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The moment Estellise’s spell had finished, Chris started moving his arm around. It wasn’t like he didn’t believe her, but he did want to make doubly sure before he ran off at another goblin or rat or both. It was like she said; it didn’t hurt anymore, and he could move his arm freely, but he did have to wonder if he was just doing more damage to himself by even testing the spell’s limits. At the same time, he noticed the now goblin-less rat wheeling around for another pass, and, well, he figured the jolts from having to stab that one two or three times would probably be even worse, and those were things that definitely had to happen, so… He still didn’t have time to get his sword out, not with how fast the rat was coming his way. Thankfully, he had already managed a singular rat with just a dagger, way back on the first floor of the dungeon, and this one seemed to be no different. Just one, two steps, stab stab stab, and it wasn’t a problem anymore. What was a problem, though, was the rest of the room. Chris stood up from the dead rat and immediately got hit across the cheek with a rock. “Ow! Gods…” He looked in that direction and zeroed in on the offending goblin, almost wanting to lob a dagger right back, but decided against it. It would leave him with just one singular weapon, and with everything else in the room, Chris didn’t want to take that chance. He ran over to that first dead rat, the one with his sword still sticking out, and gave said weapon a hard yank. It took another to get it out completely, but he didn’t have time to celebrate his achievement. Another rock flew past him, and more were sure to come until it was dealt with. Chris gripped his sword tight and charged.

Levanna of the Council Levanna listened intently as Amir went through his experiences of the day, only speaking when he was finally finished, and even that was simply a “Well, you certainly have had a busy day then, hm?” She slid the plate of biscuits over Amir’s way. “Take one, please. And do sit down; you look a little silly just standing there in the middle of the room.” She leaned back in her chair then, adjusting some of her old joints as she did so. “These are some very concerning things you have told me, and I do commend you for telling me all of this,” Levanna said. “I don’t mean to insult you, though, when I say that your breath might have better been saved on something else. All of this, unfortunately, are things we on the religious council already know. Many- no, most, if not all of the conclusions you might draw from such information are things we have either confirmed or thought of as well. Simon, his actions, and the consequences of those actions are all things that are of immense concern to us, and we are doing as best we can to limit them.” Her attention turned to the used teacups scattered around, mostly on her desk, though there were a few elsewhere. She got up and walked around, gathering them together on the tray they had come in on before taking them out to be washed. It was good to know what the watchdogs knew, Levanna pondered, even if it was all things she already did as well. Levanna came back just in time to catch two of the other watchdogs coming back to her office, the Taros dog first with the younger dog, Dia’s coming in behind. She quickly beckoned them back inside. “Fruitful days, I hope? Come in, come in. There is one more of you inside, and I don’t know when I would gather the majority of you all in my office again if not now.” She led them all back to her office, though she didn’t bother sitting down again. “I’m sure there are so many things you have to tell me, but first, while I have you, I feel like I should address the situation of your lodgings. And the answer is well, you can either go to your respective temples, who I’m sure would be honored to accommodate you, or you can go to one of the taverns -- directions are easy, just go down the road a ways -- and, if they don’t make a room for you when you mention your occupation, well, I’m sure my name will do just as well in that situation. “If you see one of your fellows, be sure to tell them the same for me, would you?” Levanna said. “But, as I said, I’m sure you came back here with questions as well. Everyone else seems to; it’s the curse of being on the council. What can I do for you all? Emily Briar of Galatea Emily’s first question was not exactly related to her business but she asked it anyway. “Simon is not in there?” And it wasn’t that she didn’t believe the watchdog, but she did peek through the doors of the temple as well to double-check. “Maybe he is in the back,” Emily said. “Or he is at some follower’s house. I would not know. But…” She turned around, “in regards to my business with you, I was wondering about your preparations regarding my parents. Have you arranged something with the temple of Taros or his watchdog?” “Not yet. I didn't get the chance to enter the temple earlier, and haven't spoken with Taros’ watchdog since making it to Galatea,” the watchdog said. “I should have no trouble finding him tonight though, and will tell him to pass it on to his followers that we'll need their help to handle these statues once the root of the problem is taken care of.” “I see,” Emily said. She wasn’t sure about a lot of what had just been said, but she tried to not let it show. Of course a watchdog would be busy with other matters on the island, and of course her concerns would be left by the wayside. