#YES THIS IS A UTENA REFERENCE BECAUSE THAT SCENE CALLS TO ME

[raviollies]

At times, love is strong, so much it even wounds people's hearts, but If we are together, then without a doubt we can change the world

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous, intertextuality and why referencing other works all the time isn’t necessarily a great idea

TL;DR: Miraculous loves itself some pop culture references, they’re in the show all the time for you to enjoy, especially if you’re a big nerd.

Only, making a list of references and trying to replicate what other works did before yours doesn’t make your show good by association, and when it comes to Miraculous, these references seldom do these original works justice. Instead, it makes comparing these other works with Miraculous really easy, and the comparison is rarely flattering.

Miraculous would be a much better show if it tried to be its own thing, a few scenes are just that and they are great. It’d be a wonderful show were they not so few and far between.

Miraculous is made by nerds, as is the case with most cartoons. The show itself lets you know that right away. It’s a pastiche of magical girl anime and Silver Age comics, it uses a lot of their visual languages, and references its other inspirations a lot, for instance:

The name of its fictional locations, (Françoise Dupont is a regular kid with a masked detective alter ego named Fantomette, Marinette’s address is a reference to a French illustrator who often drew a talking ladybird)

The way its characters look (Master Fu is both Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid and Muten Roshi from Dragon Ball, when akumatised, Mme Couffaine becomes basically Captain Harlock and her houseboat becomes the Arcadia) 

Sometimes entire scenes are references to other works (Aurore’s akumatisation is straight out of Utena’s Dark Rose Saga, “Gorizilla” has a King Kong pastiche). 

You could fill an entire Wiki with all the references in Miraculous if you wanted to. If you paid me well, I’d do it myself.

Wearing your inspirations on your sleeves is a double-edged sword, really.

On the one hand, you showcase the things that inspired your creative process, a way to say, “hey, that show/film/book exists within a landscape, it’s the heir to such and such work”. You acknowledge that you owe a lot to your predecessors, you acknowledge that there’s no such thing as a 100% original thing. That’s a great act of humility. 

And intertextuality conveys meaning, too! Let’s take a very mainstream example. When you notice that ha! The pod-racing scene in Phantom Menace comes from the 1959 movie Ben-Hur for instance, you get the sense that you understand the cinematic masterpiece that is Episode 1 a bit more. It tells you that your movie about space wizards owes a lot to other genres, and that it transposes these genres to another setting, space! “It’s Ben-Hur, in that that slave kid is pod-racing for his freedom, but I gave it my own spin,” George Lucas tells you. “Look, the funny Gungan stepped into that space cow’s poop! Haha, sure hope I’ll sell lots of toys and buy myself some death sticks!”

You feel really smart when you get a reference, too! “Hey, that’s a Dezaki effect right there!” “Wow, is that a robot from Castle in the Sky in Age of Ultron?” Likewise, if you don’t recognise the work being referred to, you might get curious about it! References send back to other things and your knowledge of these things and when you get it, it feels nice. Lots of people discovered Utena thanks to Steven Universe and that’s really cool, and these references add to the meaning of the cartoon! Folks who casually got into RWBY but didn’t know Soul Eater and Cowboy Bebop heard about those shows and many others while discussing RWBY and I’m sure lots of them got into anime thanks to RWBY!

On the other hand, by being so open about your sources of inspiration, you expose yourself to criticism, especially in the case of your work being compared with what inspired it: it might be seen as derivative, or even worse, unable to do these previous pieces of media justice by only retaining and replicating their most superficial elements without a great understanding of what made them work, gratuitous fanservice for nerds.

And I’m not quite sure where Miraculous stands. Oftentimes, it feels more like a Spider-Man/Kamen Rider crossover with bits of outdated shoujo manga and superficial wuxia sprinkled in there than a show at least trying to be its own thing.

And the problem is, Sailor Moon is better at being Sailor Moon than Miraculous could ever be, as it uses its visual language better, and it has a tiny thing called “the main character having a group of friends who aren’t props and a plot you can follow” that is the very reason why people liked the manga and anime in the first place. Miraculous only retains the very superficial aspects of the manga/anime and of the genre. Marinette still trips over a cat in the opening. Because that’s how it happens in Sailor Moon. Her characterisation as a civilian screams “Usagi Tsukino but more stressed out”.

Spider-Man is better at splash pages than Miraculous because ML’s CGI is pretty meh when it’s not in motion, these weird filter effects don’t look great, that only works when you’re Into the Spiderverse and have comic-book aesthetics. Queen Wasp has a whole sequence that is just that scene in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 only this time Queen Bee sabotaged a metro on purpose to stop it. It’s not an awful scene, it carries its point across rather well (Chloé is a selfish nerd who thinks she can be like these comic book characters but truly isn’t fit to be a hero) but the original did it better, it was more impressive, there was more tension to that original scene, some really interesting camera and foley work that made you feel the weight of that train. It didn’t feel cheap the way that scene in “Queen Wasp” did.

Utena’s Black Rose Saga explores the psyche of some of its secondary characters the audience is already familiar with, with problems we could already identify within them. It offers an examination of the storyworld from another point of view, and helps build it further. There’s always a proper buildup before these characters have a mental breakdown in an moody elevator with a butterfly pinned on the wall that turns back into a chrysalis, because the characters are going through a kind of regression that makes them easier to manipulate and turn into “villains” while acting out their true desires in a twisted way. “Stormy Weather” has most of that, an elevator with dramatic lighting, a butterfly and a mental breakdown, but the character is all new to us so it’s just not that impactful. Often, that one secondary character who’ll get transformed has had spoken lines, yes, but that’s only minutes before they get akumatised.

“Kinda the same but a bit worse and missing some of the key aspects of what made the original thing so good” isn’t much of a tribute, is it?

In an earlier post, I stated that Animaestro was basically “I have watched a lot of animated shows and I know how to mimic them, the episode”. It told us nothing about animation as a medium except that it’s cool sometimes and that you get to imitate other people who are much better at the things they do than you are. 

It’s not a clever metacommentary, it’s just “me likey moving pictures”. Good for you, I guess… Did you really need an entire episode to make that point?

