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needle-thread-thimble-spear · 7 days

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RGU and the Transfeminine, Part 1

Why Miki Kaoru is an Egg

Fig. 1: The Sunlit Garden

When I’d first watched through Revolutionary Girl Utena, Miki Kaoru was initially one of the characters I had the hardest time figuring out. Unlike the other poisoned sibling relationships in the show, Miki and Kozue’s didn’t really make much sense to me. I couldn’t decide how I felt about the character, whether he was “better” somehow than Touga, Saionji, or Akio, or if he was “just as bad”. And of course. What the hell is with that damn stopwatch dude??* Looking at fan writings afterward just deepened the confusion. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on what’s going on with Miki. It’s only after much re-watching, and introspection, that I think I’ve figured out why I’m so conflicted about the character. I’d like to share why- and hopefully along the way I can at least show that Miki is more interesting than many give him credit for. Click the readmore if you please!

(And, to be clear, what is written below is a reading, a blend of evidence from the text, from the subtext, and my own personal experience. I do not claim to be the first to interpret the character this way nor do I claim that this is the definitive read of the character. Nonetheless, I hope I can make my case to you!)

and, a big thank you to @empty-movement for collating all the high quality screengrabs and scans in this post!

Fig 2: Rookie Princes

While I’m not the first to notice, I think it’s frequently overlooked just how similar Utena and Miki are in the first arc. It’s definitely something that flies over the heads of many first-time viewers. But Miki and Utena, are extremely alike! Of course, they are both motivated by an unattainable image of the past, and Miki’s early episodes codify the “sunlit garden” into the RGU symbolic environment. But it’s more than just this. Utena and Miki both treat Anthy in basically the same way. Utena has an easy time convincing Miki that the dueling game is objectifying nonsense. That the principled thing is to leave the whole exercise behind and treat Anthy like a person. It isn’t very hard for Miki to convince Utena to duel him for her hand either. They both view themselves as her personal protector, and (while maybe at different times), both project their imagination of what she must be thinking onto her. Utena does a bit more than Miki to try and figure Anthy out, but it doesn’t take much for her to get swept up in her own image of prince. In both their minds, Anthy needs them to save her. And, when Anthy looks them in the eyes, and tells them. I’m not yours. It destroys them. Freezes them in their tracks, breaks their hearts. Screaming, its a lie, you can’t mean that! Of course they get along so well! They see themselves in one another, plain as day. Little rival princelings, seeking the affections of the same princess, but always with chivalry and good intention.

Fig 3: Heartbreak

But I think there is more to it than that! Miki and Utena (and later Nanami) are some of the youngest duelists (at least, without a black rose anyway). And, they have fairly similar relationships to the other members of the student council. Juri acts as an older friend, mentor, and source of advice for both of them. Its not unlikely that she sees her younger self in the two of them, and while she does very directly take this out on Utena, its her sword that Utena takes to her second duel with Touga. Indeed, Touga manipulates Miki and Utena in unsubtle and sexually aggressive ways, as compared to how he might treat Saionji or Juri. And for both, its their relationship to gender that he directly attacks. He attempts to break Utena’s spirit by turning her “back into a normal girl”, and for Miki he seems to challenge his masculinity. And while this may seem as though the two of them are being shoved in opposite directions, in both cases, Touga hits them in the same place. “You’re a prince then? I don’t think so. Unless you prove it”. Touga isn’t the only one to question Miki’s ability or status. Utena and Juri both tell Miki. You are much more suited to playing piano than dueling. The main difference here is that they tell him this with genuine compassion, but the implication is the same. You aren’t suited to this prince thing. Give it up.

I don’t think it’s just the audience who is conflicted slotting in Miki with the other “men”.

Fig 4: Strange Friends

Much ink has been spilled on Miki and Kozue’s relationship, but I do think there is one thing consistent across readings. There is a power struggle going on between them, and they’ve both got something to hold over the others head. Personally, I don’t believe there is any attraction between them. Rather, What’s Going On With Those Two is their mismatch in understanding their sexuality and the RGU concept of “Reality”, and the friction that creates in their image of themselves and one another. That reading may go as follows. Miki sees Kozue as acting dangerously and immorally. In his mind, she is his responsibility, to keep out of trouble at the very least. Perhaps he sees himself as needing to step in for their absent parents. So he sees himself as the mature and grounded one, a father figure needing to keep the both of them on the straight and narrow. Kozue on the other hand, sees Miki as being essentially blind to Reality (with a capital R). She believes he doesn’t have a good grasp of what sex is, or what adult relationships look like. She may believe that she understands what happened with their parents much better than Miki, and clearly sees that her brother is in danger with his creepy music teacher. So she sees herself as the mature and grounded one, needing to protect her brother both by warding off people who would take advantage of him and by getting him to grow up and see things as they Really are. Without their parents, they feel the need to take care of one another and control how the other approaches their sexuality. But in the end, it does seem that Kozue is the one who is better able to manipulate Miki’s behavior, helping Akio convince him to duel a second time. That Miki needs to grow up and accept what he wants. He sees a vision of Anthy, and he’s driving the akiomobile. And, with fearful realization, he discovers the identity of End of the World.

Fig 5: Fear

So then. Why should Miki be so hung up about his sexuality? It clearly makes him very uncomfortable. And why does he compare the sister he had in the past onto the one he has in the present? What’s so special about that sunlit garden, anyway? What is Miki Kaoru’s shining thing?

Let me spin a yarn, if you'll indulge me-

As far as Miki remembers it, when he was little things were perfect. His parents were still there, and he and his twin sister were thick as thieves. They would play piano together, and drink milkshakes. Things were simple and happy as far as he’s concerned, and while his childhood was not nearly as rosy as he remembers, it was certainly better than whatever he has to deal with now. Now his parents are gone for reasons he doesn’t quite understand, and his sister has drifted away from him and acts promiscuously. His body is starting to change, and it fills him with disgust. Worse still, he finds himself envying his sister for some reason. It all floods him with shame. He needs to fight those feeling with everything he has. Being very clever for his age, he finds himself the youngest member of the student council. He becomes involved with the dueling game as it is revealed to him, and goes along with it, not wanting to act out of place. He gets a crush on Anthy, and is unable to figure out what the hell he should do about it. Later, he meets Utena, and the two become fast friends. And how lucky, his new friend is roommates with his crush! She’s just so perfect. She’s kind, and quiet, and chaste, not at all like his sister. He feels a kinship with her. And in an act of cosmic fate- she plays for him his favorite childhood arrangement. It’s just as Touga says. He can’t let the world get to her, the way its getting to his sister. The way its getting to him. He needs to make sure that Anthy, and his memories, are safe. But alas- it seems she doesn’t feel the same way. She’d rather be with Utena. Hopefully, Utena can protect her where he cannot. Miki and Utena go back to being friends, and he nurses his hurt feelings privately. It wouldn't do to make a scene about it, and besides, it wasn’t appropriate for him to think of her like that anyway. Thinking about anyone like that. He can’t help but feel disgusted with himself for allowing it. Later, his relationship with his sister continues to deteriorate, and his father is remarrying. But he can stick by his principles, and stay out of it all, the dueling especially. Kozue, Touga, and Akio have other plans. He is confronted with Reality, and it terrifies him. He sees himself in the drivers seat, Anthy his. This is what he is now, no point in trying to hide from it. He challenges Utena again, taking an early advantage utilizing his new resolve and Utena’s confusion. But that resolves breaks quickly. What is Kozue doing with Anthy?

Pay attention, or you’ll lose.

Fig 6: Crash!!

Miki is disgusted with himself, his role, because he does not want it. He hates what’s happening to himself and his family. He admires Utena and Juri, for embodying his ideal self. He listens to Touga, puts up with his music teacher, even if they make him feel gross and uncomfortable, because he feels he has to and that he doesn’t have a choice. He idolizes Anthy, so much. He is attracted to her, but maybe there is something more. Maybe, Miki wishes he could be her. Miki, in my mind, is a closeted trans lesbian going through puberty as a boy. I think that part of this might be projection, perhaps. But I hope that I might have made my case using the text of the show. But even if you disagree, I hope that you might have a better appreciation for his character. I think he’s fairly consistently people’s least favorite council member as a character, but honestly he’s my favorite and I think there’s a lot more too him than a lot of people give him credit for.

Fig 7: Three Lesbians Hanging Out

… this all being said. I think it’s interesting that Miki thinks Anthy is the picture of femininity right? That this is what he wants.

In the end, all girls are like the rose bride.

Please wait patiently while I make the case, that while Miki is an egg. Anthy has long since hatched...

(And I do mean be patient! This subject, and the concept that Ohtori represents a transmisogynystic institution at its very core, is WAY more personal than this headcanon, and also is much more of a difficult thing to write for dozens of reasons. I'm still not 100% sure it would even be right of me to post my thoughts on that publicly. But if enough people are interested, maybe that would motivate me to write it!)

*What’s a good Miki essay without some sort of Stopwatch Theory tm? Well (and I freely admit much of this is probably projection, but it’s not just me projecting! It’s also my girlfriend!!), Miki seems to get very wrapped up in his own thoughts. He is very self conscious, takes the criticisms of others very seriously, and also seems to get ideas about How Things Are Going To Happen in his head. He desperately tries to make sense of his surroundings, and finds himself consistently failing to do that. So my guess is the stopwatch is a way for him to regulate and calibrate his thoughts and hypotheses and self image. He picked it up in his duty as council secretary, but its something he feels is significant outside of that. Aha moment? Click. Unexpected end to a council meeting? Click. Something go completely as expected? Click. It helps him process I think. That is my formal Stopwatch Hypothesis tm.

Supplement Fig 1: Stopwatch

#revolutionary girl utena #miki kaoru #utena tenjou #kozue kaoru #juri arisugawa #anthy himemiya #akio ohtori #analysis #spinning #hopefully this essay is readable...

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saionjeans · 5 months

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ok so. miki’s sunlit garden is the literal sunlit garden where he and kozue played piano together as children. it’s the defining version of this narrative device, and in a way, it’s the most straightforward. miki is leaving the garden and entering the world of teenagers. he is scared of growing up, and he misses the effortless, uncomplicated bond he shared with his sister when they were children, before being inculcated into a world of sexual power and abuse, before his parents divorced and his beautiful nuclear family was rent asunder by real-world complications. i genuinely think every 13-ish year old goes through this grief and a desire to hold onto the past, to remain in this perfect nostalgic bubble through which you view your childhood. it’s probably the most universal and identifiable instance of the motif of the sunlit garden.

then it gets more complicated. nanami’s sunlit garden is her memories of short-haired touga, of her big brother showing her his affection, making her feel special, worthy, and loved. but unlike miki, she doesn’t miss being a part of the ideal nuclear family. for one thing, both she and touga are adopted. of course, she doesn’t actually know that, but it nonetheless problematizes the bioessentialist logic upon which the nuclear family [abuse factory] structure is predicated. secondly, it’s clear that she was always the scapegoat to touga’s golden child. which is why it’s not that she loves her sibling as an extension of her childhood nostalgia, but that her entire value system fundamentally revolves around touga, because he was the only person in her formative years who ever showed her the slightest sliver of affection. and in all her memories of him, he has short hair (like dios, like miki), because subconsciously she doesn’t even want him to be her Prince, her patriarchal savior, she wanted him to be someone who loved her because she inherently deserves love. she does treat him like her prince in the present, but that’s only because it’s how her love for him must take form in ohtori. deep down, she doesn’t want a prince, a lover, or even a brother; she wants a friend who will love her for nothing. but she has no way of expressing that, not in a world that claims true friendship is for fools. so instead she values him for their biological ties, for his status as a kiryuu, for his patriarchal role as the eldest son in their perfect nuclear family. and she refuses to acknowledge how she demeans herself in the process of worshipping him, how she’ll drown herself and cook herself and cage herself, debase herself and dehumanize herself for his illusory love. and that is what the sunlit garden means to nanami.

as for saionji, the sunlit garden also constitutes his memories with touga, of a “before” that is much more definable in the sense that there is clearly a moment where it becomes “after.” one day they are riding their bike through the rain after kendo practice, and they decide to take shelter in a church. and saionji sees touga become someone he fears and also envies. someone who wields the power to project something eternal, to inspire, to save. and he exerts his power in a subtly violent way, by transgressing invisible boundaries. saionji cannot harness that power, so he attempts to exert it clumsily, through immediate, obvious, physical forms of violence. it never quite packs the same punch as touga’s manipulation, no matter how hard he tries. but what saionji really longs for is not to possess touga’s power, but to go back to the way things were before touga decided he wanted power. touga thinks true friendship is for fools, but like nanami, all saionji wants is to be touga’s true friend. and isn’t that just tragic?

of course, that’s not all saionji wants. but his desire is complicated by the fact that he clearly also resents the sexual acts he is being put through by touga, even if in other circumstances, it could be what he wanted. juri’s situation, her sunlit garden, is similar to saionji’s in this respect. all she wants is shiori, but she doesn’t want the shiori she is being presented with. she wants the shiori from an illusory idealized past in which they were true friends, before shiori betrayed her and revealed her ugly feelings in the process. like miki with kozue, nanami and saionji with touga, utena and anthy with dios, mikage with mamiya, juri is idealizing a version of the object of her affection who never really existed. shiori’s ugly feelings were always latent. unlike miki’s sunlit garden, nanami’s flashback to touga’s party and sea of photographs, or saionji’s memories of touga tenderly wrapping his hand, juri does not even have memories of shiori that are not defined by her betrayal. yes she has shiori reaching out, holding a rose, saying “believe in miracles and they will know your heart,” but it’s an obvious fiction. juri doesn’t know shiori at all, and the shiori juri knows is not the shiori she loves. the sunlit garden is always a garden of illusion.

utena’s sunlit garden, which opens many episodes, is perhaps the most obvious example of this fact. she completely rewrote her own formative memory to better suit the dominant patriarchal narratives she was forced to adopt all her life. and you can say that akio actively tampered with her memories, but functionally speaking, that’s the same thing. even more so than the others, her sunlit garden is a palimpsest; she idealizes a past and a prince that never actually existed. sure akio and anthy exist, but her “prince” is not either of them. the locus of her will to live, that eternal thing, is a fiction. but her desire to help others in need is genuine. and that is what differentiates utena’s sunlit garden first and foremost. it is not founded on a selfish desire to cling to a perfect past of illusion, but on the selfless desire to keep moving forward in hopes of a better future. they all want to hold onto something eternal, including utena in her desire to keep her parents with her, and all of those desires are perfectly understandable and eminently sympathetic, but utena is different because that day that akio showed her anthy’s suffering, utena’s desire shifted from a memory to a telos.

mikage’s sunlit garden thus becomes a cautionary tale to all the members of the student council who wish to live in a memory, perfectly suspended, pinned in place like a butterfly on display. just as a caterpillar must become a butterfly, a child must enter the world of adults. mamiya is beautiful because he has the luxury of dying young, of being immortalized on a carousel, of never losing his innocence. mikage is what happens to people who idealize eternity through escaping into nostalgia. the world keeps moving on without them, and they become ghosts, trapped in a past that no one can recall.

so what of akio? he uses people’s sunlit gardens against them, he manipulates time and memory, feeds off nostalgia and the grief of lost childhood. he cultivates his garden to resemble golden days, and as he invites you through his gates, ensnares you. so what does that mean, when his goal, too, is to achieve eternity? above all he wants to forge a sword that will break through the closed gates and reinstate his former glory. of anyone in ohtori, he is the one most deeply entrenched in his oh so cozy coffin. for all that he knows his promises to be illusory, he also clings to that logic, he also mourns dios. he longs for his golden days despite knowing that they’re untenable, despite being well aware of the toll it took on anthy. and even fully aware of the extent of his exploitation, of the fundamental illusion of eternity, he still attempts to attain it, he still instantiates himself in a cycle on the carousel, condemned to ghosthood, a butterfly pinned in place.

finally, we must look to the absent figure, the outlier. what, or rather who, is touga’s sunlit garden? the movie tells us it is utena, that he embodied the princely role in the truest sense and that this is his deepest aspiration. but i don’t know if that’s necessarily how i read him. anthy and touga are foils, two sides of the same coin. anthy doesn’t have a “sunlit garden” per se, because she has long given up on the idea of returning to a time when she loved dios, before the swords of hatred pierced her heart. but she has a literal sunlit garden, and her role is to tend the flowers in it and never leave. she has a literal coffin, guarded carefully in the chambers of her heart. anthy knows better than to cling to an idealized past, but still, she cannot find a way to move forward. so she gets stuck in a circular present, where both past and future are illusory concepts. it is not enough to simply know that the past is gone, one must also strive for a better future. it is why utena and anthy’s promise to drink tea and laugh together in ten years is just so powerful within ohtori’s timeless walls. i’d bet anything that touga also doesn’t have an idealized past. if, again, we use the movie to inform our understanding of him, he was always aware of the abuse that pervaded his world, he was never an innocent. but instead of desiring reform, like utena, of wanting to save those suffering, he wants to be the one inflicting that suffering as much as possible. to cope, he accepts his abuse as a necessary consequence of existence, and assumes that anyone capable of abusing him is simply more powerful, and thus deserves to exert their power over him, just as he deserves to exert his power over those less powerful than he is. so like anthy, he doesn’t have a sunlit garden, but he has a coffin, and a garden, and a carousel. and like anthy, he must choose for himself whether he wishes to remain a complicit victim, or to leave his cozy coffin and find a way to move forward. and that, only time can tell.

