#that the only times we get to see utena in a dress in the show

[biruesque]

redraw of that one art where utena looks happy in a dress!

source

[transmascutena]

always thinking about how the only times we ever see utena wear dresses is when a man wants her to, even though she's clearly very uncomfortable with it. and also how each time it happens it's more horrific than the last.

the first time is because touga sends it to her, and she wears it despite saying she hates it, presumably for the same reason she tells him she came to the party in the first place: because she thinks he might be her prince. the bright side of this time is that she's (somehow) wearing her uniform underneath it, and is able to take it off.

the second time we don't get to see where the dress comes from or hear her thoughts on it, but it's pretty clear to me that she only chose to wear it because she thought akio would want her to. her own choice, but only by a technicality, the same way she doesn't actually get to choose anything when it comes to akio. (wonder what other relevance that has in this episode. hmmm)

and the last time may be the worst of all of them because this time she is literally forced into wearing it. she doesn't even get the illusion of a choice. and worse yet, it's the rose bride dress, the very symbol of the role akio has been grooming her into for the entire show.

something i really love about utena as a character is that her gender-noncomformity is explored and questioned throughout the show, but the answer it comes to is always that she is not comfortable with femininity, and that's something about her that never changes no matter how much certain people want it to. every time utena presents more femininely (other examples being the girl's uniform in episode 12 and the earrings in episode 35) it's always framed as something bad for her, something she is forced or coerced into against her will (to varying degrees.) and the show is not saying that being feminine is bad, just that utena isn't, that being gender-noncomforming is a key part of her identity, and that trying to take that away from her is cruel and violating.

[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.

[gamesception]

lets read rgu chapter 12

I’ve been told that this version of Juri is the originally intended version of the character?  And while I don’t think the person who said that was lying or anything, it’s still kind of hard to believe.  Partially because there seems to be a lot of misinformation going around about this series - a lot of folks online seem to think that the manga - the entire manga - came first and the anime was an adaptation from that, which my initial research says is not the case.  Partially because that bit of research also gave me the impression that Ikuhara wasn’t very forthcoming with anyone during the production regarding the overall direction of the story.  I’m not sure I would buy anyone’s account of what the original vision for Utena’s story was “supposed to be” other than Ikuhara, and possibly not even his.

I could easily see how we could go from anime Juri to this - ie, Ikuhara had an idea for the character that he knew would be controversial so he kept it close to his chest and didn’t tell anyone for as long as possible, leaving Saito with a character design but no character that might as well just be slotted in as a romantic rival for Touga’s affections in a manga story that is at least presenting itself more as an Utena/Touga romance.  On the other hand, if manga juri was genuinely the initial intent by everyone, including Ikuhara, from the very beginning, I have a hard time seeing how the pivot from this to anime Juri happened mid production.

I mean, that would take some kind of miracle.

Setting aside other versions of her character - hypothetical or realized - manga Juri is a purely physical threat.  She doesn’t have a compelling motivation to relate to, she doesn’t present a significant thematic challenge to Utena’s worldview or princely ambitions.  She’s just someone who is good at sword fighting - a fact that the still image format of the manga can /tell/ us, but can’t convincingly /show/.  The duel panels are very pretty, but don’t really convey a great sense of danger or difficulty than those with Saionji.  And Juri’s supposed unbeatable fencing skill is pretty significantly undermined when just a couple pages into the fight Utena calls down the power of Dios...

and then Utena just wins. effortlessly.

Another unfortunate thing I’m just now realizing is that with Juri having the one sided crush on Touga and being a bitter and jealous antagonist over it, there’s not much left for Nanami to do when she’s introduced....

only she’s probably not going to be introduced, is she?  I mean, the dissolving dress party prank thing didn’t happen, we haven’t seen or mentioned her yet, the manga probably doesn’t have time for comedy side episodes...  Anime’s best worst girl just doesn’t appear in this comic at all, does she?

Another of my favorite characters missing entirely from this version of the story.

Anyway, Utena tries to ask Touga if he’s the prince who saved her as a child, but can’t quite bring herself to do it.

The next day she’s still distracted thinking about it, throwing off her archery game, though we do get a cute moment of Wakaba cheering her on, so that’s nice.

Afterwords Miki approaches Utena to talk about Juri and Touga.  He feels bad for Juri, and wants to go talk to Touga about it.  sure I guess.

Touga’s dorm is a mansion for some reason.  That’s kind of funny.  I’m not sure why they’re coming here if he’s supposed to still be in the clinic?

They break into Touga’s house using a spare key, and I’m still not sure why, or what they’re doing here.  I mean, I know what Utena’s doing here - she’s snooping around to find out if Touga’s her prince.  Manga Utena is significantly more concerned about that then anime Utena.

Ok, so Miki’s snooping around because he thinks Touga’s up to something and has been in communication with EotW instead of just receiving letters from them.  At least I get what they’re trying to do, though not why he invited Utena on the spying mission.

Utena finda a picture of Touga and Nanami (forshadowing a future character introduction?  Am I wrong about her being completely absent?), mentions how she always wanted a sibling.  Miki starts to open up about whatever the manga version of his deal is when they hear someone else in the building and rush to hide.

A couple pages are out of order in the scan here, which caused a fair bit of confusion, but basically they rush to hide in a cupboard, but it turns out to be a secret door to Touga’s wizard sanctum.

And that’s where the chapter ends.

I don’t know.  It’s hard to be super invested in the rose magic wizard mystery when I feel like I mostly know what’s going on already from having watched the anime - even if there’s more detail on that side of things in the manga, where as the interpersonal character stuff - the stuff that stays compelling to me even if I already know it - is largely absent in this rendition.

I wasn’t expecting to like the manga as much as the anime going in, but even so I’m still pretty disappointed.  It’s not incompetently crafted by any means, it still looks good, and some bits even look better than the anime version, but still.

But hey, maybe they’ll do something with the star signs business, and I’ll be able to make some homestuck jokes?

[number1villainstan]

episode 31, it's got nanami in the thumbnail so i'm hopeful that it isn't as utterly soul-crushingly depressing as the last one. on the other hand it is literally called "her tragedy" so uh

forgot to watch the previews yesterday so we doing that now

oh they're talking blood types? anty's AB, which is apparently "evasive" and doesn't tend to reveal their true feelings. huh. i wonder why anyone would say that about anthy /sarcasm. utena's type B, which is apparently self-centered and tends to jump to conclusions. they're both out here throwing insults in each others faces

nanami replaces anthy in the yin-yang bed?? and nanami is also type B??

i wonder what i'd be lol. i'm type A-, though i'm not sure the Rh factor plays into japanese blood type mythos

still hate that end-card credits pic with juri and ruka. ruka you get your hands OFF of her! and your face out of her boob!!!!

unrelated to the episode entirely but "i wanna be a machine" from beatsaber is a mikage song. and also partially an anthy song i think. it's definitely a burnt-out voidpunk song and definitely a me song lmao. although it being a me song is like half the reason why i think it's a mikage song

not a full analysis of the intro song at all but huh. anthy in red armor, with the white rose painted on her chest, and at first she and utena look like they're about to charge at each other but then they switch to riding together. and anthy's on the black horse and utena's on the white horse (like dios' white horse). two opposing forces, the princess and the prince, but they're both knights fighting for the same cause. damn.

oh hey it's the story again. framed by red roses. red roses for anthy? red roses for akio???

OKAY SO at the beginning it's red roses. then the frame disappears for a while, and when it's back it's white roses (for dios, i bet). and then when it changes from baby utena in that yellow dress (bet there's symbolism there, like innocence or royalty or something, cuz yellow isn't a mourning color so far as i know) to utena grown up (more) in a prince outfit (blue and red, mostly blue, for...what?) the roses change to pink (for utena, probably). and the roses fade back to red for the episode title card. doesnt' seem like the story is different from the default?

moving picture of the shadow of a child playing and the vague sounds of laughing kids in the background. a deliberate callback to childhood with both the story and the pictures. one of them is a lone girl playing with a stick and hoop, then two girls (the shadow girls?) playing jump rope together, but each with their own jump ropes. again, a callback to childhood, but specifically carefree childhood. in the same breath that nanami says that touga is her blood.

"it says here that couples who are both blood type B are the least compatible" and then she says that the entire family is type B. if that isn't the show telling us the kiryuus are fucked up i don't know what is. and then there's anthy's mention in the previews that type b's are self-centered and jump to conclusions.

oh so the incest has been brought from strong subtext straight to text huh?

the crazy long silence broken only by a frog was kinda funny though. is frog gonna be a symbol for this episode?

nanami did you really just. no. nanami don't. you really really aren't supposed to walk in on people showering, especially on purpose

aaaand there's the red censor rose. red for touga maybe? since he's a "budget akio"? touga really seemed to be showing off behind that curtain

oh touga knew. i wonder if he caught nanami stealing his phone(?).

