radio414

The moment the rat hissed at Lana and him was the moment Chris realized all those words he had just said were for naught. You couldn’t really have any sort of plan when confronting a rat that huge, because it would be doomed to fall apart the second it started moving in your general direction. When words were replaced with actions, his action was to throw himself to the side, dodging the rat, but ending up landing face-first in the dirt. “Hitting it while running is not good,” Lana said, though her voice was kind of muffled; she had not fared much better, it seemed. “Well, at least you hit it, I guess,” was all Chris could respond with. He pulled himself up to a kneeling position and rubbed his shoulder. “I dunno if hitting it while standing is gonna be any good either though. Maybe if, we, like, get on top of it and hold on for dear life?” Ah, but he was planning again. If anything was going to get him killed, it was probably gonna be some dumb plan like that. He looked for Sergei and Estellise and was glad to see they’d managed their side of the room. That meant calling them out would be much easier. And yet, the only thing he could manage to say was a simple “Hey, uh, help?”

Bureaucracy Levanna’s office wasn’t the only purpose of that particular building, nor, even, was it the only purpose of that floor. By turning left instead of right, past the little kitchen/larder area where, one could presume, all that tea and all those biscuits came from, and turning again to go deeper into the confines of the building, one eventually came out into an open area in the middle, with open sky above and a few stones arranged in a pentagonal shape that one could easily assume were for sitting. The watchdogs -- those that chose to attend the meeting at all -- were the first to arrive, though Levanna arrived soon after, commenting “Oh, how punctual you are, what a fine quality!” with her usual presentation of perhaps too much friendliness, before going on to say “I will have to introduce you to the other four. They already know you’ll be here, of course, I did tell them that much, and they are as excited to meet you as I was just yesterday, but a proper introduction must be in order. It must. “Otherwise, this would probably feel to some of them like you just barged in and started yelling at us.” Levanna laughed at her own joke, though it was apparent from the type of laugh it was she didn’t actually find it all that funny. The next to enter was a gentleman even older than Levanna, and, like Levanna, he was probably even older than he appeared. Thomas, Levanna introduced him as, and he shook hands in that brusque, formal way that seemed perfectly choreographed down to the moment. He said nothing during that handshake, nor during the rest of Levanna’s introduction, though he did nod to both dogs before turning and taking his seat at one of the stones. Next was a younger man, one who appeared about as old as the two watchdogs, who didn’t even let Levanna begin to introduce him before he stepped in and offered his hand. “Elliot Baker, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Levanna has told us so much already,” he said, though Levanna’s face made it seem like this she treated that as more of an accusation than standard greeting procedure. “Some more perspective is always required, don’t you think?” he also said, which just seemed to make the face worse. It subsided before the last two came in, though, a pair of women who came in together, talking softly between themselves. They were soft enough that, even when just outside “proper introduction distance” (as Levanna put it) they were still too quiet to make out outside of the occasional inconsequential word. Of course, once they were within that distance, they stopped talking entirely, and let Levanna introduce them as Katherine and Mercy. Like Thomas, they were largely silent throughout this process, though Mercy did let out a quiet “pleasure” as she took a hand. And, just like that, they were all assembled. Thomas even said as much as he stood up from his rock, continuing on to once again acknowledge the watchdogs in the meeting room (“We have some visitors today, don’t we?” he said) before sitting back down and beginning the meeting proper with, “Elliot, is there anything we are to be reminded about from the last meeting?” “Ah, yes, a few things,” Elliot said, shifting in place on his stone. “First, I suppose, was following up on our resolution regarding the increasing demand for new dockworkers recently. We agreed upon a sort of recruitment drive -- it’s only been a week but Mercy, how has that been going?” The meeting started as it meant to go on, it seemed. Tombs & Treasure Caleb Grey was furious. It was the justified sort of furious, he thought, but he was furious all the same. After all, it was his sword that they had lost; even if it was meant to be Taros’ later that afternoon, it was still his until then, and they -- Taros’ temple but especially the high priest -- had lost it. It was all he could keep saying. “How- how do you lose a ceremonial sword. I know it was here yesterday because you said it needed to be prepared yesterday and I thought that meant someone would always be looking at it. So where’d it go?” The gathering crowd of onlookers didn’t bother Caleb at all. In fact, it only bolstered him. They were here for him, he thought. If they knew the whole story, no doubt would be left in their minds. The priest, too, was probably secretly on his side as well, given how he sputtered between words (mostly variations of “we apologize” and “we tried our hardest”). It was almost enough to calm him down. But no, he needed answers, and, by Taros’ beard, he was going to have them. “There was even a watchdog here last night,” Caleb said. “How’d he not see anything?” “After his meditations, Brother Axton retired to a private room, away from where the sword was kept,” the priest said. “He wouldn’t have known.” Well, that was just great, Caleb thought. He even said it out loud, “Well, that’s just great.” But still, he got the sense that he wasn’t going to get any further with this sort of interrogation, and instead turned to those gathered, looking on. “I guess if anyone sees a really, really nice sword, let someone know, huh?” OOC

