Mao News - The 2015-2016 Season!

WowMao wrote:

l-spiralmao wrote:

Her jumps look awesome. She's doing a 3a, 3f+3lo, and 3lz SP? Or 3s?

I am almost 100 percent certain that these elements and choreography are what Mao will have in the LP because I have heard in several places that she will have the same layout as she did for her Sochi and Worlds LP and it was under an advertisement for the Japan Open which only includes the LP .

I agree with WowMao. So far the recent interview has been covering mostly about her LP. There's yet any indication about what she's going to do with the new SP. Actually, there has been a full version of the talk among Mao, Coach Yamada and Midori recorded during The Ice tour. IIRC, Midori asked Mao if she'd show her SP during the tour, and Mao answered she wasn't prepared to do the SP. So I'm sure she's been focusing on LP at the moment for JO.

The full video of the 'Neosports' program can be found here:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37d1et_0920-%E4%BC%91%E9%A4%8A-%E5%BE%A9%E5%B8%B0%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E6%83%B3%E3%81%84_sport

I'll provide some rough translation of the key points below:

- she says now she's in the same condition as what she used to be at the same moment of previous seasons.
- Mao says her goal now for the first competition is to have perfect performance
- Mao says she feels more comfortable/ relieved in that if she could return to the previous status/condition of World 14 (this is followed up by Akiko's comment: that's the highest level to reach)
- In the final comment, Mao says that once she took the time off, she has come to realize how much she couldn't get away without skating. But she also thinks it is necessary that she took the year off.

Comments from interviews of Dai-chan and Akiko:
Dai: ordinary people would just quit at that moment...it was a big surprise to hear that Mao decides to continue, but, 'that's like Mao'
Akiko: knowing that Mao has gone through the struggle of making a decision, but, 'that's like Mao' that she'd choose to continue in the end.

Dai says something like: there might be chances that things will fall apart, but the passion about competitions out of her own willingness, it just show that Mao is a true athlete. (Akko also made the same comment at some moment about being a true athlete) Others will be having second thoughts and worrying about this or that, while Mao is just straight-forward as so.)



-

Thank you for the link, COHK!
Mao looks relaxed and confident.
I can't wait until next weekend.

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

I absolutely love this photo. Do you mind if I use this as my profile picture?

No, of course not!

silenceisgolden wrote:

Thank you for the link, COHK!
Mao looks relaxed and confident.
I can't wait until next weekend.

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

I absolutely love this photo. Do you mind if I use this as my profile picture?

No, of course not!

Thank you!!!

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

silenceisgolden wrote:

Thank you for the link, COHK!
Mao looks relaxed and confident.
I can't wait until next weekend.

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

I absolutely love this photo. Do you mind if I use this as my profile picture?

No, of course not!

Thank you!!!

You stole my picture!

shar wrote:

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

silenceisgolden wrote:

Thank you for the link, COHK!
Mao looks relaxed and confident.
I can't wait until next weekend.

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

I absolutely love this photo. Do you mind if I use this as my profile picture?

No, of course not!

Thank you!!!

You stole my picture!

LOL! You scared me a little. Wait. Did you make this picture?! (If so, you've got mad skills!) Or do you want it as your profile picture, too?!

I can't take credit for making this picture, but I just love it so much and had to use it for my profile. But I have to use the picture of her in the gold outfit first.

COHK wrote:

WowMao wrote:

l-spiralmao wrote:

Her jumps look awesome. She's doing a 3a, 3f+3lo, and 3lz SP? Or 3s?

I am almost 100 percent certain that these elements and choreography are what Mao will have in the LP because I have heard in several places that she will have the same layout as she did for her Sochi and Worlds LP and it was under an advertisement for the Japan Open which only includes the LP .

I agree with WowMao. So far the recent interview has been covering mostly about her LP. There's yet any indication about what she's going to do with the new SP. Actually, there has been a full version of the talk among Mao, Coach Yamada and Midori recorded during The Ice tour. IIRC, Midori asked Mao if she'd show her SP during the tour, and Mao answered she wasn't prepared to do the SP. So I'm sure she's been focusing on LP at the moment for JO.

