Repray Tour

The Repray Tour (full title stylized as 'Yuzuru Hanyu ICE STORY 2nd →RE_PRAY← TOUR') was a solo ice show tour by Japanese figure skater and two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, organized by TV Asahi, CIC Co., Ltd., and Team Sirius. The tour initially consisted of three stops across Japan from November 2023 to February 2024 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, in Saga City, and Pia Arena MM in Yokohama. Upon the commercial success of the first three stops, it was decided to add another two shows at Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Rifu, held in April 2024.

The Repray Tour is the first solo ice show tour in the sport of figure skating, produced and directed by Yuzuru Hanyu in collaboration with choreographer Mikiko. It is part of the Yuzuru Hanyu Ice Story series and a sequel to Hanyu's solo show ''Gift'' at Tokyo Dome in 2023. Each show of the Repray Tour had a duration of 120 minutes and featured 12 different skating programs embedded into a story revolving around video games and the contrasts of virtual and real life. On the first day of the Miyagi tour stop, Hanyu completed a 2.5-hour solo show with no mistakes for the first time, performing at the athletic level of skating competitions, including six quadruple jumps and five triple Axels with 3 revolutions.

The tour was sold out on each day with a total attendance of 64,600 spectators. Four shows were screened live at cinemas in Japan and overseas, aired live on the subscription channel , and streamed on Beyond Live worldwide. Two documentaries of the show were broadcast by TV Asahi on January 7 and May 5, 2024. The tour was sponsored by Tōwa Pharmaceutical and Phiten, with the first three tour stops receiving additional sponsorship by Kosé's skin care brand Sekkisei.

Background

Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater and ice show producer who competed in the men's singles discipline and turned professional in 2022. Regarded as one of the greatest skaters in the sport's history, he is the first two-time Olympic men's champion in 66 years with back-to-back gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, and the first male single skater to complete the Super Slam, having won all major international senior and junior titles in the course of his career. He scored 19 world records in the ISU Judging System and was the first skater to land a quadruple loop jump in international competition among other achievements. On March 11, 2011, Hanyu experienced the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in his hometown of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, which fundamentally shaped his life and career. It was the most powerful earthquake recorded in Japan, which cost more than 19,000 people's lives.

Hanyu's first major work as a professional skater is the ongoing Yuzuru Hanyu Ice Story, a series of solo ice shows produced and directed by himself in collaboration with renowned Japanese choreographer Mikiko. The series was launched in November 2022 with ''Prologue'', the first solo ice show production in figure skating, held in Yokohama and Hachinohe with five performances in total. The first main chapter of the Ice Story, titled ''Gift'', was presented on February 26, 2023, at Tokyo Dome in front of a record ice show audience of 35,000 spectators. Both productions focused on Hanyu's transition from competitive to professional skating, telling the story of his life and future on ice. Following the universal acclaim and commercial success of ''Prologue'' and ''Gift'', Hanyu announced on September 1, 2023, the continuation of the series with the Repray Tour, the first solo tour production in figure skating. The tour was organized by Hanyu's management company Team Sirius in partnership with and CIC Co., Ltd.

Venues

The Repray Tour was initially scheduled with three tour stops across Japan between November 2023 and February 2024. The first show was set for November 4 and 5 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, one of the most prestigious venues in competitive figure skating, having hosted three World Championships in 2014, 2019, and 2023 among others. For Hanyu, the venue was of particular importance, having won his first World title there in 2014 as well as two national titles at the 2013–14 and 2021–22 Japan Championships. The second tour stop was scheduled for January 12 and 14, 2024, at the newly built in Saga City on the Japanese island Kyushu, which opened on May 13, 2023. The initial tour concluded with a stop at Pia Arena MM in Yokohama on February 17 and 19, where Hanyu's first solo show ''Prologue'' was held in November 2022.

Upon the commercial success of the first three tour stops, the addition of another two shows was announced on March 6, 2024. The shows were scheduled for April 7 and 9 at Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Rifu near Hanyu's hometown of Sendai. The venue served as a morgue after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and is home to the disaster's annual commemoration event Yuzuru Hanyu Notte Stellata, which was inaugurated in 2023.

Promotion and ticket sales

Similar to Hanyu's first two solo shows, there was little promotion or information provided on the content before the start of the tour. On September 1, 2023, Hanyu commented on the show's official website that the performance would be spun around the world of gaming, which was known as one of his passions, with focus on the contrasts between games and real life, stating: "You only live life once while games are never-ending. I believe the two contrasting worlds each have their own unique values that I can apply to skating." The first official visual, a blue-black pixelized image of Hanyu, was not revealed until after the conclusion of the second general sales period on October 27, 2023, eight days prior to the opening show in Saitama.

Ticket sales were staggered into multiple rounds, starting with official pre-sales, followed by two to three general sales and an official resale period for customers who were unable to attend the show. All tickets were distributed by lottery with exception of the final general sales, where a limited number of tickets was sold on first-come-first-served basis. Regular prices ranged from ¥22,000 for stand S seats to ¥30,000 for premier seats (US$145–198 as of April 2024). Some tickets for stand A seats with limited view were available for ¥16,000–19,000. Sales were handled by the show's official organizer TV Asahi and the Japanese ticketing agency Lawson Ticket. In order to prevent unauthorized resales or transfers, customers were required to register for an electronic ticket with name, phone number, and a specific , using an SMS authentification system. Tickets purchased via Lawson were excluded from official resales. All eight performances were sold out with 64,600 tickets in total.