"it's so boring having nothing but girls over" just. fuck the girls nameless person on the other end of the phone

okay yeah that's kind of a power move on nanami's part. even if she's doing it for selfish motives i am so down to see touga's reputation get wrecked one girl at a time

"oh but that doesn't matter" girl it does matter you gotta find someone who respects you

damn she's so pissed off it freaked out her girl gang

nanami can't you see that touga's the problem? not the girls he's flirting with?

the roman busts with glasses? what's that supposed to represent? nanami's idolization of touga?

shiiiiiiit akio really just showed up out of nowhere

wait. if the statues are nanami's idolization of touga, then the triplets carrying the statues in between nanami and utenanthy, showing that nanami's blinded to seeing utena and anthy properly because of that idolization? and then it switches to her holding all three statues, representing that the idolization is a burden she can't continue to hold up for long?? are we getting Character Growth soon????

anthy eating a banana, huh. my first thought on seeing that was that it represents anthy's desire to bite off her brother's dick

kozue, then utena, then nanami. young girls keep getting their legs/feet injured around this guy. so nanami's agency/choice is restricted here? like kozue's and utena's?

free my girl nanami she did nothing wrong

utena touching akio's hands by accident and then blushing.....mmmm don't like that. and neither does nanami cuz she's smart

blue fed to akio (whose color is blue? or is it an emotion? just a contrast to red?) and anthy's is all red (mouths are usually red but. also red represents akio. and anger.)

nanami: "that's weird...THAT'S suspicious..."

omg utena being fucking oblivious

nanami was not in fact suspicious. she's just envious. goddamnit, i was thinking she might start to gain some insight about her own situation with touga

"your'e in love with the chairman" and the statue changes to The Rape of Proserpine. YEAH.

"let's both try our best" and it switches to the musicians of hat one town? the donkey, dog, cat and rooster. i can't remember what the tale was exactly

wait touga is type A? that's not what nanami said earlier--also how did they find this out

if type A is perfectionist, that don't spell good things for me lol

the Realization(TM). and the way that the girl gang mirror's nanami's expressions, almost as if to comfort her? or to show their loyalty?

"not one picture of [touga] when he was a baby" HUH. adopted???

oh yeah there's alos another thing--nanami's blonde, and touga's a redhead, and blond and red as hair colors are both recessive in the real world. so they'd need two copies of recessive genes to get their respective hair colors. i think? but then again it's anime, hair color is weird

bro just because he's adopted doesn't mean he's not your brother. if he's part of the family he's part of the family

she still has his cell phone. and she's still turning down girls in his place. man she is going through it isn't she. first she finds out her brother's adopted (and thinks that means they're not actually siblings which is wrong but) AND she keeps getting calls on her brother's cell phone from random girls he's hooked up with. nanami. wake up. the girls are not the problem. your brother is the problem.

hanging light has six sides. no idea if that's an important detail or not

someone introduce this girl to the found family trope

bright red censor rose as touga pushes his face right into his sister's. how fun.

BUT IT DISAPPEARS WHEN NANAMI PUSHES HIM AWAY--AND NANAMI ACTUALLY PUSHED HIM AWAY!! and said she wasn't a little kid! which is in direct contrast to that moment earlier in the series when she asked touga for a kiss and touga was the one to say they're not children anymore...and then touga summons the censor rose

the frog sound again. the interruption of affection?

nanami desperately trying to get distance as she figures this out

rule number 34 huh? anything like rule 34 of the internet?

she would have been safe(r) at tsuwabuki's than she would be at akio's place. also why was he playing minigolf right then the fuck

purple spinning censor rose this time. when akio jokes(?) that he wants to turn the residence into a harem.

the frog sound always comes right before either akio or touga says "just kidding" about something sexual (probably while not actually kidding)

"consider yourself family" aaaand there goes akio with the incest kink again

akio joking about making a harem. and then utena asking, much less jokingly, about if it feels like akio's making a harem.

flashback of the Car Kiss, framed with pink roses. utena's eyes are closed. akio's are open. utena doesn't know what's going on. akio does know what's going on.

"[akio] doesn't discriminate when it comes to girls" uh. what. i don't like that

anthy says just kidding but no frog sound effect. huh.

wait is utena on camera? anthy's holding the boomstick too--what are they filming? or maybe more to the point--what does it mean??

shadow girl play! the monkey catching robot is back! and then it switches to cuckoo parasitism, how fun--and then tying it into the ugly duckling tale? oh that's interesting. especially in the case of touga being possibly adopted?

...are they seriously comparing adopted human children and people who feel Different to bird parasitism

okay never mind it looks like the monkey catching robot is being used as a framing device

NANAMI STRAIGHT UP REJECTING TOUGA HELL YEAH! even if it's not for the right reasons--

nanami, utena, and anthy are grouped together (all the girls), and akio and touga are grouped together (all the boys). with the reflection of the door frame dividing them. (although utena is standing where the door frame's reflection falls--a nod to her masculinity?)

and the discordant version of sunlit garden starts playing--

akio does not look happy with this development. like he looks downright angry about it. touga just looks kinda unhappy though

flashbacks with nanami-yellow roses, of course. "I still consider you my brother" but do i even like you anymore

"because i love you" but what meaning of love is she using here? i bet it might be clearer in the japanese

she doesn't want to be around him because his presence amplifies some Bad Emotions

there was a visible constellation over the yin-yang bed but idk what it was. there isn't usually a constellation like that, just stars in the window, right?

aaaaaand nanami ran into akio raping anthy didn't she

the way the rose bride dress just. falls. oh god. nanami might not know all of it but she's starting to get an inkling

...you know. i was wondering where anthy was. and now i know. and now nanami knows. and now nanami is freaking out about it. as is natural because yeah i would too if i didn't already know

i wonder what that scene of anthy standing up is supposed to mean

Oh also, along with writing the December 2023 Monthly Short Piece today, I finally watched the first episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena after days of seeing a moot post about it and--

"I am the Rose Bride. From this day forward, I belong to you."

i am going to murder everyone in this damn school for anthy

[mahou-furbies]

Mahou wrap up 2022 survey results

Here are the results of the recent questionnaire for your Mahou 2022!

Best character:

irma w.i.t.c.h.

Myamu

Lemon Kokoa

sunday spade wild cardz

Luchia Nanami

Mew Lettuce

Cure Whip! (i rewatched KiraKira! So not really 2022? If from 2022 only, I loved Kuroe)

Cure Precious/Yui Nagomi

nanami kiryuu

Fuwa Kokone

Sayaka miki (I watched side story this year so it technically counts even though she’s my favorite magical girl ever)

Yui Nagomi/Cure Precious, Ichigo Momomiya/Mew Ichigo

Best character design:

Cure YumYum

Cure Yum Yum

Cure coral

cure flora

Cure Finale

Kome-Kome

The Hirogaru Sky silhouettes. I just know the full designs are gonna be ballin'

This is a hard one, all of the Primagi designs are tied.

kumi kumi from mgrp white is minecraft

Infinite Iroha (Magia Record)

I just love seeing designs in general

the way utena uses the transformations for symbolism and what not is super cool design by itself goes to cure summer shes great

Mew Lettuce's and Mew Zakuro's 2022 designs

Best work:

Tokyo Mew Mew New

Tokyo Mew Mew New!

care bear stars

Magilumiere

Healer Girl

....does witch hat atelier count as a mg since it's witches or it it too fantasy world to be one? either way it slaps

Ultra Maniac

Delicious Party PreCure has its moments but it's not my fav season or anything. I wish I had time for more anime this year, but unfortunately I've been working overtime.

Can I say Glitter and Guilt? Because there's published webcomic pages now

utena is the best show ive watched in a long time i love picking it apart and even tough its super dark and hard to watch the visuals and everything is amazing i love the movie the most its so surreal and dreamy this is all entirely expected bc i love twin peaks and theyre a very similar niche

I really really liked Madoka side story, but I watched yuki yuna and was really pleasantly surprised by it!

Free comment field for gushing about something that didn’t fit the other topics:

uhh watch lego monkie kid its like a magical girl show but about a boy

Keeping it to series i more or less saw this 2022 but i really wanna praise waccha primagi tho its more of an idol series than magical girl the magic is every present in the show and i love the great myamu sama the ending moved me to tears.

saint tail remaster bless discotek

Obsessed with the Shugo Chara Wonderland merch that released earlier this year.

