radio414

The fact that Makoto had joined along in his cheer picked Peter up a little bit. Like, he was still trying to focus on the duel, especially since, badger incident notwithstanding, David seemed most likely out of everyone to ask for feedback, win or lose, and he did at least want to try. But if he put in too much thought, he ran the risk of losing track of Hana, who, despite (or perhaps because of) his scootches, kept eyeing him hungrily. Terry was doing an admirable job of holding her at bay, but he still wanted to be ready. David managed to wade through more counterplay, nearly halving Lily’s life total again in the process. As he ended his turn, Peter found himself wondering what his two newest facedown cards were. He wasn’t absolutely familiar with Time Thieves, but he could make a few guesses. Maybe- Before he could even finish his thought, he found himself lying on the ground, with a Hana-sized mass right on top of him. “Peeeeetteeeeeeeeeeeer! Isn’t this exciting? All these new duels and people and stuff?” And so on. All Peter could manage as a defense was “Mmph.” Not even a “Yes” or a “Hana, please get off of me before my ribcage implodes, while I don’t know your weight (and it would be rude to ask), I do know that my body cannot handle much more,” just “Mmph.” Only when Hana started asking about snack time did Peter find the right words that he hoped would allow him to stand up. “I think snacks are by Coach Clara,” he said. He braced his arms against the ground, trying to stand up. “Please don’t make me carry you there.”

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 26 -- Miki’s Nest Box (The Sunlit Garden - Arranged) Or: The Third Most Incestuous Relationship In The Show Sorts Itself Out After a prolog and two chapters of wondering who Utena’s prince could be, we’ve finally found an answer in Touga Kiryuu. But before we get too far into that, let’s instead go over the side stories. The manga has four in total and they’re short enough that they can be written about in pairs. Even better, each pair has its own individual throughline, whether that’s the additional duels the manga didn’t otherwise have time to cover in the case of the latter pair, or, for the two discussed today, a look at Anthy’s friend Chu-chu. Chu-chu is significantly different in the manga. Design-wise, he doesn’t get his signature tie right away and is overall rather plump compared to his anime counterpart. More importantly, he doesn’t echo Anthy’s true feelings at all, and most of his appearance time is relegated to these two side stories. The first is “To Curry Favor”, which, as the title itself implies, is a retelling of the anime’s “Curried High Trip”. It’s mostly a straight retelling, the only major difference being Chu-Chu in place of Nanami making a mistake with the curry powder. Gone, then, is the “Karmic Justice” theming of the anime’s episode, instead replaced with monkey business. Anthy is still a bad cook, yes, but it really is the curry powder’s explosive properties that switch Utena and Anthy’s personalities. Chu-chu is even the one to write in Saionji’s exchange diary in this version. If there is one thing to take away from all this it is that the story is written from Chu-chu’s perspective, so it is easy to get a grasp on this version’s personality, a monkey that is fiercely loyal to Anthy and has only grown to trust Utena through her kindness. The other story, “The Three Wishes,” is a manga original, and is set in about the same place in the chronology. It explores in a slightly more in-depth manner the nature of Chu-chu’s conflict with Saionji: Chu-chu desires to be Anthy’s protector (another reason he looks up to Utena) but falls short both figuratively and literally. I did say “slightly,” though. It is still one of the more fantastical moments of the manga, involving a magical doll that grants wishes, and ends with a giant Saionji wreaking havoc on Ohtori Academy in pursuit of Chu-chu. Haniwatcha the magic doll appears in a later scene in the manga as a cameo, but otherwise, the story is better examined as an amusing aside with maybe a little bit of understanding of Saionji shining through. A motif of this arc I didn’t bring up last time is watching people who believe they cannot be manipulated slowly be manipulated to Akio’s ends. Both Saionji and Miki so far have decided that dueling was pointless (not to say Miki was ever portrayed as a fan of the process) and both of them have been ensnared by their one remaining pressure point. Miki’s is Kozue, and we find out in a few different scenes. The first is when Utena and Anthy stumble on the sunlit garden Miki was always talking about and discover it is in disrepair, covered in weeds. Anthy even says it out loud: “It’s nothing but a memory now.” And this is something I’ve touched on before, how Miki has a distorted view of the women in his life, idolizing them only to realize they can never live up to such a standard. He even pictures his soon-to-be stepmother as Anthy in her rose bride dress in a quick cutaway. The second is in his reaction to finding out Kozue and Akio are on a date, a clearly strained “do as you will” as he realizes she really is outside of his control, the wild animal she claims to be. One might even read that Miki has the same general issue as Tsuwabuki, only instead of wanting to grow up to be a big brother, he feels ready to become an adult already, and resents any other adults that might tell him otherwise. The reason he acts respectful to his (step)parents, then, is because they allow him that degree of autonomy, while someone like End of the World does not. He is only thirteen, though, so of course this perception of himself was doomed to shatter just like his perceptions of the women he idolizes. Despite arguing against ordering Anthy around in his introduction, this is why Miki duels now, to regain a semblance of control, not just over one woman, but both of them. And even then Kozue fights back, moving to seduce Anthy in his stead, which, in a parallel to his first duel, distracts him long enough for Utena to strike his rose. Like Saionji, the wounds of these successive defeats don't fully heal by the end of the episode. Kozue is still bitter, not only about Miki’s treatment of her but also the loss they just experienced. But just like the baby birds they rescued at the beginning, there is still a hope that they can get better. -r Next time: You can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