And then you’ve got all the bad outdated shoujo tropes with characters falling on top of each other, aggressive flirting (harassment, really) from Adrien portrayed as really sweet and romantic because it’s just like in the shoujo manga (which one?) you see… And that’s just not great, is it?

Miraculous is a much better cartoon when it doesn’t try (and fail) to emulate other shows and movies and comic books and manga. The only thing it tells us about these works is that That Guy and co really like them and that copy-pasting them is the best way they’ve found to show their love. Imitation and flattery and all of that I guess.

“Look, it’s like in that scene in the anime! Did you like the anime? It sure was a good anime, and if our show makes you think about it, then it’s also good, right?”

No, you guys, I’m sorry but no. If making references was all it took to be good, then gaming webcomics would be regarded as masterpieces. 

Very often, the show seems interested in being anything but itself. And it’s a shame, because there are lots of ideas the show kind of brings up but never quite touches. Marinette is interested in fashion design? That’s great, show us more of that! Make it an important part of her character, and by the same occasion, make her creations look not-laughable. Miraculous could be the first cartoon to explore what it’s like to be a biracial kid with a Chinese parent in France (would that work with a crew of almost strictly middle-aged white men is another question to which the answer is a resounding “no”). The show is set in Paris? Cool, how about exploring the city outside of its landmarks every tourist and their mom already knows?

Inexplicably, in the middle of an episode when you expect it the least, you get brilliant bits of directing that aren’t references to other works. Alya becoming Rena Rouge and her first steps as a superhero? Brilliant, really immersive, loved it, not a reference. The sad car scene in Puppeteer 2? It’s really really good, not a reference either. All the unexplored lore? It seemed really promising and having more of it would help us understand things a bit more!

People don’t just like your show because it reminds them of another show. Why watch it if you can watch that original work in the first place?

Trying to make a superficial mashup of all things you think are great in other works is not the way to do these works justice, nor is it the way to make your show interesting, let alone good. 

[burnouts3s3]

Kase-san and Morning Glories, a Blu-Ray review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 29.99 USD How much I paid: 19.99 USD. Animation Studio: Zexcs Licensed and Localized by: Sentai Filmworks   Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles and English Dub available.   English Cast: Bryn Apprill as Yui Yamada, Morgan Berry as Tomoka Kase, Apphia Yu as Mikawa and Luci Christian as the Teacher Length: 60 Minutes Number of Discs: 1 Blu-ray Disc Does this come a digital voucher to redeem?: No. This only has the Blu-ray disc. Are there plans for a DVD release: Not as of the writing of this review. Bonus Features: Japanese Promo, Japanese Trailer and trailers for other Sentai Filmworks’ licensed shows.   Notable Localization Changes: In the English Dub, Yamada refers to Tomoka as “Kase” as opposed to “Kase-san” in the original Japanese. “San” is an honorfic, similar to Mr. or Ms. While it makes sense for Kase to refer to Yui as Yamada in both the English Dub and Original Japanese, omitting the “San” for Yamada suggests a familiarity when the original Japanese suggests that Yamada addresses Tomoka formally. The rest of the dub script stays close to the original. My Personal Biases: I like other shows in the Shoujo Ai genre such as Mai Hime, Mai Otome, Maria Watches over Us, Strawberry Panic and yes, even Kannazuki no Miko/Destiny of the Shrine Maiden.   My Verdict: Beautifully animated, wonderfully composed, well voiced acted and so sweet you may have to get tested for Type-2 Diabetes afterwards, Kase-san and Morning Glories feels like a benchmark for longtime watchers of Shoujo-ai. Despite the high price tag and short runtime, this is an absolute must buy for loves of Women Love Women. Kase-san and Morning Glories, a Blu-ray review

I honestly don’t think new Shoujo-ai fans realize how lucky they are right now. Given a plethora of options as well as their own section to look for, the history of Yuri anime has been an attempt to balance the romantic side of the relationship with the fanservice bits. You youngsters don’t know how good you have it. We didn’t have Bloom Into You. Hell, we didn’t even have Citrus, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid or Sakura Trick. In fact, before the 1-2-3 Punch of Strawberry Panic, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl and Simoun in 2006, Kannazuki no Miko was considered the pinnacle of Yuri Anime. But in 2018, Yuri anime seemed to make a comeback in full force with the 1-2-3 punches of Kase-san and Morning Glories, Bloom Into You and, yes, Citrus. The three adaptations of manga titles managed to be an oasis in the desert after titles such as Simoun failed to find an audience, Sweet Blue Flowers ending on a cliffhanger and Whispered Words bombing so hard, it was rumored to have killed the Yuri anime genre for years. Even titles after that such as Yurikuma Arashi and Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid didn’t manage to find a larger audience other than the converted niches they were aiming for. But with Kase-san and Morning Glories, seeing the theatrical and home release of a love story manages to give even a cynical sourpuss like me hope for the future. Here’s a review of “Kase-san and Morning Glories”. Plant appointee Yui Yamada and athlete Tomoka Kase have recently started dating each other. As Yamada becomes anxious when she is unable to spend time with Kase, Kase explains how she came to admire her. Later, Yamada invites Kase to her house, where a serious development almost takes place. During a school trip to Okinawa, Yamada becomes embarrassed when she sees Kase naked, leading Kase to worry that she wants to break up with her, but they manage to clear up their worries the next day. Later, as Kase is set to go to a sports university in Tokyo, Yamada has to decide where their future relationship goes. One of the strengths the OVA (Original Video Animation) has is the foresight to get to the relationship in question. See, where other Yuri adaptations tend to adapt from the very beginning, Kase-san goes straight into the meat, taking place after the initial chapters and instead adapting from when Kase and Yamada have already started dating. There, we get montages of everything a couple goes through: miscommunication, the first time coming into one’s room, playtime at the beach and the fear of separation. The God is in the details. Studio Zexcs makes every color pallet, every movement and every composition work. It’s a splash of warm colors that emphasized by the music and carried by the voice actors to make you really feel that these two are in love. When Kase is kissing up Yamada’s arm, it’s a subtle movement that moves your heartstrings. Just the same, seeing Yamada become nervous and giddy for thinking about Kase really does tell you “Wow, these two girls are crazy for each other”. Sentai Filmworks did the localization of the series. Byrn Apprill (who you might recognize from another Yuri title this year, Himeko Momokino in Citrus) voices Yamada and she does a pretty good job at it. Granted, her Yamada voice tends to be really squeaky, but Apprill imbues the role with enough range to tell the difference between each situation. Morgan Berry (who voiced Tokaku Azuma in Akuma no Riddle aka the Devil’s Riddle) as Kase manages to capture the tomboyish nature of the character, but I was rather struck on how she managed to handle some of the more subtle scenes with enough nuance to do both the original character and Japanese voice performance justice. One thing I should note is the use of honorfics. In the manga and original Japanese, Yamada refers to Tomoka as “Kase-san”. For those not fluent in Japanese, “San” is a sort of title one gives to address formality. For example, in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Anthy uses Utena-sama or Ms. Utena to call her formally. In the English Dub, Yamada calls Tomoka as simply Kase. This (inadvertently and unintentionally) suggests a hint of familiarity not found in the original Japanese. See, it makes sense for Kase to refer to Yui as Yamada, because it suggests that Kase’s more causal and open to the relationship while Yamada calling Tomoka Kase-san suggests that she’s still, subconsciously or not, keeping her at a distance. It’s just a personal nitpick that bothers only me. THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE WITH SUBTITLES IS AVAILABLE. CAVEAT: As a package, Kase-san and Morning Glories is rather thin. Aside from the OVA, there’s no additional features other than the Japanese Trailer, Promos and commercials for other Sentai Filmworks shows. But I’ve always been of the party that, at times, an artwork can justify short content for a worthwhile experience. “It’s not what a movie is about, but how it’s about it” said the late Roger Ebert. And for 20 bucks, I more than enjoyed the 60 minutes I had with Kase-san. It’s a short experience, but one that’s worthwhile. Verdict: For any Shoujo-ai fan out there, it’s an enthusiastic Full Price!

