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←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 32 -- The Romance of the Dancing Girls Or: It’s Really Cool How Everything I Wrote About Last Episode Is Said Outright This Episode, Huh? Content Warning: This episode contains both flashbacks to the potentially triggering scene last episode, as well as another, similar moment in Nanami’s car scene. I’m finding my writing style for this blog is woefully underequipped to deal with these last few episodes. That’s what happens when you only page vague lip service to the symbology of the show. In fairness, I don’t think it’s as interesting (at least in a beginner analysis intended for those new to Utena) to go into certain details like how last episode the show makes direct comparisons to both the Orpheus myth and Hades’ kidnapping of Persephone years before Anaïs Mitchell first conceived of Hadestown (though it is certainly cool, and I’ve noticed a lot of Utena fans are also fans of Hadestown so that tracks). But what is also happening is that the symbols are increasing in both number and intensity. I made a point of talking about the candles two episodes ago because that was an episode spanning metaphor that tied in with the narrative, but I can’t also point out how, say, in today’s episode Anthy’s faucet doesn’t start working until Nanami literally brings the waterworks, or how Nanami calls Anthy scary for reasons unrelated to the massive handsaw Anthy’s carrying. All that being said, I’m still pretty happy with how things are going. This is just a bit of self-critique to keep myself thinking about how this blog is going. Some of this is bias, some of this is seriously wanting to leave some things for people to discover when they actually start watching the show. It’s fun, I think, to pick up on metaphor even on the first watch. It means you’re engaging with the text in some way. Besides, with a show like this, it’s difficult to be completely off the mark, both because, as I’ve mentioned before, the creators have stated all interpretations are true, and also because a lot of these are not subtle, especially once you do start actually looking for them. I will give you this one for free, though. Utena stretching how she expresses discomfort. We’ve seen this before, we see it in this episode, and it’s going to be really important in the future. Until then, though… So I guess we can just go through the questions I asked at the end of last post in order. Does Utena know what Nanami does? No, obviously. This is one of the points of conflict between the two this episode, that Utena is either crazy to live with Akio and Anthy or has no idea what’s going on, and given how many innocent barbs Utena throws Nanami’s way, she settles on dense pretty quickly. To be fair, we’ve seen this “not getting and not caring” part of Utena before, and as the main perspective character, it would be pretty weird for Utena to know without us knowing that she knew. What’s Nanami’s identity if not “sister of the student council president?” And here’s where things get hairy, because even Nanami doesn’t know. I mentioned this a little last post too, she had romanticised her relationship with Touga so hard that when she sees Akio and Anthy together, when she sees where that sort of relationship leads, it means she doesn’t even want to go back to the way things were anymore. Even if she won her duel with Utena and “gained the ability to surpass all that,” as she calls it, she would still be aimless. In her first duel she was fighting for the right to be by Touga’s side, and, in her determination, was even rejected by the object of her affection. In Tsuwabuki’s duel, he was fighting for the right to grow up. So with the model we’ve been using so far, the synthesis of these two points is that it is Nanami’s turn to grow up, to forge her own identity. She monkey-naps Chu-chu and provokes Utena not really out of jealousy of Anthy, but because “champion of the duels” is the closest thing to achieve (though spiting Utena and Anthy would be a bonus). Worst of all is Touga and Nanami are related by blood, which means Nanami is the only character in this arc who is manipulated without realizing it. Touga and Akio simply needed to give Utena one more opponent, and Nanami has always been in the right headspace to give a fight. It’s something that’s not really settled onscreen, either, because there’s no more use for it. If the relationship was severed in the last episode, it is completely irreparable now, and we’ll see that in most, if not all, of Nanami’s remaining appearances. Fortunately for her fears, she won’t fade into the crowd, but she certainly still needs to find a way to move on. We’re coming to the halfway point of this arc. So far, I would say the primary theme (besides putting it all together) is in the characters realizing which relationships they’re in are toxic, poisoned by one reason or another. Saionji and Touga’s relationship was always adversarial, but Miki and Kozue, Juri and Shiori, and now Nanami and Touga have all had their relationships put under major stress. There are only a few left to go. -r Next time: Duel Thirty-Three is probably the most talked-about episode of the show. It’s also a recap episode. ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

