#just exams first

[continentaltheater]

2, 10, 17 & 20 for the RGU ask

2. Favorite episode (bonus: favorite scene in it)

Well to start I think in a show like Utena my favorite episodes and scenes have to be the ones that left an impression on me.

For a bit of context, I watched the whole show with a friend and neither of us had seen it before so we were all just constantly pausing to give each other our thoughts.

Back to the question, I think my favorite episodes are Her Tragedy and The Romance of the Dancing Girls simply because of how well tied everything felt. It was like domino fall and everything was in the right place and the tension of certain parts were perfect. And of course I really was missing more tension with Nanami specifically, seeing her be the only apparently normal person in the room for once was refreshing.

But what stayed the most with me about those episodes were the phone calls. During all of them I kept saying how annoying they were getting and who on earth could be the girl behind them, then on the last call my friend said that she thought it could be a play on Nanami herself as a child calling for her brother and I agreed. Then Nanami asks who is the person behind the call, the tone shifts and the voice says “The End of the World”

I died there and never recovered.

10. Favorite scene from the movie

Might be a bit too sappy but the dancing scene has never left my mind, obviously other scenes impacted me more, like the reveal of Touga being dead or the whole Akio thing, and the whole car thing.

But my favorite will always be the dance, everything from animation, music, lighting, reflections, the flowers with the water. Everything is beautiful and it really is what I was left wishing from the dance in that one episode in the party, but this time with budget and I just have to watch the scene whenever I'm feeling down.

17. Post-canon headcanons

Nanami in the last episode of the show is the last day before leaving the school. Her and Touga go no contact and they have to say a last goodbye, they hug, a real hug for the first time and never contact each other again for their own sake.

Touga then asks Saionji for help cutting his own hair and Saionji keeps the bow Touga used during Kendo practices and they take their last year in the academy sharing a dorm so Touga doesn’t live in his parents house anymore.

Nanami maintains contact with her old friends for a while but in her new school she starts her new life from zero and makes friends again but she no longer feels the need for them to be servants. She even learns how to cook, she’s actually really good at it.

As for Utena, when he recovers he starts using masculine pronouns, cuts his hair and keeps playing basketball. I think he would do that even before Anthy finds him tbh.

Anthy I think would be interested in crops, instead of flowers and roses she would like to prepare food and actually learn how to cook and when she gets healthy enough even start practicing sports like she said she wanted to in that curry episode.

20. If you've ever made fanart or written fanfiction for the show, which piece do you like the most? Alternatively, feel free to shout out someone else's work

I have tried writing utena fanfiction for a while but I’m still not confident enough so I’ll go with my fanart

The first one is this Utena and Anthy one, based on the painting of La Belle Dame sans merci of Frank Dicksee. I gave UTENA the armor and weapon she uses in the opening and Anthy and longer version of the dress she wore as a child and the stairs in the last episodes. The poem is about a fairy condemning a knight after seducing him and just went with it. Plus the swords ofc

The other one I would choose is my Touga and Akio one. I did put a bunch of details that I didn't think most people would care about, it was just for fun.

Apart from my interpretation of Akio being at least 40, and being with his shirt open. They are both in the car at night. The constellation on the background is the one for the Dragon as Touga fits into the role of the dragon in both the play and the trope itself. The big bad in the first arc revealed to be a servant to the actual big bad.

He stares at both Akio and the viewer and hold his own camera. This camera is worse compared to Akio in the show, he owns a professional one to use for his photos with Utena and Anthy, that's why in the text I put ‘If you keep up like this you will get a better camera'. If Tough keeps imitating Akio he will truly end up like him.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

[right to left]

STILL thinking about drunk chess actually

stupid as hell bonus:

[anbaisai]

Alright whatever you say Mr. Jamil "I'm Normal" Viper

(Full text transcription: God it looks so cute on her I think she should transfer to Scarabia permanently but I know that won't happen I hate this damn school)

[soupysundae]

🎏🎏🎏🎏🎏

[critter-covenant]

Class is in session!

Idea inspired from this that I've been meaning to draw for the past few days

[shrimparts-blog888]

Couple of redesigns i had in mind for the Darling that i had to get out of my system 🫣

[cheeseshredder]

hello tsbt enjoyers. i bring you this image of an angry cat and a smug bird

[starjunkyard]

(hands u a domestic hudson sketch)... Take this.......... for the journey...............