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cafeleningrad · 6 months

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Ohtori is such a disorienting place. It's so emblematic that none of the actual needs of the people in it are met. In fact it gives answers but none actually are satisfying for anyone yet the answers are presented as only alternative. ("You have to revolutionize the world (by participating in the duels that ensure the world continues to run on the same old dynamic.)"

What system Ohtori, Akio by proxy, proposes is the idea of power over another. It's very gendered power as we learn later. Women's power exists either as extension's of a man (Nanami's high social status by virtue of being Touga's little sister), be inspired to have power by extension of a man (Wakaba), surrendering to a man (Kozue), or can be easily taken away power if a man decides that the woman had enough power (Juri,Utena). In the instance a woman has power it's also used to dominate others just like men do. (Nanami being cruel to others, to Tsuwabuki in particular, Utena treating Anthy her a puzzle piece to her princely identity.) In the end there is an idea how someone who should hold all the power should be like (the Prince), and they're given free reign. However that's not what the characters need.

Touga is entirely helpless to his paternal CSA. Akio's proposition is to become, for once, the one in charge of others so none can exploit him again. And Touga fails to see how Akio still exploits him by directing Touga, with quiet implicit imagery stressing that dynamic. What Touga would have needed was protection and a trusting family.

Nanami grew up so isolated and shamed for diverging from the norm, she is entirely dependent on external subjects and objects to define her. Either it's being defined by her relationship to Touga which is the entire basis of her social status, and her only hope for affection. Nanami can only define herself by traditional feminine and classicist means like her perceived ideal femininity, and brand-name jewelry which can easily turn on her, if external voices tell her that she should wear something. Nanami is so desperate for affection, being cared and loved for but the only language she is given is Ohtori's language of "men and women are only corresponding romantically". She can't express her need for familial proximity to Touga. The only other form of gaining adoration she knows is by violence, be it Touga's kitten, Tsuwabuki, or beating her three nameless underlings into submission.

It's not until the third arc that we learn about the Kaoru twins are in the middle of their parents separating. Their childhood is getting disrupted. Both of them are longing for time of connection and chance to hold onto each other. But Ohtori tells them that Miki can only adore Kozue as innocent and helpless. Kozue, like Nanami, gets told that her only chance to express affection to her male twin is by a sexualized, romanticized interaction. For two characters who're living through turbulent times, and need some stability in the other, twisting their chance of proximity is exactly the wrong answer.

Saionji really wants to remain friends with Touga he admires so much. (If not being in love with him.) Even more than Juri, he knows that the duel platform is just a set up, he swallows Touga's poison of "true friendship doesn't exist" again and again. The only chance of proximity to Touga is to disrespect others, demonstrate superiority over them, especially Anthy, as best proxy to a close male-male-dynamic. Saionji's only given path is to delude himself further and further.

Juri pushes so many people away because she's afraid her homosexuality will be revealed. Ohtori as a place does punish homosexuality severely, see Mikage's twisted memory, Ruka trying to converse Juri. This place convinces Juri over and over again that she's wrong for loving Shiori. But the truth is, Shiori is so much in love with Juri that she will resort to abuse her emotional power as long as it serves the purpose of Juri remaining close to her. What they would have needed is the chance to know that actually they're safe to be honest, at least to each other.

Utena is deeply grief-stricken by her parent's death. As a child the idea that everything will fade is terrifying. The only alternative she is shown is that Anthy's suffering is eternal. She wants to help. But the only path for being admired and adored is becoming a prince. The only agency to help and save others is by exercising the prince's power over someone. Akio becomes even crueler by trying to convince Utena that a girl's actual aspiration is romance (with a man). What else should she want? It also distract her from her genuine compassion for Anthy, and wishing for Anthy's happiness.

#Revolutionary Girl Utena #Idk I have a cold therefore to much time in the RGU tag

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tainbocuailnge · 3 years

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im really fond of saionji because he’s just so objectively pathetic like i hesitate to even call him outright evil the way akio is and touga by extension is for copying akio, he’s not actively looking to hurt or exploit people to feel powerful he’s just a moron and easily swayed so when akio is like hey if you buy into my illusion of masculinity and power you will get social prestige and influence he’s like oh boy, social prestige and influence! and because saionji is so bottom of the barrel he makes it really easy to see how pathetic that masculinity is because at his level you don’t buy into the illusion of power, but that also means it’s easy to dispel the illusion on his end because that system chews him out all the time too and that is in fact what starts happening near the end of the show where he grows more of a spine.

he’s not actively evil so much as maliciously ignorant so when he gets expelled and stays with wakaba for a while and effectively gets told “hey moron, it’s possible and in fact normal for people to help each other instead of constantly attempt to control each other to get ahead” he’s like ohhh okay. so even after mikage puts him back in the student council saionji doesn’t buy into it as much as before and akio has to take him on a sex car drive to remind him that women don’t have rights, actually, because he was already starting to drift away from that system but he’s so useful as a goon. he keeps questioning touga on whether touga really wants to keep dancing to akio’s tune.

by the end of the show he still doesn’t have enough of a spine to leave the way utena and anthy do but he no longer believes that this system will ever benefit him and is simply resentful about his inability to leave, and probably also resentful that the touga he looked up to so much as someone who has the answer to eternity can’t see that this whole system is a crock of shit which is why he strangles touga in their version of the sword drawing pose. presumably saionji’s parents were perfectly average bc they’re never brought up so he doesn’t get why touga keeps buying into this chain of abuse because he doesn’t know that touga literally has never met a functional non-abusive adult in his life. but on some level he did know something was off about touga so i think that also makes him hesitant to leave without touga. and in the end they’re back on their childhood bike pedaling for their lives but hardly moving forward.

they don’t even interact in the movie but you can still see that effect on him there too because touga wears all black to show he’s dead but both saionji and utena wear half black (while juri and miki have their signature colours) because they’re mourning him, and utena switches to her white duelist uniform halfway through (and then becomes anthy’s hot pink car) but saionji stays in black. he’s with juri and miki on the towcar to help anthy escape because like the two of them he doesn’t buy into the system anymore either, he’s just grieving touga’s death and unwilling to leave (the memory of) him behind so he too participated in the duel games meant to fill the void that the dead prince left.

anyway. i like the loser seaweed man. i won’t fix him he can fix his damn self. ten years from now he will lie awake haunted by the way he treated anthy.

#anyway i love cuchulainn #when i see a prince i floor it #i went back to add paragraph breaks for readability but imagine me saying all of this in one breath

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whoslaurapalmer · 3 years

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utena 36-39!!!!!!!!

i should have done these as two separate posts but by the time i got all my thoughts together about 36-37, it was the time i was gonna watch 38-39, so i just KEPT THEM ALL TOGETHER

36-37

-touga has a motorcycle now............. -oh hell yeah that post was right!! he is bargain bin akio and saionji is luigi, and there they go in their knockoff motorcycle with a goddamn side car -aaaa god especially when saionji stood up and touga said “standing that way is dangerous.” y’all -they really can’t be completely like akio because they are missing the fundamental control akio has -everything they do backfires with utena, and anthy (because of utena) (-oh.........and then they get downgraded to their original bicycle........) (-idk i guess i feel a little bad for them. still gonna say ‘ew’ when i see them though.)

-i had a vague vibe when touga gave utena the earrings but this time......juri and miki talking about how she looks like a girl now, utena taking the ring off and saying “i’m starting to think that ring doesn’t really suit me.”, “in the end, all i’ve been doing is playing prince.” -didn’t think i would say this but put the prince back in the girl -well no that’s not successful either. but. -it’s something utena relies on and that reliance is the core of who she is and akio’s taking it out piece by piece and. it’s turning her into someone she still isn’t (to the point that she goes on a date with touga!!! LIKE, TWICE!!!), she’s not “a princess” sort of person either, she’s utena but who is that, too -when utena has nothing left, who is she? -but ugggggg the fact that akio was the whole REASON she did it in the first place!!!! BOTH TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD -mmm. thinking about when the shadow girls said “a girl who can’t become a princess becomes a witch” -before you know the eight kinds of whiplash in the play i was like ‘!! is the prince in this scenario utena? .....THE PRINCE WAS AKIO????’ -me, this morning, thinking over yesterday, putting all the foreshadowing together yet again: ......you know, lulu, you really should’ve seen that one coming too.........you literally thought they looked alike........ -also me, this morning: .......WAIT me: IS THAT WHY ANTHY HAS THE SWORD IN HER???????? -okay hold on back to the ring. that she takes it off after she sees akio and anthy (and that she’s upset at anthy :( ) -and also that she would give up the ring, the idea of her prince, for, WHO IS EXACTLY THE SAME DAMN PERSON -i have a lot of feelings about this i’m also upset i did not want to seriously consider it -there are no true princes, in anything, anywhere! but! that is not a bad thing!!

-“in the end, girls are all like rose brides.” all girls suffer for doing good things? all girls are treated like possessions? -all girls do terrible things in return...... -all girls get used to it

-oh to be playing badminton with friends........ -.........in soft sunshine on green grass and pretending nothing is wrong before the end of the world but you know -completely irrelevant here but it got me thinking of the badminton scene in fruits basket......the sweetest softest scene in the world -WHY CAN’T EVERYONE HERE HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -ahem. anyway -nanami.............you do care about utena...........

-look i’ve heard vocaloid cantarella, i screamed when anthy said cantarella

-seeing akio actually look angry was Even More Terrifying than regular general akio -anthy :( -okay i will admit. i have no damn idea what happened on the rooftop

38-39

-that utena and anthy are still gonna go in, together.......... -OH I GOT THE ROOFTOP NOW -there it all is :( -“i used you and your naivete” “i was protecting you for my ego” :((((((((

-of course “reality”, “eternity” would be akio’s room. of fucking course

- “she enjoys being a witch!” “she’s the rose bride of her own free will.” what else is there

- “you could never be my prince. because you’re a girl.” when you’re so used to one thing, no matter what it’s become, no matter what you’ve become!! who are you when you let go of that, despite what it is? -of course a girl can’t save you!!! that’s not how a story goes!!!!!!

(-akio saying that it’s your fault at this point has absolutely no meaning. especially because he still doesn’t do anything???) (and what it is that he even desires with whatever power he would get isn’t what matters at all because it’s the fact that he desires in the first place and the way he goes about it, that it’s about him and not anyone else, not anthy, that he would step on and use anyone again and again, to try and open that gate) (i think i meant to go somewhere with that sentence but i lost it by the end.....)

-god...........it’s not trying to fight for someone or trying to protect someone it’s just about loving them and wanting to help just like that :(((((((( -IT’S JUST ABOUT BEING TOGETHER NEXT TO SOMEBODY -YOU’RE THERE!!!!!!!! SO ARE THEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that’s enough, to do anything, to cause any change.........to be happy.......to be able to take just one step somewhere else, to stop -nothing else matters!! there aren’t any other words!!!!! that’s all!!!!!!!!!!! -and that anthy does choose to take utena’s hand!! that that is a choice she gets to make! that she’s allowed to make!! that she makes herself!!!! -that they both.......do get out of their coffins, in the end..............

-“she’s gone from your world.” the world akio creates as a means to an end to cause whatever change on his terms vs the world akio creates as an abuser -ah.......it was a combination of ‘how long has this been going on’ and ‘how many times has this happened’ -but that everyone else is still there........ :( but that they’ve changed, a little, too............that time still goes on...... -wakaba :( 💔

-there are more words i could put in here but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa -someday!!!!!!! together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ✨✨💕💕🌟🌟 (-they hold hands at the beginning and the end...!! 💞💞)

#lulu talks about utena

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holycalf · 3 years

Note

i started watching sku bc of your blog (and i really enjoy it!) but i dont get why you seem to like shiori but not ruka....i mean it seems like his intentions were a lot better than hers ever were tbfh am i missing something? not saying he went about things GREAT but....at least he actually seemed to care. shiori was just a bitch for the sake of being a bitch it seemed like...

hi! im glad ure enjoying it! it can definitely be a lot at times, and i think the first 12 eps can rub ppl the wrong way so props to u for getting thru those (even tho i liked em :) ) this is gonna be long so if u feel like reading an essay feel free to read under the cut

um.. i dont really know where to begin tbh? i mean you cant really talk about any of these characters without talking abt the other two so.... this is gonna be long.

so lets take shiori, who has a very classic case of internalized homophobia. which is confirmed by ikuhahras outtake on ep. 17 which states the following

“I finally realized the truth. To think that she loved me back! What a miracle! But...‘The loser in love is the one who lets their heart be ruled by it.’Everyone's adopted a provocative attitude toward someone of the opposite sex that they like at least once or twice, to get that person to notice them. So it's okay if I do that.This love will crumble if we touch. But when people don't touch, the love eventually dies away .That's why I decided to keep your love prisoner. To make sure that you love me forever. That game will make our love ‘eternal.’ I'm sure of it.We were ‘lovers lost from the beginning.”

so shioris in love with juri. im not sure if thats something u caught onto or not but its definitely the quintessence of her character, and needs to be considered when we consider her against ruka- since its a shared affection. also, i just like shiori, i dont necessarily think shes GOOD i just enjoy watching her and she feels very raw. shiori has a crippling inferiority complex, you can even tell through off handed conversations with her friends in hallways she exaggerates her stories to be more liked. juri is someone who has things come easy to her, and doesnt even really seem to care or notice. in the shows canon shes: liked by the student body, liked by teachers, admired by men (and girls too), academically inclined, good at bowling, captain of fencing club (and likely the most talented duelist- since shes the only one utena never properly beats) and a MODEL?????????? and shiori, at least in her own eyes, is painfully mundane. growing up next to someone who seems to have everything go in their favor, all of the while youre harboring having feelings for them (and jealous that youre among SO many suitors) is so frustrating! especially when you dont believe to have any at all. the elevator sequence when she discovers juris locket is a bit of a power trip for shiori, and also just a sort of confusion. shioris “why do you look at me like that?!” when she considers juri mid breakdown is a clear reflection of her own confusion, she may as well be saying “how could you possibly love me?”...but that was the black rose arc which all got undone anyways- so by the time we see shiori ruka arc she doesnt even know juris got the hots for her. when she first sees ruka, shes staring at juri first and only zeroes in on ruka once she hears people talking abt him. she takes ruka the same way she did that boy in middle school because he seems to be something coveted by the girls around her, its a very closeted gay girl move to decide to go for a boy just because other girls are into him... and it definitely helps that hes in such close contact w juri...he could easily be the one stored in that locket of hers, so why not take him?