Was fascinated how some of the dress up collection dresses made a comeback in the DeliPre series. For example when Kokone was shown wearing Rikka's blue gown.

Watching Vampire in the Garden (a non mahou show) has given me ideas for making a magical girl OC with clothes based on Imperial Russia. You can never have too many OCs!

all the merch and new content for the early-mid 2000's shows and manga has got me really excited! like, of course we got the Tokyo Mew Mew reboot, but there's been new merch and art for Shugo Chara, Mermaid Melody has that sequal series being released, and even Saint Tail has gotten some stuff. It makes me hopeful that other manga besides Mew Mew will also get the same love and attention!

power of friendship is the shit and somehow mg shows make it not cheesy but good good

The Mascots and Recipepes in Delicious Party Precure are so cute!! I also liked the addition of Rosemary and BlackPepper/Takumi.

Hmmm I really liked some magical girl webcomics I was reading, like Cloudy Wondrous and Captian Jellyfish

I love Takumi from DeliPaPre, he's such a dork and its very endearing how he tries to be a cool Tuxedo Mask type but sometimes forgets his Cool Guy persona bc "omg its yui" lol

Complaint time!

Gushing Over Magical Girls should be good. i like the designs but too horny for the age of everyone

Mew Mint's henshin was a major downgrade from the original

The adaptation of Magia Record was such a disappointment! It undid the happy ending of the game and killed of several characters for shock value!

I finally got around to watching all of Day Break Illusion and GOD it started out really cool and interesting, but than it decided to just get BAD bad a bit after the half way mark. Lots of missed potential.

WHY CAN'T WE GET ANY MAHOU MOBILE GAMES IN ENGLISH EVERY TIME I SEE GAME CHARACTERS ON MGOTD I WANT THEM BUT THEY'RE ALWAYS DISCONTINUED OR SOMETHING Also Miraculous Ladybug is a trainwreck

i watched a lot of older and darker mg shows this year and i really dont like the saturation of designs that exist now also there arent newer medium dark shows that ive heard its either for kids or everyone dies i like both but not as the only option

How easily I fall out of a Precure season. Delicious Party I think is the furthest I've ever gotten

yuis lack of a personality in delipre

The 4th cures design and general costume of delipre didnt really live up to the food theme.

Honestly I really hate how delicious party precure is pushing stress eating as a good thing.

Delicious Party Precure seemed to have TOO many themes at the same time and didn't feel as cohesive as other teams to me.

Hmm I tried watching some of the later entries in precure (tropical rouge and delipre) and I simply couldn’t get into any of them :/ I also tried watching flip flappers again and simply couldn’t get through it again -_- it was uncomfortable to watch

Mahou plans and hopes for 2023:

That the new precure series will be aesthetic af

I'm always excited for the next Precure!

im hoping this years precure has an angel theme and there will be more cyber inspired designs in general i find them fun and good for diversity also ive started the sailor moon anime i read the manga when i was a little kid but ive never watched it

To like the new season of precure and for Magilumere to keep going

Super excited for Hirogaru Sky!! And Mew New season 2

I hope the new precure season uses the duo formula again, and a more pastel color palette. Also looking forward to the new Sailor Moon movie!

I hope the next precure season is better than DeliParty, and I also hope for a Primagi season 2! Just more new original stories would be nice.

lesbians

new original series.

I'm really looking forward to Mahou Shoujo Magical Foghters and In/Spectre season 2!! Gonna watch those weekly!

Learn to take things off the backburner

God I wish I could design magical girls

Hopefully I’ll be able to get my current project going (webcomic)

More magical girl stuff in general, and less fighting among fans over ships and the grimdark vs. standard genres

Thanks to everyone who took part!

Raffle winners have been contacted. I’ll wait... let’s say a week in case people are busy doing something else over the holidays than browsing tumblr, and if there’s no response I’ll pick a different winner.

[smengus]

was talking utena with my friend @stylincheetah today, about what the roses symbolize when theyre framed around scenes/people, or just placed in seemingly random shots of the show

it started out simple enough, we knew that the frames usually symbolized idealized scenes or memories, or idealized views of certain people. like a painting in a frame, it captures a moment that most will romanticize in time, and  not look for a deeper meaning at first glance

then the discussion of what white roses symbolize came up, and obv theyre supposed to signify princehood because theyre the flowers dios/ak*o uses. theyre in frames with touga, because touga tries to emulate princehood around utena, and even during the funeral scene, utena has a white rose pinned to her dress, because shes seen anthy and realized she too wants to achieve princehood to save anthy and reach “eternity”. i think even mikage has white roses at some point because of his obsession with mamiya

through this, we get a sense of what each character truly wants, but its also like... theyre all just being reduced to flowers. it makes me wonder if those flowers are how, not only us the audience view rgu’s characters, but how anthy and ak*o view them too. we never got a set time that theyve been alive, but we know its been really long, so i imagine anthys seen her fair share of duelists and classmates. and that entire time shes been trapped in ohtori, shes been the rose bride, trapped in a cage, tending to the same bunches of colored roses

maybe the roses are how anthy sees her classmates. simple little plants she can tend to and manipulate however she wants or needs to, useful in their own way but all aesthetic because she doesnt expect them to do anything in the end, except scatter in the wind. and ohtori academy is their greenhouse/birdcage

i think its also interesting too, that the roses are used to “censor” a lot of the more intense scenes, but by the final episode, when anthy stabs utena, there are no roses in sight

anthys tired of simplifying and romanticizing everything for the sake of the audience, and for herself. shes done it all and it hasnt gotten her anything. she gave utena a chance and nipped it in the bud (pun intended) before utena even had a chance

unsurprising that its also because utena transcends what both ak*o and anthy expect of her in the end. shes not a prince, and shes certainly not a rose

shes just a girl who wants to help the one she loves in whatever way she can

[brave-symphonia]

I just finished episode 3 of Utena, and I already really ship Utena and Anthy after that episode.

Like, before I wanted them together, and I would have been surprised if I didn’t eventually ship them, but that was quick.

Like, the scene where she hears Anthy scream, and she immediately drops everything, rushes to her, rips off her own dress, and gives Anthy a new one, only to dance with her, I was getting close to tearing up from happiness.

And I feel like this episode showed a lot about Anthy, just from little things in it, not even anything that was stated.

Like, she says that she doesn’t do well with lots of people, telling us she’s shy. But then we really see that when she’s left alone, we see her scared because she’s by herself with people all around her.

I just really love how that was done, how we’re told something about her, and they don’t leave it at that.

They tell us first, and since we have that in our mind, they then go on to show her fear at large gatherings. And I feel like it makes it hit more than if we were just told or shown it.

I feel like I’m really going to love both Anthy and Utena, both as people and as a couple, by the time this is done.

And actually, while writing this post, I did tear up a little just thinking about both the dance and what Anthy went through.

[palms-upturned]

if you’re still doing that ask meme, nanami :)

YEEEEEEEESSS THANK YOU

character ask meme

What I love about them

where’s that post that’s like oh nanami my poor baby my daughter my little gremlin bitch… i love her so much she’s literally awful 😭 but she’s so important to the story, like the other rgu material out there without her just isn’t the same… i think it’s so interesting how the anime depicts all these different responses to trauma/abuse/oppression and nanami is just so… SHES SO… the way she lashes out in the same ways that some of the absolute worst characters do, by leveraging what power she has to make other people feel small and make herself bigger by comparison, and does such heinous things and yet you still Get It… nanami who feels like a space alien or a freak of nature or something pretending to be a girl but isn’t and she’s so terrified of being seen for what she is UGGGHHHHH NANAMI…

What I hate about them

ndsgxjxb i can’t really bring myself to hate nanami but GOD the dress incident in episode 3 was like so fucking heinous, my stomach drops thinking about it

Favorite moment/quote

oh god idek how to pick one… she’s like possibly my fav character in the show SHSGSJDBS i guess the moment that always stood out to me most was when she punched keiko, like i was so stunned and sick and my heart just shattered bc like… that’s when you Get It… even before that moment, she’s always been lashing out like a cornered animal because she’s so unloved… she doesn’t have anyone to genuinely rely on to help her… she can only trust people who she has power over 😔 the only way to protect herself from violence is to strike the first blow 😔😔😔 and yet the violence she faces from keiko is mostly nanami’s own violent actions rebounding back on her and GOOOOOODDDD NANAMI!!!!!! AAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

What I would like to see more focus on

i do sort of wish that we saw more of nanami and anthy interacting directly but that’s more for my own curiosity than me thinking that it would have improved the story dhsgdjxbxb it just sort of breaks my heart that nanami’s response to what she saw was just to tell utena not to trust anthy but well… that’s the point isn’t it, to everyone but utena, anthy is just an allegory, not a person in need of help 😔