you might like this video done for their eurovision submission then too

If You Can’t Do It Good, Do It Hard Dia was there waiting for Olive as he breached the inner sanctum of her temple, her back against the currently barren altar and her feet splashing against the surface of the pool. “I want you to realize what a dangerous precedent I’m setting here,” she said as Olive approached. “Communing with dedicated worshippers, even my own watchdog, those things already barely skirt by on vague wording and technicalities in ancient law. You know watchdogs only exist because of a loophole, right? You had better prostrate yourself at the very least and pretend that you haven’t completely dedicated yourself to some cause other than mine. “I did choose to manifest before you, though,” Dia said, “because it is presumably to both of our benefit. Some of my will still needs to be carried out on this island. This isn’t me telling you this myself, it is what my watchdog decided and I am now communicating to you. That is the scope of the discussion I will be able to have, lest I be in danger of breaking more rules than I already am. But if I understand your intentions in coming here, I imagine that will suffice.” Alarm “My sword…” Caleb didn’t even have to be close enough to be able to double-check, he could sense it as the girl and the watchdog stopped outside Taros’ temple. The moment he saw it change hands between the two he said it again. “That’s my sword.” It called to him, that must have been it. It was that thought in mind that got him walking over. Maybe he wouldn’t have to get it stolen back after all. He very nearly yanked it out of the watchdog’s hands when he took it, unsheathing it in one swift motion to get a better look himself. Immediately his eyes zeroed in on the differences -- the little imperfections -- between the sword in his mind and the one in his hands, and they were enough to comment on. “This has been dropped. It’s not irreparable, but it does need a little work. The ceremony certainly can’t happen today, in any case. Even if it could, I definitely wouldn’t allow it. “But that’s fine.” He sheathed the sword again and looked up at the watchdog. “Thank you for returning it to me. I’ll get to work again right away. In the meantime, though…” Caleb said, shifting his gaze to the girl. “I assume this is the one who stole it? What do you suggest we do with her?” Faith Medeis’ temple always had a dreary sort of aura to it. That was what happened when there was no more of the thing that the temple was meant to worship. But Rose and Gil did not mind that, especially when there was other business to attend to. But what business? “What would she like to speak to us about?” Rose said, loud enough for Neasa to hear even if the obvious target of the question was Gil. “She wants to make us the same offer she made Simon.” “Well, we accept, do we not? It would be going against one of his final wishes if we were to renege on a deal now.” “Yes,” Gil said, nodding their head. “But she also wanted to ask us questions. She said we knew as much about ‘the void’ as Simon did, so I believe she will be asking us about that.” “‘The void,’” Rose repeated, “Certainly an area of expertise of ours, yes. I presume she means specific aspects of our worship and not the emptiness underneath the world? That is understandable, especially if we are to be your guests. Simon would have said the same.” Rose nodded to Neasa. “Well then, ask. We are your humble servants.” OOC