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to check back in tomorrow, though. Still, something else bothered her. It wasn’t Nuumu related, though, if she continued down her line of thinking, it was probably Nuumu-adjacent. Emily turned back around and pushed open the doors to the old Medeis temple one more time. She didn’t expect to see anything new, but there was a spark of familiarity in the old temple ruins. This, Emily realized, was what had appeared in her dream. It wasn’t an exact match -- the lack of sculpture in the pews was the most obvious -- but it was close enough. Emily let out a breath and faced the Nuumu watchdog one more time. Her mind, she realized, had already been made up, all this had done was confirm it. “I imagine I should say this now,” she said. “Nuumu is not the god of death, of course, but he is death-adjacent, and if I tried to keep this from you, you would likely find out eventually anyway. I appreciate everything you have done so far in efforts to fulfill my second request of you -- to let my mother’s soul be at peace. And I am sure that yours will be the ultimate effort that guides her -- and my father, and everybody else this has happened to -- to the afterlife. But in the meantime, there is one thing, I have realized, that can at least soothe mine, and that is to deal with the person responsible. “I am going to kill Simon Weatherson,” Emily said, “and I am asking you to stay out of my way.” And she was off, running along the perimeter of the square before rounding a corner, then another, looking back to make sure she wasn’t being followed at every turn. The night was coming in, and there were still things she needed to do. OOC

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 13 -- Tracing A Path Or: Yes, We’re Talking About The Recap Episodes Too I’ve mentioned before the “canon” of Revolutionary Girl Utena -- the anime, the movie, and the manga -- but as the first arc winds down, I thought it would be fun to look at some of the other ways the story is being told. That’s one of the ways a story can become immortal, after all, through tellings and retellings across mediums. Elaborating on that sort of navel-gazing notion is going to have to wait for another time, though. For now, let’s talk about the adaptations themselves. We already took a look at the game, of course, but it’s still worth mentioning here because it’s the one that’s completely within the continuity of the show, adding (some might say tacking on) its characters to the already existing relationship structures of the show. To that end, each of the “routes” allows a bit more depth at the very least. Miki’s relationship with his sister, Kozue, for example, is explored a bit more given she’s the weak point Chigusa uses to try and ensnare him, while Saionji can almost seem likable (my bias is showing, I think). Speaking of those characters in particular, Revolutionary Girl Utena has a pair of light novels exploring them in a little more detail. They largely follow their plots in the anime, with the first, Twin Saplings, covering the first five episodes (which, if you haven’t been keeping track, ends with The Sunlit Garden) while Verdant Hopes revolves around Saionji’s story, eventually going on to cover his relationship with Wakaba. There are some key differences, though. Miki’s infatuation is with Utena this time, for example, and Touga has a larger presence as well. There are five musical adaptations of Utena, three produced just after the anime finished airing and two created following the show’s twentieth anniversary. These are something I haven’t gone through as much, being Japan-only, but I have seen clips of these latter two productions, mostly of Wakaba glomping Utena or Nanami literally stepping on someone. The titles are a treat, though, ranging from Revolutionary Girl Utena: the Musical Comedy to Revolutionary Girl Utena: Choros Imaginary Living Body. The last adaptation I wanted to talk about is the Big Eyes, Small Mouth Tabletop RPG books. These are interesting not just because it’s the only American-produced media on this list, but because the two Utena supplements are labelled as “Ultimate Fan Guides”. Not only does it try to adapt the characters, giving them little Tri-Stat system stat blocks, but it also gives little write-ups of some of the episodes… to a certain extent. One wonders while reading these if they watched the show they’re writing about (a sentiment also expressed for Fan Guides of other anime if you go looking). Either way, it is a cute distraction and does introduce Ohtori Academy as a playground, along with some rudimentary scenarios for aspiring GMs. Most of these adaptations (again, I can’t speak for the musicals) only seem to adapt the first two arcs of this three-arc anime. The Apocalypse Arc is left untouched. I can’t help but wonder why that is. Is it because of the content perhaps (if you read the content warnings I’ve posted, you’ll know what I’m talking about)? If you go down that road, would that mean these adaptations are more interested in the aesthetic of Utena, what with the stylized shadows and symbolic architecture than the story itself? Not that this blog is any better, at least not yet. We’ll get there someday, I’m sure. Storytime: One of the more enigmatic aspects of Utena’s symbology is the constant appearance of roses. I’m not talking about the ones in the actual show (though there is meaning behind those too), but the spinning ones that show up outside of the diegesis, generally during moments of importance (though not always). It’s a constant discussion, “What do these roses