Production

Story and video segments

The lead theme of the show is the contrasting characteristics of the gaming world and the real world and their value for people's lives: "A life that can only be lived once, a game that can be played over and over again—I believe that there are many important things that can only be found in each of these two contradictory lives. The essential aspects of both will be entrusted to words and skating."

Music, programs, and costumes

Hanyu debuted three new programs to the songs " Gate of Living" by Japanese musician Ringo Sheena, "Megalovania" from the role-playing video game ''Undertale'' by American indie developer Toby Fox, and " The Darkness of Eternity" from the game ''Final Fantasy IX''. The program "Megalovania" was preceded by a unique skating segment performed in silence with only the sound of the blades to be heard.

Athletic merit and records

Live shows

Each show of the Repray Tour had a total duration of 150 minutes, consisting of 53 minutes live performance on the ice, 67 minutes video narration and speeches, and a 30-minute intermission after the first show half. The opening tour stop in Saitama marked the first time in figure skating that two solo shows of 2.5 hours length were performed on consecutive days. Hanyu skated 12 programs and a choreographed 6-minute warm-up session on each day, levelling the record skating content of his solo show ''Gift'' at Tokyo Dome in February 2023. As noted by Russian world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, skaters usually do not perform more than three programs per ice show due to the physical limitations in fitness and stamina. In order to successfully complete 12 programs, Hanyu made various adjustments to his training routines, having notably increased the workload compared to his competitive career.

The first half of the show was constructed in a way that all four key elements of single skating were represented by one program each. The opening program "A Fleeting Dream" showcased exclusively basic steps and skating movements, while "Gate of Living" highlighted dancing skills, including an off-ice dance segment on stage. The choreography of "Megalovania" was focusing on spins, and "The Darkness of Eternity" contained 11  jumps, seven of them performed in combination, matching the content of a competitive free skate. The program featured three quadruple jumps, the highest valued technical elements in figure skating, namely a quad Salchow and two quad toe loops, one of them executed in the second half as part of a unique quad toe loop-Euler-triple Salchow-Euler-triple Salchow combination. The element's numerical base value of 21.01 points exceeded Ilia Malinin's quad Lutz-Euler-triple flip combination (19.03 points), the highest valued and successfully executed element in competition until then.

On April 7, 2024, Hanyu completed a full 2.5-hour solo show with no mistakes for the first time, counting six quads, five triple Axels with 3 revolutions as well as 11 other triples, and 20 spins in total—a new athletic milestone in the sport of figure skating. In comparison, the winning free skate of the men's singles champion Ilia Malinin at the 2024 World Championships, which scored a new world record of 227.79 points, included six quads of five different types, among them a quadruple Axel with 4 revolutions, as well as one triple Axel and three more triples.

Ending credits

In his pre-recorded performance to the medley of ''Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals'', Hanyu performed all six types of figure skating jumps, including a quad Salchow, quad toe loop, and a quad loop jump, which was only landed by Hanyu and 10 other skaters in international competition with a positive grade of execution until then. At the end of the program, Hanyu also performed a triple Axel-triple toe loop-triple loop combination, which was only attempted by Japanese skater Nobunari Oda in competition, successfully landed at the 2007 World Championships among others.

Attendance and accessibility

The performances of all tour stops were all sold out by lottery with 14,000 spectators in Saitama, 5,500 in Saga, 7,000 in Yokohama, and 5,800 in Rifu in attendance on each day. One selected day of each stop was screened live and delayed at cinemas in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, and streamed on Beyond Live worldwide.

All eight shows were broadcast live or delayed on the Japanese subscription channel . The show was sponsored by Tōwa Pharmaceutical and Phiten, with the first three tour stops being additionally supported by Kosé's skin care brand Sekkisei.

Specials and merchandise

On the occasion of Hanyu's 29th birthday on December 7, 2023, TV Asahi organized a special online event at Metaverse Roppongi. The virtual room was joined by 35,000 fans who could rewatch segments of the Repray Tour in Saitama among others. The event was also joined by Hanyu himself.

On January 7, 2024, TV Asahi aired a special documentary on the opening Saitama tour stop on their terrestrial channel. The documentary featured replays of Hanyu's performances, behind-the-scenes footage, and an exclusive interview with director and choreographer Mikiko. Notable was a backstage scene of Hanyu collapsing after his performance to "The Darkness of Eternity" at the end of the first half. Another documentary of 150 minutes with additional footage from the Yokohama and Miyagi tour stops and the creation process of the show was aired on on May 5, 2024.

Set list

First half
#" A Fleeting Dream"
#" Gate of Living"
#''Hope and Legacy'' " Ashura-chan"
#"Megalovania"
#" The Darkness of Eternity"

Second half
#

"A Fleeting Dream"
#"Requiem of Heaven and Earth"
#"One Summer's Day"
#"'"

Ending credits

Encore
#

" Let Me Entertain You"
#'' Seimei''
#''Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso''

Notes and references

Citations

Works cited

*

*

*

External links

Repray Tour official website
(in Japanese)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Repray Tour
Yuzuru Hanyu ice shows
Sport in Saitama (city)
Culture in Saga Prefecture
Sport in Saga Prefecture
Events in Yokohama
Entertainment events in Japan
Performing arts in Japan