Chris had dreamed about the dungeon. He had dreamed that he was once again pinned under a large rat, and he was struggling to keep its jaws away from any of his particularly fleshy bits. He just knew that if he could hold out long enough Estellise or Lana or Sergei would come in and deal with the beast but no matter how long he struggled, nobody had seemed to come. The rat got stronger and stronger with each passing moment, too, until it finally sank its jaws into his shoulder. He didn’t feel any pain, but he screamed anyway, and that was when he woke up. Even waking up, though, Chris didn’t feel entirely at ease. Something was still just a little bit off. It wasn’t the ceiling, that was the same. So were his bedsheets; though they were contorted into knots in places, they were the same linens he had gone to bed under the previous night. It only took a quick scan to figure out what the problem was: there was a girl at the other end of the room staring at him. What was he supposed to do? He thought about going for a dagger or something but they were sufficiently far away that there was simply no way to do so easily, and besides, the girl had managed to get into his room without him noticing. If she wanted him dead she would have done so already. He thought about going back to sleep and just seeing if the problem went away by itself, but that didn’t seem very likely. What were the odds of a layered dream, anyway? So, with his sleep-addled brain seeing little other option, Chris decided to parlay. “Can I help you?” he said. It didn’t work. The girl was gone in the blink of an eye and there was nothing to show for it besides a puddle of water on the floor. “Guh,” Chris said, though maybe there was supposed to be a question mark somewhere in there also. He very nearly flopped back into bed to try and make sense of it, but now he was too paranoid to fall back asleep. At the very least, he decided, he needed to clean up all the water, and that meant going downstairs. He didn’t go all the way down, though. He made it halfway -- he’d just rounded the corner to the final flight of stairs -- but something was different about the Drooling Dragon’s first floor as well. The amount of early clientele was the same, but the exact qualities of them… They were all clearly wealthy, that was the first thing Chris noticed. At the very least, they were wealthy enough to be wearing matching hoods made out of nice fabric, which could not have come cheap. If they were talking though, they were quiet, and Chris could only make out their gestures. The one at the front was pointing towards the stairs, and Chris threw himself back behind the corner to avoid a possible errant glance. Hector was louder, though. “I don't care what you think you're going to find,” Hector said, “I'm not letting you up there to disturb everyone's sleep. Now get out of here before I call for the captain.” “You should be careful who you make enemies of, bartender,” one of the hooded figures said before they all turned and exited the bar. Chris waited a little longer, making sure nobody was coming back or anything, before going down that final flight of stairs. “Morning,” he called out. “I’d ask how yours is going but I admit I saw the end of that exchange just now.” Hector grunted. “Yeah, those snobby types are real pushy. Probably won't be the last time they come around. But you don't have any reason to worry about that.” “I’m not worried,” Chris said. “I do admit I’ve got some level of curiosity though. But hey, before you tell me to shove off, can I borrow a mop or something? There’s a puddle of water in my room and I’m assuming you don’t want soggy floorboards.” Hector hesitated “We shouldn't have a leak,” he said. “There's a storeroom at the end of the hall on both floors, go ahead and use it. Just don't forget to wring it out and put it back when you're done.” Chris did a little snap with his hands before pointing them at Hector. “You got it. I’ll be right back down and you can tell me all about it over breakfast then. Or not, whatever.” He bounded back up the stairs two at a time, not really concerned with stealth anymore, and found what he was looking for right where Hector said it would be. The actual work went quick enough, though there was a brief moment near the beginning where Chris had to make sure he even knew how to go about cleaning up (He just hadn’t had to in a while, okay?). He managed well enough, and the work also had the added effect of bringing his hunger to the forefront of his mind, and it was that hunger that got him thundering down the steps again. “Still curious, by the way,” as Hector served up breakfast. “Also, maybe this isn’t my place either, but do we have anyone new staying here? Thought I saw someone I didn’t recognize when I woke up, but, you know, maybe that was just me waking up.”