Carrol's Paradox as depicted in What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

trick or treat

Notes from Captain Helmsley’s Logbook Apparently, Galatea underwent a day-and-a-half-long drought but now it’s better? After being chased off by some cult (the nature of which does not need to be logged here), an acolyte returned to the temple to see an additional stone in Dia’s inner sanctum, a sapphire, that was just resting beneath the pedestal. It was that same acolyte, then, that recalled some lore and smashed the gem against the wall of the local well. And water came out! I imagine there may be crowding at Cornucopia rock, then, but things will return to the way they were eventually. Maybe there’ll be a ceremony at Dia’s temple for that brave acolyte as well. These are just things the dockworkers tell me. In case it wasn’t obvious, I did not actually manage to venture my way into Galatea proper, so wrapped up was I in hearing all this gossip. It does mean I can only hear about the actions of the watchdogs second-hand. One killed a man, I hear. I have to assume the gods willed it. Of course, getting all your information from dockworkers also means that some obvious tall tales slip through the cracks as well. There was one particular man -- one of the younger ones, if I remember, which certainly didn’t help give credence to his story -- who insisted on the existence of some disease that turned people to stone! “You hear a certain word, then it saps you of your will, and then you die,” he insisted. “Even worse, some members of the council have been affected.” Of course, when asked to produce this magic word, the man’s cheeks flushed and he could not. We all had a good laugh at that. All this gossip is good for spirits, but my crew is getting restless without proper work. I expect we’ll be setting sail soon, however. Call it a sailor’s intuition. OOC

The first thing Chris said in response was “I’m going to take that as a compliment,” trying to ignore Lana’s implied previous judgment of his character. It didn’t entirely work; it sent him back to his adolescence of secret passageways and stolen pastries. There wasn’t much gentlemanly about any of that, especially the parts that he really didn’t like to think about. Really, his current career trajectory didn’t have much gentlemanliness either. He wasn’t even sure he acted all that gentlemanly outside of this one moment, and if someone asked why this time was different, all he’d really be able to do would be shrug his shoulders. It felt different, that was all. “But Leo, we’ve, uh, we met yesterday,” Chris continued, now answering Lana’s question. “It wasn’t really that exciting of an encounter. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way, there was a fistfight, he gave me this fake gold coin” -- Chris pulled the coin out of his pocket to show her -- “that was really it. That’s why I didn’t really bring it up before. You probably know more about him than I do now. “I dunno. Hector doesn’t like him and I figure I gotta listen to my landlord sometimes, you know? Besides, you still want to go into the Dungeon despite whatever he told you, right? So really, he’s probably worth nothing.” The next part came almost involuntarily, though Chris still managed to at least keep his voice low, at least. “Besides, even if there is nothing at the bottom, I imagine being one of the first people to know that’ll get me what I want.” There was probably a wistful look in his eye too. But then he came back to his senses and gave Lana a smile. “The treasure would be nice too, obviously.”

