I WHOLEHEARTEDLYAGRRE WITH ALL OF YHIS

catsbythegreat:

Figure skating at the Olympics was lit! And is still lit, since it’s still going on. I wanted to make a post about inspirations for the characters in my SKK figure skating AU because I have a lot of feelings about figure skating in general (before Sochi I discovered Johnny Weir and now I’m in this) so this au has been a lot of fun to do.

For reference, the fics are Revival and Perseverance and these are the characters featured in them (minus Kenji because I can’t think of a super young skater who reminds me of him). But you can also just take these as figure skating AU headcanons for who I think each character would be most like in terms of skating style.

Dazai – I wrote him with Nathan Chen in mind (2018 US Nationals free skate). Nathan Chen is out here setting records and doing six quads in his free skate at the Olympics and generally being really impressive. I think Dazai would be really good technically, but would not be quite as artistic as other skaters. Nathan Chen isn’t bad at being artistic, but when he comes to mind I think of how good he is with the technical stuff. He also seems to mostly be able to pull himself together under pressure (the two short programs at the Olympics aside), and Dazai seems like the kind of person who can perform well under pressure.

Chuuya – He reminds me of Shoma Uno (2017 Worlds free skate), who skates really emotionally but also tends to make mistakes on difficult jumps, which Chuuya would probably do because he’d get carried away with emotions whether it be emotions from the actual program or nerves. He has a flare for the dramatic, which I think Chuuya would have. His programs are expressive, which suits Chuuya. Also, Shoma skates really fast, and Chuuya would totally do that. (~~And they’re the same height.~~)

Atsushi – I thought of Atsushi when I saw Vincent Zhou (2018 US Nationals free skate), because he’s super young and new but really good and trying new things (he was the first man to land a quad lutz at the Olympics!). Basically, he has a lot of potential and so does Atsushi! And his reaction to it all is what you would expect of a 17 year old who got to his level and is doing super well. I think Atsushi would be extremely grateful to be able to get so far.

Akutagawa – So this might be a weird choice since he’s the top guy in figure skating right now, but Akutagawa reminded me of Yuzuru Hanyu (2018 Grand Prix free skate). I say this because Yuzuru is extremely ambitious and super intense, and I think Akutagawa aspires to that level. Akutagawa would be incredibly intense and incredibly ambitious and he’d overwork himself to stay ahead of everyone. I don’t think Akutagawa would be able to pull off Yuzuru’s level of consistency because of who he is as a person, but he would definitely have a similar disposition approaching his skating.

Kunikida – If Kunikida was a figure skater, he would remind me of Patrick Chan (2018 Canadian Nationals free skate) because Patrick Chan is more experienced than pretty much all of the other people on this list. He’s worked hard and done well, and I think Kunikida would have that steady presence and would be successful at sticking around for a long time.

I actually wanted to put their Olympic free skates in, but those are only available on sites that will probably not be available in every country. But they all did really well in their free skates, so I highly recommend watching them!

I really enjoy this AU so it was a lot of fun to think about this (and watch lots of free skates).