"why don't you sing it and we just won't record it"

Elsie watched closely as the shadowy cat first hopped up onto the table to nuzzle her companion’s hand before dissipating entirely into the aether. Or into the cat woman’s hand, whichever made better sense -- she didn’t want to think about it too hard. Instead of being a cute pet like she’d said, she now understood it as a cute trick by itself. But then her companion said that it could do cute tricks too and now she was doubly invested in the one remaining cat on the poker table. “My familiar can do cool tricks too,” Elsie said. “Only when he wants to, though.” She looked over at the bar where Corbin was still chattering away with Wada. She briefly wondered what they were talking about, but forced her attention back to her own table, listening to how the town was actually rather boring. “Boring? I mean, I guess if you’re looking for an exciting town, you’re not going to find one in the middle of nowhere. But also, like, witches like me are birthed in the woods. So most towns are exciting for me. And besides, either way, it has to be better than that fortress Jekyll had us holed up in getting here, right? I mean, I had to fly laps around the thing just to get some fresh air. “Maybe I’ll get my fortune told to me when we deal with whatever the problem is here,” Elsie added. She wasn’t looking for Mister Tall Dark and Handsome like her fellow Jaeger was. She didn’t actually know what she wanted, like, she wasn’t going to be following Jekyll around forever, was she? Maybe that was the problem. Now they were both in a bad mood, both slumped in their chairs like they were mutually commiserating with each other, even though neither of them had said anything to comfort the other. Then the cat woman made an offhand suggestion that Elsie might have been the one to scare Lachlan off. “He said that wasn’t it. I dunno, he was kind of babbling near the end there. I guess he did call me scary, though. I could see how you could get that impression.” Talking about Lachlan didn’t exactly help her mood, even if reminiscing about being called scary let her put in a little effort in that regard. It wasn’t like she was about to imply that spotting that shadow cat might have been the actual kicker while they were both feeling down. But then Elsie sat up, a realization having hit her like a bolt of lightning. She couldn’t be Mister Tall Dark and Handsome like the cat woman wanted, but she could be someone, at least. “I know I introduced myself when we first met,” she said, “but I’ve started letting my friends call me Ellie, so if you want… Is there something friends call you too?” Maybe Corbin would frown on her immediately latching onto someone she’d barely talked to before, but he hadn’t said anything when she’d gotten chummy with Lachlan, and besides, he wasn’t here right now.