[oodlenoodleroodle]

When I was young, we used to just copy these sorts of long questionnaires and write our own answers and post the whole list. I still find that a more fun way to engage with these things so I do that sometimes to these ask game questionnaires.

do you have a crush on anyone? Yes! My spouse :3

what’s your favorite candy? I think currently probably the Tutti Frutti Passion stuff (it's vegan!)

favorite love song? Nina & Albert, by Joel Plaskett

what was your first kiss like? Some Australian man on a cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm. In hindsight he was probably a skeevy pedo or something, because I did tell him I was 15.

what was your last kiss like? My spouse just got up and kissed me good morning :3

sexual/romantic orientation? The words for this require knowledge of my gender which is not available. Please create words for orientations that describe only the target of attraction without referring to the gender of the subject. Oh wait, I remember now, we can't have that because that would "lump together lesbians and straight men" and in this world it is forbidden to recognise that lesbians and straight men have anything in common. In short, my orientation is QUEER because that is literally the only word that exists, and some complete lunkheads think that even that word shouldn't be allowed to exist.

do you prefer poems or love letters? Letters.

favorite fanfic trope? Ehh, I don't really engage with fanfic enough to have a favourite trope.

have you ever been in love? Yes, and currently am :3

favorite milkshake flavor? I'm not really that into milkshakes...

dinner dates or brunch dates? Brunch, pre-Covid we used to go to this awesome little cafe on Saturday late mornings :3

favorite flowers? I don't like flowers, sorry. I guess my favourites are the ones that are allowed to grow in the ground and die at their own pace, not getting cut up and sold as a product.

favorite perfume/cologne? The Body Shop used to make this amazing one called Amorito, that smelled of vanilla and chocolate. They don't make it anymore though.

favorite candle scent? I don't really like scented candles, and we don't use candles pretty much at all, because of the cat.

what’s your ideal first date? I am not a fan of first dates at all, so, none. Or maybe "in the past."

favorite love story? Mine :3 But also Revolutionary Girl Utena.

what’s the most attractive thing a person could wear? Blue jeans and a white t-shirt.

chocolate, vanilla, or red velvet? Chocolate.

snow, rain, or sun? Rain.

sweetest romantic memory? Sitting on the bank of the river Oostanaula and admitting to my future-spouse that they were my favourite person in the world.

favorite dating sim (and favorite character)? I have only ever played Kisses and Curses and that was so long ago that I don't remember any of the characters.

fictional crushes? Snuffkin from Moomins, L from Deathnote. Unclear what the feeling I have for Himemiya Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena is, maybe more like identification than crush.

what’s your dream wedding like? IN THE PAST. Hated my wedding, never want to do that again.

what makes you blush? That scene in SSSS.Gridman anime where Akane introduces Alexis Kerib to Rikka and giggles at her shock and explains that it's cosplay.

do you believe in love at first sight? Ehh, N/A. Mu. Null. Query invalid,  please un-ask question.

do you believe in soulmates? No, but I'm married to mine.

denim jackets, leather jackets, or bomber jackets? Bomber jackets.

what’s your sign? Scorpio.

are you single? No I'm married :D :3

do you prefer to charm, or be charmed? To be charmed. I always had the problem that people thought I was flirting when I didn't intend to (like I was just being nice) and when people express interest me, if I don't already reciprocate, I will run tf away. Biggest squick, tell you hwat. Do not tell me you fancy me until I fancy you first.

guitar or piano? Piano.

favorite romcom (or any romantic movie)? Okay, you are not allowed to criticise this, because I am an actual damn expert on this shit: the best one is 50 First Dates. I know it has Adam Sandler in it but that doesn't matter, it simply is the best romantic comedy out there. Sorry, I am only reporting the facts.

do you fall in love easily? I genuinely don't know? O.o

valentine’s decorations: yay or nay? Well we don't do any, and we don't observe it in any way. But I don't hate them when shops do it or anything.

would you prefer to propose or be proposed to? Hard to say, in our case it sort of came naturally as an agreement. Like I find the whole concept of a proposal a little iffy.

what’s your dream proposal? Mu.

cloud gazing or star gazing? Cloud gazing.

do you like to dance? Ehh, not particularly, like not in any kind of places or with people, but I dance around my apartment for fun.

what’s your OTP? Greg Universe and Rose Quartz from Steven Universe.

kittens or puppies? Puppies

coffee, hot chocolate, or tea? Rooibos tea (with bergamot to make it taste like earl grey. Why is this shit so hard to find???)

