I feel it’s VERY constructive. We aren’t insulting different styles. Just think about it. Two main styles are Asian and American. It’s not racist, it’s actually kind of fascinating as to how two completely opposite sides of the world came up with completely different styles of play.
WOAH! Dude, I just made the connection! You are the guy who made it to 5A finals at only your second contest! That is amazing! It cool to be able to picture you now when I see your posts, hahaha.
I think it’s definitely racist, but whatever floats your boat.
I think Shinya’s final would be the best example of Eastern yoyo play.
I think one problem with trying to generalize the style of a whole geographical area is that these generalizations tend to be based on a small handful of players. Especially with Asian players, a lot of western perceptions are based on players who travel to the U.S. to compete, because that is mostly who we see here. That is a really small subset of Asian competitors. It excludes almost everyone who does not have a serious chance of making Finals and everyone who doesn’t have the means to travel across the world to go to contests. It also lumps together players who live thousands of miles apart, speak different languages, and probably have little direct interaction.
In terms of tight local groups or personal friendships where players directly influence each other, I think it can be helpful to see where styles overlap, such as with Gentry/Augie or Yuuki/Jesse Garcia. In terms of all of Japan and/or Asia, or all of the U.S. and/or the West, though, there is way too much variety, too many exceptions, and too much cross-influence between Eastern and Western players. Making distinctions by geography tends to obscure legitimate differences between players from the same region or overlook similarities between players from different regions.
I think it is much more useful to instead try to identify specific stylistic elements, and then see where specific players overlap or differentiate. Some examples:
Ryosuke Iwasawa’s style is very string-oriented. He does a lot of lacerations, slacks, complex/kinked string formations, pops within mounts, etc.
Paul Han uses similar stylistic elements to players like Mickey or Shinya. For example, he has tricks that speed up well, uses a lot of fast circular yoyo movement, has long sections where the string is primarily used to change the direction of the yoyo, and applies these concepts to frontstyle and Excalibur/horizontal play. Even a lot of his string-oriented tricks are long whip combos that play best at high speeds rather than intricate formations or slacks.
While Ryosuke shows a lot of stereotypical “Western” elements and more complex string manipulation, and Paul shows a lot of stereotypical “Eastern” elements and emphasis broad and fast yoyo movement, the two of them still end up with a lot of overlap between their styles. For example, both have high-speed aerial string manipulation tricks, and both have incorporated elements of Yuuki Spencer’s/Jesse Garcia’s tech styles.
Takahiro Iizuka also has a very complex string style with difficult slacks and intricate formations. Some of his style relies on manipulating both the yoyo and the string independently to create unique slack/whip tricks. He is similar to Ryosuke in relying on slack, complex string manipulation, and utilizing mounts mostly in traditional sidestyle positions. He is different in that his complexity comes more from how he controls the string to transition between mounts and how he manipulates the yoyo in conjunction with the string rather than Ryosuke’s pure complexity of string manipulation and faster whips/lacerations. Both have very different styles from several other top Asian competitors.
And of course some players just have styles that go completely away from most top competitors. This Masamitsu Yanasep freestyle is composed almost entirely around the rhythmic presentation. While it does focus on yoyo movement, the emphasis is very much on the line the yoyo takes and finding lines that flow well to create a good rhythm. This is in contrast to someone like Mickey, who picks lines of movement for the yoyo that demonstrate extreme control, skill, and variety of movement, all of which play well in a contest structure. I think this approach is somewhat similar to Seth Peterson, who has another rhythmic style. Masamitsu’s rhythm is a bit more syncopated, and he doesn’t have as much pure repeating stuff in his freestyle as Seth uses, but both use some repeating elements and go through progressions that use similar elements or concepts as a motif.
I don’t think grouping players by broad geographical definitions helps pick up on the subtleties of players’ styles. I think especially with top competitors, there is a lot of cross-influence and common-influence between players. They obviously take those influences in a wide variety of ways, but with the sheer volume of tricks they do in a 3-minute freestyle, there are a lot of similar elements being used. Things like Marcus Koh and Zach Gormley both utilizing body tricks, including tunnel, around-the-corner, and behind-the-arm tricks, and both transitioning into or out of inverted tricks (palms inward with the yoyo between your hands and body). Some of Zach’s inverted Nanda Kanda inspired elements are also similar to some of what Chris Chia does.
For the most part, all the elite competitors are doing different tricks, but also have some similar elements to other players. Trying to stereotype their styles by region forces you to downplay the variety within each set of players and focus disproportionately on the elements that some of those players have in common, while downplaying elements where they differ or where they overlap with players outside the region. This sort of thinking can help see where Mickey, Shinya, Marcus, Chia, etc are similar, but does not help see how they are different or how their influences overlap with Western players. It also does not help at all with trying to analyze the styles of the huge population of Asian (or Western) players who don’t compete at Worlds. I think you can accomplish the same benefits more completely if you drop the geography from the focus and instead just focus on the styles themselves, and limit geography to trying to trace direct local influences (i.e. players in the same local scene or players who hang out together at contests, as opposed to players in Singapore with players in Japan as a group).
^^^ Interesting points.
That was wonderfully passive aggressive. …But hey, I am not criticizing 
Seriously though, racist? I think you need to ease up a bit. The points made are about regional yoyo play-style; not race. Please, lets not get so overly sensitive, that we can’t talk to each other reasonably; about relevant subjects.
No man. We aren’t saying that their style is the way it is BECAUSE they are from the east. Not at all. That would be racist. We are saying that certain geographical locations in the world, namely Asia or America, have their own distinct style. I’m not sure how you consider that racist.
Oldguy, do you even know what racism is? This discussion is not racist in the least!
I was reading through the thread waiting to see a post like this.
I was gonna make one, and then BAM
You really just hit everyone else upside the head.
I understand many people FEEL that Its east vs west.
But reality is, Its only due to very big players that make this seem true.
And also, what bothers me a lot in this thread. It is NOT Asian vs American.
Its East vs west. ALSO, the Asian vs american thing is not racist. Its just highly stereotypical.
And to people saying American vs asian.
American isn’t a style. Especially since there are tons of canadian and euro Players who use this so called “American” style.
And Another point is. Europeans. Thats in the east. But they have a western style.
Tell me. Can anyone tell me why that is?
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It’s always been thought that European nations are considered Western.
I don’t know where you got the East part from.
Really? I actually didn’t know that.
I always considered them eastern due to them being on the eastern hemisphere.