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──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──── Huh. She hadn't really expected anyone to give her any mind when she showed up, except maybe to ridicule her for being here when she didn't pass before, but... There was a pretty decent reaction after all. Aside from the boy who was rubbing his head like he was dealing with a headache, there was... Surprisingly a decent reception. No one outright telling her not to be here, at the very least. Maybe she had let her nerves get the best of her earlier after all. As she made her way to the desk, she heard a comment from one of the students on the other side of the room. Don't waste her chance. She rolled her eyes a tiny bit, her tail curling around the leg of the chair as she settled in. She didn't need him to tell her that, it was... Well, it was obvious, it didn't take a genius to find out she got lucky to be here. The steady shift of colors across her body had settled down as she relaxed a bit, it felt good to not be the center of attention anymore... Right up to the point that she saw someone turning around in his desk, doing his best to get a better look at her as he held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Hideyo," he said happily. "And I think your quirk is the coolest thing I've seen. Ever!" She paused for a moment, before she reached over to take his hand with a sheepish grin on her face, "Aw, geez, I dunno about that really. Uh... I think if it was the coolest thing ever, I would've gotten in without having to get a little lucky." She laughed gently, her other hand rubbing at the back of her neck as she glanced up at the ceiling. "It's not, like... Terrible, at least! My dad had it bad, he didn't get any of the stuff mine can do. He was pretty nervous when I was born." She trailed off as she looked around the room, getting a look at some of the... Other students. Most of them looked pretty normal, except for maybe the guy who had just started talking to Dreadbolt there... And the giant man next to her who did not look like he was the same age as the rest of them. She wasn't going to question it though, what was the point? With the world how it was, he might be the youngest one here for all she knows! ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ────

Next Post→ Next Topic ("Someday, My Revolution Will Come" Let's Play)→→ Duel 01 -- The Rose Bride or: I'm Not Going To Be Able To Explain Everything But I'm Sure Going To Try And Explain Something Once upon a time, years and years ago, there was a little princess, and she was very sad, for her mother and father had died. Before the princess appeared a traveling prince, riding upon a white horse. He had a regal bearing and a kind smile. The prince wrapped the princess in a rose-scented embrace and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. “Little one,” he said, “who bears up alone in such deep sorrow, never lose that strength or nobility, even when you grow up. I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me, one day.” Perhaps the ring the prince gave her was an engagement ring. This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day. …but was that really such a good idea? So begins Revolutionary Girl Utena, a school-set coming-of-age anime. But here’s the thing, the fantastic elements of the prolog never really go away, so on top of the relationship drama that will inevitably stem from, like, seven different dysfunctional relationships, there’s also, to borrow from The Princess Bride, fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, true love, and miracles. To put it another way, imagine if Scott Pilgrim was written by this guy: “This guy” is Kunihiko Ikuhara, someone who people more into anime than I might recognize as the director of the first four seasons of the original Sailor Moon. And one can definitely see some of the inspirations Sailor Moon brought to Utena, especially with regards to some of the “magical girl” tropes common in that particular genre such as transformation sequences and an overarching theme of love conquering all obstacles. But Revolutionary Girl Utena is also really weird. Perhaps the most famous example of this is from the movie adaptation where the climax involves Utena turning into a car. Much of the series is like that too, largely involving non-sequitur cuts (a stopwatch is particularly prominent), or a plot involving an escaped kangaroo. This has caused Utena to be deemed “pretentious” by some, but I’m not entirely sure that’s a fair label. When you strip away everything else, Revolutionary Girl Utena’s plot, while not always straightforward, still exists and can be followed episode to episode. So that’s what I’m going to do here. There are forty Saturdays (including today (at orignal time of posting)) left in the year, thirty-nine anime episodes, and a handful of other versions (such as the aforementioned movie) to talk about, so hopefully, we can ring in the new year with the end of Utena. A couple final notes before we get into the meat of things. I’m going to try and avoid explicit spoilers, but talking about themes will inevitably lead to giving things away on some level, accidentally or not. Speaking of themes, a pretty major theme of the show involves not just the dysfunctional relationships I mentioned earlier, but actual depictions of abuse. More specific content