favorite soda? Pepsi max

do you prefer gazing wistfully out the window or lying dramatically over the sofa? Sofa.

favorite ABBA song? I don't really have one.

favorite pajamas? Is that even a thing that people have? Like, just, pajamas... I didn't even know there were different kinds.

favorite liquor? I don't drink alcohol.

do you think about love a lot? I think about the love of my life a lot :3 Like all the time :3

a walk in the park or a walk on the beach? Park.

hand kisses or nose kisses? Neither really, but if I gotta pick, hand I guess. (I prefer cheek kisses or forehead kisses)

what’s your dreamhouse? Oh, oh, one of those 3D printed concrete minihouses!

valentine’s day asks!

do you have a crush on anyone?

what’s your favorite candy?

favorite love song?

what was your first kiss like?

what was your last kiss like?

sexual/romantic orientation?

do you prefer poems or love letters?

favorite fanfic trope?

have you ever been in love?

favorite milkshake flavor?

dinner dates or brunch dates?

favorite flowers?

favorite perfume/cologne?

favorite candle scent?

what’s your ideal first date?

favorite love story?

what’s the most attractive thing a person could wear?

chocolate, vanilla, or red velvet?

snow, rain, or sun?

sweetest romantic memory?

favorite dating sim (and favorite character)?

fictional crushes?

what’s your dream wedding like?

what makes you blush?

do you believe in love at first sight?

do you believe in soulmates?

denim jackets, leather jackets, or bomber jackets?

what’s your sign?

are you single?

do you prefer to charm, or be charmed?

guitar or piano?

favorite romcom (or any romantic movie)?

do you fall in love easily?

valentine’s decorations: yay or nay?

would you prefer to propose or be proposed to? what’s your dream proposal?

cloud gazing or star gazing?

do you like to dance?

what’s your OTP?

kittens or puppies?

coffee, hot chocolate, or tea?

favorite soda?

do you prefer gazing wistfully out the window or lying dramatically over the sofa?

favorite ABBA song?

fuck/marry/kill? (anons name 3 people of your choice)

favorite pajamas?

favorite liquor?

do you think about love a lot?

a walk in the park or a walk on the beach?

hand kisses or nose kisses?

what’s your dreamhouse?

[therealkn]

“Oh, right, um, I finished season 5 of Steven Universe a few days ago. More highlights of my reactions to it in my Discord conversation with @lennythereviewer.

(Jungle Moon) - “So Stevonnie can flutter-jump like Yoshi.”

(Your Mother and Mine) - “I want a party sub.” - “’He's going to bring back another Steven!’ ...Why is everything you say so precious, Padparadscha.” - “Rhodonite calls Rose Quartz the “anti-gem” and no joke, my first thought was that it reminded me of those RvB episodes where Sarge and Caboose were in gamer Valhalla with two factions who worshiped a flag as their god and one screamed ‘IT'S THE BEAST! THE ANTI-FLAG!’” - “Holy shit, the way Rose is shown for the first time in Garnet's story is full-on Utena-style silhouette.”

(Pool Hopping) - “Where in the fuck can you order a pizza for breakfast at breakfast hours? I’d kill for that. Not literally.”

(Letters to Lars) - “...Why am I not surprised at you, Ronaldo. You have your head so far up your ass that you could identify your own duodenum if they lined them up at a police precinct. I like Kevin more - hell, I actually like him to some extent - because even when he was trying to get Steven and Connie back together just so they would fuse and make his party cool, he was actually giving some fairly decent advice and did seem to care about helping Steven and even got friendly with him. He had some depth to him, while you have always been a shallow, self-centered dick. I remember when you said you were going to work on improving yourself, so I guess that didn't work out. I'm not entirely sure what kind of psychological disorder you have, but just seeing you irritates me to no end.” - “Marmalade Boys.” *cue GIF of that scene in The Avengers where Captain America goes “I understood that reference.”* - “I want tater tots now. ...Does anyone else remember Napoleon Dynamite?”

(Can’t Go Back) - “FUCK OFF RONALDO” - “So Lapis’ plan to take the barn and leave the Earth... was to just go to the moon. That’s like going on the run and deciding to crash at your neighbor’s.” - David: EXCUSE ME   Lenny: :)   David: I CAN HEAR YOU LAUGHING, YOU STOP THAT

(A Single Pale Rose) [a.k.a. “THAT” episode] - “My God, it's like Psychonauts on crack.” - David: oh.   David: oh fuck.   David: OH DOUBLE FUCK   Lenny: And there it is   David: .........   David: WHAT   David: STOP CACKLING   David: THIS IS NOT A BOMBSHELL THAT THE SHOW DROPPED, THIS WAS AN AIR RAID OF MINIATURE NUCLEAR WARHEADS - David: You were waiting for that moment.   David: Of all the moments in my catching up, it was THAT one you were waiting for the most.   David: It was her. It was her all along. We all bought it, hook, line and sinker. Even her family fell for it.

(The Question) - David: Oh my God your comic idea is canon now [referring to this post Lenny made]   Lenny: I know right?

(Made of Honor) - David: OH SHIT   David: THE WOOLIE GEM IS BACK - David: Remember when the most what-the-fuck thing in SU was the crossover with Uncle Grandpa? Now it's Pink Diamond not only having not been shattered, but that Rose Quartz was actually her the whole time.   Lenny: *links a video of Bismuth screaming into lava for 18 minutes straight*   David: That’s how I felt basically, yeah. - “I lost it at the cans dropping and Peridot’s response. Fun fact: in addition to the Crow laugh in Samson vs. the Vampire Women, I also have this high-pitched ‘HA’ at things. That is the laugh.

(Reunited) - “OH MY GOD THIS WENT AKIRA AND MONONOKE AT THE SAME TIME” - “Oh my God, Lapis pulled an Usopp. Please tell me someone has drawn Blue Diamond reacting like Perona.”

(Legs from Here to Homeworld) - David: PFFFFFWHAT �� Lenny: The wrong trousers   David: Actually I thought of the end of Panty and Stocking. - “Okay, first: WHAT. Second: THE FUCK?!” - “Also, why does White Diamond have painted toenails? Why would a gem do that? It is a very odd point to go on, yes, unless she's trying to be glam as fuck.”

