Japan Open 2010

Ken Himura wrote:

My ID is not a secret is a carelessness......This is the first time that I join to a forum, so when I chose my ID, something similar to the name of my favorite manga character, Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin), looked like a good idea. When I started to post, last month, I noticed that my ID selection was estrange or at least unusual, but I didn't know how to change it. Last week I found a topic about changing ID, but I don´t know what new ID I will choose

I apologize with you and the others members of the forum that felt disconcertedly for my ID

Hehe... you don't need to apologize! I actually guessed that your nick was about Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin but didn't post it earlier... not sure if the members here know about that manga and anime. Btw, that's one of my all time fave.

Carnival On Ice videos.
Mao (only encore)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPuX7F7LNZI
Daisuke (encore Mambo is )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJFqmeiaOQ4
Takahiko (I love this )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4B5Nsfb6c

Sasha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-QCp8Wol6c
Jeff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3UJ_Woiuuo
Plushy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhOVMLkgOns
Yuzuru Hanyu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Adw6FLqFko

I couldn't find Mao, Miki and Joannie's.

dlnnyc wrote:

did kulik skate to it too? i didnt know.

Here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnfn1LBVB-A

Does anyone know what song Sasha is skating to?

Mirai wrote:

Does anyone know what song Sasha is skating to?

Mein Herr from the musical 'Cabaret'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX-24Zm0bjk

The commentator said she was using Liza Minnelli version.

I love this pro btw. This is what I really call 'dancing on ice'! Sasha is brilliant!

mingming wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnfn1LBVB-A

His triple axel is AMAZING!! It looked so smooth and effortless (like Mao's ). I usually find a lot of the men's triple axels to look really laborious but his is gorgeous!

I found Mao's EX vid of COI!
It's in private mode so only those who know the URL can find it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5tHt-5HE5o

A member posted it in our Japanese forum.
Mao said the following in the interview bit around 4:10
'One of my goals is to become a skater who can express many things and has lots of variations. So I'd like to go on challenging new things. (Even though I'm 20 now) I'd still like to be young at heart'

'Ballade' was in much better shape then her FP. 1 pop but otherwise very good with lots of flow. Very nice lighting, she looked beautiful! And her fingertips looked quite fine this time to me.

edit: I think the way she moves her head in the encore around 10:40 is quite new and impressive. The 'Ballade' costume suits the FP too.

Thanks for posting, Pochi!

I think this is my favorite Ballade performance yet. She made immediate adjustments here when her timing got slightly off from the music, which was nice to see.

And wow, I LOVE the Liebestraume step sequence. I think the problem in the Japan Open performance was that she got off the music, timing-wise. For instance, her running steps are supposed to coincide with the descending scale but were a bit off at JO. Here, though, it looked so, so good, with the choreography really expressing subtle details of the music. I hope those of you who didn't like the choreography watch the clip Pochi posted above because you may see more things you like with the close-ups and Mao having perfect timing/agreement with the music.

Excellent analysis Pochinko

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

But Lori's 'Liebesträume' cannot be divided simply into 2 parts, nor has the same tone all throughout. It's more like a gradation of colors; first it's soft and faint, but it becomes deeper and higher in chroma towards the end. Every single jump is of itself an expression of how the color changes little by little in the music, I think.
So once Mao misses a jump, the audience will be pulled back to reality, and the gradation will be lost. She'll have to start all over again from the next jump, to heighten the emotions of the viewers along with the music. Therefore, with all the mistakes in the jumps at JO, I think it's pretty natural that the effects meant in the pro didn't work on some people.

I totally agree with this. In the beginning of the program, I did notice that Mao was expressing the music (I did see her smile a little ), but then after the first jumping mistake, she became more serious. After the section with the sal and the spin (my favorite part!), she came alive again in the step sequence. So, the mistakes definitely affected her performance and the overall effect of the program. This program has a dreamlike quality (well, it is translated as "dream of love" ), so mistakes can be quite noticeable since it will be like pulling the viewers from a dream state and nobody likes to be awakened from a dream.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Mao_Asada_sunrise wrote:

Do you know who are Mao's costume designers?

