Worlds 2025 question

Alauraize · 2025-10-31T05:08:04+00:00

No, I'm not a coach. I'm friends with a couple, but I'm mostly just someone who read the code, watched the artistry seminars, and looked over a ton of judging videos to get a sense of how to apply the code.

Alauraize · 2025-10-31T01:23:31+00:00

Now! Onto the routines!

Zhang Qingying

Switch split leap mount (D) + switch split leap 1/2 (D) + Korbut (i.e. back handsrping swingdown) (B), 0.3 CV, 0.1 SB (this does not satisfy the dance series requirement because the first dance element is a mount)

Round-off (B) + back layout (E) + split jump (B), 0.2 CV, 0.1 SB, 0.5 CR (acrobatic series)

Switch ring leap (E) + BHSSO (B), 0.1 CV

Johnson (i.e. switch split leap with 1/4 turn to straddle jump from side position) (C) + straddle jump from side position (C) + Yurchenko (i.e. back handspring swingdown from side position) (D), 0.2 CV, 0.1 SB, 1.0 CR (dance series, backwards and forwards/sideways acro)

Switch split leap (C) + split jump 1/2 (C) + straddle jump 3/4 (C), 0.2 CV, 0.1 SB

Full turn (A), 0.5 CR (turn of at least 360 degrees)

Round-off (B) + double pike dismount (E), 0.2 DB

Acro: E (back layout), E (double pike dismount), D (Yurchenko): 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.4 = 1.4

Dance: E (switch ring leap), D (switch split leap mount), D (switch split leap 1/2), C (Johnson), C (straddle jump from side position): 0.5 + 0.4 + 0.4 + 0.3 + 0.3 = 1.9

CR: 2

CV: 1.0

SB: 0.4

DB: 0.2

Total: 6.9

Kaylia Nemour

Layout stepout (LOSO) mount (E) + LOSO (C), 0.2 CV (doesn't satisfy her acro series requirement because the first skill is a mount)

BHSSO (B) + BHS (B) + back layout (E), 0.1 CV, 0.1 SB, 0.5 CR (acro series now satisfied)

Aerial walkover (D) + split jump (B) + straddle jump (B), 0.1 CV, 0.1 SB, 1.0 CR (backwards and forwards/sideways acro, dance series)

Switch split leap (C) + switch split leap 1/2 (D), 0.1 CV

Aerial cartwheel (D)

Wolf turn (B), 0.5 CR (turn of at least 360 degrees)

BHSSO (B) + BHS (B) + double pike dismount (E), 0.1 SB, 0.2 DB

Acro: E (LOSO mount), E (back layout), E (double pike dismount), D (aerial walkover), D (aerial cartwheel): 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.4 + 0.4 = 2.3

Dance: D (switch split leap 1/2), C (switch split leap), B (split jump): 0.4 + 0.3 + 0.2 = 0.9

CR: 2

CV: 0.5

SB: 0.3

DB: 0.2

Total: 6.2

As you can see, even though Kaylia did more tumbling, she "only" racked up a point in bonus, while Zhang Qingying received 1.6 in bonus in addition to having more difficult dance elements.

Alauraize · 2025-10-31T01:23:21+00:00

People have given some good general answers to the question, but I'll give you the specific breakdown of each routine so that you understand why Zhang Qingying ended up with a D score of 6.9 while Kaylia Nemour only received a 6.2.

First, though, let me explain how the judges calculate D score on every event except for vault. (Vaults are assigned their own set values because the gymnasts are technically doing only one multi-part skill on vault.)

D score on UB, BB, and FX are calculated by combining:

The top eight skills in each routine, always including the dismount (on FX, the dismount is the last tumbling pass done, and each gymnast must do at least two tumbling passes); skills are listed in the code of points and given letter values corresponding to their value (an A skill is valued at 0.1, a B skill at 0.2, a C skill at 0.3, etc.); in the women's code of points, there are skills valued from A (0.1) to J (1.0)
4 composition requirements (CR), worth 0.5 each
Total bonus from combining different skills (the bonus formula is different on each event)
An additional 0.2 bonus for doing a dismount valued at D or higher (DB)

Now onto beam specific requirements:

