radio414

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 12 -- For Friendship, Perhaps Or: Anthy Gets On Her Knees And Kisses Touga’s Sword Surely That’s Not A Metaphor For Anything Just a heads-up, this episode has a bunch of flashing lights in it that may affect people with certain kinds of photosensitivity. Previous episodes have had some, yes, but there’s a lot more in this one. Last week I mentioned auteur theory in something of a throwaway line, saying I’d probably cover it another time. Well, this is another time. This is still going to be a super basic overview, however, largely because, well, it’s still a seventy-year-old lens with which to look at media, and five-hundred or however many words this ends up being isn’t going to cover it all at once. Auteur is a French word, meaning “author,” and the theory seeks to answer a simple question: The creator of a book is its author, the painter of a landscape is its artist, but who is the creator of something that is inherently collaborative like a film? The answer, says the theory, is the director. It is always the director, and it is their job to exact their vision upon the world. Perhaps intuitively, this makes at least a little bit of sense, right? Even at the start of this series, I said Utena was “made by Kunhiiko Ikuhara”, for example, and there are countless filmmakers where one can say similar. The dichotomy of the time was the French New Wave, spearheaded by essays on the theory in Cahiers du Cinema magazine, against the Hollywood studio system. This isn’t to imply “great art” or at least “classics” weren’t made under the studio system, just that the zeitgeist has moved on since knowing who directed such work. Meanwhile, movies such as Cleo from 5 to 7 or The 400 Blows are almost inextricable from their directors, Agnes Varda and Francois Truffault respectively. One reason for this is how assigning a definitive creator immediately applies a sort of faux-insight into that person’s mind or at least a way to read into recurring themes in their works. Some modern examples one might go to include Lynne Ramsay dealing with themes of guilt and loss, Steven Spielberg and faulty familial (especially paternal) relationships, or Quentin Tarantino and revenge (and also the feet thing). Each is a clear theme in most if not all of their works, and it is because of auteur theory that we can draw a line through it all. That’s not to say that the theory is perfect. There is, of course, “death of the author,” a competing analytical trend that attempts to extricate a work itself entirely from who made it, be that a person or a studio. There’s also still a debate as to whether the director is even the sole creator of a work at all -- screenwriters like Taylor Sheridan and Charlie Kaufman can attest to that (though both have been directing more and more in recent years). And again, movie-making is still ultimately a collaborative process, and while actors and even some cinematographers get their dues, there’s still a whole lot that goes on behind the scenes that can sometimes be left out. So, how does Utena fit into all of this? Well, I already talked a bit about Chiho Saito and how her work leads into this particular series, but Ikuhara is the one people tend to credit (with the anime specifically, at least). When we look at the greater body of work Ikuhara has produced, there are some pretty traceable ideas, especially regarding gender roles and the brokenness of systems society otherwise runs on. It’s these two people, even out of the rest of Be-Papas, that seem to get the most credit for Utena’s creation. Maybe that’s the reason that, when they collaborated years later, they took the name with them. I rush to add, I’m not a film critic, merely an enthusiast at best, so I may have gotten things wrong or brushed over certain elements of history. But then again, I’m also not much of an anime critic, and yet, here I am. Let’s talk about some anime. Clothes are a pretty important aspect of Revolutionary Girl Utena. They’re symbolic of a broader sense of presentation, from how Nanami tries to keep up appearances to the and it’s here, for the first time, that Utena’s wardrobe changes. We’ve seen her in dresses before, but remember, even then she wore her decidedly tomboy school uniform underneath. Now, she has completely discarded it, even apathetically leaving it in disrepair as she deals with losing Anthy in the previous episode’s duel. Utena states it outright, she’s trying to be “normal.” To put it another way, she’s trying to be a “princess”. This is how Touga views her at least, too -- his boast about having finally saved his princess is a double meaning, referring both to Anthy and Utena in equal measure. After all, he did pretend to be her prince for several episodes. Even if he was truly after the Rose Bride alone (although, given past history and how he flirts with Utena in this episode, that’s not a given), to him, it wouldn’t do if he couldn’t “save” Utena as well. Princes save princesses, and Utena is a princess. Not that everyone is okay with that. Wakaba is certainly the standout of the episode, desperately trying to convince her friend that what is happening certainly isn’t normal (“You not being normal is normal!”) as well as giving as much as she takes in the slap