comfortable more with her program and these issues get fixed I'm sure her scores will be way higher.

Where have I read that post saying Swan Lake is possibly her Olympic FS also? Can't remember whose account on Twitter. I actually don't like Mao reusing her program again but I also can't help think that if this is the case, they are doing this so Mao is very familiar with it in Sochi while slowly upgrading the content of the program to Mao's full potential. If this is the case then I won't mind so much!

Mao Poppins in Carnival on Ice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azceecIiHQY&sns=em

wahh thanks for the new video of Mao's poppins

Thanks for the link, kaarolcia! Love that program and hope she will bring that joy to her SP to 'I Got Rhythm' too!!

But I have to say I was quite surprised when I saw that protocol because when you only see that 122.04 points you're not expecting four "<", one "e" and a spin which has a score from 0.00.
I calculated a bit ... : If Mao would skate that program perfectly with 2A+3T, without any "e" oder "<" calls and with her combination spin of course, she'd have around 12points more in TES. TES ~66 + PCS ~68 = TSS ~134. That would be a new personal best! I'm just saying that this program has big potential even without 3-3 or 3A...
Personally I was a bit disappointed of the first half of the program because it's a bit empty between the jump passes but I just love the two step sequences in the end (btw, anyone noticed that Mao once again recieved a level four on her step sequence!! ) and you have to imagine how the audience will freak out in the end if Mao skates that program perfectly at worlds... I have even goosebumps now when I just think of it!
But I think and hope that if Mao masters the program with a bit more speed and more expression it will be one masterpiece in figure skating history!!!

One thing I wanted to add: I think it's a pity that the 3S isn't in the latter half of the program so that she'll not have 10% credit points for that... When you look at Dai's or Taka's protocol, they have 5 jumping passes in the second half of their program. Maybe Team Sato can fix that... just a thought!

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/winter/skate/figure/text/201210060004-spnavi.html

According to this article:
Mao chose the costume that she thought the best from among several costumes TAT prepared in Russia.

She has reduced the amount of practice for 3A by half. She hadn't decided what she wanted to do with 3A for this season. However, because she landed a good 3A during the practice at JO, now she hopes to include it in the latter half of the season if possible.

Her free program didn't have choreographic sequence when it was first created. When she went back to Russia again TAT and she reworked it. They reworked through trial and error to match movements and music. She thinks choreo and music match finely and wants to skate powerfully at the last part using the ice from one edge to the other and wants to boost excitement.


I hope Mao will forget about 3A. Her FP has a potential of 130+ if she skates clean.
I hope she will practice -3T more for 3F-3T and 2A-3T. I think she'll be better off working on those combos.

Report on COI:
As you know, this year's COI had a grand cast of skaters. So, almost every single skater got an entire standing ovation even if they made some mistakes. The audience was full of such a warm crowd of people; if you see any COI broadcast vids on YT, take my word for it that the audience cheered and clapped at least 100 times louder then it sounds in them. The place was full of Russian, US, and Canadian flags not to mention our Japanese flags.

Akiko, Joannie, Elene, Lepisto and Ashley skated to pop sexy programs; Akiko skated to music from "Kill Bill" and wore a fake leather suit, Joannie wore a dazzling black pants suit as well and her pro was very well choreoed, Elene imitated a mature sexy high-school girl in uniform, Lepisto skated to Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' (which was not really an ideal song for an EX pro cause it's a bit monotonous though I quite like Adele as a singer), not sure what song Ashley skated to but she skated with joy and confidence which is something she never showed IMO in Japan before. Irina, Kimmie, Sarah, Zawadzki and Shizuka skated to lyrical music; Irina was a bit out of shape (she already has kids so who can blame her?) but she still showed us her Biellmann, Kimmie was in a pink shaded costume with her hair down and skated gracefully, Sarah also wore pink and I thought she skated even better than before she retired, Zawadzki managed a pretty good skate compared to JO, Shizuka who skated at the very end in a sparkling beige dress was just pure divine (she's become much more beautiful than when she was competing!). Our girl Mao, was the only female skater who skated to a comical but full of energy Mary Poppins pro. The pro really stood out! She made one minor mistake in a jump, but overall skated so happily with a big smile. I wasn't so crazy about this pro at first, but I really began to like it. It shows alot of Mao's humorous and bright personality. Btw, when I saw the broadcast of it on tv today...there were some footages of Mao wearing her Poppins costume backstage and I noticed that she had put fake boobs in her breasts!!!!! They probabaly decided to do so cause she might look too childish in that costume if not. But wow! I think this is the first time she ever did this, lol!

