radio414

Figured I'd just make a new thread for this. Under "Members Shop" or its subtag "Shop Items", clicking on the name of an item instead of the "Buy Now" button reveals this: I'm using Google Chrome, though Firefox has reported this issue as well. The "Buy Now" button still works, but the name leads to an error messge. This is true of all the shop items; I'm using Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock as an example.

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 03 -- On the Night of the Ball or: Champagne is the New Pig’s Blood, Tablecloths are Haute Couture I have to apologize for an error I made last week. In one of the closing paragraphs of that post, I implied that there was little significance to be read in exactly what manga Wakaba was reading. It didn’t immediately click with me that Chiho Saito, mangaka of the Waltz in a White Dress series and Chiho Saito, member of Be-Papas and illustrator of the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga were the same person. The reference then becomes less of a shout-out to something on the mind of the creators and more of an allusion to one of their own pieces of work. Magnolia Waltz is not Saito’s most well-known work, however. Her most well-known manga -- excluding Utena -- is a music-themed romance called Kanon, about a young violinist in search of her father, only to fall in love with him without realizing who he is. I would say more but that’s about the extent of the summaries I could find. Kanon has only officially been translated into French and Italian, and the only unofficial English translation still on the internet only has the final two volumes of the six-volume compilation. In any case, it won the 1997 Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo manga, and the people online who have read it seem to think well enough of it. Other unverified sources have claimed that it was Kanon that got Saito invited to contribute to Be-Papas (the timelines do match up, at least), and since the group disbanded, Saito has continued to add to a rather prolific body of shoujo and josei manga, even collaborating with Ikuhara one more time with S to M no Sekai / The World Exists for Me. The Revolutionary Girl Utena manga and its sequel are likely to get their own blog post one of these days. For now, I just wanted to talk a bit about someone involved in Utena’s creation who I worry might otherwise have been overlooked. I’ve been trying to clamp down on auteur worship when I can, and though Kunihiku Ikuhara certainly deserves a lot of credit for Utena and its movie, to say he was the only person involved in the creative process would be a mistake. This anime would not be the same without the work of several people, and Chiho Saito is one such person. In the previous two episodes, we’ve seen Student Council President Touga Kiryuu the second-most out of all the members of the council, and yet we haven’t really gotten a sense of his character. He tells Saionji a few times to stop abusing the Rose Bride (emphasizing how the council objectifies Himemiya, it is always “the Rose Bride”) though it is always verbal warnings and never anything of consequence, he quotes The Rose of Versailles a lot (that’s the “if a chick cannot crack its shell” speech), and he reacts with shock when he sees Utena wield the power of Dios. All this is in contrast to his true character, a flamboyant playboy who has probably broken more hearts than there exist girls attending Ohtori Academy. And yet, Utena is attracted to him. Some of this is understandable; one could easily draw parallels at this point between this relationship and Wakaba lusting after Saionji, but there’s more to it than that, I think. We see that this attraction is mostly based on the connection of the rose seals on their rings -- Utena wonders if Kiryuu could really be her prince. This is a deliberate piece of dissonance on the part of the creators; We know Saionji has a ring as well that didn’t trigger anything in Utena, and in every flashback (and it is included at the beginning of the episode again just in case you forgot), Utena’s mysterious savior is depicted with purple hair and darker skin, closer to Anthy’s than most of the other characters depicted thus far. Obviously, Touga Kiryuu is not this prince. We also see Utena realize this subconsciously in how she rejects his advances despite her attraction, and later she says it outright, “No way a playboy like that could be my prince on a white horse.” This connection is going to be explored in later episodes, of course. It’s kind of a narrative trope that, given a villainous student council, the president of said council is going to be fought at the climax of an arc, not three episodes in. Utena subverts a lot of tropes, but it doesn’t subvert that one. But let’s talk about the real star of the show here, Nanami Kiryuu. Nanami is a girl who loves two things, the first is her social status -- the Kiryuus are portrayed as a rich family and the titular ball takes place in their mansion -- and the second is her brother. She really, really loves her brother, so much so that she goes out of her way to eliminate potential romantic partners. And because Anthy is the Rose Bride, because Touga is fighting for her hand, Nanami decides that she needs to step in here as well. Some of this you could probably already figure out. She appears with all the other Student Council members in the show’s opening, after all. But I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to talk about the specific structure of the episode. Because it’s different, but in a way that will be used repeatedly throughout the show. All of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s episodes are called “Duels” but not every episode has a duel in it. The bulk of these duel-less episodes are focused around Nanami. One might even call them filler episodes, but I’m not so sure I see it that way. They are more of a subplot, yes, but they also allow the creators to explore more general themes of growing up that the main theses -- the ones about gender roles and the damage of unhealthy relationships -- might not otherwise be able to cover. Nanami is younger than most of the cast, and her two loves mentioned above have left her woefully unprepared and in need of catching up, so she becomes the focus. This episode is more of an introduction to these characters and setting up these respective plots (the closest thing to a lesson Nanami learns here is “you never know who could be attracted to who” which is a fine lesson, but not the focus), but there are a few other notes I’d like to close with. First, we see Utena shed her very feminine dress for her masculine school uniform at the episode’s climax, the first instance of what will become a recurring motif. This was something already set up with the show’s opening, but it’s important to note when it happens more obviously. Second, I’d like to point out a nice touch on the animator’s part. Anthy makes a comment about not liking large groups of people because everyone’s faces start to look the same and she gets uncomfortable, and while we do see a rather intense version of that near the end, even before then, most of the attendees are drawn more as outlines of characters than as people. One might assume that this is due to animation budgeting, but when we see the ballroom through the eyes of non-Anthy characters, suddenly many of them are filled in. Thanks again for reading, and I’ll see you all next week! -r Next time: How many pets does Anthy Himemiya have? The answer may surprise you! ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