department. Meanwhile, Juri steps in at the last moment to lend Utena her sword, a moment seemingly inspired by Touga’s comments about a storybook ending, though whether she desires Utena to be the prince of that ending or simply acting against miracles as is her (stated) wont, is a bit unclear. Even Anthy seems noticeably uncomfortable, becoming even more passive than she had been with Saionji at the start of the series. This is also the first time we get a clear view inside Anthy’s head, both in an imagine spot where she imagines Utena drinking tea with her, but also during the duel, where she commentates wondering why Utena isn’t giving up, culminating in a shocking realization and the afterimage of Utena’s prince. One can make the connection that this is her recognition of Utena as her prince coming to rescue her. Even that, though, is a connection that will have consequences. The episode, and thus, the Student Council arc, ends much like the series began, with Anthy approaching Utena as they exit the dueling grounds and introducing herself as the Rose Bride. But Utena wasn’t fighting for the Rose Bride, she was fighting, to subtly drop the episode’s title, for friendship, and she tells Anthy as much when she interrupts her asking if they can just go home. Anthy smiles, and they do. There’s still a lot to explore, and twenty-seven episodes to do it in, but it’s a happy ending for now, at least. Touga, meanwhile, is going to go sit in a chair and sulk for, like, a dozen episodes. -r Next Time: A recap episode! Except… ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

which, this one?

Chris appreciated the familiarity of each staircase in the dungeon, though that didn’t mean he didn’t still try to stick the side of them in case of an errant creak in the steps. In that instance they were too familiar, he supposed, too much like a labyrinthine house that he’d been assigned to sneak through than a crack in the earth. To be fair, though, the stairs were the only reminder. No house he’d ever been in had stinging, numbing spores lying around, nor, as he looked onward to the next floor, did they have goblins or rats the size of horses. Well, Chris thought to himself, at least it was the last floor of the day. He did another quick survey of the area as he tried to quickly identify just how to approach it. “Those ones over there,” he said, gesturing towards the portal (which, unfortunately, looked to be off at the moment) “are probably magic users? Estellise, can you deal with those? I’d rather not get hit in the face with a fireball if I can help it.” Any other planning would take too long. They were outnumbered enough that time was definitely not on their side. He picked out a target and ran in, sword drawn and ready to strike. If he could get rid of the mount, that’d be a great first step. His blow landed right between the eyes of the giant rat, which keeled over, tossing the goblin right off. Before Chris could feel too pleased with himself, though, he became acutely aware that every other beast or being in the room was looking directly at him. “Surprise,” he said.

Bosses Hang The way Amir moved through the city was impressive to Emily. He couldn’t have known where he was going, and yet he seemed to know exactly that, cutting through the Temple Square and heading straight to the religious council building. It must be his patron, Emily thought to herself. Myria must have been lightly guiding his steps. Or maybe it was just luck. Whichever it was, Emily followed a few steps behind. She wasn’t as sure as Amir seemed to be about facing Levanna, but if that was where the Nuumu watchdog was, that was something she had to face. “Miss Briar and I have some troubling news we would like to talk to you about,” Amir said as they walked into the room. Emily frowned at that. Not because it was wrong, though the exact details were a little fuzzy, but because she wasn’t sure there was anything they could say that Levanna didn’t already know. And perhaps that was the point, that Amir did know, but Emily still felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of her being the reason Levanna found out. She did, after all, pull two watchdogs away from Levanna’s watchful eye. Levanna, for her part, didn’t immediately jump on Emily’s presence. “Of course,” she said, before turning to Neasa and adding, “He is supposed to be in the old temple to Medeis, if you do go looking, though as you saw, he tends to move around.” “Medeis’ temple…” Emily muttered under her breath. She felt like she was still in her dream, like another puzzle piece had just fallen into place. Unfortunately, her utterance was still loud enough to be heard by at least Levanna, who shot her a dirty look from across the room. If that wasn’t another reason to feel unwelcome… Her mind was made up. “It is probably best if we speak alone in any case,” Emily said. “I will wait outside, Lady Neasa. Forgive the intrusion.” Before she exited the room, then the building altogether, Emily heard Levanna say, “Well, alright. What ‘troubling news’ did you have to bring me, then?” Fam/Famine There was a long pause after Finn finished speaking. Each person was either reeling from what had just been said or was holding their breath, waiting for what happened next. John himself was mystified, though that quickly