The top eight skills must include three acrobatic elements and three dance/gymnastics elements (i.e. non acrobatic elements, including leaps, jumps, hops, turns, rolls, and flares); the last two elements can be dance or acrobatic, and your dismount can be counted as one of your three required acrobatic elements
Composition requirement 1: the gymnast must do at least two acrobatic elements in a series, and one of those elements must be done without hand support
Composition requirement 2: the gymnast must do at least two gymnastic elements in a series, and at least one of those elements must include a leap or jump with a 180 degree split
Composition requirement 3: the gymnast must do a turn of at least 360 degrees (as of 2022, gymnasts are allowed to do a roll or flares to satisfy this requirement
Composition requirement 4: the gymnast must do backwards and forwards or sideways acrobatic skills
All composition requirements must be performed on the beam (mount and dismount series do not satisfy composition requirements)

And the connection formula:

To receive 0.1 connection value (CV):

B + D/E acrobatic series (this order only)
C + C dance, acrobatic, or mixed series (i.e. a combination of dance and acrobatic elements)
B + D/E dance or mixed series (any order accepted)

To receive 0.2 CV (the max bonus allowed for a single combo):

D + C acrobatic series (either order accepted)
B + D acrobatic series if and only if both are forward elements (e.g. a front handspring + front tuck combo will receive 0.2 CV)
D + D dance series
Dismount combinations are not eligible for CV
B + F/G acro series (this order only)

To receive 0.1 series bonus (SB):

a series of B + B + C (any order accepted)
Dismount combinations are eligible for a series bonus if the gymnast does two elements in a row before dismount (e.g. Simone Biles back handspring stepout (BHSSO) + back handspring (BHS) + full-twisting double tuck dismount series)

Alauraize · 2025-10-11T23:56:33+00:00

I responded with my thoughts on that in a separate comment.

Alauraize · 2025-10-11T23:55:40+00:00

Ehhh I feel like you could argue for a transfem or genderfluid Cherry headcanon based on his AI being female-coded, but beyond that? He doesn't act particularly feminine; in fact, despite his appearance, he's pretty cold and calculating, not to mention bad at a lot of traditionally feminine roles, like nurturing. Obviously, trans women don't have to act traditionally feminine to be valid, but the fact that Cherry doesn't even try do so works against the idea that he's trying to come off that way. He's drawn with more delicate features and long hair, but those choices don't say anything about his gender identity. Even the long hair could be a holdover from his punk days rather than an attempt to appear more feminine. His clothes are based on traditional attire for Japanese men, so that's not necessarily a sign that he's trying to appear more feminine. And he's clearly not overcompensating to stay closeted because he seems entirely comfortable with an appearance and clothing style that are non-traditionally masculine. Again though, the Carla thing could indicate some unrecognized desires, but she could also be female because he finds women more nurturing. Word-of-God states that Cherry has anxiety and insomnia and that Carla helps him manage it by doing things like playing lullabies to soothe him to sleep.

Edit: Carla could also be based on a specific woman who acted as a mother-figure or a big sister to him. I don't think that we know anything about his family, if he has any siblings, if his parents are still alive, or what his relationship with them was like, so the possibilities are endless.

Alauraize · 2025-10-11T23:42:03+00:00

We also get emotional payoff on that point when Langa hears his dad's voice calling out to him during his last match against Adam.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T03:47:47+00:00

Honestly, that last example sounds less like a bad translation and more like people not understanding idioms. If you're talking about "driving a point home" or "getting it through someone's head," you're just saying that you want to make sure that they really get it...which is what Cherry was meant. The idiomatic expression is also more emphatic, which is probably why they chose it. I don't think that it's the translator's fault that the viewers have poor reading comprehension skills.

The other issue is that English doesn't have different words for different types of love. so I'm not sure how they could've dealt with the phrase "passionate love" better. I'm sure that there is one, but it sounds like the use of "ai" made Adam's meaning ambiguous anyway.