What I would like to see less focus on

errr… i dunno if this really fits the question, but i HATE nanami’s epilogue SJSGSJDBXB WHAT DO U MEAN SHES HANGING AROUND TOUGA AND SAIONJI… ABSOLUTELY NOT… nanami was literally the first person to attempt to leave ohtori of her own volition and would have succeeded if akio didn’t intercept her transfer request (or maybe touga did? i mean he’s not actually in the student council anymore at that point but that wouldn’t stop him from snooping ig) like she literally tells touga in that episode that she doesn’t want to see him anymore FOR GOOD REASON… so when the epilogue showed her hanging out at the dojo i think i actually yelled “NO” out loud 😭 like ik people say it’s just to show that she’s not ready to break the cycle yet but she’s the character who put forth the most effort to do exactly that so im like [gnashing and biting and weeping] WHY…

Favorite pairing with

WAKABA… whoever keeps giving the two of them duets in the stage musicals, i will kiss you on the mouth

Favorite friendship

juri and miki and nanami best friends forever… i think they repurpose the stuco balcony for weekly uno games… also that nanami and miki briefly date and have the most middle school comphet romance of all time and juri suffers through it in silence even tho she’s internally screaming the entire time

NOTP

just… the obvious one i guess hdgsjxbxbx actually i also saw saionji/nanami content once and i was like… no puede ser…

Favorite headcanon

i lov autistic nanami hcs…

[muninnhuginn]

Ask meme- Nanami Kiryuu from RGU? 💃🏼👀

Thanks for asking! Slight disclaimer before I do this that I've not rewatched Utena in a while (aside from the shadow play episode which I rewatched a few weeks back for reasons) so I might be misremembering things a bit.

Why I like them

Her overall series arc is so good. You start with the standard perception of her as a bully, but as the series progresses you slowly realise that that’s not all there is to her in that there are reasons why she acts out as she does. And that those reasons tie into a lot of the other themes in the series (the most obvious one being the cycle of abuse* but that’s not the only one). And she does start to improve somewhat. I’m not sure I’d say that by the end of the series she’s fully completed her character development, but she’s definitely made progress? (Nanami has what Miraculous fans wish Chloe got though)

*There was actually a fanart piece I came across recently which summed that part up visually really well. I was holding off on reblogging it for spoiler reasons but it should be safe to reblog now so I’ll probably do so after this post.

Why I don’t

The cow and egg episodes. I get (mostly) what they're trying to do with her there but there are some parts of it where I'm cringing so badly that I'm just there like "pls no I can't watch".

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

Not exactly a specific ep but across a few but the stuff near the end where she's staying with Anthy and Utena and gets forced to re-examine her relationship with Touga is definitely my favourite arc for her character.

And if I had to pick a scene, I think the "there's an x in Anthy's pencil case" gag. Both because it gets funnier as it escalates and also because it actually shows how insecure Nanami is that she thinks being "weird" is reason to be mocked by friends.

Favorite season/movie

N/A

Favorite line

N/A

Favorite outfit

Her usual yellow uniform tbh. I don't even like bright yellow particularly but it's so ingrained with my idea of her that it seems weird for her to be in anything else.

OTP

I don't actually have one for her, you know? I more have a list of NOTPs in terms of "please keep her brother well away from her thanks" and overall am uh not sure she's in a super position to start a healthy romantic relationship.

Brotp

I like some of the little bits with her and Miki and Juri. They can be pretty cute, especially near the end of the series.

Head Canon

I'm not sure how canon canon this is but I was pretty convinced by some of the arguments I've seen thrown about that Nanami's entire thing with her brother is basically down to comphet? She thinks that her brother is safe as a target because he would never return her 'feelings' and that adds to the disorientation when she finds out about the blood types*.

*Though I do think the main factor with the blood relation thing is more about whether Touga is only tied to her through obligation and if that didn't exist, would he still care for her? And all of Nanami’s other “friendships” are largely superficial and centred around other topics not around actually liking each other, so of course that adds to the depth of obsession she has with her one “proper” personal connection at the start of the show. (And the superficial friendships also connects to how she was so sure that Anthy would be ostracised for being “weird” because she’s likely projecting to some extent)

Unpopular opinion

Not sure if unpopular but part of why I like Nanami is because as you find out more about her she becomes obviously more complex. However, the dress thing with Anthy early on becomes retrospectively a lot worse once we find out what Anthy is remembering at that time. And I don't really see much of those who *do* like Nanami really addressing how messed up that in particular is? Like, obviously Nanami wouldn't have realised she was stepping on a specific trauma, but the dress thing was incredibly messed up regardless.

A wish

For her to continue down the path she’s going as of the end of the series and to break free 😔.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Falling back into the pattern with Touga. I feel like at the end of the series she has actually made progress on this because the pedestal is broken so her returning or reverting to the unabashed worship would be so yikes to me.

5 words to best describe them

Insecure bully dressed in yellow

My nickname for them

I don't have one for her in general, but have recently come across "Cownami" for her in the cow episode which amuses me.

[floatingcatacombs]

I Played the Utena Saturn Game

12 Days of Aniblogging 2020, Day 2

I shied away from it in 2019, but this year I sank my teeth right back into Revolutionary Girl Utena. It’s simply the best anime! Of course, something as popular as RGU is bound to get some spinoffs. These range from the concurrently-published manga to a shitton of drama CDs to a takarazuka-styled stageplay. And then there’s the visual novel they made for the Sega Saturn, which I decided to go into blind because I thought it might make for some good blogging. I hope I was right!

Yep, this is our main character. God help us

The Utena Saturn game, which was translated in 2015 courtesy of an ohtori.nu user, tries its hardest to integrate itself into the show, pulling artwork, voice actors, soundtrack, and even some FMVs straight out of the series. As such, it feels like a pretty low-budget affair, but I wasn’t expecting anything too glamorous from a tie-in like this. Plotwise, it takes place somewhere towards the end of the show’s first arc, which in practice means that the characters are underdeveloped and less interesting than they could have been (and Nanami is practically a no-show). The plot plays out like a test-run for the Black Rose Arc, with characters gradually getting bent to the villain’s will as the protagonist is left in the dark.

What a coincidence, I put poison in your tea

We find ourselves playing as a personality-free transplant to Ohtori Academy who quickly gets swept under Utena’s wing. As far as yuri-pandering goes, it’s both liberal by Utena show standards and not much at all. As a female student, you can ask the women of the show if they have girlfriends, but you’ll pretty much always get laughed off and chastised for it. I guess that’s true to form for Akio’s academy? Anyways, the character of note here is Chigusa, the other new transfer student. First and foremost, she’s the goth dream girl that the show never quite got, and when she does the same “I get told I look like a boy” bit as Utena, it’s even funnier this time around, considering she’s wearing a dress with a lace-up front. Chigusa is obviously the going to draw the player’s attention the most, because she’s new and mysterious. And the game slaps you on the wrist for that! You see, Chigusa is straight-up evil, and doesn’t even make an attempt to hide it. She starts off by whispering you the wrong answer in math class, but by day three she is straight-up trying to assassinate your character, from tacks in a cake to kicking your lungs out during a soccer match to a poisoning attempt. Unfortunately, if you like Revolutionary Girl Utena, chances are you are a lesbian and thusly like horrible women doing terrible things. Getting any positive relationship points with her will subtract points from everyone else, pretty much sealing your fate if you interact with her more than once.

So you’ve sacrificed everything for Chigusa and all of the Student Council is effectively dead. Surely you’ll at least get some special bad ending, right? Maybe even a little bit of homoeroticism, as a treat.

Your reward is an incredibly brief scene in which your character trips down the dark therapy elevator, confesses that she has no real friends, and is dispatched unceremoniously by Utena in a Black Rose duel.

What a cruel game!

Playing through the game trying to get a real ending unfortunately doesn’t make our villain any more compelling. Like Professor Nemuro, Chigusa is a ghost from the past, a duelist who only wants to use the power of Dios to… travel back in time, steal your dad from your mom, and paradox you out of existence? It’s not even a half-baked ideology like the Student Council members have, it’s just a shitty scheme.

We do get an FMV duel between Chigusa and Utena, but it’s almost entirely made out of recycled frames from past duels, which makes sense given this game’s shoestring budget.

Me at myself before spending an entire evening trying to get my emulation setup to work since this is a two-disc game and that makes it extra finicky

My final thoughts on this game concern everyone’s favorite miracle-iconoclast. I’m a lesbian first and a gamer second, so obviously I picked the Juri route over the rest of the Student Council. It’s mostly standard fare, with her being initially cold, later incredibly distressed at how you admire her and Utena for being Duelists, and finally trusting you enough to let her in on the whole locket mess. Shiori doesn’t actually appear in the game, so Chigusa has to play her part in instigating drama, even making a pass at Juri and stealing her locket (As an aside, Kozue is here, exclusively to have a gay relationship with Chigusa to piss off Miki).