reverted back to anger and he was the first one to do something. “Twice a day, huh?” he snarled. “You sound like that guy who came over a couple months ago saying things like we couldn’t worship the house god in our own homes. I told my mates I should have shown him some proper sense, but he’s not here anymore, so I guess I’m gonna have to do the same to you.” But before things could escalate any further, someone else grabbed John’s arm. “John, he’s a kid,” they said. “Besides, we’ve got bigger things to worry about right now. Like what we’re gonna tell Wendell. I don't wanna also tell him you beat up a kid because of it, even if he is a brat.” Mentioning Wendell seemed to calm John down, or at least it got his fists to unclench, which was almost the same thing. “Whatever,” John said. And, to Finn, he added, “You better know what you’re doing. Get out of here before I change my mind.” Undoing A Luciferian Towers Aiden was quick to jump in and issue a correction. “I don’t think they’re trying to do anything,” he said. “It’s their inaction that is the problem. Simon started professing his new faith… I think it was a few weeks ago? The religious council was pretty quick to accede to his demand for a temple, and yet if you go outside and look, there are no foundations set or even space set aside. There is a bureaucracy to the whole process, I’m sure, but it has not been proven to be an effective one. Especially since, well…” For a moment, Aiden paused his rant, trying to think of the best way to say what he wanted. When he did start back up again, it wasn’t following up on anything at all, and yet it seemed to him like it was the only way to move the conversation forward. “I am passionate about this not only because I care about the people of Galatea, but because Simon has affected us at this temple personally. One of Lar’s dogs came here months ago and, as his representative, declared that maintaining the fire was not just the most important way one could give worship, it was the only way. For years, people had been worshipping from their homes out of convenience; they were sacred places too, they believed. It was a struggle to adapt to this new theology, but we managed. Just as we were getting used to our new normal, however, that was when Simon and his cult invaded the temple. “People are still afraid to come and worship,” Aiden said. “They don’t want to end up the victims of some stories I’ve heard. They think Simon’s mere existence in these temples is harmful and dangerous, and I am inclined to agree with them.” OOC

Lucine had gotten up and left, which left Elsie and Corbin all alone with Lauryn. Well, it also meant that Lucine had probably gone and stiffed Elsie with the bill, but that wasn’t that big a deal. She could just start a tab or bill Jekyll or, failing everything else, flee into the night on her broomstick, high above where anyone could conceivably catch her. Not that she’d done anything like that before, of course, just that she was pretty sure she could. Still, the brief idea of it distracted her long enough to almost miss Lauryn mumbling to herself. Elsie didn’t even hear the first part of what she said, but the “Already had some try before and they failed…” part was enough to snap Elsie right back to reality; she sat straight up as soon as she heard it. “Okay, that sounds like some pretty juicy gossip. Why weren’t we talking about this before?” she said. “Who were they and what’d they do?” Lauryn whipped around, shot Elsie a look. “...of course ya heard that,” she said. But she sighed too, and with an “Alright, fine,” she relented. “We'd asked mercenaries from a few guilds to come and sort out this problem. Unfortunately, even the best mercenaries couldn't handle them.” “Okay, but, like, were they just defending the town? Did they go on an expedition scouting out the surrounding area?” Elsie leaned in. “I dunno, if they had a campsite somewhere that’d be something to look at, I think. Something of interest. If we’re going to do it right this time we’d definitely want to avoid their mistakes at least.” “The former,” Lauryn said. “We have no idea where they run off to or where they come from. Don't have a lot of signs showing that.” “Ah, sure, sure,” Elsie said. She tossed another bit of food Corbin’s way. “Well, I guess I have to thank you for putting our trust in us, then. Providing room and board for a bunch of people you think are going to die is pretty charitable, huh? Unless, of course, you need money upfront, in which case, uh --” Elsie gave herself a quick pat-down, miming searching for money she knew wasn’t there “-- maybe we need to talk about collateral? “I mean, you could march right up that mountain to that tower we arrived in and demand money from one Eric Jekyll, I dunno how that would go, though,” Elsie said. “Or -- actually, this is my favorite option -- if you want a money charm, I could help with that. The first thing you’d need is some blood. Any blood’ll work, really, you just gotta -” The tavern door opening distracted her, stopping the recipe dead in its tracks. Elsie turned to see Lopt and Alexandre walk in, and she gave both of them a big, full-arm wave. “Hallo!” she said. “We were just talking about staying the night here. Food’s pretty good, you should try it! Also: Monsters, what’s their deal?”