There was a sort of safety in the darkness of her dorm, the kind that got Melissa to almost forget the chaos of the outside world. Sure, duel space was everywhere, and if she curled up in her bed she ran the risk of being accosted by some other Duel Monsters abomination, but the familiarity of the room and all of her things, well, it was nice. No other words were necessary; it was simply nice. She couldn’t take it in for too long, of course. She had to keep moving. Her duel disk was in the corner where she always kept it, maintained well enough despite how seldomly she used it. Well, there was no time like the present. Her deck was there too, which was possibly important? It was a failsafe, at the very least. If things didn’t work out, a few friendlier monsters could certainly improve things. Not to mention that, despite how little she used it, grabbing a duel disk and not having a deck to go with it felt wrong somehow. Thinking too hard about backup plans when the main plan was already underway was just as much a folly as it had been back in Gardner Hall, though. And now she was comfortable enough to recognize that. But Melissa still couldn’t help double-checking everything to make sure. She slid her duel disk onto her arm -- it was as uncomfortable as she remembered -- and powered it on. The duel disk hummed as it constructed Melissa’s duel field. It was quiet, but against the silence of the rest of the room, it was overwhelming. Her actual field, of course, was not. It was more of a glow, really, barely extending maybe a meter or two off her body, and while it, too, was comforting, it certainly wasn’t enough. Another flick of a switch and the hum disappeared, along with the glow it was generating. That was for later, even if “later” was still probably sooner than she thought. The thirty-minute timer she’d set for herself was now more like twenty-something, and it was only ticking down. Some bats started poking at her window. They didn’t seem too interested in getting in, but Melissa still took it as a sign that she needed to get back to her friends. She took one final look around the room, making sure there wasn’t anything she was missing, muttered a quick prayer, and headed back out.Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. -Exodus 14:15 (NIV)The group had grown since Melissa had last seen them! Souji must have seen the crowd or something, or seen her text and somehow knew where she was or whatever other reason. It didn’t matter, it was nice to see him regardless. Melissa said, “Okay, Souji, this is the -” but wasn’t able to finish her sentence before Jun interrupted her. “We’re going to save the day, and I guess since you’re here, you can help!” Which was true, but given that he’d partially inspired the plan he probably wanted to know exactly how, right? Melissa tried again. “We just need to stop by Gabby’s dorm for her-” “We are preparing for a grand battle, It is my hope that you are ready for this, young knight of this land.” Whoa, who said anything about a battle? Melissa finally managed to break through. “We’re just- we’re just doing what you said we should do, Souji. We’re getting used to duel space. I don’t know if it’s going to save the day, but I do hope it’ll help at least.” She turned to Gabby. “Second-to-last stop is your duel disk. You’re the one with the army, lead the way.”