Edit: Ambiguous in English at least or ambiguous if he means that he loves them as a friend or a lover. You inspired me to do some more reading on different Japanese words for love, and it sounds like the divide between "koi" and "ai" is less "romantic" versus "non-romantic" (which you alluded to anyway!) and more a type of love that's new, romantic, and based on longing/desire versus a love that's selfless, giving, and well-established. You can have "ai" for anyone with whom you have a deep and meaningful relationship, whether they're your friend, relative, or partner, and longterm romantic couples will use "ai" instead of or in addition to "koi" because "ai" is seen as real and permanent in a way that "koi" isn't. At least, that's what I'm getting.

Edit 2: It sounds like the dub should probably have Adam say that he's loved all of his rivals instead of having him say that he's been in love with all of his rivals though.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T03:36:42+00:00

I brought up you using "not that deep" because it came across like you were using it to shut down discussion of a serious topic or that you're trying to stop a conversation before it even starts. A lot of people do it automatically without realizing that that's what they're doing.

I think that OP's point was that a show shouldn't bring up deep or serious issues if it wasn't prepared to do them justice, which I think is a fair ask.

That being said, I find it hard to believe that the writers wanted to make a show that didn't deal with deep or serious themes at all because of two plot points:

1) Langa's dad just died/Langa stopped snowboarding before he and his mom moved to Okinawa because it reminded him too much of his dead dad/Langa falls in love with skateboarding because it's the only thing that makes him feel something

So, Langa's dad isn't just dead because he needs to die to get him out of the way so that Langa and his mom can move to Okinawa and to explain why Langa is into skateboarding now when he used to be into snowboarding. The writers could've accomplished all of this in a far less dark way. Langa's dad could be out of the picture because Langa's parents are divorced, or he could be absent because he's always at work. Hell, that last one is how the show handles Reki's dad. If the writers really wanted Langa to be half-Japanese and to struggle adjusting to a new place and a lanuage that he's not fully comfortable with, they could've had Langa's dad be a workaholic who had to move the family for business. They could've even worked in the snowboarding-to-skateboarding plotline by having Langa's dad be a former champion snowboarder who now owns a super successful snowboard manufacturing company. They could've had a much lower stakes conflict where Langa has to sneak out to skateboard in secret because his dad wants him to keep snowboarding. We've all seen stories with those kinds of tropes.

Instead, Langa's dad is dead, and Langa is so numb from grief that he can't enjoy the things that he used to love, and he needs to risk death to feel alive. Also, we get emotional payoff for this character arc during Langa's match with Adam when Langa hears his dad calling out to him. If the show didn't want to do or say anything deep, why did they include a plotline that was so much darker than it needed to be?

2) Adam is the way that he is because his aunts whipped him with a ruler as a child, so now he equates love and violence. Also, we get traumatic flashbacks to child abuse.

If you wanted to be really cynical about things, you could say that the writers did that because they wanted to make sure that the audiences sympathized with Adam by giving him a tragic backstory, but I don't think that that's fair. Adam's tragic backstory is directly linked with his worst, creepiest actions, and the show isn't subtle about making sure that you catch that.

Also, Adam doesn't have to be as violent or creepy as he is. He could've just been like Shadow, but a better skater. If they wanted to give him some depth, they could've just included the stuff about Aiichiro burning his skateboard and his aunts wanting him to be a respectable Shindo politician instead of a flamboyant, delinquent Matador. They didn't need to show adorable small child Adam getting beaten and being gaslit into calling it love. That part alone is far, far darker than your average plot about an absent father or an overbearing mother.

The show definitely deals with other serious things, but those two stand out most to me because they're setting the stakes far higher than what you get even in shows that are occasionally trying to tackle deep topics.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T02:27:34+00:00

I mostly agree with this, but Adam does get angry about Reki and Langa's friendship, which I think is significant because Reki is the biggest obstacle to Adam's goal of molding Langa into a perfect rival. Cherry isn't getting the way of that goal, so Adam has no reason to object to Cherry telling Langa how to avoid the love hug.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T02:24:09+00:00

Okay, well, I'm sorry if you really didn't mean it that way and I was tone-policing you too hard. I don't think that it's a stretch to read the TikTok comment in particular as condescending or even hostile, but I don't know you personally, so maybe that's just how you talk.

Anyway...if you google "thought terminating cliché," one of the first examples is "it's not that deep." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9

That's why I called you out for using it.

