Handy reference chart showing the difference between blossoms (ume/plum, momo/peach, sakura/cherry, anzu/apricot, ringo/apple). Note the colors, how the buds sit on branches, and of course petals shapes.
Apricot and apple are veeeery rare as kimono/obi patterns. Morover, what I usually simply call “plum” (ume) is in exactly the Prunus mume (or Japanese apricot/plum) and come with red/white/pinkish flowers.
When I look at yuzuru he strikes me as a really soft cutesy charming etheral individual not really homme fatal kind of guy that's why I think he's pure romantic rather than TR what do u think? ( love you btw)
i’ve been thinking about it as well, but it’s not a crystal clear case. he’s a sportsman, skating morphs the body in the most uncommon ways which makes it harder to narrow down the type.
basics first so we get the foundations right: pinpointing the kibbe category he is + isn’t and why, the subtype after.
1. which one of the big 5?
- safe to say, yes: he’s somewhere in the romantic category. nobody does these outfits quite like yuzu. light fabrics, intricate embellishments, he is famous for all that gorgeous princely tailoring. the sport is all about the sequins, he definitely shines in them. every professional figure skating photographer out there will tell you that he hits different and you can see why.
WOW.
i’ve witnessed people complaining that the glitz and glam no longer suits his age, he gets scorn for not dressing traditionally masculine, but i don’t know how it wouldn’t look appropriate. the only valid criticism is that it’s often a hit or miss, but we’d be damned if this isn’t what an ice prince looks like.
he’s the best in the world and his main goal is to put on a show. rolling up in a polo shirt would contradict the objective, being an allround artist first and only then a jump technician. he’s exactly how you’d expect a yuzuru hanyu to look like. if you appear ‘like yourself’, it’s the right kibbe category.
R clothing typically has a sexy edge as well, you can’t put a kid into that. cut out cleavage, transparent, figure-hugging, no way. if anything, most R styles seemed all over the place when yuzu was younger (this is from 2010). yin is meant to be tailored for adults to begin with, you can’t make it teenage gamine.
eleven years later at 26, yuzuru hanyu in 2021, adult man, wearing the hell out of a skating gala outfit. this would be tacky on someone any younger. R is not just light and sweet but also dignified and mature. long story short. he’s grown into a yin-dominant type. fits to a T, a feast for the eye.
- meanwhile: you can easily exclude dramatic. very thick, stable fabrics with large lines are gigantic on him. D clothing is a yuzu charm killer, figures because it’s the type opposite to romantic (pure yang). it washes out the face and is twice as wide as his frame is, bulks out around the shoulders.
- not a natural type either, it feels a bit too simple, underchallenging. ruffled hair appears dishevelled where it’d be just right on a natural. it doesn’t fully highlight him: natural looks aren’t the most memorable on yuzuru even if they tend to be rather neutral and don’t look too off per se, it has a bit of draping after all.
he looks really good in the below outfit, but his frame doesn’t fill it out. he’s all elegant underneath and radiates ballet while N is a rough, easy-going, and leisurely concept for very bulky frames. the waist gets missing in translation, the mid-section of shirts like these is too wide.
- not a gamine either. he might appear like one and i deliberated back and forth whether he is Pure G or FG, but the material mix, line breaks, and fashion experiments are creating chaos rather than something put-together. it just isn’t as flattering as when he does drapes and florals. the hair being cropped (typical gamine cut) often obfuscates the face. G styles are confusing on yuzu.
his skating is from outer space but this is probably a bit too galactical 😅
- not a classic. something’s not right, suits like these contrast a lot with how round his face is and sit on his body very randomly. missing waist again (yin). the same people who want him to dress more conservatively/masculine have been roasting yuzu for looking like a salary man in that style 🤔 i sense hypocrisy. in any case, classic underwhelms, he’s made to dress up. more points to yin, he he’s too petite to wear C.
now, we got the main category down, time for subtyping. romantic has two options.
2. which romantic?
arguments in favor of Theatrical Romantic:
this type is what he often portrays in the rink (e.g. the phantom of the opera programme) and has become his secret weapon. whether that speaks of his true type is the question. what i mean is, he can pull it off, the seductive homme fatale. compare jimin, people lose their minds over theatrical romantic men. yuzu is in that lane as well.
as in, balance of main yin with a yang undercurrent — the very gentle, princely young man with the soft face who gathers everyone’s hearts, and he is a damn flirt on ice, but who can give a very visceral, dark performance. that shows a tremendous fervor and an edge, with an athletic and taut body.
he does have some yang elements to his physicality. streamlined silhouette, some narrowness, extreme flat muscle, long triangular upper body, some vertical line. also — his color palette (aka skin undertone, cool v warm, hue, chroma, deepness etc) might match TR. on the other hand, it might simply be the black hair giving him the contrast for it.