"poison" always seems to be a metaphor for relationships i guess

Sheldon disagrees with you there

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. -Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)Okay. Kyouko had a bat, Jun had her duel disk, and Gabby could command these skull servants, but that left Melissa with the worst part: the coordinating part. The people-gathering part. And outside of a few text messages she could send, she wasn’t exactly sure how she was supposed to do that. So she ignored it. It was still going to be a necessary ingredient, but there were other things to focus on at the moment. Like getting more disks. Jun’s wasn’t going to be enough, and Kyouko had guessed correctly -- she’d left hers in her room. What was next in terms of that part of the plan? Melissa tried to figure out the best path, stretching from where they were now, Gabby and her dorms, and where they needed to end up, and she wasn’t even sure where they were supposed to end up! It needed to be open, she knew that much, or it at least needed to be able to support a couple dozen people. Maybe only a few needed to be there at the start? But now she was thinking about the people part again! And worse, now she was starting to freeze up. She had to be doing something! Anything! “Let’s- that’s a good start. Thank you, Jun,” Melissa said. “Um, we are going to need more than that, though. I was thinking, well, one for each of us at least, right? That’s four.” She was still stressed, but talking kept her mind off it at the moment (which really in itself was an odd feeling). “I guess we should go to my dorm first? Just in case- um, there’s some other stuff I can grab there too that might help.” It was enough of a start to get things moving, at least. Gabby commanded the Skull Servants onward, and off they went. The walk helped. The fact that it was even a walk at all was what really did it. There was significantly less fear involved when they had an army of skeletons following them around, and that gave Melissa a little bit more time to think. Really, any open space was probably good enough, right? There wasn’t a need to pick the “best one”; she just needed somewhere to say it was safe to meet. Without that pressure, she actually managed to pick one pretty easily. After that, all she had to do was send out another flurry of texts. From: Melissa If you can, meet in the field just outside Taylor Hall in thirty minutes. It’ll be safe there. She showed it to the girls travelling with her. “Can you send this out too?” she said. “I’m sure you know people I don’t.” Melissa could imagine a million reasons why people wouldn’t show up. They could be just like her, hiding in a room somewhere, refusing to budge until somebody gave an all-clear. They could simply not trust the instructions of a random number in their phone. They could even just not be paying attention. All of these options were clearly demonstrated in the Community Service Chat. lol who is this Not moving seems like the better option rn ngl omg everyone look at this cute dog i found Outstanding. She just had to hope they came anyway. The benefit was, if her plan worked, they would come, and the more that came, the better it would work. It was a- whatever the opposite of a vicious cycle was. A virtuous cycle? That had a nice ring to it. Just like that, they were at her dorm. Melissa paused briefly and took a few breaths, readying herself for what came next. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll be right back. Think good thoughts for me.” Melissa had a little realization that that last bit probably seemed weird to them. But they were under a timer she’d set herself now, so all she could clarify it with was, “Yes, that’s part of the plan. Think good thoughts.” With that, she broke from the group and ran off into the building.

i know the video is over seven minutes long but the song doesn't start until, like, 0:20 and there's a ten-second epilog at the end with a cat so the song is really 6:50-ish

“Now!” Even before that -- as soon as the decision had been made, actually -- Chris had been ready. Sure, he was a bit miffed his suggestion wasn’t the one they followed, but the middle of the dungeon wasn’t the time for such a squabble. He’d have to save it for later. “Just tell me where to run” he’d said, and he meant it. He was the first one to the staircase, even, and to the next floor he went. And yet, despite his speed, as soon as he reached the bottom, Chris skidded to a halt. Again with the branching paths, again with the sounds that probably weren’t human. He turned to face his companions again. “So, uh, left-hand rule again, right?” he whispered. “This tunnel over here, I guess? Or do we just keep going? “I mean, I can check it out first if you want, but you all seemed to get mad at me for doing that last time so…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usFFKNRB2z8 "youtube doesn't support embedding of this video" okay