so then we have ruka, who the entire time we watch him is smug, condescending, and genuinely one of the most unpleasant characters on the show. by the end we learn hes in love with juri, so maybe this persona was embellished to push her towards revolution to “free her from shiori” or whatever but.... sorry i dont care LOL! the way he treated shiori ALONE was enough for me to dislike him, there was NO need to tear apart and embarrass the girl like that. he took clear advantage of her crush on juri. his locker is seen right next to juris, and shiori is pressed up against one of the two lockers, but we arent shown which, “after all, that wasnt my sword,”....he knows shiori has been going to juris locker (and potentially polishing her sword but who knows. all we know is that she goes to juris locker.) and it is later revealed hes extra certain of her feelings because upon publically dumping her (another dick move) we hear her kinda stutter “I love you more than.... I love you more than anyone else” shes clearly beating around a bush because theyre in public, hes pinpointed she and juri are both into eachother, and instead of being a normal ass guy about it and just SETTING THEM UP and telling them to work their stuff out he chooses to, “out of love” assault juri, emotionally manipulates the girl juri is in love with, then inadvertantly cause juris locket to break which upsets her so deeply she forfeits her duel with utena. and upon that locket breaking he has the AUDACITY to think hes somehow freed her from something... when the girl is breaking down crying in the rain (the first and only time we ever see juri cry...even if its implied she does it in the shower that one time lol).......then just???dies??? like all he does in his time on the show is cause problems and die, all because he couldnt get over his feelings for a lesbian.... it just feels SO gross to me that he hides his assault and general abuse (can we talk abt how he likely took shioris virginity, JUST to break her down???) behind some icky hero complex

PLUS we see shiori at the end of that episode realize shes in that locket while juri is dueling, and we see her run up to juri at the end of the ep and it doesnt look malicious, it feels very...resolutiony? esp when you put it next to the miki/kozue closing scene of their car arc duel, which is explicitly bad terms, this feels more hopefully....suggesting some part of shiori has at least changed. ruka never got that luxury, he completely exploited two girls in order to add dramatic flare to his last few days and felt valid in doing so..... shiori never seemed to think her actions were JUSTIFIED.....which is sort of the point of the black rose arc where shiori is arguably at her worst........... the very ugliest part of ppl are brought out in those elevator sessions so thats what we see of shiori?

sorry for the essay!! but i hope this helps and make sense :-) feel free to ask any more questions u have abt the show, and i hope u continue enjoying it! im assuming ure still watching it, i dont know how far u are but if u JUST finished 29 then that means ure getting to some of my fave episodes! (33,37,39 :) )

tl,dr: shiori never assaulted anyone

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raguna-blade · 4 years

Text

Revolutionary Girl Utena 4-7

Hm...Not quite as clean as last time, but hey. Less stewing, for better or worse. And God, shit just keeps happening.

Episode 4

Opening 10000@ chunked full of meaning. Similarly, lacking context for any of it right now, so that's s for later, .

Still trying to get over the bit where the two are in armor and look like they're about to come to blows before going in the same direction though.

Express the eternal beauty huh.

Also, Nanami you trfling what are you....

Woman can put her logic on a man huh...? Odd, but ok.

It's kinda amazing how much folks be putting on Anthy and not people who are actually, you know, who are actually to blame. Gotta get that Rose Bride who does....uh...Something. Girlfriend(?), Muse, Key to reVOLUTION???? Little talk o anthy. For literally everyone so far.

Though Miki at least seems to acknowledge her a bit.

When's Nanami's turn to fight.

Shadow Girls gonna make us feel mad dumb later. Feelin it.

Nanami jesus christ chill the fuck out. The most trifling bullshit I swear. Petty bullshit. Mind, Middle schooler so.

Ok, hey, that's a FUCK ton of snails. Like goddamn. Named them...? Uh... Uhhhhhhhh.

THAT IS A WHOLE ASS SNAKE WHOA HEY WAIT A MINUTE. Garter Snake but.

Makin the maxuse of those repeat frames and text.

Also, all night for the snake...?

An...Octopus....?

AN OCTOPUS? WHAT THE FUCK. YES NANAMI

A ballooon?

Miki, you literally know nothing about her.

Nanami soul crushed. Chuchu just..Trollin.

Seriously though, Anthy and animals that a thing?

Nananmi actually asking a relevant question. Why DOES everyone like Anthy so much out of nowhere? She's cute, but she's kinda reclusive so...?

Where'd Anthy learn that song? Didn't Miki write it...? Also, homeboy's sister? Found your shining thing huh?

Ending Also Clearly has some meaning that I'm not quite getting. Rose Bride Utena is...Kinda weird. Feels wrong? Gotta sit down with the lyrics for op and ending though. But yeah, both them rose brides feels...Odd. And it seems to be mirroring? So that's strange.

Do it for Miki's sake? Right and not for hers...?

Episode 5

Huh. Shadow Girls share VA with the teaming masses of school girls. Also, the budget for these fight scenes.

Why is it always the same three girls btw?

Does the Entire senior Student council just talk in riddles? Saionji was pretty straightforward but he's a dumbass apparently.

Awkward Confusing smiles abound. And this damn monkey again. I don't even dislike him he's just there. And those eyes.....

Wrote a famous song...? Uhhhhh. Sibs huh.

Destroyed the garden own hands? Miki did you do something to your sister? Oh hey caged bird little girl? Sure it's nothing.

And he left her (of no choice of his own cause fucking measles) sis got traumatized, and now idolizing that memory and his sister?

Is she dead or something? Have you talked with her? Also, where the hell...

WHAT ARE YOU IN LOVE WITH MIKI?

Utena: Please be a person Anthy I fucking beg you. This duel bullshit is dumb.

Anthy: Ok, but I'm your bride. I am down with this system my girl.

SHELL BREAKING. Wait a second, does this elevator thing happen right before every duel or revelation?

Are there only- hold up, dissolve the student council. Hey good on you Miki.

Miki: Aint this gonna fuck something up for people.

Touga: Aight, but hey if you feel it fuck the system kid.

Miki, just ignoring his sis and...what's with the dishevelment. Was she...? Piano room's not for HOLY SHIT WAS SHE FUCKING TOUGA

Sis looks just like you, But you're cuter. Uhhhhhhhhhhh

Touga, Only the winner get's to do what they want. And I banged your sister who you seem to hate, y u mad.

Miki: My sis used to look cute as an angel. You look like an angel btw

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Anthy: *BLANK EMPTY LOOK” OF COURSE I'LL STOP IF SHE TELLS ME I AM THE ROSE BRIDE

Touga: INCREASINGLY NUDE: Hey, REMEMBER THE ROSE BRIDE SHIT I JUST TOLD YOU. YOU GOTTA BE BUFF TO HAVE THE BRIDE BRUH

Two Steps: Miki I will Trash the System Touga Interrupt Fuck, I guess I gotta fight Utena in this barbaric bullshit. Due Time.

SHADOW GALS APPROVE PIRACY. Also, What do you want.

Dat Absolute Destiny Yeahhhhhhhh Settin the Mood. Someone's about to get Some kind of REVELATION. From DIOS. Or some such. Actually, Dios is pretty close to god (I may be super wrong here) but the possibly flipping nature of it all is I guess, some kind of truth thing since if it were pure skill, as suggested with Juri losing to Miki somehow, utena deffo wouldn't have beaten Saionji. So, Whoever has the better understanding of things get's the power of Dios? Thus the power to change the world? Seems straightforward enough. Though why Anthy has that power.

NEW DUEL THEME. DOPE SONGS What's the meaning cause man, they're apparently different per duel, as per (?????) which seems so so far.

Miki: I want the Bride!

Utena: YOU SURE THIS IS HOW YOU WANT IT?

Miki, SHE WANTS THE FREE

Anthy: SOULLESS EYES. For real, she needs to emote.more regular like. Seemingly likes Utena so....

Utena Wins, Defloration Complete. Beat, like that, one stroke.

Miki's Sis: I freaked out on stage and was never good. People thought I was though

Miki: I'M GONNA GO ALL OUT ON THIS DUEL SHIT YOU WATCH.

Utena: DO YOU NOT GET IT BRUH?

Episode 6

Ah, the good ole days when you could repeat frames like that.

Nanami almost dies, weird faceless stalker and car driver, mk

Nanami: SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KILL ME, LEMME JUST HOP ON THIS TABLE TO PROVE THE POINT.

Touga: I have Important s THOT s student council work.

Oh shit that hit her square in the face..

Utena: Trying to Kill Nanami Clearly.

That ball is lodged in her dome damn.

Utena: TOGAS A THOT, FACT

Touga: KILL THEM. KILL THE VERMIN

Anthy: Life is life. Leave it be.

Nanami: MY BROTHER WANTS ME DEAD. ANTHY IS BEHIND THIS. THAT WITCH SEDUCING HIM

Why does everyone think he'd kill his sister. Damn Nanami. What's your relationship that people buy it immediately.

A whole ass horse and...chickens?

Prince Appeared. Mitsuru Tsuwabuki....?????????? Watch for the name I guess.

Why...Why do they assume all these dudes are her type off hand? Like...

Oh hey he has a face and is a small boy ok. Uh...Hey, Are you prpositioning a child. Um.

Shadow Gals what he fuck does curry have to do with it. Are y'all trollin.

Also, hey Nanami. Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ACTUALLY DATING A KID? TO JEALOUS YOUR BROTHER? WAT

A Brocon. And a drama queen. Everyone is baffled.

What the fuck is he doing in the locker. Just...snapped her fingers. Under her desk. Man slave boy. Uh

uhhhhhh.

WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM SAIONJI. Hidden Love

Hard Ignore.

Nanami: Who are you three idiots. WHERE DID THE BOY COME FROM.

Y'all about to throw down with a kid. And he's...He won, damn. PUT HIS BODY IN THE LAKE JESUS.

Nanami: Mitsuru is my boyfriend. I can treat him how I like.

Mitsuru: ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A BOYFRIEND

Is this...Is this a rosebride thing? Like a kinda fucky mirror jam?

Also, did Touga 1v1 a Bull and win? What the fuck? I agree Mitsuru, he's pretty cool yeah.

Be a Big Bro, not a boyfriend. No choice but to put her in danger again in order to get her to be what I want.

Where did that equipment come from.

WHAT IS WITH THIS SCHOOL. A KANGAROO? WERE THEY GONNA BOX THIS ASSHOLE?

So, Mitsuru as rosebride, Gotta Protec, get’s wrecked. So...Uh..Anthy....?

Boy fucked up that kangaroo. 1V1 me YOU PUSSY DO IT COWARD.

Nanami: Don't be an idiot jesus fucking christ. I CAN'T JUST LET SOMEONE USEFUL DIE FOR ME GOD.

Was...Was Touga the one fighting the Kangaroo...For Real? Why...Why was he...One PUNCH.

Mitsuru: Lemme be your bro please.

Episode 7

Ohp, Serious time out the gate ok. Guess 6 was a palette cleanser.

Juri: Dominant. Sure I'm buff but what for? God.

Juri Arisugawa? Alice Refs...? Seen that name used that way before. I'll watch for it.

Huh, the immediate mirroring with Utena is...odd?

Juri: Fuck Off Vice Principal.

Wait, was he hitting on...her...? Oh that's not.

Chuchu always with Utena? Huh.

Also Juri, Dominant as fuck, offing students left and right.

Oh, she's explaining things. Rosebride gives power to revolution.

Utena: Oh cool, super powers. Dope. Seems MAD FUCKING STUPID.

Juri: Yeah. Seems dumb right.

Ok, juri uh...Has EVERYONE Slapped Anthy thus far? Like...Ok? Does Everyone Get a Turn? Is...Is this a thing? It's kinda.

SHELL TIME. DUEL? DUELL?

End of the World: DUEL TIME

Is touga trying to kill Miki. What's with knives man? Miki. HOW MANY KNIVES. BLINDFOLDS

Juri: I don't believe any of this shit. I'll prove it's bs.

Old love. It's 1000000% not this dude. Don't you. Play me.

ORANGE ROSE AT CROTCH LEVEL WHAT? And she got denied I guess...?

SHES IN LOVE WITH SOMOENE AND ITS NOT YOU.

There was some love triangle shit, and girl is perpetrating.

MUSIC GONE. SHITS REAL

Jesus this show is just full of bullshit.

Ok, we had a moment with why utena is the way is she is, Juri Does not approve. Miracles are Bullshit, I will dunk you in the the fucking OCEAN.

Rabbits Dance all around huh. OK.

SHADOW GALS. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.

ABSOLUTE DESTINY TIME. TIME FOR SOMEONES IDEALS TO GET BUSTED I GUESS.

Also, like how the various wings on the garden go from vaguely angelic to kinda ominous. I mean the whole deal is sketchy as fuck, you don't just start singing about the apocalypse and ignore it. DARKNESS OF LIGHT DAWG. DARKNESS DARKNESS EVERYWHERE. KINGDOM HEARTS WISHES!

Also is that castle CG? It feels it but...

Juri: MIRACLES ARE BS BUT IF THEY'RE REAL SHOW ME THE TRUFACTS

Utena: NOT SURE ABOUT MIRACLES BUT WHATEVER I DON'T NEED THAT SHIT.

FIGHT. Oh boy new song.

Lucifers light...? Uh...All of this is ominous as fuck. Then a bunch of night and darkness gods.

Certainty of Death, Namely Light.

Sword Falls Just so to cut the Rose. Uh. Miracle....?

Uh...Juri Was Robbed.

Consistently though, the stronger convictions won. Juri was legit robbed, but she hesitated, so she lost.

Juri: MIRACLES ARE BULLSHIT AND MY GAY LOVE WAS NOT RESPECTED GOD

Also, Juri=Lucifer? For...The Student Council...? She does seem to be the one who least believes in this shit. She didn’t even duel utena for the rose bride like literally everyone else. She just wanted to prove Utena’s ideals wrong.

#Revolutionary Girl Utena #Liveblog #This Show is all up in the symbols like goddamn #Can't even have a doofy filler episode without QUESTIONABLE SEMIOTICS #Anthy Slides Further Into the Uncanny Valley.

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iztarshi · 5 years

Text

Nanami, Touga, and all the girls of the world

Touga is decidedly not saving all the girls of the world — except maybe in the “oh help, I’m alone on Christmas” sense — but he does sometimes seem to be sleeping with them. Like Dios he’s perpetually available to everyone except his own sister. Unlike Dios, he’s a real person. He’s every girl’s wish fulfilment fantasy, hardly ever turning them down and never dumping them, but in practice that means he’s in the arms of one while on the phone with another and constantly stringing along a crowd of girls who haven’t quite been dumped.

It’s not altruism, either, Touga’s doing this to stroke his own ego and fulfil his constant need for attention. He may well believe he gives them something in return for what he gets. The shadow girls mock him as a “nice guy Casanova” and, while that’s not the western use of “nice guy”, it’s similar, isn’t it? Touga thinks girls owe him sex because he treats them nicely — at least in comparison to someone like Saionji.

Nanami, for her part, spends a lot of time trying to locate a rival for Touga’s attention. He’s interested in Anthy, he’s interested in Utena, if she can just get rid of whoever it is he’ll notice her again. When she sees him on the phone with one girl while with another in the greenhouse her reaction is jealousy, but also a sort of horror. She doesn’t want to face the fact she doesn’t have a single rival she can fight because Touga doesn’t care about any of those other girls either. How do you fight indifference?