←Previous Post -- Next Post Duel 25 -- Their Eternal Apocalypse Or: Akio Literally Compares Himself To Lucifer And Utena Just Doesn’t Get It Before we get into discussing Part Two of the manga (entitled “To Plant”), because we’re also starting the third and final arc of the anime, a reminder to double-check the handy-dandy list of content warnings. Again, I’ll be sure to include the major ones in these posts proper -- for example: the end of this episode contains some questionable consent -- but that doesn’t mean it’s not a resource worth checking out should you need it. Part Two of the manga also has some questionable consent during the study-group section. The last part ended on a cliffhanger, though, so let’s resolve that first. I’ve mentioned before how the manga almost entirely erased Nanami from the story, and how her traits, specifically her obsession with Touga, were instead given to Juri. Chiho Saito has described this decision as wanting to slim down the story to its core characters, though it is still a decision that erases Juri’s lesbianism, which has received negative attention (to put it mildly). It also means that other events have been moved around. I compared Saionji attacking Utena at the end of Part One to Episode Nine where he does the same thing, but the resolution is closer to Episode Ten of the anime -- Touga thrusts himself in front of the blade, injuring himself but also endearing himself to Utena. The removal of Saionji also means that the power of Dios has to manifest during a different duel. Since Juri has inherited Nanami’s traits, it only follows that she would challenge Utena next, so here appears that particular duel. One might also notice that Juri isn’t blaming Anthy for Touga’s actions or injury, she’s blaming Utena. Anthy here is a means to an end and the end, again, is Touga, which now starts to borrow from anime Saionji’s motivation. Replacing obsession over Anthy with an obsession with Utena is also how Miki’s plot unfolds. The beginning is the same, with Miki and Utena bonding over their mutual distaste for the dueling game, and they even do the whole study group thing, but during a break where Utena is taking a nap, Miki goes go kiss Utena and is only stopped by Kozue entering the room. This is a moment that isn’t really commented on in the manga. Miki’s attraction isn’t even why he duels Utena, it’s his attachment to his sister and a desire to rescue her that motivates that. This leads into perhaps the actual theme of the manga: the question “Who are you protecting and why?” In doing so, it comes with an implicit assumption that everybody is either protected or protecting, which is certainly one way to go looking at the world, but at least it is starting to ask if those reasons are truly valid. Touga has been demonstrated to be clearly not in want of Juri’s protection, Miki desires to escape Kozue’s insistence on meddling with his relationships, and Utena, like her show counterpart, occasionally makes assumptions as to what Anthy really wants without asking. Utena is even willing to give Anthy up at one moment partially under the misguided belief that Anthy would still be happy with that. As for Touga, we’ll have to discover that in the next few parts. A hundred years ago in May 2020 there was a brief comment left on one of my statuses regarding this blog. I’ve screenshotted it and reproduced it here: One interpretation of Utena that I happen to like is tied to Carl Jung’s ideas, in fact. I won’t go too in-depth here regarding it, but here is the basic idea (I ask that you forgive me if I’m destructively reductive in my telling of them here): Jung argued that there are three parts of human consciousness: the persona, the shadow, and the self. The persona is the version of us that is presented to the world, the shadow is the repressed aspects that one may or may not be aware of, and the self is a synthesis of the two. If you’ve played or been made aware of Atlus’ Persona series, particularly Persona 4, which was very much about the conflict between Jung’s ideas of persona versus shadow, you might have a decent idea of at least the base concept. Utena has a similar read. Each member of the student council is involved in (at least) three duels, the first representing their persona, and largely has them stating outright what their motivations are, the second is by way of the black rose duelists, who they are in some way related to and start to draw out the baser notions behind their persona, and the final duel is the self -- the true reason. For example, let’s look at this episode’s duelist: Kyouichi Saionji. As we discussed before, Saionji’s initial challenge to Utena -- that is, the one in Episode Two where he is doing the challenging -- is based in a desire for power, both that he already has and that he seeks to attain. Anthy to him is a symbol of both of these things -- by winning the dueling game he demonstrates his power and his prize is even more. His shadow counterpart is Wakaba, who shares his desire to not be left behind. Wakaba’s is a more general sense while Saionji is particularly focused on his relationship with Touga and Touga’s machinations, but they both share that same theme. Possessing/killing Anthy in this case is a demonstration of their worth. The synthesis -- the self -- as this episode demonstrates, is Saionji desiring power over Touga. Saionji wants to do the one thing Touga could not: show the girl in the coffin something eternal, and he believes Anthy can be a conduit to that thing. These are all concepts we’ve talked about before, but here they are coming into full view. Elsewhere, it’s a new arc, which not only means a new rendition of “Absolute Destiny Apocalypse” and accompanying ascension to the dueling arena, but also A-ko and B-ko return from their trip to outer space, there’s a location change as Utena and Anthy move into Akio’s spacious chairman’s quarters, and even a new ending theme. Most significant, though, is the addition of a recurring segment, where Utena and Anthy reflect on the events thus far right as they are about to go to sleep. These serve the same purpose as Utena’s chats with Akio did during the previous arc, and even come with the same feelings of intimacy, just with a different sibling. A large portion of the rest of the show is going to be about this relationship triangle; and we’ll continue to explore it here as we go. -r Next time: You thought The Sunlit Garden was a two-parter, but you were wrong! ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→

Card B My experience with Yugioh these days is in RPs (so basically nil) but I found Card B easier to grok, I guess? It makes a tuner, can find a tuner, and can synchro more things. While Card A does something similar, combining a lot of the things Agents already do, it doesn't scratch that same Melvin-y (mtg jargon) itch Card B does.

A chicken with lightning magic seemed too far-fetched for Chris, and the additional flair of the “singed eyebrows” description only got him to raise one of his own. He didn’t say anything, though, instead simply raising his glass along with everyone else. “To the future,” he echoed, before getting started on the massive plate set in front of him. Still, he couldn’t help but be a little distracted by the Knights of Froura who had taken a table on the far side of the inn. Maybe it was the hint of recognition he’d caught on Estellise’s face, maybe it was the fact that they were a little out of place in a bar like the Drooling Dragon (no offense to Hector, of course), either way, Chris focused his attention on them almost more than his duck. Some amount of paranoia got Chris wondering if they were there looking for him, and he tried to remember what work he’d done (recently, at least) that might have gotten him on their radar, but, remembering nothing, he resolved to just leave it and let the troublesome interactions come to him. The duck really was amazing, though. That was the sort of future he was fighting for too, the kind where he could have meals like this every day and not worry about how he was going to get them. He’d heard someone describe the outlook as “drinking wine without looking at the price,” which, yeah, Chris could go for some better drink at some point too. Right now, he still had Estellise to thank for that, but it wouldn’t be long now. He could sense it.