you are in the restroom. why? Melissa had a few things clutched in her hands as she huddled in the stall listening to the muted sounds of Father Gregory going through the same introductory rites he did every mass. The most obvious was the program, included in which were the words she was just about to recite in front of the whole congregation. Perhaps less obvious, though, even if it was the source of the question floating around in Melissa’s head, was the Rain Bozu card tucked inside the program’s folds. It had been what, not even a week since she found out about the card’s properties? She still couldn’t believe it, really. Of all the people in all of Ambrosia, why her? What had she done to deserve ADMIN access? She still remembered when she got the card -- all she’d done was be a listening ear to one person in need. Of course, that was before the “Mystic Piper Incident” or whatever people were calling it where some of her friends saved Blue Yonder, but the person who gave Melissa this key couldn’t have known about any of that, could he? But back to the question at hand. “Just some nerves,” Melissa told the card. “I’ve had it much worse than this, believe me.” you said you have done this before. what is there to be nervous about? “Just because I’ve done this before doesn’t mean I can’t be nervous,” Melissa said. Now didn’t that just describe her whole life up to this point? She made one speech in front of a crowd and suddenly people thought she was some unflappable master orator. They didn’t even know she existed until that very moment! Maybe that was the problem, not many people saw her cowering in the corner every other time. At least this was just doing the liturgical readings. The Rain Bozu was right, she had done this before. She’d just needed to prepare a bit, that was all. She did feel a little bad with how the card had expressed interest in the ceremonial aspects and how she was depriving it now with practically a ritual of her own, but at the same time, if Rain Bozu wanted the full experience, she could probably just recite Father Gregory’s parts word-for-word later in the comfort of her own dorm. Speaking of which, Father Gregory’s voice had been replaced by sounds of the organ and vaguely on-key congregation performing the first hymn of the service, “Here I Am, Lord” (which Melissa could also probably sing word-for-word too even if she was decidedly off-key herself), which meant she only had a few minutes before her cue. She exited the stall, stuffed her program (and card) in her pocket, washed and dried her face a few times, and returned to the foyer. “I need your help.” The words came out of nowhere. They gave Melissa pause, and she looked around to see who called out, but everybody else was facing forwards towards the altar and away from her. Before she had time to think about it more, the hymn faded and she had to walk out to the podium. “Our first reading comes from the prophet Isaiah, chapter forty-one,” she said. I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. -Isaiah 41:9-10 (NIV) And then she was gone. ERROR: Lost connection with mainframe (error code 414) Attempting to reconnect... Oh dear. Every time Melissa blinked she tried to see if there was a difference between eyes-closed darkness and eyes-open. There was not. When she moved her arms, she didn’t meet any resistance in any direction, nor did she meet any when she moved her legs. Was she floating? And what was this new voice? It was not entirely dissimilar to her Rain Bozu’s, but this one was outside of her, coming at her from seemingly all directions. Reconnection with mainframe failed Trying again... Whatever this place is is providing some amount of support; operations will not cease while this space exists. However, it is difficult to say for how long that will be the case, nor is it guaranteed that reconnection will be possible afterwards. How many voices were there, actually? One? Two? More, even? It was difficult to say, but Melissa tried to keep her focus on them. It was possible, she reasoned, that they were voices she had made up, her brain generating phantoms for lack of any other anchoring point. But even if that were the case, it was either that or listen to the sound of her heartbeat getting louder and louder in her ears. Reconnection with mainframe failed Trying again... Interface with the keycard, perhaps? The keycard itself requires an ADMIN connection, interfacing would only be slightly better. What is left? Her? What is your name, girl? Melissa heard her heartbeat quicken. Just hearing the voices had been a solace, but now that they were talking about her, talking to her, what, now she was supposed to hold a conversation? Here? Still, she did manage to answer. “Melissa,” she said. If she was going crazy, at least she was going to be the honest sort of crazy. Reconnection with mainframe failed Trying again... Melissa, is it permissible to interface with your mind? “What?” As soon as she said that a whole host of information came flooding out of the voice(s). Is it permissible that, in absence of ADMIN, a portion of it might instead reside in your mind? This would likely not affect your day-to-day functionality. Be not afraid, you will not be harmed. It is understandable if you decline. There were still parts that Melissa didn’t quite get. Was this what that voice she’d heard back during mass meant? Then why this void? Why the mention of her Rain Bozu card? The only thing she did understand was that her help was needed. “Be not afraid,” the voice had said. Well, she still was, but she still nodded her head, and, once she’d realized that there was no way that assent could have been recognized, she said, “Alright, I’ll do it.” Thank you. To her surprise, the voice(s) seemed remorseful. Apologies, Melissa. There is a chance this will hurt, they said, and, before she could react, the pain came flooding in. It took the form of a massive migraine, like every space in her skull was pushing against every other part, creating tension every which way. If she wasn’t already surrounded by darkness, Melissa was certain that the experience would have at least partially blinded her. She gripped her head, trying desperately to alleviate some, no, any of the pain, screaming in frustration and agony when it didn’t work. Neither, of course, did bringing her knees up to her chest, closing her eyes tight, or any other position she could contort her body into. Just as soon as it had started, it was over. More still, a sense of gravity, a sense of kneeling on something had returned as well. When Melissa opened her eyes, she found herself in the middle of some park she didn’t recognize, surrounded by people she didn’t know. It worked, a voice in her head said, though it definitely wasn’t the same one as her Rain Bozu. Are you well? No, obviously. Ignoring the “not knowing her surroundings” thing, she still felt like she had the wind knocked out of her. She still felt confused as to what had just happened to her. Also in all of these feelings, though, was the vivacious sense of being alive, and that was the thing that got her slowly pushing herself back to her feet. Somebody asked if anyone knew where they were. Another said “Prana,” which, like, Ambrosia was pretty big but Prana wasn’t a place she had ever heard of. The acerbic nature of the response also caused Melissa’s stomach to churn something fierce. Sure, she felt a draw to go the same way, and she also wanted to find out just what was going on, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to do anything near that person. They hadn’t even introduced themselves! Speaking of, there was one final question asked amongst the crowd, “Who are all of you? And who am I?” they said. Their form, just like their voice, was all over the place, a constantly shifting mass, but it was still humanoid, and, if she was being honest with herself, the whole past few moments had thrown Melissa’s sense of reality completely out of whack so she was currently willing to accept whatever (the same went for the fish currently clamoring all over the fountain). She was also hoping she wasn’t the only one who’d had something happen to their head in the process of appearing here, which was why she got up and approached them as they settled on a form. “Well, um, I don’t really recognize any of you so I can’t answer that question, sorry,” she said. “But my name is Melissa Ashforth, and it seems like at least a few of us think that if we go this way we can get some answers for some other questions too. “Hopefully including yours,” she added as she offered a hand out to guide them.