Nanami’s attempts to locate a rival in some ways play into Touga’s promiscuity. Both in that he does seem to know she might kill anyone who gets too close to him as she did the kitten — he’s not surprised when she pulls the dagger on Utena — and in that he can rely on Nanami to drive off any girl who’s been hanging around him too long without him ever having to be the bad guy and say “no” to them. His use of her as a scapegoat is one of the ways they echo Akio and Anthy; the little sister keeps the prince away from the world and takes the resentment that should be Touga’s for encouraging expectations he can’t possibly fulfil.

Stealing Touga’s mobile phone is rooted in Nanami’s realisation there is no single rival. She’s not trying to threaten a specific girl into staying away from Touga now, she’s trying to cut him off from all his admirers at once. It’s unclear whether Touga was trying to bait her into doing that specifically. He doesn’t mention the mobile phone before he goes to have a shower and isn’t using it, but the way he looks up as she leaves means he immediately knows what she’s done. This is probably the moment Nanami gets closest to actually taking Touga away from all the girls of the world, attempting to literally steal his connection to them.

It doesn’t work. Nanami can stand at the window holding the mobile phone and yelling at every girl who calls it, Touga will still stand below her at the centre of a crowd of girls. All she’s doing is telling off girls he’d already moved on from.

Utena’s appearance, and the fact that Touga does seem to have at least some kind of feelings for her, gives Nanami a focus for her anger. It probably comes as a relief to have someone she can fight. But there’s too much going on here, she and Utena can’t understand each other, and then Anthy and Akio step in to get Nanami back to the tower and play perfect siblings for her.

Nanami’s realisation that Touga might not be her brother is punctuated by the mobile phone ringing, confronting her with someone else living what she fears most herself — Touga’s indifference after apparent closeness.

While she’s trying to sort out her feelings, Touga arrives wrapped in a bathrobe, ostensibly looking for his phone. This is almost certainly an excuse since he knows perfectly well Nanami has it and doesn’t push the issue. Normally it’s Touga who says “we’re not kids” and pulls away when things get weird between them (even if he set up the weirdness) this time it’s Nanami and he doesn’t like it at all. He backs off for about ten seconds, comes back with an offer of a kiss and then walks out.

I applaud Nanami realising that Touga is never going to give her the space she needs to figure this out and just getting away from him for a bit. I also think it’s easy to miss that she’s stayed with Miki and Juri already before moving into the tower, which means Touga has spent three days not knowing where the hell his sister is. He’s off balance when he arrives at the tower and I’m pretty sure he has no clue what’s going on. He starts out with “you have no reason to move into a dorm” before realising that cold and disapproving isn’t the way to go and course correcting to “I mean, you’re the only sister I’ve got”. Which is also the wrong move, considering what Nanami currently believes.

I’m not entirely sure why Touga goes along with the fiction they’re not siblings, especially since he seems actually sad about it. At a guess it’s half “Akio clearly wants her to believe this and he’s right here” and half “this might actually play into my plans, better think it over rather than clearing it up on impulse”.

At this point Nanami sees Akio and Anthy. That’s not what she wanted. Is that what Touga wanted? Is that where romanticising her brother could have led?

It’s worth noting that while we know Akio will force Anthy if she resists, and that Anthy’s consent in this situation with her older brother is dubious, rape is not really part of the horror here. Anthy not only takes an active role but almost a dominant one, rising up over Akio at the end. Nanami’s not seeing the possibility that her brother might force her, but the possibility that her consent to his advances might lead to something this devoid of any love or tenderness, something this warped. The question of what Touga wants this episode is one I can’t help coming back to, but it’s not his episode. The important thing here is what Nanami wants.

The next morning she’s no longer answering the mobile phone, but still listening to its messages. It’s become almost a talisman to her now. Horrifying, because she can hear the echo of herself in the girls calling, but also a part of Touga that she can still hold onto.

The scene in the greenhouse echoes the disconnection of the previous scene that took place there. Touga doesn’t have his phone now, but he’s still with one girl while talking to another — all his words are meant for Nanami, who he’s seen outside. When Nanami runs in to plead with him Touga pretty much sets an ultimatum. If she wants to keep him away from other girls, she’ll have to claim him herself. Is he deliberately trying to follow in Akio and Anthy’s footsteps, here? It’s one of those moments where the Kiryuus seem to muddy the roles of Prince and Bride and in doing so raise some questions about what they actually are. If Touga sets himself up as a desirable object Nanami has to fight to own, is he setting himself up as Rose Bride? Is this the case even if he’s modelling their situation on Anthy’s claim to own Dios in order to protect him? Does the Prince protect the Bride or does the Bride protect the Prince, and is the answer to this question different depending on whether the Bride is a princess or a witch?

When the phone rings after Nanami’s left alone she realises she’s just like the girl on the other end and throws it in reaction. This is probably when she decides to transfer. She doesn’t want what Touga seems to be offering, but he also won’t let her alone if they’re in close quarters. So she decides, in a surprisingly mature move, the best and healthiest thing to do is just to leave.

When the phone rings at night Chu-Chu answers it, which may just be a gag or an indication that Anthy is in on this. It sounds like a girl on the phone, but then when Nanami asks who it is it’s Akio saying that Kiryuu Touga is waiting.

I do wonder whether Nanami thinks Touga might be Ends of the World at this point. She goes to confront him, to tell him she’s leaving and to demand to know who her brother really is. He’s the one who gave her her ring and permission to duel, so it’s not an unreasonable conclusion to come to.

It’s not him, though, it’s Akio. Who turns up on a mobile phone, shattering the window of the mansion. Connecting to Nanami only through the mobile phone, which is intimately connected with Touga. Shattering the home she thought she had.

Touga is once again pretty damn opaque. He seems surprised when Nanami rejects him, which means that he was fully prepared to go through with it if she didn’t reject him. What he doesn’t seem, though, is particularly unhappy about being rejected. He moves on very quickly to “if that’s not what you want, what do you want?” rather than arguing the point. Does Touga even know what he wants? Maybe it’s not important, the important thing here is that this is Nanami’s decision.

Nanami’s answer to what she does want ultimately seems to be that she wants to surpass Touga. This makes sense when you consider how much she’s clung to him for her sense of specialness. If she’s more special than Touga, all by herself, she won’t need him. She’ll be able to find the confidence to leave.

Utena seems to recognise how much Nanami has been manipulated into this situation, but not the agency she had in its final outcome. She correctly blames Touga for setting up the situation, but tries to talk him out of going through with the duel rather than Nanami. Touga has a lot of power over Nanami even when he’s presenting himself as her Bride, but Nanami isn’t irrelevant here and Utena’s sort of treating her as if she is.

Touga and Anthy’s expressions during the duel are… identical. Neither of them does anything at all. It’s Anthy’s least active duel in this arc and Touga neither talks to Nanami nor gets in the car. Both of them look utterly blank and somewhat as if they regret that this is happening despite how huge a part they’ve both had in bringing it about.

Touga’s practically been Nanami’s Bride before — he was allowed on the arena in the first arc, and Utena and Nanami were fighting over him far more than over Anthy. There, he was calculating, letting things play out exactly as far as he wanted them to and then calling for Nanami to stop and comforting her to both impress Utena and bring Nanami back to heel. Now, he does nothing to stop or affect the duel and, after it’s over, seems to vanish from the scene entirely. Nanami is crying, but Touga isn’t even on screen.

Instead he’s in bed with Akio. This is similar to the aftermath of Saionji’s duel, where we see Touga and Akio discussing it while having sex. But there both of them were sighing and posing as they talked, before ending with the act of intercourse. Here, Akio sighs and poses, but Touga remains half-curled against the end of the bed, looking away as he tries to decide what to do about Nanami now. He tells Akio that he intends to seduce her, that a brother and sister not bound by blood is “more romantic”, and Akio seems to approve, scolding him for being a “bad brother” in the same way he told him to “be nice to your friend” as they have sex.

Touga never follows through on this, though. For the rest of the anime he and Nanami are presumably living in the same house — at least, Nanami is neither in the tower nor begging for houseroom elsewhere — but we never see them talk again until after the revolution. Touga instead seeks Saionji out more and tries to figure out, and act on, his feelings for Utena. During the badminton game Shiori and Kozue watch resentfully, but Touga isn’t there to mind that Nanami is moving on.

The last shot of Romance of the Dancing Girls is Touga’s phone lying on Akio’s couch, abandoned and disconnected. Touga’s never seen using it again, either, so while it’s not far from the balcony it does seem as if he never picks it up.

In a way it feels like Nanami frees them both, not by sacrificing herself as Anthy did, but by refusing to. Touga can, and must, decide for himself what he wants without his sister driving away anyone too persistent, and try to rebuild an emotional connection with someone who isn’t bound to always return to him by shared blood. Nanami can figure out who she is outside her brother’s shadow, connect to people instead of holding herself above them as Touga’s sister, and apply her protective streak and ability to care to people who deserve it.

Rather than retreating into the intense incestuous dyad Akio and Anthy share, where they have feelings only for each other and everyone else is set dressing, Nanami has forced them both out into the world.

#revolutionary girl utena #nanami #touga #meta #long post #/incest #/rape #/abuse

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ladyloveandjustice · 5 years

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Utena thoughtdump

Sometimes I see posts I disagree with but don’t feel like taking the time to rebut them, even indirectly, but then years later they come up in my head and I feel like writing a sort of thought dump.

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES.

So I once saw a post that was like “Utena and Ikuhara are bad because dudes get away with being manipulative and sexual, don’t get majorly punished for it, while girls who do similar things get “knocked down a peg”, using Shiori and Nanami as examples of this, vs like, Touga and co.

So like, the most obvious thing to bring up here is that one of the central themes of the show is how girls will get punished for doing stuff guys do and guys will use them as human shields and get off scot free. Anthy takes the swords in Akio’s place while he fucks around doing what he wants, that’s the major reveal. It’s fairly straightfoward as Utena metaphors go. So like...the show demonstrating this doesn’t constitute an endorsement of it, since the show pretty clearly presents that as fucked up.

I don’t think we’re meant to be HAPPY or take satisfaction in what happens to Nanami and Shiori. It is supposed to be pitiful that they get so screwed over by these dudes. who had the advantage on them from the beginning.

This take also completely ignores Kozue who actually is pretty manipulative and sexually active but isn’t ever significantly “punished” for it moreso than anyone else. I mean, she becomes a black rose duelist and is clearly pretty fucked up, but she’s not “bought low” or anything compared to anyone else. Miki is the one who gets owned more explicitly.

It also ignores that Saionji IS one of the shows biggest laughing stocks and punching bags, right up there with Nanami. Him being humiliated and punished for his actions is like. a running thing. And takes a more serious form when Touga betrays him and he’s reduced to hiding back in Wakaba’s dorm.

It’s notable Saionji is able to grab some power offered by another man and do some shitty things to get out of that situation, and hurts Wakaba to do it- and we’re pretty clearly supposed to sympathize with Wakaba here. He gets opportunities she and the other girls wouldn’t, and has no problem casting the girl who supported him aside upon getting them, and that’s not great.

IIRC, the post also went in hard on how Ruka is treated vs Shiori too, complaining about how fucked up it is he gets to “free” Juri from Shiori, claiming it’s like he “fixed” her being gay, etc.

The Ruka storyline is pretty thorny, and I can absolutely see having problems with it- it’s probably the part of Utena I have to MOST difficulty with- but we shouldn’t obscure the facts of that plot.

Ruka is treated like a martyr for helping “free” Juri from Shiori, but like, being a martyr means you die. which is a pretty big consequence.

(Also,slightly off topic, thanks to Utena being so full or weird stuff and open to interp, there’s like, a lot of ways you could take that narrative and what it’s “trying to say”. Here’s a good post on an interpretation contextualizes Ruka well for me personally- that he’s not 100% ‘real’ but a projection on Juri’s desires, something she created- It really works for me, fits perfectly into the show and irons out the parts of the that two parter that seem contradictory to the rest of the show and makes more sense on a smaller scale as well.)

But, whatever your interp of Ruka is, whether you think he’s a projection of Juri or a real boy, it’s just plain right there explicitly in the text that he doesn’t really “free” Juri from all of her feelings towards Shiori either. She explicitly says she still has them later on, just that she’s you know. moving on a bit from being eternally torturing herself over it (”I can’t set my feelings free”). The fact she says “yeah still have feelings for her” and then jokingly asks Utena for her picture because maybe she’ll put HER in a locket next is pretty explicitly the show going out of it’s way to say “she’s still gay btw just not as hung up on Shiori and willing to move on”. So any claims Ruka “fixed” Juri being gay are pretty hardcore contradicted there. Also, Juri did not leave Ohtori after the thing with Ruka, which means she still has stuff to work out, all her problems were not fixed thanks to that duel.

Shiori survives, and gets to a place where she seems more content and friendly with Juri (from that tiny snippet post-revolution) while Ruka does not, which is something to take into consideration when looking at how the show treats the two characters as well.

Moving on to Touga- he does pretty much get away with everything, but he also doesn’t get what he “wants”- Utena- despite developing apparently genuine feelings for her, because he’s still shitty and possessive towards her. His feelings for Utena are presented a bit sympathetically but...they don’t pan out, and it’s explicitly because of how badly handled the situation, challenging her to a duel and all, like she straight up tells him that.

He’s the person who’s standing there with Saionji saying “if u believe in true friendship ur a fool” near the end, and Utena being like “lol yeah im a fool.” That says something incredibly empty about Touga. He’s here still not believing people can ever genuinely have connections. He’s standing there with his “friend” basically saying “yeah i still don’t really have any genuine connections to anyone, all my friendships are still fake”. In some ways, that’s so much worse than where Shiori and Nanami ended up.

Yeah anyway so. Just a mess of thoughts there, but the tl;dr gist is: there are things you can criticize about Utena (and SO many things you can crit about Ikuhara’s other work, but I don’t think it belongs in a convo about Utena especially since he isn’t the sole creator there) and it’s wildIy open to interpretation by design, but I don’t think “it demonstrates the bad thing that the show is pretty explicitly focused on critiquing” is a really strong argument.

#revolutionary girl utena #my meta

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gurguliare · 5 years

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Utena rewatch notes for eps 1-7, warnings for some (general) discussion of csa:

I’m going to spend some time here listing “things I always forget about Utena” in the faint hope that to do so will, in the long run, shorten the list. It won’t.

The fact that Miki and Utena are pals. Good buds. Gossip chums. I know about this intellectually but I forget how early it starts, and the fact that they seamlessly pick up where they left off after Miki a little bit tried to kill her. That’s not fair, of course. He a lot tried to make Anthy his property...? But look at him twiddling the parsley that’s so cute

The fact that Miki and NANAMI are pals even pre her formally inheriting everything Touga owns

How early it’s established that “eligible young woman expresses concern for ~damaged goods” is part of the script for assigning desirability and eligibility, and is in fact a prime site of matchmaking activity... Touga and Nanami’s split gaze on Utena and Anthy dancing at the party, and Miki going to tutor Anthy but bonding with Utena instead while Anthy zones out and animates an elephant in her workbook, and then Utena and Miki exchange half-worried, half-irritated looks about her trauma; it’s all so trivial at this stage, but still pretty hard to watch.

^ corollary to the above: I think RGU as a show has a real mean streak in its heart reserved for “rape is not about sex, it’s about power” and similar rhetoric, in part because the sanctioned visibility of rape and sexual abuse, in a culture otherwise silent on the subject of sex, makes those things into powerful representational aids in the grooming and sexual “education” of minors. At first glance it’s strange to have a group of middle-schoolers who talk about romantic love in a distinct binary of, on the one hand, crushes and confessions, and on the other the servitude of the Rose Bride; but the reality is that designating rape as safely distinct from “real” adult sexuality--as a violent abstraction that doesn’t implicate even the perpetrator in anything as vulnerable or shameful as desire--is the best way to make rape and rape victims a conceptual magnet for repressed teenagers, and from placeholder fantasy it goes on to form an alienating pattern of expectation. It’s an excuse to talk about sex without ever saying or learning anything about sex, only defining what sex is not in ever-more stylized terms, and secretly imputing to that negative space all your frustrated doubts and curiosity. A child fed that euphemistic diet long enough will have a much harder time identifying coercive, nonviolent sex---or really sex with any grey area, any shadow of consent, pleasurable participation, interest---as rape. Especially a child who has a lot of social capital invested in distancing herself from victimhood, in part because she prides herself on helping and supporting her victimized friend.