The full video of the 'Neosports' program can be found here:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37d1et_0920-%E4%BC%91%E9%A4%8A-%E5%BE%A9%E5%B8%B0%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E6%83%B3%E3%81%84_sport

I'll provide some rough translation of the key points below:

- she says now she's in the same condition as what she used to be at the same moment of previous seasons.
- Mao says her goal now for the first competition is to have perfect performance
- Mao says she feels more comfortable/ relieved in that if she could return to the previous status/condition of World 14 (this is followed up by Akiko's comment: that's the highest level to reach)
- In the final comment, Mao says that once she took the time off, she has come to realize how much she couldn't get away without skating. But she also thinks it is necessary that she took the year off.

Comments from interviews of Dai-chan and Akiko:
Dai: ordinary people would just quit at that moment...it was a big surprise to hear that Mao decides to continue, but, 'that's like Mao'
Akiko: knowing that Mao has gone through the struggle of making a decision, but, 'that's like Mao' that she'd choose to continue in the end.

Dai says something like: there might be chances that things will fall apart, but the passion about competitions out of her own willingness, it just show that Mao is a true athlete. (Akko also made the same comment at some moment about being a true athlete) Others will be having second thoughts and worrying about this or that, while Mao is just straight-forward as so.)



-

Thanks for the summary CONK. A translation of the video you posted can be found from rosewood at fsuniverse. rosewood also discusses a really impressive video clip of Mao's triple axel.

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/index.php?threads/the-mao-cheer-thread-2-her-beauty-is-her-biggest-weapon.95911/page-7 number 190

Happy Birthday Mao! To a wonderful woman who is beautiful inside and out. 25 on September 25. I hope your comeback fills you with all the satisfaction you are seeking in the new season and that your life outside the rink is everything you could ever dream. I am anticipating the inspiration from your new performances.

Happy Birthday Mao. Much love and support from me to you during your upcoming season. Don't worry about winning, just enjoy performing on ice, as we will enjoy watching you perform.

Here is a video of Mao's surprise party. Thanks to urara for the video link. It seemed to come out before Mao's birthday. My favorite part is her surprised expression when she opens the door.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ejLfB4oJ8[/QUOTE]

Happy birthday Mao!       Here is to an amazing season.     (It's still 25th here in Slovenia.   )

I can't believe I've been away from this forum for over 3 months.    I missed you guys so much. Can't wait for next weekend.  

silenceisgolden wrote:

Mao the action star!
She is really cool in this commercial video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJXIQ_U-org

Woooow!  Honestly, every time I see a new photo of her, she's getting more beautiful.

Happy Birthday Mao!!!

Wishing you a wonderful year filled with health, happiness and success!

shar wrote:

I can't take credit for making this picture,  but I just love it so much and had to use it for my profile. But I have to use the picture of her in the gold outfit first.

Oh okay! Let me know if you want to make it your profile picture. We'll just switch back and forth. Lol!

Also, it's been silent so far before Japan Open.

One week till JO!!

The news just came out today:
http://www.47news.jp/CN/201509/CN2015092601001121.html

The JSF staff made statement about Mao's condition: She's practicing 3A, also 2 types of 3-3, namely 3F-3L and 3F-3T. But the actual components of the competitions will depend on her condition and will be decided by Coach Sato and Mao.

COHK wrote:

One week till JO!!

The news just came out today:
http://www.47news.jp/CN/201509/CN2015092601001121.html

The JSF staff made statement about Mao's condition: She's practicing 3A, also 2 types of 3-3, namely 3F-3L and 3F-3T. But the actual components of the competitions will depend on her condition and will be decided by Coach Sato and Mao.

Thanx for the news COHK.

Finally she's commiting to 3F-3T.  I prefer this to the 3Loop combo since judges just love to downgrade 3 loops.  I can't wait to see her new LP and especially costume.
Since this will be her first competition after one year off, she probably won't be "perfect", but I hope she'll be as clean as her condition will allow it, and more importantly,  that she'll be satisfied with her perfromance. I can't wait to see her in competition again!

I'm getting ahead of myself but I hope she'll also include 3-3 in her SP for GP.

zarinaballerina wrote:

COHK wrote:

One week till JO!!

The news just came out today:
http://www.47news.jp/CN/201509/CN2015092601001121.html

The JSF staff made statement about Mao's condition: She's practicing 3A, also 2 types of 3-3, namely 3F-3L and 3F-3T. But the actual components of the competitions will depend on her condition and will be decided by Coach Sato and Mao.

Thanx for the news COHK.