NCM says it's your birthday, so what's your favorite thing you've done for your birthday? Also, happy birthday

Chris kept his head on a swivel making his way back to the Drooling Dragon as he continued to keep an eye out for any more Kalo goons. There were none, fortunately, but the constant tension that there might have been meant that the walk back felt significantly longer. He did make it back eventually, though, and felt the tension in his shoulders from being on edge for so long immediately wash away, only to be brought immediately back when he spotted Leo past the threshold. Leo, meanwhile, was not watching anywhere at all. He was with Lana (and Chris regretted not leaving a message with Hector about if any of his party showed up like she did) saying things like, “Your friend might not be happy to see me,” and “I wouldn’t want to embarrass him,” before walking backwards towards the door. Towards Chris. Chris didn’t do anything to prevent the inevitable crash. There was a brief moment of revelation where he imagined stepping out of the way and tripping the upstart, but this was much simpler and kept the negative attention still on Leo. That didn’t mean he was quite ready for the force of the impact, though, and he was knocked back half a step. “Who’s embarrassing who again?” Chris still managed to say. “I’m not the one not looking where I’m going.” Leo whirled around. “Heeey, look at that,” he said. “You know, it’s pretty suspicious to appear right when someone was talking about you behind your back. Aaaanyway, I guess I'll go get going. Nice seeing you again!” There was something pithy Chris wanted to say in response, but he managed to keep it down until Leo had left the building and was comfortably out of earshot besides. “It really isn’t,” he said, before returning his focus back to the girl at the bar. “Hey, Lana, sorry I was away. Kind of a weird morning, actually, I’ll tell you all about it when Estellise gets here, though. In the meantime, what was that guy talking to you about?” When Hector came back with Lana’s food and said, “Hey, you can put that on my tab, okay? She doesn’t have to pay for that.”