I have more I’d like to say about this but I’m not thinking super clearly at the moment. Better saved for later arcs, I guess.

And one more bullet point for stuff I’d forgotten:

That absurdist uproar often gives way to normal, willful obtuseness before the scene limps to an end---presence of the fantastic in Utena isn’t a release valve because there’s never a moment where another child won’t turn to you and say, “too bad about your weak stomach, Nanami” after the screaming and the snails. No one really pulls their head out of their ass long enough to be amazed by the signal nonsense going on in the background; “surprise” on the part of anyone but the victim only exists in service of self-defense or self-justification, with everyone indifferently shrugging off blame as they wonder how so-and-so got themselves into such a strange situation. I mean, and obviously this is quite funny when it happens in the context of a giant octopus balloon, but. The culture of Ohtori as this really impermeable web of minimization and chosen ignorance, where the only hope of acknowledgment seems to come from abusers, is kind of the creation of the yawning filler episodes.

The student council scenes are so great---funny, scathing, and (by the standards of early Utena) compulsively watchable. One thing about the first arc is that, almost more than anything subsequent, it kind of serves as training wheels for inhabiting Anthy’s POV... in that all these strutting proto-abusers with their tragic backstories and comic human foibles and fixations are in different ways rehearsals of the stories Anthy tells herself about Akio. He’s too weak to control himself, like Saionji. He’s too protective of her to treat her as a person, like Miki. He’s been betrayed too often, like Juri. The first arc is where these kids get to keep tight control of their own presentation, before the inconvenient backstory-survivors wander back onstage, and ironically that means they look a lot worse than they will when they have to interact with others on an equal playing field; because none of the student council kids are Akio, however much they would like to be. They’re children and haven’t done shit yet. But Anthy has to perform the miserable sleight-of-brain that is contemptuously distancing herself from these failures on the one hand, letting them hang themselves by any amount of rope, and, on the other, constantly pardoning and sympathizing with the person who has hurt her most---her biting perspective on the student council members is just grist for the world’s most devastating lapse in perspective, out of all proportion.

#utena tag #i ... should probably go back and do some single-episode writeups but if so i'm skipping miki's. dumbass

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duskadawn · 5 years

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My pre-show top 41

hello clowns! as an indecisive bottom, ranking all 41 entries of this year’s esc into a definitive top was a challenge but I think I’m finally decided on my ranking! read below the cut for clown certified bad takes

the stan list:

1. Greece / Katerine Duska - Better Love

yall already been knew but its Athens 2020 babey! her voice...the lyrics...the chorus....the visuals...the production.........talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular, never the same.......the power it has......the international implications.............god we stan

2. Italy / Mahmood - Soldi

the clapping in soldi is mahmood applauding himself for being That Bitch because god soldi Slaps. probably my favourite italian entry of this decade if not ever. its just gay rights

3. Netherlands / Duncan Laurene - Arcade

if amsterdam 2020 does actually happen it would be so fucking deserved becuase duncan really snapped on this one......he really did that you know what i mean

# Ukraine / Maruv - Siren Song

really wish UA weren’t such clowns because siren song is scientifically proven to smack...it just bangs!

4. Iceland / Hatari - Hatari - Hatrið mun sigra

ok so at first i couldn’t really get behind this because i didnae feel the verses at all but they’ve really grown on me and i appreciate them as part of the package a Lot more now. however if the entire song was as good as the chorus it would undoubtedly be reykjavik 2020 but it be like that sometimes

5. Romania / Ester Peony - On A Sunday

i know the nf was shady but i’m so fucking glad this won over little miss i hate gay people. its just so unqiue and mysterious and moody god i’m so emo x. really hope this is a dark horse this year but i’m Worried

6. Portugal / Conan Osiris - Telemoveis

i don’t entirely get what hes serving but bitch i’ll take it. really appreciate conan’s artistry and the musical diversity hes bringing to the semi and europe better fucking treat him right or there Will be consequences

7. Norway / Keiino - Spirit in the Sky

this is the fun eurovision bop we all deserve this year and i would die for all three of them. also really love the sámi representation!!! take notes sweden

8. Spain / Miki Núñez - La Venda

while I preferred the original to the revamp, i’m also don’t really care because its still the best song spain’s sent since pastora, its just so fun and warm and full of energy and god miki is a lad!! main reason its so high in my top tho is because i want miki to choke m-

9. Albania / Jonida Maliqi - Ktheju tokës

time to put on my clown suit but i preferred the original cut. that bein said jonida maliqi is a queen and ktheju tokës is still the masterful ethnic banger it always was. my crops are really watered well this year. also if this dies because of its running order position i will Snap

10. Armenia / Srbuk - Walking Out

before i even get into the actual tune the piano intro to this song that lasts for a maximum of 5 seconds is better than half of all eurovision songs to date so that’s that. but also the song itself is real powerful and modern and god the last chorus sent my wigs to yerevan immediately. srbuk could step on me and i’d give her the esc trophy

11. Azerbaijan / Chingiz - Truth

im so glad azerbaijan let go of their sweden of the caucuses look because it wasnt a good one but this one really is!! shes serving

12. Malta / Michela - Chameleon

does malta finally deserve rights? maybe so! to me this is the best, most original of this years fuegos i just love that drop. really smacks. hope it looks as good on stage as it does in the mv tho

13. Hungary / Pápai Joci - Az én apám

its not as good as origo but can you really beat perfection? joci may be back but my depression is nowhere to be found

14. Poland / Tulia - Fire Of Love (Pali Się)

best polish entry in a while if not ever. i get why its polarising but to me it just fucking Slaps. feel like storming down the street and robbing a pierogi store. queens. also the bilingualism really works some revamps should really take some notes

15. Belgium / Eliot - Wake Up

this feels like the sequel to city lights and while it may not be as good its still a great installment. the chorus could be more impactful but i still love it we stan the belgian renaissance

16. Slovenia / Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl - Sebi

at first listen i thought this was one of the flattest, most monotone entries in a while and was completely puzzled as to how it had stans but turns out that was just the live oof. in studio its a really magical tune but im not sure they’re gonna be able to make it work on stage but here’s hoping! also gasper and zala seem really sweet so we stan

17. Latvia / Carousel - That Night

not to be romantic on main, but this song is just one of those that makes you feel like you’re sitting around a campfire staring at stars playing tunes in the wild west you know what i mean? while it may be repetitive as fuck i just really love its chill atmosphere

18. North Macedonia / Tamara Todevska - Proud

i’ve stanned macedonia since 2017 but they always fucking let me down with the staging However this is the dramatic ass female ballad i’m stanning this year and i just feel at home in a clown suit

19. San Marino / Serhat - Say Na Na Na

never in my life did i expect san marino to actually snap this hard. this is genuinely good while still maintaining that san marinese campy charm and i want nothing more than for serhat to be my kind caring uncle. if europe lets him down it will know nothing but Pain

20. Serbia / Nevena Božović - Kruna

we always stan a good balkan ballad. best one in a while and i hope europe treats her right she deserves it after the tragedy that was moje 3

21. France / Bilal Hassani - Roi

at first i was not feeling this song at all but its really grown on me! bilal loaned me his best clown wig and i feel really pretty

22. Cyprus / Tamta - Replay

this one the other hand has very much grown off me. while it slapped at first when most of the songs out were disappointing nf songs, coming straight after fuego it just feels a little stale. kinda wish cyprus had changed it up more rather than go for more of the same. but ill probably be stanning once may 14th comes around because im a clown

these are also good:

23. Ireland / Sarah McTernan - 22

this isnt quite good enough to stan but its still a lovely lil pop song. its gonna get absolutely murdered at esc but its cute

24. Sweden / John Lundvik - Too Late For Love

swedens best entry since 2014 and i guess this is sort of a break from the trend However i still have some issues. it does bop but as always it feels like i’ve heard it all before you know what i mean. It slaps in a completely safe way which is fine but I just want sweden to change it up just Once it’s not asking much

25. Czechia / Lake Malawi - Friend Of A Friend

unstoppable force: friend of a friend slaps and is one of czechias best entries. immovable object: making loOooHrve

26. Australia / Kate Miller Heidke - Zero Gravity

at first the terrible over the top nf staging made me dislike this song a Lot but after I took the time to detach the song from the performance it grew on me a lot. However i still find it a little bit underwhelming but its a nice break from the complete jury bait snores they’ve been sending every year after guy sebastian invented music

27. Russia / Sergey Lazarev - Scream

this is clearly a song made for a live performance and there’s no doubt its gonna do really well with whatever they’re planning for the staging but that’s kind of my problem with it. while good, it feels incomplete. like a lot of it feels like its leaving room for a live performance moment so as a standalone song it feels lacking you know what i mean

28. Belarus / Zena - Like it

this songs fun and catchy you guys are just mean!! yes its basic but that doesn’t mean it can’t bop. I’m not gonna stan but i’m gonna enjoy it. billie eilish is shaking in her boots

29. Switzerland / Luca Hänni - She Got Me

sorry to be heterophobic but i’m not in love with this song. I was never a fan of his discography and while this song is a massive upgrade from his other songs imo, and extremely catchy, it also feels like hes trying so damn hard to convince everyone hes straight you know what i mean. no song with the lyrics ‘getting rowdy rowdy’ deserves 3rd in the betting sorry sisters. i just cant take it seriously but it still bops and when it does well its not gonna be undeserving, i just like a lot of songs more

30. Denmark / Leonora - Love Is Forever

this song is sweet and i appreciate the multilingualism but its also a little too sweet. Its perfectly fine but i just prefer other songs

31. Austria / Paenda - Limits

i don’t actually dislike this but it really is missing something. hopefully that something is in the staging because as it stands its got the elements of a good atmospheric ballad and shes a great singer but it just never reaches any sort of memorable climax

the whelmed list:

32. Lithuania / Jurijus - Run With The Lions

ok so when i first heard this i really was slapping but with every listen it just gets more and more average to me. when i listen to it i feel like i’m underrating it but then immediately i’ve forgotten lithuania’s competing. but honestly this years too strong we in my bottom 10 and i’m still bopping

33. Estonia / Victor Crone - Storm

this isn’t terrible but it really is just an avicii throwaway from 2013. nevermind that there were much better songs in the nf, its just way too safe. I don’t hate it and i can bop to it if i try but at the same time-wait why can i hear a plane oh god oh fu

34. United Kingdom / Michael Rice - Bigger Than Us

why are we always such a disappointment? michael is a legend but when we’re sending a song that sweden outright told it’s entrant to not use, There’s a problem. when we send a song in welsh it’s over for you hoes

35. Finland / Darude ft. Sebastian Rejman - Look Away

like storm this is just a very average piece of edm. it’s not terrible but it’s not great either. eh

36. Germany / S!sters - Sister

this is a song called sister by a group called S!sters, who aren’t even remotely related. that’s all i’ve got to say

these aren’t great:

37. Israel / Kobi Marimi - Home

look i will forever stan kobi for calling out wiwi but i can’t deny that his song is absolute paint by the numbers toilet break. pass

38. Montenegro / D-mol - Heaven

it does sound like a bad throwback to the 90′s but i guess its at least catchy. which is more than i can say about some songs. its kind of ok if im feeling nice

39. Croatia / Roko Blažević

forget about greece. there is no doubt in my mind that croatia’s gonna win for the second time following jacques houdek’s momentous win in kiyv. and no i am not being held at gunpoint

40. Moldova / Anna Odobescu - Stay

this just sounds like a nq from 2010. anna deserves a better song. next

41. Georgia / Oto Nemsadze - Keep On Going

a day or so i decided to listen to this for once and found myself going ‘this ain’t that bad’. just as i was applying my clown makeup, the song finished and I realised that I could not remember a single second.

___

so there it is! that means my qualifiers from each semi are:

Semi 1: Greece, Iceland, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Belgium, Slovenia, San Marino, Serbia, and Cyprus

Semi 2: Netherlands, Romania, Norway, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Malta, Latvia, North Macedonia, Ireland

im in danger

#esc 2019 #my top #roast me

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fabrickind · 7 years

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Revolutionary Girl Utena Episode 2 Liveblog

Welcome to episode 2 of my RGU liveblog! Join me under the cut for discussions of normality, haunted houses, fangirls, and astrology.

For our second episode, we open with shots of the school and all of the students walking to classes; cue the triumphant ‘school’ musical theme. One thing that this series is good at is establishing this sense of normality -- this is a normal morning, at a normal school, no weird duels took place the night before -- which early on provides a sharp contrast to the weirdness of the duels and this strange world that Utena is pulled into. Of course, as the series progresses, this sense of normality is severely warped, not because we’re pulled further and further into a dark, twisted world, but because we slowly realize that normality itself is what was twisted all along.

Here we further establish that Utena is popular with the girls. A cadre of giggling schoolgirls fangirl over her as she walks to class, and we are treated to another set of images of Utena walking framed with spinning rose frames.

This is probably the most shoujo thing I have ever seen. Where’s my fangirls to greet me on my way to class?

The use of the frame here is interesting to me for a few reasons. On a purely formal level, it’s creating a subjective focus on Utena here -- this is how the fangirls see her, and we are seeing what they see in this romanticized haze of shoujo tropes. The focus is squarely on Utena’s uniformed body and her nonchalant way of carrying her bag, and even the background is replaced by roses. She’s a fantasy version of what these girls want -- a fantasy prince, if you will. But the rose framing is also doing some other work. While at this point in the series it is easy to overlook as a stylized fitting into certain shoujo anime tropes, the framing calls attention to the ways in which visuals and narratives are framed, literally in this case. This speaks to Utena’s sense of identity here. She’s framed as the prince figure, the perfect gentlegirl who saves princesses and gets all of the ladies fawning over her, and this is supposed to be just as effortless as the way she is carrying that bag. But it’s clearly not. Her sense of princely identity and princely posturing is just as performative as the rose framing and background and soft lighting and gaggle of giggling girls and the myriad other tropes used here. The framing not only calls our attention, often to a subjective viewpoint or a fantasy structure, but it is part of the system of this narrative and is something overlaid on and part of the text, not in the way that there’s some sort of inherent Truth that’s being covered over here, but rather to call attention to the ways in which all narratives of self are, to some degree, fictions.

One thing that I almost never think about terribly deeply in this show is the episode titles, and maybe I should change that.

“For Whom the Rose Smiles.” The obvious guess as to the character this refers to would be Utena -- she’s our protagonist, she does well in the duels, the “rose” seems to be granting her some type of protection or has some sort of fondness for her. But the interesting thing to me here is the personification of the “rose” -- who or what does this refer to? Of course, there’s our Rose Bride. There’s also the association of roses with the dueling game. Is Anthy growing fond of Utena this early on? Is the system itself fond of her? Does Utena have some sort of rose-based destiny here (is she ‘born to the destiny of a rose, born to a brilliant and tempestuous life,’ as the great philosophers once said)? Or are roses a neutral party, associated with both being part of and escaping the dueling game? It’s unclear, and any thoughts would be welcome.

Can I take a moment to note that it’s amazing that these students are actually in class for once? Yes? Okay.

That is the cutest face, Utena.

Even though Utena is the most oblivious character ever, this scene shows that at least some of that is an act. She clearly remembers Wakaba being upset by the love letter situation the day before, and puts on this act as if nothing’s wrong, as if she’s trying to not upset her best friend. Unfortunately, she’s not a very good actress, but at least she’s trying. Utena is far from my favorite character in this series, but she does have two things going for her -- extreme loyalty and dedication, and total earnestness. Of course, these two traits can also very easily get her into trouble. Lots of trouble.