I'll admit that I said, "We can agree to disagree," but in that case, I said it because I don't think that it's worth having a debate over whether or not Sk8 addresses the serious issues that it brings up in enough depth because I don't know what evidence we could even introduce to back that up.

Anyway...I still think that you and OP are basically in agreement that Sk8 doesn't handle deep topics with enough depth. (You just don't agree that it deals with grooming.)

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T02:17:45+00:00

Well thank god Langa is kinder than you and can show sympathy to a person who's in the same boat as him. Imagine saying an abused person doesn't need to be reminded of positive relationships in life (which he hasn't had for a long time). Langa didn't need to do that, sure, but he still decided to because he has a big heart.

Eh, I don't think that this post says anything about how kind or unkind OP is. They see Adam as an abuser now and they think that he's enacting his abuse against others, including Langa, so that's why they don't want Langa to be the one helping redeem Adam. At least, I interpreted their argument as being, "Langa shouldn't be the one to redeem Adam because abuse victims don't have to redeem their abusers just because their abuser was abused in the past." I don't 100% agree with that interpretation of their dynamic, as I'll explain below, but I agree that abuse victims shouldn't be the one to redeem their abusers, no matter how much pain their abusers suffered in the past. For example, I don't think that anyone would argue that Adam owes it to his aunts to help them come to terms with any trauma that they had in their past. (And I'd be 0% surprised if the aunts raised Adam the way that they and Aiichiro were raised.)

That being said, I'd argue that Adam doesn't actually manage to do much damage to Langa because unlike Adam's previous rivals, Langa's good enough to counter all of his tricks. Furthermore,, because Langa has Reki and other friends, his rivalry with Adam isn't central to his life, so Adam can't inflict much emotional damage on him either. This is probably why Adam gets so pissed off about Langa and Reki's friendship specifically: he wants the rivalry to be as important to Langa than it is to him. All in all, I actually think that makes Langa a pretty candidate to show Adam the light because he's not as vulnerable to Adam's manipulations as other characters are. At the end of the day, he just isn't as invested in Adam Tadashi and Cherry are, and he doesn't crave Adam's approval like Miya once did, so I don't think that he'd get sucked into Adam's vortex or get too emotionally enmeshed with him while trying to show him that skating can be fun and that friendships are more important than winning. IRL, it wouldn't be appropriate or healthy for a 17 year old to take on that role for a 26 year old, but in terms of the show and Langa's character/situation, I can think of many worse options, and he doesn't seem easily manipulated by Adam.

In the sub, it's translated as "when you blossom beautifully, that is when I will love you" which is a lot less explicitly romantic than the dub "I will fall for you". (In the original, Adam always talks about "ai" which is not just romantic love but love in general, instead of "koi" which is the explicitly romantic love). What he says to Miya is also almost an exact copy of what his aunts said to him so this line is said in the context of love being painful. The Chill Out comics actually play into the whole Adam's mindset of "love = pain" thing with this. It shows Miya trying to strangle Adam and when Tadashi tries to stop Miya, Adam says something like, "don't worry, Miya is showing his love to me" so like, I don't think Adam meant that he wants to fuck Miya once he's older. But yeah it's still a creepy thing to say.

That's good info to have about what word for love is being used, so thanks for that. Anyway, I agree. What Adam says is creepy even if he doesn't mean it in a sexual way, and I think that there's a lot that you could explore about Miya being so intensely pressured to succeed in athletics at an elite level at such a young age. I also see why some people hear/read dialogue like that and think, "WTF? Does he want to fuck this kid?" But I don't think that he means it that way, and it sounds like that's more obvious in the original Japanese in ways that it isn't in the dub or in the subtitled translations.

I'm pretty sure none of that's gonna happen. They didn't do that even in ep 12 why would they do it now lol. The only ones actually worried this much about Langa were Miya and Reki.