I have no idea! I know her costumes were created buy a Russian designer last season. I'm not sure why her other designers (probabaly Japanese?) are never mentioned anywhere...But I think the 'Liebesträume' costume was probabaly done by the same designer who did the marvelous 'Clair de Lune'.The way the shiny broaches are used and the soft gradation seem to have a similar touch.

Ken Himura wrote:

Thank you to you (PochinkoPotanko)

You are right, 'Liebesträume' program require perfection in every element for conquest the heart of the audience. But in this moment She is trying so hard with her jumps. So it needs time and patience, when Mao won enough trust in her jumps, the other elements will be easier to execute. We only have to believe on her and wait

mingming my favorite color is purple too and I believe that purple is the perfect color for 'Liebesträume' costume, but maybe a softer purple is more appropriated for the music, and can look more elegant. Also a blue costume (like in So Deep Is The Night) can look great over the ice.

ITA with everything you've written here. I thought that trying all the jumps in one season might be too tough and crazy, but as a result it seems to fit the music. Jumping the same jumps over and over isn't suitable for 'Liebesträume' IMO. It's a good thing she's trying this now, for the sake of Sochi and for the pro itself. She'll get better of course, because getting better is what Mao does the best!

Btw...can I ask you something? You don't have to answer it if you want it to be a secret, but it's been puzzling me for a long time...Who is 'Ken Himura' and why do you use that name for your ID? It sounds very much like a Japanese male name...???

Aw!!!!! I know! I really liked her Claire De Lune outfit! Doesn't she have two outfits for short and long each year? I can't wait to know her second one!

aoi88 wrote:

Excellent analysis Pochinko

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

But Lori's 'Liebesträume' cannot be divided simply into 2 parts, nor has the same tone all throughout. It's more like a gradation of colors; first it's soft and faint, but it becomes deeper and higher in chroma towards the end. Every single jump is of itself an expression of how the color changes little by little in the music, I think.
So once Mao misses a jump, the audience will be pulled back to reality, and the gradation will be lost. She'll have to start all over again from the next jump, to heighten the emotions of the viewers along with the music. Therefore, with all the mistakes in the jumps at JO, I think it's pretty natural that the effects meant in the pro didn't work on some people.

I totally agree with this. In the beginning of the program, I did notice that Mao was expressing the music (I did see her smile a little ), but then after the first jumping mistake, she became more serious. After the section with the sal and the spin (my favorite part!), she came alive again in the step sequence. So, the mistakes definitely affected her performance and the overall effect of the program. This program has a dreamlike quality (well, it is translated as "dream of love" ), so mistakes can be quite noticeable since it will be like pulling the viewers from a dream state and nobody likes to be awakened from a dream.

Great analysis from both of you: Pochinko and Aoi88
I never thought of it that way but I totally agree!

I want Mao to bring this program perfectly. It may be sound weird, but
if Mao cannot bring out this program perfectly this year, I want her to
still use it next year, until she can bring the perfect one.

to PochinkoPotanko

I love Mao's EX, it's so beautiful. Who is a choreographer? "Ballade" really suits Mao, she flows on the ice, I can't stop watching. Her EX is much better than FP.

sumin wrote:

to PochinkoPotanko

I love Mao's EX, it's so beautiful. Who is a choreographer? "Ballade" really suits Mao, she flows on the ice, I can't stop watching. Her EX is much better than FP.

Choreographer is Tatiana Tarasova. I love this Exhibition,for me this is the best Mao Chopin program! Also love Sasha's exhibition, I miss her skating!

to mingming
Thank you for sharing. Kulik's Liebestraum is a masterpiece.

[quote="polosatik"]

I like all previous Mao's EX, especially Tango in 2009, and Caprice in 2010 but "Ballade" is fantastic.

TAT makes the best EX programs for Mao! Each one is better than the last...

sumin wrote:

I like all previous Mao's EX, especially Tango in 2009, and Caprice in 2010 but "Ballade" is fantastic.