Melissa followed where Elizabeth was pointing, though she wasn’t entirely sure why Elizabeth thought she knew anyone, especially people who, if Ashley Rendleman was correct, had just arrived at Blue Yonder that day. He was significantly taller than Melissa was; even at a distance she guessed that he was probably even taller than Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was pretty tall. But that -- well, that and the “cool with the skeletons” comment -- was the only information she had on him; there was no recognition at all, and she looked back at Elizabeth and shook her head to indicate as such. The pit in her stomach combined with Ashley calling them over combined to say she was about to meet him soon. And yet, she felt like she was supposed to? Everyone kept pointing to her as “the leader” and just because she thought there were some pretty heavy scare quotes around that particular title, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been acting like it. It had been her plan, after all. But before she could act on either impulse (that was to say, either meet the new kid or dig a hole, hide in it, and never talk to anyone ever again), something else caught her attention. Something bigger. Yushiro had summoned a huge dragon. It didn’t just draw her eye because of the size, though, nor because of how it interacted with her duel field (though that was more a part of it than the size), there was something intangibly alluring to the Crystal Wing Dragon that Melissa didn’t quite have the words for. Awe, maybe? Could it be that? Melissa had sometimes wondered what it was like to be awed, especially when reading descriptions and analyses of shepherds being confronted by a host of angels. What she was experiencing now couldn’t be exactly like that, obviously, but the fact that she was associating the two at all meant that the feeling was at least a minuscule fraction of what they must have felt. “Hey,” Yushiro said. “Your plan’s working great!” And then, of course, it wasn’t.While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. -1 Thessalonians 5:3 (NIV)Oh, of all the problems that Melissa could have foreseen (and she had thought about a lot of problems), a waddling man with a flute was not one of them. The horde that accompanied him, okay, that was to be expected, but also the emotional barrier they had created was supposed to provide some resistance to that, right? And failing that, there was the extra actual barrier of bats and skeletons whose job was literally this. Her confidence was shattered, though, when the Crystal Wing (not to mention Souji’s HEROes, though Melissa hadn’t been paying as much attention there) was suddenly pinned to the ground. Worse still, when the piper summoned a Relinquished to absorb the dragon. Suddenly, Melissa felt a whole lot more vulnerable. What had she done, really, in the face of what was happening? She’d done nothing but promise good vibes as if that was going to do anything in the face of this, and gathering people together felt like leading lambs to the slaughter now. Relinquished loomed large over everything, even as the rest of the monsters began to charge, and the flute playing in the background now sounded like a battle march. The drumbeat was her own heartbeat, pounding in her ears and nearly drowning our everything else. Covering her ears didn’t help -- nothing did. Her duel field, too, faltered, flickering out of existence for just a moment before coming back dimmer than before. Closing her eyes didn’t help ignore that either, and she sure did try. But what more could she do? She so wanted to just wake up in her bed and have nothing that happened today happen at all. you have already done so much good. just a little more. That wasn’t her thought. It came from her head, yes, but it certainly wasn’t hers. She didn’t sound like that, Melissa knew that about herself. And yet, her concern for her own wellbeing was overridden by the comfort and reaffirmation the thought brought to her. It was such a small push, and yet, once she’d gotten it, she just kept moving. “What do I do?” she mumbled to herself. She knew the answer even before she got it. the first step is talking to your friends. everything should come together after that. Right. “Gabby!” Melissa called out. That was step one, making sure the one with still-usable monsters already out was aware and knew where to direct her forces. Next was all the friends already in front of her, and yes, Yushiro and Ashley Rendleman counted for these purposes. “Okay, first, this is going to work. You need to think that or the sanctuary won’t stay up. We’re still okay,” she said. “Probably. We just need to find something that works.” Melissa pulled out a card and slid it into her duel disk. “Desire…” she mumbled to herself. “Does this work?” No, the Darklord stayed kneeling on the ground, unable to pull herself to a standing position. “Ukoback?” Melissa said as she slotted another card in. And that one… did! The little fairy flitted around awaiting orders. “Is it low levels? Three or less?” she said, louder this time. “Would Xyz work? Hey!” Now she was looking up and around. “I guess I don’t- I don’t really know what anyone plays. Does anyone with a duel disk and some Xyz cards, can we try those?”