Obligatory mention of how Wakaba is reading a Chiho Saito manga.

Wakaba, how much of your “Utena you’re my true love!” is joking around, and how much of it is true? I wonder...

We get an exposition dump from everyone’s favorite overdramatic nerd squad.

Saionji isn’t there, which is interesting. Too upset after losing his duel the day before, perhaps?

Things we learn: - The Student Council gets their directions from letters from End of the World - These are one-way communications, with seemingly no way to contact back (I wonder if they’ve ever tried?) - The members seem content to follow the communications and not question them - Juri is as pragmatic as ever, but seems to be even more caught up in the rules than the others, since she vaguely threatens to quit because of the addition of a new Duelist, but doesn’t want to drop out because of the unstated ‘miracle’ of opening the gate and seeing the castle - The cards thrown down are a pair of sixes, a pair of nines, and a pair of queens, if that matters to anyone (and later a pair of jokers is shown on top) - Touga is as scummy as ever - Touga claims that they are “free to follow [the letters] as they see fit,” which strikes me as odd, considering that the SC tends to take these messages very seriously and at face value at almost all times. Is the ability to interpret the messages of the letters and implement the actions they see fit something that’s the ‘official’ rule but not something they are able to take up in practice, or are they actually content to follow the letters? (Touga then says that the letters are “quite specific,” so this is somewhat contradictory to his earlier statement) - I wonder if the SC were all told to go to the forest and open the gate to see the castle at once, or whether they were all sent individually? It sounds like this was some sort of initiation ritual for them, and what was used to convince them that everything happening is real. - Ohtori has branded versions of everything conceivable, including playing cards

Miki seems to punctuate Touga saying that they must fight for the power to revolutionize the world with his stopwatch. Is he marking the end of the meeting? (The card game seems to have already ended.) In this case, he seems to be marking the end of the scene more than anything -- marking the narrative demarcation between one set of characters and location and another, especially since we immediately go to a major shift in tone with establishing shots of the school, happy music, and Utena and Wakaba’s antics.

No homo.

Wakaba calls Utena’s abandoned dorm a “haunted house,” and given this series and its ways of looking at ghosts, the past, and being caught between worlds, this seems to be a little more than just Wabaka being Wakaba. Of course, there’s the narrative answer for Utena’s dorm assignment -- she’s isolated from the rest of the school, and it gives her and Anthy an opportunity to live together, now that they’re engaged. But it seems as if Utena herself is being drawn into the world of the “haunted house.” There’s what I touched on earlier, which is that the series sets itself up so that we think she’s being drawn into a twisted world away from normality (but find out that normality itself is what is twisted), but it seems to go beyond even that, where Utena herself becomes part of the ‘haunting’ as such. Many things (and even people) are forgotten in this series, or left behind, or are probably already dead or kept in a state of preservation, and as the only (until Anthy and Chuchu arrive) resident of a ‘haunted’ house, Utena herself seems to be the one doing that ‘haunting.’ Once Anthy arrives...well, she is a witch, after all.

Though, I do wish I had magic powers that let me clean that quickly.

Also, how much money does this school have that their dorms are that nice? I’ve never seen a dorm in a mansion with antique gold filigree furniture.

No homo x2 combo

In this next scene, Anthy seems to be simultaneously straightforward and guarded. She tells information in a straightforward way, but only when it will perpetuate her mystique as the Rose Bride.

Answering that the sword and castle are “mysteries” is not only the most Ikuhara answer possible, but I think Anthy is hitting on something with her purposeful obfuscation. (She’s so sassy in this scene and I love it.) It’s not that she doesn’t know how it works as much as that’s actually the literal answer to Utena’s question -- what’s up with the trick sword and the mirage castle? Mysteries. They are meant to be mysterious. They are of the realm of ritual. Like most things in this series, they don’t have a literal, concrete meaning, but instead are pure symbolism, without being tied to any particular or singular signified. They are, like Anthy’s answers to Utena’s questions, there to misdirect and create an empty ‘proof’ of the dueling game. Of course, they’re also emblematic of very real powers and power systems, but we’ll get there in time.

Turning Utena’s question back around onto her is also a bit of misdirection, I think. While it’s also a sassy clapback, Anthy is doing a couple of things here -- she’s gauging Utena’s personality and her responses, of course, but she’s also commenting, albeit very indirectly, on the limitations of ‘choice’ as a reasoning. She ‘likes’ being the Rose Bride, and yet it’s the only real option available to her, the only one that gives her some degree of power, within the system that she’s a part of, much like how Utena’s choice to dress as the prince is part of the limited options available to her, as well.

Utena immediately befriends Chuchu (who gets an adorable spinning banana frame), and Anthy comments that she’s never seen him take so well to someone before. I feel like this is one of the few truthful statements we get here -- whether we think that Chuchu represents Anthy’s inner feelings, or is the gauge of the true emotions of the scene, or is a veiled metaphor for the ‘good’ side of Dios, or whatever else we take Chuchu’s role to be -- most Duelists seem to treat Anthy like an object and abuse her rather than treat her like a person, and how Utena is treating Chuchu seems to be a metaphor for how she’ll treat Anthy. Or, at least, how we think she’s going to treat Anthy, since it’s far more complicated than that. I’m also going to make the case for some Totally Real and Serious Foreshadowing™ here: she doesn’t directly save Chuchu, but rather gives him the tools to save himself.

I love how ominous of a villain they set Saionji up to be. Sure, he’s not a good person, but this is some serious misdirection as well.

I’ve always liked to think that this line is just Saionji being extra, and that he doesn’t actually have any sort of power over this space. Everything about it is too perfect -- the passive aggression, the fact that he just has a sword at Touga’s throat, the obvious sexaul tension, the lighting that seems overly shadowy for no particular narrative reason, referring to the area where you practice as “my domain”...

Though, I have to wonder. Have the other Duelists just not been challenging Saionji because they know he’d get all butthurt about losing? Have they been losing to him on purpose? Or has the game ‘chosen’ him as the winner for that particular stretch of time in order to create motivations for other characters or some other reason? Certainly, he’s an entitled douchebag, so I can totally understand if the others are like “nah, man, you can keep Anthy for now, I don’t want to have to listen to you whining again.” (I have a feeling that at least half the source of his whining is that he not only lost to a girl [Juri doesn’t count], but that he lost to an outsider girl. He’s a good swordsman, but not as good as Touga, and it seems as if the duels ‘choose’ the winner based on factors other than simple swordsmanship, so it would make sense that there’s something else going on besides him just legitimately being the best and beating everyone.)

Is the food provided for Utena? Or did she cook all that herself? Certainly, Anthy didn’t cook it.

I capped this not because I particularly care what Saionji is saying (though I have to say that the dissolve editing in this scene where half the screen changes at a time is pretty cool), but because I’m into astrology. I don’t think the light here would change at all, since it’s coming from the artificial light of the lamp in the lower left corner, but based on the placement of the obelisk’s shadow, it gives the sense of Libra moving into Scorpio, with the shadow now almost fully in Scorpio. For those who aren’t into astrology, Libra is a sign of balance and harmony, and is ruled by Venus, which governs interpersonal relationships, beauty, and aesthetics. Scorpio is the sign of death and rebirth, and is one of the most intense signs of the zodiac. Things are not just thrown out of their peace here (and Libra at its worst can be passive or overly diplomatic for the sake of not wanting to stir up any drama, regardless of whether things would actually be improved with change), but thrown off in a way that implies the start of a new cycle, in a way that kills off everything that came before and attempts to start fresh out of that destruction.

(For the record, Utena is likely a Capricorn sun with a Scorpio moon, unless she was born within 30 minutes of midnight, in which case she’s a Libra moon. I’m also a Capricorn with a Scorpio moon, so I know how it feels, Utena, though I don’t see too much resemblance. Our other placements are quite different though. ;])

Anthy slap tally: 2 Should I make it into a drinking game?

In a different shot, once Utena comes outside, the shadow is pretty much halfway between Libra and Scorpio, so take that as you will.

This isn’t Anthy’s normal dead-eyed look. This is a challenge. She is waiting to see what Utena will do.

Cactus tally: 1 Though, we also get to see the hand of a Shadow Girl long before episode 34.

This shadow play is fairly straightforward: Wild West type duels as the setting, only the one gunslinger lost ‘on purpose’ so it’s okay to lose as long as you weren’t trying to win, but that might be harder than you think. Not much in the way of obscure symbolism here.

We get our first full-length Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku sequence, and our first magical girl transformation sequence. Though, a question: how come Utena gets a transformation sequence and cooler clothes, but when another Duelist is in possession of the Rose Bride, they don’t and are just in their normal uniform? Of course, the SC uniforms already have weird epaulets and a rope or chain at the neck. Is it because Utena is an outsider and needs the surface-level (clothing) transformation in order to fit in? Is she somehow special or different from the start?

I also know that this is mostly just for narrative drama, but why is Utena always the last one to arrive to duels, no matter who has possession of the Bride? How do the other Duelists get up there? How does Anthy get up there pre-elevator? How is Utena not totally winded after climbing that many stairs?

Saionji says that “living or dying” does matter in the duels, that it’s the person who loses their rose who loses -- I wonder if there’s a precedent for this? I can imagine some sort of Juri-like situation, only where someone actually gets killed, but still wins the duel. I wonder what would happen to Anthy in that case?

Ah, and our first “Power of Dios” moment. aka “this is how we officially know who the protagonist is.” Even Anthy seems shocked -- is she shocked because this isn’t something that usually happens, or because of who is getting this power? (I’m a firm believer in the theory that there have been many cycles of duels over the years, though it’s unclear how much Anthy even remembers from these multiple cycles.)

At the end of this scene, we get The Sunlit Garden playing, which is an interesting music choice, since it carries into the next scene. It has connotations of being a nice, warm, romantic, slightly nostalgic song for the nice, warm, friendly scene we get. But it also has connotations of fantasy, of misremembering the past, of something uncanny in the Freudian sense (something that is both familiar and unfamiliar), of something that can never be returned to.

We get an almost repeat of Utena’s playing it cool with Wakaba earlier, but this time it seems more genuine -- she doesn’t want Saionji to tease Chuchu, and at this, Anthy smiles. What feelings are behind that smile is unknown. Whether we are building off the theories of Chuchu representing something of greater significance or if we just take his presence at face value, this seems to speak to Utena’s style -- she’ll do grand gestures for people, but won’t admit it, but is still willing to protect those she sees as weak and unable to protect themselves. Well, good luck with that one, Utena.

And that concludes this week’s liveblog! Join me next week for episode 3: Mean Girls

If you have anything you want to comment on, please, feel free :]

#revolutionary girl utena #utena liveblog #not blog themed #long post is long #utena analysis

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raguna-blade · 4 years

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Revolutionary Girl Utena Live(ish) Reaction Episodes 8-11

So it's a new year, and I'm gonna continue this, cause its' fun. Had a brief break cause of the holidays. And doing so, I figure i'm gonna do a thing where I make up a nice cleaned up version of these cause if nothing else I like organizing my thoughts. So Control F or whatever your find function is for the cleaned up version if that's your thing. It'll be under Overall Thoughts per ep. Or you know, you're me and you're going back through this for validation for whatever nonsense you say later.

Episode 8

Curry huh? And another recap? uh....

enmy remains trifling

hey wait egg time already?

Danger? Really?

Body swap? Also egg time is goofs

throwin hands????? anthy?

Yeah nanami it is ridiculous

JERSUS TOGA

nanami you idiot

She just fucked off to india to get some weird back alley spice

Shadow girls can you please, just please for a single episode.

ANTHY YOU LYING. Never been good at sports and you did that leap apparently pretty well? What the fuck.

Also, the switching thing here is mad suspect considering the end theme thing (and I suppose the opening.

Utena as Anthy : I don't want to be a sacrifice of the rose seal.

Anthy As Utena: I'm super down staying like this actually.

Like..This is just details that

Uh..Uh saionji what. The implications are strong here. Also, Douche canoe he is, but he's a romantic apparently? UUUUH. Exchange diary.

Is the “A” plot a distraction? Like for real.

Also she took that elephant to the dome.

I'm not sure how to take this personality switch. Like the minds thing whatever, but if it's just the personalties but not the person so to speak, hold on

WHAT THE FUCK. These elephants for fucking real?

Anyway, if they're just personalities altering the “person” it's uh...Interesting. I'm not sure how to take that til I get more info. It seems like a thing.

Also, Saionji apparently legit has feels for Anthy he's just...mad dumb about expressing it? Like he's pulling a lot of Badboy Romance Tropes here but...not...in a badboy romance. Which kills his behavior entirely.

Killed his Soul AGAIN. Damn.

Who's the divine justice for? Like it doesn't seem for nanami. Who fucked up. Presumably between anthy and utena.

Anthy what the actual fuck are you doing. Are you using gunpowder?

Homie, this isn't twilight, go home saionji.

Anthy as Utena(????) you trolling. So hard.

Saionji get's zero respect but dudes dedicated I'll give him that. Fitting for bad boy romance lead.

Uh...Wait, actually, are they all romance leads? Common ones in one way or the other. They are on the student Council so...Hm. I don't read enough romance stories of the variety I think but it seems to fit? I'm not sure what juri would be in that case.

Anyway, if this Episode Turns out to be a key for understanding things I'm gonna be pissed. Just a little.

Overall Thoughts: So this and the other “filler” episode is, especially after finishing my last ep in the session, read as anything but despite the obvious uh...antics on display. Like...

Ok, so the whole thing with the ending which frames Anthy and Utena as kinda the same (or rather exactly the same, except one's in red and the other pink) makes this whole episode feel like it's basically some kind of key for understanding everything else because it's simple times. It's goofy hilarity with Nanami that's the A Plot right hahahah....

Except the personality swap between the two of them is like...The implication here is that they swapped minds fully, and given the level of fairy tale bullshit that is at play constantly in this series so far it may well just be magic brand magic and we're supposed to roll with it. Ok. Fair.

Except...The thought that sits in my head is again, Anthy and Utena seem to equal each other. Hell I point it out slightly later that there's definitely this yin yang thing going on in the opening with the two which is so blatant as to be meaningless because Hah Yeah these are our two leads obvs and they're important to each other so hahah don't worry about or think about it check out these SWEET SWORDSMANSHIP MOMENTS FROM EVERYONE LOOK AT THE BUDGET AND COOL HORSES AND CASTLES HAHAHA.

But ok, if it's a Yin Yang thing, yes they're not the same but they have elements of each other within eachother. So if it's just a personality swap but not an actual soul swap thing, that is, Anthy is just acting like Utena's personality is in her, and Utena is just acting like Anthy's personality is in her it paints this picture of Utena and Anthy as having a lot going on under the surface. I mean obviously Anthy is fucking pissed at Saionji. That was really really evident in episode one because if she's just being submissive rosebride I do what i'm told and I do what i'm told I do what i'm told, the very very very sharp dig of “We're Just classmates” is fucking brutal unnecessity. And given that she DOES know what he feels for her, and he's still acting like that, her being vindictive(or just brusque really, he's being an ass full bore) is like...absolutely reasonable.

Her Slapping back and about to throw hands with her tormentors? Who wouldn't want to right?

But then, ok that's Anthy, but what about Utena. If it's just a mind swap, Utena...want's a very defined existence? Like, she wants to just stick to a role? Feels weird, and doesn't quite immediately jive with her cause that seems against her operations right? Except, as this episode so kindly reminds us (for at least the third time in 8 episodes which seems excessive. I might be forgetting one or two) Utena's whole thing coming to this school is I want to play the Role of the Prince, whatever that actually means. Playing the Rose Bride would be no real difference, except it's way more submissive.