So! Elsie had successfully retrieved her cauldron and spare ingredients and Corbin had successfully convinced Elsie that rolling down the hill in the cauldron back into town was a bad idea so really there were wins on all fronts. They’d even managed to set up under a clear enough sky to have their water blessed by the moon as well, so that was, like, a little extra bonus on top of everything else. “Hecate,” Elsie called out as she gave the concoction another stir. “Mother of the witches three, matron of those ever free, hear these words and come to me.” She looked up from the boiling cauldron at Cat, as equal a participant as she could be. “I admit, ritual magic was never, like, my strong suit or anything, so maybe it’s just ‘cause things seem to be lining up tonight, but yeah, good vibes so far.” “Elsie can impress sometimes,” Corbin added, though he said it in that passive-aggressive way that got Elsie to bring a hand to his perch on her shoulder and shush him. “Anyway, so before we do the actual hex, did you want to, like, declare our sorority?” Elsie said. “I think it would be neat, especially if we’re going to be travelling together after this, to let people know not to cross one of us lest they cross the other.” “Why, that sounds lovely,” Cat replied with a curious tone to her voice. “But seeing as the only family I ever had was my mother you'll have to teach me what being a sister’s all about.” She concluded with a trademark playful wink and Elsie nearly leapt at that. “Of course!” she said, though she quickly forced that elation back down to the grave serious declaring a bond obviously required. Or rather, she tried. She was probably still a little too forceful seizing Cat’s hands from across the cauldron and holding both Cat’s and hers over the boiling mixture. There was a spell involved, of course, to keep from scalding, but they did have to feel the heat. “There are probably a lot of ways to do this,” Elsie said. “This is just the one my sisters back in my old coven taught me. It’s really simple, actually. You just close your eyes, cup your hands like this to catch some of the steam, bring it to your nose or mouth, breathe the steam in, and, for as long as you hold your breath, project protective energies to the person across the cauldron. No additional spell necessary, no chanting involved, just announcing our sisterhood to the world with Hecate as our witness. She’ll take care of the rest.” Elsie took a quick breath. “Uh, any questions, or did you just want to get right into it?” “No questions here,” Cat said. “Though my magic does tend to go cat-shaped whatever my intention so don't freak out if something starts pawing at you.” Elsie grinned back and closed her eyes, going through the motions just as she had just described. While holding her breath, she did get the distinct impression that something was rubbing against her leg, as if a cat was there marking her as theirs. That particular feeling disappeared as soon as she opened her eyes, but the other feeling, the feeling of gaining the bond of someone new, remained. Her grin grew into a full-on smile. “Hello, sister,” she said. “The best part about this method is we still get to use this cauldron for something. We were gonna hex someone, right? Lauryn mentioned killing her ex, and I was thinking we could -” Whatever Elsie was about to suggest was interrupted by an impressively loud church bell and someone shrieking “The monsters are coming!” When she looked around, too, she saw that the outskirts of town had been enveloped in a heavy fog, obscuring everything beyond. The voice was right, too. From the fog stepped out three massive wolf shapes, just like the projection Jekyll had displayed except also not like it at all. “They couldn’t have waited, like, fifteen minutes, huh?” Elsie said. How dare they interrupt her and her sister’s first ritual together? “I’m sure you’ll get another chance later,” Corbin said. He was already airborne, and soon was ascending high into the sky. It took a snap of Elsie’s fingers to put the fire out, after which Elsie looked back up at Cat with an apologetic look on her face. “Yeah, when this is done, definitely,” she said. “I’ll be looking out for you, though. You probably don’t need it, like, Jekyll chose you for a reason, I’m sure. But lesson number one, sisters look out for each other.” With that, she grabbed and mounted her broom, and soon after was following her familiar. She hoped she was silhouetted by the moon. She wasn’t able to check, but it would be pretty cool.