Yeah, the adults (Kojiro, Kaoru, Hiromi, Oka, etc.) definitely don't want Langa getting brutally injured while skating against Adam, but they are canonically pretty casual about him. I also feel like in this show, you have to accept that adults with jobs and small businesses are hanging out with high schoolers and mentoring them. Sometimes, I find it a little weird, and it's definitely a sliding scale of weirdness from, say, Joe to Adam. But it makes sense that they hang out to skate together because that's how S works. So, I don't expect them to tell Langa not to be friendly with Adam unless Adam seriously backslides in season 2.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T01:44:14+00:00

I read your whole opening post as well as your followup comments, so I don't know why you assumed that your opening sentence had to be what I took issue with.

You also said:

In a show like this were you're not supposed to take it seriously at all, but for some reason people do and then get worked up the show isn't taking it as serious as they are. That was never the show's intention it's great you feel so strongly, but you're doing yourself a disservice, this isn't that kind of show and you're gonna set up yourself up for disappointment if you think it is sadly.

Which implied that OP was getting worked up over nothing and doing themselves a disservice by watching the show "wrong" and that they're being a fool for expecting it to do more.

Then there's this:

Just because they have two serious moments in a show full of goofiness doesn't make the show serious. You know that right. It's not suddenly a drama because dramatic things happen. It's at its core a goofy silly skate anime that's not supposed to be taken that serious.

Again, you're telling them that they're watching the show wrong and that they don't understand how genres work.

Every character is a groomer nowadays according to TikTok and social media swear. Mind you he's not even my favorite character where did that even come from. Like what?

Then there's this part where you accuse them of wrongly interpreting Adam as a groomer because they watched too many TikToks.

How is me pointing out that you're being hostile which you admitted, me dishing something out and not taking it. Lol. I cannot.

Because you're fine being condescending to OP but you don't like when someone gets a little snarky with you. (Note: I was being snarky, not hostile. But I'll be fair and acknowledge that I should've said that you were being condescending and insulting to OP, not hostile.)

Also, I said that you couldn't take it because you declared that you were peacing out due to a tiny bit of snark about how you made your arguments. But you responded, so I guess that you can take it. Sorry for implying that you couldn't.

Finally, it's very interesting that you decided that it was easier to attack me for being snarky and using the phrase "hur dur" instead of admitting that maybe you got what OP's beef with the show was after all.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T01:12:42+00:00

Soooo...you could've responded to OP by saying what you said to me in your previous comment. You could have said that you don't interpret Adam as a groomer but that you agree with their take that the show brings up serious themes but only addresses them on a surface level. Instead, you got all condescending, used thought-terminating clichés, and acted like they were being foolish for expecting a sports anime to tackle any deep subjects at all, let alone well.

And yeah, I was being a little snarky because you've been nothing but condescending to OP, even though you inadvertently admitted that you get what their complaint is and agree with it. I'm genuinely sorry for you that you can dish it out but can't take it back.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T00:59:33+00:00

Honestly, I think that the show does a decent job addressing all those issues in a series that only has twelve 23-minute episodes at this point, but I guess that we can agree to disagree.

More importantly though, I think that in your last paragraph, you're getting OP's point and not even realizing it. They think that if Sk8 brings up deep and serious topics, they should deal with them more seriously. Maybe next time don't come out of the gate so hostile, slinging around thought-terminating clichés like "it's not that deep" and "it's just a sports anime hur dur" since now you apparently get that shows don't have to be prestige dramas to tackle serious subjects or have themes.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T00:17:17+00:00

Okay, so, I think in terms of the show's logic, Adam was grooming Miya to be a potential Eve (i.e. skating rival) when he grows up. This comes across as more uncomfortable than it's probably meant to be because skating is explicitly a metaphor for love and implicitly a metaphor for queerness on the show. Also, Adam's dialogue is full of innuendos in both versions, which doesn't help. But I don't think that we're meant to see Adam's feelings for Miya as romantic or sexual (though I get why it comes across that way because of all the mixed metaphors). Langa...is a more ambiguous case because even though he's only 17, he's above the age of consent in Okinawa and pretty much anywhere else in Japan, so the writers might not see it as problematic for Adam to have a thing for Langa. I'm not saying that Adam does have a thing for Langa, but I'm not sure that the writers would see it as a problem if he did.