So that aside, Saionji saying he's in love with Anthy (and that seems to be something he at least believes to be true. He honestly seems more into Toga. Like for real for real, all the imagery of those flashbacks reads not just as close buddies, but as I am romantically down with you Toga my guy. Him being Bi is probably the easiest answer, and he just drifted away from Toga for a while. Saionji clearly sees him as a friend and rival, although it's seemingly not reciprocated at the moment.

But the thing, the thing that's kinda weird to me, is that if he does legit have feelings for her, I was struck with this odd vibe that he's playing at being a romance lead. Specifically, a Bad Boy romance lead. And doing so SPECTACULARLY badly. Homeboy is sitting here busting out poetry (unless my brain is being a dumb and i'm somehow overlaying him with Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma which ok, weird but alright) but...

Ok, if he is playing at being a Badboy Romance lead, that actually explains his behavior for how he was treating Anthy, especially if he's legit in his feelings for her? Possessive, Radiates Danger, Engages in Creepy Behavior, is a bit of a dick, etc. It lines up with Being a Bad Boy, except that the way that those usually work out in fiction, as I understand it, they're not usually like...gonna hit you. That breaks the fantasy. But...That's him fucking up the archetype. It doesn't fit for him. He doesn't understand what he's doing in that archetype.

Like yes, abusers and the like can care and still be absuers cause fucked up behavior and motivations don't need to match in the least, but it still feels odd that a man who probably literally could have done any number of fucked up things has...an exchange diary with the girl he says he cares about? And it's not like he's unaware of how submissive/passive she is, his exchange diary actually kinda reads like Utena's Anthy is A Real Girl! Activities*. He wants her to be active part of whatever their relationship is and...Eh.

But ok, if he's that, It suggests the rest of the student council, and duelists in general, would fit into a given archetype right? Toga is clearly the super cool intelligent superman student council president, Juri is basically charisma max Jock, Miki is the cute nerd, Nanami is the Ojou villainess type, Utena is...Basically the Hero type, just morals, strains to upset the status quo, Has the Cool Original Uniform.

And they all kinda fit into those pretty thoroughly, kinda like they're trying to (to varying levels of awareness)

Anyway, I'll hit on some of the other stuff in the next Ep. It's a bit more relevant there I think.

*See Me In Episode 11

Episode 9

I just realized they're doing some kinda yinyang thing in the opening so

R V G FIGHT.

Pretty tense there. Toga went straight for the heart which i'm sure means nothing.

Old Friends? Phrasing seems uh...odd? Unsure if it's dub things or actual subtext. Or both.

Dude you really got beef with a monkey? No, utena.

Being a huge dick. As is tradition.

10 Years.

Saionji: Actually love her (said) but

This is mad gay. Like the lighting, the silhouette. Saionji you're sublimating something here.

Music, Silhouettes.

...Silhouettes show truth? uh.

They were Utena's folks funeral? Huh. Also, why on earth would Utena be kidnapped? Who she be?

….Three coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhh. Utena, Toga, Saionji? UuuuHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Dead utena. Uh.

Toga: Ally to all women. Ok.

...Why is there a third coffin?

Something Eternal huh? And Utena wants to die for reasons understandable.

Find another coffin. Rose Sigils on the coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saionji: Hey, this is nuts, we should stop her.

Toga: Nah, I'm gonna Ennable the shit out of this.

Tiny Utena with the White Rose?

Saionji: Did he do something to her?

Toga: Nope

Uh....

Anthy: Something Eternal in the castle. I want to go there.

Also impressive grip strength considering. Flat.

Does Toga Remember this or...? I can't be sure. Saionji certainly didn't recognize her, but he wasn't like right on top of the trauma child.

Toga white roses? Uh? Uhhhhh. I think he definitely remembers. But questions abound.

Ufo's shadow girls? Shadow girls having flesh is deeply concerning.

TRUE FRIENDS ARE JUST FANTASIES. OK.

And UFO's broke, so that's probably not great. Who's getting the Revelations today.

That is the fakest voice toga what the fuck

Badboy Saionji: We're Gonna get the eternity.

Also, I just realized they (saionji and anthy) have color inversions going on which is making me kinda wonder if they're related in some way?

Just slap the shit out of him that's fair.

Ok, so Saionji didn't(?) do the dumb thing. Ok,

that is...a coffin. That he's 100% obssessed with. With Anthy (Utena) inside.

He's looking like he kissed his own mom right now, goin full oedipus in the holy shit revelations here.

Castle is crumbling, falling down. So...Eternity is Fake. Ok. Sure. Didn't shadow girls say that?

Castle Immediately tried to kill him. Crushed his soul 1 time too many there I suppose.

Utena, meanwhile, dove super deep into saving anthy which...diving deeper into the fantasy?

Yeah, they all just saw things.

Saionji: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED WHATS GOING ON?

Bro, me too.

Ok, if the two are reflections, does Anthy and saionji both got some deep illusory bullshit going on? Are they both freaking out?

Toga, saving the day, and Saionji, tried to kill Utena with a sword. so. Ok.

Saionji Expelled? Toga, fool for thinking they're friends?

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?

Overall Thoughts: I touched on a bunch of the Saionji stuff I wanna talk about in the last episode review, but the thing I kinda want to look at here is well...

Ok, Now the colors probably don't mean anything, but there was this moment that Saionji and Anthy were in the same shot and I suddenly realized they're color flips of each other. Purple hair green eyes, Green Hair Purple eyes, which ok that's interesting.

So we already have Utena Reflecting on Anthy, and hey, there's Zero Reason, absolutely negative number reasons why that wouldn't necessarily be the case with any and all of the rest of the duelists to some degree or another.

And hell, the fact that we keep flipping back and forth between Utena and Anthy in Coffins, there being (for some weird ass reason) a third entirely unrelated coffin for Utena's folks funeral, why the fuck not right?

So ok, Anthy and Saionji mirror each other which...Ok. If the Personality Swap from Episode 8 thing holds, The two actually share some pretty dickish actions. They can be cruel and petty and just antagonistic to things that don't quite jive with what they want. Saionji with Anthy not being...whatever he's expecting out of her, or Utena butting in. Anthy with the girls who keep fucking with her and Saionji.

They both seem to be utterly STUCK on the Rose Bride thing, although from different angles of Possessing the Rosebride and being the Rosebride, and the kind of weird shaping of the Rosebride thing that's going on.

Saionji is treated as a joke by the student council, especially after he get's kicked out, which ultimately ends with him being someone who is generally wanted but ends up ultimately exiled from society. Which mirrors with Anthy as someone is is wanted, but doesn't seem to have ANY kind of actual tangible bonds with anyone.

And, for this last one I have ZERO evidence on the Anthy end, but the suggestions are uh..interesting. Saionji in this episode, as suggested by the shadow girls at least in part, is deeply deeply invested in a fantasy of some kind, one that ultimately leaves him crushed and rather empty, further exiled from people who could or do care for him and that he cares about. Which if we're going with the property sliding across and He's a Foil for Utena (which I think is definitely true in some ways) suggests bad things for her down the line.

Episode 10

Saionji's a joke huh? He's taking it well.

Toga WOW. WOW YOU FUCKING DOUCHE. STRAIGHT IN THE FIRE HUH.

EGG TIME.

So, thing about eggs, that includes whats inside it right? so...Revolutionize yourself right? Right? That's obvious right?

Oh new duelist. Cool cool.

Utena getting slapped. By Nanami. With Utena being hella submissive. (EPISODE 8 FLASHBACKS INTENSIFY)

maybe a girl can't be a prince. THERES THAT THESIS. E8 FLASHBACKS

Nanami got her brother a kitty.

Oh damn it is Nanami. Duel Time. I mean we sall it in the opening but you know.

Jesus Toga, please stop being

OH GOD NANAMI NO. NOOOOOO NOPE NO.

Toga: We ain't kids no more. Shit don't fly.

Nanami: Emotionally devastated.

Is that Miki's sister?

Hey, what happened to the cat?

Juri: Hey, Serious Business, what the fucks up with the duelist?

Toga is perpatrating as badly as nanami actually. He's just less immediately obvious about it I guess.

Goddamnit there's Anthy's next slap. Jesus. Legit, who hasn't at this point. Is this a theme? IS THIS A THING?

Jesus, he's just playing all of this to piss her off? What the fucks up.

...Did nanami kill the cat. Uh...Uhhhhhh.

Ring is an engagement ring. Wait, that's a flat out school rule that everyone knows? For real? Uh.

...What the fuck happened with the kitty. Uh...

ITS TIME. ABSOLUTE DESTINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I just realized the kinda weird framing with Anthy dressing up utena kinda looks like her opening her legs up with the way it get's framed and I'm not sure if that's me just kinda over reading things or if that's a thing.

Nanami's duel outfit is SICK. Also, a yellow alt color of utena.

Actually. ACTUALLY? Is...Is Nanami like an Utena Alt color? That can't be right. Actually looking at them right next to each other they're...straight up alt colors of each other. Not to mention Nanami's my prince thing mirrors Utena.

She just HOT pulled a knife. Oh she's About to fucking hot MERC utena, going for death jessus.

They're supposed to be around the same age too for that matter right?

She absolutely killed that cat and it's...

With her hair down she does look like an utena alt color even more.

Why's the duel music still going after the duel finished. Jesus. This wasn't a duel with Nanami, it was a duel with Toga, and I think Utena Hot lost it out and out.

Overall Thoughts: Well the Big thing I'm paying attention here are two. First the simpler one.

The Egg has to break the shell of the world to be born right? I'm paraphrasing badly, but the thing is the way they keep phrasing that is that the World is the Egg, but the egg isn't just the shell right? It includes what's inside of it. Which if that's the case, mixed with the way that duels work out being more a clash of ideals than of actual tangible skill, the revolutionize the world bit seems to be referring to them themselves, that is the duelists.

Alternatively, the Bird Referenced, the thing being revolutionized is Anthy. Which...Is an interesting line of thought. Given the Duels as a whole are basically choosing who her fiance will be, that'd imply that ultimately this decides the way that Anthy would come to develop? Or how she chooses to develop? Which ok if so, and the way that Ideals seem to be at play, Suggests...What? Dunno. Need more info, which will be delivered later.

But the other thing here, continuing the mirroring thing, which might be me reading too deeply, but I think not and even if it is Whatever I'm having fun.

THE ENTIRE NANAMI DUEL felt like a Mirror Match.Heck, Nanami dressed like an alt color of Utena, and especially once her hair got undone she looked even more like an alt color of Utena. They're only about a year different in age, and her brother seems to be her Prince type, and he drops the ring on her like an engagement ring, and she basically says I fight like my brother because he's my ideal.

Which is a weird thing since right now it's not going...too far. I'll have to see how it shakes out, but if the mirroring thing continues, the fact that the moment she lost she basically said nope fuck that, Knife Time, was...Concerning. It says real concerning things with Utena.

But it also says other interesting things then, because if Nanami is supposed to be some kind of Alt color Utena, similar in ambition goals and the like, if more outwardly girly to Utena's princey thing, their relationship with Anthy is uh..

Uh...

Well put simply, Utena is fucking up big and dramatic with Anthy, and she doesn't realize it at all or care because she can't see it for what it is. Nanami actively tries to undermine Anthy, and does some fucked up things to her. Which..Makes me wonder about the Divine Judgement thing from Episode 8 which, damnably, seems to be forming some kind of key here.

Like the way it's frame suggests the divine Judgement being visited upon Nanami is what's being talked about. But ok, Nanami had some bad shit happen to her sure, but...All of that was self inflicted upon her trying to fix what she percieves as a problem. Yes her reasons for doing it are so she can be with her brother, no doubt, but...They're ridiculous. Like, I cannot believe this shit is happening. But

But

If the Target of Divine Judgement/punishment is the Anthy Utena duo, one or both of them are on the receiving end of it. It's not clear how Acting like Utena would be a punishment for Anthy (I'm sticking with it just being a personality swap and not a full mind swap) but Utena who prides herself on being princely and aspires to that being the super submissive rosebride? I could see that being a kind of hell for her. And if the logic of Utena is Undermining Anthy holds out, but the criitcal difference being her ignorance and dishonesty of why compared to Nanami unabashedly saying yes I am fucking doing this fuck you I get what I want no hold barred, it...

Like, Nanami, as far as it goes, doesn't really receive a punishment if we're being honest. Yes she takes a couple of elephants to the dome, and has to be away from her brother and see her thing fail but..The way it's treated by herself and everyone else is basically a LOL THESE THINGS HAPPEN I GUESS HAHAHA. The Utena/Anthy swap meanwhile seems considerably more serious for them (especially considering the Everyone Slaps Anthy thing that seems to legit be a thing. Somehow. Except here Applied to “Utena”), and seems to cause some serious distress.

We'll see I guess.

Episode 11

As I watch this opening more and more, why is anthy like constantly framed like...Ominous as shit? Is it me?

Homegirl is just. Damn. Sure glad NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN (I do not trust this series to not have something bad happen to Wakaba. Again.)

Anthy. Are..are you...passive aggressively doing...something

Toga: I can see through the illusions yeah boi.

I do not trust this for an inch. He is abusing the shit out of his framing, like the whole time, and I don't trust.

Toga is “student council prince” archetype. Miki's nerdy student counciler.

EGG TIME

Juri is...Antagonistic But well meaning?

Saionji...I'm not sure he was actually on the stuco. But if so, bad boy.

What....is with the balloons. The color coded balloons.

Miki: Like a Pet Cat.

The Pet Cat that died, got killed.

WHAT IS WITH THESE BALLOONS.

ALSO I SEENT YOU PURPLE BALLOON.

So if the duels are ideal clashes more than actually a matter of direct skill, is this Toga (touga?) trying to fuck with Utena before the fight?

Anthy is a Bird. Ok. And Toga, arguably, being the biggest dick here. We thought it was Saionji, but the trick was he's the red part of the rose.

Anthy shut down REAL quick when being the rose bride was brought up.

Is Utena projecting mad hard onto Anthy here?

Homeboy needs to stop playing these games.

Utena, Stahp. DO NOT TRUST HIM.

Toga, You...DOUCHE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

Toga: Oh My B, Shouldn't act that way in front of the rose bride. ALSO DUELING LETS GOOOOO.

Utena: one link forces me to fight him. Meanwhile, rose symbols everywhere, a lot of them brought in by anthy.

Hmmmmmmm.

Utena is hard not understanding something here. I don't know what (rose bride related for sure) but I don't get...WHAT is off here.

Cause thinking about it, Utena's objective with Anthy is arguably the most noble, but she's still not quite treating anthy as a person.

….William Tell Interlude is SUITABLY CONCERNING considering the above thoughts so uh.

Also that was a weirdly specific number. 30K arrows or something?

I just realized that the DARKNESS OF DARKNESS OF LIGHT OF DESTINY OF (INSERT) things seems to show up right around anthy a lot. I'm not super sure if that's a whole thing or just a this episode thing, but...

Is Utena about to get HOT DUNKED? Because I think she is.

Also, I just realized, Utena slid into that pull sword out of rose bride thing right quick and she's never once questioned that.

So yes, Utena has BOOTY but cheeks swordsmanship, which yeah, obvs. Two of the people she beat were actually skilled before this fight, and yet she won somehow.

I don't know how to deal with these lyrics. But Toga is absolutely fucking with her head here.

And She Lost. Decisively. YUP. WELP THIS IS GONNA BE A THING NEXT TIME.

Toga: Hey you don't have to deal with this bullshit anymore.

Utena is doing the EXACT same shit Miki and Saionji were pulling, and Anthy's blank soulless stare is freaking me the hell out. Again.

So, ideals here. But the idea that whoever has a...better grasp of the truth is the victor. Which makes sense that Toga wins here.

Jesus, Soul crush 2.0, except it's on Utena this time. Goddamn.

WELL NEXT EPISODE PROMISES TO BE FUN.

Utena: ITS NOT TRUE. ITS NOT TRUE!

The Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena IMMEDIATELY: MISSING TRUTH ETCETC HOLD ME IN YOUR TRUE ARMS I WANT TO KEEP SMASHING LIES APART

SURE THAT MEANS NOTHING GUYS GGNORE.