Me too sumin! I guess polosatik already answered your question to me, and I really love Tat's choreo too. I have to admit that her past 2 EX pros were more exciting than the 'Ballade', but the more I see it, the more I'm starting to love it. The whole atomosphere of the ballerina practicing alone concept is so well portrayed, and the pro makes you imagine what can be going on in this ballerina's mind and life. Seeing the COI performance, I was almost able to 'see' the ballet studio with nobody else but her in it, surrounding Mao. In my image, it's already midnight and she's dancing in only the moonlight.

The only part I always find a pity is when she does the charlotte, and her skirt tends to cover her head...I love this costume including the length of the skirt, but maybe it should be a little shorter to avoid that...

Thanks PochinkoPotanko and roma (about my ID), your words relief me!!!!

I love Mao's "Ballade N.1" too, it's so Mao, the first time that I watched it I though that Mozart composed it for Mao and every time it looks better...

By the way, I watched Kulik's Liebestraum (thanks mingming) and I can't avoid to think how Mao's Liebestraum would be if TAT had done the coreography, I like Lory's coreography, it's just an idea...

I love every coreography that TAT did for Mao, I'm really excited about the sp, it is exquisite

sumin wrote:

to mingming
Thank you for sharing. Kulik's Liebestraum is a masterpiece.

You are welcome! I agree with you, this program is superb
I also think his 3A is so effortless, iceskatingfan.

Ken Himura wrote:

By the way, I watched Kulik's Liebestraum (thanks mingming) and I can't avoid to think how Mao's Liebestraum would be if TAT had done the coreography, I like Lory's coreography, it's just an idea...

Me too. Liebestraum was last season's another FP, so TAT must have made it for Mao. I'd like to see it..
But I love Lori's one already, hope it will be a masterpiece of Mao.

PochinkoPotanko wrote:

Ken Himura wrote:

¨She'll get better of course, because getting better is what Mao does the best!¨ I love this phrase, because it summarize pretty well one of the reasons why I admire to Mao, the fact that she always wants to be better, She inspire me to be better, and remind me, each day, that it is possible if we really try

My ID is not a secret is a carelessness......This is the first time that I join to a forum, so when I chose my ID, something similar to the name of my favorite manga character, Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin), looked like a good idea. When I started to post, last month, I noticed that my ID selection was estrange or at least unusual, but I didn't know how to change it. Last week I found a topic about changing ID, but I don´t know what new ID I will choose

I apologize with you and the others members of the forum that felt disconcertedly for my ID

Oh! Kenshin Himura! Now I get it! Please don't apologize, it's prefectly fine!
I've never read or seen the anime of 'Rurouni Kenshin', but it's very famous and popular so I do know it. I did think that maybe your ID was the name of a character in a Japanese narrative of some kind. So I asked my husband if he knew any characters by the name of 'Ken Himura' and he said he didn't...but he had this wild idea that your ID was taken from a famous Japanese comedian called Ken 'Shimura', because your a great fan of his....

Here's a photo of him which looks pretty normal:



Plus here's a photo of him doing his 'stupid feudal lord' act, and his face turns into Mao!



It was originally a gif anime which was presented in Shimura's official blog. It's said that it wasn't Shimura who made it, but he found it on the net and thought it was funny so he used it. Mao wouldn't be angry I think because she seems to like comedians pretty much!

But anyway, I'm relieved that you were not a fan of his! I quite like him as a person, but I've never really found his type of comedy so funny...so if Ken Shimura had become popular world-wide...I'd have been a bit confused about international standards concerning laughter.

Oh No~ what do they do to our lovely Mao !

Hello I'm Keigo Moriyama and I was the photographer for the Japan Open 2010 event held in the Saitama Super Arena on October 2nd
Being also a fan of Asada Mao (have a preview of my first book at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1367049?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget) I've decided to make a calendar with the photos of Mao Asada for all the fan like me. If you want you can find it online (free preview and special 10% discount for the first week) at this address 
http://www.lulu.com/product/calendario/mao-asada/13214937?showPreview
Or in my hp (www.keigo.110mb.com)

I tried to keep the price lower as much as possible, a good print quality and choose to give discount too for all the fan! Go Mao chan go!!!!
If someone had the opportunity to see her in a real show and not only on tv can really understand how great she is.
Thanks a lot

Keigo Moriyama