mean?” people ask. “And why are they the color that they are?” My idiot brain throughout my first watch of these next two arcs was always like, “Don’t they explain it in that recap episode?” The answer is no. No, they do not. Nor is anyone going to explain it throughout the rest of the show, nor am I going to even attempt to explain it, really, outside of “It’s an extra bit of style, an added flair that complements the aesthetic” or (occasionally) “it covers the bits that might be too difficult to animate, like Utena slashing off someone else’s rose”. And, honestly, I could leave it at that. This is a recap episode, after all, the actual symbology of these specific stained glass roses and actual rose petals is obvious simply by its association -- though the matching of the stained glass roses to that duelist’s love interest’s hair took me a minute. I won’t, though, because there are a few other points of interest. Prince Dios, for example, shows up in the flesh for the first time. We’ve seen an afterimage of him show up throughout Utena’s duels to provide assistance, but it appears he’s actually there this time, sulking in that upside-down castle in the sky. More important, then, is the second person, who knows how to get there. If you watched the after-credits trailer for the next episode, you might recognize this as Anthy’s brother, though there are some contradictions in how Akio is introduced there than this person is introduced (specifically, the “not knowing about the duels” part). “We’ll both profit equally,” Dios is told. It is said in that classic “villain who will definitely take all the profit” sort of way, sure, but it does draw a connection between these two people. If Dios is supposed to be heroic, does that make this other person the villain? It’s not a question the show is going to answer right away, and the rest of the episode is spent setting up the next arc, mostly through a series of images and black roses meant to contrast against the spectrum of colors we’ve seen so far. All these characters and images shown in this arc will have their importance explained in the next few episodes, so until then… -r PS. The Shadow Play Girls are totally aliens. Next Time: Time to introduce a whole bunch of named and significant characters fourteen episodes in ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

It was a good thing Makoto was fine with it, Peter thought, though he started to get worried when she started talking about walking for hours on end. Was there some sort of discussion he missed where they agreed to set out on some eight-hour trek, trudging miles with bag after bag of groceries in their hands? Worse was when Hana wheeled around the corner with a cart that she’d got from… somewhere (Peter didn’t bother asking), which only served to confirm his worry. Plus, Leila had already started walking. “Hey, um, maybe not?” Peter said, trying to get a sense of things. He double-checked his phone and did some quick maths. “If we’re walking all the way to Ocean’s Coast and then all the way back to Horizon, we’re not going to get back until super late. “Maybe we should take a cab or something? Like” -- Peter gestured to his phone -- “we can do more than just check maps with this. We can just call one up. Or the subway, that would work too. I bet you could manage that cart through a turnstile if you really tried hard enough. Peter went back to his phone and did a little more digging. “The nearest subway station is, uh… a couple blocks that way?” It was more than a couple, but the white lie seemed harmless to people who had been willing to walk for hours. Peter wondered if he was supposed to blame the city for poor civic engineering or Pegasus Market for not picking a better location. “Maybe we start going that way and then if we see a taxi we think can take all this, we try and grab that?” He was also acutely aware that it wasn’t like they were going to be able to spend the club budget on any of this travel, but Peter was in “in for a penny, in for a pound” mode now. One problem at a time, he told himself.

Well, they weren’t immediately dead -- that was step one. But as another rat/goblin pair came at his left side, Chris became acutely aware that his sword was still jammed almost to the hilt in the head of the first, and pulling it out wasn’t going to be a thing until he got at least a moment to breathe, a moment these additional attackers weren’t keen on giving him. He just managed to get out of the way of their swinging sword, though that meant his next action had to be scrambling back to his feet and turning to face his opponent. He had to take out his daggers, too, that was also important. And while Lana was dealing with his flank (and Estellise and Sergei were off… somewhere (was he supposed to keep track?)), Chris leapt, aiming to knock the goblin right off of its mount. Of course, the goblin hadn't gone through all that recovery time that Chris had, and was ready with a second swing, which caught Chris right in the left shoulder. The ensuing collision wasn’t enough to knock the goblin down, but it did stagger it, giving Chris enough time to actually take care of that particular half of the problem with his off-hand. The other half, the rat, kept moving, continuing on its route towards the entrance. Chris let it go for the time being. He had to get his sword out of that first rat now that he had a moment to, and maybe (if she had the time) get Estellise to take a quick look at his shoulder. At the very least, he didn’t want it to hurt if he took a swing at something.