Finally she's commiting to 3F-3T.  I prefer this to the 3Loop combo since judges just love to downgrade 3 loops.  I can't wait to see her new LP and especially costume.
Since this will be her first competition after one year off, she probably won't be "perfect", but I hope she'll be as clean as her condition will allow it, and more importantly,  that she'll be satisfied with her perfromance. I can't wait to see her in competition again!

I'm getting ahead of myself but I hope she'll also include 3-3 in her SP for GP.

I prefer 3T also, but how has Mao been in terms of the 3T?

Another promotion video for JO:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37uaii_0926-jo番宣-復帰戦まであと7日_sport

Including interviews from Shizuka, also Lisa.

Adding:
Shizuka: (Mao's) jump successful rate is improving. In practices, she jumps without much hesitation. She pretty much execute jumps based on the jumping style that she desire herself.

Mao's comment about other skaters trying 3A: She says it feels complicated. She's happy that there are other skaters challenging the jump. But she also thinks that she doesn't want to give in either.

COHK wrote:

Another promotion video for JO:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37uaii_0926-jo番宣-復帰戦まであと7日_sport

Including interviews from Shizuka, also Lisa.

Adding:
Shizuka: (Mao's) jump successful rate is improving. In practices, she jumps without much hesitation. She pretty much execute jumps based on the jumping style that she desire herself.

Mao's comment about other skaters trying 3A: She says it feels complicated. She's happy that there are other skaters challenging the jump. But she also thinks that she doesn't want to give in either.

What does she mean by "not giving in"?

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

COHK wrote:

Another promotion video for JO:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37uaii_0926-jo番宣-復帰戦まであと7日_sport

Including interviews from Shizuka, also Lisa.

Adding:
Shizuka: (Mao's) jump successful rate is improving. In practices, she jumps without much hesitation. She pretty much execute jumps based on the jumping style that she desire herself.

Mao's comment about other skaters trying 3A: She says it feels complicated. She's happy that there are other skaters challenging the jump. But she also thinks that she doesn't want to give in either.

What does she mean by "not giving in"?

Sorry, I was thinking too much when translating. It simply means she doesn't want to lose.

COHK wrote:

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

COHK wrote:

Another promotion video for JO:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37uaii_0926-jo番宣-復帰戦まであと7日_sport

Including interviews from Shizuka, also Lisa.

Adding:
Shizuka: (Mao's) jump successful rate is improving. In practices, she jumps without much hesitation. She pretty much execute jumps based on the jumping style that she desire herself.

Mao's comment about other skaters trying 3A: She says it feels complicated. She's happy that there are other skaters challenging the jump. But she also thinks that she doesn't want to give in either.

What does she mean by "not giving in"?

Sorry, I was thinking too much when translating. It simply means she doesn't want to lose.

Oh okay! Sounds very much like Mao. Lol!

A recent news report (in English) about Mao's returning:
http://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Life/Mao-Asada-eager-to-regain-her-edge

There was a Japanese edition published last week in NikKei news online. And the English translation here is pretty much the same as the Japanese edition (by the same editor). Although I read from other forum that this editor/writer's writing might be held in question because of some of her previous reports re. Mao. This report here about Mao's returning and maturing into a new start still reflects some quite interesting points, I think.

Adding: the video clip that's already posted in other places, and which catches ppl's attention because Mao says openly about the next olympics:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37wdxa_0927-jo番宣-復帰の理由とは-彼女の魅力とは_sport

COHK wrote:

Mao's comment about other skaters trying 3A: She says it feels complicated. She's happy that there are other skaters challenging the jump. But she also thinks that she doesn't want to give in either.

What does she mean by "not giving in"?[/quote]

Sorry, I was thinking too much when translating. It simply means she doesn't want to lose.[/quote]

[quote="COHK"]


Thank you CONK for the translation. I hope you don't mind if I give my own view on what Mao might mean by not giving in. I agree that one meaning is that Mao doesn't want to lose. But, to me "not giving in" also means to continue challenging herself to do the jump and not to "surrender" the jump to somebody else. As for as "losing," I have noticed that Mao's language has changed over the years. When she was 16 after 2007 Worlds, she said her ultimate goal was to win the Gold medal in the Olympics. But now, she recently said that one of her goals is to give her best performance at the next Olympics; the first focus is on personal victory. I have also heard that Mao used to say that she wanted to check the protocol sheets before she made a comment on how good her performances were. But in the Sochi LP and Worlds for instance, Mao had the confidence to say that she gave her best performance without mentioning the judges, tech rulings or scores. rosewood made these comments about Mao's remarks on her radio show. rosewood says that Mao felt confined by having to fit into a system of rules many of which she didn't like and how she didn't want to be upset by them anymore.