As for mens, the first skater was Brezina who performed his Japanese drum pro for us. Everyone appreciated his choosing that pro for COI; it was much more exciting and powerful than in competitions. Although he made one jump mistake, everyone loved it so he got standing ovations. Honda skated to one of his standard pros, maybe a bit shakey but with no mistakes and proved once again that he was the pioneer of Japanese mens singles. Kulik did a humorous but sexy pro, and when he blew a kiss to the audience the female crowd went crazy! Yag was purely cool and so full of sex appeal, I was able to hear sighs from his fans everywhere while he skated and there was alot of whooing too. Yag's jumps were shakey as usual, but the guy's got an artifitial hip joint inside him and still his steps were like magic...he still is a genious if you'd ask me! My dearest Plush skated the last of the male skaters; he did a cool speedy pro showing us again that he can still compete. All the Russian Skaters got standing ovations from everyone. Everyone was shouting their names too, and I did the same like I was at a rock concert or something. Us Japanese skating fans really love the Russian skaters! But if not the best skater but the best performer was Candeloro; he did his comical Saturday Night Fever pro full of laughable and acrobatic moves. The whole audience laughed and cheered throughout his performance. He's got countless fans here eversince Nagano Olys, and because we know he supports Mao. I of course am one of them! I thought Kurt would do something comical too, but this time he skated to some latin like music and I was amazed at how good a shape he's in physically even at age 44! He was so muscular, moves sharp, and he showed us some steps which were more like tap dancing on ice. I can't think of anyone who can deliver that well as Kurt at his age. He was stunning too. Jeff skated softly with no jumps to Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' (this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnf46boC3I). I love this song sooo much and Jeff expressed the lyrics so well, I was almost in tears. Jeff and Kurt also skated along with Takahiko when it was his turn. Takahiko's music was played live on guitar by Tomoyasu Hotei; a famous rock musician in Japan. It was nice to see the 3 skate together, but alas, it certainly showed that Takahiko still has to brush up his artistry compared to how good Kurt and Jeff are. I hope Takahiko can learn alot from experiences like this. Now, IMO the best male skater in COI was Dai just as JO. It's hard for me to admit this since I love Plush so much, but yesterday Dai was even better than him. He did one of his old tango EX pros, most likely because he's back with Morozov now. And my god, he skated the coolest, sexiest, sharpest and fastest of them all! Like JO, nobody was able to take their eyes off him; not even for a second! I'm almost sure he is THE best male skater in the world at this point. He was that good so Dai fans rush and find a vid of his COI performance NOW! Lastly, Pattie wasn't in good condition in COI either. He succeeded one very good jump but the others were shakey and I could see in his face that he lacked the confidence he usually has. But still, deep edges and smooth skating; bravo Pattie! (I'm beginning to like him more and more, cause he is a great skater afterall. But he could do with more artistry and modesty of course!)

Other than the single skaters, Cathy & Chris Reed performed for us, but in the first minutes of their pro, Cathy's skirt lace fell and she had to go on dancing with it dangling down which worried me a whole lot. OTOH, Narumi & Mervin did a joyfull pair pro, and I was very proud to see how much they've grown as a pair. I saw them before live in their very first competition, and geez they used to be terrible then. But they're now a fantastic pair! I hope they can reach the top of the top some day...

Thanks for reading guys!

linglang wrote:

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/winter/skate/figure/text/201210060004-spnavi.html

According to this article:
Mao chose the costume that she thought the best from among several costumes TAT prepared in Russia.

She has reduced the amount of practice for 3A by half. She hadn't decided what she wanted to do with 3A for this season. However, because she landed a good 3A during the practice at JO, now she hopes to include it in the latter half of the season if possible.

