This is one of those edits that will make you pause and rewind, wipe your eyes once or twice for clarity, and wonder just how exactly he pulled that off. As one of Japans premier young skiers, it’s no surprise that Koga Hoshino has some incredibly smooth style in the deep stuff. Throughout the second half of this compilation, he flips and floats through the trenches with an unmistakable smoothness and style, painting the bottomless countryside in a beautiful stride. What might come as a surprise is Koga’s prowess in the streets. In an island nation with a snow magnet like Hokkaido, it’s inspiring to see someone straying from the neck-deep snow and not just skiing the streets, but laying waste to features of all shapes and sizes. A 30 foot backflip to flat? Monster 3 on a road gap with hardly any snow? Front slide to switch off a 10 foot drop? Ain’t no thang for this menace.
Yuki Murayama is credited with directing this piece. It’s safe to say this was not his first rodeo, as the whole project rolls together smooth as butter, all while filming a wide variety of shots and terrain. As is the case with Jake Mageau and Brady Perron’s new film, Freehand, a well paired rider and filmer combo can lead to projects that seem to have been perfectly sculpted out of thin air. “MaTaTaBi” is a prime example. We hope to be seeing a lot more from Koga and Yuki in the near future.
