Which Mao performance would you most want to show to others?

Ok, here's my question for you all.

If you could pick ONE of Mao's performances to show to people who have never seen Mao to (hopefully) make them into Mao fans, what would you pick?

I'm mostly thinking of her performances starting in the 2005-06 season, but if you want to pick something before that, that's ok too!

For me, it's probably the 2008 Worlds SP. Or one of the 2006-07 "Nocturne" performances, maybe the Skate America one. (Oops, I know I said pick *one*; I guess I already broke the rules. Maybe I'll decide for sure after I hear your opinions!)

Tokyo Worlds LP, with my own prologue, commentary and moral in the end. :-)
The greatest skate of Mao to date, in my opinion.
If I'm not allowed to say anything, but just to show a video, then one of wonderful "So deep is the night" perfomances.

Hard to decide

I agree with those above plus I always feel the need to mention her Japan Open 2006 performance!
Simply perfect and I also absolutely loved that dress on her.

Batsuchan wrote:

For me, it's probably the 2008 Worlds SP. Or one of the 2006-07 "Nocturne" performances, maybe the Skate America one.

Me too! I'd pick the Nocturne at SA as it's the best Nocturne she performed, IMO.

But now that I think about it, I'm also torn between her Fantaisie Impromptu LP during the GPF, as it showed what an amazing athlete she is, coming from last in the SP to the top in the LP!

Definitely her lp from worlds 2007 in Tokyo.
What a skate. It's the best she ever delivered, no question!
She's enthusiastic, vivid, impulsive and the crowd is totally on her side.
She really fought and showed she is a competetor <3
It's my most favorite one ever!

I have already done this with several of her programs. lol. Picking just one would be really hard! The ones I have showed people the most were her nut cracker LP (I can't remember which competition(s) I showed. It was a while back), and her SP from 2008 worlds. While I can remember all of her programs, I can not remember each specific time she performed them. So I would have to go back and review a bunch of them on youtube or something if I had to pick just one.

As of right now though, I would have to pick between the two I mentioned up on top. In her nut cracker program I loved the song and the choreography, and her age was so impressive for how good she did. Plus, she was so cute! I can't remember which competition she did it best in though Her short program from last season was just gorgeous. I went into more detail on my love for that program on another thread, so I guess I won't go into that again. lol

Difficult question!

Hmm. Probably the Somewhere Over the Rainbow SP/EX, especially when she skated with Aero. That, or as a few others have mentioned, Mao's Nocturne SP. I feel those are very good "intro pieces" to show. I have succeeding in dragging a couple of friends into liking skating for quite some time, though, and it looks like Clair de Lune and So Deep Is the Night is also pretty popular amongst my friends who are "casual" watchers of the sport.

SP GPF 2008. IT WAS PERFECT

Yes, Star85, I forgot that I wanted to mention Mao's 2005 GPF "Nutcracker" - that was the absolute first time I saw Mao, and the first time I watched skating in like 7 years, and I immediately fell in love with Mao. I could just feel the joy in her skating, and she just looked so happy! So if that one performance was enough to make me a Mao fan, it should work for other people too, right?

Interestingly enough - the 2007 worlds and 2007 GPF performances are ALSO among the few programs that I can't bear to erase from my DVR (along with the 2008 Worlds SP and the 2006 SA SP). But I kind of think that those performances are best enjoyed when you know the backstory; when you're already a fan, and you can appreciate Mao's mental toughness - and her ability to deal with being 10 points behind in 5th place, or last place after the short program at the 2007 GPF. So maybe those are good 'Round 2' performances to show people, after you get them hooked.

SP GPF 2008 - that was also gorgeous...

And I have to say that the "So deep is the night" EX is perhaps one of my favorites. "Por Una Cabeza" is beautiful, but when I watch "So deep is the night", I feel transported, I feel uplifted somehow...

clovera - that 2007 Japan Open performance with Aero is definitely my most, most favorite fun performance. Soo cute!!

Well, my friends who are not really skating fans are coming over to watch the US Nat'ls this weekend and I'm going to try and be like, "The US ladies are good, but check out the World champion, Mao Asada!" I guess I have to decide which vid to show by then!

Batsuchan wrote:

Well, my friends who are not really skating fans are coming over to watch the US Nat'ls this weekend and I'm going to try and be like, "The US ladies are good, but check out the World champion, Mao Asada!" I guess I have to decide which vid to show by then!

Hehehe, well only one of my friends managed to join me to watch Nat'ls, but I did what I said - we watched the US ladies, and then I showed her Yu-Na Kim's 2008 Skate Am LP (to be fair), and then Mao's 2008 Worlds SP. I may have been more than a little biased in my commentary, but she seemed impressed by Mao, so then I showed her Mao's 2008 Worlds LP to show what a fighter she was...and now she's a converted Mao fan. YAAAY!

I would definitely choose her 2008 NHK LP to Masquerade Waltz. It turned me into a fan, and my mom and friends too. I love that program SO MUCH.