[originalartblog]

Dazai trying to pretend to be a nobody who knows nothing so his new colleague won't be too suspicious of him during his entrance exam is hilarious

[hirumi25]

My (late) logs for the RC9GN DTIYS event hosted by @evilspiritweek from week 1 to week 5! (*￣∇￣)ノ

[originalaccountname]

everyone should read Dazai's Entrance Exam (the original Azure Apostle/Messenger arc) because the amount of changes they made when adapting the plot to fit it into 2 episodes in the present instead of the past cannot be covered without basically doing a full recap of the entire book.

The intrigue is built around the uncertainty of who the Azure Apostle is. Not in a "who could this person be?" way, but in a "oh no, could the azure apostle really be Dazai testing the ADA's limits?" way.

Dazai tagging along Kunikida during the investigation is his entrance exam. There is no trust established yet. Everyone is on edge. Dazai seems to know more than he should, but never shares. Fukuzawa gave Kunikida a gun and told him to shoot Dazai dead if Dazai turns out to be bad news and a danger to the ADA and the city.

You as the reader know Dazai will join the ADA. If you watched the anime you know the big lines and how things end. Or do you, really? So many things are different in this version, is the ending gonna be the same? Your knowledge barely settles your nerves.

Read it. It's good. It's honestly among Asagiri's best in terms of plot structure and foreshadowing. It's an actual mystery. You will like it.

[peanutseagle]

I've been missing Damianya a lot latelyTvT and I wanna see them in your art style! I love your art so so much!!💗 So can I ask for some blushy damianya fluff where damian's jealous over anya and Anya gives him a hug/kiss to him in the end?👉🏻👈🏻 whatever you're comfy with and the context is all upto you~ I really wanted to see this scenario in your art, pretty please?🥺 Thank you!!

Don't ask for context... neither I nor Damian have some.

[moonsvillain]

have been toying with the idea of an au wherein shen jiu, after burning down the qiu household and running away, comes across xie lian rather than wu yanzi poaching him immediately afterwards:

i'd imagine in this verse he runs away to town rather than immediately being found in the aftermath of what he's done. at this point, shen jiu would be too paranoid to consider reaching out for directions to cang qiong mountain even if he wanted to make it there: what if they knew what he did? or figured it out if he did know? (if he even had the mind to think of these things through his panic)

he doesn't want to end up begging on the streets again, though—too alike his childhood and last time he was in that position, shen jiu ended up with the qius in the first place

so he takes refuge in temples that he comes across, stealing food when he can before moving to a different part of the rather large town he's ended up in so there's no clear pattern of when he shows up at whichever food stall

despite not holding that same respect and unwavering belief in gods (how could he, after everything he's gone through? shouldn't they have stepped in, sometime? what god would let him suffer as he did, separating him from the only person he loved?) he knows better than to try them, and begrudgingly thanks them for the shelter (because this he did appreciate, at the very least, if nothing else)

winter hits hard when it does, and shen jiu, after spending so many years in the qiu household, forgot how the cold seeps into your skin and bones without solid walls to keep out the frigid breeze.

he quickly falls ill with nothing to protect him from the elements but his threadbare clothing, and when he grows ill, he becomes slow. shen jiu nearly gets caught stealing, running away before he can be dragged to a town guard for his offence, but earning himself a nasty wound to his leg as he retreated

sickness + the cold + the wound leave him weak and wanting: missing qi-ge, reminiscing on nights where they'd curl up together for warmth, still cold but not alone, the two of them steady against the storm that raged on ahead of them

fever-ridden and teetering close to death, shen jiu wanders into a temple late at night and sinks to his knees, falling to his side, heart-rate slowing. in his delirium, he misses the figure taking shelter from the storm in the corner, watching him

shen jiu wakes up (he doesn't expect to), warm while he hears the wind whistle. he's still in that temple from earlier, but it's considerably... cozier. a small fire warms the inside and his clothes aren't as damp against his cold skin. his fever's broken, too—he doesn't know how long it's been, but he's glad he didn't die: never realized that he wanted to live until he was close to forfeiting his right to

here is where he meets his accidental saviour: xie lian stood over a slowly bubbling pot of stew that smells heavenly to shen jiu—he'd eat just about anything at this point, starved

his immediate distrust of xie lian stops him from being truly excited about his appearance

their relationship is veryyy shaky at the very beginning: shen jiu refuses to trust him and xie lian refuses to abandon this strange child he found on the verge of death