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/index.php?threads/the-mao-cheer-thread-after-finishing-the-season-i-could-truly-say-figure-skating-is-wonderful.89260/page-23 post number 690

I also posted the lyrics to this song with a similar message a while back. rosewood said that she repeated the phrases in bold several times during her radio show and often listened to them when she was training.  
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/index.php?threads/the-mao-cheer-thread-after-finishing-the-season-i-could-truly-say-figure-skating-is-wonderful.89260/page-24 post 695

Rule" Lyrics by Ayumi Hamasaki

*Rules decided by someone
No need for such damn things
Since we are the rules
No compromise on this point*

Same old damn rules
I don't want to be forced
Start from demolishing them
You and me**

The fact that Mao is continuing to skate competitively despite this resistance and defiance to some of these rules suggests to me that she has a strong inner drive to express herself freely through her own vision of great performances that will inspire and move audiences more than focusing just on often suspicious scores or official rules, which are still important. I think this is the nature of great artists and performers like Mao, especially ones that are driven because they have to endure some disadvantage as Mao has had against Yulia and Adelina (and likely will again with skaters like Liza I fear) and Yuna (for a much longer period of time); Artists and performers like Mao strive to create new forms of expression because it is their essential nature, but I think they do so even more when they feel it isn't properly recognized under the current system. I think this scoring disadvantage has also happened with Americans as well, like Gracie Gold's LP at Sochi and Ashley Wagner in 4CCs 2012 in the United States. And Worlds is in the United States this year.   

To me, it seems that for Mao losing is not the worst thing, but that her idea of "losing" is not giving her best performance and that whatever the judges do is beyond her control. Yes, I think she wants to win. And I am not saying Mao is totally perfect or that she doesn't make mistakes or that she doesn't have urs sometimes, but that they are greatly exaggerated and often bogus, just as her GOEs on jumps and her PCS are often deflated. I am also not saying that Mao deserves to make a lot of mistakes and still win, unless others don't skate that well, though I think Mao should be able to make more mistakes because of her PCS advantage. But, Mao's 5th place PCS and 6th place GOE at Sochi ( in addition to two harsh ur calls) is a perfect example, where she didn't officially "win" the freeskate but to most peoples' minds she did and even should have set the world record to many including me.

I really look forward to seeing Mao's inspirational performances again,    

I have seen a lot of posts on fsuniverse, goldenskate and youtube where people are using this overly harsh scoring against Mao to try and say that she can't beat Liza because of her alleged "tech weaknesses," even though many of the same people think she Mao should get a bigger scoring advantage. This despite the fact that Mao's scores on the Grand Prix series and at Worlds were on average 8 points higher than Liza's in her last season and with her being deflated relative to Liza in harsher tech calls, and PCS and GOE, in my opinion. But since Mao last skated, the rules have been changed in a way that happen to be more disadvantageous for her. I think the phrase "losing" should be based on fair scoring and consistent rules that aren't changed in a way that appear to benefit other competitors; otherwise the official results becomes meaningless and I am left to decide for myself who is best.

On a brighter note, I noticed that Mao was by far the most frequently mentioned skater on this thread at fsuniverse:  
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/index.php?threads/current-top-10-favorites-pre-2015-16-season.96499/page-2

Top 10 favorite skaters in 2015-2016 season

Thanks, WowMao! I enjoy your comment. I hope I'll be able to find time to come back and add some points in reflection to your post. But before doing that, I really want to say a little more about this news report just came out this morning:

http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO92208300Z20C15A9000000/

In this report, it talks in details about Mao's new programs this season. Mostly it is based on the interview with Lori. I'm not sure if it is written by the same person who edited the news also in Nikkei about Mao's return last week. But I REALLY enjoy reading this one. Sorry it's in Japanese and I don't have the time to provide a good translation at the moment. I'll wait for a while a see if there will be some translation showing up later on.

New JAL CM -- 120 sec. edition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QWW6got6-s

aka. sneak preview of the new FS