Her free program didn't have choreographic sequence when it was first created. When she went back to Russia again TAT and she reworked it. They reworked through trial and error to match movements and music. She thinks choreo and music match finely and wants to skate powerfully at the last part using the ice from one edge to the other and wants to boost excitement.


I hope Mao will forget about 3A. Her FP has a potential of 130+ if she skates clean.
I hope she will practice -3T more for 3F-3T and 2A-3T. I think she'll be better off working on those combos.

Thanks LingLang for the translation! Wow, I realized haven't posting here for a long time. Been busy with life. But I just had to comment on Mao's wonderful free skate. This is definitely her best long program to date and could possibly become my favorite competitive program from her (over Nocturne) if skated to its full potential. I also believe it's wiser for Mao to forget about the 3A and focus more on fulling rotating her other jumps and combos. I feel because the 3A is a risky jump, it often requires so much more attention from Mao that whenever she has the 3A in her program, she seems more tense at the beginning when she should display confidence from the start. In addition, it's not easy for her to get full credit for that jump to make the risks worth it.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Report on COI:
As you know, this year's COI had a grand cast of skaters. So, almost every single skater got an entire standing ovation even if they made some mistakes. The audience was full of such a warm crowd of people; if you see any COI broadcast vids on YT, take my word for it that the audience cheered and clapped at least 100 times louder then it sounds in them. The place was full of Russian, US, and Canadian flags not to mention our Japanese flags.

Akiko, Joannie, Elene, Lepisto and Ashley skated to pop sexy programs; Akiko skated to music from "Kill Bill" and wore a fake leather suit, Joannie wore a dazzling black pants suit as well and her pro was very well choreoed, Elene imitated a mature sexy high-school girl in uniform, Lepisto skated to Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' (which was not really an ideal song for an EX pro cause it's a bit monotonous though I quite like Adele as a singer), not sure what song Ashley skated to but she skated with joy and confidence which is something she never showed IMO in Japan before. Irina, Kimmie, Sarah, Zawadzki and Shizuka skated to lyrical music; Irina was a bit out of shape (she already has kids so who can blame her?) but she still showed us her Biellmann, Kimmie was in a pink shaded costume with her hair down and skated gracefully, Sarah also wore pink and I thought she skated even better than before she retired, Zawadzki managed a pretty good skate compared to JO, Shizuka who skated at the very end in a sparkling beige dress was just pure divine (she's become much more beautiful than when she was competing!). Our girl Mao, was the only female skater who skated to a comical but full of energy Mary Poppins pro. The pro really stood out! She made one minor mistake in a jump, but overall skated so happily with a big smile. I wasn't so crazy about this pro at first, but I really began to like it. It shows alot of Mao's humorous and bright personality. Btw, when I saw the broadcast of it on tv today...there were some footages of Mao wearing her Poppins costume backstage and I noticed that she had put fake boobs in her breasts!!!!! They probabaly decided to do so cause she might look too childish in that costume if not. But wow! I think this is the first time she ever did this, lol!