“How do you do, fellow lesbians”

It’s the ending of Juri’s route that really eats away at me. Unsurprisingly, your character catches feelings and doesn’t know how to process being in love with another girl, and Juri pretty much just laughs her off. But as your character prepares to leave the academy for good, Juri kisses her goodbye and hands you a locket with her own face in it.

You don’t have to be an expert in Juri’s arc to know that that’s one of the cruelest gifts she could have given to a fellow repressed lesbian.

[arbitrarygreay]

What's up, anime foodies, we're back for another round of making delicious sakuga munchies, and today we've got a great set for the week: Revolutionary Girl Utena!

Have you heard, have you heard? This show feeds us a lot of delicious meals, from opening night dorm feast (soup/salad/bread), to exploding curry, to Wakaba's bento ("mostly instant"), to takoyaki and yakisoba, to delicious steak, to delicious fried eggs, to delicious cake, to delicious brandy-stewed rose hips jam.

It all culminates here, though: the Lunch Called Disassociation.

Now, we never get to see the eventual lunch in the show, so there are a few possible interpretations we'll be making. What we know for sure are the following ingredients: -Egg -Asparagus -Salmon

For all meals, we will assume that the salmon and asparagus have been prepared the same way.

The original footage states that the salmon is dinner leftovers. We'll just use the foil-steamed method as seen in Today's Menu for the Emiya Family, episode 2. Osmose excess liquid from fillet using salt/sake for 10 minutes, wrap fillet in foil with seasoning and veggies of choice (picture below shows rehydrated garlic power and onion flakes, plus a chimichurri seasoning mix), steam in a covered pan over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes. The original recipe also calls for butter, but I've found that the salmon itself contains enough fat.

saumon la filet r��volutionnaire

One can include the asparagus in the foil packets, but in the original footage, Utena said that she planned to boil the asparagus, which implies that it was not a part of the salmon leftovers, that she would cook them from fresh. So we're going to do a blanch: Snap off the woody end of each stalk. Submerge stalks in salted boiling water for 30-40 seconds, then stop the cooking process with an ice bath. (Be very liberal with the amount of salt in the water. There has to be enough for saltiness to osmose into the asparagus with only 30 seconds of exposure!) The blanched asparagus should be bright green, no browning. Generally, 6 stalks will be one meal serving.

-------

In the first iteration of the proposed lunch, eggs are specified as "tamagoyaki." This is rolled egg omelette, which is then often sliced like a sausage. Tamagoyaki points towards a bento configuration. (Which means, also make some rice by whichever is your usual method.)

There are many instruction videos out there for tamagoyaki, but here's a short outline: The bento serving shown below is half of a roll made with 2 eggs. 2 eggs is usually the minimum amount to make a roll in a small pan. A common ratio is 3 tablespoons (or less) of flavoring liquids to 4 eggs. Flavoring liquids can be any combination of mirin, dashi (use excess for miso soup), soy sauce, or rice vinegar. Season with salt, sugar, miso, or MSG to make up the flavor profiles for the liquids that are left out. Beat eggs, flavoring liquids, and seasoning together. Oil a small pan and put over medium heat. Pour a thin layer of egg on the pan (about 1/3-1/2 of your eggs), let it solidify a little, before beginning to roll. after the first roll, push to the side, re-oil the pan, add remaining egg mix, roll again. Repeat untill all egg mixture is used. Remove roll from heat, and slice after cooling.

Assemble your bento! The non-rice incredients can be kept separate from each other using cupcake wrappers, or lettuce leaves for extra salad. -Half rice, as most all bento do -Salmon fillet, cut to fit the bento -Tamagoyaki -Blanched asparagus salad. Marinate in or spritz with dressing of choice. (lemon juice, vinaigrette, or for marinade, a mixture of gojujang/mirin/miso/water.)

Utena making lunch for them is a new development, though. In the first two arcs, the dorm serves dinner, and Utena buys lunch from and has tea in the courtyard cafeteria, or buys packaged buns and snacks.

-------

In the second iteration of the proposed lunch, the idea of sandwiches is brought up. This specific version is described in a "salmon/egg salad sandwich" way, where the "filling" is a single mash of all ingredients.

Mash salmon and hardboiled egg with mayonnaise together with a fork. Cut asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces, blanch, and mix into filling. Add a thin layer of mayonnaise to the bread before adding filling, then press the sandwich together. To get a little bit fancier, use two hardboiled eggs cooked for different time periods, in order to provide two different textures of yolk. Boil one for 8.5 minutes (more jammy), and the other for 10.5 minutes (more firm). If the yolks are undercooked for whatever reason, just microwave them for a minute or so, until they reach the desired texture.

Pro-tip: Talk about making this sandwich when you're trapped in a car with someone you don't want to be trapped in a car with

-------

Those are the two lunches talked about in the show, but holy shit I have so much salmon and asparagus still left I need to use them upof course, there are a few different sandwich variations one can make with the same ingredients. In the following two pictures, there’s mayo spread on the bread, and some honey mustard sauce drizzled on the middle asparagus layer.

-salmon, asparagus,sliced hard-boiled egg

Nanami worked so hard to supply all these eggs. Press f to have a glass of milk to honor her sacrifice.

-salmon, asparagus, scrambled eggs (This configuration is very similar to the sandwich seen in Today's Menu for the Emiya Family, episode 4, but with salmon substituting for bacon.)

Today's Menu for the HimEmiya Family

Later in the week, if the asparagus is going too mushy to be used fresh, consider blending it with oil (or cream of choice) and seasoning into a sauce/dressing.

-------

(Even though the following suggestions weren't brought up by Utena at all in the original footage, we've STILL got ingredients left to use up, so we WILL, DAMMIT)

Given that we got to assume rice for the bento earlier, lunch could be leftovers onigiri! -salmon/asparagus -asparagus/scrambled egg

Crumble! Crumble like the shining castle in the sky marking you as a failure of a duelist!

Finally, if things really roll over from leftovers lunch to leftovers dinner (after all, the salmon is actually probably from The Breakfast The Day Before The Lunch Called Disassociation, because Utena had dinner at the hotel, spent all day at the amusement park, and worried about the bread from that morning), you can never go wrong with leftovers fried rice.

Can you hear that? It's a microwave ding. I get to actually reheat things for lunch. Because I'M AN ADULT. *car revs*

And there you have it! An entire work-week's worth of the Lunch Called Disassociation! Make sure to make double servings, for you and your roommate!

[raguna-blade]

So, I said i'd do this a while ago and I haven't rewatched Utena to look at it with this perspective but I guess I wanna go through the thoughts a bit, organize before I actually I do whenever that actually happens which knowing me as personally as I do could be anywhere from never to like 2 weeks from now because lmao let's go.

So let's talk about the Third Main Character of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Nanami Kiryuu.

So I'm not joking, and while she doesn't get the explicit focus of Anthy or Utena, I think it's interesting that of literally every other character she get's somewhere near the most amount of episodes focusing on her or things directly related to her. Depending on how you wanna count it (and this is very much an informal count, I just went to wikipedia read the episode blurbs to see if they were roughly A nanami centric episode) she has anywhere between 6-11 episodes that revolve around her.

Now even if we take that at the conservative amount that's 6/39 episodes that focus explicitly almost solely on her, and what's neat is that those episodes damn near without fail serve as ciphers for what's going on with the rest of the story.

Well Cipher may be incorrect. They serve to explain what the hell just went down in much less loaded terms and also infinitely funnier because of how absolutely ridiculous they tend to be.

But if we take the more extreme number there, that's about a quarter of the show revolving around this one singular character who is simultaneously treated as a joke and also remarkably has a lot of....I don't want to say insight, but I was struck by how much Nanami actually understood of the actual problems going on even as she actively fucked up and bought into a lot of them herself. That probably deserves some qualification, and For the moment I'm not going to because like...one this is a thing that struck me towards the end of my first watch so I wasn't looking for it all the earlier times, and it may also straight up be a character development thing because Nanami also ends up (if you think the movie is a sequel mind you) being the only other person who out and out escapes Ohtori.