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 11 -- Gracefully Cruel - The One Who Picks That Flower Or: Touga Tells A Woman To Stay Out Of The Kitchen Even those that skip Utena’s OP probably still catch a glimpse of a single name as the song begins: “Be-Papas”. It’s one I’ve mentioned on this blog as well when I was mentioning Chiho Saito’s work, though outside of name-dropping it, I didn’t actually explain what it is in relation to Utena. Because it’s not an animation studio -- Revolutionary Girl Utena was animated by J.C. Staff -- but an artist collective consisting of Ikuhara and Saito, who I’ve already mentioned, in addition to Yoji Enokido, Shinya Hasegawa, and Yuichiro Oguro. It was made specifically for Utena, and outside of The World Exists for Me, the Ikuhara/Saito collaboration I’ve mentioned before, the collective hasn’t put out anything since. There are interviews with Ikuhara where he talks about how he wondered if this was going to be the last anime he ever made, and how that influenced the design process as he wanted to make his “pinnacle.” That prophecy was true for a while, too; Revolutionary Girl Utena was Ikuhara’s last work as a director for ten years before Mawaru Penguindrum premiered. Sometimes, I wonder if that added to the show’s fan mythology in the same way that, say, A Song of Ice and Fire is today, memeifying and fetishizing the auteur who seldom releases things, but the things are always good. That’s sort of the symbol of an uncompromising artist, isn’t it? But that seems to go against the collaborative nature of Be-Papas and the creation of Revolutionary Girl Utena (or at least Saito and Ikuhara described the process as collaborative; it’s difficult to find interviews of the collective’s other members). To talk more about this would be to go into the weeds of auteur theory, from what it is to why it’s misleading, which is a topic I’ll likely address at another time. For now, though, I’ll leave you with this: There’s a quote on ohtori.nu speculating on the reception to The World Exists for Me: “Unfortunately, reviewers in the United States overall panned it, calling it a disappointment. This may have something to do with the fact that it's fairly straight shoujo, where many of the people who sought it out were looking for another Utena.” Now, given that this analysis came from a fan site, it’s almost certainly biased in favor of Be-Papas (though I haven’t read the manga in question). It does, however, illustrate the logical progression of this sort of fandom thinking, of associating someone’s work with the things they’ve done previously. And sure, while it’s possible to draw patterns between works to get at underlying thematic preferences, using that to draw conclusions about a creator’s opinions or what they might make next can also be dangerous. Anyway, just something to think about. This is an anime with twenty years of interpretations flowing out of it, so I’m sure I’m not the first person to make this point, but of all the episodes so far, this one seems to be the most “Anthy-centric.” To put it another way, most of the episodes -- and if you’ve been watching along, you’ll notice this -- are pretty clear on who their focus is supposed to be on. In this arc, it’s been either a Nanami episode or whoever Utena is dueling at the climax. This episode and the next should, therefore, be Touga episodes, but that’s not really the case. He does have a history with Utena as per the flashbacks in Episode Nine, but remember, those were from Saionji’s point of view. Touga hasn’t shown any interest in reconciling with the past (unlike everyone else on the Student Council), and, outside of making advances towards Utena that can be explained away by either his playboy personality or manipulating Utena into believing that he could be her prince or both, he doesn’t seem to present any sort of motivation besides desiring Anthy for her power’s sake. So “Touga episode” is out of the question. I would also disqualify Utena for similar reasons. Outside of her initial duel with Saionji, Utena’s role in the duels has, at most, been “protect Anthy from those who would do her harm.” She says as much in this episode, in fact. But it’s this reason that also provides the underlying conflict for this episode. Utena, thus far, has been serving as Anthy’s advocate, but that’s not a particularly fulfilling relationship from Anthy’s side of things. In practice, it means that she’s still not allowed to speak for herself. Even when she does, when she finally reveals a piece of her own desires (“I want to make more friends”), Utena goes and uses it to further her advocacy, revealing this intimate moment to Touga after she loses the episode’s duel. If we do look at