As for mens, the first skater was Brezina who performed his Japanese drum pro for us. Everyone appreciated his choosing that pro for COI; it was much more exciting and powerful than in competitions. Although he made one jump mistake, everyone loved it so he got standing ovations. Honda skated to one of his standard pros, maybe a bit shakey but with no mistakes and proved once again that he was the pioneer of Japanese mens singles. Kulik did a humorous but sexy pro, and when he blew a kiss to the audience the female crowd went crazy! Yag was purely cool and so full of sex appeal, I was able to hear sighs from his fans everywhere while he skated and there was alot of whooing too. Yag's jumps were shakey as usual, but the guy's got an artifitial hip joint inside him and still his steps were like magic...he still is a genious if you'd ask me! My dearest Plush skated the last of the male skaters; he did a cool speedy pro showing us again that he can still compete. All the Russian Skaters got standing ovations from everyone. Everyone was shouting their names too, and I did the same like I was at a rock concert or something. Us Japanese skating fans really love the Russian skaters! But if not the best skater but the best performer was Candeloro; he did his comical Saturday Night Fever pro full of laughable and acrobatic moves. The whole audience laughed and cheered throughout his performance. He's got countless fans here eversince Nagano Olys, and because we know he supports Mao. I of course am one of them! I thought Kurt would do something comical too, but this time he skated to some latin like music and I was amazed at how good a shape he's in physically even at age 44! He was so muscular, moves sharp, and he showed us some steps which were more like tap dancing on ice. I can't think of anyone who can deliver that well as Kurt at his age. He was stunning too. Jeff skated softly with no jumps to Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' (this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnf46boC3I). I love this song sooo much and Jeff expressed the lyrics so well, I was almost in tears. Jeff and Kurt also skated along with Takahiko when it was his turn. Takahiko's music was played live on guitar by Tomoyasu Hotei; a famous rock musician in Japan. It was nice to see the 3 skate together, but alas, it certainly showed that Takahiko still has to brush up his artistry compared to how good Kurt and Jeff are. I hope Takahiko can learn alot from experiences like this. Now, IMO the best male skater in COI was Dai just as JO. It's hard for me to admit this since I love Plush so much, but yesterday Dai was even better than him. He did one of his old tango EX pros, most likely because he's back with Morozov now. And my god, he skated the coolest, sexiest, sharpest and fastest of them all! Like JO, nobody was able to take their eyes off him; not even for a second! I'm almost sure he is THE best male skater in the world at this point. He was that good so Dai fans rush and find a vid of his COI performance NOW! Lastly, Pattie wasn't in good condition in COI either. He succeeded one very good jump but the others were shakey and I could see in his face that he lacked the confidence he usually has. But still, deep edges and smooth skating; bravo Pattie! (I'm beginning to like him more and more, cause he is a great skater afterall. But he could do with more artistry and modesty of course!)

Other than the single skaters, Cathy & Chris Reed performed for us, but in the first minutes of their pro, Cathy's skirt lace fell and she had to go on dancing with it dangling down which worried me a whole lot. OTOH, Narumi & Mervin did a joyfull pair pro, and I was very proud to see how much they've grown as a pair. I saw them before live in their very first competition, and geez they used to be terrible then. But they're now a fantastic pair! I hope they can reach the top of the top some day...

Thanks for reading guys!

there was tv footage of mao putting on fake breasts? if so, what an invasion of privacy!

Thank you Pochinko, great report.
I love the new program, the first part I was like a little boring but after is incredible, Now I like the whole program so much.
About Tat and the russian girls dont worry guys, A lot of people had blamed to Tat for Mao´s bad results, bad programs, etc, but Mao always,always trusted her, I know Tat knows it, this program is not for her "original ideas", its obviously a program to win, she is thinking more in Mao than herself now.
I dont love the dress, but its very normal, then its ok for me.
Iam very, very happy with this program

Hi Aoi! So happy to see you again!!
This season is going to be really exciting, isn't it?

roma wrote:

Where have I read that post saying Swan Lake is possibly her Olympic FS also? Can't remember whose account on Twitter. I actually don't like Mao reusing her program again but I also can't help think that if this is the case, they are doing this so Mao is very familiar with it in Sochi while slowly upgrading the content of the program to Mao's full potential. If this is the case then I won't mind so much!

I think so too. If she'll keep Swan Lake for Sochi, I see a lot of upgrading, possibly adding some more of TAT's magic, especially at the beginning of the program. If she keeps this, I also hope they'll change some parts, so that it won't be exactly the same. After all, everyone (judges including) expect new stuff (from front runners) for Olympics.

chapis wrote:

About Tat and the russian girls dont worry guys, A lot of people had blamed to Tat for Mao´s bad results, bad programs, etc, but Mao always,always trusted her, I know Tat knows it, this program is not for her "original ideas", its obviously a program to win, she is thinking more in Mao than herself now.

This does make sense, and if they keep this program for next year, as I said above, I see them adding a lot more. So maybe this is a ruff program, a "preparation" for next years even better masterpiece. But one thing I always love about TAT is her amazing step sequence choreo even though there are a lot of twizzels. Simply stunning.

swan wrote:

there was tv footage of mao putting on fake breasts? if so, what an invasion of privacy!