So...Here's the thing I guess. Anthy is, under the Ohtori role scheme, A Witch acting as a Rose Bride (she's both, which breaks the strict binary that it want's to enforce). Utena is a Rose Bride acting as if she's a Prince (She's both actually, which breaks the gendered nature that it wants to enforce). And Nanami is straight up a Witch who wants to be a Rose Bride (Who realizes in the end that wow both of those suck actually, at least in full)

And that's basically the crux of the series put in real dumb terms, and how that all breaks down as the characters break those molds and and the limits and power of the system end up showing themselves as thread bare and illusory as everything else in Ohtori but that's 39 episodes worth of drama and sword fights you've presumably seen.

But When I say she's the third main character I don't mean it in the sense of like...Oh She's ALSO a major important character. By rights, Nanami doesn't really actually have a specific impact on much of anything. She get's attention sure, but as far as actually influencing events she's basically a footnote. A Couple of spots but mostly? Nothing of particular import.

So...How exactly is she a main character then? That's a pretty big claim to be made I think, and I think part of it has to do with Nanami's well...Invisibility and irrelevance. She is dismissed, she's played a fool, she's given absolutely no realt attention nor treated with any kind of seriousness. She exists at the margins, interacting with the story, someone who get's fought over or with, is bitchy and does some pretty messed up things and that's...about it really.

So basically, she's a perfect example of both a witch and a rose bride. Someone who is, in the system, cursed to be irrelevant, to barely exist as a person really. She clearly has her own desires wants and fears, we get to see them in action constantly...But they're played as jokes. They're played as stupid haha what an idiot things compared to the literal same questions and concerns being played out by the Prince (in Utena) and the Witch/Rosebride (In Anthy). Because unlike them, she is for the most part, absolutely subordinate to the system. She's trying to fit into it exactly, whether she's aware of it or not (and for most of her time in the show she's not).

Like we see the absurd and traumatic hurt that Anthy goes through. We see the damage it all puts on Utena. But as far as Ohtori is concerned they're real actors, at least in part because they are flouting the rules or else are so vital that they CANNOT be dismissed. If you're playing your role though, especially if that role is rosebride/witch you don't get to be relevant. You get to be a speed bump at best, a threat that is swiftly overcome by the heroic prince or maybe a prize.

So what's interesting then, is Nanami's development alongside the main duo mirrors what happens with them. Subservient to the system, trying to fit into it even if it may not in fact fit. Like there's nowhere i'm particularly going with this but I find it SUPER interesting that Nanami's dueling outfit is if anything MORE masculine then the literal wannabe prince Utena's. If we're taking stuff like that into account, Anthy Bedecked in Dresses, Utena with her Skirt suit thing and then Nanami who's just short of dressing straight up and down like a guy save for the slight heels kinda says something though damn if I'm not sure what.

So actually, yeah, no there is somewhere to go with this. I called Nanami a Witch who wants to be a Rose bride earlier and I think that's wrong. We're still using symbols of the fucky Ohtori system of roles here, when like one entire whole prong of the point is that it's not actually viable or useful beyond a very very limited point, but it probably would be considerably more accurate to say Nanami is a Prince who WANTS to be a Rosebride But Ends up being a witch. Because one major characterization of the Prince is proactive action towards reaching their goal, no matter the cost to themselves. Which in Nanami's under this logic, is a cost of immediate relevance, as well getting to be an active player, where she would actualy be a natural shoo in for the role save for the whole gendered nonsense involving it.

If anything, the implied end results of Nanami taking some active action to just ollie out of Ohtori towards the end reinforces this. Under the story book rules of things in Ohtori, The Witch has captured the Prince (Anthy to Nanami) under their thrall and is constantly tormented by them until they escape or else overcome the thrall...Which Nanami DOES by saying she wants out of this shit, and then taking action to do that. I'm strugglign to recall exactly where, but I also remember this scene towards the end where she basically resigns from the student council's dueling circlejerk, which I read to be her realizing it's a rigged game and just not participating.

Again, there's a bit of assumption given we see her still actually IN ohtori in the final episode, but then that's basically everyone once Utena get's the Retcon, and a chunk of this assumes the Movie is Canon to the Show in the sense of a Sequel, which I think is a fair read. Like realizing the problem and then actually taking the steps to fix it is hard, especially if you haven't like gone as far in as you could have and especially especially if you've built part of your sense of self under being part of it so...

Yeah. Again, more rambling and notes for whenever I actually succeed in watching it again.

[yurimother]

Top 34 Yuri Anime

From mid-February to mid-March Akiba held a poll asking viewers what their favorite anime series were. Over 50,000 votes were counted and in the end, they organized the 34 entries by votes to declare which series was the most popular. While not including every yuri series, these titles do vary wildly from pulse-pounding action to salacious dramas and subtext filled slice of life shows. Of course, the eternal problem with popularity polls is that they only show what is, well... popular. So I have decided to organize the same 34 series into my own list, based on a mixture person preference, influence, and historical importance to the genre. Note that this list is not exhaustive, as there are more than just these 34 Here we go!

34. Kuttsukiboshi – No surprise here. While impressive from a technical standpoint, as this two episode series was written, directed, and animated by one may, Nayoya Ishikawa, this impressive feat does nothing to sate the deep loathing I have for Kuttsukiboshi. I found it not only nonsensical but disgusting and offensive at almost every turn.

33. Maria Holic – Ok this one has some funny moments and a solid opening theme but mostly it is about a cross-dressing sadist abusing the hell out of one of the cringiest characters ever written.

32. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid – ew

31. Seraphim Call – Certainly not the worst but age really took a toll on this anime. It is entirely lost to history, only obtaining 12 votes in the original poll.

30. Love To-LIE-Angle - FANTASTIC TITLE, gross series that was forgotten before it even finished

29. Kurau: Phantom Memory – whut

28. Hidamari Sketch – How did this below average series get as many anime adaptations as it did?

27. Candy Boy – 2007 - 2009 was weird. I actually like parts of this one, as it is really cute, but you have to turn your brain off because full out incest. I have not heard about this one since 2009 and that seems to be cool with everyone involved.

26. The Girl in Twilight – I had never heard of this before doing this piece, which says a lot about this anime’s cultural importance. But it is a good watch.

25. El Cazador de la Bruja – worth one good watch and that’s about it.

24. My-HiME – Raise your hand if you have heard of this one. That is what I thought, and yet it is #13 on the original list.

23. Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn – There is no real place to put this one and that says more about it than I ever could.

22. Blue Drop – Weird show, you should watch it, but not memorable

21. Simoun – This one is actually a sort of hidden gem but it is lost to history for most people.

20. Destiny of the Shrine Maiden – It baffles me how this mostly mediocre mecha series was so popular. That being said, the ending of episode 11 is some of my favorite directing ever.

19. Saki – Ya know, you never hear about this one but it is actually one of the most popular, and was #6 in the poll. It is basically a mahjong sports style anime so I have no idea how it is so popular but hey, lots of people swear by it. The ultimate you “love it or hate it” show for a lot of people strangely as well.

18. Netsuzou Trap -NTR – I held off as long as I could. While really popular I cannot stand this anime, my loathing of it is rivaled only by Kuttsukiboshi.

17. Sasameki Koto – A pretty well-known yuri series. The books are FAR better, but still an enjoyable watch beloved by many yuri fans.

16. Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san – It pains me to not be able to place this one higher, as it is one of my favorites and so hilarious, but overall there are other series that just deserve to be above it.

15. Konohana Kitan – Adorable, just adorable.

14. Black Rock Shooter – It's astonishing that an (admittedly awesome) character design can spawn multiple anime adaptations, a hit song, and its own franchise. The anime adaptation packs some good old-fashion emotional suffering and cool fights but nothing really beyond that.

13. Strike Witches – Far more popular and influential than it has any right to be. One of the most salacious shows on this list I always feel uncomfortable watching it but I do love the characters.

12. Yuri Kuma Arashi – The creators behind this were clearly not sober and probably could have used a cold shower for other reasons as well, but it is an INCREDIBLE anime with some of the best, although extraordinarily odd, writing.

11. Liz and the Blue Bird – Things are starting to get a bit difficult now, this one is actually hard to place. Being only a year old we are not sure of the impact it has but the movie is beautiful and stunning with some really bad pacing.

10. Sakura Trick – Full of fluffy fanservice, and pretty popular. This is one that almost every yuri fan will enjoy.

9. Maria Watches Over Us – The show that revived the sister-love story, a lot of the most popular yuri would not exist if not for this gentle diamond.

8. Yuruyuri – A yuri somehow becomes one of the best slice of life series of all time. Its fame is well deserved, as the memorable characters and dynamics can be enjoyed for many, many viewings.

7. Bloom Into You – What started as a run of the mill yuri series became one of the most well-loved. One of the biggest anime of last year and a darn good yuri to boot. I wonder how we will look back on this one a decade later.

