radio414

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?“

Aiden Aiden was a little surprised to be approached -- in recent days, he had been the one doing the approaching -- but the surprise faded when he realized who and why. “Ah yes, of course,” he said. “Unfortunately I’ve become a bit of an expert on the subject of these most recent events. Even still, I would request that we do it in the safety of Lar’s temple. Some of my opinions are not very popular if you understand my meaning. You’ve already seen how Levanna reacts to my approaches, right? Anyway, please, follow me.” He turned on his heels and continued on his way. Inwardly, he felt like gagging, having to present the image of formality, and yet he knew the politeness was necessary, especially after having been presented as much from his soon-to-be guest. It was what Lar would have wanted, anyway. He could speak plainly once they were out of the square proper. The interior of the temple to Lar was much like its exterior in that the material involved in its construction tinted everything inside in a rusty brown hue. In addition to shaped windows allowing for sunlight to shine in, there was an additional source of light in the form of a central fire. Again, Aiden reflected on its size. The area set aside for the fire was large; it was meant to be similar to the altar of any other temple. Lar was the god of the hearth, after all! This was supposed to be that hearth! And yet, the fire dwindled. It still crackled with life on occasion, but it was all the few acolytes attending to it could do to keep it at that level. “Anyone else?” Aiden asked the room. “No, Brother Bell,” was the response. Aiden frowned at that but tried not to let it show too much as he guided his charge back, past the fire, into a hallway beyond where his quarters lay. His were the backmost, and Aiden pulled open the door before gesturing his permission for the Taros dog to enter. “I can’t offer you any tea or biscuits,” he said. “But this is the best place I can think of to talk about what you’re asking me. You can- you can sit on the chair at the desk there, I’ll sit on my cot. Or perhaps you would prefer the reverse?” Emily “You are free to come with me if you wish,” the watchdog said. Which, intuitively, at least, was fine as an offer, but Emily still hesitated. Certain imagery in her dream still troubled her; why had nothing been said about the bonfire scene? Was it that inscrutable, that even Myria’s watchdog couldn’t parse it? And yet, she couldn’t find any words to enunciate her concern, and every time she opened her mouth to try anyway, nothing came out. These instincts, then, very nearly compelled her to say no. There were many things she was pretty sure she would have to decide on her own. But at the same time, instead of dragging watchdogs around and demanding they pay attention to her needs, now a watchdog -- a representative of the gods themselves -- was beckoning her to accompany them. Was that not worth considering as well? And with all that was going on, was there ever going to be time to mourn? She did come to a decision eventually, though. In reality, her pause was probably only a few seconds, before she said, “Very well. I do have business with the Nuumu watchdog as well; I’d like to check on her preparations for my mother’s rites. My father’s as well, so I will follow you to her at the very least.” Levanna “I’m glad we understand each other,” Levanna said as Nuumu’s watchdog reached out for another biscuit. And she meant it. She practically sighed with relief when she heard that Nuumu was willing to stand against such phrases as the ones they’d discussed. That was to say, she’d assumed it, but it was still nice to hear straight from the dog’s mouth. And what a refreshing conversation compared to all the other watchdogs on the island! And now that such connections were being made, they could maybe move on to - “Is this related to that crowd making a scene at the Taros temple earlier?” The question didn’t catch Levanna entirely off-guard (after all, the two had met right outside Taros’ temple as Simon was dispersing), but it was a topic she’d been hoping to avoid. That was the whole point of her approach, after all, or it was a point, at least. Still, she was about to provide her best attempt at an answer when, for the second time today, someone came barging in. Another face she recognized, another watchdog, and not one she was happy to see. “I would have knocked, but I heard some information that pertains to my interests,” he said. And then came even more questions. Four of them, in total, and not one of them asked in anything less than what Levanna felt could be the most accusatory tone. The last one stung the most; Levanna reacted to that one almost reflexively. “Nothing is stopping us,” she said. “I was not trying to deceive you when I said we were working on it. You have been here all of an afternoon and you were expecting the problem solved in the meantime?” She took a breath to calm down. The tea helped as well, not just giving her another excuse to pause, but also, well, because it was tea. When she brought her cup back down, she continued. “Alright, take a seat, young watchdog, and I will explain. And to you as well,” she said, gesturing to Nuumu’s dog as she did so. “We are dealing with a new religion,” Levanna said. “They are aggressive in their recruitment and they have not simply dispersed as the whims of the populace change. We -- that is, the religious council -- have decided to build them a temple to Simon’s specifications, with an agreement from Simon that the particularly aggressive nature of some of his tactics will cease. Construction is not yet underway, but it will be soon. “Why they are worshipping ‘oblivion,’ I could not tell you,” Levanna said. “That is something you will have to ask the man himself.” “Cornulearntocopewithdehydrationia” It wasn’t long before people noticed that the spring had dried up. After all, even if people didn’t take Finn seriously right away, it was an easily checkable statement. The line behind Finn began to murmur, one after the other, a rumble that only got louder until someone with a deep, booming voice, called after him, “Hey, kid! What’d you mean by that?” He was huge, at least a head taller than Finn and probably more, and he still had an empty barrel it appeared he’d been intending to fill up slung over his broad shoulders. As he approached, the size disparity only seemed to get larger and larger until he towered over the five-foot-five watchdog. “John, don’t,” somebody else said. “No, he can speak for himself,” John replied. “What’d you do to our water, kid? You don’t just get to say, ‘Well’s dry,’ what’s your game?” Summon the Fire The choice of seating didn’t really matter. Aiden kept talking. “Actually, before we get into your questions, do you mind if I complain for a moment? This is not complaining about you, but as an outsider and an authority, I feel this is my best opportunity for this sort of petition to work.” Again, Aiden didn’t wait for an answer. “You mentioned Simon Weatherson to me, and given he was in your temple, I have to imagine you spoke to him. Which means you must know how dangerous he is. He’s a blasphemer, at the very least, preaching in places that he doesn’t belong. “But even if -- and despite what those on the religious council will tell you it’s not a when, but an if -- even if he gets a place where his teachings aren’t heresy, I don’t think the blight he has brought with him will cease. That’s what Levanna and the others are banking on, and despite what that would mean for this temple, for Lar especially, I cannot believe it. And in the meantime…” Aiden looked at the Taros dog. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Please, be seated. You have questions, and I will answer them.” OOC