warnings will likely preface later posts (I imagine a couple flashing light warnings will be needed at the very least), but I did want to get that out of the way now. (Edit: A more complete list of content warnings can be found here, I'll still reference the major ones in posts involving them but this is a good place to start for anyone worried about getting into this show. It's okay if you would rather not!) Also, the Youtube playlist provided by the distributor only seems to work in America. If you want to follow along outside of the US, you’re going to have to look elsewhere for these episodes, or at least find a VPN that works for you. The first scenes set in the present day lay the groundwork for Revolutionary Girl Utena’s thesis regarding gender roles. Utena Tenjou is a tomboy by every definition, not only in the activities she prefers, but in the way she dresses as well. The societal disconnect between the image of a girl with pink hair and blue eyes and said girl’s desire to become a prince is very apparent. But we’ll have to go into what exactly Utena the show and Utena the character mean when they say “prince” later. In the meantime, the first episode is largely devoted to establishing the majority of the other main characters and the plot of the first arc: Members who bear the Rose Crest may challenge each other for possession and therefore engagement to Anthy Himemiya, The Rose Bride, under duels outlined by an enigmatic being known only as End of the World. Utena herself is drawn to this tournament after the current champion, Kendo captain Saionji offends Wakaba, Utena’s best friend who crushes on Saionji despite (or perhaps because of) his acerbic nature. Other elements introduced are the rest of the Student Council, though only President Touga Kiryuu is referred to by name, the element of music present in Utena’s duels, and the first appearance of the shadow play girls who represent the show’s Greek Chorus, commenting on the events of each episode, though in the future these will largely be through symbols and metaphor. We’ll get into these elements in more detail later. The only really big image to talk about is the castle in the sky, almost akin to the Sword of Damocles in how it looms over the dueling arena. Saionji dismisses it as a trick of the light, but its presence is going to be felt in a majority of these episodes. To ascend to the castle, the duelists believe, is to gain the power to revolutionize the world, and every episode a duel takes place is an opportunity for the challenger to present their case as to why they deserve that power. It’s important, then, that the classic naivete that anime protagonists tend to have works in Utena’s favor here. Utena had no knowledge of any of this when she challenged Saionji, she only knew that she had to fight for her best friend. And when Saionji attacks Himemiya, Utena resolves to fight for her as well. To reiterate, Utena doesn’t display that same desire for power, and, in fact, the anime might argue that that is why she wins. All in all, this is one of the more straightforward episodes of the show. What you see is what you get, really, and the threads left open are things that can largely be answered with “It’s Episode One. It’s supposed to start intrigue, not answer it.” But I’ll leave the comments section open if there are any questions about things I might have missed, and I’ll see you all in a week. -r Next time: Rematch! Roommates! A monkey! Link to Episode -- Next Post→

A Rock Gil started near the outside of the ring of people and worked their way in, passing by those that had also bothered to see what the second fuss was about. There was no water? “We know,” someone near Gil muttered. “That’s why Simon was there in the first place.” Which was true! That was how they had been operating in the past, Some event would draw attention to a specific temple so of course that was where they had to be. Of course, now that Nuumu had so kindly offered their space they no longer had to do any of that, at least for the time being. The watchdog mentioned the mother of pearl stone too. Was that all he needed? Gil felt the pearl in their breast pocket, even going as far as to, when people started clearing out again, taking it out and examining it, weighing in their cupped hand. When enough people had cleared, they even held it out in front of them and said aloud, “This?” They approached the watchdog and said it again. “This? We were looking for somebody to give it back to but all the acolytes left when we arrived and I believe many have not returned to their station even now. We have no use for it.” Gil sensed Rose behind them and turned away from the watchdog, towards their partner. “I believe he will also be needing your stone at some point,” Gil said. “It would be best to give it to him now, I imagine.” “If you say so then I will agree,” Rose said. They took their sapphire out and placed it on the ground, before looking up and addressing the dog in the middle of Temple Square. “We do not begrudge you for the death of Simon Weatherson. As they say, ‘From your lips to the gods’ ears,’ if you deemed it necessary, then what else can we do but respect that decision? We had a similar discussion with Nuumu’s watchdog. “We have as little desire to see Galatea fall to drought as you do,” Rose continued. “Return water to Galatea and together we can wash this blood away.” A Hard