6. Citrus – DEAR GOD. I know how controversial this series is for many people and that some of you want to grab pitchforks right about now in response to me placing this high on the list but hear me out. Whatever your feelings about Citrus, and there is plenty of valid criticism to make, it is a very influential and popular anime. It scored the top spot on Akiba’s list by over 5000 votes. For me, it holds a special spot as the first real review I ever wrote (thank you, Erica, for the opportunity).

5. Sweet Blue Flowers – We are in the top five now, yet I still feel that I have placed this series far too low. It is one of the most grounded yuri series and ten years later its impact on the genre is still clear.

4. Strawberry Panic! – This was my first yuri and will always be special to me for this. But, there is no doubt that this series is actually worse than a lot of the ones lower than it on this list. I can almost feel the seething rage directed towards me for placing what can realistically be described as an aging, parodied, melodrama so high.Yet, as I gaze through my strawberry colored glasses, I see that Strawberry Panic has a magic to it. For so many in the American community, it holds a special place and I have heard my story with it reflected so often that I just started writing it on a speech bubble on the inside of the glasses I wear at conventions so that I know what people are saying to me when my mind wanders off. There is a reason it is nicknamed the gateway of yuri.

3. Kase-san and Morning Glories – A simply stunning, beautiful, and realistic story, this OVA movie is unlike any yuri before it. It holds nothing back in its yuri in its realistic depiction of a lesbian relationship. Kase-san is the best anime to come from twenty-gay-teen it just might change the genre forever.

2. Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Speaking of changing a genre, PMMM, my favorite anime of all time, did something truly incredible. Not since sailor moon as such a social phenomenon sprung from a magical girl series. The perfect writing, postmodern use of tropes, philosophy, and just pure awe-inspiring nature of the show has not been forgotten years later. The legacy of such a widely celebrated series is nothing short of god-like.

1. Revolutionary Girl Utena – Was there ever really any doubt? This series defined what yuri is for a generation. It is one of the defining works of LGBT and feminist media and possibly one of the most important pieces to come out of 90′s anime. Yuri, as we know it may not exist, were it not for this legendary series.

Well, that was fun but exhausting. Of course, this list is not perfect and I am sure that you more than disagree with me in a few places and I would love to hear them. Send me an ask, post a reply, tag me on twitter @HolyYuriMother for the love of the great yuri goddess! I want to know what you think, what series do you love? What anime do you hate? What nonsense thing did I say that just deserves to be torn apart? I want to know!

You can check out the original list on Akiba.

Help create yuri and LGBTQ+ news, reviews, and content by supporting YuriMother on Patreon

[umbramatic]

Night Of The Living Tuesday (Revolutionary Girl Utena X ???)

I'm sorry

Night Of The Living Tuesday

It was evening at Ohtori Academy. The setting sun's rays dappled upon Student Council Burger, the campus' premiere restaurant. A green haired, slender young man excitedly approached the doorway from the inside and changed the sign from "open" to "closed." "Eight-oh-clock! So long, everyone, I've got a date with a little lady, and her name is... is... actually I forget."

It was then he noticed another student standing at the door. 

"What do you want?"

"Saionji is the restaurant open?"

Saionji sighed. "Read the sign."

The student glanced over, then continued. "I want an Ohtori burger deluxe and double smashed egg fries."

"No. I can't hang out here all night! I've got a life." 

The other student frowned. "Well fine, if you don't want my money..."

"Did you say money?"

A red-haired, elegant young man strode over gracefully, perhaps too gracefully. 

"Are you saying if this venture stayed open later you'd give us more funds for the student council?"

The student smiled and nodded as he pulled out money. More students came to join him. The redhead smiled back, pulled out a katana, and sliced the "closed" sign in half.

"Ladiies, gentleman, nonbinary fellows, welcome to the night shift. From now on Student Council Burger is open 24 hours a day."

Saionji's eyes widened in horror. "What? No, Touga, you can-"

He was interrupted by the other students barging in the restaurant eagerly. There was the click of a stopwatch as a blue-haired, wide-eyed boy approached from further inside, eyes sparkling. "Wonderful! We can do so much for the Student Council this way!"

"Not you too Miki..." said Saionji. He turned to the redhead. "Touga please..."

"See you in the morning, you two," said Touga. I can't stay here all night, I've got a life." 

And he strode off into the sunset. 

"T-Touga..." Saionji said. 

"Isn't this great Saionji?" said Miki. "Just you and me together for hours and hours and then the sun will come up and we'll have help[ed the student council so much!" He clicked his stopwatch. "Are you ready to do this Saionji?"

"No."

Miki shrugged. "Well we've got customers!" 

They took their places, Saionji at the counter and Miki in the kitchen. Saionji produced a wooden sword, handed it to the nearest customer, and gestured to his chest. 

"Please stab me as hard as you can."

"Look Saionji!" said Miki. "I'm working in the kitchen! At night!" 

:"...Don't hold back."

------------

"Hey Saionji! Guess what? I'm frying eggs... at night!"

"Look at me! I'm clicking my stopwatch... at night!" "SAIONJI I CUT MYSELF ON MY SWORD! At night!"

Not even by plugging his ears could Saionji drown it all out. Now Miiki was - he was marching around the counter in a circle, chanting "night night night" over and over to the tune of... Never Gonna Give You Up? That song was like ten years old.  Weirdo.What had gotten into him? He needed a distraction. 

"Miki! Stop your prattling and get rid of this!"

He hurled a bag of garbage toward Miki, which he caught. 

"Oh! Good idea! I can take  out the trash at night too!" said Miki. 

He approached the door and then promptly froze. 

"...Oh. Right. The dumpster is outside."

Saionji sighed. "Where else would it be?"

"...Are you sure you don't want to do it? It's unusually dark out tonight."

Saionji smirked. "How unbecoming of you. Your sister certainly wouldn't approve."

Miki scowled. "...Fine."  He lifted the bag over his head. 

"FOR THE WORLD REVOLUTION! AND MY SISTER!" And he barged out the door. 

For the next several seconds Saionji heard loud screaming from outside. Then Miki barged back in and started heaving breaths like he had almost drowned before standing straight and clicking his stopwatch like nothing had happened. 

"Twelve seconds." 

Shit. He still hadn't snapped out of it. What was a Saionji to do? 

Wait. That old schoolyard rumor...

"So you're not really afraid?"

:"Of course not," said Miki. "I'm a MAN." 

"You're braver than I am. Especially after..." He shuddered. 

"After what?" Miki said, eyes widening.

"You haven't heard? They've been gossiping about it for weeks!" said Saonji, throwing up his hands. 

"I haven't! Gossiping about what?"

"I shouldn't tell you. It'll RUIN the night shift for you," Saionji said with a grin. 

"N-no it won't! I'm a man, remember?"

"You mean... You've never heard the story of the Shambling Duelist?" Miki blinked. "D-Dueling Shamblist?"

"Shambling Duelist!"

Miki's eyes crossed. "The Crambling... The Ambling... the Scrambling... the Brambling... the Gambling... the Rambling... Gah!"

Saonji sighed. "...Alright, the Shambling Duelist. But most people call him-" he screamed, eliciting several odd looks from the patrons - "because that's all they have time for before he robs them of their manhood!"

"W-what is the story of this fearsome duelist?"

"Years ago at this very academy, the Shambling Duelist used to be a Student Council member just like you, only CLUMSIER. And then, one night, during a climactic duel, it happened..."

"He forgot his Rose Seal?" 

Saonji raised his eyebrow. "...No."

"He forgot to turri on the Dueling Arena?"

"Still no."

"He learned to respect women?"

"Of course not! His opponent cut off his hand!"

Miki put a hand to his mouth. "N-no..."

"And then he replaced his hand with a rusty sword! And then, he got run over by a runaway elephant! And then at his funeral they expelled him! So now every... What day is it?"

"Tuesday."

"Every Tuesday night, his ghost returns to Ohtori to destroy the patriarchy!" 

Miki gulped. "He's... Coming tonight?"

"Indeed."

"Does he... have a calling card?"

"There are three signs the Shambling Duelist has returned to Ohtori. First, the lights will flicker on and off. Next -" 

A student approached the counter. "Hey can I have some ketchup?"

"Oh, sure," said Saionji, handing the student their ketchup. "NEXT, the phone will ring, and there will be no one there!"

At this point Miki was nervously biting his fingernails. 

"The final sign is the Shambling Duelist showing up in front of this very restaurant, atop the ghost of the elephant that trampled him! Then he gets off and crosses the street without looking both ways because he's already dead! Then he taps on the window with his rusty sword hand..." Miki shuddered "N--no please..."

"He opens the door..." he leaned in very close to Miki. "He slowly approaches the counter... And you know what he does next?"