Also, no joke, these seem like a Direct response to this episode and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

I want to be hated by lies? Uhhhhh.

Overall Thoughts: So Hey, Here we are in Episode 11 and I want to talk about how Utena and Saionji basically are each other right here.

Like overtly even I think, even if the actions aren't precise clean mirrors to each other which I guess is just how i'm going to be going through this series right now RiP.

But ok, here's the thing. What has been increasingly clear as time goes by is that Utena is fundamentally misunderstanding something about Anthy. I'm not sure fully what it is, but it's clearly Rosebride related, and the thing with the clashing ideals suggests that the.

Actually let me explain that clear like. Right now my read on the Duels is that they are NOT in any way shape or form a demonstration of skill. I Think that's clear through this point, but I'm making it explicit for my own sake. The Victor of the Duel isn't the better fighter. If that were the case, It'd suggest the only ones in the running at all would be Toga or Saionji (Juri should also be in here, but I'm not actually clear how skilled she is compared to those two, and the way they're treated suggests that Toga and Saionji are comparable in pure skill/ability.)

But Utena somehow beat Saionji like three times, Juri and Miki. Miki's whatever, but Juri clearly knows what she's doing, and Saionji seems to be Kendo Team captain so you know. Up there. Meanwhile, Utena explicitly is an amateur.

I'm not saying, in full, that actual skill with the blade is a null thing, but your ideals seems to be the biggest factor over everything else. Presumably, people rocking equally “powerful” ideals would fall to skill with the sword.

Anyway. The Truths that Seem to be critical are Anthy Wants to Be Free of the Rosebride. Ok, so Utena has the right read then right? But then she lost to Toga who seems to be rocking Anthy Wants to Be, or else Considers herself fundamentally to be, the Rosebride, which is something that Utena seems to be denying about Anthy, but is none the less true.

But then, How are Utena and Saionji the same? Well, remember an episode back where I was talking about the divine punishment thing and all that jazz from episode 8?

It hits both of them for mistreating the Rosebride. There is a fantasy going on between Utena and Saionji, and while Saionji's is a bit complicated and unclear I think, Utena's actually is pretty straightforward I think. Utena want's to be a prince. That's her fantasy. The general virtues she want's to possess are great. Good even. But the specific's seems to involve a kind of rides in and saves the day riding in on a white horse thing, where she's the hero and does for some poor unfortunate girl what her prince did to her.

Saionji's meanwhile, seems to be something of him having a genuine reciprocal relationship with Anthy, with him inhabiting the role of a badboy romantic lead while the two of them have feelings for each other. When, really, he doesn't seem to care for her, or at least the feelings that he has for her are considerably weaker than whatever awkward feelings he has going on for Toga (I'm seriously a little fuzzy here, cause it feels like following his most recent defeat he's rocking some kind of clarity? I don't know how it's gonna work out, but I could sorta see him Returning and upsetting whatever the then status quo is.)

But notably, the big thing between them is their staunch refusal to accept what seems to be really true about their relationship with Anthy.

That the end theme seems to immediately pop up as an answer to Utena's reaction feels...Purposeful.

#revolutionary girl utena #liveblogish #In which I just have to accept that i'm probably gonna be looking at foils everywhere for everything #Things Get Spicy #I should really consider getting images but for right now i refuse.#liveblog

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raguna-blade · 4 years

Text

Revolutionary Girl Utena 25-29

Hey we’re 10 eps away from the endgame and me actually properly compiling this into something comprehensible because ohgodi’mtryingnottothinkaboutcreepyfuckakio. Sick flips on him though shit i’ll give him that.

Episode 25

So in light of the next episode preview, the opening is 100% more ominous.

Uh...Uh..Cars? Driving?Is...That Akio in the car?

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT. Akio?Uh...Uh...Am I reading too deep? That whole driving sequence felt...uh.

Goddamnit akio.

Holy shit the room is nice though. Like damn.

Wakaba...Ok, I get it.

Akio just god.

….Roses cutting between utena and anthy and family. Uh...hm.

Oh...Uh...Akio looked furious.

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT? Who are these people in the bck?

Rose duel place got...a gondola? Changed up?

The baseball metaphor suggests Saonji about to get blown the fuck out?

OH GOD NO FUCK PLEASE.

MORNING STAR? DERIVATIVE NAME? THIS FUCKER IS THE DEVIL

Anthy Framing is...uh...metaphro. Terrifying.

Is...Is anthy Jealous?

The Evil Laugh cinches any chance of this being ok.

….the Yin Yang thing? Again...

you seem familiar to me too? Uh...Anthy?

...Is that Dios?

THE TRUTH IS WHAT? WHATS THE TRUTH ANTHY?

Saionji played himself.

….Is...The car thing...What the hell? Why did his shirt fly open. And the Car...?

….What's with the horn...?

Akio, why do you look like a knock off dios...?

Is this a Touga Saionji centric ep...? Is this a bro moment? I mean fuck touga, he ain't trustworthy, saionji had it right.

Akio saved the Girl who is implied to be utena. But...He's been in the castle for years.

Akio where the FUCK is your shirt.

Ok, that was actually cool as hell, I just wish he wasn't you know...Him.

...Saionji feelin himself again after the ride with Akio. Which...God, i'm hoping it's just me reading too much into shit and not that what I think happened happened.

Saionji, what the actual shit. Why is it every time you drop further down?

Shadow girls old schoolll?

Half the suffering twice the pleasure...?

Oh shit is this a new Apocalypse? Yeah man. YEAH MAN SHIT LOOKS DOPE ABSOLUTE

WHAT THE FUCK UTENA YOU NOT GONNA REACT TO ANTHY JUST...ANY OF THAT?

What's with the tree?...Is the lipstick new?

But the flower bush through anthy's clothes...?

That car...?

….He's not wrong at the moment about the lack of will.

What the fuck is going on with these cars...?

Oh...Oh boy saionji that face. I just realized he shows up almost without fail when shits about to go wrong.

...The Sword...? What the fuck? Did Anthy...?

Is this a remix?

….Uh...Huh. That's...Utena's Sword? That 's utena's sword. I guess...Drawn from her by Anthy. For the first time really clearly showing volition.

….Oh god damnit. Akio. Fucking.

The Sword of Dios did not appear..?Huh.

Anthy hesitated and...Akio hm. Yeah, I mean no surprise but.

And Akios made of stars now.

OH SHIT NEW CLOSING?

On the elevator...And stars? Something BIG changed I think. That's what it feels like but fucking what? ABSOLUTELY NO DIOS here, no akio like, none of it. Just anthy and utena.

Huh. So is everyone fighting Utean again?

Episode 26

Oh hey, I guess the uncomfortable car ride is the new thing.

And now Akio want's Anthy engaged to someone else huh. WONDER WHY.

And Touga. Touga you being played. You don't even realize. Or do you?

...Kozue how did you...?

Birds?

Also, jessu you two please.

Chuchu what the hell are you doing.

Kozue. Uh...?

That person. What's the beef with their parents.

Also, why does Anthy know so much about birds?

The voice thing was....?

Akio, what do you think of her. Yee. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

ANTHY DO SOMETHING YOU'RE LIKE THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD!?

Also, is the sleeping thing a new repeat scene?

Harsh as hell indeed. Typical Anthy.

Defeat Utean for the good of the duelists.

Adults saying it's for their own good, not trustworthy huh.

Also that chair.

What the fuck is anthy doing at Miki's dads place...?

Is...Is that ACTUALLY anthy?I don't think so...Anthy as a symbol?????

What? WHAT THAT...can't be right.

GOD DAMNIT AKIO. Wait, isn't this the same shit Touga pulled?

Touga....Goddamnit. Wait. This is person 2 saying I reject being a duelist, and Touga shows up like some weird fucking devil.

THERE! CAN'T YOU HEAR IT!?

New Hellavator confirmed.

Kozue and Miki? MIKI HE'S DATING A SCHOOL GIRL ITS NOT OK

...Yeah the...disheveledness. This uh...Hm.

Become impure as well. Lose your purity. uh. Uhhhhhh....

The fucking rose? AGAIN?

Seduced Touga. Yeah, ok, the implication is uh...yeah.

Utena standing on the landmine. Utena's oh no is yeah.

Ufo Crash? Again? Gambling Shadow Girls...? This is clearly about Miki getting suckered.

So Absolute destiny time and...Yeah, some weird shit is going down here. And it seems like Utena is ABSOLUTELY fucking shit up for someone.

Oh wait, anthy's outfit full of pink roses. Filled up with thoughts of Utena? Huh.

BLUE ROSEBRIDEOUTFIT?...wait what? But it's Kozue. And no longer trying to draw anthy's sword huh.

Kozue...What the fuck?

And Miki, I thought you were over this shit.

Why are they...both in the car. oh..Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. And Anthy is just kinda dead.

Um. Uh...Kozue....? what the Actual fuck are you doing? I mean I know what it looks like so. But Uh...And Anthy, you wain't doing nothing?

Straight up called Miki a coward...Which..ok. I think I get why...? I don't get why.

Do you have any problems you can't tell people about...?

Episode 27

...Wait is this Nanami's Duel time? Oh boy...

What's with eggs though...?

Did...did she lay an egg....? Is...Is this a menstration thing....?

I can't tell if this is literal or a symbol because this series is just like that.

Full on ATE that ball to the face. God.

I'm not even sure if this is filler episode nonsense because it's just...

I mean we got the boy, so probably “filler” but...

...So it was actually laid. And it looks like a easter egg.

...Rose again.

THIS 100% reads like some kind of discovering new things about your body thing. Like I ain't familiar with young girls fiction so...

oh hey it's juri.

Making fun of me for being so late its...

this bowling ball thing is...what.

This

What the fuck I can't even.

Juri looking FRESH on the blowing alley.

So...What's even going on here. What's the...

These fucking Songs for nanami though.

I'm half waiting for the episode to reveal yeah laying eggs it's the thing that happens you know how it is.

JESUS. The Boy Hey if there's a problem I want you to talk to me. Which is Utena and anthy ALL over again. So...Nanami's reaction is...Anthy's...?

….Anthy. Anthy do you know what happened? With whatever weird bullshit I 100% believe you had something to do with it.

…............I prefer girls. I too prefer Girls

Touga: ITS ONLY BOYS AND GIRLS WHO GET TOGETHER THAT WAY. NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT FEELS.

Also, going against gods plan huh...?

is...what...is the what is the egg metaphor even DOING here. Like, pitty the family who's daugther lays eggs and...what.

Shadow Girls....wha...what the fu

treating this like an actual child which...ok...uh...what is...

Is the egg laying thing a saying that didn't translate?

Another song...?

Saionji what the fuck are you...doing.

Eggs are something you normally eat.

Jessu nanami got the blows.

Saionji, Hey you want some eggs I got eggs. Midnight Egg Frying. Respect for that.

...now utena and Anthy...wha...what?

Do you believe in reincarnation...? Elephants dying by themselves.

Yes utena, why are we talking about this.

...Wait, if Nanami is Anthy....did...wait...I...do not

what the christ is happening with this egg.

Oh hey, the chick broke the shell.

Was that a dream ANOTHER EGG?

Also, why are we getting a filler episode. We usually only get those after some hardcore nonsense.

….Why does anthy look so fucking sad.

Episode 28

Oh hey, it's a rose. ...Also, prefers girls, next episode is about Juri. uh...hm.

Who's this douchebag.

Why is this music so fucking ominous. Did Akio bring in a ringer.

...Did they draw? He won.

Ex Captain. Is this the dude Shiori was into.

Luka Suchi(spelling?). The Actual Captain. Ruka. Ruka.

He a duelist. And Juri doesn't sound happy about it.

Who is this douchebag. Touga 2.0 Better. Smoother(?) Bluer?

Is...Is he the only male fencer there...? Wait, are the fencers mostly women?

Tsuchiya. So it was the captain then who Shiori was into and did that whole thing. No wonder she doesn't like him.

Uh hold up, I mean you do you. Oh the two seem happy. Well...that's..fine...?

Oh here's Juri, lookin fucking pissed.

Keep your hands off Shiori.

Ruka is...suspect as fuck I mean that's a given but.

Hey it's the bed again.

OH YOU GET BAD VIBES FROM RUKA AND NOT AKIO? HOW. HOW HES 100000% LESS SUSPECT AND YET?

I mean it sucks for Juri, but Oh nope there he's doing it to piss off juri for some reason. What a douche. Damn.

Deffo Touga 2.0 Less overtly sexual though so...Improvement...?

What the...What the hell did Ruka do that she doesn't trust him so much?

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE TOUGA?

….Is...the Car? Juri? It's gotta be right?

Finally someone looking at him with sufficient what the fuck

…..You're an adult now...uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Where did your...shirt go..

AKIO AKIO WHAT.

THROB OF THE ENGINE

Car is 10000000% something about sex, but like...

Shiori feels...odd. Here.

Shadow girls. What...? god what? um...the...ok. That felt...weirdly uncomfortable.

The gap between these shadow girl duel car sections is getting smaller I swear.

Another Rose Bride huh.

That was oddly humble of a duelist admitting he might lose.

Homie is WEIRDLY humble and it is throwing me no lie.

So wait, the car is I guess sex or something so...wait, does that mean that Kozue and Anthy had sex at some point.?

And I suppose them crashing is the things didn't work out kinda thing. Kozue looks fucked UP.

Ruka failed because of his rose bride? Huh. And then we cut to Juri...? hooooooooooboy. Nope don't like the implications at all there.

Episode 29

Believe in Miracles huh...Yeah it's...Juri time.

Oh she wasn't polishing Ruka's sword huh...

Oh damn this looks bad. Shiori you got attatched FAST. What the fuck...happened.

And she's just devastated so that's uh...not...greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Juri is PISSED.

Juri, I am NOT INVOVLED IN THIS RELATIONSHIP DRAMA. NOPE NOT I.

Anthy. ANTHY PLEASE JUST SAY SOMETHING GOD. PLEASE.

Shiori. Kinda...Kinda stalkery there.

Uuuuuuuugh. Another schemer. But Blue. With I guess Akio inbetween.

Shiori does not look...well. Her reaction to Juri seems...Uh..Hm.

Juri. Fuck him upppppppppp.

….Wow this got a bit uh...REALLY RAPEY NEVER MIND. FUCK THIS GUYYYYYYYYY.

Is...that why she...hm. Ruka is A DOUCHE. Full on. Goddamn.

...You challenged him to a duel? Juri. JURI NOOOOOOOO.

Goddamnit. Can't you hear it. Fucking hell akio again.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooodamnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

DO ANYTHING I ASKED YOU TO. DAMNIT

Is...ruka driving? No. that is not the case.

Ruka: I make you better.

Hoboy. Believe in miracles and they'll know your feelings. JURI said this?

Juri..Actually seems pretty in control here. Ok. Not happy about it but...Objectives.

Does nobody question these cars though?

DESTINY TIMMMMME.

God, can we get Ruka punched in the jaw? Just...Rocked right across the jaw a couple of times?

Juri is 1000000% not feeling this. Like...not at all

Juri losing when she's off her game don't count. She got played. That was that touga anthy bullshit all over again.

Actually...yeah it is isn't it. Hm

The Super Move Failed. And Juri is uh...not handling it. At all. There goes that brooch and...hoo. This is painful to watch.

Took the rose off. Fuck this shit.

Its...raining. That's...weird. Just on the dueling arena.

Hit him. HIT HIM.

I swear i'll make it right? Fucking how? HIT HIM.

Juri don't believe it.

And Ruka...fucked off? Huh?

Did...did Ruka die. So he...did that for...Juri? And...

what?

And her unreaction to the shadow girls....hm

wish as hard as you can and they will know your feelings huh.

#revolutionary girl utena #LIveblog #the hits don't stop coming do they.

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