(there's a strange sort of bond built up when you nurse someone back to life, dragging them away from the brink of death and xie lian isn't interested, but he's curious about this kid who stumbled into his temple at the dead of night on a midnight in winter)

shen jiu's torn between distrust and this desire for company he didn't know he possessed; after being alone with no one but the qiu household [before he went on his massacre] he didn't realized how much he wanted to share space with someone who wasn't actively hurting him until he was afforded the opportunity to experience non-violent company with xie lian

his distrust slowly declines when he finds out that xie lian is a cultivator. despite being arguably too old to learn cultivation to the fullest extent he could have if he started a few years earlier, he still desperately wants to learn

xie lian, perceptive as ever, slowly starts teaching him bits and pieces of the basics, teaches him to meditate, takes care to keep his distance when it looks like shen jiu's getting overwhelmed

shen jiu can't help but get attached. he hates it

shen jiu decides to test xie lian before resigning himself to this

he was snappy, impatient, and argued with xie lian, when he came over, one day, waiting for some form of punishment to come, bristling like a spooked cat.

nothing came of his experiment but a slight frown from xie lian, which made shen jiu feel almost bad—xie lian almost reminded him of qi-ge, which made him feel doubly bad because he desperately wants to find him

shen jiu came to xie lian the next day with a pastry [that he stole] as an apology. and a request:

"teach me how to cultivate so i can be a disciple at the cang qiong sect"

xie lian agrees easily enough: he's been around shen jiu to see that despite the late start, he has potential to be great [especially untouched by wu yanzi and his twisted form of cultivation]

shen jiu throws himself into his studies, working himself to the bone

xie lian is concerned by this and after trying to soften the load of his work doesn't make shen jiu slow down, he becomes stern: warns him against trying to chase too much frivolously

this leads to a breakdown of sorts—where shen jiu gets angry, dismissive, before becoming upset. the average emotional depth of a teenager but, like, 4 times worse because of the circumstances

xie lian coaxes the story out of shen jiu here; qi-ge [the first time he's mentioned aloud by name], the qiu household [only the barest of details. shen jiu refuses to dwell], and the night shen jiu made qi-ge leave, as well as qi-ge's promise to come back

shen jiu finishes by telling xie lian he needs to make it back to qi-ge, needs to see if he's still alive, he's been selfish for sticking around as long

shen jiu tells xie lian that he needs to figure out as much as he can, as fast as he can, so he can leave and make his way to cang qiong mountain with some sort of base knowledge to make it in. and that he's not sorry for pushing himself because he doesn't have time

xie lian is quiet for a while

puts a comforting hand on shen jiu's shoulder and tells him he understands; he knows someone who would do anything to make it back to the one they loved, understands the pain that comes when time and distance separates the two

however, xie lian tells him, he can't let shen jiu push himself. he'll only stunt his progress by hurting himself rather than speed things up

shen jiu is ready to argue again before xie lian offers to make the trip with him

shen jiu doesn't believe it at first—who would bother with helping him for this long if they weren't getting anything out of it? he already found this hard to believe, let alone the fact that xie lian would drop everything to travel with him for weeks on end

xie lian doesn't shake in his resolve, though. shen jiu figures out he's being serious and wants to argue, but he's just—relieved

so many people have stood as roadblocks on his path back to qi-ge; xie lian might be the first person actively trying to help them

it almost reignites hope in him; someone other than him believes in them. someone other than shen jiu thinks they'll make it back to each other and succeed in reuniting. xie lian's faith in him is like a gust of wind beneath his wings

he agrees to their road trip

[xie lian makes sure to tell his beloved he'll be away for a while]

[shen jiu doesn't notice that xie lian buys steamed buns off the same stranger in nearly every town they stop by for a night of rest in the following few weeks]

[xie lian notices, years later, when shen qingqiu doesn't recognize him upon their first meeting in decades. shen yuan doesn't know xie lian, but xie lian knows this isn't shen jiu, anymore]

[buglaur]

[critter-covenant]

quick little thing before i go die for a week, toodles!

[ffcrazy15]

"Oh so when James Kirk refuses to believe in no-win scenarios it's 'changing the conditions of the test' and 'commendable original thinking,' but when I, Bradward Boimler, can't accept the possibility of failure and retake the Kobiyashi Maru sixteen times–"