(Familiar) - “Are those just gem versions of the Doozers?”

(Together Alone) - “THEY MADE THAT JOKE CANON TOO” - “And there's the line that made tumblr scream.” - “And all that reveal needed was the Price is Right failure horn.” - “GIANT WOMEN- wait what”

(Change Your Mind) - “I take it back, Lenny. That is a fucking old call-back.” - “SHE HAS KAMINA SHADES OH FUCK” - “LAPIS DESIGN IS COOOOOOOOOL “ - “NEW RAINBOW QUARTZ” - David: That is the most '90s fucking thing I've seen in a long time, I fucking love it.   Lenny: I suddenly want Sunny D    David: I want Nickelodeon and phat beats. - “Sunstone needs her own attitude-filled 16-bit platformer. I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED.” - “HOLY SHIT IT’S TE KA” - “One: that is metal as fuck. Two: THAT IS METAL AS FUCK. Three: THAT IS A METAL AS FUCK WAY TO MAKE YOUR SWORD.” - “And the world cried ‘OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH’” - “Thank you for that laugh, Padparadscha, I needed that. AND THAT ONE TOO RHODONITE - “Padparadscha: simultaneously killing and adding to the moment.” - “THERE SHE IS ...Did Amethyst say ‘Hey sis’?”

[fabrickind]

Revolutionary Girl Utena Episode 2 Liveblog

Welcome to episode 2 of my RGU liveblog! Join me under the cut for discussions of normality, haunted houses, fangirls, and astrology.

For our second episode, we open with shots of the school and all of the students walking to classes; cue the triumphant ‘school’ musical theme. One thing that this series is good at is establishing this sense of normality -- this is a normal morning, at a normal school, no weird duels took place the night before -- which early on provides a sharp contrast to the weirdness of the duels and this strange world that Utena is pulled into. Of course, as the series progresses, this sense of normality is severely warped, not because we’re pulled further and further into a dark, twisted world, but because we slowly realize that normality itself is what was twisted all along.

Here we further establish that Utena is popular with the girls. A cadre of giggling schoolgirls fangirl over her as she walks to class, and we are treated to another set of images of Utena walking framed with spinning rose frames.

This is probably the most shoujo thing I have ever seen. Where’s my fangirls to greet me on my way to class?

The use of the frame here is interesting to me for a few reasons. On a purely formal level, it’s creating a subjective focus on Utena here -- this is how the fangirls see her, and we are seeing what they see in this romanticized haze of shoujo tropes. The focus is squarely on Utena’s uniformed body and her nonchalant way of carrying her bag, and even the background is replaced by roses. She’s a fantasy version of what these girls want -- a fantasy prince, if you will. But the rose framing is also doing some other work. While at this point in the series it is easy to overlook as a stylized fitting into certain shoujo anime tropes, the framing calls attention to the ways in which visuals and narratives are framed, literally in this case. This speaks to Utena’s sense of identity here. She’s framed as the prince figure, the perfect gentlegirl who saves princesses and gets all of the ladies fawning over her, and this is supposed to be just as effortless as the way she is carrying that bag. But it’s clearly not. Her sense of princely identity and princely posturing is just as performative as the rose framing and background and soft lighting and gaggle of giggling girls and the myriad other tropes used here. The framing not only calls our attention, often to a subjective viewpoint or a fantasy structure, but it is part of the system of this narrative and is something overlaid on and part of the text, not in the way that there’s some sort of inherent Truth that’s being covered over here, but rather to call attention to the ways in which all narratives of self are, to some degree, fictions.

One thing that I almost never think about terribly deeply in this show is the episode titles, and maybe I should change that.

“For Whom the Rose Smiles.” The obvious guess as to the character this refers to would be Utena -- she’s our protagonist, she does well in the duels, the “rose” seems to be granting her some type of protection or has some sort of fondness for her. But the interesting thing to me here is the personification of the “rose” -- who or what does this refer to? Of course, there’s our Rose Bride. There’s also the association of roses with the dueling game. Is Anthy growing fond of Utena this early on? Is the system itself fond of her? Does Utena have some sort of rose-based destiny here (is she ‘born to the destiny of a rose, born to a brilliant and tempestuous life,’ as the great philosophers once said)? Or are roses a neutral party, associated with both being part of and escaping the dueling game? It’s unclear, and any thoughts would be welcome.

Can I take a moment to note that it’s amazing that these students are actually in class for once? Yes? Okay.

That is the cutest face, Utena.

Even though Utena is the most oblivious character ever, this scene shows that at least some of that is an act. She clearly remembers Wakaba being upset by the love letter situation the day before, and puts on this act as if nothing’s wrong, as if she’s trying to not upset her best friend. Unfortunately, she’s not a very good actress, but at least she’s trying. Utena is far from my favorite character in this series, but she does have two things going for her -- extreme loyalty and dedication, and total earnestness. Of course, these two traits can also very easily get her into trouble. Lots of trouble.

Obligatory mention of how Wakaba is reading a Chiho Saito manga.

Wakaba, how much of your “Utena you’re my true love!” is joking around, and how much of it is true? I wonder...

We get an exposition dump from everyone’s favorite overdramatic nerd squad.

Saionji isn’t there, which is interesting. Too upset after losing his duel the day before, perhaps?

Things we learn: - The Student Council gets their directions from letters from End of the World - These are one-way communications, with seemingly no way to contact back (I wonder if they’ve ever tried?) - The members seem content to follow the communications and not question them - Juri is as pragmatic as ever, but seems to be even more caught up in the rules than the others, since she vaguely threatens to quit because of the addition of a new Duelist, but doesn’t want to drop out because of the unstated ‘miracle’ of opening the gate and seeing the castle - The cards thrown down are a pair of sixes, a pair of nines, and a pair of queens, if that matters to anyone (and later a pair of jokers is shown on top) - Touga is as scummy as ever - Touga claims that they are “free to follow [the letters] as they see fit,” which strikes me as odd, considering that the SC tends to take these messages very seriously and at face value at almost all times. Is the ability to interpret the messages of the letters and implement the actions they see fit something that’s the ‘official’ rule but not something they are able to take up in practice, or are they actually content to follow the letters? (Touga then says that the letters are “quite specific,” so this is somewhat contradictory to his earlier statement) - I wonder if the SC were all told to go to the forest and open the gate to see the castle at once, or whether they were all sent individually? It sounds like this was some sort of initiation ritual for them, and what was used to convince them that everything happening is real.  - Ohtori has branded versions of everything conceivable, including playing cards

Miki seems to punctuate Touga saying that they must fight for the power to revolutionize the world with his stopwatch. Is he marking the end of the meeting? (The card game seems to have already ended.) In this case, he seems to be marking the end of the scene more than anything -- marking the narrative demarcation between one set of characters and location and another, especially since we immediately go to a major shift in tone with establishing shots of the school, happy music, and Utena and Wakaba’s antics.