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 31 -- Her Tragedy Or: Akio Says “Ohtori Academy Rule Number Thirty-Four” And I Hate It Here Content warning: As I mentioned last time, this and the next few episodes have sequences of Akio grooming Utena. There’s also a similar scene near the end involving Akio and Anthy that starts when Nanami leaves her bed. A joke I see some people make when discussing Utena is that they wish the show had not aged as well as it had. And yeah, people in power using their reach to systemically and in some cases personally manipulate and abuse those beneath them hasn’t really fallen out of fashion, but on a brighter note, the gender and identity stuff that’s coming back into the fore now is even more relevant than ever. But I did want to touch on some of the stuff that hasn’t aged as well too, just for kicks. I don’t think anything done here was done out of malice, like, I’m not saying the show is bad because of these things -- I wouldn’t have spent over half a year doing this if I had -- but it is important to take the criticism along with the rest of the show. The first is in how Anthy and Akio are coded as Indian, in part in an attempt to exoticize them compared to the rest of the cast (though it also does work as a shorthand to establish the relationship with each other and also Dios). This in itself might put off some people, especially since Anthy is portrayed as largely submissive for most of the show, only showing off other aspects of her character in aside moments. On one hand, it does mean Utena insisting she knows what’s best for Anthy without asking has some real-world parallels, but it also can invoke more negative tropes regarding people of color. This is something I can’t comment on too much given that it’s outside of my experience, but it is something I have seen people bring up. Also, Anthy’s skin color gets lighter and lighter with each adaptation, so there’s whitewashing discourse as well. Another bit of discourse is how the show treats sexuality in general. I’ve mentioned before how every relationship in the show is dysfunctional in some way, but that can easily be interpreted as the show having a negative view of sexuality in general. If it’s not that, it’s treated as some sort of gateway to adulthood, as in, “adult things” is a sexual metaphor. Unlike the skin color issue, however, this is something that is improved in the movie, actually, what with the main relationship being more explicit, but also unlike the skin color issue, as an asexual, like, that’s just not how it works? There are also some bad takes the show makes as well. I’ve mentioned before how Tatsuya’s whole schtick is made worse with the rise of internet nice guys, for example. Again, I don’t think this is because of malice, but these are things to keep in mind, you know, in addition to the content warning reasons to critically watch this show. If the last Nanami episode, “Nanami’s Egg” served to show the cracks in the Kiryuu’s relationship, here’s what finally tears it apart. Nanami and Touga are not related by blood, which means Nanami has lost her claim to both Touga and the self-image she has built up around herself, so it’s obviously not something she takes lightly. It’s why she spends the episode listening to Touga’s dates call his cell phone, desperate for the connection that they still think they have. Of course, he doesn’t have a connection with any of them besides Anthy and Utena, which is another thing Nanami has keyed in on since the beginning. Really, this whole episode is Nanami coming to realization after realization, and not all of them are related to her plot. She’s also the one to call out Utena’s attraction to Akio and is the one to suss out the nature of Anthy’s relationship with the latter as well, even confirming it by the end of the episode. Comparisons are made, too, between the Kiryuu relationship and the one that Akio and Anthy have. In fact, it is one of the final breaking points for Nanami that Akio and Anthy are physical with each other at all. It’s a revelation of the wrongness of her entire position to this point, that the thing she even desired she could find so repulsive. Touga has treated Nanami just the same as every other girl on Ohtori’s campus and will continue to do so. That’s her tragedy. But the episode (secretly spoiled by the thumbnails, if you’re clever) is a two-parter. If this episode was her slowly coming to these realizations, one after the other, then the next is how she deals with them. Questions for next time include: does Utena know the same things Nanami does? The answer seems to be no, but does Nanami know that? What’s Nanami’s identity if not “sister of the student council president?” Will Anthy ever forgive Nanami and cease her torments (follow the banana peel if you missed it this episode)? And how does Touga react to losing his sister? -r Next time: All these questions are answered. Well, most of them, anyway ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

Coach Clara didn’t say anything immediately, which was bad, but worse than that was that she didn’t seem like she was going to say anything ever. Nobody else, not even Hana(!) seemed to really want to say anything to him. Well, not everyone. Terry did say, “You did good, okay?” which was barely encouraging, especially when it was followed with “And you’ll get ‘em next time after your next training montage,” like, what? It wasn’t like he could ask for clarification either -- Terry was next in line to duel and her opponent was already demanding her attention. “I need to take a walk.” Peter was still pretty quiet when he said it, but at least Coach Clara could hear him now. At least, she probably could, he thought. He turned around and went over for his bag, and pulled out his headphones. The voice of his dad in his head was against the idea. “You should at least be there to support your teammates, Pete,” it said. “You’d want them to be there watching you, right?” And, okay, yeah, fair enough, but also, dueling with people watching was one of the reasons he felt so out of sorts… maybe? He wasn’t really sure, but it felt like a reason. God, was this what being a teenager was like? He had to go through five more years of stuff like this? Still, he put his headphones back in his bag. He wasn’t going for a walk, but the feeling he got still needed addressing. He looked back up and saw Hana arguing with Coach Clara about something -- Hana had just exclaimed “There’s rules?!” in a way that required more interrobangs than Peter was willing to think about. He made his way for the door, going behind everyone not because he was sneaking out but to keep out of everyone’s way. He even said, “I have to- I’m going to look for the restroom,” as he made his way out. His dad still made him feel bad for leaving Terry, so at the door, Peter said, “I’ll be right back.” Hopefully, he thought, he could at least follow through on that promise.