Place Aiden held the back of his hand to Emily’s forehead. “No fever. She’s cold to the touch, actually,” he said. “Well, fortunately, we have the largest fire in Galatea. Hopefully staying warm will not be a problem.” He looked up at Kitt. “Here, though? We collectively have some basic knowledge of medicine, but perhaps it would have been better to find -” He cut himself off. “No, Wendell would likely have been helpless as well. I have heard the stories. I will trust your judgment. Who knows, maybe this is a disease of the spirit? Or, perhaps just weariness. In those cases this would be the best place, I agree. “If I may confide in you further,” Aiden stepped away from Emily’s cot and closer to Kitt. “It feels like so much has happened all at once. Yesterday doesn’t feel like yesterday anymore, it feels weeks ago, or even more. What is left? What can I do? And if it is just ‘watch over this girl,’ I have to ask, what are you going to do in the meantime? “What is going to happen to us?” OOC

The Tidal Star Source RP: HxH: 108 Stars of Destiny

Finally, she was up to bat. Letty had been waiting for this ever since she heard there were going to be practice duels with some of Horizon’s numbers. Dueling the others here was all well and good, but she craved new opponents, new experiences, and new struggles. Her deck was already shuffled, duel disk primed, and as Letty stepped up to face her opposite number, she’d already started drawing her opening hand - making sure not to look at it - as she greeted with a smile, “Welcome to Ocean Coast. I hope you’ve enjoyed your brief visit.” Terry had been simultaneously dreading and looking forward to this, as the coach called her name. “Oh, uh… Alright!” She nodded, almost completely taken out of her previous hype as she took a deep breath. “Right, right…!” She paused, getting up as she started off towards the center of the arena. “Oh, uh, Peter-” she started off as she passed the other, pausing for just a moment. “...You did good, okay? And you’ll get ‘em next time, after your next training montage-” she tried to explain, before cutting herself off, taking a deep breath, as her opponent greeted her. “Oh, uh…” Terry paused, clearing her throat, and turning to face her opponent. “...Of course!” She smiled, cocking her head to the side. “The duels have been just exquisite, the perfect sort of appetizer for a Final Boss’ eyes to feast upon while she waited her turn,” she paused, drawing her own hand and doing the same, eyes locked onto her opponent. “So, now that the time has come, shall I, the Final Boss, a being focused solely on the destruction of all human realms and those who reside within them, begin this dance of death, or shall you, the challenger, step up to the plate, and take the first shot?” “Final Boss, you say?” Letty asked, seeming all the more eager to duel it out now. “I suppose I’ll take the first turn, then! Please, do everything you can to trample and trounce my efforts. If you can.” Finally taking a look at her hand, Letty pondered her first move for a bit, before resigning “I don’t have a deck well-suited to a quick start, though. For now, I’ll set one monster face-down, as well as these two other cards. That’s all. Now show me that Final Boss power!” “You asked for it!” Terry grinned, drawing her first card, and glancing over her cards. After a short pause, she picked a card from the center, nodding. “First, I play Terraforming, which allows me to add one Field-Spell card to my hand; and from there, I play the card I drew: Proscenium of Destruction and Fright, Arena of Darkness-- Generaider Boss Stage!” She exclaimed, slamming the card onto the field as soon as it was drawn. The room around them was bathed in blue light as six circles rose from the floor, creating a blue sigil just in front of Terry. “From there, I summon the herald of disaster, the prophetic god of deception, Loptr, the shadow of the Generaider Bosses!” She called out, a priest bathed in white robes rising from the ground, kneeling as he bowed his head. With a flourish of his sleeves, red and blue trim scattered before him, his smirk illuminated only by the symbol before him. “Then, I’ll place one card face-down in my spell and trap zone, before ending my turn.” She smiled, nodding as the blank obelisk appeared before her. “Is that it?” Letty frowned. She certainly wasn’t feeling very trounced or trampled right now. Drawing her next card, Letty eyed over what all she was working with, before nodding to herself. “I suppose if you won’t make the first move, I’ll take the liberty myself! First thing’s first, I’ll activate the spell card Vampire’s Domain! Once per turn, I can pay 500 Life Points to get an extra Normal Summon that turn for a Vampire monster. I’ll be doing that now.” Letty: 8000 > 7500 “Next, I’ll tribute my face-down Vampire Familiar to summon Vampire Grimson!” In the place of the small bat Letty had tributed, a blue-skinned man, wielding a scythe and donned in a crimson cloak appeared. “This is where Familiar really comes into play. By discarding a card, I can Special Summon him back, so I’ll be discarding this Vampire Grace to do exactly that!” As Letty discarded her card, the little bat re-appeared with an impressively not-menacing screech. “And when he’s Special Summoned, I can pay 500 Life Points to activate his other effect, letting me add one Vampire monster from my deck to my hand. I’ll