No homo.

Wakaba calls Utena’s abandoned dorm a “haunted house,” and given this series and its ways of looking at ghosts, the past, and being caught between worlds, this seems to be a little more than just Wabaka being Wakaba. Of course, there’s the narrative answer for Utena’s dorm assignment -- she’s isolated from the rest of the school, and it gives her and Anthy an opportunity to live together, now that they’re engaged. But it seems as if Utena herself is being drawn into the world of the “haunted house.” There’s what I touched on earlier, which is that the series sets itself up so that we think she’s being drawn into a twisted world away from normality (but find out that normality itself is what is twisted), but it seems to go beyond even that, where Utena herself becomes part of the ‘haunting’ as such. Many things (and even people) are forgotten in this series, or left behind, or are probably already dead or kept in a state of preservation, and as the only (until Anthy and Chuchu arrive) resident of a ‘haunted’ house, Utena herself seems to be the one doing that ‘haunting.’ Once Anthy arrives...well, she is a witch, after all.

Though, I do wish I had magic powers that let me clean that quickly.

Also, how much money does this school have that their dorms are that nice? I’ve never seen a dorm in a mansion with antique gold filigree furniture.

No homo x2 combo

In this next scene, Anthy seems to be simultaneously straightforward and guarded. She tells information in a straightforward way, but only when it will perpetuate her mystique as the Rose Bride.

Answering that the sword and castle are “mysteries” is not only the most Ikuhara answer possible, but I think Anthy is hitting on something with her purposeful obfuscation. (She’s so sassy in this scene and I love it.) It’s not that she doesn’t know how it works as much as that’s actually the literal answer to Utena’s question -- what’s up with the trick sword and the mirage castle? Mysteries. They are meant to be mysterious. They are of the realm of ritual. Like most things in this series, they don’t have a literal, concrete meaning, but instead are pure symbolism, without being tied to any particular or singular signified. They are, like Anthy’s answers to Utena’s questions, there to misdirect and create an empty ‘proof’ of the dueling game. Of course, they’re also emblematic of very real powers and power systems, but we’ll get there in time.

Turning Utena’s question back around onto her is also a bit of misdirection, I think. While it’s also a sassy clapback, Anthy is doing a couple of things here -- she’s gauging Utena’s personality and her responses, of course, but she’s also commenting, albeit very indirectly, on the limitations of ‘choice’ as a reasoning. She ‘likes’ being the Rose Bride, and yet it’s the only real option available to her, the only one that gives her some degree of power, within the system that she’s a part of, much like how Utena’s choice to dress as the prince is part of the limited options available to her, as well.

Utena immediately befriends Chuchu (who gets an adorable spinning banana frame), and Anthy comments that she’s never seen him take so well to someone before. I feel like this is one of the few truthful statements we get here -- whether we think that Chuchu represents Anthy’s inner feelings, or is the gauge of the true emotions of the scene, or is a veiled metaphor for the ‘good’ side of Dios, or whatever else we take Chuchu’s role to be -- most Duelists seem to treat Anthy like an object and abuse her rather than treat her like a person, and how Utena is treating Chuchu seems to be a metaphor for how she’ll treat Anthy. Or, at least, how we think she’s going to treat Anthy, since it’s far more complicated than that. I’m also going to make the case for some Totally Real and Serious Foreshadowing™ here: she doesn’t directly save Chuchu, but rather gives him the tools to save himself.

I love how ominous of a villain they set Saionji up to be. Sure, he’s not a good person, but this is some serious misdirection as well.

I’ve always liked to think that this line is just Saionji being extra, and that he doesn’t actually have any sort of power over this space. Everything about it is too perfect -- the passive aggression, the fact that he just has a sword at Touga’s throat, the obvious sexaul tension, the lighting that seems overly shadowy for no particular narrative reason, referring to the area where you practice as “my domain”...

Though, I have to wonder. Have the other Duelists just not been challenging Saionji because they know he’d get all butthurt about losing? Have they been losing to him on purpose? Or has the game ‘chosen’ him as the winner for that particular stretch of time in order to create motivations for other characters or some other reason? Certainly, he’s an entitled douchebag, so I can totally understand if the others are like “nah, man, you can keep Anthy for now, I don’t want to have to listen to you whining again.” (I have a feeling that at least half the source of his whining is that he not only lost to a girl [Juri doesn’t count], but that he lost to an outsider girl. He’s a good swordsman, but not as good as Touga, and it seems as if the duels ‘choose’ the winner based on factors other than simple swordsmanship, so it would make sense that there’s something else going on besides him just legitimately being the best and beating everyone.) 

Is the food provided for Utena? Or did she cook all that herself? Certainly, Anthy didn’t cook it.

I capped this not because I particularly care what Saionji is saying (though I have to say that the dissolve editing in this scene where half the screen changes at a time is pretty cool), but because I’m into astrology. I don’t think the light here would change at all, since it’s coming from the artificial light of the lamp in the lower left corner, but based on the placement of the obelisk’s shadow, it gives the sense of Libra moving into Scorpio, with the shadow now almost fully in Scorpio. For those who aren’t into astrology, Libra is a sign of balance and harmony, and is ruled by Venus, which governs interpersonal relationships, beauty, and aesthetics. Scorpio is the sign of death and rebirth, and is one of the most intense signs of the zodiac. Things are not just thrown out of their peace here (and Libra at its worst can be passive or overly diplomatic for the sake of not wanting to stir up any drama, regardless of whether things would actually be improved with change), but thrown off in a way that implies the start of a new cycle, in a way that kills off everything that came before and attempts to start fresh out of that destruction. 