A Rock Gil started near the outside of the ring of people and worked their way in, passing by those that had also bothered to see what the second fuss was about. There was no water? “We know,” someone near Gil muttered. “That’s why Simon was there in the first place.” Which was true! That was how they had been operating in the past, Some event would draw attention to a specific temple so of course that was where they had to be. Of course, now that Nuumu had so kindly offered their space they no longer had to do any of that, at least for the time being. The watchdog mentioned the mother of pearl stone too. Was that all he needed? Gil felt the pearl in their breast pocket, even going as far as to, when people started clearing out again, taking it out and examining it, weighing in their cupped hand. When enough people had cleared, they even held it out in front of them and said aloud, “This?” They approached the watchdog and said it again. “This? We were looking for somebody to give it back to but all the acolytes left when we arrived and I believe many have not returned to their station even now. We have no use for it.” Gil sensed Rose behind them and turned away from the watchdog, towards their partner. “I believe he will also be needing your stone at some point,” Gil said. “It would be best to give it to him now, I imagine.” “If you say so then I will agree,” Rose said. They took their sapphire out and placed it on the ground, before looking up and addressing the dog in the middle of Temple Square. “We do not begrudge you for the death of Simon Weatherson. As they say, ‘From your lips to the gods’ ears,’ if you deemed it necessary, then what else can we do but respect that decision? We had a similar discussion with Nuumu’s watchdog. “We have as little desire to see Galatea fall to drought as you do,” Rose continued. “Return water to Galatea and together we can wash this blood away.” A Hard Place Aiden held the back of his hand to Emily’s forehead. “No fever. She’s cold to the touch, actually,” he said. “Well, fortunately, we have the largest fire in Galatea. Hopefully staying warm will not be a problem.” He looked up at Kitt. “Here, though? We collectively have some basic knowledge of medicine, but perhaps it would have been better to find -” He cut himself off. “No, Wendell would likely have been helpless as well. I have heard the stories. I will trust your judgment. Who knows, maybe this is a disease of the spirit? Or, perhaps just weariness. In those cases this would be the best place, I agree. “If I may confide in you further,” Aiden stepped away from Emily’s cot and closer to Kitt. “It feels like so much has happened all at once. Yesterday doesn’t feel like yesterday anymore, it feels weeks ago, or even more. What is left? What can I do? And if it is just ‘watch over this girl,’ I have to ask, what are you going to do in the meantime? “What is going to happen to us?” OOC

What does your mother look like? Any identifying features we can use to track her down?

Would you rather eat one horse-sized duck or one hundred duck-sized horses?

Can you explain the timeline of that biopic series to me? I get lost around Saw IV.