No swan it wasn't a footage of her putting on fake boobs. She already had them on, and it was so obvious to me that she had something in her breasts that's all. In anycase they were not that big...so it looked very natural. I think fans like us who watch her practice sessions will only notice it anyway. I thought it was a good idea they did that cause she looked very nice in the Poppins costume!

Wow, I'm so happy for our girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfect start! For the first competition her skating was super great,I loved the program and the costume! And you guys should stop doubting TAT,she did great job on this FP)))
Btw when Yuzuru fell a lot of times in his warm-up at Fin Trophy we decided to put Mao pic from japan open on our laptop,maybe it will help him and it helped!

polosatik wrote:

Wow, I'm so happy for our girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfect start! For the first competition her skating was super great,I loved the program and the costume! And you guys should stop doubting TAT,she did great job on this FP)))
Btw when Yuzuru fell a lot of times in his warm-up at Fin Trophy we decided to put Mao pic from japan open on our laptop,maybe it will help him and it helped!

Yes, she was skating without falls, I don't care about UR because with more practice she'll gain more stamina and be able to rotate them fully.

LOL, I'm putting a pic of Mao at my computer screen for SA, maybe it will do the magic there as well and Yuzu will have a great competition.

I know Ashley did a wonderful job at JO and a lot of us are happy about it. Janetfan @ GS was asking which is the better program under 6.0 and I'm happy at Mathman's answer -- that'd be 6.0 for Mao under presentation and saying Ashley had a wonderful performance but Mao was a bit of heaven on earth.

roma wrote:

I know Ashley did a wonderful job at JO and a lot of us are happy about it. Janetfan @ GS was asking which is the better program under 6.0 and I'm happy at Mathman's answer -- that'd be 6.0 for Mao under presentation and saying Ashley had a wonderful performance but Mao was a bit of heaven on earth.

I absolutely agree with Mathman on GS. Ashley did a fine job at JO, and her pro was Arabian like and interesting, but compared to her last season's pro it wasn't as good IMO. Her FP this season seems to be made out of 3 different music cuts I think, so it did seem kind of ... scattered? Not sure how to express it. I would've liked it more if it had been edited from cuts from the same music, plus Mao's steps were definitely better. If Mao hadn't gotten those little minor deductions this time, I think her scores would've gone way higher than Ashley's. After watching the tv broadcast vids over and over a few times, I also thought Mao was skating very cautiously this time. As the pro grows on her, she'll be able to skate more agressively in a good sense, which will make her jumps and steps much more better. Great start for the season yes, but I think we'll be seeing the best of Mao's Swan Lake later on. However, I would like her to skate to something new at Sochi. Not because I don't like the pro, but just because I want her to keep on challenging new stuff.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

roma wrote:

I know Ashley did a wonderful job at JO and a lot of us are happy about it. Janetfan @ GS was asking which is the better program under 6.0 and I'm happy at Mathman's answer -- that'd be 6.0 for Mao under presentation and saying Ashley had a wonderful performance but Mao was a bit of heaven on earth.

I absolutely agree with Mathman on GS. Ashley did a fine job at JO, and her pro was Arabian like and interesting, but compared to her last season's pro it wasn't as good IMO. Her FP this season seems to be made out of 3 different music cuts I think, so it did seem kind of ... scattered? Not sure how to express it. I would've liked it more if it had been edited from cuts from the same music, plus Mao's steps were definitely better. If Mao hadn't gotten those little minor deductions this time, I think her scores would've gone way higher than Ashley's. After watching the tv broadcast vids over and over a few times, I also thought Mao was skating very cautiously this time. As the pro grows on her, she'll be able to skate more agressively in a good sense, which will make her jumps and steps much more better. Great start for the season yes, but I think we'll be seeing the best of Mao's Swan Lake later on. However, I would like her to skate to something new at Sochi. Not because I don't like the pro, but just because I want her to keep on challenging new stuff.

I like Mathman's description of Mao. And I agree, she trully is special. Ashley does skate powerfully, but in terms of lines, lightness, not to mention footwork and spirals/choreo sequence, she doesn't come close to Mao. I don't think any lady comes close to Mao in footwork department, she's the best in the world in this and I honestly can't wait to see her in full shape skating her heart out with confidence and abandon. This Mao is going to be very hard to beat.