the reason why we might get the TR impression is that he often wears all black which suggests dramatic, and the athleticism in his profession has trained away the chubbiness he might naturally have. the face as the only part that won’t be somehow affected by his routine is all yin.
arguments in favor of pure Romantic:
... as you pointed out. in private life and backstage, he is quite effortlessly sweet- and small-looking. with the delicacy and doe-eyedness you’d expect from pure romantic, very unlike his performance persona.
if you didn’t know he’s copyrighted BDE on the ice, yuzu seems like he can’t harm a fly, round rosy bean he is. he makes a very innocent and soft 1st impression in candids which no other type except soft gamine does.
facial features, all opposite of yang. not long, not sharp, not planar, not angular, not bony, not narrow. the button nose, full lips, and puffy cheeks is all you see. you’d not think of him as striking (=D, FN).
that’s also why he’s always pitted as nathan chen’s opposite in whatever he does. nate is on the other end of the kibbe spectrum, people probably don’t even realize that their physical lines are contrasting archetypes. it’s subconsciously part of why people can construct such a rivalry.
study nathan’s face and it becomes apparent. very oblong shape, flat-laying flesh and an asymmetric jaw that couldn’t be any more prominent (=yang). the brows and eyes create a powerful horizontal unlike yuzu’s more wide-set puppy eyes. the nose is longer, the ears, too. nathan looks sharp, piercing, and intimidating rather than soft. you see the exact outline of the bone.
with him, you assume the reverse of what people think of yuzu at first glance. if you didn’t know that nathan couldn’t be any nerdier, you’d believe he’s 1000% jock-off-the-charts. how he has a lot of yang contributed to his on-ice image, too. one’s kibbe type can shape life choices since people see you in a certain way simply based on your lines.
how yuzu is such a visual difference to nathan further points to how he’s closer to pure yin: rather than a subtype that picks up elements from dramatic. otherwise, you’d see some of that angularity. but no: roundness over structure, you see the flesh, not frame. you couldn’t call him a jock by all means 😆
you won’t see that chiseled geometry and crazy jawline/browline. as you say he’s more cutesy, and a charmer, the whole fandom will agree. pure romantics have everyone wrapped around their fingers (and their booty lmao!) because you want to pepper them with kisses, yin types all look so non-threatening and beautiful. ethereal is the right word.
and they’re the sexiest ofc, since they’re curvy. R got hips.
sigh... this type is a showstopper. what to do with him. he can beam at ya or he can sway his hips at ya, another unsuspecting hanyu interessee falls for the guy. he does the prince concept and the sexy cutie alike.
he tries to convince us otherwise 😂
sexy aside, he looks great in the respective clothing recs, with waist emphasis and rounded edges. kimonos are often soft dramatic or natural-inspired, but it works out well this way. and again: romantic is not childish/playful clothing of some kind, it can be very official and deliberate.
rather than in edge tailoring which is very loose around his arms and does yuzu no justice. that’s actually the kind of clothing that makes him appear either younger or older depending on if it’s D or C.
TLDR - he might not seem completely yin in his appearance, but that’s because of his excessive sports regimen. since yuzu has been training since he was a kid, we never saw how he’d normally be. he rocks the pure romantic regardless and it’s likely it’s his kibbe type. him wearing R is always a spectacle.
bonus kibbe meme: yuzu, photoshopped to the moon and back, wearing soft dramatic for a toothpaste ad. amazing.
Despite Sugiki's efforts to try to strategize with Gabe about how to beat Suzuki in Latin, he keeps getting whisked away on epic adventures against his will.
Full summary and highlight images below the cut.
Chapter 36: vivir mi vida (Live My Life)
Published in Monthly Young Magazine, 2021 vol. 6
Saichi and Suzuki’s student Shun are walking down the street, heading toward the party at Norman’s place. Shun asks if it’s really okay for him to attend, and Saichi says it’ll be fine. Shun is still hesitant, since Norman is a former world champion and all, but Saichi grabs his hand and says he’ll do the talking when they arrive, so he should stop worrying and just come with him. When the two arrive at the party, Saichi explains that he figured the more the merrier so he brought one more along, as Shun blushes and apologizes.
Norman brings Suzuki some liquor, since he figures he must be tired of beer by now. Suzuki asks what it is, and Norman can’t remember if it’s Laphroig or Glenfiddich, but it’s definitely some type of scotch. Norman flops down next to him, sloshing his own drink around a bit as he does so, and Suzuki says he looks like he’s wasted. Norman admits that he is, and points out that his sister is, too. While looking at Angela, who’s talking with Saichi and Shun, he notices Shun keeps looking over in their direction, and after getting clarification from Suzuki that Shun is male, states that that boy is in love with Suzuki. Suzuki says that he knows, and Norman is a bit surprised, saying he thought he was the type who would flat out refuse to accept that sort of thing. Suzuki replies that he’s aware that these things can happen.