Hana and Leila were clearly made for each other, Peter thought. It was either that or try to comprehend how Hana could be so happy about leaving her wallet behind at school even as she stacked her cart full of foodstuffs. He signed. He was going to have to cover some of the costs for this, wasn’t he? Thankfully, the conversation went elsewhere before he thought about that too hard. Leila was from Ocean’s Coast? It was a school Peter had heard of in passing, mostly whenever he overheard his parents talking about his future. And she was in their duel club? Peter wondered how good the team really was if his parents had decided to send him to Horizon instead. Not that he had the means nor the will to test that right now. But wait, wasn’t Ocean’s Coast… “Where am I?” Oh no. Peter’s phone was immediately in his hands, as he flipped through apps and options (making sure to turn his phone’s location on) until he found what he needed. “To…” Peter mumbled to himself. “From… my location…” In the background, Hana was telling him how bad stealing was, which, sure, that was true, but he was more interested in watching the little bar at the bottom of the screen get all the way to the right. Once it did, he held his phone up, presenting the map and the route on the screen to Leila -- perhaps being a little too upfront about it, not that he cared -- and said, “Did you walk all the way here from Ocean’s Coast?”

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 10 -- Nanami’s Precious Thing Or: B.B.B.F.F. (Big Brother Best Friend Forever) The Subs vs. Dubs argument is not something I want to get into as a general rule; I generally prefer subtitles (and have been using links to subtitled episodes throughout this blog) but I can understand reasons one might rather dubs and that’s really all I’ll say on the matter. However, seeing as the lead-in section of this blog has been looking at various aspects of Utena’s production and impact, it’s probably a good idea to at least talk a little bit about the English dub. The trivia that gets thrown around the most is that the woman who voices Utena, Rachel Lilis (perhaps best known for her role as Misty in Pokémon) has never met the English Anthy, Sharon Becker. I think that’s indicative of a lot of the problems people might have with it; there’s certainly a stiltedness to it all, especially in the earlier episodes. But at the same time, there is some inspiration in there. Rachel Lilis is very good, and Crispin Freeman as Touga is different from the original, and yet still carries the same presence. Besides, given Utena’s nature, the stiltedness is intentional (though that’s a rabbit hole that I don’t particularly recommend following). It did grow on me as I went through scenes in preparation for this post. Some of that may be due to Ikuhara’s involvement -- he helped with later episodes of the dub as well as the dub of the movie -- but also may be related to the voices getting used to their roles. Listening to the English dub also provided a look into some of the sound effects that were changed in the remastering process, especially the bells of the arena (comparison video here), though the subject of the remaster is something I’m going to save for another episode. If you are curious, here’s a link to a Nozomi Entertainment’s playlist for the English dub. I’ll still be sticking with the subtitles, but it should be easy enough to follow along. This episode is a lot of things, really. First, it is a shift in tone from the more episodic format earlier in the Student Council arc to this serial format where Touga begins to enact his plan. We saw glimpses of this in the previous episode, how Touga used Saionji’s lust for power and desire for normalcy to not only get rid of a potential romantic rival, but also plant the initial idea in Utena’s head that he may just be her prince. Episode Ten has the consequences of that; Utena starts challenging what it means to be a prince, but not in the way she had hoped. “Maybe a girl can’t be a prince,” she says. This will continue until the end of the arc. Second, if you couldn’t tell by the title, this is a Nanami episode, though its antics are certainly less subdued than before. Aiko, Yuuko, and Keiko (Nanami’s mooks, and yes, I’m only just now mentioning their names) only get a few frames of screentime, watching on as Nanami berates Utena and Anthy for intruding on Touga’s birthday instead of doing anything outwardly malicious themselves, for example. Everything else is still there, though, such as the little subtheme of Anthy messing with Nanami, this time by replicating a gift Nanami had given when she was a child, a small kitten to play with. The moral of this episode is going to take a while to learn, though, because Nanami’s love for her brother and his (perceived) reciprocation is one of the most ingrained aspects of Nanami’s character. Not only does she go after any girl he might take an interest in, we also find out that she killed Touga’s kitten -- her own gift! -- because she believed he was spending too much time with it. I said “perceived” reciprocation in that last paragraph because, like with Touga and Saionji, it’s not entirely clear what Touga puts into this relationship besides acceptance that it’s going to happen. The most obvious moment is when she asks that he kiss her and he effectively says “we aren’t children anymore,” and when he does embrace her, he makes certain that Utena is watching. The last thing this episode is is a duel episode. Putting aside the pranks and humiliation, Nanami steps forward to challenge Utena. The implication, both in how Touga gives her a ring and how he appears at the dueling arena, is that Nanami is fighting for Touga’s love, not Anthy’s hand. One might even argue that that is the reason she loses, though it would also be the reason she refuses to yield once the duel is over, only stopping when Touga steps in himself. -r Next time: Utena faces her toughest opponent yet: the man she believes to be her prince. ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→