I love showing Mao's performances to others!
I usually pick "So deep is the night". this is such masterpiece... many of my family members fell in love with Mao thanks to this program.
but actually, once I aksed my best friend to watch Mao's FS from 2002 Japanese Nationals and her SP from 2003 Japanese Nationals. she was impressed by Mao! she said something like: "OMG, this kid is a genius! So cute and talented girl!" in fact, she's not a great fan of figure skating but she loves watching Mao skating. sometimes she asks me: "Let's watch Mała Asada together!". in Polish "Mała Asada" sounds similarly to Mao's name and means "Little Asada"

My grand mother loves figure skating! And she knows Mao (not because of me). So, she went at my house yesterday and she asked me to show her recent stuff about Mao. I showed her the SP from the WTT (since it wasn't broadcast in Canada). She enjoyed a lot

Anyone who doesn't know about Mao must watch her 2005 jr worlds FP. Little Mao with her 3A and 3-3 is so amazing and the choreography was cute and Mao was wearing Midori's costume....and Midori gives her standing ovation...it's just so perfect video to start with.
Even I have to watch it once in a while and get blown away by her potential. :albino:

I think it depends on what you want to achieve. A Korean friend of mine who knew nothing about figure-skaters except for the fact that Yu-Na is really popular in Korea asked me whether Mao is as good as some say she is. I showed her Mao's Masquerade Waltz program from NHK 2008 and she just couldn't get over how anyone could be as graceful as Mao on the ice.

But, if the person was already familiar with Mao's style/history/reputation etc., I would pick her LP from 2007 Worlds. Apart from absolutely loving her outfit, she looks so happy at the end of the program. It makes me smile everytime I watch it.

I would choose 2007 World Championships Czardas Free Skate...

Her footwork there is so amazing... it's not as difficult as to what she can do but it is more like a dance with the music... the not-so-knowledgeable about figure skating would love to see that... plus the way the audience claps with the music...

that program turned me into a serious Mao-fan... and I don't know much about figure skating back then at 2007....

i put two video links in my facebook. one is yuna's record breaking sp at 2009 worlds. the other is mao's fs at 2007 worlds (czardas).

one of my closest friends who's now living in another country doesn't know that i'm now quite a figure skating fanatic (because of mao) but she checked out the youtube links. then to my surprise, i got a comment from her saying she prefers MAO's skating over yuna's. also added she liked it very much.

roma wrote:

one of my closest friends who's now living in another country doesn't know that i'm now quite a figure skating fanatic (because of mao) but she checked out the youtube links. then to my surprise, i got a comment from her saying she prefers MAO's skating over yuna's. also added she liked it very much.

I like your friend!

Hmmm... I would probably choose her LP at the 2008 4CC or her SP at the 2007 Japanese Championships. They were both exquisite!

I would choose LP at Worlds 2008 Fantaisia Impromptu , LP GPF 2008 Masquerade Waltz.

OMG, an awesome thing happened today!!

I was watching skating highlights from the GP series with my friend who is a huge ballet fan like me but knows nothing about skating.

I showed her a lot of the top men from the past few weeks, and she was enjoying it, and then I decided I guess I should show her some of the ladies.

So I showed her Yu-Na's SP from 2009 TEB, and she was like, "I'm getting bored. I prefer the men."

Then I was like, "well, if you thought that was boring, you might not like this so much, because Mao is a very gentle skater..." and proceeded to show her Mao's SP from 2009 World Team Trophy. And immediately she was like, "she's so much better." And I said, "Well, yeah, she was a ballerina before she started skating." And she said, "Yeah, I could tell from the first few seconds that she had ballet training. Her carriage is so much better."

So now my friend is firmly a Mao-fan. I knew I liked her for a reason!

Batsuchan wrote:

OMG, an awesome thing happened today!!

I was watching skating highlights from the GP series with my friend who is a huge ballet fan like me but knows nothing about skating.

I showed her a lot of the top men from the past few weeks, and she was enjoying it, and then I decided I guess I should show her some of the ladies.

So I showed her Yu-Na's SP from 2009 TEB, and she was like, "I'm getting bored. I prefer the men."

Then I was like, "well, if you thought that was boring, you might not like this so much, because Mao is a very gentle skater..." and proceeded to show her Mao's SP from 2009 World Team Trophy. And immediately she was like, "she's so much better." And I said, "Well, yeah, she was a ballerina before she started skating." And she said, "Yeah, I could tell from the first few seconds that she had ballet training. Her carriage is so much better."

So now my friend is firmly a Mao-fan. I knew I liked her for a reason!

Hehehe what a great story! I totally had the same experience. Everytime my Mom watches figure skating with me, when Mao comes on, she's like wow...it's like she's a ballerina on ice! And I'm always so happy to hear that b/c only Mao makes her say that

Batsuchan wrote:

So I showed her Yu-Na's SP from 2009 TEB, and she was like, "I'm getting bored. I prefer the men."

Then I was like, "well, if you thought that was boring, you might not like this so much, because Mao is a very gentle skater..." and proceeded to show her Mao's SP from 2009 World Team Trophy. And immediately she was like, "she's so much better." And I said, "Well, yeah, she was a ballerina before she started skating." And she said, "Yeah, I could tell from the first few seconds that she had ballet training. Her carriage is so much better."

So now my friend is firmly a Mao-fan. I knew I liked her for a reason!

Awesome! A new Mao convert!

(Though I would call Yu-Na's TEB SP far from boring. )

Oh, and almost forgot, I was recently rewatching Mao's Caprice EX and my classmate got interested 'cause she'd never seen anyone skate with a fan before. She was even more impressed than when we watched Sasha skate her EX with a ribbon. So now I have another person at school to gush about Mao!

Mirai wrote:

Oh, and almost forgot, I was recently rewatching Mao's Caprice EX and my classmate got interested 'cause she'd never seen anyone skate with a fan before. She was even more impressed than when we watched Sasha skate her EX with a ribbon. So now I have another person at school to gush about Mao!

Have you shown your classmate the EX where Mao skates with Aero? I bet not many people skate with their dogs either!

chineseteacup wrote:

Have you shown your classmate the EX where Mao skates with Aero? I bet not many people skate with their dogs either!

Haha, good idea! Mao's always doing smth unique and different