If Mao hadn't make a mistake on her spin she would have received over 125 points (with an UR and other deductions). This is very good news. I know this was a "cheesfest" and everyone was overscored, but it looks like the judges approve of the program. And it is a beautiful program, I can't wait it to see it at 4CC and worlds. I actually like it, that she's is taking it slowly, this way she'll peak at the right time. All I can say is, go Mao!

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

After watching the tv broadcast vids over and over a few times, I also thought Mao was skating very cautiously this time. As the pro grows on her, she'll be able to skate more agressively in a good sense, which will make her jumps and steps much more better. Great start for the season yes, but I think we'll be seeing the best of Mao's Swan Lake later on. However, I would like her to skate to something new at Sochi. Not because I don't like the pro, but just because I want her to keep on challenging new stuff.

Same here Pochi. Looking at Mao's Swan Lake for the nth time you can really see that she was still very cautious that's why I'm very excited to see her get used to it and really be THE SWAN later in the season! We know Mao likes challenges so I hope she can really skate this program to it's full potential unlike Liebestraum. The reason she skated it for another season it that it wasn't skated in full, If she can skate to Swan Lake to be satisfied with it at the end of the season I think she'll get something new for Sochi.

I haven't been on the forum for a little while. I have however been keeping up better on the Mao facebook group. Here is a quote I replied to Pochino's review on FB. It pretty much sums up my opinion on Mao's new program:

"Thanks for the recap, and I totally agree with you on the points you made. I was happy with the program overall, but I do think the choreography was just ok. BUT, Mao did seem like she was being cautious, and she was not totally comfortable with the program yet. She skated clean, but it was obviously not her best performance. The choreography and overall program should come to life more once she masters the program more.

As far as the music cut goes, I liked it, but it was not my favorite music cut I've heard for swan lake. I do give team Mao props for using the lesser known/used parts from swan lake. All the music in swan lake is good, so it's hard to complain. However, I did like the cuts other skaters like Sasha, Ashley, and Anne Patrice (remember her?) used more.

As for the dress, it didn't make me do cartwheels as my favorite Mao dress ever, but I definitely was pleased . Looking forward to seeing this program at it's full potential. It's gonna be really good! So glad Mao had a good first performance of the year. It's been a long time since that's happened for her. I think she's gonna have a very good season!"

Star85 wrote:

As for the dress, it didn't make me do cartwheels as my favorite Mao dress ever, but I definitely was pleased . Looking forward to seeing this program at it's full potential. It's gonna be really good! So glad Mao had a good first performance of the year. It's been a long time since that's happened for her. I think she's gonna have a very good season!"

Neeeever thought I'd be saying this, but I thought the costume might've been a bit nicer with a good ole' Mao choker!

I know videos of her skate at JO have already been posted but haven't found any in HD format. I only managed to see Dai's skate in HD. Anybody here knows of any HD quality JO videos? TY.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Neeeever thought I'd be saying this, but I thought the costume might've been a bit nicer with a good ole' Mao choker!

Actually, I agree! A simple, white choker with the rhinestones as those on the dress would look good. Plus, it could cover the line where the illusion fabric ends. The illusion fabric actually looks well matched (I though the dress was sleeveless when I saw it for the first time), but the effect is somewhat spoiled by the way the fabric is folded around the neck, creating a yellowish line. It doesn't horribly bother me, but a choker would help to hide the line altogether.

roma wrote:

I know videos of her skate at JO have already been posted but haven't found any in HD format. I only managed to see Dai's skate in HD. Anybody here knows of any HD quality JO videos? TY.

Unfortunately, not yet. Hopefully somebody will upload some HQ videos eventually... I would also love to find some HQ photos. The new program makes me want to photoshop something nice or make a video montage, but so far the quality of the source material is discouraging...

I would love to live to see the day when figure skating photos/videos would be quickly and easily accessible, either on channels sponsored by adds or purchasable like apps on Apple Store or Google Play (easily and afford-ably)...