(For the record, Utena is likely a Capricorn sun with a Scorpio moon, unless she was born within 30 minutes of midnight, in which case she’s a Libra moon. I’m also a Capricorn with a Scorpio moon, so I know how it feels, Utena, though I don’t see too much resemblance. Our other placements are quite different though. ;])

Anthy slap tally: 2 Should I make it into a drinking game?

In a different shot, once Utena comes outside, the shadow is pretty much halfway between Libra and Scorpio, so take that as you will.

This isn’t Anthy’s normal dead-eyed look. This is a challenge. She is waiting to see what Utena will do.

Cactus tally: 1 Though, we also get to see the hand of a Shadow Girl long before episode 34.

This shadow play is fairly straightforward: Wild West type duels as the setting, only the one gunslinger lost ‘on purpose’ so it’s okay to lose as long as you weren’t trying to win, but that might be harder than you think. Not much in the way of obscure symbolism here.

We get our first full-length Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku sequence, and our first magical girl transformation sequence. Though, a question: how come Utena gets a transformation sequence and cooler clothes, but when another Duelist is in possession of the Rose Bride, they don’t and are just in their normal uniform? Of course, the SC uniforms already have weird epaulets and a rope or chain at the neck. Is it because Utena is an outsider and needs the surface-level (clothing) transformation in order to fit in? Is she somehow special or different from the start? 

I also know that this is mostly just for narrative drama, but why is Utena always the last one to arrive to duels, no matter who has possession of the Bride? How do the other Duelists get up there? How does Anthy get up there pre-elevator? How is Utena not totally winded after climbing that many stairs?

Saionji says that “living or dying” does matter in the duels, that it’s the person who loses their rose who loses -- I wonder if there’s a precedent for this? I can imagine some sort of Juri-like situation, only where someone actually gets killed, but still wins the duel. I wonder what would happen to Anthy in that case?

Ah, and our first “Power of Dios” moment. aka “this is how we officially know who the protagonist is.” Even Anthy seems shocked -- is she shocked because this isn’t something that usually happens, or because of who is getting this power? (I’m a firm believer in the theory that there have been many cycles of duels over the years, though it’s unclear how much Anthy even remembers from these multiple cycles.)

At the end of this scene, we get The Sunlit Garden playing, which is an interesting music choice, since it carries into the next scene. It has connotations of being a nice, warm, romantic, slightly nostalgic song for the nice, warm, friendly scene we get. But it also has connotations of fantasy, of misremembering the past, of something uncanny in the Freudian sense (something that is both familiar and unfamiliar), of something that can never be returned to. 

We get an almost repeat of Utena’s playing it cool with Wakaba earlier, but this time it seems more genuine -- she doesn’t want Saionji to tease Chuchu, and at this, Anthy smiles. What feelings are behind that smile is unknown. Whether we are building off the theories of Chuchu representing something of greater significance or if we just take his presence at face value, this seems to speak to Utena’s style -- she’ll do grand gestures for people, but won’t admit it, but is still willing to protect those she sees as weak and unable to protect themselves. Well, good luck with that one, Utena.

And that concludes this week’s liveblog! Join me next week for episode 3: Mean Girls

If you have anything you want to comment on, please, feel free :]

[anthonyreadsthecards]

Hey so I saw you talk about Escaflowne are there other anime that you like and would recommend?

I mean...yeah but I’m what the kids call a “filthy casual” when it comes to anime. I don’t really watch a lot anymore. I think last year I watched like two or three? I can recommend what I like but I’m just gonna warn you now you’re in store for a lot of Magical Girl anime. Read for more if you dare.

So I feel like the first and most obvious anime I would recommend is, of course, Sailor Moon. Now while I don’t normally care for anime that are over a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 30 Sailor Moon is one of the few exceptions. Stacking up at 200 episodes the series has four seasons and overall it’s pretty damn great. Yes there is filler and yes it is a bit dated but people don’t give Sailor Moon enough credit. Our main character Usagi begins the series a little self-absorbed and a huge cry baby but ends with the biggest heart out of everyone and sacrifices her life, more than one occasion I might add, to save the world and those she loves. Plus everyone has a Scout that they can relate to (Neptune is bae) and everyone has their favorite arc (Saturn/Mistress 9 or Nehelenia arc). And while people complain about the filler those episodes are used to round out all of the characters and give each girl their moment to shine. Unlike Sailor Moon Crystal but I’m not getting into that rant today. I prefer the japanese dub because that’s all I really had since the DiC dub was all we had in the States at the time but there is a new dub from Funimation that is very faithful to the original script so whichever you prefer on that end. We also have two movies which are great

Another 90s classic would be Cardcaptor Sakura. I unapologetically love this anime despite it not having aged well in terms of writing. Sakura Kinomoto is our main character who accidently releases the mysterious Clow Cards and she must find and capture the cards or else they’ll wreak havoc. Season 1 is all about capturing the cards and Season 2, the better season imo, is about Sakura becoming the new master of the cards. So the writing is a bit...problematic and this is mostly due to CLAMP’s, the writers for the show and manga, wanting to take the concept of love and seeing it from multiple angles in all of their works. Cardcaptor Sakura is no exception...however there is a lot, and I do mean a lot, of relationships that show age gaps between two characters. Sakura has her crush on her brother’s friend Yukito she’s ten and he’s in high school, Sakura’s dad was a fresh out of college high school teacher when Sakura’s mother was like sixteen or seventeen and they got married after she graduated, and then there’s Rika, Sakura’s classmate, who has a crush on their homeroom teacher and it’s just...sigh. There is a good episode in Season 2 when Yuki finally breaks it to Sakura that she’s way too young for him, besides him having eyes only for her older brother, Toya, and Sakura realizes that she doesn’t love Yuki in the way that she thought before and it’s really good. Nothing is sexualized, everything is cute, and the characters are allowed to feel and express themselves which is you know great. There is also two movies as well as the sequel to the show the Clear Card Arc but I don’t recommend the sequel mostly because nothing happens and it’s mostly used to show how cute Sakura and her boyfriend are...which is a lot I’m not gonna lie they are incredibly cute and I love them. That being said the rest of the series is full of low stakes questions not being answered and a cliffhanger ending and who knows when that’ll get resolved (I’m not bitter I promise). So yeah stick with the OG anime. There was no redub of the show so I would just recommend the Japanese dub.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of my favorite anime of all time. Seriously when I’m super depressed I binge the whole show. This show has a lot going on symbolically and that’s like crack to me. I love deciphering hidden meanings in shows and Utena has that in spades. The show subverts a lot of tropes and gives me so many feels. The show is about Utena Tejo who dresses in the school’s male uniform instead of the girl one. She is a tomboy, good a sports, and pretty decent with a sword come to find out. She duels one of the student council members for Anthy Himemiya the Rose Bride. Anthy, who is just another student at the school, is passed around from duelist to duelist and is treated however her owner sees fit. After winning Utena treats Anthy like a friend and protects her from other duelists so that Anthy can be free to make her own decisions. It’s so good. Like really good. My main complaints come from the loooong walking scenes to the dueling area that we go through every episode but honestly it’s worth. The characters are well written, not all likeable but well written, the animation is pretty, the jokes from the gossip girls are dumb and I love them, and the overall story is just great. We even get queer characters. There is a movie retelling the events of the show but it’s...well...different. I would stick to the anime.

