#tr_figure skating

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #936

Yuri!!! on Life, official guidebook, Season Calendar

[Notes: I was surprised to see in the past that a part of the fandom thinks that there was a year gap in the show. I think it was because of a wrong translation of 翌年 = the next year, as in March of next year vs. December of the previous year, but still, there is official timeline in the guidebook, and it is as follows ↓]

~The previous season~

December

>> Grand Prix Final (Sochi)

>> Japanese National Championships

(December~January national eliminations for World Championships)

January

>> European Championships

February

>> Four Continents Championships

March

>> Junior World Championships

>> World Championships

April

>> Onsen on ICE

Spring~Summer

>> Time for choreography, camps etc.

~The current season~ (starts in July)

October

>> Chugoku-Shikoku-Kyushu Regional Championships

(Regional championships for every area)

>> GP series Skate America

>> GP series Skate Canada

November

>> GP series Cup of China

>> GP series NHK Trophee

>> GP series Trophee de France

>> GP series Rostelecom Cup

December

>> Golden Spin

>> Grand Prix Final

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #842

Yuri!!! on Life, official guidebook, Programs

On Love ~Agape~

The theme of 'On Love ~Agape~', with its crystal clear boy soprano, is 'selfless love', the perfect antithesis to 'Eros'. When Victor was in the process of deciding, who should get which program, Yurio commented that 'the image of innocence makes me wanna throw up'. However, in the middle of his waterfall meditation session, that Victor ordered him to do, memories of his grandpa started to play in his head, and so, Yurio decided to pour these feelings into his program. He noticed, that the feeling of wanting to see his grandpa's smile, the reason why he wanted to figure skate when he was a small child, is his 'Agape'. Miyamoto Kenji commented, that inspired by the lyrics, he created a program with 'an image of a white bird and sacrum' in his mind. Certainly, in this program, you can feel a feather-like lightness, and at the same time, strong determination of somebody, who is ready to sacrifice something. The beauty of Yurio's androgynous look, a look that has a time limit, possible only 'now'. It is a solely elegant and delicate program, but as Yuuri described it, Yurio is a 'monster that keeps on evolving, beautifully', and so the program composition is a high level one, with two quads in the second half of the program. His triple axel is in the first half of the program, but we can say that for Yurio, who is still young and not so strong physically, this is still a challenging choice. What's more, just like Yuuri's 'Eros', it is a difficult program, for which a high level of skating technique is required, too, because the skating in between the elements is quite showy. The costume, that match nicely with body movements of an orthodox Russian skater, who has received a proper ballet training, is also one of the highlights of this program.

Short Program, planned composition:

3A, flying sit spin, change foot camel spin, 4S+3T, 4T, step sequence, combination spin

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #868

Animage 2017/2, Tatenaka Junpei x Abiko Eiji interview (Figure Skating animation)

Part 7.

-- By the way, the reference live-action footage that you've mentioned is the footage of Miyamoto Kenji skating the choreography, correct?

Tatenaka: Yes. I went to the rink, when that footage was being recorded, and drew some sketches directly there, on the rink.

Abiko: They recorded it in the middle of the night, so I couldn't make it.

-- What did you think about Miyamoto-san performance, when you were watching it live?

Tatenaka: It was awesome. Absolutely beautiful. While sketching, I was really so happy to be there. Miyamoto-san's skating is really a series of beautiful poses and while animating them, it wasn't necessary to exaggerate anything at all. Drawing in tune with the music was a part of our job, and in the choreography, all the places, where you had this accents in the rhythm of the music, were nicely marked with a specific pose. So we didn't really had to do anything, just follow Miyamoto-san's movements and the animation in a natural way synchronized with the music. I was really in awe.

-- During Onsen on ICE in episode 3., in the scenes showing Yuuri and Yurio's performances, Yuuri was drawn more realistically, while Yurio's movements were more deformed - my impression was that this difference in how each character was drawn was introduced on purpose, but was it?

Abiko: More than on purpose, the reason for that was that each character was drawn by a different person (laugh). I drew Yuuri.

Tatenaka: And I drew Yurio.

Abiko: I think that the difference in our styles of animating is what gives people this different impression of each character.

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #977

Pash! 2017/03, Sports journalist's comments about programs

Part 2.

Q: What are the most difficult jumps in order?

A: The most difficult jump is simply axel (A), because there is an additional half-rotation. After that, we have lutz (Lz) and flip (F), because the change of edge is difficult. Then it's loop (Lo), salchow (S) and toe loop (T).

Q: Which skater do you think will become even stronger from now on?

A: I think it will be Otabek. His skating is very smooth, and every element of his skating is very well-balanced. His jumps and steps are on a very high level, too, so I think that he can really transform into a monster, depending if the coach and choreography suits him. Yurio, who has just transferred to senior division to juniors, still has some space for improvement, when it comes to his technique, but on the other hand, it depends on if he can work on it and bring it out. How his body will change is also a point of worry, and yeah, if he can climb to the top or not, depends largely on his coach.

Yuri Plisetsky

His SP is a program that can give him the highest score that is even possible in current situation. He has jumps in the second half of the program to get 1.1x bonus for base score, and making a good use of his slender body, he gets additional points for lifting up one arm during jumps. It's really a shame that during his performance, to get more speed, he moves his legs too much, like he's 'paddling'. I think that if he works more on his use of edges, his skating technique will improve and that will also let him improve his artistry. My impression of him is that he's a classic 'young skater'.