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 16 -- The Cowbell of Happiness Or: Oh, You Thought I Was Kidding Last Week, Weren’t You? I know I’ve mentioned the musicals a couple weeks ago, kind of in this off-hand “Oh, I guess there are musicals too” sort of way, and largely that was out of not really knowing what else to cover about them? Being Japan-only and only running for two-ish weeks will do that, not to mention that two of the five so far don’t seem to have any footage or materials at all related to them (or, at least, significantly less). But, with the miracle of fellows over at Empty Movement having recordings and the ability to stream, I was able to watch the two most recent productions, Bud of the White Rose and Blooming Rose of Deepest Black, and I figured this blog would be a good place to talk about them. Keep in mind, though, my knowledge of the Japanese entertainment industry is severely limited. I can say things like “The two Rose musicals’ low budgets are a constant specter over their respective productions,” and they are, but within the realm of anime musicals, I don’t know have much to compare the use of those limited resources. I only have my own personal reaction to these two plays. And that reaction is… good? I think? There is a lot to like. Yuka Yamauchi as Anthy and Yume Takeuchi as Wakaba are particular standouts, as are, of course, the shadow play girls, who in addition to playing generic extras also get some time behind a backlit screen frequently doing some of the more memorable skits from the show. The actual songs, however, are kind of hit or miss. It’s low-budget, so there isn’t an orchestra pit or anything, just singing along to a backing track, but that isn’t really a big problem, the problem is that the soundtrack overall just wasn’t that memorable for me. Absolute Destiny Apocalypse plays a few times, and I think that’s the exception that proves the rule, really, because that means the most memorable song is just one the show already has. The only other ones that are kind of memorable are Nanami’s song from the original, which is a fourth-wall-breaking mess (“mess” here is positive) that ends with Nanami encouraging the audience to give her a standing ovation, and Wakaba’s songs, which I remember mostly because, as I’ve mentioned, Yume Takeuchi is a pretty good actress. Story-wise, the musicals stick pretty faithfully to the show, though all the fat has been cut off and cast aside. Nanami’s song is basically all of her stage-time, for example. Even her duel gets cut, and her mentioning it in the second show is played for laughs in a “that definitely happened” sort of way. The creators did give themselves enough freedom to move things around, however, even portraying some of them, such as Utena’s initial duels with Juri and Miki, simultaneously, working choreography for both fights together and representing the individual fights by changes in the stage lighting. They also introduce some symbolism of their own, such as, during the black rose arc, having the duelists appear alongside their black rose counterparts and attacking Utena two-on-one, which is actually really neat and only really alluded to in the show. One thing that did get mentioned in the stream chat a few times, though, is that they’re not very beginner-friendly, by which I mean if you haven’t seen the show, your experience is going to be lessened significantly. By stripping the story down to its barest essentials and, using simultaneity and allegorical songs to pare down even further, I’m sure there would be a lot just lost to those not already familiar with what’s going on. If you do have an opportunity to see these shows, my recommendation would be to know what you’re getting into in that regard, but I do recommend them. It’s more Utena, after all, and that’s not a bad thing. If you’ve been following along week to week, the first musical covers the Student Council arc, which you’ve now finished. For Blooming Rose of Deepest Black, well, you’re stuck with me for a little while longer. Nanami Kiryuu turns into a cow. I know I keep saying this like there’s some kind of meaning revealed in its repetition, but there isn’t, really. Revolutionary Girl Utena is defined by its transformations, but while the movie and manga’s premier changes occur at the final act, as an apotheosis of sorts, the one the anime is most known for is this one. It’s kind of emblematic of how silly the show can be perceived. “What’s the symbology of turning into a cow?” one might ask. “Especially when it doesn’t have an immediate relation to the rest of the story?” While I can’t exactly answer the first question outside of some vague gestures towards docile animals and their relation to following trends (“Nanami’s getting in line for once!” someone says), I can try to answer the second one. Really what this episode is is the continuation of Nanami’s comeuppance for her prank in the third episode. Anthy “accidentally” mails a cowbell to the wrong Nanami and later continues to escalate things by knitting a red sweater at an inopportune time. Putting it that way, though, removes some of the character-building that happens in this episode. Tsuwabuki returns, for example, and Nanami reinforces her perception of him as a sort of younger brother who will never grow up, which will play into his development. Nanami’s perception of her actual brother shows up too, as Touga returns in a dream to sell her away. This is a Nanami episode, so it has a more obvious moral than the rest as well, “Don’t try to be someone you’re not.” It’s a simple one and one that’s been expressed in the show before, but this particular episode is the one that deals with vanity, which probably plays more of a part in the episode’s message than I’m giving it credit for. Perhaps “You can care about your appearance, but not to the point of jealousy” might be better, given how Nanami reacts to Juri’s necklace during the party. It’s a bit open-ended, but it’s all there. The nose ring, like Saionji switching places with Chu-Chu, is never brought up again. -r Next time: Juri throws away her locket, finally dealing with her past heartbreak and moving- hahaha I’m just kidding, she’s screwed. ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

breathy you say

song ends at about 3:10, the rest is a different song from the same movie

At least it was finished! Geez, who knew carting three people and also an actual cart could be so… Peter didn’t actually have a word to finish that sentence. “Frustrating,” was the closest, but, like, overall, he had done positively. Sure, Hana had done basically the exact opposite of what he’d wanted but that just drew all the attention to her, it didn’t actually increase any he received. And he didn’t even have to point out which stop was theirs, Leila recognized it for them and got off by herself. The turnstile on the way out was annoying, but at least there was an elevator this time, so getting back to ground-level just got the “why are there able-bodied kids taking the elevator” stares instead of the “what is going on with that cart on the escalator” stares. In addition to all of that, it was good to know that someone else was as exasperated with some of Leila’s antics as she was. Laurie seemed pretty cool, actually, if she had to put up with all this more than once. “It really wasn’t any trouble,” Peter said, even though it was. Then he remembered her offer to compensate them for the trip and the food. “We got money for the food already, or, like, half of it, at least,” he said, giving Hana the side-eye. “And you don’t really need to pay back the tickets or anything. It wasn’t that much.” He let his gaze soften and looked at Makoto as well. “Ready to head back? We’ve still got a big ride ahead of us and I bet they’re probably all missing us back at our club too. Wonder what nonsense has been going on since we left.”

idk my bff jill

what about this one