So I you know how I mentioned I like symbolism in my shows? Well one thing that I really like is when it symbolism that involves fairy tales. Princess Tutu while funny when you say the title is another great show with darker things going on in the background than one would assume. In the show we follow Duck, yeah that’s her name, an actual duck that transforms into a young girl due to the machinations of the mysterious Drosselmeyer the author of the fairy tale we are in. This anime deals with ballet which I love and uses dance and music to help Duck purify the hearts of those who have been taken over by darkness. This show gets a bit dark over the course of the series but the hope and light that comes from it by the end is so worth it. 

Ok this is the last magical girl anime I promise. Puella Magia Madoka Magica is amazing, dark, subversive, and soul crushing. I love this show, again, for the symbolism, the characters, the music, the animation, and for how much it makes me cry. There are a lot of allusions to Faust and things get darker well before they get happier but they do get happier by the end of the series. Unless you watch the sequel movie The Rebellion Story and then you’re just left with bitterness and tears. The show was an actual show but then was later split into three movies, just the same show with more details in the animation, but personally the show was just fine with me. 12 episodes long you could get through it in a weekend. Just make sure to bring some tissues along and plenty of comfort food. 

So if you have an interest in RPGs and fantasy but don’t want anything to serious or heavy I would recommend Slayers. In this show we follow Lina Inverse one of the strongest mages of her time and we watch her blow up a lot of things. By episode 2 she gains her first, and constant, follower Gourry Gabriev a dimwitted but talented swordsman who is very sweet and endearing. This show doesn’t really have a plot except Lina and Gourry trying to make money so they can eat and Lina stumbles upon a quest where hopefully she’ll get some gold. This show is mostly an action comedy and boy does it deliver. This show had five incarnations and I still haven’t seen all of it in it’s entirety but it’s pretty great and has a lot of memorable characters. 

 If you want to watch something to mellow you out that also gives you that folklore and fantasy feeling then you should watch Mushishi. We follow Ginko, a mysterious white haired man, who studies and deals with Mushi, spirits...sorta. The show is set in the Edo era...I think and it really gives off this folklore and almost ghost story vibe. Like this would be stories that your great-great grandpa would tell you about when there weren’t so many cities and everything was trees and fields and there was a strange magic to everything. This show is by no means scary. I was really zen throughout most of it. Travis Willingham does great as Ginko and his cadence really helps with that mellow feeling. 

 Romeo x Juliet is what I would recommend anyone that is interested in a love story with a bit of war, destiny, and a whole lot of Shakespeare. This show is set in Neo-Verona which is a slightly futuristic but at the same time not. Lord Montague, Romeo’s father, has murdered Juliet’s family, the Capulets, and rules over the city with an iron fist. Juliet is a badass sword-wielding vigilante and Romeo is a soft cinnamon roll who needs to be protected at all costs. I really loved this retelling of the the classic story and I really hate Romeo and Juliet for reasons I’m not gonna get into as this list is already so long. The interpretations of the characters are different and unique and that alone is worth watch. If you know anything about Shakespeare you’ll catch the references to all of his other works, the bard himself even pops up in the show which was wonderful, and the even include several scenes where people speak in iambic pentameter, especially Ophelia. My only complaint about this show is the main musical theme which is “You Raise Me Up” by popular by Josh Groban and as a person who really doesn’t like Groban this was almost a deal breaker for me. Thankfully the song is sung by women in English and in Japanese and, when used appropriately, it really made the show feel as dramatic and epic as the original play. 

So if you like Dynasty Warriors, hyperactive cute boys, explosions, adorable father-son moments, a rivalry that borderlines on romantic relationship, and a bad guy who literally travels with ominous music and a death storm then Sengoku Basara is for you. Ok so when I first saw this show I was surprised how quickly I fell in love with it. Like it’s so stupid with how campy and action packed it is and I loved every second of it. We follow historical Japanese soldiers and fighters in their quest to defeat Oda Nobunaga the Demon King. Like most of these people actually existed but we gave them elemental superpowers and pumped up the action to the extreme. I don’t have much else to say except it was a wild and fun ride from start to finish. 

And I think that I’m gonna end this with Fate/Stay Night:Unlimited Blade Works. Having seen the original Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero I can say that UBW has enough from both series for people to find something to love. Also you don’t need to have knowledge of any of the other works to get into this series as it is a retelling of the original story. You say Fate/Stay Night was originally a visual novel with three routes. The Fate Route, the Unlimited Blade Works Route, and the Heaven's Feel Route. The first route is considered the “best route” as pretty much everyone survives it, the second there are some casualties but overall it is the actual best route because one of our main characters, Shirou, isn’t a complete idiot this time around, and the third and final route is super depressing and holy shit who wrote this? UBW is full of action, historical figures...again, great animation, great fight scenes, and a pretty good story. 

And that’s my ten sort of broad animes that I would recommend. I think that you’ll probably find something that you like in all of this especially if you like magical anime. 

Take care