At the Sugiki Dance School, Gabe comments that it seems like Sugiki has been cutting down on competitions this year, and asks if he’s planning to refrain from participating in anything else before the 10 Dance. Sugiki replies that there are some domestic competitions that he has to appear in no matter what, and Gabe marvels that even the Emperor of Dance can’t win against the politics of their industry. They start to have a strategy session, in which Gabe says that there definitely won’t be anyone who can best them in standard at the 10 Dance, so their task is to figure out how to beat Suzuki in Latin. He’s been analyzing Suzuki, and there are three characteristics that stand out about him: first, there are several different beats flowing through his body simultaneously as he dances. Second, he unconsciously projects those beats outward as he enjoys himself while dancing. And third, much like Al, he has a strong effect on those around him. At the last competition he was in, he was unintentionally pulling the crowd in and controlling their emotions. This can cause the other competitors’ rhythms to get thrown off, like what happened to Gabe himself. He believes this is the most important thing they need to watch out for, but Sugiki says he thinks that won’t be a problem. Gabe asks what he means by that, and Sugiki says he can align with those beats.
Sugiki’s phone starts buzzing, and he answers it to hear Max on the other end. As Max says that he’s sent a ride for him, two men come into the studio (Fusako's instinct is apparently to try to fend them off with fire extinguisher, as Gabe wonders where she got it from). Sugiki is still confused as to what’s going on, saying that he’s in the middle of practice, but ends up getting loaded into a car anyway. Max says that he’s going to play a game of cards with some friends, and wants Sugiki to join him. Max is waiting at the airport, inviting him to come along on an epic adventure.
After flying on his private jet, we see a tent set up out in a desert, where Max is playing cards against a few men while Sugiki watches. He says it looks like Max is losing, and asks how much he bet. Max says that he bet Sugiki in this game, and as one of the men (whom he describes as the third prince of an oil magnate) shows a royal flush, Max declares that he’s lost.
Sugiki manages to return home despite being won in a poker game, and Gabe continues talking strategy. Sugiki looks a bit worse for wear after what he’s been through, and as Gabe shows a video of Suzuki's dancing on his tablet, Sugiki starts to look a bit down. Then Max bursts into the room and declares that he wants to take him off to a secluded region to search for the gold papillon. We then see Sugiki on a river boat with Max and a few of his men, as Max explains that this area is rich in resources and he came here to buy up the land. However, he’s heard that there are poachers in this jungle, and just then a bullet whizzes by Sugiki’s head. Max’s men all surround their boss to protect him, while Sugiki yells that they’re being shot at. Max laughs if off, saying they’re just warning shots.
During another practice session, Max once again shows up to take Sugiki away (even though he says, “beat it, old man”, he still ends up going with him). While on the plane, Sugiki asks where they’re going this time, and Max says that he’s planning to buy a castle in Europe, thinking it might make for a nice wedding present for his daughter. Sugiki is shocked that Max is/was married, but even more shocked that he’s actually someone’s father.
The two are shown standing atop a Renaissance period castle, as Max says that he’d like his daughter to have a relaxing place like this to grow old in.
He admires the view, and then turns to Sugiki and hands him a box with a pair of glasses inside, telling him to put them on if he likes. Sugiki examines them suspiciously, wondering to himself why he’s giving him these and if it’s some sort of trick. He says he doesn't want to wear them now, but maybe another time. Max is disappointed, but doesn’t press him any further. As Max turns to the real estate agent to say he’ll take the place, Sugiki wonders if that’s really the end of it, and what that was all about. Narrative text at the end suggests that, even though Max is arrogant and extremely self-centered, taking a heart-broken Sugiki on adventures across the globe may have been his own sort of act of kindness to try to cheer him up.
Previous chapter: #35
Next chapter: The end of the chapter notes that this series is published on a bimonthly basis, and therefore will not be in the next volume, but will return in the issue releasing on July 20th, 2021.
AMBROSIA pt. II
This is a world where all daily life relies on the magic of this mystical honey known as ambrosia. However, magic is starting to disappear due to a false queen and a hunter teams up with a princess to trace the origins of magic
A concept project
I was having writers block and so I took a break and soon enough it was 3 in the morning and I had impulsively sewn together a tiny mouse you’re welcome
I see people reblogging this with “to buy” but this pattern is free??? Someone even asked me “why don’t you charge money for it, it took you forever to put the document together” and I said “Not a lot of people have money and if they have some fabric scraps and a couple of buttons lying around they can make themselves a little mouse friend for free and that might make them happy and that makes me happier than receiving money???” Make yourself a liddol creacher! Heals the Soul!