"W-what?"

"Oh never mind. You don't want to know."

"What is it?"

"You sure?" 

"Tell me!"

Saionji suddenly appeared behind Miki. "He ROBS YOU OF YOUR MANHOOD." 

It was then Miki started screaming. 

...And screaming and screaming and goodness he wouldn't stop screaming. Saionji just laughed at it for a while but once he stopped laughing and Miki was STILL screaming he realized he should probably do something maybe.

"Miki- Miki I was joking." 

Miki finally stopped screaming. "Huh?"

""It was all a lie! I was just messing with you!"

Miki blinked. "So the Shambling Duelist isn't real?"

"Of course not! I just exaggerated an old schoolyard rumor. It's all baloney."

"Oh! You got me good!"

He started laughing. And laughing. And laughing some more. Saionji sighed. This was going to be a long night. 

-------------

Hours later, in the dark of the night, Saionji was reading a book, and by that I mean writing in his exchange diary, when something dripped on his head. "Wait what?"

The drip was accompanied by strange noises. "What's that?"

"This is wonderful Saionji!" said a voice.

Saionji screamed and whipped toward the source of the voice to find Miki cleaning the ceiling with suction cups. "I never have time to clean the ceiling during the day!" 

Saionji turned back to his post and sighed. "Why did Touga even bother opening this place 24/7? No one wants an Ohtori burger at 3AM!"

-----------

It was dark in Nanami's room. She was sleeping soundly. Then her alarm clock rang and she bolted upright. 

"Three AM already? Oh boy!" She pulled an Ohtori Burger from an expensive minifridge next to her bed, fought off intrusive thoughts about cannibalism, and chowed down. 

----------

"I mean look around!" Saionji said. "This place is deserted!"

It was then the lights started flickering on and off. Saionji rolled his eyes. 

"Good one, Miki."

"Thank you! But good what?" said Miki, now on the ground. 

"The lights, you're flickering the lights, just like I sai-"

He looked over to the nearest light switch and to his horror saw it wasn't moving even as the lights changed. Miki looked too, a puzzled expression on his face.

"How are you doing that, Saionji?"

"It's not me! It must be- must be a power surge through campus-"

It was then the phone at the desk started ringing. With dread, Saionji picked it up. "H-Hello?"

All he heard from the other side was strange moans. Miki giggled. 

"Good one yourself Saionji!"

'"W-what do you mean?"

"Your fable said the phone would ring and there'd be no one there! So you're making the phone ring somehow."

"Miki I'm not doing this!" Saionji slammed the phone down. "Okay breathe, breathe... what was the stupid story, it had the lights -" they flickered, "the phone-" it rang, "and-" He looked out a side window and gasped. 

"And SHADOW GIRLS WILL PUT ON ALLEGORICAL PLAYS!"

He paused. "Oh, wait, they always do that. What WAS that third thing?"

He heard a trumpeting and froze, slowly turning toward the entrance. 

There, outside the glass doors, wass an elephant. 

"Wow," said Miki," "I didn't know they kept elephants on campus!"

"They don't," said Saionji. 

The elephant stepped aside to reveal a shadowy figure, nebulous, with four glowing red eyes. 

"Hey, that must be the elephant's handler!"

The shadowy figure drew a rusty sword. 

It was at that point Saionji started screaming. 

"The Crambling... The Ambling... the Scrambling... the Brambling... the Gambling... the Rambling..."

"The Shambling Duelist!" said Miki. 

"Now you get it!" said Saionji. "We're going to die!"

"No, no, I'm honored! You dressed up as this mythical duelist so you could beat me in a duel!"

"First off, I could beat you in a duel anyway. Second off how could that be me when I'm right here?!"

Miki stared at Saionji, Then at the Shambling Duelist. Then at Saionji. Then at the Shambling Duelist. 

Then finally screamed. 

By then the Shambling Duelist had opened the door. 

"Nonono please-" said Saionji.

"Have mercy!" said Miki. 

The Shambling duelist approached the counter. 

"M-Miki, deep down, I always kinda felt I should respect women..."

"Saionji I used your katana to pick my teeth."

"What?"

The Shambling Duelist raised its sword. The two screamed. The Shambling Duelist pointed the sword at Saionji. 

"YOU!" said the Shambling Duelist, in a booming voice that sounded like multiple. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"

Saonji stared, "H-Here? Now? This isn't the Dueling Are-"

The Shambling Duelist slapped him. "NOW, COWARD."

Saionji hastily got up and drew his sword. Miki stood back to watch. 

He made a thrust at the Shambling Duelist but it was countered with ease. His jabs grew more frenzied, but they were all expertly parried until he was knocked flat on his back, the Shambling Duelist's sword pointed at his throat. 

"No... Please... I'll do anything... I'll apologize to every girl on campus if that's what you want!"

The Shambling.Duellist laughed a booming laugh and tossed its shawl aside, revealing a pink haired, fair-skinned girl and a purple-haired dark-skinned girl, laughing in unison. 

'"..Utena? Anthy? said Salonji. "You two? How?" said Miki. 

"We overheard your story when we were here earlier and decided to pull a prank," said Utena. 

"IIt was my idea," said Anthy with a giggle. "Well, at the very least, you sure fooled us!" said Miki. "So that was YOU the whole time?" said Saionji. "With the elephant and the phone calls and the lights?"

Utena raised an eyebrow. "What lights?"

The lights flickered again and everyone turned to see a tiny monkey flipping the light switch. 

"Chuchu!" everyone said in unison in mock scolding. Chuchu winked and turned off the lights. 

***

The whole reason this ABOMINATION exists is because I've been rewatching Utena with a bunch of people who have never seen it before. The watch parties were usually on Tuesdays, I kept making jokes about the Tuesday Night line from the original Spongebob episode, and  that snowballed into... This. Happy Halloween. 

[pdaliceliveblogs]

asks from last ep!

Oh, I like that idea a lot. Admittedly I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the duel theme lyrics-- I guess I really should! But yeah, I think not only is he a manipulator like her, but that she’s also manipulating herself, you know? Trying to make things go the way she feels they should.

Yeah, it’s really neat, huh? I love how the duels are more than just the physical competition; it’s a microcosm of the relationships involved. Like a fusion....

ahaha some Cupids are great! That one on the fountain is just insufferable xD;;;

It took me a minute to figure out what you were referring to-- back to the egg episode, when he gives Nanami the Adam and Eve speech, right?-- but that’s an interesting way to look at it. It could be the avoidance of a lie, but it could also be the calm eye-close of smugness; I certainly got the impression that he was manipulating her there. I also think that the fact he’s been sleeping with Akio doesn’t necessarily mean that saying he likes girls “better” is a lie; he certainly doesn’t like girls as people but girls could still be his primary sexual interest. I’ve been assuming he’s bi.

“so love me instead”, huh...

...ah. I see.

Okay, I’m probably going to come off super oblivious here, but it genuinely hadn’t occurred to me Ruka wanted Juri for himself? I thought he was just being mean to her, putting her down, tormenting her. I see him as a manipulative and cruel person, but it had entirely slipped my notice that he was being awful to Juri to try and get her. I thought he was angry with her for being a good fencing captain and/or had been sent in by Akio to cause some trouble because the Student Council was starting to step away from the duels.

...that’s an interesting read. We haven’t seen Utena show any real attraction to a guy, not that I’ve seen, just flustered embarrassment, and her relationship with Anthy is one of the most blazingly tender and romantic ones I’ve seen in television, so I can’t really imagine her not being interested in women. She hasn’t really shown specifically sexual attraction, no, but she has shown romantic attraction in spades, and a lot of the more blatant sexuality in this show is manipulative so I’m not surprised it stays only around the more symbolic edges, with Utena, who is very forthright.

But, seriously... the tenderness as Anthy dresses her for the duels, their intertwined hands, the blatantly wedding-themed shots at the end of the absolute destiny apocalypse sequence, the fact that her entire arc thus far seems to be centred around discarding the heteronormative role she’s been placed into and finding her own truth... not to mention her kissing Anthy on the mouth just off screen in EP2.

And sure, her being straight wouldn’t mean that her gender non conformity was less of a compelling storyline, but... she isn’t? I really don’t want to be rude here, but there’s a part of me going “what show have you been watching???”

As for Wakaba, it is possible that her love for Utena is platonic affection dressed in a romantic mold, but I don’t see a particular reason to read it that way, especially since she repeatedly got disappointed when Utena dismissed it as joking.

As for Juri, I love the stuffing out of her and just want her to move forward and be self-sufficient and happy. And I think I called Ruka an asshat enough times in the last few posts that you know what I think of him by now, lol