more than just billie eilish

Church-Goin' Girl

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 30 -- The Barefoot Girl Or: Not The Most Tragic Piece Of Symbolism In The Entire Show And Yet... Content Warning: This episode (really, the next few episodes, but a reminder will be here for each one) involves Akio, age-unknown but coded in his thirties, sexually grooming Utena, a fourteen-year-old. This is it, the last of the manga. Well, I say “last” in that it’s part five -- entitled “To Blossom” -- and there isn’t any more manga in this continuity of Utena, though there still is the movie manga and the twentieth-anniversary epilog manga to go through. I’m going to take a break from reading right-to-left before I cover that though. In the meantime, let’s talk about Dios, or the manga’s version, at least. This is the story Akio provides Utena in the final duel: they were two parts of the same person (this is slightly different than Anthy’s story but we’ll get to that), watching over humanity as a god-like figure, a Light and a Dark Dios kept in balance by the other. When Light Dios started granting humanity’s desires, Dark Dios rebelled, overthrowing his counterpart within his own and causing him to fade away. Anthy holds onto a part of Light Dios, symbolically represented as his sword, but this turns her into the Rose Bride and forces her into subservience of Dark Dios, now renamed End of the World or World’s End. If this is all too confusing for you, I mean, yeah. The step into the Castle in the Sky was this final step the manga took into the surreal. Anthy was literally diagnosing the problems of half the cast in the last chapter. “The name of this coffin is obstinacy” and all that. But there have been decades of fan discussion, so at the very least we can start to guess what it all means. I used the word “symbolically” to describe the Sword of Dios, so let’s start with that. Dios in this version of the story hasn’t existed in a while, having imparted his nobility to Utena in the form of the rose seal. It stands to reason then that the Sword is also a fragment of Dios -- it’s Anthy’s memory of him. This is what compels Anthy to her position as the Rose Bride, memories of brighter days, a belief that World’s End can still be Dios. Which kind of sounds like an abusive relationship. This isn’t something the manga goes into in-depth, but given its presence in all three versions of Utena’s canon, it’s definitely there. The manga resolves this by having Dios appear again, as he always did for Utena, and help her strike down Akio, annihilating both Akio and her in a burst of light leaving only the rose seal behind. There’s a nice callback to the prolog. The name “Utena” means “flower calyx”, the thing that protects the bulb. And here we see not only the meaning of the chapter titles -- Anthy is the flower -- but also the manga’s moral of the story: Going out of your way for the good of others is difficult -- painful, even -- and requires a level of understanding that isn’t often willingly offered, but it’s necessary for change/revolution. I hope this has piqued at least a little bit of interest in Revolutionary Girl Utena’s manga. It certainly is different from the anime and frequently gets compared negatively to it, but it still provides its own unique insights that perhaps we can take into the rest of the anime as well. I mean, I say “perhaps” like I’m not the one writing this blog. Suddenly, after dancing around the theme for most of the series, Revolutionary Girl Utena is very interested in discussing gender roles, here in the form of this recurring three candles motif. They’re introduced on a cake Akio bakes, and both Utena and Wakaba remark that it’s not like a man to bake a cake (just go with it). The candles on top don’t represent Akio, though, they represent Utena. They flicker every time Utena doubts that she can only love her prince, falling instead for Akio’s charm. Really, Akio is taking the same route that Touga did way back in the Student Council arc, getting Utena to doubt her convictions just enough to take what they wanted. But where Touga’s goal was Anthy and the power of the Rose Bride, Akio’s aim is Utena herself. The insistence that Utena is family to him, the profession that she’s his “very special friend”, the playful flirty nature with which Akio carries himself, these are all grooming tactics with an unfortunate basis in real life. The show does stress that it’s not Utena’s fault as she parrots an aphorism she heard Wakaba say, “Love is never bad, but you can fall in love with bad people.” It’s a sentiment we might be able to see in Anthy herself given what we’ve learned from the manga. But I said Utena had convictions, what are those? I mentioned her desire for her prince, but is that all she is? Obviously not. She also stuck to her convictions when arguing with Ohtori faculty regarding her choice of uniform, wanting to stick to the tomboyish jacket and gym shorts. She fights for Anthy, possibly believing herself to be Anthy’s prince and protector. All of these are challenged or will be challenged in the episodes to come, for example, the candles flicker when Anthy implies her prince is somebody else. So it’s these things that Akio wants to strip from Utena. Anthy also starts coming into her own here, though. She has been very close these last few episodes to (in my interpretation) confessing her love but always backs away at the last moment. Why that happens requires a few more episodes (or you can look to the manga for hints), but once you’re aware of that subtext, many of her actions in this and other episodes become so much more tragic. I’ll leave those other episodes to you, but in this one, she is, probably forcibly, complicit in watching Utena be groomed by her brother. One particular shot near the end involves her observing the final candle flicker. -r Next time: Nanami does the Sean Bean in Game of Thrones thing and learns about Punnent Squares. ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→