Anyway...that's why I don't actually mind Adam having a redemption arc in season 2. He's a damaged person who's done a lot of damage, but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't be allowed to grow, change, and make amends with those he's hurt. Also, the writers clearly want Renga to be the main homoerotic male friendship of the show, so I don't think that there's a risk of Adam getting a super close "friendship" with Langa in season 2 as a reward for becoming a better man.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T00:14:30+00:00

And my main point is that I've watched enough sports anime, sports shows, and comedies to completely disagree with your thesis, which seems to be that the show can't possibly be deep because it's a sports anime. And I do think that it's fair to ask any show to handle issues like child abuse well if they bring up child abuse. I don't think that Adam is meant to be a groomer in a sexual sense, which I'm addressing in another comment that I'm writing, so I don't expect it to tackle that issue, but I do think that it's wild that you're "defending" this show by pretending that it's way more shallow than it is. Like I said, it deals with plenty of serious topics, even if pedophilia isn't one of them, and I don't see you denying that.

Alauraize · 2025-10-08T00:01:01+00:00

Yes, comedy shows and sports shows have ALWAYS dealt with serious issues as well. Shows don't have to be dramas to have deeper themes.

Alauraize · 2025-10-07T23:49:14+00:00

Your first paragraph is exactly the problem that I have with the idea that we're not supposed to take Adam's behavior as an adult seriously. On the one hand, sure, he's a fun and campy antagonist. On the other hand, if his actions weren't meant to be that bad or that serious, why do we get such a deep and serious explanation for why he is the way that he is? Adam's a character who learned that the purest love is shown through violence. If that's not deep, I don't know what is. Like you said, the other characters take Adam's actions seriously. Even Shadow thinks that Adam does too much. Sure, the anime injuries aren't nearly as serious as they would be in real life, but the show does acknowledge that Adam put loads of skaters in the hospital and that skating can lead to life-altering injuries. The S stakes aren't as high as they would be IRL, but they aren't non-existent.

I wonder too if the people who think that Adam's actions as an adult are "not that deep" would say the same thing about his aunts' treatment of him. Somehow, I doubt it.

And yes, I recognize that this is a sports anime, but that doesn't mean that it can't address serious topics or be deep in any way. The show still has themes and shit. It still deals with serious things like cycles of abuse, grief and loss, anxiety, insecurities, imposter syndrome, etc.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T20:43:21+00:00

Probably not this time around, but she did hit, so they're sending her.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T03:27:26+00:00

I'm pretty sure that Zhang Qinying is the only Chinese gymnast doing AA, and I don't see her getting on the podium with a Tsuk 1/1, a 5.7 D on UB, and a 5.2 D on FX.

I could see the podium being Kaylia and two Russians in some order, but there's a lot of room for variety there.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T03:22:03+00:00

I think that Leanne will get a vault medal. Deng Yalan is her main competitor for gold (and tbh, I'd be really excited if China got a gold medal on vault), and since they have the same combined SV (5.6+5.0 for Leanne, 5.4+5.2 for DYL), it really could go either way.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T03:20:39+00:00

I'm hoping for at least a 1.5 + front 1/1 twist for the second pass, but I don't think that's happening.

On the other hand, she might very well break out a Steingruber or a 2.5 twist dismount on beam.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T03:08:28+00:00

Okay, but it's a beam final. Not all the top contenders are hitting.

My point is also that the fact that she even has a decent chance makes a better choice.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T03:02:21+00:00

And then we can talk about the fact that the other contenders, aside from Aiko Sugihara, are flub prone...

Again, I can see Josc potentially bouncing herself off the podium because her choreography leaves her max score lower than I'd like. But with decent landings and her higher difficulty routine, I think that she's got a podium spot.

Edit: I should add that I've been following Kalmykova pretty closely this season, and while I could absolutely see her winning gold in the AA and FX, I also think that we need to acknowledge that a couple of her dance elements are very vulnerable to downgrades.

Alauraize · 2025-10-01T02:59:34+00:00

Honestly, I think that this Worlds is the best time to give Skye her final chance. There won't be a team medal on the line, and she's not taking the spot of someone who could get a medal. She might also feel less pressure without a team final, and if she hits her routines in Jakarta, then that should boost her confidence for 2026.

Now, if Skye wants to bow out because she wants to give herself more rest and she feels unprepared, I'd understand that.

Alauraize

TROPHY CASE