R155 You talking about that poster over on Tumblr? They claim they skate and that a lot of schools in NA teach that kind of landing, which is strange given a lot of NA commentators who were ex-high-flying skaters themselves call Hanyu's textbook. And a lot of NA skaters have a lot less stiff landing than Chen's (with their free leg not looking as though it's trying to kick something invisible that's high up in the air behind them so I'm not sure what that person was talking about when they claimed they like straight bearing and posture...which Hanyu does have in spades when he lands). But given that I don't skate myself and I didn't want to sound like a lifelong Hanyu defender (cos seriously, this guy needs no defending. His skating and corresponding achievements and the fact that more or less anyone who knows him in this whole wide world orgasms over him and his skating speak for themselves) hating on others who aren't Hanyu, I just moved on.
Chen's jumps, to my eyes, just aren't good-looking most of the time, even compared to other skaters who aren't Hanyu. But he rotates them more often than not. And he doesn't whine about being judged wrongly when he gets dinged. Chen vs Hanyu I can still stomach, and he did help relight the fire for competition within Hanyu (who's a big time jump-otaku so I guess he could at least focus on that), but Zhou working himself into that dynamic without the goods to match even Chen much less Hanyu yet obnoxiously claiming that he does* just rubs me the wrong way.
*He didn't explicitly say it but he didn't have to. The fact that he and his coach whined very publicly about his URs not being URs and it's so unfair that they're judged as such (while hypocritically overlooking the fact that they themselves are being unfair to those who don't UR) and the irony of even ISU not being deluded enough to think they can keep covering for him and resorted to plainly reward all URs instead is how I came to this conclusion. They should call that new rule, the Zhou rule, to be honest. Sad thing is, before that incident, I was actually quite excited about Zhou. But after, I just lost all respect for him.
R154 I think for Takahashi, it's a matter of pride. I'm sure he knows Hanyu's the one he should be studying but judging from what's been revealed of his character and personality, he probably can't bring himself to. The guy is insecure as all get out yet has a good amount of ego. That's not a good combo for a competitor trying to reach the top, but sadly a lot of athletes have. Hanyu has neither which, combined with other things that either fortuitously or serendipitously lined up for him and his incredible ability to turn even huge strokes of bad luck into even bigger advantages, is why he is where he is today. Takahashi's always felt inferior and afraid of Hanyu and he's openly admitted to being jealous of the guy so having been so soundly overtaken by Hanyu, who has everything he's ever wanted up to and including physical attributes and his lack of need to maintain them and still get paid in huge sums to briefly promote a well-known and exclusive cosmetic product where Takahashi has to slave to maintain his looks and spend lots of money cosmetics item, looking at the guy for hours on end in order to study his technique would probably trigger his complex in a very bad way, and give rise to very ugly and complicated feelings.
And since there isn't anyone else landing a butt ton of fully rotated quads and is up there challenging Hanyu (even if it's only by the design of others with vested interest), he has no choice but to go with Chen. Better Chen than Zhou, tbh. Plus, maybe Takahashi can make Chen's quads look better, if he ever lands any (which given his history with jumps and how they are his weakest point when it comes to skating, and the fact that he has a knee probably wonkier than Hanyu's problem ankle, is highly dubious.)