this episode as Anthy-centered, where does that lead us? Well, it makes the Shadow Play Girls segment a little bit more understandable. As someone who is somehow obligated to change hands at the swing of a sword, Anthy has been through this song and dance before; it is very much implied that her one moment of intimacy took a long time to get to. It also means that the lunch at the beginning is a particularly happy moment for Anthy -- she’s not treated as anything other than a good friend to have lunch with on a sunny day. The reaction shots (of which there are more of in this episode than most if any episodes so far) also support this. Multiple times throughout the episode, there’s either a cut or slow pan to Anthy, reminding the audience, implicitly, of her person-ness. Call it the Kuleshov effect if you must (in essence, the effect is how the context of each shot informs the interpretations of the shots surrounding it), but do think to ask yourself while watching, when is Anthy Himemiya happy? Sad? Some of this is intentionally vague. Touga is both obviously not Utena’s prince (on a meta-level, at least, Utena thinks otherwise) and obviously unsympathetic in his manipulations, not to mention treating Anthy like an object, but there is less to go on with regards to Anthy’s attitude towards him besides hopefully mirroring ours. At the same time, of course, Utena turned down the power of Dios, rejecting Anthy in favor of a vague memory, so from her perspective, maybe it’s just another fleeting moment that nevertheless turned out exactly the same as all the other duelists. -r Next time: Utena clutches her head and screams at the sky, “What am I fighting foooooor?” ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

best jojo?

Just so he had it all squared up (Peter thought to himself as he rubbed his temples, guiding the team cart around the store with his elbows), Leila had, somehow, without noticing or getting tired, walked all the way from Ocean’s Coast to Pegasus Market -- this specific Pegasus Market, one at least four hours away -- and now shifted constantly between lamentations at being lost, and, at Hana’s encouragement, focus on her immediate task at hand. Well, one of those was doomed to run out more quickly than the other; even if everyone just stood around in the Asian aisle and made small talk, they had obligations to a club of their own and at least one person who knew how to use a maps app. But Hana had gotten ahead of all that, insisting that they leave as a collective four-person unit, a sentiment that, like, Peter totally would have said if Hana hadn’t done something about it first (right?). It still meant they had to split up for the moment. Hopefully, Peter thought, Leila didn’t get lost in the store. The only other big event of the trip was how Peter had to guide Hana’s away from a mass of ham that could only lead to trouble. “Very, very sure that’s not on the list,” Peter said every time she eyed it, though even then he had to reach out and slap Hana’s hand away at least once. “How were you planning to pay for your cart anyway?“ Peter said. “This one's all club stuff.“ “Huh? Both of them are for the club,” Hana said. “Didn't that teacher give us something to pay for it all?“ Peter gestured to his cart. “Coach Clara gave us money for this,” he said, before making a wider gesture to include both of them. “She didn’t give us money for this. And you said you left your money at home so…” A realization hit Peter like a load of bricks, but it was the kind of realization that he just sort of resigned himself to. His parents didn’t give him, like, a ton of money, especially not in the form of a debit card or anything like that, but they had put some on his student ID quote, “for emergencies.” Peter sighed. “Okay,” he said. He just hoped the store accepted it. The cashier did, thankfully, take his card and run it through. It was just like any other card, it seemed, though Peter was acutely aware of just how much Hana had loaded onto the checkout counter, even without looking at (or hearing) the final total. He also wondered if his parents could check the balance remotely and if they’d wonder why he spent so much when he was ostensibly supposed to be at the club. It was a problem for Future Peter, not that Present Peter didn’t have his own problems. Like how they had to wait with their noodles and drinks (and lack of ham, “Small victories,” Peter thought to himself) near the front of the store, waiting for their newfound fourth. “You’re okay with this, Makoto?” Peter said, mostly out of passing the time. “It just kind of happened I guess without anyone asking.“ Then, to nobody in particular, remembering a previous thought, he said, “You think she’s okay in there?“