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #976

Pash! 2017/03, Sports journalist's comments about programs

Part 1.

Katsuki Yuuri

If you compare Yuuri's FS performances, his skating is much faster in GPF than during the Cup of China, and the skating in-between elements, such as his steps, for which you can also gets additional points, is much smoother. We can also read his emotions well from his face. The 3A-1Lo-3S jump combination in the second half of his program can give him a great amount of points for his base score, but such a program composition can be pulled off only by skaters with extra physical strength. His steps technique is amazing. That he is prone to putting on weight and mentally he's weak, makes you think about the general image that Japanese figure skaters had in the past.

Victor Nikiforov

The gorgeousness of his program, including his costume, is something that you naturally expect from a champion, who won five consecutive golds at Worlds. The axis of his sit spins doesn't waver even for a second. The 4T-3T combo he jumps at the end of his performance at Worlds that we see in episode 1. is a impressive act, that can give him a massive amount of points for his base score. I'm sure you need strength that won't lose to gorilla to do something like this (laugh). In case of his steps, too, the movements of upper and lower body are different, and he is fast. He really is a 'Living Legend'!

Q: What is the average age for figure skating career peak and retirement?

A: For male figure skaters, the peak of their career is often between when they are 18-22 years-old. It's the peak time for learning new techniques, which you can polish later. The retirement age depends on the country, but in case of Japan, a lot of skaters retire when they are still in their early twenties. Even among skaters, who, just like Victor, for a moment stopped skating competitively, there are skaters, who made a come back for Olympics with very good results!

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #862

Animage 2017/2, Tatenaka Junpei x Abiko Eiji interview (Figure Skating animation)

Part 1.

-- You both are in the credits as 'Figure Skating animators', but how much have you drawn, specifically?

Tatenaka: Speaking about how much we have drawn.... it was a lot (laugh). It wasn't so much 'draw this and this, please', but 'until this deadline, please, draw as much as you can'.

Abiko: As much as we can, so really a lot, a lot.

-- Did you directly draw key animation frames?

Abiko: Not really key animation frames, but it was more a layout. Our job was to create the 'movements', which would become the base for key animation frames.

Tatenaka: After we created the draft of the movement and how the camera should move in a scene, as a part of this 'layout', we moved on to the next scene. The rest of work, we basically left to the key animators and animation directors, to do it as they please.

Abiko: However, sometimes those scenes came back to us later, like: 'We don't have time to draw key animation frames for these, so please, draw key animation frames, too.'

[Notes: New Year!! I hope 2025 is a good year for everyone! 💜💜

This year, 138 translations left to 1000~!

My New Year resolution is to create a proper YoI library on wordpress for easy access and clean the tags🫡✨]

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #840

Yuri!!! on Life, official guidebook, Programs

Stammi vicino

Aria ~Stammi vicino~, the Free Skating of the Living Legend, who became the World Champion four times in a row, is a program with extremely high level of difficulty, and 4 types of quad jumps - lutz, flip, toe loop and loop - included in the program composition, from its beginning to the end (and what's more, the last jump is a quad+triple combination). The combination of triple axel+triple loop+triple loop that Victor jumps, as soon as the second half of the program starts, is a very difficult one, too. Even jumping a single triple jump as the second jump is a combination is difficult, but adding a second triple jump is just terrifying. His step sequence, which starts from an inside eagle, is executed very carefully and precisely with deep edges, while the upper part of the body is also used a lot. The artistic expression of the program is created by very calm movements - the dignity of a champion is represented in the beautiful line of his neck and throat, gently rising up. And when, at times, he looks down, it shows you the loneliness of an absolute top skater. In that moment in the second part of the program, when he makes an appeal towards where the judges' seats are situated, he is looking intensely at somebody, somebody he has always wished for, and asks him: 'let's departure together', just like the lyrics say. According to the figure skating regulations, it is possible to jump one more combination, so if he decided to do so, the score could be even higher. Even without it, however, it is an overwhelming program, that doesn't lose its tempo until the end - a program that is well-fitted for a champion.

Free Skating, planned composition:

4Lz, 4F, 3A, change foot camel spin, choreographic sequence, flying sit spin, 4S, 3A+3Lo+3Lo, step sequence, 3Lz, 3F, 4T+3T, combination spin

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #980

Pash! 2017/03, Sports journalist's comments about programs

Part 5.

Minami Kenjirou

His characteristic is his comedic performance, that is often what skaters, who just graduated from junior division choose. It's possible, that elements like clapping his hands and a lot of simple, little steps are to cover up the places, where his skills are lacking at the moment. His music and costume, pop and rhythmical, suits him so well, because of how young he is.

Ji Guang Hong

It's probably because of his young age, but his skating is still very unrefined. To me it feels that more than charming the audience using the music, he performs a program that somebody told him to perform, and it looks like he's putting a lot of effort into it. I'm sure that when he polishes up his skills, he will be able to skate a program that is more his own.

Lee Seung-gil

When a skater failed a jump in the first half of his program, it's possible to recover that jump in the second half of the program, but there are also limits to the number of jump in a program. Smart skaters, who can calculate how many points they lost and how to make all jumps in the second half of the program legal at the same time, like SeungGil does, are very strong.