do that, and add Shadow Vampire to my hand.” Letty: 7500 > 7000 “Now then, I’ll use that extra summon I paid for earlier, tributing Vampire Familiar - banishing it now that I’ve summoned it with its own effect, mind you - to summon Shadow Vampire and activate his effect!” As the bat was once again removed from the field, and replaced by the towering silhouette of a man with a sword and shield, Letty explained “When he’s summoned, Shadow Vampire lets me summon a Vampire monster from my hand or deck. From the deck, I’ll be summoning Vampire Duke, and a few things happen now.” Before clarifying what was about to come, Letty pulled the monster in question out from her deck, and causing what was the very stereotypical image of a vampire to appear beside the shadow man. “Not only does Vampire Duke’s effect activate, but so does the effect of the Vampire Grace in my graveyard. Firstly, by paying 2000 Life Points, I can summon Grace back from the graveyard. Let’s do that!” For the third time this turn, Letty’s Life Points went down as a fourth vampire joined the fray, this one dressed in an elegant, but sinister, dress, complete with a crown. Letty: 7000 > 5000 “Next, Vampire Duke was special summoned, meaning I can declare one card type and force you to send a card of that type from your deck to the graveyard. I’ll be targeting your spell cards.” “Alright.” Terry nodded, frowning. “I send Generaider Boss Quest to the graveyard, as per your request.” Terry explained, the card ejecting from her duel-disk. “As a quick-effect, I’ll also activate Loptr’s effect; sacrifice yourself, and summon a beast defiant of these trifle-pawns thrown at us!” She explained, the white-robed priest nodding as he gave a bow, and began to disintegrate. “With his sacrifice, I’ll special summon one generaider from my deck; the god of fire and brimstone, of chaos and war, Naglfar!” She exclaimed, a deep red glow taking hold of one of the sigils, as from an eruption of flames rose a skeletal, beast-like figure; smoke pouring from massive horns that grew from it’s skull. “And I also activ… Actually, no, I don’t. I end my response.” Terry caught herself, eyes narrowing on her opponent’s field. “Ohhhh, that’s quite a monster,” Letty cheered, eyeing up the fiery beast-man Terry had summoned. “There’s more to that deck than I expected!” This has turned into a difficult situation. Let’s see now… “I’ll set one more card face-down, and work my way around that boss monster. Using Shadow Vampire and Vampire Duke as materials, I’ll perform an xyz summon! Go, Crimson Knight Vampire Bram!” The two monsters in question became a pair of dark orbs, which began orbiting the armor-clad vampire once he made his appearance on the field. “Surely, even with Bram, attacking that Naglfar of yours would be suicide. But, monsters can easily be killed outside of battle.” “I activate Bram’s effect! By detaching one xyz material, I can special summon a monster from your graveyard. I’ll be borrowing that Loptr you so kindly provided me~” As one of the orbs around Bram shattered, it was replaced by Terry’s monster. “That said, I can only attack with Loptr now. I won’t be doing that, of course. I have a much better idea.” “Oh?” Terry cocked an eyebrow, watching. “Turning one of my own men against me, hoping that a turncoat could turn the tide of battle…? Heroes of justice are getting devious these days.” Terry frowned, watching her opponent carefully. “You’re mistaken, I’m afraid. ‘Hero of justice’ is a title I certainly don’t fit. In any case, if I control a monster owned by my opponent, I can treat it as a level six monster for the purpose of a certain xyz summon. Before that, however, lest I forget, I’ll be activating Vampire Grace’s effect, to send another spell card from your deck to the graveyard. And then, using her and your Loptr, I xyz summon!” After the card in question had been ejected from Terry’s deck, similar to what had just happened, a pair of orbs were formed from the monsters Letty used as materials. Unlike the vampires so far, Loptr’s orb was red. “Come forth, Dhampir Vampire Sheridan!” “Now, this fellow has two effects. But we’ll only focus on the first one. By detaching Vampire Grace, I’ll be able to target a send to the graveyard, one card you control. As fascinating as that Naglfar is, I’m afraid it has to go.” “I see.” Terry frowned, the flames on Naglfar extinguishing themselves as his card was moved to the graveyard, a torrent of blood removing any flames that still persisted from his soon-to-be lifeless body. “If you’re no hero of justice, then I can't afford to take too much time here... That being said, I have to ask a question before we continue. Is your new XYZ monster subject to the same inability to attack the rest of your monsters are, due to your Bram’s ability?” She paused. “I’m not sure about the interaction myself, so…” “It is, unfortunately. And so, I must end my turn.” “Okay then.” Terry nodded, drawing her card. Scanning over her opponent’s field, she couldn’t help but frown as she saw the vast disparity in their fields; before shaking her head. “Alright. Well, this may not be up to your lofty standards, but a good boss knows when to pull their punches, and when to time their phases; so I’ll simply place another card face-down, and end my turn.” She explained, placing another card in her spell and trap zone.

Also Cherry Heart - Stuff in blue is new